Cartesian Mind-Body Separation in the Characters of Monteverdi's Orfeo

The contrast between lyrical arias and speech-like recitative is a basic convention that shapes the relationship between text and music in opera. As one of the earliest operas, and a pioneer in establishing the tradition of aria-recitative division, Claudio Monteverdi’s Orfeo (1607) introduced a duality between two distinct vocal styles to the genre of opera. In her article “Feminist Theory, Music Theory, and the Mind/Body Problem, ” Susanne Cusick identifies a mind-body duality in music between music as a bodily performance and music as an intellectual art, and associates Monteverdi with this mind-body dualism. Cusick asserts that, in their debate, Monteverdi and Giovanni Artusi both demonstrate a conception of musical sound as a bodily entity that is distinct from the soul.