01 October 1980

Oratorical Thought and the Tragdie lyrique: A

Consideration of Musical-Rhetorical Figures
Written by Leslie Ellen Brown

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, numerous treatises on music made the analogy between
musical composition and Greek and Latin theories of oratory and rhetoric.1 After all, the stirring of emotions
and the qualifications of affects in the Baroque era in general were hardly the exclusive domain of music;
they were also the domain of the application of word and idea to oration and literature. It would seem a
reasonable assumption that the analogy between figures of speech and figures of musicdesignated as
the "Figurenlehre" and neatly categorized by German music theoristswas taken for granted
by French Baroque theorists and musicians alike. The writings of music theorists in France during the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries imply a widespread knowledge of the tools of oratory, the teachings
of the ancients, and techniques for the expression of the passions, although the French never set down an
explicitly precise system of musical-rhetorical thought, as German theorists did. This fact should not
surprise us because much the same thing is true in other countries such as Italy, where the Greco-Latin
culture prevailed as an unchanging, unbroken heritage. Because of the encroachment of all things
classical upon language and drama (a fact that is particularly applicable to the tragdie lyrique, which was
considered by its creators and its audience alike primarily as a stylized version of the tragedy), the
rhetorical figures presumably would have appeared obvious to the French composers and would not have
required classification or explanation. The somewhat greater cultural remoteness of the Germans from this
classical tradition might explain their need for codifying the same concepts that would have been obvious
to the French and to the Italians as well.
The above simplified explanation of the role of rhetorical figures in France will be augmented somewhat in
the following paragraphs by a general discussion of rhetoric in French society, in which a link between the
language of the theater and that of music will be drawn. A discussion of the writings in music theory will
follow, substantiating the influence of rhetoric upon French musicians. Finally the function of musicalrhetorical figures in the tragdie lyrique from Jean-Baptiste Lully through Jean-Philippe Rameau will be
considered.

RHETORIC IN FRANCE IN THE

SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES
In seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French society,2 an educated person learned some sort of rhetoric
and practiced it in both the disciplines of speaking and writing. The importance of rhetoric cannot be
overstated; along with grammar and logic it made up the trivium of the liberal arts, the essential
components of study for a society that placed great significance on conversation and letter writing.
Understanding French society of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, therefore, is essential for
understanding the reasons why rhetoric was used so extensively. Rhetoricthe art of speaking well and
the art of persuasionwas that part of a man's education most relevant to his functioning within society. It
was generally agreed that one need not be an expert on a subject in order to persuade others to change
their minds or to take an appropriate course of action. In addition by means of rhetoric one could appear
knowledgeable without necessarily being knowledgeable. This fact explains the reasons for the
accusations of shallowness bestowed upon the use of persuasive language by less understanding
generations. Particularly during the age of Louis XIV the end would have justified such superficial means
because of the attention focused upon the social virtues. Therefore the educated man of the day would
have used rhetoric and would have been influenced by it at court and in theaters, schools, salons,
churches and halls of justice.

Rhetoric was not only a functional device; it was considered an art of decoration as well as of persuasion.
In an age characterized by objectivity and intellectualism, decoration in speech and literature was not
necessarily subordinated to the supremacy of "reason" and maintained a place at the court of Versailles
along with painting, sculpture, architecture, spectacle, and stage design. Despite condemnations of
ostentation by some purists, both simplicity and elegance of language influenced the formulation of the
precepts of rhetorical techniques.
The rhetorical theories absorbed from the classical inheritance the writings of Aristotle, Cicero,
Quintilian, Demosthenes, and Vergilwere of particular interest to French dramatists because a
relationship between the rostrum and the theater, the orator and the actor, was generally acknowledged.
The actor might copy the orator, as was suggested by Jean Lonor le Grimarest who stated that "the actor
ought to consider himself as an orator who makes a speech in public in order to move the
listener."3 Quintilian's Institutio oratoria was used as a guide, for its division of rhetoric into five parts
inventio (what to say), dispositio (the order in which to say it),elocutio (how to say
it), memoria (memory), pronunciato (diction and gestures)4were all pertinent to the theater. Of
considerable importance to the dramatist would have been inventio, which includes the loci topici, formulas
and outlines for possible sources of material or generally accepted precepts of wisdom, such as maxims. 5
The second area of Quintilian's rhetorical theory that would have been of major interest to the dramatist
and ultimately to the creators of the tragdie lyriquewaselocutio; this phase of the orator's art included
the figures of speech that enable the speaker or writer to arouse passions within the audience and to
impress with eloquent language used for its own sake. In the theater these two purposes of rhetorical
techniquesthe functional and the decorativefrequently came into conflict with one another during the
generation of Thomas Corneille and Jean Racine, yet both intentions survived and were not mutually
exclusive.6 For instance, Racine, who received a thorough training in rhetoric, 7 succeeded in combining the
functional with the decorative point of view. The intention of the French tragedy was both to move and to
please, but fine language was permitted only if it was essential to the impression of reality and to the
expression of the characters' passions on the stage. Therefore to Racine the tragedy could be passionate
and expression could be eloquent, but the simplicity and clarity of the dramatic construction had to be kept
intact.

