Howard Goodall's Story of Music
Catch the second episode of this landmark series
In the second episode of his Story of Music, Howard Goodall explores the developments in music between the mid-17th and mid-18th centuries.
This period of innovations saw the invention and standardisation of many musical institutions that we take for granted today: from the symphony orchestra and the symphony, to established chord sequences and modern tuning.
As Newton laid down the laws of science, and time was kept with increasingly sophisticated mechanical clocks, music too became systematic and intricate.
Composers such as Corelli, Vivaldi, Bach and Handel wrote their greatest masterpieces in this period and the nature of music was for the first time influenced by public demand and the dictates of fashion.