Baroque orchestra and/or pipe organ. In the Baroque period, the orchestra was not standardised in size. There were large differences in size, instrumentation and playing styles – and therefore orchestral soundscapes and palettes – between the various European regions. The 'Baroque orchestra' ranged from smaller orchestras (or ensembles) with one player per part, to larger scale orchestras with many players per part. Examples of the smaller variety were Bach's orchestras, for example in Koethen where he had access to an ensemble of up to 18 players. Examples of large scale Baroque orchestras would include Corelli's orchestra in Rome which ranged between 35
Baroque of the première of Jean-Philippe Rameau's "Hippolyte et Aricie" in October 1733, which was printed in the "Mercure de France" in May 1734, the critic wrote that the novelty in this opera was "du barocque", complaining that the music lacked coherent melody, was unsparing with dissonances, constantly changed key and meter, and speedily ran through every compositional device. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who was a musician and composer as well as philosopher, wrote in 1768 in the "Encyclopédie": "Baroque music is that in which the harmony is confused, and loaded with modulations and dissonances. The singing is harsh and unnatural, the intonation