Number 13 / Part I. Music. 3. Mad Scenes: A Warning against Overwhelming Passions
Mar 16, 2017
About this article
Published Online: Mar 16, 2017
Page range: 23 - 31
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/rae-2017-0003
Keywords
© 2017
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.
This study focuses on mad scenes in poetry and musical theatre, stressing that, according to Aristotle’s theory on catharsis and the Affektenlehre, they had a pedagogical role on the audience. Some mad scenes by J.S. Bach, Handel and Mozart are briefly analyzed, highlighting their most relevant textual and musical characteristics.