Vice president of the National Institute of Clinical Research in Los Angeles, Mark Paskewitz is also a history buff and a classical music lover. Mark Paskewitz’ favorite style of music is baroque.
A term that describes a period in Western European music from approximately 1600 to 1750, “baroque” is derived from the Portuguese word “barroco,” which means oddly shaped pearl. Critics applied the term to characterize the sonic qualities of a form of music that they found ornate and exaggerated.
Drawing upon ancient Greek and Roman ideas that resurged in the preceding Renaissance period, baroque composers saw music as a powerful communication tool. Stylistic earmarks of baroque music include dramatic contrasts in volume and intensity as well as the broadening of traditional instrumental pitch and timbre. Major composers of the period include Antonio Vivaldi, Claudio Monteverdi, Johann Sebastian Bach, and George Frideric Handel.
