ReaB;-t:o better; T»ea3
Jj ij'e - Natufe-all things.
ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION
OF MUSICAL FORM
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
THE RHYTHMIC CONCEPTION
OF MUSIC
Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. net
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
LONDON, NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA
ANALYSIS OF
THE EVOLUTION OF
MUSICAL FORM
BY
MARGARET H. GLYN
AUTHOR Ol- "THE RHYTHMIC CONCEPTION OF MUSIC," ETC.
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA
1909
All rights reserved
t^^o7^
'U.oO
I'd <EM[usic
One art thou, Music, Indivisible,
A voice that from on high doth visit us,
1 hat Cometh ever singing a nenv song.
And he nvho fain ivoulcl speak his thought of thee
Falls to a silent tuonder as he hears
The footstep of thy coming ; yea, and ivheji
Like the deep sea thy tide doth leave his shore.
The silence grotus upon thy henlson.
Through soul of man thou ivllt declare thyself !
But when ive cease to speak thy rhythmic tongue
We are like children stammering of thee
Oh Music, nvho art greater than our thoughts.
PREFACE
The general drift of this theory of music has already
been indicated in " The Rhythmic Conception of
Music." The object of the present volume may be
briefly stated to be the application of the evolutionary
principle to practical music, the essential motive power
of which is to be found in rhythm. By this means it
is possible to produce an analysis which, as promised
in the former volume, " shall weld all the various
parts of musical education into one consistent and
logical whole."
The theory has arisen not from abstract ideas, but
out of the study of music. It is not so much a theory
about music as an endeavour to translate into the terms
of the intellect the form of the impressions made upon
the musical imagination — in short, to hold the mirror
up to Music. It is hoped that those who have
themselves the intuitive knowledge will recognise the
likeness.
The following up of rhythmic principles introduces
the new proportions of a wider range into musical
theory. In the words of one of the most broadminded
of our musicians, the late Mr. Alfred Hipkins, " We
must forget what is merely European, national, or con-
ventional, and submit the whole of the phenomena to
a philosophical as well as a sympathetic consideration,
Vlll
PREFACE
such as in this (nineteenth) century is conceded to
language, but has not yet found its way to music."
The purpose of this Analysis could not be better
stated.
The work is arranged under two main headings,
which are a guide to its contents generally rather than
exact divisions of the subject. Necessarily it contains
much that is already familiar to experienced musicians.
The object has been not so much to discover new facts,
as to present the relations of those already known in
an intelligible order. For this purpose complete de-
finition of technical detail, however elementary, is indis-
pensable ; but it has not seemed desirable to proceed
by precept rather than by argument after the manner
of a text-book. Such a style proves impracticable
where first principles have to be expounded and estab-
lished, particularly in the present transitional conditions
of musical thought. So much do the new and the old
now mingle together that controversial matter, though
purposely reduced to the smallest possible limit, cannot
be altogether excluded. Therefore the ordinary text-
book manner would convey a false impression.
There is also a deeper reason. Whatever be the
style of its expression, art should surely be taught as
art, and not as pseudo-science. We deal with facts,
not as an end in themselves, but as a means to an end.
The end to be held in view is the explanation of artistic
technique as the outward form of human expression,
not as a thing to be pursued for its own sake.
In treating the musicians for whom the work is
intended merely as wholesale consumers of ordered
PREFACE ix
facts, this end would have been defeated. The Analysis
is not planned to act as a mechanical guide to music,
nor to cram students for examination. It will make
no one the wiser unless assimilated by means of
thought. It aims at pointing out the lines upon which
analytical study may profitably proceed, and thus at incit-
ing others to think and study for themselves. It is by
stimulating the exercise of the reasoning powers upon
musical matters hitherto largely ignored or taken for
granted that one may hope to hasten the artistic revival
in music, signs of which are already beginning to appear.
Many of us are no longer satisfied with the methods
of our fathers ; we perceive the inadequacy of narrow
musical judgments founded solely upon technique ; we
desire to become artists rather than well - informed
mechanics ; we are seeking in all directions for an
intelligible basis of music that will afford foundation
for breadth and independence of artistic criticism. Old-
fashioned dogmatism will presently be fighting for its
life or ceasinor to exist. Nature demands survival of
the fittest.
I wish here to make full acknowledgment of the
immense advantage it has been to me to discuss all
the points of this theory with so able and experienced
a musician as my friend Dr. T. H. Yorke Trotter,
to whom I am deeply indebted for many valuable
suggestions. It is also due to his indefatigable exertions
that upon its educational side this is no longer a theory
in the air. I am able to state that for some time
classes have been held for the purpose of instructing
teachers upon the lines laid down in this Analysis.
X PREFACE
Text-books for the use of teachers, elementary and
advanced, are being prepared by Dr. Yorke Trotter
and under his supervision, and will shortly be issued.
The principles of Hindu music have become known
to me through study of the works of the Raja Sir
Sourindro Mohun Tagore, Mus. D., and from some
notes very kindly supplied to me by his son, Kumar
Siva Kumar Tagore. To the same source I am
indebted for my examples of Hindu music.
The material of my " Analysis of Time-outline in
English Folk-song " I owe to the courtesy of Mr. Cecil
Sharp, who generously placed at my disposal a large
number of tunes from his collection. I am thus enabled
to present this new aspect of melody under most inter-
estinof conditions.
For permission to quote other melodies and tran-
scriptions which appear in the Appendix, I desire to
express my thanks to Baron Kraus Figlio, Lieutenant-
Colonel Mockler-Ferryman, Miss Lucy Broadwood, the
Reverend F. W. Galpin, Mr. Frank Kidson, Messrs.
Novello & Co., and Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench,
Triibner & Co.
M. H. G.
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION xix
PART I
TONE-MATERIAL
CHAPTER I
GENERAL MATERIAL
Definition of tone — Definition of the outlines — Time — Pitch — Force
— Colour — The chromatic scale — Absolute pitch ....
CHAPTER II
THE SIMPLE STANDARD OF TIME AND ITS
NOTATION
The principle of time-division — The time-beat — Divisions of the beat
— Evolution of values — The notes 7
CHAPTER III
THE COMPOUND STANDARD OF TIME AND ITS
NOTATION
Origin of the grouping of beats — The accented beat — Evolution of the
accentual standard — The bar in notation — The beat in notation —
The time-signature — Change of time — Causes of incorrect barring 12
xii CONTENTS
CHAPTER IV
RELATIVE PITCH AND ITS NOTATION
Material of pitch — Dependence of notation on the scale — Definitions
of the scale — Analysis of the diatonic scale — Its minor mode — Its
intervals and inversions — Definitions of melodic key, key-circle,
and tonality — Notation of pitch a compromise — Causes of its
complication — Eastern notation — Relation of tuning of orchestral
instruments to notation
CHAPTER V
THE SIMPLE STANDARD OF TONALITY
Relation of acoustics to music — The most consonant interval — In-
tonation of intervals^Artificial theories — Origin of the melodic
triad — Elementary tonality and consonance — Physical basis of
the harmonic triad — Dissonance — The inversions of the triad . 34
CHAPTER VI
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SCALE
Development from chord to scale — Lack of the semitone — Causes of
its omission from early melody — The semitonal instinct of the
East necessary to complete the scale of the West — The European
development — The Asiatic development — Mode and transposition
— Relation of key to mode — Modal development due to lack of
consonant intuition — Eastern modal names 44
CHAPTER VII
PRIMITIVE HARMONY
Two-part consonance — Principle of chord-sequence — Melodic discord
— The minor triad — Dominant harmony — Primitive harmonic
material — The function of the bass — Consecutive octaves and
fifths — Instrumental harmony . 60
CONTENTS xiii
CHAPTER VIII
ADVANCED HARMONY
PACE
Limits of chord-formation — ^Summary of diatonic chords — Develop-
ment due to primary principle — Augmented and diminished
triads — -Major and diminished sevenths — Ninths and minor
sevenths — Definition of chromaticism — Chromatic modal in-
flexions— Summary of European modes — The dominant leading-
note — Blending of modes in the key — Chromatic harmony —
Principle of chromatic chord-sequence 70
CHAPTER IX
THE COMPOUND STANDARD OF TONALITY
Definition of key — Compound standard of pitch compared with that
of time — Syntonic and atonic proportions — Growth of the key —
Relation of discords to the key — Resolution of discords — The
principle of the bass — Effect of chromaticism upon the key — The
key-circle and modulation 85
CHAPTER X
ASIATIC TONALITY
Tonality as applied in the East and West respectively — ^The relation
of the Eastern tonic to the scale-tone — The tonalitive type of the
raga — The raga an expression of religious feeling — A type distinct
fromtuneand from mode — Its tonalitive relations— Its practical
value — The tonalitive significance of the drone — Hindu notation
and analogies with colour 95
CHAPTER XI
DISCANT
Mixophonic art — Eastern instrumental accompaniment — Distinction
between harmony and discant — The art of organum or discant
in early writings — Similarity to primitive Eastern discant — The
argument for the Eastern origin of Gregorian chant — Its exotic
character — Effect of discant upon the chant .... 105
xiv CONTENTS
CHAPTER XII
COUNTERPOINT VERSUS CHORD-CONCEPTION
PAGE
Discant an extempore art — The dissonant standard — Efifect of the
folk-music — Laws and practice of discant — Introduction of the
consonant basis into musical theory, and consequent definition of
discords — Counterpoint, the science of intervals — Lack of chord-
conception in musical treatises of sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries — Rameau's chord-theory — Effect upon the science of
intervals — Welsh chord-conception of the twelfth century — Free
counterpoint in education . . . . . , . • HQ
PART II
RHYTHM
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Rhythm the underlying unity of musical form — Recurrence of units —
Strict and free rhythm— The law of union — A relative balance —
The standard units- Alternation — The three main divisions of
rhythm — The free unit of the idea — The idiom — Rhythm of pitch
— Limitations of pitch as a factor of evolution — The under-
emphasis or over-emphasis of the key — The rhythmic significance
of tonality — Undulating rhythm — Need for rhythmic balance —
Rhythm in education 134
CHAPTER II
TIME-IDIOM
Analysis of time-outline — The time-figure — List of time-figures — Rela-
tion of the figure to the accent and the beat — Phrased, slurred,
and tied figures — Syncopation — Relation of the figure to orchestral
instruments — The function of equal time-outline — The idiom in
melody and polyphony — Relation of the idiom to the accent —
Free time-idiom 148
CONTENTS XV
CHAPTER III
PITCH-IDIOM
PAGE
Rhythm in pitch — Dependence of pitch-outline on the standards of
time — Hence importance of free time-idiom — The pitch-figure —
Relations of time- and pitch-figures — Pitch-idiom a secondary
form — Figures of accompaniment — Sequences — Changes of
values in pitch-figures — Metamorphosis compared with idiomatic
development 163
CHAPTER IV
PHRASE AND STANZA
Definition of the phrase and its origin — Relation of phrase to bar-
standard — Articulations of phrase-form — Connection with circling
rhythm — The cadence of the leading -note — Function of the
harmonic cadence — The stanza — The free phrase — Phrase-form
of melody — Relation of phrase-form to modulation . . • I75
CHAPTER V
THE TALA OF THE EAST
The Eastern time-system — The Sanskrit theory of beat, values, and
bar — Definition of tala— Absence of accentual standard from
Hindu theory and practice — Talas and time-signatures — The
principle of the Western bar — The principle of the Eastern bar —
The relation of the accentual-bar to Western melody — The rela-
tion of the tala-bar to Eastern melody , 183
CHAPTER VI
IMITATION
General character of counterpoint — Origin of imitation— The round —
The canon — Evolution of the rhythmic unit of imitation — An
effect of time-outline — Two contrapuntal styles — Organ counter-
point conditioned by the instrument — The style of Bach — Lingual
character of round and early part-songs producing phrase and yc^i^
stanza — The madrigal — Causes of the strictness of counterpoint . ijgT—
xvi CONTENTS
CHAPTER VII
LANGUAGE AND MUSIC
PAGE
The lingual period of musical evolution— The time-character of lan-
guage compared with that of music — Word-songs and dance-songs
— Inability of language to develop true musical form — Recitative
— Phrase-form in music and language — Relation of the sense of
words to musical form — Difficulties of the combination — Music
an essentially non-lingual art 208
CHAPTER VIII
IDIOMATIC DEVELOPMENT
The type of the dance-song — Evolution of circling rhythm from
melody to polyphony — The birth of modern music — Principles
versus types — Text-book formulas and contradictions — -So-called
second subjects — Omission of the idiom from theory — Outlines of
analysis — Evolutionary nature of tonality 219
CHAPTER IX
DERIVED VOCAL TYPES
The folk-ballad— Origin of the rondo — Mixed types — The rondo in
the East — The European rondo — The variation type — The early
Welsh type — The middle stage — Final development into idio-
matic outline 233
CHAPTER X
THE CYCLE
Anomalous cycles of opera and oratorio — The Mass — Ordered
sequence of the suite — Early French dance-types — Tonalitive
scheme of suite — A cosmopolitan cycle for the harpsichord — The
modern suite — The greater cycle — Reversal of time and pitch
characteristics of suite — Influence of instruments — The early
sonata a combination of differing types of form in a small
balance — Development of larger balance under Beethoven —
Undulating rhythm essential to unity of a great musical work —
Unity of subjects — The quartet 243
CONTENTS
XVll
CHAPTER XI
THE CONTINUOUS STYLE
PAGE
General lines of evolution — Need for continuity — Advance of undu-
lating rhythm— Assistance of the drama in developing continuous
style — ^Proportions of orchestra and length of work — Orchestral
conditions of dramatic music — The symphonic poem — The per-
spective of music — The continuity of counterpoint — Counterpoint
in the Church 257
CHAPTER XH
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION .
267
APPENDIX OF MUSICAL ILLUSTRATIONS
The Evolution of Europp:an Tonality
Section A. Melodic Consonance ....
„ B. A Transitional Stage ....
„ C. The Consonant Pentatonic Formula .
,, D. Elementary Scale-form
„ E. Scale-form ......
„ F. Combined Chord-form and Scale-form
„ G. Harmonic Consonance
,, H. Vocal Harmony on a Pedal Bass
,, I. ,, „ Two Bass Notes .
,, J. ,, ,, Three, Four, or more Bass Notes
,, K. Instrumental Harmony on a Pedal Bass
„ L. „ ,, Two Piass Notes
,, M. „ ,, Three, Four, or more Bass Notes
274
274
275
277
278
279
280
282
282
284
286
287
288
The Evolution of Asiatic Tonality
Section N. Primitive Microtonal Types
„ O. Tetrachordal and Modal Types
,, P. Hindu Ragas and Melodies
„ Q. Discant ....
292
292
293
295
Analysis of Time-outline in English Folk-song
Section R. The Basis of Equal Outline
„ S. „ the Strict Figure
,, T. ,, the Free Figure .....
298
300
302
xviii CONTENTS
Analysis of Time-outline in English Dance Tunes of the
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
PAGE
Section U. The Basis of Equal Outline 305
,, V. „ the Strict Figure 306
„ W. „ the Free Figure 308
The Time-types of the East
Section X. Hindu Talas and Melodies 310
The Elementary Rondo Type
Section Y. English, Chinese, and Hindu Rondos .... 312
The Elementary Variation Type
Section Z. An Early Welsh Movement in Variations .... 316
GLOSSARY 319
INDEX 327
INTRODUCTION
The form of nuisic is more complex than that of any
other art. He who looks for simplicity in its analysis
is doomed to disappointment. But this should not
deter the musician from the endeavour to understand
his art.
It is sometimes said that music is too elusive an
art to be analysed to any purpose. To which it may
be answered that the elusiveness of musical effect is
due, not to an erratic constitution, for no art is more
strictly bound by law ; neither to lack of organic unity
in a composition, for nowhere else will incoherency
sooner involve oblivion.
The factors of musical effect can be shown to pro-
duce each its own result inevitably ; the principles
governing the use of these factors are equally un-
alterable, being inherent in the nature of the art. All
this can be certainly known, since it admits of actual
demonstration. The elusiveness of music lies else-
where. It consists in the action of the individual
mind upon the form of music, not as destroying that
form, but as re-creating it. So much original person-
ality as exists in the mind, exactly so much originality
of form will be found in its music. The mind is no
less elusive than its creations ; could we understand
the mystery of personality, we should understand the
XX INTRODUCTION
mystery of music. It is a mystery that exists in some
degree in all the arts, but music offers unique opportu-
nities for the utterance of personality. Instead of a
ready-made form, music brings nothing but a few
units of construction and natural lines of develop-
ment, some part of the material and the laws
reofulatingf its use, and leaves all the rest to the
individual composer. If he have a mind that can
stamp its own impress upon music, he will produce in
course of time a new style. If not, he will but
stumble and imitate the doings of others.
The theory of an abstract musical form in which
to train composers is false to the true nature of the
art. There exists, in fact, no such thing, except in
the minds of those who lack imagination, and wish
to be told exactly what they are to do next. There
are always plenty who are ready to live by the telling,
and so the tradition survives, and the real art of music
is not taught at all. What is taught instead is the
mathematical method of composition, the distribution
of tones in a certain order that has been calculated
to produce the desired effect. Any one of average
intelligence and who is not tone-deaf can learn this,
and so it cannot but be said that its object within
certain limits is commonly realised. But when the
thing is done, who is thereby the better? Would
not any one prefer to hear something original and
sincere, however simple, than the cleverest imitation ?
Are we likely to attain greatness in art, or in any
other department of life, by remaining a nation of
imitators ?
INTRODUCTION xxi
The cumbrous machinery which this method in-
volves resembles nothing so much as the elaborate
stone aqueducts of the Roman days, which are
entirely superseded by the simple discovery that
water finds its own level. In the same way the
intuitive rhythmic feeling of music, unless suppressed,
finds its own outlet. Unfortunately, the conditions
of modern life are all in favour of suppression, and
therefore, if we wish for originality in music, we must
reverse the present conditions of education, particu-
larly of musical education. We must learn to take
hold of and develop the natural lever which moves
all the rest, the rhythmic feeling. It is a fact that
this natural motive power can be awakened even in
any average town-bred child with astonishing results,
whereas to the adult the matter is a far more difficult
one, except in case of the specially gifted.
Elementary musical education is, therefore, of the
highest importance. Develop the natural powers of
the mind in the child as you would the muscles of
the body, and a strong, healthy individuality will
result. Such an individuality is essential to the life
of art. Of its importance in national life, it is for
the social reformer to speak, yet it must be clear
that our existence as a race depends upon our
capacity for standing on our own feet, both nationally
and individually. It is possible that the musician
may be the pioneer of this new educational move-
ment, a movement that regards the mind as a living
thing to be fed, rather than a warehouse to be
crammed. The musician can testify that analytic
xxii INTRODUCTION
instruction, however important, is not the beginning
of knowledge. Rhythmic culture, bringing with it
appreciation of music and natural artistic capacity,
has existed from the earliest times independently of
intellectual knowledge, and is still to be found broad-
cast amonofst those who have received no musical
education. If Nature is given her own way, im-
agination goes before, and as opportunity offers,
understanding follows after. Imagination does not
grow out of understanding, but understanding out
of imagination. The divorce that has long existed
between the theory and practice of music is due to
antiquated theory that has little or no root in im-
agination. For these two ought to go hand in hand
and assist one another. Theory must be practical
or it is valueless, and practice if influenced by
false theory will fail of its end. Without theory
the musician is prone to become the slave of his
own practice, and through lack of correction by
practice the theorist degenerates into a pedant. In
short, it is impossible to separate the two if either is
to be completely taught.
There are some few who can trust absolutely to
their own instincts, but it is beyond question that the
majority require to be taught. What is even more
to the purpose is that they are being taught. We
have not only to sow the right seed, but generally to
clear the ground before any seed can be sown. The
English musician is still in the pre-Darwinian stage.
Like those who believed the world to have been created
4004 B.C., he dates his art from the early centuries of
INTRODUCTION xxiii
our era, and all time previous to that is a blank to him.
Something of the extraordinary mental quickening that
has been produced by the wonderful word " evolution "
will surely spread into music when it is realised that our
art is as old as man himself ; that we can push back
our origins almost indefinitely ; that in consequence the
modern horizon widens illimitably ; that, at last, we are
going out, like Columbus, to discover a new world.
t The principle which has already found its way into
literature lies ready for application to music. Instead
of regarding a text as material for grammatical ana-
lysis in the flat, we recognise that all art is a growth,
which, if we would understand, we must analyse in all
its stages from the bottom upwards. It is by analysis
of its evolution that we realise it to be a part of nature ;
it is not made, but grows, and thus its human character
is revealed. All true art is a form of life, an expression
of human nature, and cannot be otherwise. "Art,"
said Montaigne, "is nature seen through a tempera-
ment." And since music is the least conventional, the
most natural, of all the arts, its elements are as per-
ceptible in the great art work as in the simple melody.
Each great genius creates from the elements and moulds
the plastic material to his own will. If we grasp these
elements and the trend of the evolution, we shall know
what has gone before, and where we stand in relation
to the past and to the future.
It is not claimed that such analysis represents the
whole of musical education. We require, besides, to
read and write music easily, and to have some acquaint-
ance with the method of its production by voice and
xxiv INTRODUCTION
instruments, the knowledge of instruments, and per-
formance upon them. In a general way this may be
summed up as notation and tone-production. It is
not the object of the present volume directly to teach
these subjects. They pertain more especially to the
practice of music, and form ground that belongs to
oral teaching. Notation and tone - production must
enter to some extent into any technical account of
music, but facility in them can only be gained in prac-
tice. The educational need of the day is for a truth-
ful intellectual presentment of the growth of musical
form. For this materials do exist, but they have lain
for the most part unused. Musicians have quietly
accepted the theory of mediaeval origin, oblivious to the
monstrous impossibility of developing the natural out
of the artificial ; and so the practice of the composers
of music is almost wholly at variance with the theory
of it as taught in the schools. Of the analysis of the
natural art there are but fragments. Melody is ignored,
harmony is made foolish by isolation, " thematic de-
velopment " is a vague muddle, and strict counterpoint
burdens the mind with the lumber of the Middle Ages.
But when the complete development unfolds itself, the
fragments we have hitherto known fall into their right
places, the dry bones come together and grow into a
recognisable whole, the rhythmic conception justifies
itself by its unity. It is not this intellectual conception
that is going to originate music, but it can assist to
carve out channels for the real motive power, instead
of damming it back. It will do this by finding the
intellectual truth of music, which means freedom to the
INTRODUCTION xxv
imagination, whereas intellectual falsehood cramps and
chokes it. And a narrow doctrine taught dogmatically
is inevitably false.
Therefore we must prove all things, but above all
see to it that our rhythmic feeling and our imaginative
hearing take the lead, else we shall put the cart before
the horse and repeat the old mistake. We can show
the evolution of music in the past, but it is imagination
that will find the road of the future. And the musical
imagination is " rhythmitonal " — it does not exist apart
from rhythm. A rhythmically uncultured nation cannot
be actually " musical," whatever may be its potential
capacity for music. For this reason a musically gifted
people will always be found to have associated dancing
with its music, for dancing is an even greater stimulant
of rhythmic feeling than is music, especially with the
young. It may be said that no national music can long
exist without national dance, and it is evident that the
Puritan movement in England, by killing the dance,
dealt a heavy blow at the national music. Vulgarity
in music is invariably a sign of rhythmic degeneration,
and to this cause must be assigned the present condition
of English popular music.
