The term ‘style’ has various connotations in music. It may be applied to single works or composers (Mahler's style); to compositional genres (symphonic style); to media (keyboard style); to compositional methods (contrapuntal style); to performance in a particular city or geographical area (Mannheim style); to historical periods (Baroque style); or even to technical demand (virtuoso style). More specifically, it may refer, as here, to the interpretation of a work's component parts such as rhythm, tempo, harmony or ornamentation. In a present world that is becoming increasingly international in outlook and more homogeneous in the study and performance of music, distinctive styles are disappearing. But the diversity of idioms prevalent during the period under discussion, conditioned largely by national or regional conventions and individual taste, must be assimilated by historical performers when formulating their interpretations. How else would it be possible to differentiate between performances of works by, say, Cherubini, Beethoven and Rossini, three roughly contemporary composers whose music emanated from very different European centres?

National idioms

Three principal national idioms can be distinguished during the Baroque period – Italian, French and German. The concept of national style concerns not only the ways in which composers wrote their music, influenced by considerations such as tradition, function, social context and even language, but also its performance; it also extends to aspects of instrument construction and sound ideal.