The Role of Rhetoric in Music of the Baroque
by Lydia Michel
Introduction
This purpose of this paper is to explore the subtle connections of music and speech,
especially those of the Baroque period, in order to demonstrate that music is inherently a means
of communication between human beings. By recognizing that music is language that transcends
cultural barriers, we can recognize and harness music's power for the purpose of bringing
together members of our global community. However, the creation of this type of music can only
be achieved when it is produced with great sincerity and earnestness, and without the goal of
accumulating personal gain and recognition. In my experience, the most powerful and moving
performances have been those which were given by the humblest human beings. These
individuals do not perform for themselves, but for the preservation of art, and thus the
preservation of humanity. It is to this end that I daily strive to commit my own music-making,
with the hopes that I will be able to successfully instill the same vision in the artistic lives of my
future students.
Body
In his major treatise The Art of Rhetoric, Aristotle writes, "Let rhetoric be the power to
observe the persuasiveness of which any particular matter admits" (74); a statement which, as
observed by composers and theorists of the mid-seventeenth through eighteenth centuries,
directly applied to the rhetorical, or persuasive, power of music. Recognized by Aristotle as the
three essential elements to persuasive speech, "the speaker," "the subject," and "the listener"
were each inherently bound by the function of rhetoric (80). For example, a) the speaker must
communicate in such as was as to move his audience; b) the speaker must have something to
communicate about (the subject); and lastly, c) the speaker must have someone to communicate
to (the listener). Without these three components, rhetorical speech did not exist. Furthermore,
the writings of Greek and Roman authors such as Cicero and Quintilian, along with Aristotle,
demonstrate that the traditional oratical process consisted of five steps: inventio (finding the
argument), dispositio (ordering the argument), elocutio (style), memoria (memory), and
pronuntiatio (delivery) (Wilson). In Baroque and early Classical Era cultures, each of these steps
very nearly found its parallel in the music of day; especially as society began to emphasize
expressivity and rhetorical devices in music, and following a newly-applied appreciation for the
humanistic perspective which had taken root culturally during the Renaissance period.
Since the time of the Greeks and Romans, philosophers had recognized that both art forms
of oration and music shared many characteristics, and could even complement each other. For
example, Quintialian advocated for young orators a "knowledge of the principles of music,
which have power to excite or assuage the emotions of mankind" (Wilson). Later, the French
theorist Rousseau would state that that music "does not merely imitate, it speaks; and its
language--inarticulate but vivid, ardent, passionate--has a hundred times more energy that speech
itself" (Bonds, 67). Now, while music is obviously more elemental and ambiguous than direct
speech is, Rousseau was certainly correct in describing music as a form of communication. For
one thing, it shares the same components which rhetorical speech requires: a speaker (musician
or singer), a subject (something for which the piece is written, i.e. a dance, poetry, or an affect),
and a listener (audience member). However, more specifically, the compositional process of a
piece of music nearly mirrors that of the composition process of an oration (80).
Known to the Greeks as inventio and to German writers and composers as Erfindung,
meaning "creation," the first step of both types of the compositional process involved choosing
subject matter, and then determining an Anglage, or "groundplan," by which to sequence the
development of the subject. Following this step, the dispositio or elaboratio took place (called
the Anordnung in German), in which the subject and its characteristics were elaborated,
developed, repeated, embellished, etc. In music, this involved modulation to various keys,
sequencing the subject, creating imitation, etc., all for the purpose of developing the thematic
material and important compositional elements. The dispositio was generally the longest portion
of the piece or speech, in which all the different themes were shown to effectively relate to each
other and/or contrast so as to provide coherence throughout the entire work. In the final step, or
Ausarbeitung (elocutio), the composer would artistically recap the piece or oration so as to
achieve a sense of closure and balance (Bonds, 80). Memoria meanwhile dealt with the memory
of an orator or musician; i.e., the familiarity with the work which one has obtained through
repetition and increased knowledge of the material to be presented or performed, and which
would increase the quality of the final exhibition for the listener. Finally, pronunciatio would
further implement coherence and effectiveness to the piece or speech as a whole, due to the fact
that a well-"pronounced" final product (either delivered or performed) would be inherently
more persuasive than a less effectively-delivered one.