In the sixteenth century English music was in the
forefront of the nations. This was the first great con-
ventional era of the art, but no independent develop-
ment on natural lines has ever taken place in England.
It is yet to come.
What we have to do in order to bring this about
is to leave off the external acquisition of technique,
foreign or otherwise, as an end in itself, and cultivate
c
xxvi INTRODUCTION
in ourselves and in our children the love of sincere and
spontaneous musical utterance. Our own indigenous
folk-art should form the backbone of elementary educa-
tion, for all natural musical development springs out of
national dance-songs. The spirit of folk-song is the
true art-spirit which asserts itself against the soul-
destroying bondage of custom and routine, that has
done so much to thwart and hold up the natural
currents of musical inspiration. We shall do well to
claim our national heritage, and admit the music of the
folk to a recognised place of its own in the world of
art. The study of evolution discloses the steps leading
from folk-song up into the higher walks of music.
Between the art of musicians and that of the folk
there exists the difference of the lettered and the un-
lettered, of the adult and the child, of the individual
rather than the communal ; this is a distinction of form,
but not of essence. Both cultivated and wild flower
are forms of life, whereas the essential distinction is to
be drawn between the flower and the imitation flower,
which is not a form of life. That so much of the
spurious article exists in music as to cause it to stand
in the minds of some people for the original, is an
unfortunate occurrence due to a lack of the ear that
hears. It is the ear and the spirit that need to be
roused. And so long has our folk-song been neglected,
that it is necessary to set the imagination upon this
road of the past in order that it may have a clear lead.
It is the atmosphere of folk-music that needs to be
restored, and this can only be effected by teaching in
the schools, since song and dance have died out in
INTRODUCTION xxvii
the home. It is not a question of a cursory glance
through such music, but a thorough familiarity with
it — a storing of it up in the memory, for only in this
way can its charm be felt. And if English folk-music
have ceased to charm the Englishman, though he have
all knowledge and make music to the end of time, it
will be but as empty sound and waste paper, since he
is persistently ignoring the law of nature which decrees
that, because sincerity is the first requirement, only
through the gateway of national character can art attain
to the expression of the universal.
ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION
OF MUSICAL FORM
PART I
TONE-MATERIAL
CHAPTER I
GENERAL MATERIAL
Definition of tone — Definition of the outlines — Time — Pitch — Force —
Colour — The chromatic scale — Absolute pitch.
A TONE is a sound of definite duration, pitchi, intensity,
and quality. It can vary in these four respects, and
its variations are the formal material of music. When
a tone varies in duration, or "time," it is longer or
shorter ; in pitch, it is higher or lower ; in intensity, or
"force," it is louder or softer; its quality, or "colour,"
is that which distinguishes one kind of voice or instru-
ment from another.
Tones in succession produce a movement in time,
which is invariably of a rhythmic nature. This move-
ment is called an " outline." Time-outline, pitch-out-
line, force-outline, and colour-outline are the names for
a succession of tones in duration, pitch, force, and colour
respectively.
2 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
Tone-movement is a general term expressing the
combination of the various outlines.
The character of general rhythmic movement in
music is that of hastening and slackening in time, of
rise and fall in pitch, of swelling and lessening in force.
To these outlines colour is an accessary.
The material of time-outline consists of all possible
gradations from slow to fast, and its rhythmic move-
ment varies therefore in speed. Speed in music is
called tempo. Tempo is indicated in notation in a
general way by an Italian term for speed, allegro,
andante, &c., or else it is determined precisely by
metronome, in which the movement of a pendulum
can be arranged to give the speed required. There
are in notation no exact indications of the divisions of
tempo. A varying tempo is indicated by the following
terms : accelerando and stringendo for gradual increase
of speed ; rallentando, ritardando, and ritenuto for
gradual decrease of speed.
The material of pitch-outline, by nature consisting of
all possible gradations of pitch, has been transformed by
art into a series of fixed and named degrees that exclude
all intermediate gradations. These degrees form the
material of pitch-outline. Divisions of pitch are called
intervals, and the interval from one degree to the next
is a semitone {i.e. half a full-tone), representing the
smallest division of pitch practicable upon most instru-
ments. Quarter-tones and third-tones can be sung by
the voice, and played upon instruments of the violin
family, and they form the basis of Eastern music, but
they are not recognised in the European art and have
GENERAL MATERIAL 3
no place in its notation. The material of our pitch-
outline thus consists of semitonal divisions ranging
from high to low, and these fall necessarily into the
natural division of the octave which occurs at the
twelfth semitone. At this point the name, and virtu-
ally the pitch also, of a tone repeats itself, and thus
the octave is the largest interval composed of differing
tones. The whole pitch-material available for music
extends over about seven or eight octaves, each of
which is an echo of the others at a different level of
pitch. Hence pitch-outline has two general varia-
tions : firstly, of rhythmic movement, direction upward
or downward ; secondly, of position, higher or lower
according- to the octave chosen. These two varia-
tions are indicated in notation by the stave and notes
I
The direction of an outline is thus reproduced to the
eye by the rise or fall of notes upon the stave, and
the position is indicated by the clef.
The material of force-outline consists of all possible
gradations from soft to loud, and its rhythmic movement
varies therefore in intensity. This is indicated by the
words fortissimo, forte, mezzo-forte, mezzo-piano, piano,
and pianissimo, each of which indications lasts until
contradicted by another. They are usually written as
follows : fff, ff, f, mf, mp, p, pp, ppp, representing the
whole range of material from loud to soft. Varying
force-outline is indicated by the words crescendo and
diminuendo for increase and decrease, or the sign < >
4 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
The material of colour-outline consists of the voice
in its four recognised qualities, treble or soprano, alto,
tenor, and bass, and all the instruments used in music.
These are divided in a general way into strings, wind,
and percussion instruments. Stringed instruments are
divided into keyboard, bowed, and plucked instruments ;
wind instruments into keyboard, wood, and brass in-
struments ; percussion, into instruments giving one or
more tones of definite pitch, and those of indefinite
pitch. With a single instrument the colour-outline is
necessarily unvaried ; any number of instruments can
be combined from two up to a full orchestra, and united
with voices. This is the largest multisonant combina-
tion, employing practically the full resources of colour.
The combinations of colour-outline in notation are called
a score ; vocal score, quartet score, orchestral or full
score, &c., of which the separate notation of any single
voice or instrument is called a part.
It will now be seen that pitch-outline differs from
the other outlines in possessing a punctuated material,
which prevents the smooth, unbroken passage from
one extreme to the other that takes place in time-
outline and force-outline. In pitch-outline we proceed
not by a gradient, but by steps. This movement by
steps is called a scale, and the semitonal divisions of
pitch have received the name of "chromatic scale."
The term " absolute pitch " is synonymous with
actual pitch ; by this term is not meant that any part of
music has an independent existence apart from the rest,
nor that pitch is more absolute in itself than the other
outlines. The real sigrnificance of the word lies in
t>
GENERAL MATERIAL 5
the fact that in two of these outHnes, those of time and
pitch, the material has been subjected to a selective
process, by which means a new and definite set of
rhythmic relations has been established, forming the
standards of the art. These special relations do not
exist in the general material, which is therefore by
distinction called absolute. The term applies more
suitably to time-outline, because in gradual transitions
of speed it is difficult to discover definite relations,
whereas in pitch-outline the relation of the semi-
tone cannot be overlooked. In force and colour no
standard of relative selection exists, therefore in their
case the term absolute is not required.
What is known as the perception of absolute pitch is
the recognition of a particular degree of pitch by name.
It appears to be an immediate intuitive association of
name with tone, each degree appearing a distinct
entity. It is not, as has been stated, merely the power
of imitating correctly a musical sound without reference
to its name.
The pitch of each degree should be fixed at a
given number of vibrations. The exact relation of
one degree to another is determined by the system
of tuning known as equal temperament (the division
of the octave into twelve equal parts), and since the
adoption of this system, which became general during
the course of the last century, no variation exists in
the relations of the degrees. But unfortunately there
are still variations in the absolute pitch of the degrees
as a whole, which cause great inconvenience, though
they do not affect the system of musical notation ; c"
6 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
is still q", while its vibration number may vary from
514 to 536 or higher. It is obvious that the difficulty
of recognising any given degree by name from the
sound only, is enormously increased when that degree
is itself subject to variation, and it is highly desirable
that such variations should disappear and a fixed pitch
be generally adopted.
CHAPTER II
THE SIMPLE STANDARD OF TIME AND ITS
NOTATION
The principle of time-division — The time-beat — Divisions of the beat —
Evolution of values — The notes.
The relative selections of time and pitch have now to
be considered.
The selection out of the general time-material is
made upon the simple principle of equal time-division.
This is the principle of pulsative rhythmic movement,
the rhythm of the recurring beat. It is a rhythmic
principle of universal application, and is to be found
underlying all music, ancient or modern, primitive or
cultured. Eastern or Western. This ftict is a proof, if
proof were needed, of its essential nature.
Capacity for music in the primitive sense is summed
up not in an " ear " for pitch, but in the ability to repeat
a blow upon any resisting surface at precisely regular
intervals ; in other words, to keep time. This necessity
will be appreciated by teachers of music who have met
with pupils impervious to all attempts to drill them into
the required precision. Such a condition is unheard of
in the savage world, where existence actually depends
upon accurate concerted action. The perception of the
exact moment at which the blow is to be repeated is an
intuitive perception, a repetition so obvious that it takes
7
8 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
place in the mind almost sub-consciously. It is entirely
natural. When children are trained young upon natural
rhythmic principles, not the slightest difficulty do they
experience in keeping time accurately. The repetition
continues easily in the mind through sound and silence,
and if liable to be upset by silences it can be assisted by
counting, which is an intellectual process. At the same
time it is not necessarily dependent upon any such
extraneous support.
This exact unit of recurrence is called the time-beat.
It forms the simple standard of time, and is the only
standard of music that is of universal application. It is
in truth the siite qua non of music. Without it no con-
certed music has ever existed or could exist, for if the
sense of the beat be lost, instantly the clue is gone.
There is no longer music, but a chaos in the mind of
him who fails to grasp the beat.
It is doubtless due to this cause that the beat is a
prominent audible feature of primitive music. It is
made upon a gong or drum, or with a stick upon the
ground, struck by the feet upon a board, or clapped by
the hands. In a later stage of development, when there
is (or should be) no fear of the beat being missed, a
noisy time-beat becomes a superfluity, and these mani-
festations drop out of cultured music. In the modern
orchestra the beat is made evident to the eye of the
players by the movement of the conductor's baton,
which replaces the primitive appeal to the ear, but is
now more used to give an individual "reading," than
to enforce a precise repetition.
From the practical point of view, in performance
of music, no musician can possibly ignore the beat,
THE SIMPLE STANDARD OF TIME 9
and yet the standard it represents has been ignored
to a great extent intellectually. The time-notation of
music proceeds frequently regardless of it, a neglect
that has led to much superfluous complication in the
record, as will subsequently be shown.
The only variation that takes place in the beat is
that of pace, or tempo. It can occur at quicker or at
slower intervals, and the emotional character of any
music depends greatly upon the pace of the beat, by
which the tempo is decided.
The desire for variation introduces divisions and
sub-divisions of the beat, on the one hand, and causes its
unit of time to be doubled or quadrupled in length, on
the other. Thus an unequal time-movement enters in,
the beat still continuing with a time-outline differing
from it, and yet constantly in relation with it. Unless
the time-outline proceeds uniformly in the same equal
division as the beat, the outline and the beat are distinct
from one another. The principle of equal division still
prevails, but it is carried further in the outline. Several
divisions are recognised, each one halving the time of
the one preceding it, and these time-divisions are called
" values." The beat becomes the standard value.
Each value is divisible into three parts as well as
into halves. When the beat is in three-part division,
and this is carried on throughout, it is a " ternal " beat.
This forms a variation upon the two-part division, which
is a "dual" beat.^ Frequently the two divisions are
employed in succession, but one usually predominates
and gives its name to the beat. In primitive music
* The words simple and compound which are in use, are misleading,
since they convey no idea of the divisions of the beat.
lo THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
both these divisions are in constant use. The most
primitive peoples have not only grasped their time
standard unerringly, but have advanced to a very con-
siderable amount of variation upon it. They appreciate
the values of time-outline apart from the beat, and their
music compares most favourably in this respect with the
best folk-songs of Europe.
In consequence of this very early development of
time-outline, it is quite impossible to trace the evolution
of musical values in detail. They are all frequently
present in the most primitive specimens, and there is
nothing to indicate with any certainty that one is older
than another. Doubtless the values nearest related to
the beat were the first to be grasped, and equal values
must have been appreciated before unequal ones, but
beyond this there is little to be said. The knowledge-
able evolution of tone-material in primitive examples
begins with the later form of pitch which is found in
a very elementary stage.
We may draw from these facts a definite conclusion
as to the relative positions of time and pitch in the
evolutionary order. Time-outline has a natural priority
and leads to the development of pitch. This is the
order to be observed in musical education. It is not
necessary or. desirable to teach all the intricacies of time-
outline first, and then proceed to pitch, but capacity for
reading at sight and writing from dictation in time-
outline should always be a little ahead of what can be
done in pitch-outline. This will ensure rapid progress.
Values are called notes ^ in musical notation. The
^ The term "note" is commonly used as a synonym for "tone," as well
as for the written character.
THE SIMPLE STANDARD OF TIME ii
notes are written, and their relative values can be stated
' f. r 11 I I h ^ S I
in hgures as toUovvs : — c? <s^ « * •'»«'*«>
The notes are named respectively semibreve,
minim, crotchet, quaver, semiquaver, demisemiquaver,
and half-demisemiquaver. The time-beat should be
the crotchet value. Ternal time requires to be specially
indicated, a dot placed after the note being used for
the purpose : — J . = JjJ
The following signs, called rests, -—--"- f *1 ^ &c.,
are equivalent to the notes, and are used to indicate
the value of any spaces of silence that occur in the
course of the tone-movement. The dotted rest also
equals the dotted note.
The divisions of time which the notes represent are
the easiest that can be grasped by the ear, being all
equal divisions, and thus are the foundation of the
time-record.
Any of the notes can be combined by means of the
tie - — -■ A -m ^ when the value of the tone is repre-
sented by the sum of the notes thus combined. For
convenience of notation a dot after a note is used instead
of the tied note, when the latter is next in order to it,
that is of half its value. A second dot represents the
note one more degree removed, that is of a quarter the
value of the note written : J . . = J ^ J^ This use of
the dot is distinct from the dot indicating a change of
divisory value ; the latter does not necessarily add to
the value of the note, since a dotted crotchet may be
equivalent to an undotted crotchet.
CHAPTER III
THE COMPOUND STANDARD OF TIME AND ITS
NOTATION
Origin of the grouping of beats — -The accented beat—Evolution of the
accentual standard — The bar in notation — The beat in notation — The
time-signature — Change of time — Causes of incorrect barring.
Experiments made upon many persons show that when-
ever a series of equal beats similar to the time-beat of
music is presented to the ear, the mind refuses to accept
the monotony of the continued equal repetition, and pro-
ceeds to arrange these beats intuitively into groups of
two, three, four, or more. The exact arrangement varies
slightly with the individual, and the greater the speed,
the larger will be the group, but the fact of grouping is
always present. The series is heard imaginatively as a
succession of groups, instead of a single series as actually
presented.^
It may therefore be taken for granted that to this
intuitive rhythmic process is due the grouping of beats
in music. There can be no doubt that the instinct for
grouping beats is as old as music, and that it is as
entirely natural as the perception of the beat itself.
We are all familiar with the vertical divisions in
musical notation called the bar-lines, between which are
enclosed a fixed number of beats, representing what is
^ Scripture, "New Psychology," pp. 178-9.
COMPOUND STANDARD OF TIME 13
generally called the " bar," or occasionally " measure."
Here the number of beats chosen to form a j^roup
can vary, but whatever number is chosen will continue
until a change of time is made. This involves no
change necessarily of the pace of the beat, but only
of the number of beats in a group. Primitive music
when noted falls naturally into bars, and this is due
to its natural grouping of beats. The group of two,
three, or four beats is the easiest to apprehend, but
primitive music is by no means confined to these. Its
developed feeling for rhythm is shown both by changes
of time and also by bars of five or seven beats, group-
ings which until recent years were looked upon as im-
possibilities in cultured music.
It seems to be frequently overlooked that the bar
is not a thing in itself but a sign which indicates the
thing. We do not hear the bar-line, but what we do
hear is a variation of force that indicates the time-beat
grouping. The beats are not all equal, but divide into
strono- and weak. There is the alternation of one
louder and one softer sound, or of one louder and
several softer, and this difference in force between
the sounds is called accent. Force-outline, which is
otherwise free, having no standard of its own, is made
relative to time-outline, and in accent assumes a pulsa-
tive habit. The primitive bar consists of the simple
alternation of two beats, accented and unaccented, or
of one accented and two unaccented, the group of three
beats. It is a natural condition of alternation that the
accent is made on the first beat, and if one asks why
the first and not the second of two, the answer appears
14 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
to be that when we alternate, the weak beat is made
the alternation of the strong one, and that we do not
alternate a lesser factor by a greater. The evolution
of the bar is that of greater length and consequent
addition of varying degrees of accent for the purpose
of its articulation. The strongest accent is invariably
upon the first beat, and the bar now becomes the space
between the main accents, with subsidiary accents to
assist its grouping. The beat-division into dual or
ternal does not affect the system of accent, but if sub-
divisions of the beat are used in melody, additional
accents may have to be made, since the larger the
number of notes in a given beat, the more difficult
does it become to grasp their relative values.
" Time " in music thus consists, firstly, of the re-
curring beat, the simple standard ; secondly, of the
recurring accent, or arrangement of accents, the com-
pound standard. This may be called the standard of
strict accent or of the bar. So essential is it to pulsa-
tive rhythm, that upon instruments not admitting of it,
such as the organ, harmonium, and early keyboard
instruments, no great development of time-outline can
take place, because the standard of the bar disappears
in performance through lack of accent.^ Such accent-
less music tends thus to develop in the direction of
pitch rather than in that of time, its time-outline
remaining undeveloped. On the other hand, the
evolution of the orchestra has tended towards the
enforcement of accent and therefore to the develop-
' It is possible to produce a slight feeling of accent by dwelling on
a note, but this is rather for occasional than normal use.
COMPOUND STANDARD OF TIME 15
ment of rhythmitonal art. For this purpose its per-
cussive character is largely used, consisting of the class
of drums, gongs, cymbals, and all instruments emitting
mere noise.
The bar is sometimes supposed to date only some
three centuries back, because it is not to be found earlier
in European notation. This short-sighted notion is due
to a misconception of the history of notation. Though
to some extent the growth of our music corresponds
with the growth of its notation, such correspondence is
limited to a comparatively recent period. The early
stages of rhythmitonal evolution were unrecorded ; no
one attempted to express tone-relations in words or
notes, because such a thing was entirely unconsidered.
As is well known, the early stages of European nota-
tion belong to the church-system, and were therefore
the work of monks to whom the popular music was a
forbidden thing. Notation as we know it dates from
the seventeenth century, and nothing is more significant
of the change that came over our music during its tran-
sition period from church-style to folk-style than the
sweeping and drastic changes undergone by its notation,
in order to make this a possible record of rhythmitonal
art. The appearance of the bar and indeed of all the
familiar features of modern notation coincides with the
disappearance of the church-system. We may take it,
therefore, that the standard of the accented beat
represented by the bar was missing from the church-
song, and that had folk-music possessed a notation
earlier, the bar would have appeared in it.
It is unfortunate that the natural clearness of our
i6 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
method of accentual grouping is obscured by the con-
fusion of its notation. As has been pointed out, this
proceeds on its way apparently ignoring the fact that
any standard value of time exists. The bar-contents
when added together make the right whole, but nothing
exists to show with certainty the relation of these to
the beat. Thus arises confusion between the beat-
division and the group of beats. When a beat-division
is taken at too slow a pace to be recognised as such,
it becomes a group of beats, normally defined by an
accent. The point of change from beat-division to
group is distinct to the ear, and should be clearly
distinguished in notation. The beat is the standard
value, yet there is no standard note to represent it —
minim, crotchet, quaver, and even semiquaver being
employed indifferently. Thus three or four complete
sets of relative values have to be used where one
is all that is required. Nothing is ever gained by
the use of promiscuous notation for the beat ; it is
merely a bad habit on the part of composers. The
use of differing notes does not convey the tempo of
the beat ; on the contrary, a minim is more often
used for quick tempo, and a quaver for slow tempo.
As the beat can vary only in absolute duration (or
tempo) this variation in the sign which records relative
duration (the note) can serve no practical purpose. If
the crotchet were adopted as the standard note of the
beat, the same results would be attained with less than
one-third of the present complication. The indication
of the beat and bar in the sign called the time-signature
could then be made clear and simple.
COMPOUND STANDARD OF TIME 17
At present the time-signature consists of two figures,
of which the upper relates to the number of notes in the
bar, and the lower to the value of that note, which may
or may not be the beat. Thus the signature indicates
length of bar, and the value in notation (i) of the beat,
or (2) of a division of the beat, or (3) of the sum of
two beats.
1. In slow or medium tempo, the signature indi-
cates the value of the beat.
2. In fast tempo the signature indicates frequently
not the beat but a fraction of the beat, and its value
and number. Thus ^ in slow tempo means six
beats of quaver value, and in fast tempo it means
six divisions of two beats, each of the value of a
dotted crotchet. This ambiguity is sometimes removed
by placing a note showing the value of the beat over
the signature.
3. In very slow tempo, the signature indicates the
value of two beats. Ex. ^ Adagio = 6 quaver beats.
Further complication is caused by the use of the
signs C and C. C being equivalent to | and (t to
f or I or i.
This condition of the time-signatures is due to the
lack of accurate time-beat notation, the relative nature
of the signature not being distinctly indicated. If the
crotchet were adopted as the standard note of the
beat, all ambiguity in the signature would disappear,
and the signature itself would only have to indicate
the number of beats in the bar, and the manner of
their division. It could then be reduced to one figure,
i.e., 1 2 34 5 6 7, &c., when the beat is dual (in
i8 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
2 quavers), and with the addition of a dot, to i. 2.
3. 4. 5. 6, 7. when the beat is ternal (in 3 quavers).
Six beats to a bar would admit, like five and seven,
of two forms of accent { 1 1 1 1 1 or 1 1 1 1 1 1 and should be
distinoruished thus —
fJ u fT III
Changfe of time involves alteration either of the
t>
bar or of the beat-division, or of both. The first
concerns the position of the strict accent, the second
changes the beat-division from dual to ternal, or vice-
versa.
