Ever wanted to know more about Bach's B minor Mass? Burning to know what a viola d'amore is? Fascinated by music in the period of the Sun King? Interested in Handel's oratorios beyond Messiah?

Get to know the Baroque period intimately in this course of guided listening sessions that will examine some of the major composers, works and genres of the Baroque period.

Taught by John Weretka, the course looks at a number of key areas - opera, oratorio, chamber and orchestral music, music for solo instruments, cantata, sacred music - divided into two large periods, the early-mid Baroque and the later Baroque. We will look at major composers including Monteverdi, Rameau, Bach, Vivaldi and Handel, as well as composers that might be more unfamiliar including Biber, Cavallieri, Peri, Caldara and Castello.

The course runs for six weeks on Wednesday evenings from 1 August to 5 September. For more information and costs visit the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music website (see link on the right-hand side of this page).