The Preacher and the Actor: Bach, Handel and the “Passionate” Listener

Although treatises on singing from the 17th to the 19th centuries focused singing instructions on solo performance, the principles contained in them were intended to be applied to choral performance as well. Domenico Corri specifies that his treatise The Singers Preceptor or Corri's Treatise on Vocale Music (1810) ‘…is expressly calculated to teach the Art of Singing …accommodated to the capacity of every student whether amateur or professional, theatrical, or choral.’ This paper explores contrasting rhetorical means employed by Bach in his motet Jesu meine Freude and by Handel in Messiah with implications for choral performance practice. Bach’s motet Jesu meine Freude shows a clear relationship between structure and hermeneutics. Employing a familiar rhetorical structure, he states an argument (inventio), gives it clarity through form (dispositio), and presents it using compositional devices consistent with Figurenlehre (decoratio). The listener’s passions are moved through Affektenlehre (pronunciatio), thereby eliciting a response to a theological argument. In contrast, Handel reveals the skill of an orator in Messiah where embellishing the text (decoratio or elocutio) forms the basis for an expressive performance (pronunciatio) in the arias and choruses. Bach employs a dialectical approach to elicit a passionate response from his listeners, as would a preacher. Handel moves the passions of his listeners with the oratorical skills of an actor. Understanding these contrasts encourages a more affective performance of the text, thereby achieving Michael Praetorius’s admonition to ‘…sing with art and grace so that the heart of the listener is stirred and the affections are moved.’ (Syntagma musicum, tomus tertius, 1619)