Owing to the present state of the time-signatures
a complete change of signature does not always in-
dicate change of bar or accent. In the following ex-
ample, I to I ( J . = J), the bar consists of two beats
and there is no changfe in it. The beat chano-es from
dual to ternal. With the suggested revised signature
this would be written 2 to 2. (dotted). Thus the
alteration of the bar is indicated by change of figure,
and change of beat-division by the addition of a dot.
The following examples show change of accent with
and without changfe of beat-division : —
^&'
Present signature : I to | I to | I to |
Suggested signature : 2 to 3 2 to 3 2 to 3. (dotted).
The quavers of the second example would be written
as crotchets, without affecting the tempo of the music.
COMPOUND STANDARD OF TIME 19
It must be clearly stated that, unless music is in-
correctly barred, the strict accent is the division of
the bar only and never of any larger unit. The
imperfect record of strict accent in the music of the
earlier masters has already been pointed out,^ for there
are instances in the works of Beethoven, Schubert, and
others of movements where it is frequently obvious
from the character of the music that the accent does
not fall on every bar. But neither does it fall on
every alternate bar, as a well-known and widely-spread
modern theory would have us believe. It would be
difficult to discover a single movement where such an
alternating accent could be applied all through without
making nonsense of the music. And if this could be
done, it would render the theory superfluous, since
it is clear that there can be no possible difference
(except in the notation) between two bars accented
and unaccented and one bar of twice their length,
i.e. \ for |, ^^ for |, &c. But as this rarely
occurs, the theory is not merely a superfluity, but an
actual misrepresentation of the practice of the great
composers. The true explanation is to be found in
the fact that there was in their time no definite cus-
tom of strict accent on the bar-line, with the result
that the position of this accent was not indicated at
all, but was left to the intuition of the executive
artist, and consequently that the bar-line then signified
nothing to the ear, but was merely placed as a matter
of convenience to the eye in reading. The great
composers, far from desiring that uniformity with which
1 Macpherson, " Form in Music," p. 42.
20 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
modern theory has credited them, were given to
requiring considerable variety in the arrangement of
their accents, and to represent these changes faith-
fully would have meant a complication of barring
quite beyond the understanding of that day. They
took advantage, therefore, of the vagueness then pre-
valent. It was simpler to use a smaller unit for the
bar which could be retained throughout the move-
ment, while the real bar-unit (the recurring accent)
with its manifold changes was not indicated at all.
The misfortune to posterity of such an omission is
that none but the composer could know for an
absolute certainty what he intended, and that, there-
fore, these classics are subject to as many different
modes of accents as there are readings, and strict
accent is still commonly considered to be a question
of performance rather than of notation. Yet clearly
the bar-line is the natural and suitable method of
indicating it, since the ordinary signs of accent
[sf or >) must be kept for the irregular use, or
for the occasional additional emphasis required upon
an already accented beat. And if the bar-line does
not convey the position of the accent, it can have no
musical significance whatever, and merely leads to
purposeless complication.
CHAPTER IV
RELATIVE PITCH AND ITS NOTATION
Material of pitch — Dependence of notation on the scale— Definitions of
the scale — Analysis of the diatonic scale — Its minor mode — Its in-
tervals and inversions— Definitions of melodic key, key-circle, and
tonality — Notation of pitch a compromise — Causes of its complication
— Eastern notation — Relation of tuning of orchestral instruments to
notation.
However desirable it may appear to describe the element
of pitch in the natural order of development, such a
course is practically neither convenient nor altogether
possible.
From the point of view of evolution it is probable
that what we have named the relative selection of pitch
was made first out of the natural material in the same
way as the time-selection was chosen, and that the
complete absolute scale of semitones either existed
independently or was a much later discovery. But to
us, accustomed from childhood to regard these semitonal
steps as the material of our pitch-outline, it is far easier
to understand a selection made from this, than out of a
nebulous pitch-matter apt to suggest howls or cat-calls
rather than a material of music.
Having taken one step in the face of evolution, when
we turn to consider the selected material of relative pitch,
a further difficulty presents itself. It is impossible to
analyse music apart from its record in notation, but of
22 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
the early stages of our music notation offers no trace.
The first impress of the folk-style on record is that of
a fully-founded system, a well-established scale-form.
This scale is the result of ages of practical experiment
in melodic types, of which it represents survival of the
fittest. The fact that all scales owe their origin to
melody would scarcely need stating were it not for
the current idea that scales are a ready-made material
used in the manufacture of music. As most elementary
teaching proceeds on this assumption, it is necessary to
point out the fallacy involved. In music, and indeed in
all art, the standard comes into general use long before
it is recognised as a fixed thing and made the basis of a
system ; the use is first, the system is second. And the
standard grows out of things small in their beginnings.
Thus, though it is inevitable that some lesser amount
of tone-material was in existence before the scale, we
have no words or signs to express the relations of these
primitive tones but those which have arisen out of and
therefore imply the pre-existence of the complete scale.
No student of early music can ignore the fact that the
common chord or triad is a far more primitive set of
relations than the diatonic scale, and the most primitive
of all is the third out of which the chord arises, but the
actual word "third" is unintelligible except as the
distance between three adjacent degrees of the scale.
The whole of our interval nomenclature is founded upon
this scale ; it is the standard by which all successive
divisions of pitch are measured, named, and written.
Its definition, therefore, supplies the key to the terms
needful for the explanation of relative pitch.
RELATIVE PITCH AND ITS NOTATION 23
The word scale is derived from the Latin scala, a
staircase or ladder.
It is not an easy matter to define the general
nature of a scale, as will appear from the character of
the following statements concerning it by well-known
writers.
1. "A term denoting the series of sounds used in
musical compositions." (Grove's "Dictionary.")
2. " Successions of steps forming ladders." (Niecks,
*• Dictionary of Musical Terms.")
3. " A series of notes which stand in some recog-
nisable relation to one another in respect of pitch." (Sir
H. Parry, "Art of Music")
4. " A key, or scale." (Ritter, " History of Music")
5. "The most natural model for the formation of
tonal successions is found in the seven degrees of sound
which also form the basis of our whole tonal system."
(Marx, " School of Composition.")
6. " The series in which the ascending motion of
a sound in itself undetermined meets on its way the
intervals of the key and by them is determined into
degrees." (Hauptmann, " Harmony and Metre.")
7. " The scale appears as chord of the tonic with
passing-notes." (Riemann, " Dictionary of Music")
Of these, Nos. i, 2, and 3 would apply equally to
chord-form (in arpeggio) ; Nos. 4 and 5 describe the
scale as the key, No. 6 defines it as something distinct
which is determined by the key, No. 7 as a chord-form
with passing-notes. It will be seen that the last four
definitions can apply only to that form of scale known
as diatonic ; the chromatic scale is certainly neither a
24 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
key, nor determined by the key, neither can it be a chord
with passing-notes. These statements appear either too
comprehensive or else not comprehensive enough. A
simple working definition might run as follows : the
name-order in pitch of musical tones. A succession of
tones is not a complete scale unless it occurs in the
name-order of pitch, and every succession in this order
is a scale whatever its intervals may be. This defines
the scale without attempting to account for it, while
the writers above quoted all attempt to account for it
on grounds theoretical or practical, philosophical or
acoustical, without clearly defining it. The lack of the
evolutionary idea is apparent in these statements, and it
is impossible to account satisfactorily for the nature of
scales without a knowledge of their evolution.
The relations of the degrees of the scale to one
another form what is known as the "mode" of the scale,
depending upon the arrangement of its intervals. These
intervals are reckoned upwards, unless the contrary is
expressed. Degrees next one another lie at the interval
of a second ; of a third if one degree is missed, of a
fourth if two are missed, and so on up to the octave.
Intervals beyond the octave are similar to those within
it ; the ninth, tenth, and eleventh, &c., correspond to
the second, third, and fourth respectively. The normal
intervals of the diatonic scale are major or minor, or if
not admitting of this variation are called perfect. Major
intervals contain one semitone more than the corre-
sponding minor. Seconds, thirds, sixths, and sevenths
are major and minor, fourths and fifths and octaves are
perfect. The major second is synonymous with the
RELATIVE PITCH AND ITS NOTATION 25
full-tone, the minor second with the semitone. The
inversion of an interval consists in raisinc^;- its lowest
degree an octave higher, so that the upper degree
becomes the lower.
The first degree of the scale with its octaves is
the most important, and is called the tonic or key-
note. The distance from one degree to the next is
variable, being either a full-tone or a semitone. This
variation divides the scale naturally into halves, each
consisting of two full-tones followed by a semitone,
with a full-tone between the last degree of the first
half and the first degree of the second half.
Each of these is called a tetrachord, a succession of
four notes, the second one being an exact repetition
of the first, a fifth higher. Such a repetition forms
what is known as a sequence, and it is noteworthy that
this sequence, combined with the related tones of the
common chord, is what gives this scale its peculiarly
SLitisfying character.
The minor diatonic scale, the secondary and con-
trasting mode, is lacking in most of the prominent
features of the major mode.
The only altered degrees are those of the third and
sixth, which become a semitone lower ; but this deprives
26 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
the scale of its natural third, and of the sequence
referred to. Consequently this scale is of a more
arbitrary character and has been subject to considerable
variation in its sixth and seventh degrees, but the
above mode commends itself as the one best suited
for harmonic development.
The intervals and inversions of the scale reckoned
from the tonic, are as follows : —
The Major Mode
Maj.
Maj. Perf.
Perf.
Maj.
Maj.
Interval
2nd
3rd + 4th
5th
6th
7th + Octave
Inversion
7th
6th 5th
4th
3rd
2nd
Min. Min. Perf. Perf. Min. Min.
The Minor Mode
Maj. Min.
Perf.
Perf. Min.
Maj.
Interval
2nd + 3rd
4th
5 th + 6th
7th + Octave
Inversion
7th 6th
5th
4th 3rd
2nd
Min. Maj.
Perf
Perf. Maj.
Min.
This mark ( + ) indicates the position of the semitones.
There are two exceptional forms of interval, which
occur once between the degrees of the major mode.
(1)
(2)
:f^t:
-h--
and four times in the minor mode,
1 (i>_j ' I
:*^— ^^^
=i;^p— -fep-::^-
(2)
=\-
These are called augmented (i) and diminished (2).
Augmented intervals contain one semitone more than
RELATIVE PITCH AND ITS NOTATION 27
major and perfect, and diminished intervals contain one
semitone less than minor or perfect. These intervals
are of a peculiarly striking character, and are, there-
fore, easily distinguished from the normal intervals.
They become interchanged by inversion, as do major
and minor.
A major or minor scale repeated upon any degree of
pitch is called a key. It does not represent the
complete possibilities of the key, but forms a melodic
type which may stand for it, and can, therefore, be
correctly named the melodic key. As a major and a
minor key can be formed on every degree of pitch,
there are thus twelve of each, corresponding to the
twelve semitones of the octave. This forms the key-
circle, which in its complete form has been made
possible only by equal temperament. The modifications
of pitch introduced by this system provide a material
that is equally available for use in all keys. Correct
acoustic tuning, called just intonation, produces a
material that differs with every key. Keys that are the
nearest related to one another lie at the interval of
a fifth ; the scales of these keys have six notes in
common, those of two-fifths apart but five notes, and
so on. The relations of tones, chords, and keys are
summed up in the word "tonality" which means the
relations of all tones to a given centre. The simple
standard of tonality is the triad formed on the tonic,
and the compound standard is the key, melodic and
harmonic.
As already observed, the major scale (the melodic
key) is also the standard of pitch-notation. But the
28 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
notation itself records absolute pitch, the twelve tones
of the octave. This requires that every tone shall
have its invariable name or sign, distinguishing it
from the others. Whereas the relative standard, the
scale, uses only seven tones of the octave out of
twelve, and requires that these shall relate to one
another, and be recognised as a complete succession
independently of the remainder. This relation, more-
over, requires to be repeated on every degree of
pitch.
The result is inevitably a compromise. Neither
absolute pitch nor relative pitch is accurately recorded.
The absolute names given to the notes are those of
the beginning of the alphabet, but instead of twelve
names there are only seven, the remaining five degrees
having to be distinguished by an affix (sharp or flat)
added to one of the seven, as though they had been
an afterthought. In order to preserve the necessary
standard of relative pitch, these names have to be
used more than once for most degrees, so that not
alone are there only seven names for twelve degrees,
but two of the seven must generally be used for
each degree. It is not surprising that under these
circumstances much difference of opinion should exist
as to what is or is not correct notation, for the actual
stave notation records precisely this confusion of ideas.
The notes on and between the lines of the stave are
the named ones without affix, called naturals, and the
affix appears in the form of a sign, b, bb, Jf, x, called an
accidental, placed before the note.
The essential character of relative pitch is that while
RELATIVE PITCH AND ITS NOTATION 29
each key has its own relationship to a given centre,
all keys are in themselves equal, that chord-relations
are invariable, and the only change can be from key
to key, excepting the variation of major to minor. The
record of relative pitch in notation, however, gives
unfortunately the opposite impression, because it is
also trying to record absolute pitch. Of key-relation
there is no trace, and every key appears to differ
from the others. Thus, although relative pitch governs
notation, it cannot be said to fare much better than
absolute pitch. There is only one key in which the
original names without affix do represent the scale. It
might have been expected that A would naturally be
its tonic, but C is chosen, so that in the course of this
scale A and B have to follow G. Every other key is
altered not merely by name, but also by the addition
of a signature, that is, the number of sharps or flats
necessary to form its scale on the pattern of the scale of
C. These being placed after the clef, are understood to
affect all notes of these names, without further record
in the score. Every key contains a different signature,
up to six or seven sharps or flats, and the greater the
number, the more complicated does notation become.
When six flats or six sharps are reached, there is
only one tonic to represent them both, therefore this
one key has two entirely distinct forms of notation.
Seven sharps are also used instead of five flats to
avoid a sudden change from sharps to flats. At the
same time, the only true relative variation, that of
the minor, is unrecorded in the signature.
All this complication exists solely in the notation
30 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
and not in the outline. There is no reason why the
key of Gt> should appear more complicated than that
of C, its constitution being exactly the same ; and
there is no reason why C should appear invariably as
the standard, since any other key can represent that
standard equally well. It is evident, not only that
absolute pitch is inadequately recorded, but that relative
pitch is actually misrepresented in notation, an entirely
false impression of its nature being given. The con-
fusion of the ideas of absolute and relative pitch which
commonly exists is, in its turn, due to this confused
notation, and also to the form of the keyboard which
accords with the notation.
The causes of this strange confusion are mainly
these : Firstly, the fact already referred to, that the
notation of rhythmitonal music was not a natural
growth, but the adaptation of a previously existing
system ; secondly, the prevalence of a system of
tuning called the mean-tone, preceding equal tempera-
ment, which for three centuries confined music for
the most part to half the keys and to the simpler half
of notation, during which period that notation was
formed and established ; thirdly, the inevitable com-
plication caused by the nature of pitch-relations, and
the necessity for fixed degrees of absolute pitch.
In the church-system existed no typical form of
scale. Its modes were all composed of similar tone-
material corresponding to our scale of C, and only
differed in arrangement. One of these modes, the
least used, called the Ionian, coincided with the popular
scale, and as this mode happened to begin upon C, the
RELATIVE PITCH AND ITS NOTATION 31
scale of C became the standard scale in notation when
adapted to rhythmitonal art, the form of the keyboard
also favouring its use. Accidentals were known in
church-notation, but merely as accessaries, being used
as occasional inflections for the avoidance of melodic
difficulties. In rhythmitonal music they were put to
their present use of forming the scale upon other
tonics than C, and became an essential part of nota-
tion. Thus the keys came to branch off on either
side of C, in increasing complexity, but until equal
temperament became general, and instruments more
developed, the full possibilities of the key-circle re-
mained unrealised and notation was a comparatively
simple matter. The use of all keys, which in lengthy
compositions becomes a necessity, has raised notation
to a degree of complexity, which would have not
unlikely bewildered the musicians of a century ago.
The development of instruments has made the strides
required, so that an orchestral score is now of a com-
plexity not only unrivalled but unapproached by any
other system of record in art, science, or mathematics.
A notation of either absolute pitch or relative pitch
would sweep away the greater part of these diffi-
culties, but neither would be an adequate record of
music. The Tonic Sol-fa system is an attempt to
record relative pitch accurately, but it is useless except
for voices. Attempts to record absolute pitch regard-
less of relative standards are doomed to failure, since
this is to ignore the tonalitive principle of musical
structure. Probably the present compromise, in spite
of its defects, represents the nearest we can get to
32 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
a true record ; and even if a more accurate system
could be invented, it would be completely lacking in
the associations and the historical interest of the one
handed down to us. At the same time it is necessary
to make clear that the record is an inadequate one, else
the true nature of pitch-outline is apt to be overlooked.
In the East notation is in an elementary condition,
the stave being unknown. The Hindus, Chinese, and
Abyssinians have ancient note-signs, consisting of a
kind of letter to which some indication of time is added,
but in this respect the Chinese system is wanting,
having practically no time-notation. In all probability
note-signs also existed in Persia and Arabia, but these
do not appear to have survived. The modern Arabic
notation is but 300 years old, and is said to have been
invented by one Demetrius de Cantemir, who adapted
the letters of the Turkish alphabet for the purpose.
This is an absolute pitch-notation, with eighteen tones
to the octave, and is used in Turkey and other
countries of the near East.
The Japanese have a notation for their principal
stringed instrument, the koto, which records both time
and pitch and is about 200 years old. It is on the
same principle as the European lute tablature, indicating
the string by number, and with marks for the sharps,
but there is no stave, and it is read from top to bottom.
For stringed instruments with frets and for wind instru-
ments a similar form of notation exists, the number
being indicated of the fret to be pressed, or the hole
to be stopped. It is said that the koto notation was
invented by a musician named Yatsubashi, who is
RELATIVE PITCH AND ITS NOTATION 33
considered to be the father of Japanese national music,
as distinguished from its borrowings from China.
The relation of colour-outline to the key-system is
due to the circumstances of notation and the practical
limitations of instruments, rather than to any inherent
property in the natures of pitch and quality. Most
modern orchestral instruments can be played in all
keys, but their really effective use is generally limited
to about half that number. The tuning of these
instruments is so arranged that their most effective
keys coincide with the simpler half of notation, because
this arrangement is obviously the most convenient.
Else there is nothing to prevent a violin being tuned
in Gi?, DS, &c., which would have its open strings,
and therefore its most brilliant effects, in the extreme
sharp keys, nor would there be any difficulty in pitch-
ing the tube of the bassoon in Fft instead of F. The
result, however, would be to render notation and
fingering in all keys a practical impossibility. For
this reason the simpler keys of notation are also the
easiest for tone-production, and for instruments as well
as for notation C major has become practically the
standard key. Upon keyboard instruments all keys
are equally easy to play in, and here the only difficulty
of an extreme key is that of its notation.
CHAPTER V
THE SIMPLE STANDARD OF TONALITY
Relation of acoustics to music— The most consonant interval — Intonation
of intervals — Artificial theories — Origin of the melodic triad— Elemen-
tary tonality and consonance — Physical basis of the harmonic triad —
Dissonance — The inversions of the triad.
While the material of time-outline was found to
consist of nothing more tangible than beats and
arrangements of beats, that of pitch-outline involves
a new element with laws of its own, which forms
the science known as acoustics. Efforts to explain
the pitch-relations of music by means of this science
have resulted in failure, for the use of the one
cannot be made to square with the laws of the other.
This is perfectly natural, for while both start from the
same central point, they proceed in diametrically
opposite directions. The object of the scientist is
analysis, the object of the musician is synthesis.
Given the natural triad, the one proceeds to dissect
it, the other to create upon it. When the musician
turns to analyse his composition he works from it as a
whole down to the triad ; the scientist ranges from the
triad down to the vibrational numbers and other pro-
perties of the single tone. These two processes are
thus leagues apart, and exist for entirely different pur-
poses. The only point of contact between the two is
the triad, upon the value of which both are agreed.
SIMPLE STANDARD OF TONALITY 35
The musician takes it because he likes it ; the scientist
is able to tell him why he likes it. But when we
proceed to the component parts of the triad, a deadlock
at once ensues. Consonance, by which the scientist
means simplicity in relation of vibrations, points to
octaves, fifths, and fourths as the suitable foundation of
music. The only European musicians of this mind
were they of early mediaeval fame, who were unfortu-
nately unaware of their scientific accuracy.
Now it is well known that fifths and fourths have
brought more argument into music than all the rest of
the intervals put together. Consonance, by which the
musician means relations of tones that satisfy his ear,
points to the third as the fundamental musical interval.
Primitive melody constantly rises and falls by thirds ;
primitive harmony in two parts moves solely in thirds ;
the harmony of the chord is built up of thirds ; the
third has always been beloved by the natural ear.
We have to deal here with a fact of far greater im-
portance to music than any in the science of acoustics,
and if consonance to music means the third, and only
in a limited degree the fifth and fourth, while to science
it means the fifth and fourth and after that the third, it
is clear that two points of view are being named by
the same name which are by nature different, and should
be recognised as such.
This view of melodic origin is necessarily subver-
sive of the theory which selects the falling fourth or
the rising fifth as the most primitive interval. It can
easily be shown, however, that such a theory rests
upon a radically unsound basis. It is admittedly the
36 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
result of a comparative study of scales, and of scales
only. The intervals thus selected are those which
seem to be common to nearly all known scales. If
the scale be regarded as the origin of music, then it
would be reasonable to look for the most persistent
and indispensable interval within the scale itself, and
to regard that as the origin of both the scale and of
melody. If, however, we admit that music was before
the scale, that the scale implies a previous melodic
development,^ and yet look for the most primitive
interval within the scale itself, we are in the position
of admitting the origin of the chicken from the egg,
and at the same time of proceeding to dismember the
chicken in order to discover its origin within itself.
Any one is at liberty to judge for himself of the value
of the evidence submitted by primitive melody, but
not to set aside that evidence in favour of the later
witness of the scale. If we cannot discover the origin
of music from primitive melody, we shall not find it
elsewhere.
It is unfortunate that the question of primitive in-
tervals has been approached hitherto from the point
of view of intonation, the exact ratio of the interval.
Hence, thirds, it is said, are out of the question as
the most primitive interval, because they vary between
major and minor, and are sometimes not distinctly one
or the other, but a neutral shade between the two. It
1 " It is advisable to guard at the outset against the familiar misconcep-
tion that scales are made first and music afterwards. Scales are made in
the process of endeavouring to make music, and continue to be altered and
modified, generation after generation." (Sir H. Parry, "The Art of Music,"
chap, ii.)
SIMPLE STANDARD OF TONALITY 2>7
would be requiring' a little too much of the savage to
expect him to conform to our modern idea of equal
temperament, but what we should look for is to find
if he uses intervals that can be distinguished generically
one from another, as thirds from fourths, fifths from
sixths. On this point no doubt has ever been ex-
pressed. Thirds are thirds, fourths and fifths show
no tendency to run into one another, and the major
and minor intervals are generally sufficiently distin-
guished. It is not so much study of exact intonation
that is wanted as a knowledge of primitive music
viewed in its relation to consonance.
Unfortunately for music the ratios of intervals have
always had a fascination for the theoretical intellect.
