The music you are listening to is "Ma Se Resti Al Mio Ben Al Mio Contento"
by Jacopo Peri. Peri's music was modeled by Claudio Monteverdi ("Seconda
prattica"). This music was considered to be the beginning of modern opera,
as now poetry could be set to music with a new, Humanist theory of rhetoric
tacens, and not the old, inflexible, strictly hierarchical Scholastic view of
reality.
Various rhetorical devices were used by the harmonic orator to understand and
create the music (and poetry), both sung and instrumental. A discussion
of a few of these rhetorical tools follows. However, while these tools are well-known
to musicians, they are not so well-known to the general public. What these
rhetorical tools support is an emphasis upon emotions or affections, by modifying
sounds by adding "silences" (increasing them by "doubling"), carrying sounds over a
larger time from measure to measure (relays), accents, etc.
"Whatever his tone of voice, the orator must continually wield an essential
tool of Pronunciation: accentuation, which primarily involves raising or
lowering the pitch of a syllable, thereby affecting the timbre of the vowels,
which have been likened to musical notes. It also involves emphasizing
consonants through a technique known as 'doubling'; for just as a musical
note must be articulated by an instrument, so an important syllable requires
a strong articulation if it is to have Expression."
1
.
.
The "slur" is a legato that binds several notes together.
2
.
.
Other important devices dealing with articulation.
3
DOUBLING 4
"If the orator does not double his consonants ... his delivery will be
little more than a harmonious flow of vowels that lap in sonorous waves
against listeners' ears but are devoid of meaning. It is the consonants,
not the vowels, that permit the ear to distinguish one syllable from
another. The cardinal rule for every public speaker is to ensure that
the audience will understand every word that is said. The orator
consequently 'doubles' the consonants of the most important words in each
line. That is to say, he lingers on the consonant at the start of the
syllable (and sometimes on another consonant as well), until the syllable
is approximately double its normal length."
5
.
"For violent passions, ... letters will then be doubled strongly; for
tranquil passions ... letters will be doubled weakly. These principles
permit one to state the following rule: One must double the letters in
all passages that bear the imprint of passion."
6
.
"He [Bérard] also shows that the degree of doubling is related
to the nature of the emotions being expressed."
7
.
"What Engramelle and Bédos call 'suspensions,' the 'articulation
silences of speech' are, of course, akin to the dips in intensity ..."
8
.
"What clearer statement do twentieth-century harmonic orators require
to reassure them that instruments had long been imitating the singing
human voice?"
8
.
"The two syllabels that span the bar lines of airs (indicated in this book
by a white and a black square followed by one or more slashes, □ ■ / )
are called 'relays' by Joseph Pineau, whose handbook on the rhythmic movment
of French provides invaluable insights for latter-day harmonic orators. These
relays carry the message of the poetic line forward in what amounts to a verbal
relay race where the baton of meaning continually passes from one important
word to the next."
9
.
The figure at the top of this page is a discussion about "articulation silences"
by Dom Bédos, 1778. The discussion follows.
10
.
At the top of the figure at the top of this page, a clef and staff appear.
It is similar to the figure immediately below:
"The little vertical line that Bédos shows above the first quarter note of
this example (see red arrow) indicates that the vowel should be very short. As a result, the
articulation silence of the second quarter note is quite long. The horizontal line
over the second quarter note indicates that the vowel is longer on this note; and
the dot over that line means that the articulation silence that launches the next
quarter note is approximately a sixteenth note long." (see the second clef and staff.)
"The second row reproduces his vowel lengths and ... the consonant with a blank space.
Along the bottom of the example the total length of each of the four full 'syllables'
is shown, beginning the articulation (suggested by a dashed line for the first syllable,
since Bédos shows no consonant) and continuing to the end of the black bar that
represents the vowel. The oscillations across the bar in this editorial section suggest
the flowing imprecision of Bédos's port de voix pincé et lié,
a port de voix with a mordent. That is to say, the two syllables of the relay flow
together, and the oscillations of the ornament suggest a consonant such as m that
can be doubled." 11
See below, for another example. 12
Thus various aspects of rhetorical tools such as accents, relays, doubling, etc.
were commonly employed in music, both instrumental, as well as sung, in airs as well
as recitativo. These rhetorical tools are still used.
1
Ranum, Patricia M.; "The Harmonic Orator: The Phrasing and Rhetoric of the
Melody in French Baroque Airs", Pendragon Press Musicological Series, 2001, p. 203
.
2
Keller, Hermann; "Phrasing and Articulation: A Contribution to a Rhetoric
of Music", W. W. Norton, New York, 1973, p. 43
.
3
Keller, Hermann; "Phrasing and Articulation: A Contribution to a Rhetoric
of Music", W. W. Norton, New York, 1973, p. 47
.
4
Doubling is also called "gronder". The consonant at the beginning of a syllable
has its length "doubled" before a vowel, else all that hearers hear are vowels.
Consonants provide meaning by distinguishing syllables.
Ranum, Patricia M.; "The Harmonic Orator: The Phrasing and Rhetoric of the
Melody in French Baroque Airs", Pendragon Press Musicological Series, 2001, pp. 113-115
.
5
Ranum, Patricia M.; "The Harmonic Orator: The Phrasing and Rhetoric of the
Melody in French Baroque Airs", Pendragon Press Musicological Series, 2001, p. 204
.
6
Ranum, Patricia M.; "The Harmonic Orator: The Phrasing and Rhetoric of the
Melody in French Baroque Airs", Pendragon Press Musicological Series, 2001, p. 205
.
7
Ranum, Patricia M.; "The Harmonic Orator: The Phrasing and Rhetoric of the
Melody in French Baroque Airs", Pendragon Press Musicological Series, 2001, p. 209
.
8
Ranum, Patricia M.; "The Harmonic Orator: The Phrasing and Rhetoric of the
Melody in French Baroque Airs", Pendragon Press Musicological Series, 2001, p. 206
.
9
Ranum, Patricia M.; "The Harmonic Orator: The Phrasing and Rhetoric of the
Melody in French Baroque Airs", Pendragon Press Musicological Series, 2001, p. 53
.
10
Ranum, Patricia M.; "The Harmonic Orator: The Phrasing and Rhetoric of the
Melody in French Baroque Airs", Pendragon Press Musicological Series, 2001, p. 207
.
11
Ranum, Patricia M.; "The Harmonic Orator: The Phrasing and Rhetoric of the
Melody in French Baroque Airs", Pendragon Press Musicological Series, 2001, p. 207
.
12
Ranum, Patricia M.; "The Harmonic Orator: The Phrasing and Rhetoric of the
Melody in French Baroque Airs", Pendragon Press Musicological Series, 2001, p. 215
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