The Baroque Orchestra
By Nunana Akoli

Music during the Baroque period is known as the foundation for what is classical music, and one extremely important type of music is the Baroque Orchestra. This type of Orchestra was mainly practised from 1600 to 1750, following the death of one of the most influential composers of the time, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). During this time period, the Baroque Orchestra was created and developed by other very prominent composers of the time including George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713), Claudio Montreverdi (1567-1643), Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643), Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725), Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757), Giovanni Bbattista Pergolesi (1710-1736) and many more.
The Baroque period took advantage of the detailed use of polyphony, which is the texture which consists of 2 or more melodic tones that are woven together and played simultaneously, opposed to music that just consists of a single melodic voice or one with a more dominant melodic voice which would then be accompanied by chords.
The orchestra itself was carried by a variety of different instruments including:
Strings
-Violin, The origins of the violin date back to as far as the 9th century and were thought to be first used by the Persian geographer named Ibn Khurradadhibih. JS Bach, Antonio Vivaldi and Arcangelo Corelli were well known for being talented violinists; Violins replaced Viols which were much weaker sounding in the Baroque period.
-Viol
These were typically played in a consort (a group of differently sized viols playing together), consorts were however outdated by and through the development of the orchestra. It possesses a sound similar to the violin and also has different size variations meaning that there are also different size variations including Pardessus (high treble),