Late Baroque music (1707–1760)

The dividing line between middle and late Baroque is a matter of some debate. Dates for the beginning of "late" baroque style range from 1680 to 1720. In no small part this is because there was not one synchronized transition; different national styles experienced changes at different rates, and at different times. Italy is generally regarded as the first country to move to the late Baroque style. The important dividing line in most histories of Baroque music is the full absorption of tonality as a structuring principle of music. This was particularly evident in the wake of theoretical work by Rameau, who replaced Lully as the important French opera composer. At the same time, through the work of Fux, the Renaissance style of polyphony was made the basis for the study of counterpoint. The combination of modal counterpoint with tonal logic of cadences created the sense that there were two styles of composition - the homophonic dominated by vertical considerations, and the polyphonic dominated by imitation and contrapuntal considerations.

Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757) was one of the leading keyboard virtuosi of his day, who took the road of being a royal court musician, first in Portugal, and then, starting in 1733 in [[Madrid], Spain, where he was to spend the rest of his life. His father, Alessandro Scarlatti, was a member of the Neapolitan School of opera, and has been credited with being among its most skilled members. Domenico was also to write operas and church music, but it is the publication of his keyboard works, which spread more widely after his death, which have secured him a lasting place of reputation. Many of these works were written for his own playing, but others for his royal patrons. As with his father, his fortunes were closely tied to his ability to secure, and keep, royal favour.

But perhaps the most famous composer to be associated with royal patronage was George Frideric Handel (1685–1759), who was born in Germany, studied for three years in Italy, but would go to London in 1711, and use it as a base of operations for long and profitable career that included independently produced operas and commissions for nobility. He was constantly searching for successful commercial formulas, in opera, and then in oratorios in English. A continuous worker, Handel borrowed from others, and recycled his own material constantly. He was also known for reworking pieces such as the famous Messiah, which premiered in 1741, for available singers and musicians. Even as his economic circumstances rose and fell with his productions, his reputation, based on published keyboard works, ceremonial music, constant stagings of operas and oratorios and concerto grossi, grew exponentially. By the time of his death, he was regarded as the leading composer in Europe, and was studied by later classical-era musicians. Handel, because of his very public ambitions, rested a great deal of his output on melodic resource combined with a rich performance tradition of improvisation and counterpoint. The pratice of ornamentation(music) in the baroque style was at a very high level of development under his direction. He travelled all over Europe to engage singers and learn the music of other composers, and thus had among the widest acquaintance of other styles of any composer.

Other leading figures of the late Baroque, are J.S. Bach (1685–1750), Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767), and Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764).