The Pathetick Musician

What is rhetorical music? In The Pathetick Musician, Bruce Haynes and Geoffrey Burgess illustrate the vital place of rhetoric and eloquent expression in the creation and performance of Baroque music. Through engaging explorations of the cantatas of J.S. Bach, the authors explode the conventional notion of historical authenticity in music, proposing adventurous new directions to reinvigorate the performance of early music in the modern setting. Along the way, Haynes and Burgess investigate intersections between music and oratory, dance, gesture, poetry, painting and sculpture, and offer insights into figural elaboration, articulation, nuance and temporality. Aimed primarily at performers of Baroque music, the book situates the study of performance practice in a broader cultural context, and as much as an invaluable resource for advanced study, it contains a wealth of information that pertains directly to anyone working in the field of early music.
Based on a draft sketched by celebrated Baroque oboist and early music scholar Bruce Haynes before his death in 2011, The Pathetick Musician is the fruit of the combined wisdom of two musicians renowned equally for their contributions as performers and scholars. Drawing on an impressive array of Classical treatises on oratory, musical autographs and performance accounts, it is an essential companion to Haynes' controversial The End of Early Music. Geoffrey Burgess has taken up the broader claims of Haynes' philosophy to create a practical, accessible text that will be stimulating for all musicians interested in the rediscovery of early music. With copious musical examples, contemporaneous works of art, and a companion website with supplementary audio recordings, The Pathetick Musician is an invaluable resource for all interested in exploring new expressive possibilities in the performance and study of Baroque music.

Baroque oboists Bruce Haynes and Geoffrey Burgess established reputations as authorities on the history of their instrument with their co-authored book The Oboe, voted an outstanding achievement by the American Music Instrument Society. Haynes' writings, notably The End of Early Music, are known for pioneering new approaches in historical performance practice and inspiring healthy debate among scholars and performers of early music. Burgess, an instructor at the Eastman School of Music, recently published Well-Tempered Woodwinds: Friedrich von Huene and the Making of Early Music in a New World, which combines the biography of a leading manufacturer of historic instruments with a history of the emerging early music scene in America. Bruce Haynes passed away in May, 2011.

Foreward: Aus der Tiefe (Geoffrey Burgess) Acknowledgements List of Musical Examples and Figures List of Audio Examples
Preface: Pipe Dreams (Bruce Haynes)
Part I Introduction: The Eloquent Musician (BH) The Truth in Eloquence Rhetorical Music The Pathetick Musician 'Ut pictura poesis' The Officers of Rhetoric Style Coaches Further Reading
Chapter 1: In the Realm fo the Passions (GB) Humanism and the Rhetorical Ethos Seconda pratica Of Æsthetics and Beauty Autonomous Music and 'Art for Art's sake' Personally expressing passions or Passionately expressing persons? Further Reading
Chapter 2: The Principles of Eloquence: The Artist's Toolbox (GB) The Offices of Rhetoric Structuring Rhetoric The Sense of Music On the possibility of a Figurenlehre Further Reading
Chapter 3: Bach's Expressive Universe (GB) Imitation: Portraying and Evoking the World 'Clear running water': Schweitzer's Legacy Figuring Bach's World Bach the Poet, Bach the Painter Onomatopoeia Landscapes and 'Paintings of Life' Further Reading
Chapter 4: Bach's Passionate Inner world (GB) General and Particular Expression Reading Bach's Passions Fear and Tremolo Antithesis: At Odds with oneself Polyphonies of Passions: Passions in Polyphony The Proximity of Opposites Further Reading
Part II Chapter 5: Enhancing Eloquence in Performance (Elocutio) (GB) The 'Intentional Fallacy' Fallacy: Whose Intention? Elocutio: the Essence of Performance Practice 'Humouring' the score Tempo and Affekt Light and shadow Further Reading Chapter 6: Figures: Spinning straw into gold (GB) Public Speaking, Public Musicking Declamation as Figurative Speech Figures as Glosses and Ornamentation Essential Graces Graces as Glosses The Salt of Music: the Spice of Dissonance Graces as Passionate Expression Structuring Ornaments: Passaggi and Paraphrase Ornaments in History Further Reading
Chapter 7: The expressive Gesture (GB) Audible architecture Articulating the Musical Gesture The Breath of Life Agogics The Agogic Accent, The Agogic Pickup, The Agogic Placement, The Hesitation Finding the Poetry in the Notes Pause to Reflect Gesture and Character Gesturing towards the Phrase Further Reading
Chapter 8: Kairos: Expressive Timing (GB) Chronos and Kairos: Two kinds of time The metronome and the modern tendency toward Chronos The beat, or pulse in Baroque Music 'The true motion of the Bass' Tempo Fluctuation Borrowed time Kairos: Isolating Musical Events Timing in Dance Music Further Reading
Chapter 9: To Kindle the Heart: Engagement in Performance (GB) The sovereign Audience Authentic Ears Music in the Body The Meaning of Vortrag 'The Unutterable Ravishing Soul's Delight' Dance: Une poësie muette Sincerity in Performance Mental Multitasking Further Reading
Chapter 10: Analysing Expression in Recordings of Bach's cantatas (BH)
Appendix: Bibliography of the Writings of Bruce Haynes
General Bibliography
Index