Music Sound

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. As well as violins and woodwind, the baroque orchestra would have still contained continuo instruments such as the theorbo and harpsichord. The new-fangled instrumentation and orchestration soon spread to the rest of Europe and soon became the standard solo instrumental grouping.

The term 'baroque orchestra' can also be (wrongly) used in relation to historically accurate performances of baroque, or even classical or romantic music. Many groups can be found that perform old music in the style that it is believed it would have been performed at the time, using the same instruments and the same performance practices.

Some of the baroque orchestras that play on period instruments are:

The Academy of Ancient Music
Tafelmusik
New Trinity Baroque
The English Concert
Taverner Consort and Players
Newport Baroque Orchestra