What Do Shakespearean Musicians Think? Complementary Rhetorical Devices in Romeo and Juliet and Byrd's O that most rare breast

In Act 4, scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare used the rhetorical figure of catachresis to capture the meta-theatrical thoughts of musicians as a way of expressing the "uncomfortable time" of Juliet's apparent death on her wedding day. It is possible to trace Shakespeare's s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of musicological research Vol. 36; no. 4; pp. 336 - 363
Main Author Smith, Jeremy L.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Philadelphia Routledge 02.10.2017
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Byrd, William (1543-1623)
Drama
Elizabethan period
Film & stage music
Funerals
Literary devices
Music history
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)
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Summary:In Act 4, scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare used the rhetorical figure of catachresis to capture the meta-theatrical thoughts of musicians as a way of expressing the "uncomfortable time" of Juliet's apparent death on her wedding day. It is possible to trace Shakespeare's source for the scene to O that most rare breast, William Byrd's extensive dirge for Sir Philip Sidney. Not only does the song provide musical and funereal material, it also invites a writer's response, as Byrd used a cross-disciplinary form of eristic imitation to outdo the rhetorical achievement of his text's unnamed author.
ISSN:0141-1896
1547-7304
DOI:10.1080/01411896.2017.1379820