Silence as Sound: Handel's Sublime Pauses

The notated absence of sound creates some of the most dramatic and compelling moments in Handel's mature music. Handel's practice can be traced to the word-based silences of the madrigal on one hand, and the rhetorical silences found in Corelli's trio sonatas on the other. By transfer...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of musicology (St. Joseph, Mich.) Mich.), 2005-10, Vol.22 (4), p.521-558
Main Author: HARRIS, ELLEN T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arias
Baroque music
Composers
Corelli, Arcangelo (1653-1713)
Handel, George Frideric (1685-1759)
Music
Music composition
Music criticism
Music theory
Musical expression
Musical register
Musical rhetoric
Musical silence
Musicians & conductors
Musicology
Pauses
Silence
Vocal music
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Summary:The notated absence of sound creates some of the most dramatic and compelling moments in Handel's mature music. Handel's practice can be traced to the word-based silences of the madrigal on one hand, and the rhetorical silences found in Corelli's trio sonatas on the other. By transferring Corelli's systematic use of silence to vocal music, Handel moved beyond word-painting to expressive text-setting. Some critics condemned these silences, which prove strikingly similar to the emotional pauses introduced later by Garrick into his theatrical roles, as incorrect. Others considered them sublime.
ISSN:0277-9269
1533-8347
DOI:10.1525/jm.2005.22.4.521