Heinrich Christoph Koch begins his chapter “The Nature of Melodic Sections” from Part II of his Versuch einer Anleitung zur Composition (1787), with the following statement:

Aside from his remarkable assertion regarding the unquestionable relationship between music and the punctuation points of speech, Koch's choice of terminology is in itself fascinating. The long and unwieldy designation of Ruhepunkte des Geistes, which Koch repeats throughout his Versuch, is a difficult one to translate. The German concept of Geist is capable of conveying so many meanings: not only the spirit (my term of convenience), but that which animates and brings beauty to an object; it refers to the capacities of the mind and the intellect, even the genius that an artist brings to his or her art. Koch's use of the term in characterizing musical punctuation conjures up for the reader that of a living, breathing art, one which is supple and adaptable, embodying the very nature of human communication itself. This is the essence of the musical punctuation analogy we are working to reclaim—to recognize, understand, and put into practice.

Music making permeated eighteenth-century life, through the increasing number of publicly held performances in opera houses, salons, and concert halls, and as a popular form of domestic amusement among upper- and middleclass households. It became a kind of magnet for Enlightenment ideals, resonating the intellectual, social, cultural, and philosophical concerns of the age. All the complex and diverse influences on the punctuation of discourse, described in the preceding chapter, were absorbed and digested by a musical community that continued to regard the vocal arts as the idealized form of musical expression.