Music In The Modern Era

In the modern era, musicians continue to play music that is reminiscent of the past. While new music is continuously produced, there is a desire to keep the musical pieces created by our ancestors alive. To honor the past, some artists have created new music that reflects the classical and baroque styles. In these pieces, the artists are free to use whichever instruments they please to create their musical effect. When a non-early music ensemble performs non-early music in the modern era, they tend to use the combination of both modern instruments, including strings and winds, and early instrument such as the harpsichord to perform early music. This allows them to create the sound of their choosing, which is reflective of artistic liberty. …show more content…
The piano is capable of accomplishing more dynamics than the harpsichord, which is why it is a popular replacement for the instrument in modern times. This is also why it is more readily available and mastered by modern musicians. However, it is necessary to consider that if musicians wish the music produced to truly be performed in the baroque style, it would be impossible to use a piano. It would be challenging to play this instrument simplistically due to the range of possibilities it incorporates. Furthermore, the sound quality produced by the instrument is not exactly the same as the sound produced by the harpsichord. Therefore, the basso continuo produced by the harpsichord is better quality than the basso continuo produced by the piano in baroque music because it will allow a piece to sound close to what the composer originally intended to …show more content…
It was not until artists demonstrated their intent to recreate baroque music that the instrument appeared. Although many musicians during the time and musicians during the modern era criticize the harpsichord due to its limitations, it was clear that many also believed that it would be necessary to restore use of the instrument to create authentic baroque music. While it is certainly possible to use both the piano and the harpsichord to perform baroque music, it is essential to consider that the piano was invented around the Romantic period and was built to play long lyrical line which makes it inappropriate to play basso continuo. Therefore, the piano was made to be dynamic because it was never really intended to perform this bass role. Rather, it is more advantageous to use the instrument to perform a melody or harmony that occurs in music that was created during the classical period or later. While a baseline is possible to create using the piano, it is challenging to mimic the dynamics of the harpsichord in the process, making it a less authentic manner of performing baroque