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improvisation played an important role in the Baroque

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the written music often supplied only the melody which the performer was expected to embellish

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a figured bass line

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included numbers which indicated which other notes were to be played

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singers and instrumentalists were expected to improvise ornaments like trills, grace notes, and turns

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to personally enhance composers music

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Da Capo aria

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"from the top"

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the singer would sing the aria once as written

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then sing it from the top adding ornaments and embellishments to show off their skills

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while the French preferred fine embellishments

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the Italians used extended embellishments like whole scales and arpeggios

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performers of concertos would perform their own cadenzas

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improvised solo passages toward the end of a concerto movement

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the best keyboardists in the Baroque were able to improvise variations on a given theme

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and even improve fugues

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at parties or informal competitions

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improvisation was a true mark of one's musicianship

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creativity

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technique

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deep understanding of the musical language

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J.S. Bach

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a remarkable improviser

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his organ compositions were "full of the expression of devotion, solemnity, and dignity"

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of his improvisations, "in which nothing was lost in the process of writing down but everything came directly to life out of his imagination, is said to have been still more devout, solemn, dignified and sublime"