Rhetoric had an essential role in artistic production from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century by systematically dictating the formal structure and utilizing figurative elements in discourse to strengthen its eloquence. In the case of music, it occurs through structure and division of the music and the use of rhetorical-musical figures such as catabasis (descending melodic movement) or anaphora (general repetition) among others. This article aims to analyze some of the rhetorical elements contained in the aria Quia respexit humilitatem, composed by J. S. Bach.
rhetorical analysis; rhetoric-musical figures; baroque; Quia respexit humilitatem; Bach