Towards the middle of the 18th century, the final episode of the Baroque period drew near and with this came the emergence of a new era; the Classical period. The early stages of the 18th century saw a revolution in the music world as the emphasis shifted to emotional restraint, objectivity, clarity and refinement. The new style favored clearer divisions between parts, brighter contrasts and colors, and simplicity rather than complexity. New musical structures also developed.

The word Baroque was first used in architecture to describe incredibly decorative buildings or very ornate structures. It comes from the French word borroco which essentially means very ornamented oyster shell and was therefore applied to music of the Baroque period which incidentally is also very ornamental. The opening statement of J.S Bach's Toccata and Fugue is a perfect example of such ornamentation; Bach utilizes the mordent as an expressive technique...