Quote:
Originally Posted by Poppinjay
Clever idea, but yeah, key changes galore made it sound like more of an experiment than actual music. And given some of the dissonant sounds, would definitely been rejected during the Baroque period.
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I completely disagree with this. The conversion to equal temperament (tuning so that the octave is divided into 12 equal half steps) at the end of the Renaissance meant that the keyboard could remain in tune with the other instruments no matter what key they were in, and this was like letting Pandora out of the box. The Baroque was loaded with music that changed keys all over the place, specifically because they were finally able to do so and remain in tune.
Bach's
Well-Tempered Clavier was two volumes of keyboard pieces in each of the 12 major and 12 minor keys, which forced the performer to switch to equal temperament in order to be able to play each volume.
The advent of equal temperament also meant that chromatic music was available, and they experimented with that like crazy, too. The Baroque composers and consumers loved dissonances and modulations galore.