MUSIC THEORISTS ON RHETORIC

As in the case with Racine's writings on rhetoric where there are few statements concerning the
playwright's theories, there is little theoretical expos on musical-rhetorical figures in France. Again, the
approach that rhetorical figures in music were the assumed knowledge of composer, theorist, and
audience must be reaffirmed. French music treatises, however, imply a widespread use and knowledge of
the figures even though they do not elucidate a precise system of codification.
In the first place it is certain that music theorists thought of music as an oratorical art in the same light that
Grimarest considered the orator and actor as sharing a common bond. For instance, in 1636 Marin
Mersenne made this analogy in the Harmonie universelle: "First of all, it is necessary that he [the musician]
imagine that he is an Orator who forgets nothing in his oration of everything that he believes can serve him
in pleasing his listeners and can move them to that which he wishes." 8Nearly a century later Rameau
described the musician in much the same terms in his Trait de l'harmonie: "A good musician should
surrender himself to all the characters he wishes to portray. Like a skillful actor he should take the place of
the speaker, believe himself to be at the location where the different events he wishes to depict occur, and
participate in these events as do those most involved in them. He must declaim the text well, at least to
himself, and he must feel when and to what degree the voice should rise or fall, so that he may shape his
melody, harmony, modulation, and movement accordingly."9
Numerous writings of the eighteenth-century music theorists include references to classical models.10 Jean
Pierre Crousaz's Trait du Beau, for instance, contains an entire chapter on eloquence and includes

