Music during the 1600s
The music period during the 1600s was known as the Baroque period. This music era is known for creating the richest and most diverse classical forms of art. This period brought forth many different types of music such as opera, sonata, oratorio, suite, fugue, and concerto. Each of these forms are used and interpreted now and have remained a huge part of the musical world. Some composer that came about during the Baroque period were Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Corelli, Monteverdi, Bach, Handel, Couperin, Lully, Rameau, and Purcell. Many of these composers used the homophonic writing style when composing their pieces. This style was wildly used during the Baroque time period because it helped to enforce instrumental pats. The music writing style made each instrument harmonize with one another very well. This helped immensely when conducting string pieces. In Romeo and Juliet, the two main characters met at mascaraed ball. This scenery would have included the music for that time period. Knowing what type of musical time period and the type of songs being conducted during it, would have given the reader a better image of what was going on during this ball.
Below is a link to a website that gives a small summary of the Baroque period and a small audio clip of what music would have occurred during it.
Below is a music clip that gives you examples of Baroque era music and facts about the time period itself.