In the field of music the Baroque spirit manifested itself in new forms of expressions. It moved away from the calm and exalted manner of Paleslrina and developed new forms of expression. For the first Lime instrumental music was given equal importance with vocal music.

A notable accomplishment of this period was innovation of opera which began in Italy in the beginning of the seventeenth century and soon be­came popular throughout Europe. Music reached its full flowering in Germany in the eighteenth century.

Here a number of outstanding mas­ters of music flourished. These include Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-50), George Friedrich Handei (1685-59), Joseph Hayden (1732-09), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91), Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-27) etc. Like the other arts of the age. of reason, music now exhibited greater clarity and simplicity of structure and strict adherence to formal rules and models.

Thus we find that the cult of reason which was a predominant feature of the age of enlightenment left a deep impact on literature, fine arts as well as music.