comments on the oration of Cicero.11 In addition Michel-Paul de Chabanon's two treatises, Observations
sur la Musique12and De la Musique considre en elle-mme et dans ses Rapports avec la
Parole,13 allude to the relationship between music and the oratorical vocabulary of the ancients. In
the Observations Chabanon cited Cicero and Quintilian as models;14 although he expounded on the
differences between song and discourse the theorist felt that music and declamation shared the common
features of the alteration of the voice and the gesture and expression of the face. 15 In Chabanon's second
treatiseDe La Musique, the theorist reaffirmed the importance of the Greek writings on elocution16 and
listed principles from Quintilian in describing the oratorical accent.17More significant perhaps is that
Chabanon saw music in union with a text and that the one commented on the other. For instance, the
construction of grammatically balanced phrases was considered a very musical property, 18 and the
repetition of the same text within the air would be a natural thing to do when one repeated the same
melody.19
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it was generally agreed that the orator's or actor's ability
to arouse the affections of the audience was part of the basic doctrine of rhetorical figures. With regard to
music's role in the art of persuasion, the French music theorists were in agreement, if not particularly
detailed. Philosophers in general and music theorists in particular described the affections as very precise
passions or types of emotion; rhetorical figures, however, were not restrictive in the types of expressions
conveyed, for they depended upon the particular emotions of the text. These devices were considered in
both a musical and textual context and were in keeping with the general sentiment that was to be
communicated.
The Baroque theorist's fixation with the passions that was expanded into a doctrine on musical rhetoric
emerged from a significant French philosophical source, Ren Descartes' Les Passions de
l'me.20 Descartes' thesis was the definition of passions of the human spirit which in turn could cause
some specific reaction in certain parts of the body; from the definition of the passions Descartes codified
six primitive passions and a number of principal emotions. With regard to classifying musical
affect,21 Mersenne in the Harmonie universelle correlated sounds with tastes, smells, colors, shapes, and
sizes and associated consonances and dissonances with the four elements and the seven planets. 22 The
emotional properties of the modes was one of the most universally recognized affective devices, and
Rameau,23Charles Masson,24 Antoine Parran,25 and Michel Pinolet de Montclair26 all correlated this
contrivance with the change in the indication of sentiments. The expressive qualities of the intervals, as
well as numerous other musical devices, and their ability to portray different moods, likewise supported the
case for text illumination; these also received attention in the treatises. For instance, Bernard de la
Cpde, in La Potique de la Musique, suggested that an impression of sorrow may be conveyed with
small intervals.27 Rameau's Trait elaborates on the unquestionable ability of chordswith their extremes
of consonant and dissonant qualitiesto arouse different passions.28 In a later treatise, Observations sur
notre Instinct pour la Musique, Rameau added that ornaments are specifically expressive because they
emphasize the main words of the verse.29 In addition Chabanon's Observations proposes that all such
natural devices for producing sensation were at the disposal of the composer and that the music could
alternate its various impressions by alternating different articulations and dynamics within the same piece.
Chabanon's thesis is particularly pertinent to the case for rhetorical figures because of the theorist's
application of these techniques to music with texts.30
Indeed, French theorists were precise about oratory, accent, and affection, but as has been mentioned
detailed codification of specific musical-rhetorical figures did not receive their attention. However, it seems
certain that rhetorical figures are what these theorists had in mind, particularly with regard to the
correlation of a figure of speech such as repetition with a musical device (see above, Chabanon's
statement on repetition of text and melody). Descartes' Compendium musicae further supports the case for
musical-rhetorical figures by explaining that there are "figures of speech in music, just as there are figures
of speech in rhetoric" and sequence and imitation belong to this category. 31 Rameau perhaps was the
most specific of all the French theorists when he described two figures in his Trait: "Languor and suffering
may be expressed well with dissonances by borrowing and especially with chromaticism. . . . Despair and

all passions which lead to fury or strike violently demand all types of unprepared dissonances, with the
major dissonances particularly occurring in the treble."32 With regard to the use of chromaticism to express
anguish and sorrow, Rameau probably was describing what the German theorists had labeled
"pathopoeia." Unprepared dissonances, used in conjunction with texts of intense emotional reaction, would
have been referred to as "quasitransitus." That Rameau did not use these terms does not imply that he
was unaware of them.

RHETORICAL FIGURES IN THE Tragdie lyrique

In Germany the vocabulary of musical speech was gradually codified between the years 1599 and 1788 in
over 25 theoretical sources that define approximately 100 rhetorical figures. In the tragdie lyrique from
Lully through Rameau, over two dozen different figures appear with enough frequency that their
significance is unquestionable.33
The musical-rhetorical figures of the tragdie lyrique exhibit the two distinct although not mutually
exclusive classifications found in Racine's classical tragedies: first that which decorates by means of the
arrangement of phrases into various patterns (pattern rhetoric), and second that which incites the passions
and directly or indirectly expresses emotion (functional rhetoric). Additionally the embellished style is
reinforced by a category of figures that is blatantly pictorial, that labeled "hypotyposis" or word-painting,
which will be dealt with first.
Musical-rhetorical figures of the hypotyposis category can be related indirectly to the poetic figure of
onomatopoeia in which words are formed with sounds that resemble those emanating from some object or
action. In both speech and music the relationship between sound and its object or action is merely
suggestive. An exhaustive list of all the figures of word-painting would be impossible to prepare, as the
potential for expression is limited only by the composer's imagination. One quite typical example is an
ascending stepwise melodic line in notes of equal value coupled with a text denoting exultation or ascent;
this figure has been referred to as ''ascensus" or "anabasis." By far the most frequently
employed hypotyposis figure in the tragdie lyrique is the opposite of the ascensus, the descending
stepwise melodic line used in conjunction with texts of depravity or descent. This figure has been labeled
"descensus" or "katabis" in German theoretical treatises.
A distinction can be drawn between the two previously mentioned word-painting figures and that
designated as the "tirata," which is a rapid stepwise progression, often a scale encompassing a sixth or as
much as an octave in either ascending or descending motion. The tirata usually occurs with words such
as lancer or clair, but in a recitative from Thomas Bertin de la Dou's tragdie Ajax34 (Ex. 1), this figure
occurs with the word "liquide."

