Civilisation 9: The Pursuit of Happiness: 3

We move from Bach to Handel. Handel’s style of music “remained faithful throughout his life to the Italian Baroque style. “His music” Clark says, “goes well with the decorations of Tiepolo” (1969, p.231). 

The Baroque, an Italian invention “first came into being as religious architecture" and was used to express “the emotional aspirations of the Catholic Church” (Clark, C., 1969 p.231). Rococo on the other hand “was to some extent a Parisian invention and provocatively secular” (Clark, C., 1969 p.231). It was on a superficial level a reaction against the Classicism of Versailles: “instead of the static orders of antiquity, it drew inspiration from natural objects in which the line wandered freely- shells, flowers seaweed- especially if it wandered in a double curve… it represented a real gain in sensibility” (Clark, C., 1969 p.231). This was drawn from one particular artist: Watteau.

Sources:

Clark, K (1969) Civilisation: A personal view. London: BBC/J. Murray