During the early to mid-eighteenth century in Germany, when and where the concept of
rhetoric in music was at its height, the reknowned German theorist Johann Mattheson wrote of
the compositional process:
Music is an oration in notes and seeks to move listeners just as an orator does. Why, then, should
the rules of oratory not be applicable to music? But understanding and wit are required if no
school-like tricks and pedantry are to come out of this. It is a cunning device of orators to give
their strongest proofs at the beginning [of an oration], their weaker ones in the middle, and their
strongest ones brought together once again at the end. This can also provide a good artifice for
musical composition. Above all, a successful composer of music will consider everything before
he advances to his work; he must, so to speak, outline his concept in the broadest way on a piece
of paper and order it nearly before he proceeds to elaborate it. The elaboration then follows much
better. He who has disposed well is already half-way toward elaboration (Bonds, 89).
This example from Mattheson, who had explored the comparison of rhetoric and music to an
unprecendented extent in his Der vollkommene Capellmeister, clearly demonstrates the common
view held among composers of the day that rhetoric is an essential element to music. However,
while most agreed that both music and speech had the power to communicate, a question arose
pertaining to how exactly rhetoric in music could be explained and thus effectively harnassed as
a functional and teachable tool.
As compared to poetry and writing, music contained both rhetorical, or "persuasive,"
elements, and grammatical elements (Bonds, 68). Eighteenth-century theorists such as Koch
recognized the grammatical elements to be more "material," making up "a science that can be
taught and learned"; while the rhetorical elements dealt with the inventio, or "ability to create
works of music," as influenced by an individual's inner genius. In this view, grammar was the
mechanical, teachable element of music, while rhetoric was the purely aesthetic element which
could not be taught and which could be demonstrated only as far as a musician's personal
imagination and good taste would allow (71). Like poetry, the grammar of music was made up of
meter, rhythm, period, notation of pitches and articulation, etc; i.e., basically that which
composers how the power to indicate on paper. However, rhetoric dealt with the more
ambiguous elements, such as timing, color, phrasing, texture, and conveyance of mood, all of
which were typically left up to the discretion of the performer and his performance ability.
According to Bonds, two listeners could listen to the same piece and form two differing
conclusions about whether or not the performace had been persuasive, just as applies to oration
(68). Finally, as Gotthilf Samuel Steinbart accurately assesses the difference:
[One often] says of musical compositions that they are correct in their construction [Satz] if
nothing appears offensive to the ear or contrary to the rules of harmony, even if in such pieces
there is often neither melody nor spirit. According to this point of view, the Satz is nothing other
than that which grammar is in language. A person can speak clearly and correctly as far as
grammar is concerned, and yet say nothing that is worthy of our attention (69).
One main reason why composers and theorists of the day emphasized the rhetorical
component of music so strongly relates to the development of the seconda pratica, or second
practice, of Claudio Monteverdi and his contemporaries during the end of the Renaissance.
According to this practice, the long-held rules of compositional counterpoint could be broken to
increase dissonance and thus heighten expressivity in music through the use of dissonance. In the
Baroque Era, the primary aesthetic style of music composition involved using this new practice,
along with several other elements, to consistently create pieces which could correctly represent a
rationalized state of emotion called an affect or a passion (Wilson, "Affects"). Using both
grammatical and rhetorical devices, the composer, like an orator, would take it upon himself to
write pieces in such a way as to induce particularly-intended affects in a listener. Such affects
could include sadness, joy, love, heroism, anger, uncertainty, etc., and it was typically believed
that the human body induced these emotions in a natural, rational way.
Due to the natural-philosophical studies of philosophers such as Descartes and Francis
Bacon, a commonly-held view arose among society in the Baroque Era that there existed a
scientific explanation for the physiological nature of the emotions or the affections (Burkholder,
296). Descartes and others believed that the affections were found naturally in the body as stable
states of the soul, but could be stimulated through external factors such as sound to produce a
physiological manifestation of a particular affection. Furthermore, Descartes attempted to
catalogue the affections in his treatise The Passions of the Soul with the underlying theory that
"for every motion stimulating the senses there is a specific emotion evoked in the soul" (296).
Following the circulation of this theory, musicians, painters, and dramatists throughout Europe
made it a priority to consistently use their art to stimulate the various affections in their audience.
Musicians did so by approaching composition in a very rational way so as to correctly imitate the
affection in a manner which they thought to be most effective. Ways of producing an affect
included using particular melodic and rhythmic motives, writing in a specific affective key or
meter, inserting trills (although this was often done by the performer), etc., all for the purpose of
setting the work to a particular mood. As applies to rhetoric, these devices functioned in music as
a way of elaborating upon or developing the affective subject of the piece, similar to the way in
which figures of speech worked convey mood in oration (Wilson, "Affects").