Ex. 1. Thomas Bertin de la Dou: Ajax, Act I, scene 7.

The example is particularly interesting because of the combination of two rhetorical figures, one
exclusively musical and the other exclusively poetic. The descending rapid burst on the word "liquide"

denotes fluidity, but the phrase "liquide plaine" is a more frequent and stylized figure in the texts of
the tragdie lyrique, the periphrasis. Quintilian classified the periphrasis as a trope in which several words
express something in fact where fewer or only one word (such as la mer in this case) would be
needed.35 In this example with the tirata the periphrasis merely embellishes, but in other examples it could
be interpreted as a source of additional information that assists in qualifying or describing.
Pattern rhetoric, the second category of musical-rhetorical figures, is, like the word-painting category,
primarily decorative. Pattern rhetorical figures are emphatic in that most involve some sort of repetition or
at least some structural arrangement into various configurations. With regard to the repetitive figures in
musical forms, the repetition consists of phrases or motives and occurs in the same voice. Musical figures
of repetition are directly correlated with poetic figures of repetition and therefore their labels are borrowed
directly from classical rhetoric. The emphasis is most significant when the original text and the music both
employ repetition, but in general repetitive musical figures result from the composer having selected those
words to be repeated. In any respect repetition was acknowledged as both a rhetorical device and a
structural device by the composers of the tragdie lyrique, for repetition of phrases and periods
characterizes a number of the small closed forms within the scenes of the tragdies. In cases where the
text sentiment demands particular emphasis, such as the conclusive generalizing statement of the maxim
air, the repetition is rhetorical.
Repetition of a phrase at the same pitch level, either as a nonsuccessive melodic motive or as an ostinato
repetition in the bass, has been labeled by music theorists "anaphora." In speech the anaphora figure
serves as a model in which marked repetition of a word or phrase occurs in successive clauses or
sentences. In thetragdie lyrique a logical place for the anaphora would be in the varied repeat of the B
section of the dialogue air in A-B-B' structure, a form common to the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century
French music drama. Because the dialogue air was indispensable to the commentary, and filled in details
necessary for the comprehension of the tragdie, the repetition would be regarded as a persuasive device
and not merely as a structural one. The anaphora is perhaps more emphatic when used in solo or multiple
recitative. Rameau used the figure at a point of extreme dramatic intensity in Hippolyte et Aricie36 (Ex. 2).
Ex. 2. Jean-Philippe Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie, Act IV, scenes 3 and 4.

In this decisive passage it is the chorus that repeats the key phrase "Hippolyte n'est plus." The crowd of
attendants on stage at this moment reacts to Hippolyte's death, and the choral fragments bind together the
dramatic impact of the entire scene in which Phdre herself confronts the consequences of her disastrous
actions.
The pattern rhetoric of classical models encompasses nonrepetitive figures, specifically the antithesis. This
rhetorical figure involves the arrangement of words that emphasize a contrast, such as the statement
"Crafty men condemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them." In music that labeled
the "antitheton" refers to some sort of successive contrast, such as a contrapuntal contrast between theme
and countertheme, consonant and dissonant harmonies, polyphonic and homophonic texture, diatonic and
chromatic line, high and low register, major and minor tonalities, loud and soft dynamics, or just about any
contrast between sections or entries. The dramatic fluctuation that is inherent in the scene structure of
the tragdie lyrique frequently is characterized by contrast, and therefore the antitheton is an important
and diverse rhetorical figure of the lyric drama. One form of the antitheton emerged in the context of the
rhythmic design; the shifting meters and note values indicative of the simple recitative style often provide
opportunities for contrast. Example 3 from Hippodamie37 by Andr Campra, displays a simple recitative in
which the anapestic rhythm of eighth- and sixteenth-note motion gives way to a slower quarter- and eighthnote movement. In this manner the character of Plops is able to express two opposing concepts: "cours"
and "calmer."38

Ex. 3. Andr Campra: Hippodamie, Act IV, scene 5.

