Harmony in the Baroque era

Harmony came to be thought of as chords that laid the foundation for the melody. Major and minor as we know them today became established as keys instead of modes, and the harmonic patterns of tonality began to evolve. This became such a fundamental element of Western music that even today we expect chords to follow each other in a particular order in order for the music to sound ‘familiar’. Basso continuo, meaning an accompaniment for melodies with harmonic accompaniment improvised on the basis of a bass line furnished with numbers indicating the chords (thorough bass, similar to the chord symbols used in popular music today), evolved at this time. The basso continuo group became the core of the orchestra, and orchestras were usually led by the basso continuo keyboard player and not a separate conductor. This was the origin of the clear separation into melody, bass and harmony that survives to this day in many genres of music.