HUMOR´S COMMON PLACE IN HAYDN

Abstract

This article attempts to recover seventeenth century meaning of the term humor, in order to reevaluate a common-place that has been, since Haydn´s own time, associating this quality to his work. This relation remains valid until today, despite many changes in the significance of the term humor, without any concern for defining this concept, in most cases. This article is divided in three parts: in first place, there is a contextualizing of the sources dealing with the notion of humor in the seventeenth century; the second part is dedicated to the reconstitution of the term humor in the seventeenth century, and the third part regards magazine articles that related Haydn’s music to the notion of humor, during his own time.
Keywords: Joseph Haydn; Humor; Seventeenth-century critics; Rhetoric; Aesthetic; Comic.