RHETORIC AND MUSIC

This post will discuss the close relationship between Rhetoric (the art of persuasive verbal communication) and Music. Understanding these two disciplines can help music performers to improve their awareness in musical composition and performance practices that date back to medieval times (Boethius c.480-524 AD, Guido de Arezzo c. 991/992-1033, Ars Nova) and the Renaissance, while providing insight to expressive and persuasive parameters involved with musical interpretation. It is noteworthy to point out that musical works often mimicked the structural outline of classical orations. Also, it’s important to bear into account that instrumentalists were encouraged to imitate speech in performance.

Of course, the art of Rhetoric dates back to the time of Classical Greece. It is well known Plato’s ( c. 428–423 BC - 348/347 BC) theories on the ability of music to have an impact on our emotions and behavior. Aristotle’s (384–322 BC) concept of ethos (the characteristic spirit of a culture, era or community), pathos (the use of emotion to persuade an audience) and logos (a rhetorical device that uses logic, facts and evidence to persuade an audience appealing to their sense of rationality) have all had an influence on musical expression.

Rhetorical devices (figures of speech) can be found in any piece of music that can also be considered as a musical discourse or a narrative story. An anaphora (the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses) can be used in music melodically, harmonically and rhythmically with possible slight variations on each repetition. A climax can be represented musically through ascending melodic lines, an increase in texture or even by means of an acceleration in rhythm. Hyperbole can manifest itself thanks to dynamic contrast and extreme ranges. Antithesis can be made present in music through contrasting musical ideas and/or textures.

The art of music can be considered as the art of speech, they both employ persuasion. As a performer, if I’m able to establish an emotional connection with my audience/listener, then I can produce an effect on their emotions (happy, sad, excitement, etc.). This concept was a fundamental practice during the Baroque era and is known as the doctrine of Affects or affections; both words and music notes are capable of provoking different feelings. Pronunciato (delivery or execution), one of the canons of classical rhetoric, allows the musician to execute the work with conviction thanks to the use of appropriate articulation and dynamics. The goal is to “move” the listener. C.P.E. Bach addresses this concept perfectly in his Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments: “A musician cannot move others unless he too is moved.” According to him, chromatics, harmony, and motifs, could all evoke specific feelings in the listener.

There was also the use of key tradition. To sum up this practice which lasted until about the time of Beethoven or the early 19th c., the closer the composition was to C major/ A minor (the absence of sharps/flats in the key signature) the more stable the piece of music would be, and the opposite is true as well (i.e. D flat major would represent ‘chaos’).