What Do Shakespearean Musicians Think? Complementary Rhetorical Devices in Romeo and Juliet and Byrd's O that most rare breast. Issue 4 (2nd October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Smith, Jeremy L.
• Is Part Of: Journal of musicological research. Volume 36:Issue 4(2017)
• Page Start: 336
• Page End: 363
• Publication Date: 2017-10-02
• Subjects: Music -- Periodicals; Musicology -- Periodicals; 780.72
• DOI: 10.1080/01411896.2017.1379820
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0141-1896

Abstract

ABSTRACT: 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.