Baroque orchestra

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The Baroque orchestra is the earliest example of a true orchestra which came into existence in the mid-late 1600s. Its origins were in France where Jean-Baptiste Lully added the newly re-designed hautboy and transverse flutes to his vingt-quatre violons du Roy (twenty-four violins of the King). As well as violins and woodwinds, the baroque orchestra would have still contained continuo instruments such as the theorbo and harpsichord. The baroque orchestra was reasonably small with a maximum of thirty people. The new instrumentation and orchestration soon spread to the rest of Europe and became the standard solo instrumental grouping.

The term 'Baroque orchestra' is also commonly used to refer to the chamber orchestras giving historically informed performances of baroque, classical, or even romantic music, using original instruments or replicas. Many groups can be found that perform early music in the manner it would have been performed at the time, using the same instruments and similar performance practices. Baroque orchestras of today include, for example:

• The Academy of Ancient Music
• Les Arts Florissants
• Boston Baroque
• The English Concert
• Florilegium
• Freiburger Barockorchester
• Hespèrion XX and Hespèrion XXI
• Musica Antiqua Köln
• New Trinity Baroque
• Newport Baroque Orchestra
• Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
• Taverner Consort and Players
• Tafelmusik

[edit] See also

• Orchestra, see: history of the orchestra
• List of early music ensembles, for more Baroque orchestras

Chamber Music was found to be one of the lead most attractive styles of music all the way through to the Classical Era.