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"He, who possessed the most profound knowledge of all the contrapuntal arts, understood how to make art subservient to beauty." —C. P. E. BACH, ABOUT HIS FATHER, J. S. BACH

Key Points

  • Baroque instrumental music was often set in one of several forms built on a repeating bass line (ground bass).
  • Two main types of overture were the French overture (slow-fast) and the Italian overture (fast-slow-fast).
  • J. S. Bach's keyboard music includes chorale preludes (short organ works elaborating on a chorale melody) and preludes and fugues (a free-form piece followed by a strict imitative piece).
  • Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier is his most famous collection of preludes and fugues, and The Art of Fugue is his last and most comprehensive example of contrapuntal writing.
  • The French Rococo and the German "sentimental" styles ushered in the new Classical era.

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