Handel is the master of baroque melody. Bach, the master of music in its purest forms. I play through various chunks of the WTC every night before moving on to Beethoven or Chopin and find something else in the way a phrase can be formed (Bach lets you do this) that changes the nature of the prelude or fugue.
Most composers give you exacting directions in the music, but Bach you get a very white canvas. You get notes, and rests (what the Japanese call the "Ma") and not much else.
The interpretation depends a great deal on one's knowledge or conception of baroque performance norms. The Bach of Czerny or Busoni is quite different than that of Andras Schiff or Gustav Leonhardt. But I would argue that they are all valid - at least in the case of Bach.
The nature of absolute music is that it is endlessly adaptable. Harpsichord, Concert Grand, Swingle Singers, Bela Fleck, Wendy/Walter Carlos, hot Russian chick with a guitar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olW6-jhSgMg, Stokowski with a full romantic orchestra, Mozart string quartet transpositions...
No other composer has that universality.
Still, Handel writes a better show tune.
Exactly.
Even though Bach was a barouque period composer, I don't think he is thought of as a quintessential baroque composer like Handel is today.
Bach is, well, in his own category.
I think you touched on it though - baroque celebrates the order of the universe.
But I have a weakness for baroque melody. I love Vivaldi. Isn't it amazing how many movies of the last 30 to 40 years have incorporated his work? The composer John Williams (who has written and conducted the musical scores for all of Spielberg's movies except for one) said he has used the influence of the great baroque masters in his scores.
Check this out:
John Williams - His film music and their influences
This is "Han and Leia's Theme" by Williams.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxYIyPVo_Go
The melody is straight out of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D.