Virtuosity as rhetoric: Agency and transformation in Paganini's mastery of the violin

Journal/Book: Quart J Speech. 1998; 84: 5105 Backlick Rd, Annandale, VA 22003. Speech Communication Assn. 341-357.

Abstract: While virtuosic-or incredibly skilled-action is recognized as an important facet of symbolic activity, talk of virtuosity is often limited to the superficial and deceptive uses of talent, a trend that constrains the rhetorical nature of human agency. This essay examines virtuosity as a performance in which the agent's display of extraordinary skill is valued because it transfigures cultural ideals concerning the expressive power of the human agent. The study examines in detail a concert by Nicolo Paganini, the nineteenth century violinist whose striking expressive force functioned rhetorically to expand ideas concerning music and human agency, and to evoke a unique sense of communitas by embodying the ideals of the Romantic era.

Note: Article Palmer DL, Univ No Colorado, Greeley,CO 80639 USA

Keyword(s): Paganini; virtuosity; musical performance; agency; Romanticism

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