Doctrine of the affections

The doctrine of the affections, also known as the doctrine of affects, doctrine of the passions, theory of the affects, or by the German term Affektenlehre (after the German Affekt; plural Affekte) was a theory in the aesthetics of painting, music, and theatre, widely used in the Baroque era (1600–1750) (Harnoncourt 1983; Harnoncourt 1988). Literary theorists of that age, by contrast, rarely discussed the details of what was called "pathetic composition", taking it for granted that a poet should be required to "wake the soul by tender strokes of art" (Rogerson 1953, p. 68). The doctrine was derived from ancient theories of rhetoric and oratory (Buelow 2001). Some pieces or movements of music express one Affekt throughout; however, a skillful composer like Johann Sebastian Bach could express different affects within a movement (Boetticher 2010) .

History and definition

The doctrine of the affections was an elaborate theory based on the idea that the passions could be represented by their outward visible or audible signs. It drew largely on elements with a long previous history, but first came to general prominence in the mid-seventeenth century amongst the French scholar-critics associated with the Court of Versailles, helping to place it at the centre of artistic activity for all of Europe (Rogerson 1953, p. 70). The term itself, however, was only first devised in the twentieth century by German musicologists Hermann Kretzschmar, Harry Goldschmidt, and Arnold Schering, to describe this aesthetic theory (Buelow 2001; Nagley and Bujić 2002).

René Descartes held that there were six basic affects, which can be combined together into numerous intermediate forms (Descartes 1649, p. 94):

  1. Admiration (admiration)
  2. Amour (love)
  3. Haine (hatred)
  4. Désir (desire)
  5. Joie (joy)
  6. Tristesse (sorrow)

Another authority also mentions sadness, anger, and jealousy (Buelow 2001). These were attributed to the physiological effects of humors. Lorenzo Giacomini (1552–1598) in his Orationi e discorsi defined an affection as "a spiritual movement or operation of the mind in which it is attracted or repelled by an object it has come to know as a result of an imbalance in the animal spirits and vapours that flow continually throughout the body" (Giacomini Tebalducci Malespini 1597) . Descartes also proposed that the affections were reliant upon humors. Contemporary beliefs were that the humors' consistency or location could be affected by external factors. This allowed for an expectation of contemporary art to have an objective physical effect on its consumer (Seaton 2010, pp. 166–168).

"Affections are not the same as emotions; however, they are a spiritual movement of the mind" (Palisca 1991, p. 3).

A prominent Baroque proponent of the Doctrine of the Affections was Johann Mattheson (Poultney 1996, p. 107).

Examples for affects and corresponding musical figures

In the following table, the left column cites instructions from (Mattheson 1739) how to express affects. The right column cites baroque compositions expressing the same affects with, where available, moving musical scores.

"Since for example joy is an expansion of our soul, thus it follows reasonably and naturally that I could best express this affect by large and expanded intervals" (Mattheson 1981, part 1, chapter 3, section 56).
"Whereas if one knows that sadness is a contraction of these subtle parts of our body,then it is easy to see that the small and smallest intervals are the most suitable for this passion" (Mattheson 1981, part 1, chapter 3, section 57).
"Hope is an elevation of the soul or spirits; but despair is a depression of this: all of which are things which can very naturally be represented with sound, especially when the other circumscances (tempo in particular) contribute their part. And in this way one can form a sensitive concept of all the emotions and compose accordingly" (Mattheson 1981, part 1, chapter 3, section 59).
"Pride, haughtiness, arrogance, and the like, are also usually depicted or expressed with their special colors in notes and sounds, for which purpose the composer usually draws upon a bold, pompous style. He thus has the opportunity to use all sorts of majestic musical figures which require a special seriousness and grandiloquent motion; but he must never permit a musical line that is fleeting and falling, but always ascending" (Mattheson 1981, part 1, chapter 3, section 72).
"Anger, ardor, vengeance, rage, fury, and all other such violent affections, are actually far better at making available all sorts of musical inventions than the gentle and pleasant passions which are handled with much more refinement. Yet it is also not enough with the former if one only rumbles along strongly, makes a lot of noise and boldly rages: notes with many tails will simply not suffice, as many think; but each of these violent qualities requires its own particular characteristics, and, despite forceful expression, must still have a becoming singing quality: as our general principle, which we must not lose sight of, expressly demands" (Mattheson 1981, part 1, chapter 3, section 75).
"That which is to a certain degree placed in opposition to hope and consequently gives rise to a contrasting arrangement of sounds is called fear, dejection, failure, etc. Fright and horror also belong here, which, if one thinks of them rightly and has a good mental picture of their natural character, yield very suitable musical passages corresponding with the condition of the affections" (Mattheson 1981, part 1, chapter 3, section 78).

References

Further reading

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