Affetto. Concept and Term in Literary and Musical Criticism

The essay aims to compare affetti in vocal and instrumental music and to place the concept in the larger context of contemporaneous literary theory, which forms the conceptual basis for the terminology used to describe music. The persistent use of the word affetto in literary and musical sources of the time justifies the need to look for clarification in the former: the term is far more often associated with literature—poetry in particular—and also appeared in the literary field long before it began to surface in the musical one. A comparison between music and poetry will help to clarify what was meant by affetto in the musical context; parallels drawn between music, oration and the scenic arts will also be used for this purpose.