We are all familiar with modern systems of harmony
which bid fair to rival in ingenuity the interval con-
troversies of the Middle Ages. The one common
character possessed by these theories is their oblivious-
ness of primitive music, and consequent failure to
formulate any conception of the evolution of interval
and chord. The intellect, working from the theoretical
standpoint, has driven the natural practice of music
into a corner if not out of sight, whereas the only
safe guide for the musician is the experience of the
ear and a knowledge of the general practice of both
the skilled and the unskilled in music. It is small
wonder that harmony is considered amongst pupils an
intolerably dry subject, since they have no conception
of how it comes to be what it is and are merely pre-
sented with rules and a catalogue. To make the theory
of pitch-outline of interest to students, we must take
38 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
them along the path that man in the past has travelled,
so far as we are able to trace it out. It is evident that
this road is not the bypath of counterpoint, nor does
it even begin with harmony, but with something too
simple to have hitherto attracted notice — the consonance
of melody.
In order to understand what is meant by this we
must divest our minds of the formula of the diatonic
scale. This involves the evolution of the melodic key-
standard, a fixed type of scale by means of which
melody is able to develop itself apart from, and yet
in accordance with, harmony. Melody of this kind is a
highly organised product and presupposes a long range
of development. It is a far cry from the most primitive
type to the melody of the average folk-song.
The consonant intuition is a feeling for relative
pitch and originates in the perception of the third.
The major third is the foundation to which the
minor third is added melodically. These are the
intervals of the triad, which is the simple standard
of rhythmitonal art — jfe=:q— ^=3=1^1=3 To this the
lower third gives its name, because it is the more
prominent one. The consonant triad must consist
of one major and one minor third, since these
agree well together. When the series is continued
up to the next octave jfe^i^^^Eq the interval of
the fourth appears. It represents the gap between
the top note of one triad and the bottom note of the
SIMPLE STANDARD OF TONALITY 39
one in the next octave. Since the first tone of the
triad, called the root, is its representative tone, this
interval of the fourth, taken meiodically, has the satis-
fying effect of return to the essential note. The fifth
uses the lowest and highest tones of the triad, omitting
the central third, and thus appears of the nature of
a skeleton. Meiodically it has exactly the opposite
effect of the fourth, since it starts from the root and
leaps to the note farthest removed from it. When
the direction of these intervals is taken downward
instead of upward, their effect with regard to the root
is reversed, except that the fifth always retains its
character of a leap.
i
ii
W
This effect is one of great importance, since it sup-
plies us with the earliest indication of the tendency of
pitch to gravitate to a centre, which is the essential
rhythmic movement of relative pitch ; the impression
is not a strong one, and naturally it is of an ex-
ceedingly limited nature, but it produces distinctly the
sense of a recurring centre or point of repose. This
centre is invariably called the "tonic," and the second
note detaches itself sufficiently to form an independent
point on which the mind desires to pause slightly and
then move back to the tonic. To the fifth tone has
been given the name of " dominant," to signify its
independent function apart from its character as fifth
tone of the triad. In this function it may be regarded
as the door of the tonic.
40 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
When all three tones of the triad are used suc-
cessively this independence of tonic and dominant
practically disappears, the two notes being bound
together by the third, thus producing the purely con-
sonant effect of a single chord. Nor does the sixth,
which represents the leap from the third and fifth tones
^ — ~\~ ^ ^Z' '~\ suggest any independent character.
It is simply the inversion of the third, and as such
it is as consonant as the third, and appears an organic
part of the triad.
Tonic and dominant are the two tones that produce
elementary tonality, the rhythm which involves points
of recurring repose. The tonic and its third produce
elementary consonance, without which no development
of this primitive tonality can take place ; the three
tones together complete the consonant conception and
form the simple tonalitive standard. Whether these
intervals of consonance appeared first successively and
were afterwards united, or whether they were discovered
as harmony and afterwards taken melodically, it is
impossible to say. The fact remains that they are
sung in both forms by tribes whose general culture
resembles that of the Stone Age. A further indis-
putable fact^ is that these very consonant intervals
form the material of blackbirds' song as any one may
ascertain for himself who listens intelligently to bird
song in the spring. They are to be heard also in a
lesser and more partial degree in the songs of other
1 Referred to by Sir John Hawkins in the first chapter of his history.
SIMPLE STANDARD OF TONALITY 41
birds. It would seem, therefore, that consonance has
a root in nature as well as in man.
The standard, harmonically considered, has also its
physical basis. If a single tone be sounded upon the
piano with the pedal held down, some effect of a whole
major triad will be heard. Its upper tones are the
relatives or harmonics of the lower one named the
root or generator. Hence the term "root" has passed
into musical nomenclature, as signifying what is also
called the "fundamental bass" of any chord, i.e. its
lowest tone in the normal position of ascent by thirds,
a tone that requires to predominate to ensure a fully
consonant effect. But root in music means no more
than this ; it is in no sense a generator. Even where
the harmonics are the actual chord, they do not occur
in the order of the triad series, for the fifth comes at
the twelfth and the third at the seventeenth from the
generator. The fact that the major triad agrees with
the lower part of the harmonic series ^ accounts for its
unique position in music, but has nothing to do with
the general principle of chord formation, which is found
in the predominance of the third.
There are varying degrees of consonance in the
intervals of the standard harmonically considered. The
octave taken by itself is scarcely a harmonic interval
at all, because its two notes are in such close affinity
as to be hardly more than the doubling of the single
tone. The third and sixth produce practically a similar
effect in both harmony and melody. Such is not the
case with the fifth and fourth, because the successive
^ This runs as follows : C, c, g, c', e', &c.
42 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
relations of tonic and dominant must necessarily dis-
appear in the united chord. The skeleton character
of the fifth is accentuated in harmony, and the fourth
is neither the normal interval of the triad nor the sum
of two of these, as is the fifth. It comes thus within
the practical meaning of the word dissonance (or dis-
cord), the presence of any interval that contradicts those
of the consonant triad. Discords are wanted in music
for the purpose of relieving the monotony of perpetual
concords. A certain proportion of concords to discords
is necessary in consonant music, but in other respects
the use of discords is purely an aesthetic matter. The
effect of dissonance is restless and even painful ; that of
consonance is necessarily one of repose ; of all conson-
ance the effect of the major tonic triad is the most restful.
(1) (2)
When the triad is used in inversion
f
it is no longer fully consonant, because, firstly, the
root is not in the bass, and secondly, both inversions
contain the dissonant interval of the fourth without any
doubling instead of the consonant third ; thus they lack
the complete repose of the normal triad. In the case
of the second inversion this is very much more notice-
able than the first. We cannot end on it without feeling
that there ought to be something more to follow. This
always indicates the presence of a discord. These two
inversions both contain the third and the fourth, but
in the case of the first, the interval of the fourth is
scarcely noticeable. It has always been held that what
are known as the extreme parts (the treble and bass)
are much more prominent than the inner or middle
SIMPLE STANDARD OF TONALITY 43
parts, and from the harmonic standpoint, the bass,
whether or not it be the root, is even more important
than the treble. This accords with the experience of
musicians, and is undoubtedly a fact. Therefore the
dissonance of the fourth only obtrudes itself if taken
from the bass. The most consonant effect of a triad
will be gained when its principal tone, the root, is in
the bass and doubled in the treble, and when its most
consonant interval, the third, is also made prominent.
In the first inversion the triad lacks repose because it
does not rest upon the root, but prominence is given
to the root and third tone in the treble and bass. A
more extended position, giving prominence to the fifth
1
tone (gy — j~""| is less consonant because the root is
covered up in the middle. When we turn to the
second inversion we find all these factors at work to
reduce its consonance. The interval of the fourth is
in the most prominent place possible directly upon the
bass, the fifth tone is prominent as the bass, and the
root is covered by the third tone. Even if the root
i
be placed uppermost ^^=5=3 these conditions are
:^:
practically unchanged, because the fourth (now become
the eleventh) is even more prominent than it was before.
If, however, the root be sounded in the bass before the
chord is heard in this position, its dissonant effect dis-
appears, because the root is heard as if still sounding,
and the result is a triad in the root position.
CHAPTER VI
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SCALE
Development from chord to scale — Lack of the semitone — Causes of its
omission from early melody — The semitonal instinct of the East
necessary to complete the scale of the West — The European develop-
ment— The Asiatic development — Mode and transposition — Relation of
key to mode — Modal development due to lack of consonant intuition —
Eastern modal names.
In origin consonant melody and harmony are one and
yet in use diverse from the beginning. The primary
conception of harmony is stationary, a single chord,
while melody steps about continually upon the chord-
ladder provided by harmony. So long as harmony is
confined to a movement of direction only and there is
no change of chord, consonant melody is also confined
to the same chord-outline, a steep ladder-like move-
ment. But it is not natural for melody to be always
consonant. The voice craves for a smoother, closer
movement than the third, and the interval of the
second makes its appearance. It is like the sub-
stitution of an easy staircase for the ladder. The fact
that our German friends have emphasised the ladder
part of the definition in their word Tonleiter for scale
need not disturb us in thinking of it as a stair if we
prefer it. The chief point is to emphasise the differ-
ence between melody in chord-form and melody in
scale-form.
44
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SCALE 45
It will be seen that four additional tones are re-
quired to turn the chord-ladder into the scale.
(2) (4) (6) (7)
i
w^.
q=1:
—I-
1=1=^=J=^
1— :d— ^■
To find the ones that were first used, we may look
to the common five-toned formula named pentatonic,
an incomplete scale, which runs as follows : —
(2) (6)
P=^==1=^
:-]-^-^-^-ii--
This, it will be perceived, consists of a succession of
two minor thirds and three full-tones within the octave.
What is lacking to complete the scale is the relation
of the semitone. When the fourth and seventh tones
are supplied, this relation appears in the rise to the
tonic of the seventh, called the leading-note, and the
fall of the fourth or subdominant to the mediant or
third. The later entry of the semitone is to be
explained upon melodic grounds, by reference to two
essential factors, the one a condition of vocal music
in general, the other due to the constitution of the
Western mind.
In the first place we have to reckon with a per-
sistent characteristic of all early vocal music. The
intervals are taken downwards, instead of upwards.
In all speech the voice naturally falls to the close
unless a question is asked which implies the absence
of a close ; the word cadence means a fall. The
46 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
singing voice is no exception to this general vocal
instinct, and it is far more natural and therefore
easier to start fairly high and fall to the close instead
of rising to it. With instruments, however, the natural
starting-point is the lowest tone available, the open
note of the string and pipe, and as all lower notes
are easily produced, it is usual to begin low, and to
rise thence to the close. Hence the upward-tending
leading-note of modern art, the rise by semitone to the
tonic, and the downward-tending one of primitive music,
the fall by a full-tone to the tonic. There is rise as well
as fall in primitive music, but with very few exceptions
the rise takes place first, and the fall concludes the
strain. It has been observed that the Orientals, whose
systems are principally vocal, think of their scales as
tending downwards, and this is natural where no in-
strumental development has occurred strong enough to
turn their thoughts in the opposite direction. It is, of
course, possible to fall by semitone to the tonic, but
this is opposed to the constitution of the European
diatonic scale on account of harmonic relations.
The omission of the leading-note is further due to
the slowness of the Western mind in grasping the
actual interval of the semitone. Its natural instinct
is for thirds and full-tones ; the semitone presents
itself as an interval that in the development of har-
mony cannot be ignored nor dispensed with, and that
has to be reckoned with in the ordinary practice of
diatonic melody and harmony. But that this semi-
tone should lead in itself to new and undreamed-of
developments in harmony is a very recent discovery,
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SCALE 47
the principle of which is not yet fully under-
stood, though it consists of little else than the free
use of the semitone instead of its limited use. In
this is summed up all that is meant in music by the
words chromatic and diatonic. Chromaticism when
carried out to its full extent is apt to weaken and
even destroy consonance. It is therefore evident that
for the origin of this semitonal tendency we must
look to some instinct other than the consonant intui-
tion which dominates Western music.
There can be no harmony without this consonant
instinct, but there is melody ; of a different sort, it is
true, from that to which we are accustomed, but still
melody, and indeed more essential melody than any
that the European system permits of. As Mr. Hipkins
sympathetically remarked some years ago in his preface
to Captain Day's "Music and Musical Instruments of
Southern India": — "The greater freedom in musical
intervals that melodic systems allow must be reckoned
as compensating in some measure for the want of
those harmonic combinations of which our European
music has such inexhaustible wealth. What we lose
in the possession of this rich estate is that we are
effectually barred from the use and enjoyment of a
more pliant melody, free from the fetters imposed
by consonant chords, a melody which has a great
privilege in easily touching the emotions."
This free emotional melody, to which consonant
conditions are unknown, has its origin in what may
be termed the " microtonal " instinct, the love of
minute divisions of pitch. This instinct is at the
48 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
root of Eastern music in the same manner as the
consonant instinct underHes the Western art. It is
true that the Hindus had developed at an early-
period a diatonic scale which accords practically with
our own ; but when we learn that this very scale is
one of seventy-two in their system, as against one
of two in ours, its very different relative significance
may be guessed. And notwithstanding the fact that
all these seventy-two scales can be written in European
notation, the Hindus assert, and doubtless with truth,
that their srutis, the tiny third and quarter-tones,
are the essential and primitive foundation of their
music. The diatonic scale is a useful formula, and it
is the only meeting-place of East and West on the
side of pitch ; but it represents actual microtonal music
no more than it conveys any impression in itself of
our harmonic art.
According to the view of music here set forth,
scale-form is reached by the two separate paths,
typified as European and Asiatic (since in Europe
and Asia is found the most striking development of
either) ; these converge till they meet in the common
ground of the scale and then diverge again more
widely than before.
The path of European melody from its origin in the
consonant triad has already been suggested ; its detail
is of a far more complicated character than the Asiatic
owing to the transition from consonant to dissonant
conditions. It is here evident that fifths and fourths,
though subordinate originally to the third, tend to
become of greater importance as consonant conditions
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SCALE 49
give way to a dissonant succession. The third holds
its own in giving the main character to the scale, but
the fourth and fifth with their sharp, thin decisive char-
acter become its natural bulwarks, once the succession
or even a part of it is well established. On account of
this character they are the easiest intervals in which
to tune stringed instruments, and such a tuning also
represents the most convenient fingering. Any string
stopped at two-thirds of its length gives the fifth of its
open note. To the scale the fourth is of special import-
ance, because of its natural division into the two tetra-
chords already referred to. The European key-circle
finds its simplest relation in the interval of the fifth.
These are reasons which account for the position of
the fourth and fifth in all music, without insistence on
priority of appearance.
The general division of the octave into two tetra-
chords is one that appears in melody long before
a complete diatonic scale is established. A whole
octave is too much to grasp at once, and primitive
melody of the European order will be found to lie
either in the upper or lower division, or if it pass from
one to the other the change is in the nature of an
alternation and the two tetrachords are still kept dis-
tinct. Only in a later stage of development does the
melody move freely from one to the other, breaking
down the early division, and the tetrachordal character
is thus one of the indications of a primitive melodic
type of the European order. In Asiatic melody it is
less apparent.
The relation of the triad to the tetrachord in
D
50 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
primitive music may be stated as follows : Taking
a downward development of intervals, the first tetra-
chord commences on the dominant, takes next the
interval of the third, and then the second, arriving
on the downward leading-note or supertonic —
the missing fourth note being afterwards supplied ;
the second tetrachord starts upon the tonic, leaps to
the sixth or submediant, and concludes on the fifth —
'm^
completing itself later in the same manner. It will
be seen that this reproduces the pentatonic formula,
with the difference that prominence is given to the
second tone of the scale, which thus suggests a tem-
porary point of repose apart from the tonic. It is
not contended that the use of the pentatonic formula
was the only method of passage from chord to scale.
Frequently the third alone was filled up, thus giving
three notes in scale-form ; and fragments of scales
existed long before the octave scale was complete.
Naturally, an exact uniformity of practice between
differing tribes and nations is the last thing to be
expected. Infinite variation occurs in detail, but the
general trend of evolution is unmistakable. Judging
from the persistence of the above-mentioned instances,
they are to be regarded as typical of the transition
from chord to scale. ^
* See Appendix, Sections A-F.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SCALE 51
The origin of Asiatic melody is in niicrotonal
intervals. Its most primitive type appears to consist
of three tones at the distance of a semitone or a
quarter- tone from one another, which are incessantly
repeated ; ^ when this type becomes more developed,
it will include full-tones, thirds, and even occasionally
a fourth or fifth. A second equally frequent type con-
sists of the following intervals : firstly, a quarter-tone,
semitone, or full-tone, succeeded by some kind of third ;
generally, the smaller the first interval, the larger will
be the second. Sometimes two quarter-tones will pre-
cede the third. This last is the formula known as the
Greek enharmonic genus, but its appearance in such
different parts of the world as New Zealand, China,
and Java shows that it must be a natural use and not
the highly artificial one it has been commonly supposed
to be. This elementary type of melody is at the root
of the incomplete scales of the East. It has un-
doubtedly been called into being by the desire for
varied emotional utterance in pitch, and its exact
intervals differ with the character of the race to which
it belongs. There is found in it little of the sensuous
delight in consonance which bulks so largely in Western
music. It admits the third before other intervals, but
this third is not taken from the starting-note up or
down as is the case with consonant music. It is a
variation upon the microtonal interval, which is its
essential characteristic.
It is evident, therefore, that we have now to
classify the mass of tone-successions known as penta-
* See Appendix, Section N.
52 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
tonic into two distinct genera, the consonant and the
dissonant. The consonant one is an elementary chord-
form based upon the third, the dissonant is an ele-
mentary scale-form based upon the microtonal second,
from which point of view the third appears as a leap.
The consonant type is invariably as follows : —
= — , — 1-=1—
or a transposition of this ; the dissonant type admits
of much variation, and even if its tones appear to
coincide with the consonant ones, it will be found
that in actual use there is no emphasis upon the
tones of the triad, no feeling of a triad with additional
subordinate notes ; the five tones form in themselves
an entity which is all sufficing. In addition to this
the tuning differs frequently from consonant tuning.
All species of the pentatonic nature are, sooner or
later, merged into modal types, and lose both their
microtonal and their consonant character. There is
no country possessing pentatonic usage that is not
now in the act of transition, or that has already passed
through it. The scale is a great leveller, a universal
highway which erases many interesting national
characteristics of pre-modal habit. To this cause
may be assigned the fact that Siam, Java, and China
have in their present scales no interval smaller than
I of a tone. Siam has already passed the pentatonic
stage, Java is in the act of transition ; in China
alone has occurred by royal edict a reversion from
the completed scale to the pentatonic type. China is
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SCALE 53
probably the only country where such an edict could
avail to cast back the tide of evolution, and if we
knew all the ins and outs of Chinese music (a thing,
it may safely be asserted, that no foreigner does
know) we should very likely find that the reversion
has been much less complete than it is stated to be.
There can be no doubt that whatever be the present
scale-form of these countries, it is of microtonal origin.
Only ears trained to the constant hearing of and
with the inherited taste for microtonal intervals
could possibly have evolved the peculiar scale-tunings
of Siam and Java. Of the Siamese, Sir Hubert Parry
remarks : " Their sense of the right relation of the
notes of the scale is so highly developed that their
musicians can tell by ear directly a note is not true
to the singular theory." ^ Their scale consists of the
division of the octave into seven equal parts, clearly
as non-consonant a mode as could possibly exist. Of
these degrees the fourth is sharp and the fifth fiat,
but they approximate the most nearly to equal tem-
perament ; the third and sixth are neutral ; the general
effect of the scale when played upon a violin is a
blurring out of the normal intervals. No exact tones
or semitones exist ; it is a scale seen through a London
fog. The Javanese scale uses in about equal proportion
I, f, and ^ of a tone for its intervals. The Chinese
endeavour to approximate to just intonation ; this is
emphatically an approximation only, for their in-
struments are not tuned with precision. The result
is that to Europeans, if not to themselves, their music
^ " The Art of Music," chap. ii.
54 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
sounds out of tune. At the same time the custom
of transposing a ceremonial hymn a semitone higher
for each occasion of its performance (at the new moon)
is undoubtedly a survival of early microtonal habit,
stereotyped into a formula. Mr. James A. Davies,
who is best known from his observations of Maori
music, gives a fragment of a song which he had
frequently heard sung by Chinese in London, con-
taining microtonal intervals.^ It is more than probable
that the popular music of China does not conform
to the orthodox formula C, D, F, G, A, and this view
is borne out by the strange assortment of notes in
the scales of the various wind instruments, and in the
frets of the balloon-shaped guitar, all of which differ
from one another. The statement that all chromatic
notes are inserted for purposes of transposition is in-
conclusive, because most of them are not in the right
places for the purpose, and it is clear that for trans-
position in general a complete chromatic scale is re-
quired, and not a flat or a sharp added apparently at
random here and there. These tunings either indicate
the present use of chromatic notes or else are a sur-
vival from a time when such were employed. Chinese
music has run a chequered course, and has suffered
much from imperial edicts, particularly at the hands
of the Emperor, She Huang-Ti, "the book-destroyer."
By his orders all books (excepting those on medicine,
agriculture, and divination), and all musical instruments
were destroyed throughout the kingdom in the year
p c. 246. The subsequent state of music is thus
^ See Appendix, Section O.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SCALE 55
graphically indicated in a Chinese treatise: "At the
rise of the Han dynasty the great music-master,
Chi, whose ancestors had for generations held the
same dignity, scarcely remembered anything about
music but the noise of tumbling bells and dancers'
drums," showing that the art had reverted to primitive
conditions.
In seekino- to understand the relative siofnificance
of the scale in the Asiatic and European systems
respectively, we shall find that its two main character-
istics assume such entirely different proportions as to
form practically a difference of kind.
The scale has the variation, firstly, of relative
pitch, or mode, meaning the exact relation of each
note to the other irrespective of their absolute pitch.
Secondly, it has the variation of absolute pitch, the
process known as transposition, by which means any
mode can be transferred intact to a higher or lower
plane of pitch. Both these variations enter into all
music, but it is the concentrating of attention upon
one or the other that forms the essential difference
between Eastern and Western art.
Asiatic scale-form develops a profusion of modes
bewildering to the Westerner who probably knows but
two, the familiar major or minor. These he is disposed
to regard as all-sufficient, and the notion of another
seventy or eighty added thereto is hardly to be taken
seriously. He is quite unconscious of the fact that
this development of modes forms the essential basis
of Eastern tonality in exactly the same way as the
transpositions of his own two modes form the Western
56 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
key-system. What it is in the East that corresponds
with the key of the West is probably a blank to his
mind. If he has ever heard of a "raga" it is only
to be told that it has much to do with gods and god-
desses, hours of the day and night, seasons of the year
and so forth — in short, that the subject is one of great
obscurity. In some such words as these have most
of our historians dismissed the matter.
Probably the best way to arrive at an understanding
of the strange omissions and commissions of Asiatic
scale-form, is to account first for the limitations and
the properties of our own. Why have we only two
modes, and why and in what manner do our modes
become keys ?
