Lessons in Music Form Part 8

No. 14, last 11 measures.

No. 36, last 22 measures.

No. 37, last 11 measures.

Beethoven, pianoforte sonata, op. 27, No. 2, last movement; measures 7 to 23 from the second double-bar.

Beethoven, pianoforte sonata, op. 28, first movement; from the double-bar (near the middle of the movement) measures 21 to 94 (_fermata_ symbol); in this extraordinary specimen of phrase-development, the original four-measure phrase yields seventy-four successive measures, with very few cadences to divide it even into sections. Same sonata, last movement, last eighteen measures.

CHAPTER VII. THE PERIOD-FORM.

PHRASE-ADDITION.--The phrase is the structural basis of all musical composition. By this is meant, not necessarily the single phrase, but the phrase in its collective sense.

The phrase is, after all, only a unit; and the requirements of Variety cannot be wholly satisfied by the mere development and extension of a single phrase, except it be for a certain limited section of the piece, or for a brief composition in small form (like Schumann, op. 68, No. 8).

The act of _addition_ does therefore enter into the processes of music-writing, as well as _extension_. Phrase may be added to phrase, in order to increase the primary material, and to provide for greater breadth of basis, and a richer fund of resources. The condition to be respected is, that such aggregation shall not become the ruling trait, and, by its excess, supplant the main purpose,--that of _development_.

That is, it must be held rigidly within the domain of Unity. The student of the cla.s.sic page will therefore expect to find a more or less marked family resemblance, so to speak; prevailing throughout the various phrases that may be a.s.sociated upon that page.

Each additional phrase should be, and as a rule will be, sufficiently "new" in some respect or other to impart renewed energy to the movement; but--so long as it is to impress the hearer as being the same movement--there will still remain such points of contact with the foregoing phrase or phrases as to demonstrate its derivation from them, its having "grown out" of them.

This process of addition (not to be confounded with the methods of extending a single phrase, ill.u.s.trated in the preceding chapter) is exhibited first, and most naturally, in the so-called Period-form.

THE PERIOD.--The Period-form is obtained by the addition of a second phrase to the first. It is therefore, in a sense, a double phrase; that is, it consists of two connected phrases, covering _eight ordinary measures_, or just double the number commonly a.s.signed to the single phrase.

Each one of these phrases must, of course, have its individual cadence, or point of repose; the first--called the _Antecedent phrase_--has its cadence in the fourth measure, and the second--called the _Consequent phrase_--in the eighth measure. The effect of the Period-form is that of a longer sentence interrupted exactly in the middle,--not unlike a bridge of two spans, resting on a central pier. But, precisely as the central pier is only an intermediate point of support, and not terra firma, so the ending of the Antecedent phrase is never anything more weighty than a semicadence, while the definite, conclusive, perfect cadence appears at the end of the Consequent phrase,--or of the entire period-form.

The reason for this distinction of cadence is obvious. A period is not two separate phrases, but two related and coherent phrases which mutually balance each other. The Consequent phrase is not merely an "addition" to the first, but is its complement and "fulfilment." The two phrases represent the musical a.n.a.logy of what, in rhetoric, would be called thesis and ant.i.thesis, or, simply, question and answer. In a well-constructed period the Antecedent phrase is, therefore, always more or less _interrogative_, and the Consequent phrase _responsive_, in character.

For ill.u.s.tration (Mendelssohn, No. 28):--

[Ill.u.s.tration: Example 44. Fragment of Mendelssohn.]

The co-operation, or interaction, of the principles of Unity and Variety, is nowhere more strikingly shown than in the formulation of the musical period. Either element has the right to predominate, to a reasonable degree, though never to the exclusion or injury of the other. In the above example, the principle of Unity predominates to a somewhat unusual extent:--not only the figures (marked 1-2-3-4), and the motives (_a-b_), are uniform, in the Antecedent phrase itself, but the melody of the Consequent phrase corresponds very closely throughout to that of the Antecedent, only excepting a trifling change in the course (marked _N. B._), and the last few tones, which are necessarily so altered as to transform the semicadence into a perfect cadence. It is this significant change, _at the cadence_, which prevents the second phrase from being merely a "repet.i.tion" of the first one,--which makes it a "Consequent," a response to the one that precedes.

Further (Mendelssohn, No. 23):--

[Ill.u.s.tration: Example 45. Fragment of Mendelssohn.]

In this example also, the Consequent phrase is a complete affirmation of its Antecedent, agreeing in its melodic form with the latter until the cadence is nearly due, when an extra measure is inserted (as extension), and the usual digression into the necessary perfect cadence is made. The condition of Unity predominates, but a noticeable infusion of Variety takes place.

Further (Mozart, pianoforte sonata):--

[Ill.u.s.tration: Example 46. Fragment of Mozart.]

Here, again, the condition of Unity prevails, but with a still greater infusion of Variety; the melody of the Consequent phrase _resembles_ that of the Antecedent in every detail; the rhythm is identical, and it is evident that the second phrase is designed to balance the first, figure for figure, the princ.i.p.al change being that some of the figures are simply turned upside down (compare the places marked _N. B._). The semicadence rests upon a dominant chord (fifth-step) of D major; the perfect cadence upon the same chord, it is true, but as _tonic_ harmony of A major, with keynote in the extreme parts. Being a keynote, though not in the original key, it is valid as perfect cadence.

Further (Beethoven, pianoforte sonata, op. 13):--

[Ill.u.s.tration: Example 47. Fragment of Beethoven.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Example 47 continued.]

In this example, the condition of Variety predominates decidedly. The Consequent melody differs totally from the Antecedent, even in rhythm, and the necessary portion of Unity is exhibited only in equality of length, _uniformity of accompaniment_, and similarity of character (tonality, and general harmonic and rhythmic effect). Observe the diversity of melodic extent, in the two phrases, in consequence of the preliminary tone borrowed from the semicadence for the Consequent phrase. Greater variety than here will rarely be found between two successive phrases that are intended to form the halves of one coherent period.

For more minute technical details see the h.o.m.oPHONIC FORMS, Chapter V.

LESSON 7. a.n.a.lyze the following examples. Locate the cadences; compare the phrases and define the degrees of Unity and of Variety exhibited in the melody, or elsewhere; and mark such irregularities of forms (or extensions) as may be found:--

Mendelssohn, Songs Without Words, No. 35, measures 5 1/2-13. (By 5 1/2 is meant the _middle_ of the fifth measure, instead of its beginning.)

No. 45, first 8 measures.

No. 29, measures 4 1/2-12.

No. 14, " 1-8.

No. 34, " 1-10.

No. 18, " 1-9; 10-17.

No. 9, " 3 1/2-7.

No. 27, " 5-12.

Schumann, op. 68, No. 3, measures 1-8; 9-16.

No. 5, measures 1-8; 9-16. (Do not overlook the preliminary tones which precede the first measure.)

The first eight measures of Nos. 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 22, 23, 24, 26, 30, 32, 39. Also Nos. 13 and 28, first _ten_ measures.

Beethoven, pianoforte sonatas: op. 2, No. 1, _Adagio_, measures 1-8.

Same sonata, third movement, "Trio," measures 1-10.

Op. 2, No. 2, _Largo_, measures 1-8; also _Scherzo_, measures 1-8; also _Rondo_, measures 1-8.

Op. 2, No. 3, measures 1-13; also _Scherzo_, measures 1-16; also last movement, measures 1-8.

Op. 10, No. 1, _Finale_, measures 1-8; and measures 16 1/2-28.