Abstract
This study is concerned with what is to be gained by performers and scholars if the dramatic charge of Lamento d'Arianna by O. Rinuccini and C. Monteverdi was re-created with historically informed rhetorical gesture—an element of the representative theatrical style practised at the time of the lament's premiere. The research contributes in a unique way to historically informed performance practice as well as to the literature on Lamento d'Arianna using multiple methods of performative research informed by historical source materials and work with musicians who specialize in baroque music, an expert in rhetorical gesture and the author as the production dramaturg. Video footage, images, excerpts from the final score with gesture notation and this article offer an insight into the aesthetics and practice of early recitative artistry through reflexive writing that places the performance within relevant musicological discourses and scrutinizes auditory and visual elements of delivery.
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