Now, while the idea of setting music expressively may seem commonplace to a modern
audience, as compares to the music of the Medieval Period and even of the Renaissance, this was
actually a novel concept. Before the Renaissance, the value of individual expression or of using
art for any purpose outside of the function of the church was basically nonexistent; the only
thing that mattered was to compose in an extremely strict style which could potentially produce
compositions that conveyed spiritual elevation. Now even though there were exceptions to this in
the "composition" of folk music, even then expression tended to be communicated through text
depiction or through use of one of the different modes. One could perhaps argue that the Greeks'
use of the modes was the first demonstration of employing rhetoric in early music. For example,
the Greeks based their tonal system on a set of four primary modes and their plagal relations,
with each beginning on a specific pitch: D began the Dorian mode, E the Phrygian mode, F the
Lydian mode, and G the Mixolydian mode. Composers in the Medieval period relied heavily on
these modes and their transpositions; but, according the the theorist Gombosi, the ancient modes
for the Greeks were not to be distinguished by their intervallic structure within the mode
(Steblin, 15). To illustrate this belief, Gombosi in his Tonarten und Stimmungen der antiken
Musik cited this example from Ptolemy:
When a voice sings the same melody, sometimes beginning from a higher pitch,
sometimes from a lower pitch, the effect produced is an alteration in the character. . .
.The same melody summons a rousing impression in the higher keys and an annoying
effect in the lower keys because a high pitch causes tension of the soul and a lower pitch
relaxation. Therefore, the middle keys in close proximity to the Dorian can be compared
with even-tempered and moderate feelings, the higher keys, around the Mixolydian, with
restlessness and activity, and the lower keys, around the Hypodorian, with feebleness and
weakness (15).
This understanding of the characteristics of the early modes began a process which was
reinstituted during the Baroque Era, but at a much more sophisticated level using the tonal keys.
Additionally, the technique of choosing individual keys to express music in a particular way
became a recognized rhetorical device in music composition, and is related to the "Doctrine of
the Affects," as the theory has since been termed.
Directly following the fall of the Byzantine Empire, during which time scholars from
eastern Europe fled to the ripe cultural center of Italy while carrying with them ancient Greek
and Roman writings, theorists such as Zarlino and Glarean, upon reading these "new" writings,
reawakened among musicians an interest in theory and in the ancient modes. For example,
Zarlino, in his Istitutioni harmoniche (1558), compared the ancient modes to the contemporary
church modes, and noticed many dissimilarities between the two which directly apply to the
concept of key characteristics. For the Dorian mode he made this comparison (Steblin, 27):
Dorian:
stable, fit for civilized men (Aristotle), serious (Lucian),
warlike
(Apuleius), severe, majestic, and vehement (Athenaeus),
imparts
modesty and preserves chastity (Cassiodorus), grave,
virtuous,
wise (Plato).
Church Mode 1.:
somewhat sad and suited to serious words
(D--a--D)
Now, while both of these modes start on the same initial pitches and both imply the quality of
seriousness, Renaissance Era vs. ancient speculation on the eight mode contrasted just enough so
that controversy arose among theorists as they individually reviewed the ancient writings and
made judgments about what each mode's affective qualities consisted of. This produced great
confusion for the composer as he attempted to set his work to the proper mode. As the French
theorist and contemporary of Zarlino stated, "In order to shape the music effectively, it is
necessary to choose a mode which does justice to the text of the sung verse, that is, which suits
the subject you wish to communicate" (Steblin, 28). As music gradually shifted to from modality
to tonality in the Baroque era, the concept of key characteristics became only more controversial
as recognized theorists tended to develop differing ideas on the topic. However, ultimately the
controversy funneled down into three separate categories of theoretical speculation, one of which
Classical Era composers gravitated towards and which became the primary concept of key
characteristics that remains to this day.
The first major theorists to make informed lists of specific key characteristics, following the
transition from modality to tonality in the early Baroque, were the French theorists Jean
Rousseau with his Methode claire (1691), and Jean-Philippe Rameau with his Traite de
l'harmonie (1722) (30). Both of these men developed contrasting ideas about the fundamental
underpinnings of key characteristics and also about the ramifications each theorist's view held
regarding transposition. Firstly, Rousseau maintained an interesting view regarding the
difference between major and minor keys. He held that minor pieces, which contain flat symbols
due to the lowered third, sixth, and seventh degrees of the scale, were suited to "soft, tender and
languid songs," just as major pieces with sharp symbols were better suited to gay songs. His
reasoning included these concepts: 1) Just as the flat sign has a round shape, "every round shape
is fit to roll softly"; and 2) Since the sharp sign has a square shape, "experience teaches us that
every square shape only rolls in leaps and bounds, creating noise" (Steblin, 31). Furthermore,
Rousseau held that the primary role of transposition was to create variety within a piece, and that
secondary keys would not change the inherent affective quality of the piece: "For although the
manner of sounding the music is the same in the transposed keys as in the natural ones, the
modulation is nevertheless quite different."
