I don't know if either is all that important; maybe it was different in madrigal days. A lively and expressive melody usually renders some syllables in different lengths, otherwise it all sounds a bit processional, like the ode to Joy. But in doing this I don't think composers take much notice of the intrinsic quantities of the syllables. They know that their singers can lengthen any syllable at will. I was wrong, I admit, to claim that 3/4 would be closer to speech-rhythm than 2/4. I tried reciting "She walks in beauty" in 3/4 and it sounded extremely affected!
>>Translating stress into length? Quantity is I think more important than stress in setting words to music. Usually corresponds roughly to stress patterns, but not always, and there are variations in quantity that aren't accounted for in qualitative scansion. Any Elizabethan lyric provides examples. Robert Johnson's setting of Ben Jonson's Have You Seen but a White Lily Grow, or Dowlands's Fine Knacks for Ladies, for instance. Lots of nice performances on YouTube.
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