Musical-rhetorical figures in the tragdie lyrique may be categorized as functional in that they are direct
expressions of the passions; these assist in establishing a balance with the decorative rhetoric of the
repetition figures and other devices of structural arrangement. The stirring of the affections and the direct
expression of the passions were conveyed by the composers of the tragdie lyrique with a variety of
techniques: first that in which contrapuntal design between two or more voices emphasizes a particular
sentiment, second that in which the melodic line draws attention to a word with some unusual feature of
style, third that in which the harmonic dissonance serves to emphasize the text, fourth that in which rests
are used to illuminate word meaning.
Most of the contrapuntal writing of the four-part choruses of the tragdie lyrique is void of rhetorical content
because of the comparatively superficial nature of the texts. Musical-rhetorical figures involving a
counterpoint between two or more voices, therefore, do not occur with any great frequency but one such
figure derived from classical rhetoric and referred to by music theorists as the "hyperbole" should be
mentioned here. In speech the hyperbole incorporates exaggerated terms in order to emphasize rather
than to deceive; it serves as a functional figure because it is a recognized device for the expression of
violent emotion. In the French classical tragedy, the hyperbole is often difficult to isolate because so much
of the drama is characteristically an exaggeration and character expressions are often extreme. In
thetragdie lyrique the emphatic nature of the hyperbole is less vehement but may be used to display
excessive height and loftiness or depth and depravity. The musicalhyperbole occurs with the extension of
the normal range of the voice. In Example 4 from Pyrame et Thisb39 by Franois Rebel and Franois
Francoeur, the hyperbolepresents itself as the two lower voices of a four-part chorus ascend into the range
of the upper two voices.

Ex. 4. Franois Rebel and Franois Francoeur: Pyrame et Thisb, Act II, scene 4.

The wide range of the melodic motive reinforces the sentiment of the text "le vaste univers." Because this
figure is aligned with the first appearance of that particular arpeggiated melodic motive, its overlapping of
ranges is presumably of rhetorical importance.
Startling devices within a melodic line are the most common types of figures of functional rhetoric in
the tragdie lyrique; a number of these might have been recognizable to the listener familiar only with
classical rhetorical theory. For instance, the musical figure designated as "pathopoeia," which refers to any
expression of passion in classical rhetoric, is linked with an ascending or descending chromatic
progression. In the tragdie lyrique examples often employ a chromatic bass; when the bass and melodic
line are identical the correlation between the poetic and the musical figures is clear. In Example 5
from Alcyone40 by Marin Marais, thepathopoeia is exclusively a melodic device.

Ex. 5. Marin Marais: Alcyone, Act V, scene 1.

The ascending chromatic figure spans a range of a perfect fourth and is used in concurrence with two
other emphatic techniques: text repetition and the descending diminished fifth interval on the words "ma
mort."

The descending diminished fifth from Example 5 exemplifies yet another approach to functional rhetoric
and another type of melodic emphasis figure, which has been labeled the "saltus duriusculus." This figure
of purely musical significance, the single most prevalent rhetorical device in the tragdie lyrique, is defined
as a harsh melodic leap. Those intervals that would have been heard as harsh and which therefore
characterize the saltus duriusculus are the diminished and augmented intervals and particularly the
ascending and descending diminished fourth, descending diminished fifth, descending minor sixth,
descending major, minor and diminished sevenths, and intervals exceeding the octave. Lully used this
figure extensively. At the opening of his tragdie Amadis41 (Ex. 6), he includes the descending diminished
fifth on the phrase "Monstres affreux."

Ex. 6. Jean-Baptiste Lully: Amadis, Act I, scene 1.

This expression of emotion occurs in Florestan's discourse as he addresses the hero Amadis, reminding
him of his daring past exploits. Actually Florestan is asking Amadis a rhetorical question ("What
misfortunes can disturb an unconquerable hero, vanquisher of fierce giants and frightful monsters?") to
which there is only one appropriate response. In this manner Florestan's question itself would make more
of a mental impression than the response by Amadis.42
Functional rhetorical figures formulated from points of harmonic dissonance between two voices and used
mainly in the recitative style appear less frequently in thetragdie lyrique than do the melodic rhetorical
figures. However, several of the dissonance figures occur with a degree of regularity. One such example,
referred to as the "amplifikation" or "variatio," may be regarded as either a functional figure or
a hypotyposis figure, depending on the word illuminated. This device involves the correlation of a
coloratura with a word of its character; it is a replacement for a longer note. Because the composers of
the tragdie lyrique were so conscious of textual subtleties, it is rare to find a coloratura that exists in its
own right and is not a rhetorical figure. Granted, the amplifikation was based on the purely musical
configurations and mannerisms of instrumentalists and singers that the purists of the French vocal style
opposed; in most cases the ornament is linked with significant words such
as voler, guerre, clbrez, triomphe, and so forth. These colorful words were recognized as appropriate for

