How French and German rhetorical traditions interact in Baroque music
The question of thematic structure in music is discussed in connection with the relations between musical and rhetorical syntax. The author argues that, more specifically, French and German traditions in theory of music had also experienced deep influence of one another on the basis of German tendency to rely on the expression of ideas in prose as opposed to French tendency to prefer their poetical rendition. The author looks at the process of transformation from rhetorical to purely musical understanding of thematic presentation and development giving attention to the meaning and contents of the main terms and concepts that music has inherited from rhetoric.