Musicology Annotation << Back Musicology of the Baroque Era Demchenko Alexander I. In musical and aesthetic terms, the appearance of the Baroque era, perhaps, appeared most specifically in two categories: through connections with rhetoric and in the theory of affects. Musical rhetoric proceeded from the ideas of music as a kind of general rhetoric, that is, from the views of music as a direct analogy of oratorical artistic speech (in prose and poetry). Like verbal analogues, musical-rhetorical figures were introduced, as a rule, to enhance expression. In general, the considered theory contributed to the comprehension and approval of new expressive techniques, as well as awareness of the functions of the musical form. The theory of affects developed criteria aimed at assessing the emotional impact of music. By the middle of the XVIII century, the classifi cation of affects had reached its maximum completeness and a system of recommendations concerning the affective effect of certain modes, rhythm formulas, dance genres, musical forms and styles had crystallized. After numerous preliminary accumulations that began in the Late Middle Ages, the theorists of the Baroque era created the doctrine of counterpoint, the fundamental provisions of which still retain signifi cance for determining the norms of strict style. But at the same time, the practice of free-style polyphony was actively justified, as well as the theory of fugue as the highest polyphonic form was formed. Having become the source of the doctrine of polyphony, the Baroque era simultaneously laid the foundations for the doctrine of harmony, and in certain connections with it, the theorists of the Baroque era were actively engaged in the problem of tem-perament. Keywords: Baroque musicology, musical rhetoric, theory of affects, the doctrine of coun-terpoint, the doctrine of harmony, the problem of temperament. DOI: 10.25791/musicology.5.2022.1248 Pp. 03-13.