musical illuminations. Jean Laurent Le Cerf de la Viville referred to them as "mots privilgis" and later
they were called "lyriques."43 Consequently they became trademarks of the most innovative composers of
the generation preceding Rameau as well as of Rameau himself. In Example 7 from
Montclair's Jepht44 the amplifikation is combined with several other musical-rhetorical figures for
particular impact.

Ex. 7. Michel Pinolet de Montclair: Jepht, Act I, scene 4.

The phrase "tout tremble" stands out in one regard because it is repeated; in addition the first statement of
this phrase is treated musically by a descending minor sixth, the saltus duriusculus, and the second
statement with the amplifikation. A poetic rhetorical figure, enumeration, occurs in this passage as well,
with the accumulation of three contrasting localities, "la Terre, L'Enfer, le Ciel." Although the enumeration
figure has no apparent musical significance, it is a device that supports the connection between the
rhetorical vocabulary of Racine's classical theater and the tragdie lyrique.
The final category of rhetorical figures is that in which rests are used as emphatic devices and as direct
expressions of the passions. At times the rests are directly illustrative, particularly when the figure referred
to as the "suspiratio" is involved. The suspiratio creates an obvious sighing effect with the separation of
syllables or words by means of rests; it is a type of melodic diction. In most instances the suspiratio figure
was used by the composers of the tragdie lyrique to strengthen dialogue and in its most conspicuous
form the key word is the gasping exclamation ah. In a somewhat unusual example, Hsione by
Campra45 (Ex. 8), the pauses that suggest sighing appear in a nondramatic dance song illustrative of the
pleasantries of love.

Ex. 8. Andr Campra: Hsione, Act II, scene 5.

The rests occur after the words "les langueurs, les sopirs." These punctuate the regularly patterned
rhythm of a dance that resembles the loure. The text is subdued and the rhetorical figure, rather than
functioning as an agent of intense passion, is the source of a genteel and nonpathetic sentiment.
Without question some of the most dynamic passages in the tragdie lyrique are those that incorporate
several different rhetorical figures along with other startling devices that draw attention to the texts. A
passage of simple recitative from Montclair's Jepht (Ex. 9) for instance, is realized rhetorically with
two retardation figures, which is the upward resolution of a suspension (on the words "Isral, vengeur"),
an amplifikation figure ("lance"), and an antitheton ("Terre et les Cieux").

Ex. 9. Michel Pinolet de Montclair: Jepht, Act II, scene 2.

Embellishments are specified on the words "Cieux, tonnerre," and "prt." In addition the affect of agitation
is created by an animated bass motive consisting of dotted eighth- and thirty-second-notes, an atypical
feature of the simple recitative style.
In a culture such as that of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century France, where both the classical and
oratorical traditions were alive and intense, there would have been no need to explain or justify the theory
of text expression through the use of musical-rhetorical figures. In fact the audiences which attended
performances of thetragdie lyriquethe educated segment of societyprobably recognized many of the
musical-rhetorical figures, or at least those derived from classical rhetoric. The importance of this specific
type of affective expression cannot be overstated. The technique of composing with preexisting materials
implies a considerable degree of contrived objectivity, a scheme of time-honored significance. Yet this
should not be surprising, because in addition to the musical-rhetorical figures the vocabulary of
the tragdie lyrique depended upon contrived systems of forms, keys, melodic intervals, embellishments,
harmonic progressions, meters, rhythms, and instrumentation. The presence of the rhetorical figures in
the tragdie lyrique, therefore, only supports the case for a common aesthetic that prevailed in France
from the time of Lully to that of Rameau. The most important aspect of this aesthetic is the rhetorical
vocabulary of the ancients which carried over into the French classical theater, into the theoretical writings
on music, and ultimately into the lyric drama. It is to these sources that scholars must look for a thorough
comprehension of the role of classicism in the tragdie lyrique.
1