In answer to the first question, it must be evident
that in European music consonance forms a standard
that cannot at any moment be ignored. Even when
the triad is to all appearance merged in the scale it
is in practice reinforced by harmony. This fixed chord-
conception, of which Orientals are unconscious, influences
the mode of the scale and limits its variations. At the
same time our modes are much more variable in practice
than in theory, but this is due to the development of
harmony and not to a desire for melodic variety. It
can be shown that we use actually about a dozen modes,
though we admit but two. Still even this is compara-
tively a small number, the greater part of which are of
recent use only ; and since we are cut off by our con-
sonant predilections from advanced modal art, by the
law of nature it must happen that we develop in another
direction. This is the reason why our modes have
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SCALE 57
become keys. The manner in which a mode becomes
a key is by reiterating itself on one and all planes of
pitch to the exclusion of other modes, until a definite
relation begins to be perceived between the various
planes of pitch on which this mode is used, and these
relations absorb the mind to the further exclusion of
relations between mode and mode. Uniformity of mode
with variety of plane of absolute pitch is the essential
character of key, and in order to develop a key-system
one mode must prevail or at least predominate for
thousands of years. The only mode strong enough to
do this has been our major diatonic scale, and its
strength is due to its backbone of pure consonance,
and to the sequential and comparatively even arrange-
ment of its tones with regard to consonance, a modal
order from which the West has never far departed.
This, in short, is the standard, without which no key-
system could have existed, and all other modes are
mere variations upon it.
The key-system of the West has thus its origin in
consonance.
When we turn back to the East, the first thing that
meets us is the lack of the consonant intuition. There
is nothing therefore to back one mode against another,
nor to limit the variations of mode within the bounds
of possibility. One may be regarded with more favour
and prove itself more useful than another, but taken
as a whole it is a democracy in which all have an
equal chance and each has its prescribed form. Under
these conditions it is clear that the one ruling mode
necessary to create a key-system will never appear.
58 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
and hence the European key and its tonality are a
terra incognita to the East. From the beginning
Asiatic melody has a freedom impossible to consonant
or partially consonant melody, and this freedom is
naturally reflected in the modal plan. As for trans-
position of modes, the theory of this is to be found
fully worked out in old Arabic treatises, where owing
to the division into third-tones, no fewer than seven-
teen transpositions of the eighty-four modes can be
made within the octave. These transpositions appear
simply as further variations and give no hint of any
conception of a key - system, as indeed would be
expected. It is at least doubtful whether any practi-
cal use was ever made of such transpositions, and in
all probability their appearance in a work of theory
is due to the desire of working out all the possibilities
rather than to the practice of the musical imagination.
In Indian theory and practice no attention is paid to
absolute pitch ; the singer suits his own voice, and is
guided by the pitch of the drum, which forms his invari-
able accompaniment.^
1 "The key-note is always Sa^ and is taken of any pitch to suit the
requirements of the performer, or the nature of the instrument." (C. R. Day,
"The Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India and the Deccan,"
p. 37.) This is also the view stated to be usually held of the Hindu theory
t)y modern musicians. (S. M. Tagore, " The Musical Scales of the Hindus,"
p. 95-)
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SCALE 59
The Names of the Decrees ok the Scale in the Various
Asiatic Systems with their English Equivalents
No.
English.
Hindu.
Arabic.
Chinese.
Javanese.
MongoL
I
Do
Sharja . .
Sa
Rast
Koung
Bern
Ho
->
Kc
Rishabha .
Re
Doukah
Chang
Goeloe
Ssu
3
Mi
Gandlidra .
Ga
Sihkah
Kio
Dada
Yi
4
Fa
Madhyaina
Ma
Tckarkah
Pien-tche
Pelog
Shang
5
Sol
Panchama.
Pa
Pengkali
Tche
Lima
Ch'ih
6
La
Dhaivata .
Dha
Chechkah
Yu
Nem
Kung
7
Si
Nishdda .
Ni
Heftkah
Pienkoung
Barang
Fan
These names represent no absolute pitch, and may vary considerably
in relative pitch according to the character of the mode. The modern
Egyptian names are a survival from the ancient Arabic, from which they
ditier but little.
CHAPTER VII
PRIMITIVE HARMONY
Two-part consonance — -Principle of chord-sequence — Melodic discord —
The minor triad — Dominant harmony — Primitive harmonic material
— The function of the bass — Consecutive octaves and fifths — Instru-
mental harmony.
Primitive harmony is traceable to two distinct sources.
The first of these is the standard triad already described,
the second is the accompaniment of melody by a lower
part in thirds, which seems to be common to all races
of consonant predilections.^ It is, however, a less
primitive usage than the single triad, since it in-
volves the diatonic scale. The thirds are not all
major or all minor, but vary diatonically according to
the requirements of the scale. Melody here has a much
greater freedom than when confined to the chord-ladder,
but the harmonic result is only of value as a certain
indication of the existence of consonant feeling. It is,
strictly speaking, not harmony at all, for there is no
chord-conception necessarily involved. We may, if we
like, read chords into it by the light of developed
knowledge, but all that is really there is two melodic
parts united by the essential consonant interval. We
may say that, starting from the perception of the third,
harmony adds third to third, for all chords are thus
built up, whereas melody here unites the scale principle
^ See Appendix, Section G.
60
PRIMITIVE HARMONY 6i
with the single third. The result is a harmonic con-
sonance, which will not in itself lead to the development
of harmony, because the harmonic triad requires at
least three synchronous voices. Two-part consonance
may vary its monotony by moving in sixths, or by
the single insertion of a fifth, fourth, second, or seventh,
but this represents its whole development. Its popu-
larity is due to the ease with which it combines a
free melody with the charms of consonance. None
of the difficulties of true harmonic movement are in
this case grappled with, difficulties which arise solely
out of the combination of melody with harmony. For,
though it is possible to have melody without harmony,
there cannot be harmony, beyond the single detached
chord, without melodic movement.
When we proceed to link chords together, at once
the melodic principle enters in. Purely consonant
chords and occasionally dissonant ones that are nearly
related to one another can be used disconnectedly in
the accompaniment of melody, and doubtless have been
so used from the time when some stringed instrument
was first invented upon which one or two chords could
be thrummed. But primitive harmony is mostly if
not entirely vocal, and displays an instinct for the
melodic succession of chords — that is, chords which are
formed of at least three parts each proceeding in a
melodic manner, the chords being linked together by
means of the scale principle. As soon as more than
one triad begins to be used, this principle makes its
appearance, and it is hard to say whether the desire
to sing in scale-movement calls for other chords, or
62 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
whether the love of chords in succession brings in
the use of scale-form in several parts. Be this as it
may, wherever chords are sung, the two ideas of chord-
sequence and scale-movement are found together.
Thus the history of Western pitch-outline is that of
the combination of melody and harmony in the key, and
neither can rightly be understood without the other.
As melody grows dissonant, the difficulties of its
combination with harmony begin. For convenience'
sake we tabulate dissonant chords and name them
fundamental discords to distinguish them from the
passing discord which is of a more obviously melodic
character. Harmony itself, however, is essentially
consonant, and the natural introduction of dissonance
into music is due to melody. Primitive harmony is
purely consonant and the earliest discords in any con-
sonant music are melodic ones. These run naturally
upon the lines of the scale, as passing-notes linking
up the intervals of the triad, and varying greatly in
character according as they occur upon accented or
unaccented beats. In the latter case, their only result
is to produce scale-form, or to make variations upon
the consonant tones ^ — \^~r~f''~^^i S^^^^^^^Y called
changing-notes, but a new effect is introduced when
they are strengthened by the strict accent. This
causes a retardation of the consonant tone which would
otherwise have occupied the accented position, but is
now relegated to a less important one, and thus a
different emotional effect is produced.
PRIMITIVE HARMONY 63
In melody it is more than probable that this effect
has been fruitful in new harmonic suo-crestion. The fact
of special prominence being given to a non-consonant
tone calls attention to it as a centre of new harmonic re-
lations— in short, as the bass of another triad. The fifth
tone of the pentatonic formula, A, is of no importance
harmonically while used merely as a passing or changing
note, but once let it appear strongly accented, especially
if it be used in relation with C above it, and a new triad
is at once suggested. We have the two thirds, but in
a different order — ^=ai3*~f~rj The minor third
is now at the bottom and gives its name to the triad.
This minor triad is similar to the major one in its
tonalitive relations of the fifth and fourth ; the difference
exists only in its consonance. The third next the root
is necessarily the more important one, and by giving
this prominence to the minor third, which is indefinite
in character, a triad of a weaker, less consonant type,
is produced. These two triads ^^^^— jS^H are very
closely related to one another, having two of their
three notes in common. The second is generally known
as the " relative minor " of the first.
Hence it happens that melodies founded upon the
pentatonic formula frequently have a curious effect of
wandering between two keys (major and relative minor)
without ever settling in either. The reason for this
lack of a defined centre is that the chord which is
essential to the narrowest possible harmonic conception
64 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
of key is incomplete. Its essential third is missing.
This is the triad of the dominant. It has been already
pointed out that the single tone of the dominant is able
to suggest motion to and from the tonic, but that this
effect is obscured by the third of the chord when used
in arpeggio. To produce a satisfactory harmonic effect
of this nature the complete triad of the dominant is re-
quired. The third of the dominant is the leading-note,
which rises naturally to the tonic by step of a semi-
tone, thus emphasising the return of the tone-movement
to its appointed centre of repose — /^ — '^~'^^'a~^\
y M-tr^
These two chords, tonic and dominant, are the foun-
dation of the harmonic key. It is difficult to realise
that this familiar tone-formula has not always been
at the root of our music. But it will be observed that
the early developments of the melodic and harmonic
keys respectively do not exactly coincide. In both
the pentatonic and the harmonic formula the sub-
dominant of the complete melodic key is absent, but
whereas the melodic type takes the submediant and
omits the leading-note, the harmonic type does exactly
the reverse. From the harmonic point of view, after
the three tones of the tonic triad and the supertonic
note, the leading - note is unquestionably the most
important tone of the scale.
Part-singing, however, once advanced beyond
the single triad, soon requires all the tones of the
scale, although its harmony long remains in what is
to us a very primitive state. The triads on the
PRIMITIVE HARMONY 65
subdominant, supertonic, or leading-note, will some-
times replace the dominant in its alternation with
the tonic chord, and gradually may appear in addition
to the dominant, by which time the submediant
triad may also be found. Harmonic discord is con-
fined to the dominant seventh, the addition of a
minor third to the triad, which occupies a unique
position amongst discords in its priority of appearance.
In these half-dozen chords is contained the whole of
primitive harmony.
The actual development appears to run as follows :
Familiarity with singing in thirds suggests naturally
the movement of the two upper parts, the melody
being at the top, but the function of the third part,
the bass, has yet to be discovered. It hangs at first
on one note with thirds moving above it, and is
called the pedal bass, or possibly the third is taken
from the bass, with a single melody above. This
continuation of one note in the bass is not in itself
a harmonic bass unless there are two voices above
it to complete the chord. Combined with a melody
only, it is merely a drone, of no harmonic significance,
and is found equally in Asiatic music. When the bass
ceases to cling to the tonic and takes a step, very
probably of a second, to another note, the difficulties
and the real development of harmony begin. Three
moving parts are a very different matter from two,
and instinctively the true harmonic bass is felt to be
on a different footing to the upper parts. Its movement
is sluggish, and tends towards alternation of two notes,
which generally involves alternation of triads. The
66 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
distinct function of the bass as the supporter of the
harmony is soon realised, and is seldom confused
with the airy freedom of the upper parts. Thus, to
find the natural development of harmony, we must
look to the movement of the bass. The more the
variety of actual bass-notes and the freer the movement,
the less primitive the music. The true harmonic bass,
however, even in an advanced stage of development,
never approaches the agility of the upper parts. The
artificial bass of the ecclesiastical contrapuntal eras
is not a bass at all in the harmonic sense, but a melodic
part in the bass — a very different thing. The dictum
of counterpoint that all the parts must be on the
same footing, is entirely opposed to the natural practice
of harmony which puts the bass from the beginning
upon a different footing from the other parts, a dis-
tinction that is maintained throuQhout the whole rangre
and course of rhythmitonal art.
Until four distinct parts are sung, chords in suc-
cession are necessarily somewhat incomplete, but it is
evident from the examples ^ we possess that three vocal
parts were sometimes more than the performers could
attune entirely to consonance ; an upper part may lapse
into octaves with the bass, and queer intervals occa-
sionally occur. Nevertheless, what is most remarkable
about this primitive harmony is its general sense of
harmonic fitness in the relations of intervals. Octaves
are in no sense dissonant intervals. Consecutive
octaves between vocal parts are usually avoided in
close vocal part-writing, because they involve the lapse
^ See Appendix, Sections H, I, J.
PRIMITIVE HARMONY 67
of one part and the over-balance of another by its
doubling in the octave, which means loss of harmonic
balance and fulness of tone. But in all other modes
of use the octave is a perfectly harmless interval that
can be freely employed consecutively. Not so the
fifth. We are all painfully aware that consecutive fifths
are impossible alone, and primitive singers of harmony
were of our opinion. As we, they disguised the
skeleton character by the addition of thirds. By this
means the ear ceases to detect the disagreeable effect
produced by two fifths in succession, since it is satisfied
by the relations of the thirds. No subject in music
has been so frequently dogmatised upon as this, and
no rules have been more entirely disregarded by com-
posers when they happened to want the forbidden
effect. The whole matter is a question, not of the
actual existence of fifths in consecutive chords, since
these are more often there than not, but of the manner
in which these fifths are introduced, and the intervals
by which they are accompanied. All the rules on the
subject have this one object in view, the disguise and
not the elimination of the fifth, since the latter is im-
possible. That some disguise of bare fifths is required
all will admit. The degree of disguise required is the
debatable point, and this varies with the nature of the
composition, with the character of the effect to be pro-
duced, and last, but not least, with the individual taste
of the composer. The ordinary rules laid down for
the avoidance of fifths in two consecutive parts accord
with primitive vocal practice, and prescribe the con-
ditions generally best suited to purely vocal part-
68 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
writing, but entirely ignore those of instrumental music
generally, and especially of orchestral work, in which
many varied effects can combine to render fifths un-
noticeable. The training of the ear to detect the
effect of consecutive fifths under all conditions would
prove of greater service to future composers than
a deaf obedience to rules frequently at variance with
modern usage, and of which no reasonable explanation
can be given. The primitive singer had certainly no
rules to follow, and, therefore, the fact of the absence
of consecutive fifths from primitive harmony must be
due to the instinctive avoidance of harshness in pitch-
outline, an instinct essentially consonant which exists in
all European races, and to a great extent in America
and Africa also, only requiring development by practice.
The evolution of instrumental harmony is necessarily
a later growth, but it follows on the lines of vocal
development. It does not seem likely that instruments
have had anything directly to do with the evolution of
actual chord-material. They may account for curious
intervals occasionally to be found in native music, but
these are mere passing incidents. The instrument has
conformed itself to harmony, not harmony to the
instrument, but in the harmonics of the natural pipe
and horn and string lies the physical connection with
the consonant triad. On account of the limitations of
early instruments, instrumental harmony is considerably
slower of development than its vocal forerunner, but it
is by no means an exact imitation of vocal harmony.
From the beginning the distribution of the tones of
the harmony varies according to the nature of the
PRIMITIVi: HARMONY 69
instrument. Thus instruments giving a sustained Lone
will produce sustained chords ; the twanging of strings
gives rise to the broken detached chords ; the homo-
geneous character of vocal harmony disappears, and
many varied types spring up, which form the tone-
material of the native orchestra, the prototype of
European orchestral evolution.^
1 See Appendix, Sections K, L, M.
CHAPTER VIII
ADVANCED HARMONY
Limits of chord-formation — Summary of diatonic chords— Development
due to primary principle — Augmented and diminished triads — Major
and diminished sevenths — Ninths and minor sevenths — Definition of
chromaticism — Chromatic modal inflexions— Summary of European
modes — The dominant leading-note — Blending of modes in the key
— Chromatic harmony — Principle of chromatic chord-sequence.
The principle of harmonic formation, from the triad
upwards, being that of ascent by thirds, all chords in
their original positions are built up of thirds, of two,
three, or four thirds respectively. It is needless to
add five or six, after the manner of some harmony
systems, for these so-called chords are practically never
complete, and any additional notes which cannot be
reduced to the four-third chord are easily explainable
as melodic discords. Even the four-third chord, the
chord of the ninth (so named because four thirds make
a ninth), is but little used in comparison with the two-
third and three-third chords, the triads and chords of
the seventh, within whose inflections the whole of
harmony is practically contained. This may be studied
in the diagram on the following page.
The evolution of diatonic harmony is, it will be
observed, a very simple matter. Each tone of the
scale, in both major and minor modes, bears its triad
and its seventh, the intervals of which vary according
70
ADVANCED HARMONY
71
to the modal diatonic inflections. Not all of these
chords are by any means equally useful, since they
include all types of discord, from the harsh and
strident to the weak and indefinite. Yet they have
nearly all a certain value in extending the limits of
the harmonic key, and bringing a much-needed variety
into diatonic harmony.
Major Mcjdk.
MiNOU Mode.
Triad.
Seventh.
Triad.
Seventh.
1. Tonic
2. Supertonic . . .
3. Mediant ....
4. Subdominant . .
5. Dominant . • .
6. Submediant . . .
7. Leading-note . .
Major
Minor
Minor
Major
Major
Minor
Diminished
Major
Minor
Minor
Major
Minor
Minor
Minor
Minor
Diminished
Augmented
Minor
Major
Major
Diminished
Major
Minor
Major
Minor
Minor
Major
Diminished
The development of harmony now begins to assume
more of an aesthetic character, and the preference for
one form of discord or another is largely a matter of
national or personal idiosyncrasy. Yet it is not these
influences which have actually moulded harmonic art
into its present shape. Its general evolution is due to
its adherence to the primary principle of ascent by
thirds ; its variety of aesthetic character depends on the
nature of these thirds composing its chords and on the
order in which they are arranged.
It has already been shown that the constitution of
72 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
a consonant triad demands one major and one minor
third. Nowhere could the effect produced by two
major thirds or two minor ones in juxtaposition be
better observed than in the dissonant triads. The
augmented one consists of two major thirds, and is
a harsh dissonance, because each major third suggests
its own character ; the diminished triad contains
two minor thirds, which blend together into the
softest type of discord. The names of these triads
are talven from the fifth (which they contain) reckoned
from the root ; two major thirds extend the normal
fifth to an augmented one, the two minor thirds con-
tract it to a diminished fifth ; that it is the two major
thirds and not the augmented fifth that form the
dissonant effect is evident from the fact that if the
central third tone be removed, leaving the bare fifth,
all effect of dissonance disappears. The augmented
fifth is an exactly similar interval to the minor sixth,
which is a concord, and therefore when taken alone
it is indistinguishable from the sixth, which is the
more usual interval.
It is fortunately impossible to have a chord of the
seventh consisting of three major thirds, because the
interval of the major seventh does not admit of more
than two, and one minor one. Nature herself has
thus set a limit to the clashings of major thirds ; but
we have more than enough of them in the strident
and even painful effect of the chords of the major
seventh where the ugly interval of the seventh
adds to the discord of the rival thirds. The best
of these is the one formed upon the major triad.
ADVANCED HARMONY yz
with the minor third as mediator separating the two
major ones —
(1) (4) (6)
There is nothing, however, to prevent the union
of three minor thirds in a chord of the seventh
(called diminished), and in the same way as the
diminished triad repeats and intensifies the effect of
the single minor third, so the diminished seventh
increases still further the indefinite character of the
diminished triaid. There is nothing in the minor
third to clash with another interval ; it possesses
none of the decided nature of the major third and
therefore combines well with it, but left to itself it
resembles a sheep without a shepherd. Its nature
seems to be that of gentle indeterminate hesitation ;
it is the nonentity of music. Although belonging
diatonically to the leading-note of the minor scale,
the chord of the diminished seventh is not in itself
suggestive of any key, and practically it is at home
anywhere and can precede or follow any other chord,
but the mind soon wearies of its ambiguity.^
It is evident that the chords most useful to music
1 As the octave divides into four minor thirds, there are naturally only
three of these chords in existence in equal temperament, since at the minor
third the first inversion of the first chord presents itself, all the inversions
being necessarily similar to the root position, as the chord contains but
one kind of interval. By means of altered notation all these inversions
are made to appear different chords belonging^ severally to various keys,
and this notation presents an extreme case of the making of distinction
without difference. It is caused by the desire to bring the chord into
an appearance of key-relation which it does not naturally possess.
74 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
are those which contain one major third, and not more
than one. These, in fact, form the indispensable part of
diatonic harmony. A possible exception exists in the
major ninth, which adds a major third to the chord of
the dominant seventh, where, owing to their greater
distance apart, separated by two minor thirds, the effect
of the major thirds is not disagreeable — 'fw f-— ^— i
combined as they are with the major ninth, a
smoother interval than the major seventh. The
chord of the minor ninth, with three minor thirds,
and but one major, has the disadvantage of a harsh
interval in its ninth. Such is not the case with the
chords of the minor seventh. Here the most satis-
factory effect is obtained when the major third is at
the bottom — fc=gEd This is the familiar chord of
the dominant seventh, the type of its kind, to be found
only upon the dominant in diatonic use. It occupies
a similar position among sevenths to that of the
dominant triad amongst triads ; it is even more char-
acteristic of the key than the triad, since it cannot
occur diatonically in any other scale.
The last two chords of the minor seventh lack
its foundation of a major third, and therefore its major
character. The more usual type has the major third
in the middle (the same form as the minor triad) —
_n I \ 0 n L_ '
#=J=^=g-=[f#t^S=[)
(2) (3) (4) - (4)
ADVANCED HARMONY 75
and the remaining one has the major third at the top —
(2)
and, being built upon the diminished triad, takes its
character from that chord.
Nearly all these chords are capable of three in-
versions, which do not greatly change their character,
since they are dissonant in the root position, but the
dissonance is always more marked in the second in-
version, owing to the prominence given to the fourth.
It remains now to consider the chromatic types of
harmony, those that carry the key beyond its melodic
limit of the diatonic scale. Consonance and dissonance
assume severally an entirely different character ac-
cording to their combination with diatonic or chromatic
relations, and chromatic forms of dissonance made
their appearance quite as soon as, if not before, those
of consonance.
It must be explained here that this use of the
word chromatic does not imply a substitution of the
semitonal scale for the diatonic one. It means a
chromatic (a semitonal) variation of the diatonic scale.
It is the varying of the standard mode by other forms
of inflection which do not offer sufficient variety of har-
monic material to be considered as independent modes
in themselves. We practically sum them all up in the
word " minor," but we have not distinctly realised
how many actual modes are contained in this type.
Clearly it is not a single scale, as is the major, for
three separate modes are recognised as belonging to it.
76 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
It will simplify the matter to consider it from the
point of view of the tetrachord, rather than of the
complete scale. There are but four tetrachords in
general use in European music, for any others depart
too far from the standard of the major mode to be
of practical service. They may be named as follows : —
Diatonic.
, 1 1 1-
z^-mt
Chromatic.
Neutral.
Augmented.
