All these radical new changes in style (or so they were considered in that time) demanded various changes in the overall compositional style, and that is exactly what they brought about, particularly in Italy. Most notable was the change in musical and voice structure; whereas in earlier movements all the voices were more or less of equal importance and thus all given a chance to participate, the Baroque placed almost 100% of its emphasis solely on the soprano and bass parts, filling in the range between them merely with simple chords. The constancy of these middle chords was not particularly important...often, musicians were encouraged to merely improvise them with whatever they felt was appropriate.

Equally important was the change in overall tone. The new Baroque style got most of its power and drive from the many contrasting, clashing elements of which it was composed, in sharp contrast to the smooth, easy flowing style of the late Renaissance. The contrasts were, in fact, what defined Baroque. An effort was made to add contrasting elements to every aspect of the music, whether through variations in instrumentation, densities of sound (i.e. a single instrument followed immediately by the whole group), as well as speed and volume changes. The competing and alternating elements resulted in an aggressive, excited musical style unlike any before it.

The wild and harsh technique used by early Baroque composers was later controlled and refined through the more widespread application of tonality (the use of overall chords and themes to unify a musical work). Though the contrasts still remained, by the 18th century composers had a greater tendency to work within a single mood, called an affect. Affects were specialties of the two greatest late Baroque German composers, George Frideric Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach.