Some Principles of Baroque Aesthetics Which Are Important for Musical Expression

One of the most important prerequisites for the formation of the Baroque style of music was the desire to revive the art of ancient rhetoric, which has the following similarities with music: (1) the sonic nature of the realisation (the perception of the expression through hearing); (2) the processual nature (becoming in a particular segment of time); (3) the emotional nature (the aim of arousing affects); (4) common elements of both languages (verbal and musical): tempo, rhythm, accentuation, articulation, pauses, timbre, intonation and so forth. Mention of R. Descartes’ Compendium of Music and Passions of the Soul as works which exercised a great influence on the theory of affects, and presentation of the ideas of A. Angoulvent on Cartesian philosophy. Application of this to the performance of music, so that the affect is the idea, and its understanding provides the key to the means of expression. According to the Lithuanian musicologist G. Daunoravičienė, intellectual and affective communication between the orator/music and listener characteristic of the Baroque aesthetic means that not only the former (the addresser) but also the latter (the addressee) participates in the becoming of the work. Mention of other principles of Baroque aesthetics in music, such as the ability to think through singing (singend denken), which C. P. E. Bach considered synonymous with playing expressively, and the idea of freedom of movement developed by P. Tosi, which eventually became established in the practice of musical performance as the term rubato (rubare il tempo—“stealing time”; the author connects this with J. J. Quantz’s earlier advice to performers to avoid uniformity when sounding the notes).