For a list of primary and secondary sources see George J. Buelow, "Music, Rhetoric and the Concepts of
the Affections: A Selective Bibliography," Notes 20 (1973-74), 250-259.
2

For an introduction to the role, nature and significance of rhetoric in France during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries see Peter France, Racine's Rhetoric(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965) and

his Rhetoric and Truth in France: Descartes to Diderot (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972). The background
material in this section of the study is indebted largely to France's works.
3
La Vie de M. de Molire, ed. Mongrdien (Paris, 1955), p. 162, quoted in France, Racine, p. 31.
4

Quintilian's rhetorical theories are summarized in France, Racine, pp. 16-17. Cicero's Orator also

illuminates these five divisions of rhetoric.

5

Maxim airs, in which some general precept independent of the dramatic action is expressed, are
indispensable conventions of the tragdie lyrique. Such airs occur generally in scenes of dialogue where a
lesser character comments on a basic rule of love, virtue, and so forth; the result of this type of
independent device is the antidramatic interruption of the action.
6
France, Racine, p. 36.
7

For further information concerning Racine's studies at the Petites Ecoles of Port-Royal and at the Collge
de Beauvais, see France, Racine, p. 37.
8

Il faut premirement qu'il [le musicien] s'image qu'il est comme un Orateur qui n'oublie rien en son oraison

de tout ce qu'il croit lui pouvoir servir pour plaire ses auditeurs, et pour les mouvoir ce qu'il veut."
Marin Mersenne, Harmonie universelle (Paris: S. Cramoisy, 1636; facsimile reprint Paris: Centre Nationale
de la Recherche Scientifique, 1963), I, 181.
9
Jean-Philippe Rameau, Trait de l'Harmonie rduite ses Principes naturels (Paris: Jean-Baptiste
Christophe Ballard, 1722; trans. Philip Gossett, New York: Dover Publications, 1971), p. 156.
10
The case for musical-rhetorical figures in the tragdie lyrique is strengthened by the fact that rhetoric
played an important role in French painting of a slightly earlier period. It is obvious that Nicolas Poussin,
for instance, was attempting to formulate a theory of art based on rhetorical thought when he wrote in his
notes the following concerning the classical models: "Of action. There are two instruments which affect the
souls of the listeners, action and diction. The first is so valuable and efficacious in itself that Demosthenes
gave it first place over all the other devices of rhetoric, and Marcus Tullius [Cicero] calls it the language of
the body. Quintilian attributes such strength and such power to it that he regards conceits, proofs and
effects as useless without it. And without it lines and colour are likewise useless." Quoted and translated in
John Rupert Martin, Baroque (New York: Harper and Row, 1977), p. 86. Martin's source is G.P. Bellori, Le
vite de' pittori, scultori et architetti moderni(1672), pp. 460-461.
11
Jean-Pierre de Crousaz, Trait du Beau (Amsterdam: F.L. Honor, 1715), p. 290.
12

Paris: Pissot, 1779; facsimile reprint Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, 1969.

Paris: Pissot, 1785.
14
Chabanon, Observations, p. xix.
15
Ibid., p. 153.
13

16
17
18
19
20
21

Chabanon, De la Musique, p. 403.

Ibid., p. 436.
Ibid., p. 209.
Ibid., p. 213.
Paris: H. le Gras, 1649; trans. Elizabeth Haldane, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1931.
The classification of affects based on Descartes' definition of the passions was not restricted to the

discipline of music but figured in the field of French painting as well. Charles Le Brun, for instance,
consciously studied Cartesian philosophy and applied a systematized approach to character expression in
his work, illustrated in a lecture presented at the Acadmie de Peinture et de Sculpture and subsequently
published in his Confrence de M. Le Brun sur l'Expression gnrale et particulire(1698). For more
information on this subject see Martin, Baroque, pp. 88-91.
22
John B. Egan, "Mersenne's Trait de l'Harmonie Universelle: A Critical Translation of the Second Book"
(Ph.D. diss., Indiana University, 1962), pp. 18, 51, 66.
23
Observations sur notre Instinct pour la Musique et sur son Principe (Paris: chez Prault fils, 1754), p. 90.
24

Nouveau Trait des Rgles pour la Composition de la Musique (Paris: J. Collombat, 1699; facsimile

reprint New York: Da Capo Press, 1967), p. 10.