4-
^
3SE^
It will be seen that the two centre notes are the
only variable ones ; the chromatic tetrachord is the
exact reverse of the diatonic, two full-tones and a
semitone taken downwards instead of upwards ; the
neutral is one combination of the two, and the
augmented the reverse combination, containing the
augmented second from Al7 to B. All these four
tetrachords are to be found in our ordinary major
and minor modes, which present, however, only a few
of the possible combinations. The major consists of
two diatonic tetrachords ; the minor has the neutral
for its base, and its upper part may be diatonic,
chromatic, or augmented, as follows : —
[G A B C (Diatonic).
C D E*? F - G Ab Bb C (Chromatic).
[g Ab B C (Augmented).
It appears from this that our minor scale does
ADVANCED HARMONY ^^
not, like the major one, consist of two similar tetra-
chords. The reason for this is apparent. Any-
repeated tetrachord other than the diatonic alters
the chord of the dominant, and although this very
altered chord is in common use, we regard it
as an exceptional form, and not as a normal one.
Therefore the mode in which it occurs must be
an exceptional and not a typical one. There is
no reason, however, why we should not recognise
these and other kindred types based upon the four
tetrachords as occasional modes, which indeed accords
with the practice of later composers, but we need
not give them to children to play upon the piano.
Those modes based upon two similar tetrachords
sound best melodically, but the tetrachords admit
of all possible varieties of combination excepting
those which mix diatonic and chromatic together.
Owing to the opposite nature of these two tetra-
chords, they are not satisfactory when placed in
juxtaposition, the scale appearing to have no unity
in itself. The modes work out as shown on the
following page.
It will be seen that the tetrachords account for the
use of all the twelve tones of the octave in the scale
of C excepting Ftf- This note occurs in the natural
subdominant mode and is found in Hungarian and
Hindu scale-form. It could, of course, be considered
as forming another tetrachord, but this seems foreign
to European custom, which dislikes what is known
as the tritone,^ and limits the use of it to one
^ Three full-tones in succession, C, D, E, FJ.
78 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
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ADVANCED HARMONY 79
mode only. Whenever this note occurs in tlie
key of C it is most often as a risino- semitone
leading to G in precisely the same manner as B
rises to C. It is therefore much simpler and more
accurate to regard it as a leading-note to the domi-
nant, strongly suggestive of the key of G, though
not necessarily implying the leading-note of that key.
The dominant harmony stands on a different footing
from that of any other, forming what may be called
the pivot of the key, and undoubtedly it does in
practice possess a leading-note for harmonic purposes.
Melodically any degree of the scale can be ap-
proached by rising or falling semitone in harmonic
music without involving any change of key, such
notes appearing as chromatic, which means that,
though foreign to the mode, they belong harmonically
to the key. Hence it is possible to mix up modes
in a way impossible to Eastern music, where tonality
depends upon each mode being kept distinct. In
our own art we find it convenient, as a rule, to
distinguish clearly between major and minor, but
even these are frequently mixed. Ef? and At? are
common in C major, and Aq is actually incorporated
into one of the recognised minor types. It is
only in purely melodic music that modes are kept
distinct, for the general tendency of harmony is to
blend these together. Strictly speaking, there is but
one form of key, and this is subject to modal in-
flections. Of these the minor is the only typical mode,
because it alters the chord of the tonic, and this chord
can have but one inflection. The dominant triad or
8o THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
seventh has no inflection whatever. Upon the essential
foundation of these two chords the key grows by con-
tinually adding other chords on the lines of the major
and afterwards of other modes.
It will be noticed, however, that the semi-har-
monic modes above given do not admit of dominant
harmony. They lack the leading-note or the normal
supertonic, or both. Harmonically all these have
a tonic only, which is not in itself a key without the
dominant ; other triads can be used, but the key-
conception remains incomplete. Thus, when a chord
accompaniment is added to such a mode this must
be confined strictly to a few consonant triads, else all
the modal character will be destroyed and replaced
by that of the key.
The development of the function of the dominant
in its early stages admits of only major and minor
modes, but when this has become thoroughly estab-
lished then other modal types begin to assert them-
selves in the way of semitonal inflection, and thus
appears what is called chromatic harmony. Its
tendency is at first to strengthen the position of
tonic and dominant by leading up or down to these
by semitone. In the diatonic scale only one semitone
of this kind exists, the leading-note. The other
semitone of the scale falls to the mediant, which is
less important, and when taken in the reverse order
is apt to suggest the leading-note of the subdominant
key, a fifth below. For this reason it is always
easier to pass downwards from one key to another,
that is, to increase in flats or decrease in sharps,
ADVANCED HARMONY 8i
than to proceed In the reverse order, because, as
already stated, the leading-note to the dominant (the
next key sharper) lies outside the diatonic scale,
whereas the leading-note to the subdominant key
(the next key flatter) lies within the scale.
The first chromatic additions of the semitonal
nature are those above and below the dominant note
(the minor submediant and the dominant leading-note)
and the semitone above the tonic —
To these must be added the minor third of the
scale. The chords founded upon these notes are
chiefly dissonant and must resolve upon dominant
or tonic. The dominant havincf its leadinQ:-note is
now capable of suggesting a new tonic a fifth higher,
and the chords leading to it are of the nature of its
dominant. The actual dominant seventh of this new
key is borrowed, and appears upon the supertonic of
the original key. The major triad on this degree is
often used instead of the chord of the seventh, and
in the same manner —
A chromatic chord, called the chord of the aug-
mented sixth, and identical with the tones of a dominant
seventh, can be used on the minor submediant (i)
and the chromatic supertonic (2). The seventh is now
82 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
written as an augmented sixth in order to show its
inevitable semitonal tendency —
(1) (2)
^ ^— J
The augmented sixth from the minor submediant
is the dominant leading-note, and the corresponding
interval from the chromatic supertonic is the diatonic
leading-note. To write such intervals in their original
notation of sevenths, as a flattened dominant or tonic
respectively, would be to ignore the reason for the
existence of these chords.
Two other chromatic chords in similar positions,
and differing by a semitone only from these, are called
the chords of the augmented fourth and sixth —
They have, however, a different origin. The one which
appears to be on the minor submediant contains the
interval of the minor diatonic seventh of the super-
tonic. This points to its origin as a diatonic seventh
on that degree, with its third and fifth chromatically
altered to include the augmented sixth on the minor
submediant — ^ — ^b-» — 1 In this altered form the
chord consists of two major thirds divided by a
diminished third. As this so-called third is practically
not a third at all, but a second in disguise, it is more
often than not inverted to form an augmented sixth,
ADVANCED HARMONY 83
which must resolve upwards and downwards upon the
octave of the dominant. The corresponding chord on
the chromatic supertonic is merely the dominant seventh
with flattened fifth, which produces a diminished third
or augmented sixth that must resolve on the tonic —
n-:
A diminished seventh on the dominant
leading-note is in very common use-
Many other chromatic dissonances are used, but these
appear as passing chords, not being recognised as
fundamental discords, and are usually resolved semi-
tonally.
Chromatic concords first made their appearance on
the same degrees as chromatic dissonance, a char-
acteristic one being the major triad known in inversion
as the Neapolitan sixth —
principle of tonic relation asserted itself, and all major
triads containing a tone of the tonic triad were gradu-
ally added —
(C) (G) (E) (E)
To these followed the major triads on the leading-
note (i), and dominant leading-note (2), leaving only
that on the minor seventh (3) —
(1) (2) (3)
—Q- — 5»* 1 f
84 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
This last triad had been in constant use in eccle-
siastical music, and was easily assimilated without
disturbance of the key.
The chord-relations of major chromatic triads with
those of the minor key, of minor with major, and minor
with minor, have each a necessarily different character,
but the same principle of semitonal inflection underlies
their effective use and combination, as in the case of
major with major, and so long as the tonality is under-
stood, there need be no limit to the free use of chromatic
harmony. The restrictions commonly laid down under
the head of " false relation " are arbitrary and useless.
The essential unity of tonality must be maintained — i.e.
two parts must not sound as if they were proceeding
in different keys — but apart from this general principle
this is a matter not so much for the text-books as
for the actual training of the ear, which must fre-
quently decide each case on its own merits. It is a
practical matter, varying, like the use of consecutive
fifths, with the form, style, and character of the com-
position, and the idiosyncrasy of the composer.
CHAPTER IX
THE COMPOUND STANDARD OF TONALITY
Definition of key — Compound standard of pitch compared with that of
time — Syntonic and atonic proportions — Growth of the key — Relation
of discords to the key — Resolution of discords — The principle of the
bass — Effect of chromaticism upon the key — The key-circle and
modulation.
The word "key" in music does not imply only a selec-
tion of tones in scale-form or an aggregate of chords,
but conveys the idea of the rhythmic movement by
means of v^hich definite pitch-relations are recognised.
Thus we may know all the details of harmonic for-
mation and yet have no knowledge of the key. It
is not a solid entity that can be pulled to pieces and
accounted for like a chord, but it is a condition of
rhythmic movement in music that is based upon the
formulas of the scale and the chords, the growth of
which we have traced from the primitive state upwards.
The nature of this rhythmic movement has already
been described as circling away from or gravitating
towards a given centre. This centre is the tonic triad,
any departure from which to other tones or chords
calls for a return to the point started from. In the
primitive condition it is mainly the alternation between
the tonic and some other triad, normally the dominant,
that causes the rhythmic effect. This is not a mere
pendulum swing from side to side, but a setting out
85
86 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
from or towards a clearly defined point, whose position
affects the whole tone-movement, drawing it back at
intervals, regular or irregular, to the central base which
is immediately recognised by the ear. Such definite
alternation soon vanishes into a larger movement. If
we consider the harmonic key as depending originally
on the tonic on the one hand and the dominant on the
other, the whole remainder of harmonic possibilities
has come in upon one side only. Yet the tonic still
weights its own end of the scales in spite of the mass
of chord-detail, consonant and dissonant, which is op-
posed to it. This is a relation which is the essential
fact of the modern key ; the fact of tonic predominance
against overwhelmino- odds. The simile of a stone
thrown into a pond may serve as a further illustration
of this unique musical rhythm. However far the
circles may widen out, they do not affect the position
of the centre, which remains always a point of rest.
Technical terms are needed to convey the idea of
this rhythmic motion, for which purpose the words con-
sonant and dissonant are useless, indicating only condi-
tions of harmony. We will, therefore, name the centre
of repose " syntonic " and the tone-movement through
other chords "atonic." It is possible for a whole move-
ment to be in syntonic outline, as is Wagner's " Rhein-
gold " Prelude.
These outlines can exist only in alternation, if we
except rare instances of a mixture of tonic and domi-
nant harmonies. In these cases neither the syntonic
nor the atonic impression is complete, and a mixed
effect is intended. It is clear that this compound
COMPOUND STANDARD OF TONALITY ^7
standard is of a very much more complex nature than
that of time-outline, and this is due partly to the rela-
tions of consonance and dissonance, but still more so
to the manner in which this standard has grown up.
While the compound standard of time involves diffi-
culties of varying and sometimes irregular numbers of
beats in the bar, it is nevertheless of an entirely strict
character, that is to say, it consists solely of time-beats
necessarily all of equal duration.^ The peculiarity of
the compound tonalitive standard is that it consists of
the syntonic outline, the simple standard, in combina-
tion with atonic outline — that is to say, that the larger
standard, the key, represents a higher stage of develop-
ment, in which what was once variation upon the tonic
is now become essential to the key. In addition to
this, the melodic and harmonic standards are distinct
from one another, and yet must admit of combination.
In time-outline, where much of the relations are practi-
cally synchronous, such conditions could not exist, but
in pitch-outline all chords are heard only in succession,
and their relations are thus successive only. For this
reason there is found a milder order of contrast and a
greater degree of relation in pitch-outline than is the
case in time-outline. This is a relation apparent in the
actual structure of atonic chord-outline. An examina-
tion of its material shows that the syntonic tones
are not excluded from it, provided they are used
in atonic relations.
Since there are only twelve tones in the octave, and
^ Except in cases of accelerando or ritardando, either of which cause a
relaxation of the standard.
88 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
from these twelve major and twelve minor triads are
made, it is evident that each tone must be used three
times in major triads, occupying each time a different
position, and also three times in minor triads under
similar circumstances. Of this material syntonic outline
occupies one quarter, being in the proportion of three
tones to twelve. Atonic chord-outline thus consists of
a network of tones, fully a quarter of which is composed
of syntonic material. Out of the eleven major and
twelve minor triads available in any major key, six
major and three minor triads contain one syntonic tone
each, and three minor triads contain two syntonic tones,
leaving only five major and six minor triads of purely
atonic origin, or less than half of the whole number.
These syntonic tones are the strands on which the web
of the key is spun.
When we turn to purely diatonic relations the pro-
portion of syntonic to atonic tones rises from a quarter
to one-half. There are but four atonic tones in the
scale as against those of the tonic-chord and its octave,
the eicr-hth deg^ree of the scale. The diatonic limit
indicates that strictest type of syntonic and atonic
relation which is the melodic key. European melody
is thus seen to be a far stricter species than harmony,
and this melody as melody loses its special character
when the bounds of diatonic outline are overpassed.
Harmony, as has been shown, continues to expand
itself in the direction of dissonance and chromaticism.
Upon the well-worn paths of diatonic dissonance
chromaticism floods in, obliterating the old diatonic
relations as boundaries, and enlarging the movement
COMPOUND STANDARD OF TONALITY 89
of circling rhythm until all tones are brought within
the compass of one key, or, in other words, are drawn
towards the one centre. One may well ask, What is
the compelling power in this single tonic triad that can
so attract all other chords towards it that they become
mere satellites of its system ? The truth appears to
be that the compelling power resides, not in the triad
itself, but in the desire of the mind to return to it, the
desire for orderliness and coherence, which in this case
can be gratified only by the recurrence of a familiar
central point, whence radiate the definite pitch-relations
that knit the key together.
The same rhythmic desire causes the phenomena
of the resolution of discords considered as a whole in
its relation to the key. So long as the relation of the
discord to the key is perceived any dissonant effect
may be passed through. The modern growth of dis-
cords is an essential part of the growth of the harmonic
key, the rhythmic feeling for pitch-relation, which is
largely dependent on memory, and is therefore capable
of an immense development. Where the centre of the
key lies can now be clearly perceived through a mass
of discords that would have completely obscured it
even a century ago. All special rules for the employ-
ment of discords are necessarily of a temporary
character, and are liable to be continually superseded
by new rules of greater elasticity. The ultimate
arbiter is always the rhythmic feeling for pitch-
relations, and it is this rhythmic feeling that decides
the duration of the discord. What might be accept-
able as a passing effect would destroy the balance of
90 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
the key if given the permanence due to a concord ;
hence the need for the ultimate resolution of discords.
The general custom of resolution follows the lines
of the normal movement of parts in scale-form between
chord and chord, and thus the discord moves by step
of full-tone or semitone to a note in the next chord.
Unless they rise by a semitone, dissonant notes com-
monly follow the natural vocal usage, and fall to their
resolution, but this is just as frequently another discord
as a concord. A concord provides more sense of re-
pose than a discord, but the complete repose of the
key will be found only in the tonic-chord. To the
rhythm of circling movement direction to or from the
tonic is more important than the exact harmonic
intervals taken on the way ; these are of value only
as they provide variety, and serve to indicate the
pitch-relations by means of which the circling move-
ment is perceived. Thus there is nothing to forbid
the temporary resolution of one dissonant interval
upon another, nor any changes of harmony nor pauses
of silence that may take place between the introduction
of a discord and its resolution. If a discord should be
made the final chord of a piece, it is clear that no resolu-
tion is desired because the final impression is to be that
of unrest, but this is obviously an exceptional case.^
^ The formula known as the preparation of a discord is the sounding of
a dissonant note previously as a concord, and the custom arose at a time
when people were obviously afraid of the sound of any discord, unless it
became one by simply being held on, and not by being first sounded as a
dissonance. It is one means of obtaining a smooth effect if an even flow of
harmony is desired, particularly in the case of harsh discord, but it is by no
means essential in the case of any dissonant chord. Its result is naturally
to lessen the effect of the discord in question.
COMPOUND STANDARD OF TONALITY 91
There exists, however, a special relation in diatonic
harmony which decides the movement of the bass of
any dissonant chord in its root position. This is
the relation of the dominant seventh to its tonic,
the typical atonic-syntonic movement. Owing to the
rhythmic principle of gravitation to a centre, the
dominant seventh leads inevitably to the tonic, and
its passage to any other chord appears as a variant
of the normal use. The diminished fifth contained
between its third and seventh tones can scarcely re-
solve elsewhere but on the tonic major third, for
diminished intervals resolve naturally by contraction.
Their inversions, the augmented intervals, go inevit-
ably in the opposite direction —
but both preferably by semitonal motion. The domi-
nant goes thus to its tonic, and the roots of these
respective chords form the melodic interval of the
risinof fourth or fallintr fifth. Since the dominant is
the typical seventh, it is not surprising to find the
other sevenths imitating its procedure, and making as
if to go to their tonics by the movement of their bass,
but so long as the diatonic succession is retained this
is an imitation only. No tonic is reached, but the
seventh is satisfactorily resolved by falling to the third
of the following triad or seventh. These successions
of diatonic sevenths are of a monotonous character,
and have gone out of use in great part since the
development of chromatic harmony.
92 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
The effect of chromaticism is not only to give a
welcome relief from monotony, but up to a certain
point actually to strengthen the key as a rhythmic
whole. This is effected by the semitonal movement
to tonic and dominant already noticed. There are,
however, certain limits to the carrying out of the
semitonal principle to its full extent in harmonic
art, because this loosens the bonds of the key, and
finally resolves itself into the union of chromatic
scales, in which no key and scarcely any consonance
can be found to exist. This is an approximation
towards Asiatic music, and not a development on the
lines of European rhythmitonal art. The evolution of
the latter requires the circling rhythm of the key, and
that semitonal movement should be made the variation
and not the backbone of the actual pitch-material.
The conditions which exist within the key are
also applicable to the larger field of the key-circle.
This employs no more pitch-material than the single
harmonic key (since all tones can be used in it), but
involves relations of a more complex character and
on a larger scale than any to be found within the
limits of one key. These relations imply the passage
to subordinate keys with the object of obtaining
greater variety than is possible within one key only.
This is called modulation, the act of passing from
key to key. The actual modulation consists of the
chords forming the transit, and this may be abrupt or
gradual, according to the number of chords used,
the transit ceasing as soon as the new centre is
established. The momentary touching of a new key
COMPOUND STANDARD OF TONALITY 93
without restinsj^ in it merely suggests or feigns a
modulation, since the original key-centre is not
actually disturbed.
The key-relations expressed by syntonic and atonic
become in the larger field of the key-circle, " centering "
and " modulative." Key-relation proceeds upon the
already established lines of chord-relation, and the
nearest related chords are also the nearest related
tonics. The readjustment of chord-relations takes
place most easily between nearly related tonics, and
those most nearly related are necessarily the keys of
the major dominant and subdominant, and the minor
submediant, mediant, and supertonic. After these come
those tonics possessing one syntonic tone of the central
key, but also containing a tone that chromatically con-
tradicts another of these syntonic tones. This contra-
diction, combined with relation, produces a somewhat
chromatic effect, although the terms chromatic and
diatonic are distinctive of relations of the scales only,
and strictly speaking are not applicable to key-relation.
The relations between minor and major, and minor
and minor are less familiar, but proceed upon the same
lines. Much, however, depends upon the actual modu-
lation, that is, the manner in which the transit is made,
and this is dependent upon chord-relation.
When the key is changed, it is obvious that all
pitch-relations must undergo readjustment to a new
centre. Such a change would upset tonalitive unity but
for the hold made by the original key upon the outline.
By means of this "key-hold" all new keys are made
relative, involving recognition of ultimate return to the
94 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
central key. The foreign tonic will be felt merely as
a temporary centre, and unless too long persisted
in, the rhythmic key-hold tendency will assert itself
and draw the outline back to the original starting
point. It is indeed far easier to return to the central
key than to remain away from it. Manifold changes
of key may take place before the return is made, and
it is even possible to establish subordinate central keys
during the course of modulation without destroying the
key-hold of the original tonic. These complex relations
are employed in lengthy compositions, where it becomes
necessary to" make use of the full resources of the key-
circle in order to avoid tonalitive monotony. A large
field is thus opened to the composer, and it seems
probable that the sense of key-hold is capable of very
much greater development. When this has taken place
all keys may be brought into recognisable relation with
one centre, in the same way as all chords are now united
in the key. But this line of development is the direct
opposite of the present tendencies to pure chromaticism
and the predominance of discord.
CHAPTER X
ASIATIC TONALITY
Tonality as applied in the East and West respectively — The relation of the
Eastern tonic to the scale-tone — The tonalitive type of the raga— The
raga an expression of religious feeling — A type distinct from tune and
from mode — Its tonalitive relations — Its practical value — The tonalitive
significance of the drone — Hindu notation and analogies with colour.
It has been thought well to complete the definition of
the Western key before entering upon the difficult
question of Eastern tonality. It is difficult, because it
involves to the European a contradiction of his normal
mode of musical utterance, a process which may be
likened to the endeavour to stand mentally upon one's
head. Yet the attitude of the Asiatic towards tonality
can be shown to issue logically and inevitably out of
his microtonal instinct. The general principle which
selects one tone as a centre about which other tones
will circle is as universal as the impulse to keep strict
time. The difference between Eastern and Western
tonality lies in the manner of the application of this
principle to the scale. All that has been done hitherto
with Asiatic music is the reading into it of the Western
application.
It should be observed that the general principle is
concerned only with the fact of a tonalitive centre.
When applied to consonant conditions this centre be-
comes for physical reasons the basis of the triad,
96 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
hence, naturally enough, the basis of the scale, and
thus also the essential tone of the key. It is there-
fore due to consonance and to consonance only that
the centre of the key coincides with the basis of the
scale. So much is this fact taken for granted, that
the only name for the first degree of the scale is
tonic or key-note. The word " scale-tone," meaning
a first degree giving its name to the scale apart
from the tonic, has never been required in consonant
art.
On the other hand, when the tonalitive centre is
applied to microtonal and semitonal conditions, it re-
mains simply a centre, for there is nothing to make it a
basis. It is recognised, not by consonant relations, but,
in the most primitive stage, by the fact of its forming the
central tone of three. It is approached and quitted by
quarter-tone or semitone from above and below. When
the primitive use has vanished into more extended
melody these conditions are not invariably retained ;
other factors, such as frequency, stress, and length of
duration, are called in to assist, but the semitonal move-
ment towards the tonic still remains the normal Eastern
method of its definition. As has already been shown,
this principle has invaded the Western art and become
familiar to us in the leading-note of our scale. But we
associate it with a tonic already established upon a con-
sonant basis, and it assists only to define further what
has been long familiar. Whereas to the Asiatic it
forms the essence of tonality, which is to him nothing
more than movement about a centre— an airy fabric, it
is true, containing little of the solidity and repose of
ASIATIC TONALITY 97
the consonant basis of harmonic art, but still an expres-
sion of the identical tonalitive principle.
