This book strikes at the heart of musical performance with a study of the relationship between music and rhetoric which was much remarked upon during the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The ideas of the classical rhetoric books are traced through the Tudor classroom to the late eighteenth century. Concentrating on performance techniques that aid the communication of musical ideas to an audience, historical source material is used to demonstrate how to hold the attention of the listener and at the same time move and delight them. Quotations from the rhetoric manuals, Shakespeare and the Bible are complemented by over one hundred musical examples, drawn mainly from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, illustrating the connection between speaking and playing in the rhetorical style.

Introduction to playing baroque string music from the 16th to 18th centuries. Required reading for students, professionals and amateurs. Based on historical sources, covers all topics such as articulation, bow-hold, vibrato, style, dance, fingering choice, bow strokes, tempo, tuning, harmony

The story of the creation of Messiah is followed by a close unpicking and rhetorical analysis of the biblical text as presented to Handel by his friend Charles Jennens. Devices such as word-painting, repetition, questions and exclamations portray and enhance the Christian message and add to its impact for the listener. This is followed by a performers' guide to delivering Handel's ideas using rhetorical techniques of delivery. The book finishes with a review of the contemporary reception of the work which was described as 'sublime'.

Rhetorical ideas from Classical Greek and Roman authors are used alongside texts of the 16th and 17th centuries which were written to help people to read and understand the Bible in English within the Protestant church tradition.