Giacomo Carissimi (1605–1674): In baroque religious music, there are naturally many tragic pieces. One of the most powerful I know comes from the relatively obscure Italian Carissimi, the final chorus of his oratorio Jephte, from around 1650. The story is of the biblical king who promises God that if he wins a battle, he will sacrifice the first person he sees afterward. These kinds of vows don’t tend to go well. It turns out to be his beloved daughter Jephte, and God doesn’t come to her rescue. The tragic and beautiful final chorus, “Plorate, filii Israel,” is a lamentation by her friends. The music is a sustained wail of grief, building to a climax on a chain of heartrending harmonies. Chorus singers report having trouble getting through the piece without choking up.
Giovanni Gabrieli (1553/6–1612): Much of his music took shape around the interior of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice, which has balconies where he placed his singers and musicians to create intricate antiphonal effects—what we would call surround sound. Thus flowered what we call the Venetian polychoral style, which had wide influence on the next generation of composers, including Monteverdi, Schütz, and Bach. Suggested works: Canzon duodecimi toni for brass; In ecclesiis for variegated voices, instruments, and organ.
Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672): While the Venetian style he studied was grand and effusive, the German Protestant Schütz had a more austere temperament, his work succinct and intensely spiritual. His harmonic style has an archaic cast that is nicely fresh to our ears. Suggested works: Saul, Saul, was verfolgst du mich?; Ist nicht Ephraim mein teurer Sohn?; Danket dem Herren; Christmas Oratorio.
Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741): The insanely prolific Vivaldi—he wrote some five hundred concertos alone—had been largely forgotten when he was rediscovered by baroque buffs in the mid-twentieth century. In his time, as both composer and virtuoso violinist, he was a giant. Bach studied Vivaldi carefully, and I suspect learned from him a good deal about focus, directness, and rhythmic energy. Suggested works: The Four Seasons; Gloria in D Major.
Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757): Having written his finest work for an audience of one, the queen of Spain, Scarlatti emerged after his death as sort of a cult figure. Quirky, endlessly diverse in tone, ranging from grandiose to violent to wry to busy little tempests-in-a-teacup, his 555 sonatas for the harpsichord explore everything the instrument is capable of. Scarlatti himself provided perhaps the best description of his music: “an ingenious jesting with art.” The scope of Scarlatti’s miniatures makes it hard to single out particular pieces to recommend, so I’d say find a recording by a celebrated harpsichordist or pianist and dive in. His champions have included pianist Vladimir Horowitz, whose lapidary playing was ideal for Scarlatti.