To some extent Asiatic tonality comes down to earth
in its relations with scale-form. Its tonic still remains
a free one, but it assumes definite relations towards the
scale. In the Eastern modal system we are brought
face to face with a first tone of the scale which is neither
a tonic nor a key-note. It is probably the lack of the
name that has prevented our recognising the thing,
and when we begin to perceive that a scale-tone can
exist on its own merits, its connection with tonality
follows easily enough. It is not a tonalitive centre,
but it is necessarily a basis, because the lowest tone
of the scale. And whereas we Europeans unite our
tonic and our scale-tone inextricably, the Asiatic keeps
his apart, each having its own function. There is
nothing final about the Eastern tonic ; a melody may
circle on around it, and so far as the tonic is concerned
there is no particular reason why it should ever leave
off. Orientals have a fondness for the circular form
of air which repeats itself ad libittmz, and has no
conclusion. At the same time the need for a final
tone is recognised, and the scale-tone is used for the
purpose. At once a relation is set up between the
scale-tone and the tonic, and this opens the door to
new developments of relative pitch. The tonic is no
longer an independent centre, but becomes a tonic upon
a definite degree of the scale, with specially related
tones upon other degrees. The key-circle of the
Western system, with its two modes only and uniform
tonic reproduced at all levels of pitch, is here replaced
9S THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
not only by many variations of mode, but by varia-
tion of the position of the tonic within the mode.
This is a thing that Hes entirely outside of the normal
European experience.^ But seeing that the Oriental,
lacking the consonant intuition, has his attention
absorbed by mode-variation, and that this prevents
recognition of differing scale-tones, is it likely that he
should be anxious to confine his tonic to what is
practically a single tone, when all the degrees of the
scale are open to him ? We might as well confine
our music to one key. All music of advanced modal
character is conditioned by this development of the
moveable tonic, which means the further differentiation
of relative pitch as opposed to development on the
lines of absolute pitch. It is the normal evolution of
a purely melodic art, owing its charm to delicate and
subtle inflections of pitch, to which those possessed of
the microtonal instinct are naturally susceptible.
The Hindu is nothing if not emotional, and this
necessity of music has here assisted in its technical
evolution. The formal definition of tonality is made
in a melodic type called the rdga, but even when
such an experienced Oriental musician as Raja Sir
S, M. Tagore defines this thing, he does so on the
lines of its emotional purpose, rather than its technical
import. " A rdga is the succession of notes so arranged
as to awaken a certain feeling of the mind." Though
consisting now of several hundreds of fixed types, it is
considered, fundamentally, to be an emotional utterance.
^ It must not be confused with the use of modes other than major or
minor where the tonic is invariably the scale-tone.
ASIATIC TONALITY 99
The same can scarcely be said of our key-system,
though unavailing efforts have frequently been made
to ascribe distinct emotional characteristics to the
various keys. The truth appears to be that feeling
identifies itself with relative pitch rather than with
change of pitch-level. There is distinctly a difference
of feeling between major and minor, which is not pro-
duced by any transposition of either. The Hindu has
taken the line of least resistance, and is thus enabled
to express all his feelings in his marvellously elaborate
tonalitive scheme. It has been said that everything
in the East has arisen out of religious feeling, and such
a view is borne out by the direct association of each
tonalitive unit of Hindu music with a corresponding unit
of Hindu mythology. The ragas and raginis (techni-
cally the same thing) are all named after the gods, who
brought down music from heaven for the solace of man.
The varying emotional characteristics associated with
each god or goddess are reflected in the raga, and the
peculiar tonalitive type employed falls into its natural
place as a means to an end.
In all probability similar systems once existed in
Arabia and Persia, but our present knowledge of the
raga-type comes solely from the Sanskrit authorities on
Indian music and the modern Hindu practice. There
exists much confusion in the minds of Europeans as to
whether the raga is not a melody, or else simply a scale.
Upon the first point we have the following statement : " It
is when words are set to a rdga, and when rhythm {tdla)
is given to it that it can mean a song " (S. M. Tagore).
Hindu theory is careful to distinguish, further, between
loo THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
raga and mode. The latter consists of the actual scale
and is called Thdt, and of these an immense classifica-
tion exists. The scales which are " mostly in use "
are given as follows : Complete modes, 32 ; sexatonic
modes, 113; pentatonic modes, 160 — yielding a total
of over 300. The retention of the incomplete scales
is doubtless due to the fact that they supply, by means
of their omissions, certain peculiarities of pitch-relation
not to be found in the complete scales, and thus form
valuable additions to the modal system considered as
material for the raga. The difference between mode
and raga may be gathered from the fact that the frets
of a stringed instrument must be arranged for any
particular mode ; once this is done, all the ragas formed
upon that mode can be used without alteration of the
instrument, but a new mode requires a re-arrangement.
As many as thirty ragas may be founded upon a single
mode ; again there are modes that admit of but one
raga. The latter takes its pitch-material from the
mode ; but what makes it a raga is the distribution of
these tones in melodic order according to the tonalitive
principle already described. In other respects the
raga is unbarred melody, somewhat of the nature of
recitative, using time-outline to emphasise its pitch-
relations.^ It consists of four "strains," each a melodic
passage of from a dozen to fifty or more beats, with a
well-defined rhythm of rise and fall ; two strains, how-
ever, are all that are usually quoted. When performed,
it is sung to meaningless syllables such as ti^ re, ne, &c.,
or played upon an instrument. Its tonic is called Vddi
^ See Appendix, Section P.
ASIATIC TONALITY lOi
(chief), which is described as the jdn, the Hfe and soul
of the raga. This has accessary tones somewhat after
the manner of the European dominant and subdomi-
nant at the distance of fourth and fifth. Sometimes
both are employed, provided they both exist in the
mode upon which the raga is founded, and these are
called Samvddis (the ministers of the Vdd(). Their
relations with the tonic hold good, moreover, when
either is chromatically inflected, this being a permanent
chromatic inflection of the mode which is necessarily
repeated in the raga. Such chromatic relations give
a very Oriental character, whereas the diatonic types
suggest European tonality in some degree. There are
six original ragas, and all other ragas and raginis are
formed from these by the process of taking out a few
notes here and there from two or more and combining
the phrases afresh generally upon a new tonic.
In estimatinor t^g value of the rao^a to the Hindu
singer, it must be remembered that, in the East,
notation is either non-existent or is unused by the
bulk of musicians. These play from memory, or
else extemporise, and preferably the latter. Thus
the greater part of Eastern music is extemporisation.
From this point of view the value of the raga can
be appreciated, since it supplies the singer with the
essentials of his pitch-outline, certain notes to be made
prominent, and certain sequences of notes to be used,
varying in ascent and descent ; all this is based, not
upon calculation, but is the result of centuries of in-
tuitive utterance in music, natural to the race and
natural to the singer. Quarter-tones, if not included in
I02 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
the traditional use, are left to the singer's improvisation,
of which freedom he fully avails himself, embroidering
his own fancies across the fabric of the raga.
The use of the drone-bass, which is very common
throughout the East, is undoubtedly due to a desire for
definition of tonality. Its effect will depend, however,
upon whether it be used to enforce the scale-tone or
the tonic. Instances are quoted of a primitive melody
winding itself in semitonal outline about a drone, which
must have been the tonic, but in such a case the con-
nection with the scale had not yet appeared. More
often the drone enforces the scale-tone, by means of
which the intervals of the mode are easily apprehended.
Unless, therefore, the tonic is very clearly defined in the
melody, the tendency of the drone will be to enforce
the scale-tone at the expense of the tonic, and thus
by degrees to unite tonic with scale-tone after the
European manner. The Hindu theory of music does
not recognise the use of the drone as a note con-
tinuously sounding, deeming that this would detract
from the melodic nature of its music. Of the double
drone of first and fifth degrees it is said, " This com-
bination (which is a stranger to Indian Music, and, as
a sound, not recognised by it) when tacked occasion-
ally on to a melodic piece would certainly destroy its
character as a Rdga, and would render the whole
thing not only un-Wmdu Music, but a perfect babel
of foreign jargon" (S. M. Tagore, "The Musical
Scales of the Hindus").
Unfortunately it is impossible to reproduce this
Eastern art with any certainty in European notation
ASIATIC TONALITY 103
owing to our lack of the microtonal interval. The
insertion of a " quarter-sharp " conveys little, because
it is necessary to be familiar with the use of the thing
before its sign will be appreciated. In this respect the
Eastern musicians, where a notation exists, have the
advantage of us. Though quarter-tones do not now
figure in the modal scheme of India, the tuning of which
approximates to equal temperament, the theory of
them is a recognised part of the Hindu system, and
for microtonal intervals Sanskrit names and signs exist
which indicate sufficiently the exact pitch-outline to a
native ear. In all other respects the present Hindu
notation is meagre and unsuggestive in the extreme.
It is nothing but the bare notes, and all phrasing and
variations of force-outline or tempo are left to the
imagination. When one considers, further, the difficulty
to a Western ear, prepossessed by ineradicable conso-
nant instinct, of perceiving the bearings of the Eastern
tonic at all, even when not confused by quarter-tones,
it is clear that Hindu music cannot be readily appreci-
ated by European musicians.
The best general idea that can be given of the art
may be found in the analogy with colour. It is a fact
that Sanskrit authorities recognised each degree of the
scale as relating to a special colour. This is an idea
not unfamiliar to Europeans, but where it is attempted
literally to combine such colours on the lines of har-
monic art, the result is grotesque. On the other hand,
in melodic music, where degrees of pitch are recognised
only as a needful foundation to be wiped out at will
by the inurchana (movement by s'rutis, which implies
I04 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
imperceptible intervals), a real analogy with colour
does exist. The subtle gradations of colour-tones in
nature and in the finest art find their counterpart in the
equally subtle shading of the pitch-tones of Oriental
music.
CHAPTER XI
DISCANT
Mixophonic art — Eastern instrumental accompaniment — Distinction
between harmony and discant — The art of organum or discant in
early writings — Similarity to primitive Eastern discant — The argu-
ment for the Eastern origin of Gregorian chant — Its exotic character
— Effect of discant upon the chant.
It must be evident to the most casual observer that,
in Asia beyond India, music, though originating like
the music of the nearer East in microtonal intervals,
has taken a path of its own. Here instead of a pro-
fusion of modes, the complete modal type is only
beginning to make its appearance ; with the excep-
tion of Japan, which seems to offer a case of mixed
development, each country has but one or two scales,
and the five-toned formula with varying intervals for
the most part predominates.
When we find uniformity in one direction we may
be tolerably certain that music has made for itself
variety in some other line. This is the case with the
far- Eastern music, which, instead of remaining a purely
melodic art, has sought variety in the combination of
moving parts at differing pitch. It has boldly launched
forth upon a species of art which may be termed " mixo-
phonic," to distinguish it from the polyphony of the
West, which has a harmonic foundation. Its greatest
development has been in Siam and Java. It has been
described as "a labyrinth of eccentric discant," and is
io6 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
stated by those familiar with it to be of a very fine
effect, the extraordinarily rapid and complex weaving
of the parts compensating in great measure for the
lack of harmony. It is generally found associated with
instruments of the harmonicon type which are tuned
as has been explained.^ In this natural art of discant
{i.e. the interweaving of non-harmonic parts) is to be
found the explanation of the persistence of the penta-
tonic formula. Tones of differing pitch that are going
to be promiscuously mixed up together at the fancy
of the performers must be limited in number and well-
defined in pitch ; no variation upon these is wanted,
because the effect desired is mixophonic and not
melodic ; varied kinds of emotional utterance are
obtained by variety in the mixture and not in the
melodic succession, as is the case with the Hindu
raga. Thus the five tones are long adhered to, and
a sixth and seventh are slow in appearing. Since
the Siamese and the Javans have no notation of
their own, the whole art is purely extempore, and
this condition seems to favour its development. In
China and Japan, where notation of a sort does exist,
but little seems to be known to Europeans of a mixo-
phonic art ; but the following statements suggest
that something of this kind may be found in Japan :
"The Japanese classical music is not melody alone;
it is written in four parts, two Kotos, Kokyu (the
Japanese fiddle) and Samisen (an instrument resem-
bling the Kokyu, but played with a kind of large
wooden plectrum). The Koto parts correspond to our
first and second violin parts, the Kokyu reinforcing
^ See p. 53.
DISCANT 107
melodic passages. . . . This music is exceedingly
complicated, but full of interest; but it is impossible
to render it in the West." ^ In Burma the musicians
are said to understand counterpoint, but not harmony ;
this can be nothing else than discant. Even in China
accompaniments on the guitar are played for a singer
or for a solo guitar, and this appears to suggest
discant which is essentially an art of accompanying a
melody. We are told of Javanese music : "The theme
is the important thing ; the parts fall in as they like ; the
musicians know nothing of score, but only the melody ;
each adds what he likes ; some go up the scale, some go
down ; they vary the theme or accompany it ; they bring
rhythmic life and motion into the music." "
It is evident also that a tuning was frequently
employed in arpeggio, as we should use a chord, for
purposes of accompaniment, upon an instrument that
like the koto has generally but one note to each
string. The principal koto tunings are as follows
(Piggott's " Music of Japan," pp. 92-3) : —
A (1)
122:
-IS^
-»^-
:ft22zS^
(2)
:«=:
:«^
-«^— ^-
(3)
:22i:§^zi:
-G> <f^
-"^ "=='■
* E. T. Piggott, "Musical Association." 1891-3.
* Dr. J. Groneman, De Gamelan te Jogjakarta.
io8 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
The biwa, or balloon-shaped guitar, has the following
tunings : —
(1) .^_ _(!) ^ (3)
:»22:
:i^
?^"
_£=2_
-Jf^-
14) ^ _(5) ^ (6)
:J^=
122=1^
Tuning No. 3 is not considered to differ in kind
from the others. On both these instruments in Japan
it is common to sweep the strings backwards and
forwards with the plectrum, in arpeggio effect.
Vocal antiphony is also fairly common ; one phrase
of melody will be answered by another voice or voices
with a slightly differing phrase ; the answer may take
the form of a transposition to the fifth above, and the
two voices will frequently overlap one another, but there
is no trace of harmony in the sense of chord-conception.
Since certain writers have been led by the discovery
of occasional thirds or sixths in Eastern discant to
attribute to Orientals a knowledge at least of the
elements of harmony, it is well to state that no such
thing as harmony in the European sense, or even a
rudimentary conception of it, exists in Asia. The
Easterns have no chord-sense, and do not like chords
when they hear them.^ The mistake has arisen
through lack of knowledge of the distinction between
1 It is said that the late Shah of Persia, when in London, sat bored
and gloomy through the first act of an opera. When the orchestra
began tuning up for the second act, his face brightened, and he asked
for an encore.
DISCANT 109
harmony and discant, which are entirely separate
things.
Discant originates in variations of vocal compass,
for which consecutive octaves, fifths, and fourths are
the most convenient intervals.^ Later a desire for
independent movement of voices makes some rise
while others fall, which movement is known as contrary
motion. This, when fully developed with a great
number of moving parts, is absolutely incompatible
with harmony. What we term counterpoint in its
historical sense forms the only compromise that has
ever been made between the two ; both were cramped
in the union, and neither harmony nor discant could
fully develop itself. It is perhaps a new idea to
European musicians that it is possible to create a
form of art which unites tones of differing pitch
simultaneously that are devoid of consecutive con-
sonant relations, and they are still less aware that
such an art has existed, no man knows how long, in
the East. To describe this music as purely dissonant
would create a false impression, for, strictly speaking,
dissonance implies a feeling for a consonant basis
upon which it forms a variation. Where a scale only
forms the pitch-standard, there is no appreciable con-
sonant basis, and the music is simply of a non-
consonant character. It is true that consonant in-
tervals will occasionally be found in it, because in a
synchronous pitch-outline it would be difficult altogether
^ In the Buddhistic service in China each chanter sings at the pitch
most convenient to his own voice, though all sing the same words in the
same time.
no THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
to avoid them, and it must be remembered that the
far- Eastern musicians are not seeking dissonance nor
avoiding consonance in itself; they are for the most
part indifferent to either, and regard their modal type
as a loom in which to weave their mixophonic art.
On the other hand, the origin of harmony has been
asserted to lie in that European form of discant called
"organum," which grew up in ecclesiastical surround-
ings and is mentioned by monkish writers as far back
as the early part of the eighth century/ This as-
sertion is again due to a lack of knowledge of what
elementary harmony really is. We are not in any
doubt of what the organum was. The following
quotations are a literal translation from the earliest
references that have been made to it : —
" Melody of the organum is made from different
qualities and quantities. While individually and sepa-
rately, long voices (notes ?) are perceived separated
from each other by differing proportions of con-
vergence and divergence, they are fitted together
with each other according to certain rules of the
rational art of music and give a certain natural sweet
tone in each case." (Scotus Erigena.)
"i. Chant (concentus) is the successive blending
of similar voices ; discant (succentus) is in truth when
different voices agree very well with each other, just
as we see in the organum (or organ).
" 2. Consonance is the fixed and agreeable mixture
1 Hawkins says that " Bede does very particularly mention a well-
known species of it, termed Descant." " Ars organandi" is mentioned early
in the ninth century in the Chronicle of the Monk of Angouleme.
DISCANT III
of two sounds which will agree in no other way unless
the two sounds given out differently come together at
the same time into one modulation, which happens
when a man's and a boy's voice sound in proper
divisions, or also in the case which people are ac-
customed to call organum (organ playing ?)" (Gerbert,
Script. I., 234, 107.)
So far the following f^icts emerge: (1) Though no
intervals are named, in the time of Scotus Erigena
music was recognised to be an art with rules of its own,
and this implies exact intervals ; (2) if convergence
and divergence of pitch is intended (and it is difficult
to see to what else such terms could apply) one voice
remained stationary while the other diverged and con-
verged {i.e. a primitive form of the pedal), or else
contrary motion of voices was already in use ; (3)
two kinds of chant, one-part and two-part, were
recognised, and the latter was called consonant, to
which the rules related ; (4) sounds of different pitch
were sung exactly together {i.e. the voices moved
simultaneously) ; different qualities of voice (treble
and tenor) were very important if not essential.
In a somewhat later work, called the " Treatise of
Cologne," on the subject of the organum, the writer
says that the organum is the consonance of the fourth.
It has three species. In the first the voices move
always in fourths ; in the second, both voices end in
the same tone, it may be a second above or below
the final tone ; in the third, the principal voice goes
to the final or its neighbouring tone, while the or-
ganum (or accompanying voice) goes to the second
112 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
below. Thus the carrying out of the first species be-
comes impossible, and the organum in fourths is not
carried on throughout. The writer concludes : " It
sometimes happens that, when the natural kinds are
deficient, we make an irregular organum by bringing
together the third and the second in some parts."
The nature of the early organum is now quite clear,
and the description agrees with the earliest written
examples. Its similarity to the primitive usage of
Eastern discant is almost too obvious to need pointing
out. In the Andaman Islands the inhabitants — men,
women, and children — sing thus in three parts
the parts rising and falling simultaneously by quarter-
tones in consecutive fourths and fifths. When the
organum advanced to three parts these were its pre-
cise intervals. Further, it was not considered neces-
sary to end on the so-called final tone, a second above
or below answering the purpose as well, and, what is
even more hopelessly opposed to harmonic ideas, the
voices might end on the interval of the second. Why
the "natural kinds" should be "deficient" does not
appear, seeing that these are presumably consecutive
fourths of which no lack usually exists, but it is at
any rate clear that the regular organum was in fourths
with a possible variation on the last interval, and also
that when thirds or seconds were used in the course
of the organum it was considered to be irregular. The
fourth is here the chosen interval, and the second and
third are for occasional use as we may use discords,
DISCANT 113
preference being given to the second. Dr. Riemann
has laid stress upon the origin of the organum in the
fourth instead of the fifth, but from our point of view
this is immaterial, seeing that both intervals are dis-
sonant in consecutive use, and are used equally often
in mixophonic art. As previously observed, the
early use of the pedal is practically universal, and
implies no harmonic sense whatever unless accom-
panied by actual chords.
It may now be asked, granted the similarity between
the organum and Eastern discant, how is the appear-
ance of such an art to be accounted for in the monas-
teries of Western Europe ? Doubtless the main reason
for it was the nature of the single chant upon which
the organum was formed. This chant, called Gregorian
(because it was chiefly systematised by St. Gregory,
who flourished in the sixth century), is now generally
admitted to be of Greek origin.^ The Asiatic nature
of Greek music is less understood, because so little
has been known of Eastern musical usage ; but when
we come to examine what is known of the Greek art
with a view to discovering whether it is European
or Asiatic, no doubt can exist upon the matter. Two
of the Greek tetrachords, those known as the enhar-
monic and the old Olympus, are dissonant pentatonic
types ; the music was entirely melodic and founded upon
modes to which emotional characteristics were attached ;
the Greeks, like the Hindus, were intensely sensitive
* " There seems no reason to doubt that the music used in the early
Christian ritual was of Greek origin." (.Sir H. Parry, "Art of Music,"
chap, iv.)
H
114 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
to the emotional properties of melodic inflection, and
desired nothing beyond that. In addition to this there
is so marked a resemblance between the ancient
Vedic hymns of the Hindus, Buddhist chants, and the
Gregorian chant of Europe, as to leave little room for
doubt that they have had a common origin. The
practice of antiphonal singing also came from the East
and is said to have been brought into the Western
Church by St. Ambrose, who was the first ecclesiastic
known to have concerned himself with church-singing.
The nature of the Gregorian chant itself is that of
Eastern and not of Western melody. It exhibits a
tonalitive development founded upon relative rather
than absolute pitch, and its tonality is identical in
principle with the Hindu raga. That this tonality
has never been rightly explained is due, as in the
case of the Eastern art, to the reading into it of the
normal Western experience. The fact that we re-
cognise a tonic upon the scale-tone only, or that the
true tonic of the Gregorian system was otherwise
named, accounts for its previous lack of recognition.
It has perhaps not occurred to us to ask why the
name "dominant" should be given to the fifth degree
of our scale and not to the key-note. In Gregorian
tonality is found the answer. Each of its modes had
what was called a dominant and a final. The latter
was the scale-tone, but not the tonic ; the former
varied in position between one mode and another,
and was so named (like the Hindu Vddi, the ruler)
because it dominated all the other tones. Since in
five modes out of twelve it occurred upon the fifth of
DISCANT 115
the scale, the name passed on into rhythmitonal art
attached to this degree, regardless of the fact that
it is now no longer the dominant which dominates,
but the tonic. The true function of the Gregorian
"dominant" has thus been hidden; it is, in fact, the
tonic ; not in the sense of a consonant key-note which
had in Gregorian chant no more existence than in the
Hindu raga, but considered as the central tone about
which the rest circle. An example of Gregorian
chant will make this clear.
Mode II. Tonic F. Final or Scale-tone D.