Rameau, like Rousseau in his treatise, assigned specific affective characteristics to each of
the keys; and, like Rousseau, he tended to group several keys within the same set (Steblin, 37).
However, Rameau's assignment of the various key characteristics was very different from
Rousseau's listings, demonstrating that both theorists had each relied on his own intuition and
personal emotions to assess the keys for their individual qualities. For example, while Rousseau
describes F major and A major (transposed) as being suitable for devotional pieces or church
songs (32), Rameau designates A major for "songs of mirth and rejoicing" and F major for
"tempests, furies, and other similar subjects" (36). Furthermore, while Rousseau believed that
transposition did not affect key characteristic, since what mattered most (in his view) was
intervallic relationship, and more importantly, the contrast of major and minor keys; Rameau
held an alternate view. He once stated that "The different arrangement of the semitones found in
the octave of each note which can be taken as the principal or tonic note, however, creates
certain differences in the modulation of these octaves." By this Rameau meant transposition had
the inherent power to change the affect of a given key, basing his conclusions upon the fact that
in the unequal temperament system of tuning at the time, the semitones of each key were not
identically measured (i.e., the half step between E and F was slightly different than the the half
step between B and C, etc.). Essentially, while Rameau still had not determined the opinion that
it was the color of the keys themselves which change the affect of a given key, his personal
views on transposition were nevertheless better supported than those of Rousseau's, leading to
the third idea which theorists developed regarding key characteristics.
Perhaps the most thorough and well-supported treatise regarding key characteristics is that
of the German theorist Johann Mattheson (1681-1764), entitled Das neu-eroffnete Orchestre
(Steblin, 40). This treatise, rather than detailing Mattheson's personal opinion regarding
individual key aspects, delves more deeply into the historical and rational underpinnings for
modal and tonal affects. As Mattheson himself states,
It is well known, if one considers the time, circumstances, and persons involved, that each key
possesses special characteristic and is very different in its effect from he other keys; but, what
each key actually has for its affect, and how and when this affect is aroused, is greatly
contradicted (40).
In his treatise, he compares the views of Aristotle, Athenaeus, Kirchner, Zarlino, and other
influential writers on the subject in an attempt to determine whether or not the modes shared
common characteristics with their tonal parallels (previously, theorists had always written
separate treatises when discussing key characteristics) (42). However, among the various writers
and thinkers, Mattheson found many dissimilarities that caused him to speculate about what
could be the underlying source for key characteristics. For example, he writes:
Those people who believe that the whole secret is to be found in the minor or major third, and
who maintain that as a rule all minor keys are inevitably sad and that all major keys are usually
joyful, are not entirely wrong; they have just not gone far enough in their investigations.
Much less correct are those people who believe that a piece in flats absolutely must sound
soft and tender, while a piece in sharps must be hard, lively, and joyful. The errors of the first
opinion, the naivete of the second, and the incongruity [of these views] can be clearly
shown....(46-47).
Mattheson later shows that he did not consider it to be either unequal tuning or intervallic
relationship which gave a key its characteristics, but rather the color or flavor of the pitch itself.
Again, as best stated in his own words:
Each tone, which is set as the key-note of a mode, possesses in itself, as a sound, such individual
characteristics, which distinguish it completely from all other sounds and imbue it with a totally
different art, figure, name, strength and nature, that even though equal temperament should be
introduced everywhere today through royal ordination, one does not have to fear that one key will
sound like every other key and nothing be gained thereby (Steblin, 51).
He references the controversy surrounding tuning with equal temperament because, according to
Rameau's popular writings on the subject, it was generally believed that by changing to equal
temperament, which more evenly distribute the semi-tones throughout a keyboard, individual
key characteristic would be lost. However, Mattheson's proposition that it was not the
irregulaties in tuning that determined key characteristic created such a reaction that awareness
about the subject increased, and in effect helped to lead to the universal acceptance of equal
temperament. Later, Mattheson's theory would be realized in the music of composers such as
Beethoven and Schumann. As Schindler writes of Beethoven:
If anyone had dared to paly even a little song of his in another key in his presence, the
malefactor would soon have regretted his mistake. [Beethoven] was incensed when he
heard this or that number from a Mozart opera performed in a key other than its original
one (140).
Therefore, since the time of the Classical period, it has become an accepted (although not
well-circulated) theory that key characteristics are determined by their inherent quality, and not
through any one tuning system.
