Rhetoric and Music

The emphasis on the relationship between rhetoric and music in the late sixteenth and seventeenth-centuries Germany left a lasting mark on Western music theory. To the division of musica theorica / speculativa and musica practica, a third category was created: musica poetica. With the growing importance of rhetoric in Renaissance humanistic education, the close link between rhetoric and music is documented in the emergence of theories on musical-rhetoric figures. These are used to depict the meaning of words and have as their basis the correlation be-tween rhetorical figures of speech and similar musical figures, and their appearance stems from the attempt to justify irregular or even considered incorrect contrapuntal writing.

Even though eighteenth-century German theorists are crucial in the context of Figurenlehre, the main focus in this article is on the early stages of German musica poetica with Burmeister (1564–1629), proceeding chronologically to Wolfgang Schonsleder (1570–1651, with references to Athanasius Kircher), and ending my analysis with Christoph Bernhard (1628–1692). I will explore their approaches to musica poetica and, even though they all verge from the classical rhetorical notion of elocutio (or decoratio), how do they differ between them.

German Theories of musical-rhetorical figures often do not offer consistency of terminology between different authors: some musical figures that signify a similar idea or affect are often given a substantially different name from theorist to theorist. The issue, however, goes beyond mere nomenclature: frequently the writers’ diverse influences—such as Lutheran Lateinschule tradition (Burmeister), Jesuit doctrine (Schonsleder / Kircher), or seconda pratica Italian input mixed with German tradition (Bernhard)—tend to shape different ideas on how to explain and categorize musical-rhetorical figures, their association with rhetoric, and how they express a particular affect. German musica poetica was, therefore, far from being a unified system.

The construction of character on the early operatic stage by means of musical gestures is an indisputable achievement of Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643). Such an accomplishment was the result of a continuing development of musical ideas over many decades that encompassed additional modes of inquiry from philosophy to rhetoric. The merging of these fields is evidenced in the Preface to Book VIII, in which Monteverdi laid out a concatenation of threefold divisions: three genera--concitato, temperato, and molle--in association with a high, medium, and low voice and with three emotions / virtues: anger, temperance, and humility / supplication. A detailed inquiry into the Preface terminology reveals its roots in a series of theoretical, rhetorical, and philosophical sources. An indepth musical analysis of Monteverdi’s Venetian operas Ulisse and Poppea and their main roles--Penelope and Ulisse in the former, and Nerone, Poppea, Seneca, and the betrayed spouses in the latter--demonstrates that the application of the three genera went beyond Book VIII. The primary emphasis of this research is devoted to how Monteverdi extended this system, along with all his musico-rhetorical devices, to the construction of character and depiction of emotion in his operas. Such an analysis illustrates the development of the composer’s musical aesthetic and his search for verisimilitude conveyed in his human operatic characters, a quest that he pursued for many years.

Despite the frequently critiqued prolixity in much of his oeuvre, Alexander Agricola (1445/46-1506) crafted music comprehensible enough to elicit great praise from numerous contemporaries. What is then inherently praiseworthy in this abstruse music? In his Salve Regina I, Agricola crafts a musical argument for his garrulity, the thesis of which aims to clarify and justify the virtue of his style. While Agricola employed cantus firmus conventions to provide formal scaffolding, he also imbues discursiveness with comprehensibility through rhetorical techniques, such as inflection of cadence, clearness of imitation, phraseology of text, and varied implementation of cantus firmus. Articulating the micro-structure of his music, these components are then couched in the discourse of the classical argument: an introduction, confirmation, and refutation of a thesis. In Agricola’s Salve Regina I, motet becomes a medium for the exhibition and logical justification of his musical thesis of abstract polystylism.

7. SINGING TO THE EAR AND TO THE HEART: PERFORMANCE PRACTICE AND THE RHETORICAL TRADITION IN EARLY AND MID-EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ITALIAN VOCAL Music ALAN MADDOX Contemporary sources indicate that in the early and mid-eighteenth century, the goal of ...