Baroque Era :: essays research papers

In every way Baroque medicinal drug is like a teen-ager. Ok, maybe not in the pimply-faced-criticize-everything-even-though-you-dont-pay-for-it kind of way we devour come to expect from our modern teen-agers. But what is a teen-ager anyway? Simply put a teen-ager is no longer a child and not yet an adult. It is that awkward in-between stage when all the rules get broken, nothing ever seems to fit, and emotions fluctuate wildly. This is exactly how it was with the Baroque Era of Music. To put this into perspective, try and remember that the metempsychosis was a "re-birth" of good art and music and the Classical era was that birth coming into its maturity. The Baroque Erawhich happened to come directly after the Renaissance and in the beginning the Classical Eracoincided nicely with those awkward and highly emotional teenage years that every genius goes through on the pathway called growing up.When Was the Baroque Era?The ordained company line on when the Baroque Era star ted, which you will find in every book, encyclopedia, or bubble-gum wrapper on the subject, was the year 1600. The event which clear 1600 this enviable distinction, as far as I can tell, was the simple fact that it has two zeros stuck on the end of it, thus making it fairly uncomplicated to remember. In contrast, the end of the Baroque Era was definitively set by Johann Sebastian Bach, the Grand-Poobah of Baroque music, who had the good foresight to die in a year also cease with a zero, thus giving historians another easy to remember date 1750. For some Baroque zealots Bachs death was truly the day that music died at least it gave good closure.The Origins of Baroque MusicIn the spirit of rebellious teenagers everywhere, Im going to throw caution (and facts) to the wind and verbalise about eunuchs. As you may know, eunuchs are guys who--for lack of a better term--are missing an organ. (Bach was a master organ player, nevertheless that has absolutely nothing to do with this) Medi eval doctors had learned that if the--men, brace yourself--"family jewels" were cut off of boys at an early age, none of the traditional biological changes of puberty would occur. There would be no facial nerve or body hair, their voices would not change, and all their acne problems would be virtually solved. Now, in my mind, that in NO WAY could compensate for the loss of everything that makes life worth living, but apparently back at the turn of the century (the 15th Century, I mean) being a eunuch was not as uncommon as one might think.