Rome: The Age of Reason

This was the time of the grand musical spectacle and the development of the oratorio. Militantly engaged in rebutting the Protestants, the Roman church established oratories where the congregation would sing sacred music, a practice unknown before the Counter-Reformation. The result was the oratorio, the Church's answer to opera, which it closely resembles in form. This is the age of the Baroque, represented by such artists as Caravaggio and Bernini.