1600-1700

The biggest development in music history from this time period was that of the 'seconda practica', the idea that the forbidden dissonances from the earlier style are justified by the affections in the text. Galilei (a member of the Florentine Camerata) believed that music should "move the affect of the soul". This could not be achieved completely if composers were to continue in the old style. Because of the revival of Greek ideas of rhetoric, they began composing more freely, in terms of consonances and dissonances, to represent the text in the way they felt proper. Here we see the continued development of text painting. During 1600-1700, it began to develop into the technique we know today.

Another great development was the use of voices and instruments together. Composers were interested in combining different timbres rather than using homogenous sounds. Gabrileli was a leader in this technique with his many early concerted works. These pieces were often performed in giant churches with choirs stationed on all sides of the balconies and on the main floor. Here's an example.

http://youtu.be/EjoAKIxlT5A

We also see the beginning of early opera during this time. Because of the ability composers had to express texts (seconda practica), they began to write music in a new way. The leader in this development was Guilio Caccini. He coined the idea of "speaking musically" which became known as "recitative". Here composers would imitate speech in their music...another Greek ideal. Writing arias, composers could overload the music with representation of the affections, in turn, moving the audience's own affections during performance. This was one of the main ideals in the Baroque Era (ornamented, eccentric).

An example of Caccini arias: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar-VSZxQllY

All of these new ideas lead to the music we know today. The journey continues...!