Rhetorical Scheme in Georg Philipp Telemann’s Sonatas for Two Violins or Flutes (1727)

Abstract

The relevance of this article is due to the lack of research of G.Ph. Telemann’s works in the context of Baroque rhetoric. The main purpose of this article is to reveal the content of the Six Sonatas for two violins or flutes by G.Ph. Telemann in the context of the rhetorical scheme. In contrast to the rhetorical figures, the components of the rhetorical canon in a musical piece are not commonly examined in fundamental theorists’ works, and for this reason we suggested to reveal ways of its realization in the G.Ph. Telemann’s duo sonatas. The results of the study have shown that a turn to the rhetorical scheme during the analysis is a completely historical and logical method. The understanding of the subject of musical rhetoric has changed in the historical space, but a great number of Baroque theorists considered the possibility of defining and turning to a rhetorical canon in music, in analogy with verbal rhetoric. The analysis of G.Ph. Telemann’s duo sonatas allows conclusively conclude that they represent four stages of the rhetorical scheme (except the memoria): inventio – as an introduction to a whole composition or as a subject (theme) of a single movement, as well as performer’s improvisation (before or in-between the movements), dispositio – as a specific plan of the form development; decoratio – the use of rhetorical figures and phrases, as well as compositional and performer’s ornamentation and pronuntiatio – methods of sound production, phrasing, dynamics and articulation. The correspondence between G.Ph. Telemann’s music and the rhetorical concept proves not only his profound theoretical knowledge, but also demonstrates the practical use of the rhetorical scheme in his works, which substantiates this analytical approach in this research and also takes researchers and performers to a deeper level of comprehension of the poetics in G.Ph. Telemann’s works.