The Baroque Period appeared around 1580 in Europe. The name Baroque comes from a new form of architecture that appeared at about the same time. The name itself has nothing to do with the actual music composed. Since it started and ended at about the same time as the Baroque architecture, it just became convenient to refer to them both as Baroque.

This period lasted for about a century and a half and gave birth to opera and a few other advancements in music. During this period, there appeared a maturing concept of tonality and the development of thoroughbass. Thoroughbass is the extemporizing of harmonic accompaniments over figured bass, and dominated most instrumental performances of the Baroque period.

Instrumental and vocal styles were differentiated for the first time. Up until then, it was believed that anything that could be played could be sung and vice versa. This period also saw the formation of the concerto, cantata, suite, and "sonata da chiesa."

No other period in music forgot the Baroque styles, and we still use many forms and styles of the Baroque period today. In fact, a few composers of the Classical period (Shumann and Mendelssohn were the most widely known) recognized a kinship with Bach, and tried to recast his styles in their own image. The result was usually un-Baroque.

For many years, Baroque ornamentation was disregarded. Most performers showed carelessness in performing, and publishers would often remove or edit Baroque ornamentation in the works they released. A little over a generation ago, people began to desire authentic performance of Baroque works. This caused panic among publishers, performers, and instructors who had been careless with regard to Baroque works. Many accomplished performers had to relearn Baroque ornamentation.

Baroque music is still widely known and performed today. It is often praised as one of the greatest periods in music.