Interrogation

Interrogatio (Latin : interrogare : to ask, to question) is a musical figure that serves as an accompaniment to a question in the music.

Interrogatio is musically defined by a rising melody (step or jump, often a second). The rising melodic shape of interrogation comes from the intonation of a question in language.

Although the figure Interrogatio was widely used in music, it was rarely mentioned in theoretical writings. Interrogatio was first mentioned as a figure by Johannes Susenbrotus (16th century), but it was not until the 18th century that she was explicitly counted among the musical figures.

The term was transferred from rhetoric to music. In contrast to rhetoric, interrogation in music can stand for any kind of question: not only for rhetorical, but also for “real” questions. If interrogation is used as a rhetorical question in music, it serves to reinforce the affects (e.g. violence, indignation, admiration, regret, doubt), according to Johannes Susenbrotus.

Since interrogation can be used for all questions, this figure can always be used according to Johann Mattheson if a question mark occurs in the text (in vocal music). Johann Adolf Scheibe takes the position that this figure can also be used in instrumental music, but must be followed by sentences that resemble a clear answer. Disk recommends closing the slow movement with an interrogation, as this leaves the most intense affect on the audience.

literature

• Bartel, Dietrich: Handbook of musical figure theory , Laaber 1985
• Krones, Hartmut : Art. Music and Rhetoric, in: Music in the past and present , subject part vol. 6
• Wilson, Blake et al.: Art. Rhetoric and music, in: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , Vol. 21, ed. by Stanley Sadie, London 2001
• Unger, Hans-Heinrich: The Relationship Between Music and Rhetoric in the 16th-18th Centuries Century (= music and intellectual history 4), Würzburg 1941, Nachdr. Hildesheim 2000