Melancholy and Power: Rhetorical Analysis of Jacques-Martin Hotteterre’s Preludes

Abstract

This work consists in comparing two sets of preludes (e minor and E major) for transverse flute by Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, extracted from L’Art de Préluder, published in 1719. These micro-works represent a paradigm of rules for the improvisation, or “real-time composition”, of what the author calls Préludes de caprice. Rhetoric has been chosen as a discipline which provides some tools from that period’s cultural horizon. It also allows us to explore not only the compositional features of these works, but also some traces of the receivers’ ways of listening and cognitive proficiency. The e minor pieces resort to melancholy as a representation of the courtesan's character and behavioural profile, while the E major preludes thematise some aspects that represent power, an ironic view thereof, and gallant conversation.