Now, while it became generally accepted throughout Europe during the Baroque and early
Classical periods that music contains the rhetorical power to communicate expressively as well
as to produce particular affects in listeners, this same concept was also demonstrated in both art
and drama. One reason why this parallel took place at roughly the same time, however, had less
to do with the bringing of ancient writings from Byzantium than it did with the influence of the
Church. For example, during the Reformation and following the Council of Trent (1545-63), the
Roman Catholic Church emphasized the use of rhetorical persuasion in order to retain its
members and to bring back those who had left the Church for other denominations. Methods of
effecting this retention included a) utilizing the medium of theatre complete with affective
gesture, declamation, and oratical display, in plays based on spiritual or Biblical subjects, known
as "mysteries" (Norman, 3); b) patronizing artists and architects for elaborate interior design; and
c) producing eloquent and moving sermons, etc (2). Because the Church regularly made use of
display and opulence in an attempt to win back its congregation, theatre and art became
recognized as perfectly legitimate forms of conveying power and grandeur by aristocrats across
Europe. By the period of the Baroque, patronage of the arts had become a major industry,
especially as applies to drama and music (great art had been funded by the Church since the
Renaissance).
Not only were the mediums of art and drama used persuasively as a means to an end, but
within these creative forces were found various "compositional" elements that also contributed to
their rhetorical power. For example, artists and dramatists alike adhered to the "Doctrine of the
Affects" in an attempt to communicate in a persuasive manner. One such example included the
affective gesture, demonstrated below to belong to both painting and drama through Laurent de
La Hyre's painting Panthea, Cyrus, and Araspus.
In this painting, Cyrus, who is king of Persia as well as a main hero in the corresponding drama
Cyropaedia by Xenophon, is shown outstretching his arm and pointing in a limp manner towards
the soldiers in the background of the painting. This affective gesture, which may seem somewhat
unnatural to a modern audience, represented, during the Baroque Era, "spectacular magnanimity
on the part of the hero, a highly public performance either of abnegation (choosing military duty
over love--the army, to the right, over Panthea to the left) or perhaps of clemency for the
repentent Araspus" (Norman, 9). Also, use of space in this painting allows the painter to
represent two scenes, one in the foreground (a conversation between Cyrus and Araspus), and
one in the background (soldiers preparing for battle). The end result called for an emotional
response from the viewer of the painting (or an audience member of the play which the painting
is illustrating), based on the fact that repeated usage of very specific rhetorical gestures had
developed over time into a subtle language which members of Baroque society were familiar
with.
Because one of the chief objectives of Baroque artists was to represent motion and life in
their paintings and sculptures, these art forms not only typically portrayed drama and life, but
also rhetorically induced an affective response from art appreciators living in the Baroque Era.
Furthermore, dramatists and actors incorporated emotional appeals such as affective gesture and
rhetorical speech to such an extent that public audiences during the Baroque began to readily
support theater for the purpose of experiencing emotions different from those which typically
accompanied their normal, everyday lives. This goal of creating music that impacts an audience
emotionally and personally is still a primary objective of performers and creaors today. For
example, as a pianist and performer myself, I express myself through music in a way which I feel
demonstrates my interpretation of the piece and communicates the composer's emotions and
purpose of the piece to the audience. I am essentially a vessel through which the psyche and
personality of the composer is shared via sound, giving life to an otherwise voiceless piece of
paper with seemingly random symbols written upon it. For musicians and appreciators of music,
the system of musical notation is a language, like any other one, that shares thoughts and
experiences in a way which actually surpasses normal communication for this reason: it is closer
to the heart. Furthermore, my personal experiences will produce the music differently from
another performer's interpretation of the original work, just as one individual's personality
reflects differently in his tone or quality of voice than another person's. Just as with verbal
communication, music is highly personal and cannot be manufactured successfully through any
machine; it must be produced by a living, breathing human being.
Conclusion
In the Baroque Era the compositional process often paralleled the writing of oration, using
melodic and harmonic gestures, elements of musical grammar, and particular keys to
communicate expressively and affectively. Whether found in the mediums of oration, music,
art, or drama, this use of rhetoric and affect consistently demonstrated the goal of the great
creators of the day, which was to move their audiences and appreciators. The achievement of this
end has become a driving force that continues to this day, inspiring artists, musicians, actors, and
writers to impact the modern audience in such as way as will effectively and affectively persuade
society that the arts are worth preserving for the future of mankind. For me personally, music is a
great heritage and rich language which will not remain relevant unless we seek to maintain its
communicative aspect. To do this, we must demonstrate to each future generation music's power
to break down cultural barriers, generate global ties, and consistently bring people together in
harmony and recognition of the universal bond of humanity.
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*I am following the MLA style guide