25
Trait de la Musique thorique et pratique (Paris: Ballard, 1639; facsimile reprint Geneva: Minkoff
Reprints, 1972), p. 117.

26

Principes de Musique (Paris: Rue St. Honor le Rgle d'or, 1736), p. 16.

27

Paris: the Author, 1785; facsimile reprint Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, 1970, p. 80.
Rameau, Trait, ed. Gossett, pp. 154-156.

28
29
30
31

Rameau, Observations, p. 70.

Chabanon, Observations, pp. 172-176.
Ren Descartes, Compendium musicae (1618) (Utrecht: Gisbert a Zyll & Theodori ab Ackersdycke,

1650; trans. W. Robert, Rome: American Institute of Musicology, 1961), p. 51.

32
Rameau, Trait, ed. Gossett, p. 155.
33

Of the numerous writings that discuss the doctrine of figures, two have been used as the basis for this
examination of musical-rhetorical figures in the tragdie lyrique: Harold Samuel, "The Cantata in
Nuremberg during the Seventeenth Century" (Ph.D. diss., Cornell University, 1963), pp. 560-576; and
Arnold Schmitz, "Figuren, musikalische-rhetorische," Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Vol. 4, col.
176-183.
34
Thomas Bertin de la Dou, Ajax (Paris: Jean-Baptiste Christophe Ballard, 1716); first performed at the
Acadmie Royale de Musique on April 20, 1716.
35

The effect of the trope would be the embellishment of language that otherwise would be plain, and the
most significant device of such was the metaphor. Tropes include metonomy, in which the immaterial
might be symbolized with its material counterpart or in which some subjective impression was developed
from an objective attribute. Along with metonomy, the metaphor and the periphrasis, the epitheta fourth
type of tropeappears frequently in the texts of the tragdie lyrique.
36
Jean-Philippe Rameau, Hippolyte et Aricie, Oeuvres compltes, Vol. VI (Paris: A. Durand, 1895-1924;
reprint New York: Broude Brothers, 1968); first performed Octobter 1, 1733.
37
Andr Campra, Hippodamie (Paris: Christophe Ballard, 1708); first performed March 6, 1708.
38

In most instances the rhythmic patterns of the recitatives of the tragdie lyrique are governed by textual

rather than by musical considerations. Frequently the realization of the anapest in series of rapid note
values serves as an appropriate means of quickly passing over a number of brief syllables. However,
Campra assumed a much more flexible approach to the formal rigidity of the anapest by expressing the
rhythm in variable note values within the same line. In order to enhance the expressivity of the text
Campra would augment the note values to suggest a character's hesitancy or diminish them to portray
agitation or urgency.
39
Franois Rebel and Franois Francoeur, Pyrame et Thisb (Paris, Bibliothque Nationale ms Vm2228, infol.); first performed October 17, 1726.
40
Marin Marais, Alcyone (Paris: the Author, Hurel, H. Foucaut [De Baussen], 1706); first performed
February 18, 1706.
41
Jean-Baptiste Lully, Amadis, Oeuvres compltes, Pt. IV, Vol. 3 (Paris: Editions de la Revue Musicale,
1930-39; reprint New York: Broude Brothers, 1968); first performed January 14, 1684.
42
The rhetorical question is an important device of the French classical tragedy. With particular regard to
the tragdie lyrique, questions of a pathetic natureif not rhetorical onesare common. Labeled the
"interrogatio" by German theorists, this musical figure is distinguished by the ending of a melodic phrase a
second higher than the note for the preceding syllable.
43
Cuthbert Girdlestone, Jean-Philippe Rameau, rev. ed. (New York: Dover Publications, 1969), p. 135.
44

Michel Pinolet de Montclair, Jepht (Paris: Boivin, 1732); first performed either February 28 or March 4,

1732.
45
Andr Campra, Hsione (Paris: Christophe Ballard, 1700); first performed December 21, 1700.

En College Music Symposium

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