Style Features of High Baroque Music, Part III—A Musical Glossary

The demand for a more expressive musical system gave rise to more scale pitches from the Pythagorean model, and new tuning systems arose to handle this, including meantone, equal temperament, and well-temperament. Functional harmony was developed and codified, and it was supported by the convention of basso continuo or thorough-bass as both a rhythmic and a chordal device.