Aposiopesis
The aposiopesis (from ancient Greek ἀποσιώπησις aposiṓpēsis , German 'the silent' ; especially a figure among rhetoricians if you do not pronounce the required word) is a musical-rhetorical figure . It refers to the targeted insertion of pauses at certain points within a musical sentence in order to identify terms such as death, loss, silence and eternity.
The aposiopesis is mentioned as a musical and rhetorical figure for the first time by Joachim Burmeister . He describes it as "an absolute silence of all voices". For other theorists of the 17th and 18th centuries, too, silence is their central characteristic. The musical implementation takes place through the use of pauses. These can be general pauses , but also ordinary pauses in individual voices. As Johann Gottfried Walther explains, there are two ways of inserting these: either after a completed cadence or at another point "[...] but without making a formal end or cadence [...]".
The aposiopesis is not to be confused with this , despite its proximity to the abrupt . While the expressive value of the Abruptio lies in the breaking of a melodic line, the Aposiopesis , as Dietrich Bartel puts it, describes "the silence that follows". Later there is a differentiation of the aposiopesis into two sub-terms: Homoioptoton and Homoioteleuton .
The origin of this musical-rhetorical figure can be traced back to classical rhetoric, here aposiopesis or aposiopesis is defined as the omission of an essential part of the sentence or the deliberate break-off of the sentence for the purpose of attracting attention.
literature
- Bartel, Dietrich: Handbook of musical figure theory , Laaber 1985.
- Eggebrecht, Hans Heinrich: Figures, musical-rhetorical in: RiemannL, Sachteil, pp. 286–288.
- Krones, Hartmut : Music and Rhetoric in: Music in Past and Present, Sachteil Vol. 6, Kassel 1997, Sp. 814–852.
Individual evidence
- ^ Wilhelm Pape , Max Sengebusch (arrangement): Concise dictionary of the Greek language . 3rd edition, 6th impression. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig 1914 ( zeno.org [accessed on March 5, 2019]).
