The Pathetick Musician: Moving an Audience in the Age of Eloquence

What is rhetorical music? In The Pathetick Musician, Bruce Haynes and Geoffrey Burgess illustrate the vital place of rhetoric and eloquent expression in the creation and performance of Baroque music. Through engaging explorations of the cantatas of J.S. Bach, the authors explode the conventional notion of historical authenticity in music, proposing adventurous new directions to reinvigorate the performance of early music in the modern setting. Along the way, Haynes and Burgess investigate intersections between music and oratory, dance, gesture, poetry, painting and sculpture, and offer insights into figural elaboration, articulation, nuance and temporality. Aimed primarily at performers of Baroque music, the book situates the study of performance practice in a broader cultural context, and as much as an invaluable resource for advanced study, it contains a wealth of information that pertains directly to anyone working in the field of early music.

Based on a draft sketched by celebrated Baroque oboist and early music scholar Bruce Haynes before his death in 2011, The Pathetick Musician is the fruit of the combined wisdom of two musicians renowned equally for their contributions as performers and scholars. Drawing on an impressive array of Classical treatises on oratory, musical autographs and performance accounts, it is an essential companion to Haynes' controversial The End of Early Music. Geoffrey Burgess has taken up the broader claims of Haynes' philosophy to create a practical, accessible text that will be stimulating for all musicians interested in the rediscovery of early music. With copious musical examples, contemporaneous works of art, and a companion website with supplementary audio recordings, The Pathetick Musician is an invaluable resource for all interested in exploring new expressive possibilities in the performance and study of Baroque music.

• The End of Early Music: A Period Performer's History of Music for the Twenty-First Century
• Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music
• Capturing Music: The Story of Notation
• The Eloquent Oboe: A History of the Hautboy from 1640-1760 (Oxford Early Music)
• The Notation Is Not the Music: Reflections on Early Music Practice and Performance (Publications of the Early Music Institute)
• The Art of Accompaniment from a Thorough-Bass: As Practiced in the XVII and XVIII Centuries, Volume II (Dover Books on Music)
• L'Art De Toucher Le Clavecin. The Art of Playing the Harpsichord (French and English Edition)
• The Performance of 16th-Century Music: Learning from the Theorists
• How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony (and Why You Should Care)
• Bach's Numbers: Compositional Proportion and Significance