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After the Middle Ages there was a rupture , a 'rebirth'. It began in the 14th century and began to die off and blossom into something better during the 17th century. Music, art, politics, science, religion- it didn't all just go away but things were definitely shifting in all aspects.

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Early on during this time period, the idea of humanism were going mainstream). Humanism, same as the Renaissance as a whole, started in Italy. The idea that people have the power within themselves to achieve whatever they desired, and such achievements should be celebrated. Things like literature, science,  the arts, education.

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This is Da Vinci's Madonna of the Rocks. It's a good example of what finely aged and well thought out Renaissance art generally looked like. After a bit you notice a pattern. Religious, restrained, everything or everyone is centered and symmetrical.
Leonardo Da Vinci was a pioneer- inventor, architect and of course painter, also responsible for more recognizable works like The Mona Lisa.
Truly a 'Renaissance man'.

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Born at just the right time, February 1564, Galilei was an Italian astronomer who made great strides in his field. He was also an engineer, who was the first to use the telescope for observing the stars. He was able to confirm that the Earth was, in fact, not the center of the solar system, and describe Saturn's rings and Jupiter's moons.
This, of course, ruffled the feathers of the church, making it a good time to put Galilei under house arrest until his natural death. (Worry not because the exact moment of his death, he is reborn as Isaac Newton.)

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Now, something to note is what makes Renaissance music. Overall it is quite restrained in comparison to Baroque. We haven't yet hit a point composers can just up and leave the employment and constraints of their church.
Weelkes mainly wrote secular madrigals, which means, basically it was the first taste of the Baroque period. Madrigals were more expressive, more dramatic, and meant for entertainment.

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The Protestant Reformation, catalyzing the emotional progress needed to bring Italy into the Baroque period. During the Reformation, Protestants ransacked Catholic churches along with the artwork, instruments, and text inside. The Catholics sent the Inquisition to onto their foes what had been done to them After such a traumatizing event, both sides are drained and decide it's time for a change in...well, everything

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While many were in fact unhappy with the political and religious situation before the big shift, everything didn't happen all at once.
This sculpture is called Madonna with Child and was finished in 1503.
Earlier on in his career you can see a calmness in the things Michelangelo put out. As time passed, he began to feel much like everyone else felt- constricted, frustrated, only to express such negative emotions through his works.
Things like his Young Slave sculpture and his The Last Judgement painting, aren't so much things that stuck out during the Baroque period, but they were what stood the test of time and made the Baroque period stand out today in reflection of how the arts has grown.

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Newton (aka Galilei reborn) was a scientist who in life studied gravity, performed countless experiments pertaining to time, leading to his contribution to music and finding new ways to measure the tempo of music.

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Handel had always loved opera so it really just seemed like the right thing to do when he quit his job as a court musician and compose his own opera.
During the Baroque period, most pieces consisted of both vocals and instruments and at times the orchestra was much larger. Around this point in time there is just about as much secular music as there is music for the church, whereas during the Renaissance, secular music was still relatively new.
Handel traveled quite a lot for someone of this time: Germany, Italy, England. That had an influence on how he wrote and experienced other pieces.