G. Ph. Telemann’s Concertos for Four Violins withoutbassocontinuoin the aspect of onomatopoeic and figurative rhetoric

Statement of the problem. In musicology there has long been a tacit belief that Baroque music is the music of rhetoric, rhetorical figures and affects. In Baroque aesthetics, rhetoric, which is an important element of Baroque poetics, is perceived as an integral part of the content of a musical piece that together with form, harmony, counterpoint and musical expression form its integral substance. The study of Baroque music from the perspective of the rhetorical aspect gives a clearer comprehension of the work, understanding the context, and the competent interpretation of the composer’s idea. Analysis of recent research and publication. The theoretical assumptions of this article are based both on historical treatises (M. Praetorius, Ch. Bernhard, J. Mattheson) and authoritative works of researchers who studied theoretical issues of historically informed performance of the late XX – early XXI century (D. Bartel, L. Dreyfus), including relatively new works (M. Zgółka, P. Zawistowski, A. Mocek). M. Zgółka (2016) adopts a rather traditional approach to rhetoric, which operates with rhetorical figures and affects, and at the same time offers an innovative division of rhetoric into three varieties. Referring to the most important treatises L. Dreyfus (2004) makes us think about the relevance of making parallels between oratory and musical rhetoric highlighting common features and differences. A. Mocek’s (2019) view on musical rhetoric and on the studies devoted to it is quite critical. The main objective of the study is to examine G. Ph. Telemann’s Concertos for Four Violins without basso continuo from the perspective of figurative and onomatopoeic rhetoric. The scientific novelty. In this research for the first time, Telemann’s Concertos were analyzed from the perspective of onomatopoeic and figurative rhetoric. The concept of division of rhetoric into three categories (onomatopoeic, figurative, symbolically mystical) was proposed by the Polish violinist and theorist M. Zgółka (2016). The author uses the following methods in this research: historical, typological, comparative and structural-functional analysis. Results. The analysis of four concertos demonstrates that G. Ph. Telemann uses not only figurative type of rhetoric but also onomatopoeic, successfully combining these two categories. In comparison with, for example, A. Vivaldi or H. I. F. von Biber, the palette of sound imitative techniques in the concertos of G. Ph. Telemann is not so diverse and comprehensive, however, elements of onomatopoeic rhetoric can be found both in fast and slow movements: sound of organ or bells as well as sound images of nature. The composer does not refuse from the elements of figurative rhetoric. Like in his duo sonatas, these are mainly represented by figures that describe a melodic motion. Such techniques are often found in polyphonic quick movements. In the lyrical slow movements, similarly to the duo sonatas, harmony, polyphony and intervals are brought to the fore. Conclusions. G. Ph. Telemann’s cycle of Concertos for Four Violins without continuo is an interesting example of chamber music not only in terms of composition but also from the view point of the usage and combination of various types of musical rhetoric. Knowledge of the rhetorical component brings researchers and performers to a new, more comprehensive level of understanding of the composer’s music, allowing us to consider the emotional content not only of the work as a whole, but also of each single intonation.

An Approach to Musical Rhythm in Agbadza

The musical rhythm of Agbadza is analyzed as dynamic and multideterminant, that is, as emerging from the interaction of many different musical factors including dance, metric structure, and the accentuation and grouping of the parts in the drum ensemble (bell, handclap, rattle, and support drum). Response drum and lead drum parts are analyzed for accentuation and rhythmic motion; the singing of Agbadza is studied in terms of melodic motion, design of phrases, and call-and-response form. The temporal relationship of songs to instrumental music is examined. By integrating the performance modalities of dance, song, and drumming within a holistic, ethnographically informed analysis of musical rhythm, the chapter models a method for documenting and understanding traditions of African performance art.

A Model of Performing Musicians' Melodic Perception through Transcription of Two-Voice Contrapuntal Music

This article reports findings from two experiments examining strategies utilized by professional musicians who transcribed a Mozart duet, wherein we explored the possibility that their cognitive processes would be revealed through their transcription strategies on multiple sequential presentations of the same stimulus. We hypothesized that transcription accuracy would be influenced by four factors: Scale degrees, conjunct/disjunct melodic motion, vertical consonance/dissonance, and melody position. In Experiment 1, we reduced the foreground of Mozart's 1783 B-flat Major Duo for Violin and Viola, and used three taped repetitions of the reduction as the experimental stimulus. Participants transcribed the music as the tape played, adding to their transcription during an additional three minutes following each presentation on forms permitting them to see their previous transcriptions, but precluding change of their previous work. Experiment 2 inverted the melodic lines of the stimulus. Our results examined pitch accuracy as the unit of analysis, on each note of the multiple stimuli presentations. Data analysis confirmed the influence of scale degrees, melodic motion and melodic relationship on perceptual accuracy, but showed no influence of vertical consonance/dissonance.

Modal Pitch Space — A Theoretical and Analytical Study

This paper presents an approach to the pitch space of the seven diatonic modes. The proposed theory is an expansion of Fred Lerdahl's tonal pitch space model; its purpose is a more accurate description of the situations involved in the analysis of diatonic modal music. The original methodology and set of algebraic calculating formulae is retained, but it is applied on modal instead of tonal space, on the basis that the latter is a subset of the former. In connection to Fred Lerdahl's theory, melodic motion, chord attraction and various cadence types are described within the modal context. Apart from the calculation of the pitch and the chordal and regional space algebraic representations, geometrical representations of all three levels of the modal pitch space are also included. Finally, the stability conditions arising from the new model are used as criteria to build the time span reduction and prolongational reduction parts of the Generative Theory of Tonal Music (GTTM) analysis of modal music. Two short GTTM analyses of 20th century modal music are being presented to illustrate the new model's analytical use.