Baroque instruments

Baroque orchestra instruments usually included:

• strings - violins, violas, cellos and double basses.
• woodwind - recorders or wooden flutes, oboes and bassoon.
• brass - sometimes trumpets and/or horns (without valves)
• timpani (kettledrums)
• continuo - harpsichord or organ.

1. What was the most common musical instrument of the Baroque period?
2. How were instruments made in the Baroque period?
3. How many instruments are in a Baroque orchestra?
4. How are baroque instruments different?

What was the most common musical instrument of the Baroque period?

The harpsichord was the primary keyboard instrument (and an important member of the continuo group), and instruments important in the 16th and 17th centuries like the lute and viol, still continued to be used. Variations in instruments still popular today also gave the baroque ensemble a different sound.

How were instruments made in the Baroque period?

Violin Family

During the baroque period, string instruments would use gut strings (which were often made of animals intestines), rather than the synthetic ones used on modern instruments found today.

How many instruments are in a Baroque orchestra?

Orchestras and Composers

Some were as large as 150 instrumentalists; some were only about 20. This wasn't really standardized until later. However, what instruments were used was a bit more common. Generally, the Baroque orchestra had five sections of instruments: woodwinds, brass, percussion, strings, and harpsichord.

How are baroque instruments different?

The physical differences between modern and baroque violins mean that the baroque violin is softer. The fact that the neck is angled back on the modern instrument means that the tension of the strings can be much higher without breaking the neck.