Musicology Commons^™

Baroque Music And The Doctrine Of Affections: Putting The Affections Into Effect, Joshua L. Dissmore

The Research and Scholarship Symposium (2013-2019)

This paper attempts to prove that throughout the Baroque period, the Doctrine of Affections governed musical composition through the musical elements of intervals, key, and tempo. This Baroque practice of relating music with various emotions dates back to ancient Greece and the teachings of the four temperaments, which were each associated with specific affections. Music allegedly had the ability to arouse these affections within the individual to produce an intended emotional response. Through the careful examination of the works of prominent Baroque composers and philosophers such as Johann Mattheson, J. S. Bach, and Antonio Vivaldi, this paper demonstrates how the …