HUMOR IN THE MUSICAL-DIDACTIC WORKS OF THE BAROQUE PERIOD

Nataliia Kliuchynska

doi:10.23856/5207

Nataliia Kliuchynska Lviv National University http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4789-8263

Keywords: baroque period, high and low baroque, humour, musical treatises, performance practice, historically informed performance

Abstract

Interest in musical treatises of past epochs is part of the interpretive process of performing early music according to the methodology of historically informed performance. We find in them information about performance practice and music theory of a certain historical time. The presentation of language in treatises also triggers our interest, especially in view of a comprehensive perception of aesthetics and worldview of artists of the baroque time. A feature of the baroque art is its division into high and low styles (high and low baroque). The expressive means of the lower baroque works contain elements of humour, irony and hyperbole. However, the same means can be seen in the works of high style. The object of coverage in the paper is a conscious use of elements of lower style by artists, in particular, the emphasis on the role of humour in musical-didactic treatises of the baroque period. This combination reflects the polarity and contrast of the baroque aesthetics. A take on music theory and performance practice through the prism of laughter and irony will help to identify another spectre of expressive means in the serious genres of baroque music and embody it in interpretation.

References

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