^^^=^-1—1 — \ — ^— L^— I — ^— i — I — ^=! — h— h— |-=F-
The resemblance of this chant to a raga is too
striking to be overlooked. It differs only in its ex-
treme tonalitive simplicity. In Asiatic tonality, as in
European, an advanced stage like the raga-type has
no call to emphasise its tonic overmuch. This chant
is of great interest as showing a very primitive stage
of Eastern tonality, when it was necessary to dwell
much on the tonic in order to distinguish it. To
this tone the voice clings, scarcely moving to another
until it reaches the cadence at the end. Doubtless
the natural fall of the voice suggested what was later
stereotyped into a final, or scale-tone, when the
modes had become established. These differed only
from the Oriental mode by being more limited in
material and associated with a fixed absolute pitch.
For this the use of the organ probably accounts, and
Ti6 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
Dr. Riemann's suggestion that the name organum was
thence derived, seems a likely hypothesis, this instru-
ment having been introduced into churches for use in
the choral service by Pope Vitalianus as early as the
latter half of the seventh century/ To each of their
modes the early church-musicians ascribed distinct
emotional characteristics after the manner of the Greeks
and Hindus, and as we have shown such emotional
utterance was the essential underlying idea of the
Asiatic system.^
Taking all the above-mentioned facts into considera-
tion there seems no reason to doubt that early Western
church-music was an importation of the Asiatic form
of the art bereft of its especially microtonal character,
but otherwise differing but little from what is now,
and doubtless was then, in use in the East. Semitones,
of course, there had to be, and to these the youthful
Western ears did not take kindly. So difficult was
it found to hit precisely the position of these intervals,
that before the invention by Guido d'Arezzo in the
eleventh century of a set of sol-fa names to indicate
^ Hawkins, "History of Music," chap, xxxii.
^ The eight Gregorian modes (called tones) are divided into "authentic"
and "plagal," the latter having a different tonic and an extension of compass
below the scale-tone. The large capitals indicate the tonics, the small ones
are the scale-tones.
Authentic. Plagal.
i.DefgAbcd 2. abcDeFga
3. EfgabCde 4. bcdEfgAb
5. FgabCdef 6. cdeFgAbc
7. GabcDefg 8. defCabCd
Four other modes of a similar nature were added later. To all these modes
Greek names were misapplied. They must not be confused with the semi-
harmonic scales of European tonality which have a key-note. See p. 78.
DISCANT 117
relative pitch, it took pupils ten years to learn to
sing the chant correctly. The art was, of course, an
exotic, but It harmonised with the ritual, and great
pains were taken to preserve it, and to protect it from
becoming contaminated by the native-born music of
the people. This necessity entirely explains the atti-
tude of the Church towards popular song. Unless the
door had been shut and barred upon folk-music, church-
sone would not have had a chance of survival. It also
explains the atmosphere of rule and hide-bound tradi-
tion which surrounded Gregorian chant. This served
the purpose of the dykes which in Holland keep out the
sea. But in spite of all that authority can do, human
nature cannot be made to stand still, however much its
movement may be retarded. Throughout these early
centuries, and on into later ones, there meets us a
perennial stream of bitter complaints against the levity,
the inattention to rule, the stupidity and ignorance
of the singers of the chant. Meanwhile the real point
at issue was that the authorities desired conformity,
and the singers, being human, desired variety and pro-
ceeded to make it. Thus Guido, in his Micrologos :
" Neither is there any uniformity of music at this day in
the churches ; for there are as many kinds of antiphons
as there are masters ; insomuch that no one can say, as
heretofore, this is the antiphon of Gregory, or Leo,
or Albert, or any other ; dul every one either varies these,
or forms others at his pleasure. I ought not, therefore,
to give offence if I contend with the corruptions of
the times, and endeavour to render the practice of
music conformable to the rules of art ; and as all these
ii8 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
corruptions have arisen from the ignorance of musicians^
I must earnestly request that no one will presume to
make antiphons, unless he be well skilled in the art
of forming them according to the known and established
rules of music ; it being most certain that he who is
not the disciple of truth will be a teacher of error."
This statement recalls Canute by the seashore, and
it becomes apparent that Guido and his successors,
whatever their contributions to notation, instead of being
the innovators we have been led to imagine, did all in
their power to hinder the normal development of the
art. This attitude of Guido's has been the attitude
of the professional musician of all ages, with or without
the authority of the Church behind him, the holding up
of an abstract musical form which is the canon of the
art and cannot be bettered, but is corrupted by the
ignorance of musicians. It is, in truth, this blessed
"ignorance of musicians " that has given us our modern
art, but still the orthodox hold up their form of abstract
beauty and their canon of laws.
Had the Church succeeded in preserving intact her
musical tradition, there would have been a very dif-
ferent history of European music to chronicle. As it
was, in the end the singers conquered and the sea came
in ; and the first little hole in the dyke proved to be
the organum, or, as it soon came to be called — discant.^
^ "So long as Gregorian chant, the pure choral song, was rendered in
unison, it is well established that none other but the fixed tones of each
Church mode, according to the strict diatonic system, were adopted ; as
soon, however, as they commenced to sing in parts, the difificulties of a
strict diatonic chant began to be felt, and it had to seek the assistance of
medium tones " {i.e. sharps and flats which opened the door to popular
tonality). (Ambros, Geschichte der Musik, vol. ii. p. 155.)
CHAPTER XII
COUNTERPOINT VERSUS CHORD-CONCEPTION
Discant an extempore art — The dissonant standard — Effect of the folk-
music — Laws and practice of discant — Introduction of the consonant
basis into musical theory, and consequent definition of discords —
Counterpoint, the science of intervals — Lack of chord-conception in
musical treatises of sixteenth and seventeenth centuries — Rameau's
chord-theory — EfTect upon the science of intervals — Welsh chord-
conception of the twelfth century — Free counterpoint in education.
" The name of descant," says Morley, " is usurped of
the Musicians in divers significations," and it were well
for the theory of music if there had been no other
names subjected to a like " usurpation." Actually, the
word discant was used largely in place of counterpoint
in general down to the close of the seventeenth century,
but Morley agrees " that when a man talketh of a
Descanter, it must be understood of one that can, ex-
tempore, sing a part upon a plaine song." He gives
his opinion of this practice as follows: "As for singing
upon a plain-song, it hath byn in times past in England
(as every man knoweth), and is at this day in other
places the greatest part of the usual musicke which in
any churches is sung, which indeed causeth one to
marvel how men acquainted with musicke can delight
to hear such confusion, as of force must be amono- so
many singing extempore. But some have stood in an
opinion, which to me seemeth not very probable, that
is that men accustomed to descanting will sing together
I20 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
upon a plain song without singing eyther false chords,
or forbidden descant one to another, which till I see
I will even think unpossible."
The rules to which Morley refers were those of
strict counterpoint, and as far as these rules were
concerned he was doubtless right in his opinion. But
discant existed long before these rules had been thought
of, and at a very early period it appears to have grown
out of the organum, which it finally superseded. It was
from the beginning an extempore art, and therefore
little direct information is to be obtained about it. In
the childhood of notation, when but few can record
music, and that only imperfectly, there will not be
much more than a backwater of the main stream of
musical art in the written music. As in the East now,
the life of the art will be found in extemporisation.
The imperfect technique of the record limits what can
be written, and acts as a dead weight upon the natural
advance of the art. Directly then that any addition
to the Gregorian or plain chant in the shape of a
second part was recognised, the singers had the matter
practically in their hands. Later there came the
division into Pricked sonof and Plain sonof, the former
being all written out, the latter having merely one part
written, its cantus Jinnies, as the chant came to be
called. But at the beginning it must have gone much
at the will of the singer. Then synchronous intervals
began to be classed and chosen for the organum, and
these chosen ones were from our point of view all
dissonant. Guido mentions the semitone and the full-
tone with the fourth and fifth as the perfect concords.
COUNTERPOINT:-. CHORD-CONCEPTION 121
This merely meant that they were considered the
normal intervals, and this upside-down view of music
was due to the dissonant character of the early church
art. One could as soon expect to gather figs of thistles
as to look for Gregorian chant to bring forth a love for
thirds. It may have been that early discant was as
dissonant as its Eastern relative, but there was this
difference that the question of the properties of intervals
came early under notice, and continued matter for dis-
cussion for centuries, whereas in the East one synchron-
ous interval is as good as another, and no one troubles
how they are mixed up. We cannot know, however,
how much attention the singers paid to the theorists
— to judge from the complaints it must have been very
little — and therefore in the actual extemporisations
nature may have claimed her own, and insisted upon
the real consonances of thirds and sixths sooner than
we think. The '60-Q.-dS}i^A fmix-boiLrdo7i^ a succession of
first inversions of triads, was, we know, an early innova-
tion, which yet did not affect the written organum.
And in course of time certain daring spirits ventured
to take popular songs, add parts to them after the
manner of the people's singing, and actually write
them down, with the addition of the words of a Latin
hymn to lend an odour of sanctity to the proceeding.
That this was not a practice that commended itself to
the authorities is shown, however, in the fact that but
one specimen has been allowed to survive, our famous
English round, "Summer is i-cumen in."^ But for it, we
should not have known that in the thirteenth century
^ See Appendix, Section J.
122 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
any monk would have dared to study the folk-music
and bring it within the four walls of a monastery. It
is a significant fact that the very MS. of Reading, in
which this round is written, contains church-music, of
which the following is an extract, written originally
upon a fourteen-lined stave in two C and one F clefs : —
^-- f f -f-? f'-r^F % r r r
-f - -^ -e
^— ^-t-'-t=t-f=tL_f_5;_u-u-
-\ 1
1 ■- h 1 Y-
1 , L
&c.
Clearly organum has not in the course of five centuries
progressed very far, but it has advanced to the in-
clusion of two thirds in succession, and even of a sixth,
innovations doubtless due to the singers. And this, be
it remembered, was the orthodox art of music in the
thirteenth century, the summum bonum of truth and
beauty, while our fascinating native round resulted from
the levity and disorder of ignorant musicians, who
would not rest content with the law as handed down
to them, but preferred, in Guido's words, to be con-
sidered "teachers of error" rather than "disciples of
truth."
In the course of the next century, however, the
pendulum at last swung round, consecutive fourths,
fifths, and octaves were forbidden, thirds and sixths
were freely admitted, but the theoretical position was
saved from utter apostasy by the retention of the
former set of intervals as nominal concords, which were
"perfect" in opposition to the "imperfect" third and
sixth, a distinction which has survived to the present
day. The important point, however, was gained ; the
COUNTERPOINT e;. CHORD-CONCEPTION 123
use of these intervals was now by law exactly the re-
verse of what it had previously been, and the distinction
made accorded with consonant feeling ; the name
mattered therefore very little. At this time the
natural discords of the seventh and second began
also to be classed as such.
The earliest account of actual discant as dis-
tinguished from written music appears to be the one
given in the Cotton MS., circa 1326, and quoted by
Hawkins.^ From this it appears that four or five
were accustomed to sing upon a canto fermo, and that
the best effect was obtained when only one actually
descanted, and the others varied the melody. The
descanter was to use "only the imperfect concords,
namely, the third, sixth, and tenth, and proceed by
these ascending and descending, as to him shall seem
most expedient and pleasing to the ear." But the
others, whose duty it was to "break and flower the
notes in such a manner as best to grace the melody,"
performed this pleasing task in the octave or twelfth
above, which savours strongly of mixophonic art, and
as regards the opening and closing tones the reign of
the fifth still continued.^ If all descanted, however,
i.e. sang in parts distinct from the canto fernio, the
use of consecutives was forbidden. It is curious that
this same distinction prevailed even down to the close
of the seventeenth century, when the true discant, the
extempore art, had become confined to " breaking or
* This MS. was destroyed by fire at Ashburnham House in 1731, but
had been previously copied for Dr. Pepusch.
'^ The custom of closing without the third was not entirely extinct in
Palestrina's time, even he occasionally making use of it.
124 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
flowering" the melody, and was known as divisions
on a ground. The ground was a theme of the canto
fermo type played upon a harpsichord, and the
descanter, now a viol-player, improvised variations of
the ground simultaneously with it. These were called
divisions, because the long notes of the theme were
divided up into many small ones. Christopher Sympson,
in his " Division Viol," has left some interesting
examples for the use of learners of an art which was
practically independent of and completely died out
with the development of harmony. When any of
these examples of this last surviving use of European
discant are performed nowadays, a harmonic accom-
paniment is perforce added to satisfy modern ears, thus
practically destroying the original effect.
Returning to the written art, we find that from the
fourteenth century onwards the theoretical position
departs further and further from its original standard,
until at length discords and concords respectively begin
to assume somewhat of their modern significance. The
foundation of the art has swunsf round from dissonant
to consonant theory, but it is hampered by the Eastern
character of its chant, which forms still the actual basis
of composition. The composer added parts to a canto
fermo very much as the descanters may have done, if
with more learning and discretion. When a folk-tune
was taken for theme, it was made into the same type
of melody by unlimited elongation of its notes till all
its original time-relations had disappeared, and it
became indistinguishable from the chant. The habit
of centuries could not be laid aside.
COUNTERPOINT:. CHORD-CONCEPTION 125
The use of discords now became clearly defined.
Dissonant intervals might occur (i) through the filling
up of the melodic third or fourth by scale-form (passing-
notes) ; or (2) one note of a concord might be held on
while the other moved so as to make dissonance with it
until the first one moved also, and the interval of the
two notes was again consonant. This was by the
Elizabethans known as "binding," but is now called
suspension, because the first note hangs over the other
until it is resolved. The exact intervals that might be
taken in this way were limited by the rules.
These two types of melodic discord, since further
stereotyped into the five species of counterpoint, were in
use during the whole Catholic Church period, hedged
about with rules that have not yet ceased to exist,
although they are entirely inapplicable to rhythmitonal
art. Their importance consisted in the fact that the
music for which they were invented was devoid of
definite tonalitive movement. As it became harmonic,
this music lost its original Asiatic tonality without
fully acquiring the European style. Hence it had
no succession of keys, nor any defined movement
within a key, and to us it appears a vague wander-
ing amongst tones, perhaps pleasing, perhaps discon-
certing by its unexpectedness, but its effect upon
contemporary ears is impossible for us to imagine.
Clearly the only pitch-relations then recognised were
the intervals of consonance rather than the tonic
standard, and it was most important that consonant
intervals should be paramount. Hence the severity of
the rules regulating the use of the most inoffensive and
126 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
fleeting of discords. Counterpoint was, in short, the
science of intervals. Interval was added to interval
according to laws that are in force at the present day,
but what the sum of these intervals amounted to was
theoretically no concern of the composer's. One fancies
that minds, taxed to the uttermost by the intricacies of
this science, must have literally refused to grasp any
conception beyond it. It is a commonplace to say that
musical form was then regarded horizontally, and is now
seen to have a vertical significance, but how many of us
have ever considered what this trite statement really
involves ? Perhaps some idea of it may be gained by
an analogy. Imagine a language confined theoretically
to syllabic use. For centuries words have been spoken
and sentences formed, but nobody has the remotest idea
that such a thing as a word exists, much less a sentence.
Every one thinks in syllables, and mentally adds syllable
to syllable, according to fixed and innumerable rules, in
order to make himself understood. Multiply the in-
tricacy of this syllabic use tenfold as a low estimate,
and some idea may be gained of the nature of musical
theory before chords were discovered.
Attention has previously been drawn to the
marvellous intuitive capacity of the musical mind,
which is able to produce what it is unable to
understand. It revels in the sheer delight of
hearing what it has no intellectual equivalent to
describe, and so all-sufficing is it to hear that there
is often no room for thought, or else the thought is
focussed on to another part of the subject. Let
those who doubt the truth of this assertion explain if
COUNTERPOINT:'. CHORD-CONCEPTION 127
they can the historical fact that no more exquisite or
grander chord-successions exist than those which were
formed before composers generally had the faintest in-
tellectual conception of what a chord was. For sheer
harmonic beauty no modern music can surpass the
Missa PapcB Marcel li or the B Minor Mass, composi-
tions which, though theoretically contrapuntal, owe all
their emotional effect to their essential harmonic basis,
originally unobserved. To us who think in chords as if
by nature, it is impossible to realise the theory of music
without them, but that chord-theory was at this time un-
known is an incontestable fact. The practical treatises
of music of the sixteenth and seventeenth century form
amazing reading, not so much for what they contain,
as for what they omit. Here one gropes in the dark,
and can scarcely realise that this is all the theory
there was. Yet Morley's " Plaine and Easie Intro-
duction," and Sympson's " Compendium," and Play-
ford's " Introduction to the Skill of Music," are no
dry-as-dust tomes, but works of practical musicianship,
delightful in style, and presenting the whole theory
of music as it then was, works which ran through
many editions and formed the educational classics of
their day. Playford's book continued to be reprinted
almost down to the publication of Rameau's first
Harmony Treatise in 1722. Sympson's was actually
reprinted in 1727. Those who wish to appreciate the
flood of light let in upon musical theory by the
greatest theoreucal genius of music cannot do better
than study Playford and Rameau side by side. For
those who are unacquainted with these works it
128 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
may be said that for Playford and his contemporaries
a chord (spelt cord) was merely an interval, or a string,
or a tuning, "common chords" were the third, fifth,
and eighth, harmony was a general term for counter-
point, key was the first note of the scale or perhaps
any single note, no key-system was recognised, modu-
lation was unknown and the scale of G with the
minor seventh was held to be the foundation of
music. We wander through utterly strange and
devious mazes of mi in B, mi in E, &c., and approach
something like familiar ground only when discant, i.e.
counterpoint, is reached/
Opening Rameau's treatise, on the other hand,
all looks familiar, we are at once at home. Some of
our old friends appear with different names, but it
is evident that here is the model for all the harmony
books that have since been written. Here at one
stroke appear the major scale, chords consonant and
dissonant with their inversions, the fundamental bass
as distinguished from the real bass (an absolutely
new idea), keys, major and minor modes, cadences,
Mt is important for the understanding of this subject to reaHse that down
until 1720, or thereabouts, the word chord {accord, accordo) had nothing of
its present significance. This point is overlooked by Dr. Riemann in his
" History of Musical Theory," where he traces the English term " common
chord," meaning the triad, back to Godfrey Kellei-'s " Treatise of General
Bass," 1707. In this very treatise we are told : "By chords is meant either
concords or discords, by semitone is meant half-notes. . . . Common chords
are the third, fifth, and eighth." Trias harmonica is the only theoretical
term that signified a chord prior to this, and this term appears once or twice
in German treatises of the seventeenth century and in Brossard's Dictionary,
1703, but not (so far as I am aware) in any English work. Of principles of
chord-relation there is no hint before Rameau's treatise. Bach indicated
the chord-successions that occur occasionally in his instrumental works,
inserted somewhat after the manner of a cadenza or recitative, by the
term arpeggio legafa.
COUNTERPOINT c'. CHORD-CONCEPTION 129
modulation, and ' practically all the paraphernalia of
modern harmony. Further than this, in his famous
saying, "la Melodie nait de I'Harmonie," Rameau
suggested the evolutionary origin of European
melody, and also showed that he perceived clearly
the rhythmic principle of tonality. The following
is a literal translation from the Traitd de I'Har-
monie: "The principle of Harmony does not consist
only in the perfect chord from which is formed
that of the seventh, but even more precisely in
the fundamental sound and those accordinof with
it, which is so to speak the harmonic Centre to
which all the other sounds ought to relate. ... It
is not enough to perceive that all chords and their
differing factors draw their origin from the Perfect
chord and from that of the Seventh ; we must observe
further that all the factors of these depend absolutely
on this harmonic centre and its progression ; the
Intervals of which they are composed are only such
as they are by relation to this centre." In view of
this clear statement of the central fact of tonality
(even to-day to a great extent ignored educationally),
Burney's superficial criticism of the value of Rameau's
theoretical work shows only that Burney himself was
no theorist.
Attracting at first no particular attention, the
world being satisfied with what it had already in
the way of musical theory, Rameau's treatise soon
sprang into fanie, and by the later decades of the
eighteenth century a host of imitators and commen-
tators had arisen, English, French, German, Italian.
I30 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
Everybody was discussing if not writing harmonic
theory ; the old science of intervals took a back
seat except where it served as the foundation of
the new theory. Even its most ardent supporters
saw the necessity of reversing what appeared to be
the natural order, and making harmony and not
counterpoint the basis of musical education. It
cannot have been mere coincidence that led to the
destruction of the ancient contrapuntal style at the
very moment when these new harmonic ideas had
penetrated men's minds. It is evident that the time
was ripe, and that it needed only this intellectual
stimulus to sweep away the last of the old church-
formulas, and set the theory of consonant music
on its natural footing. The death of Bach in itself
was insufficient to bring this about. Contrapuntal
art had no higher to climb, but it would have con-
tinued much longer to dominate musical thought but
for Rameau's new theories. It has already been
observed that true intellectual understanding;' cannot
generate inspiration, though false intellectual concepts
will dam it back. The sudden and rapid development
of music from that time was due, in the first instance,
to the fact that people were thinking in chords instead
of in intervals.
There can be little doubt that had European music
gone its own natural way from the beginning, without
interference by a church-imposed Asiatic form of the
art, that the chord-conception would have arrived at
a comparatively early period. In fact, there is proof
that it had arrived in Wales in the days of Gruffydd
COUNTERPOINT:'. CHORD-CONCEPTION 131
ab Cynan, iioo a.d. According to a MS. of the
sixteenth century, copied from the original one in
Welsh which has disappeared, the measures of music
were tabulated by order of the above-mentioned
prince. These measures are nothing else than
systematic repetitions of two chords, tonic and
dominant (or the leading-note triad), and to prove
that they were recognised as chords, a shorthand
notation exists for them in the following signs: i.o.
or ^ t- Thus one measure was indicated as follows :
1. 1. 0.0. 1. 1. 1. 1., meaning two tonic chords, two domi-
nant, and then four of the tonic. The chords are
fully written out in barred letter notation, so many
chords to each bar, and the measure given above
the piece exactly corresponds with the actual music. ^
It was a crude attempt at rhythmitonal art, and
anything more different from the cultivated music
of Europe down to the close of the seventeenth
century could scarcely be imagined. It is impossible
to place this music at a later date than the twelfth
or the early thirteenth century, because it must have
belonged to the independent period of Welsh art,
and by Edward the First the bards were put down
and the national music was to a great extent destroyed.
The whole theory of it vanished from that time.
From this general historical survey it should now
be evident that pitch-outline must be studied from the
natural harmonic basis of music and not, as is usual,
from the narrow and arbitrary one of contrapuntal art
mixed up with harmony. To some extent the greater
' See Appendix, Sections L and M.
132 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
natural style contains the less, but the most charac-
teristic effects of the latter were obtained by its isola-
tion, and were due to its narrow outlook. These
effects will always be of interest to mature musicians,
but they are not for the study of students until the
rhythmic feeling has been awakened and a knowledge
of rhythmitonal music has first been acquired.
It must not be supposed, however, that by the
rejection of the antiquated system of mediaeval
counterpoint is meant that there is nothing left of
pitch-outline to be taught but harmony. The practice
of composers has long departed from mediaeval
custom, and in order to explain their procedure a
subject called free counterpoint has been invented
to succeed the original study. It follows naturally
that the laws laid down in the first counterpoint are
broken or ignored by the second. In Germany the
bonds of the primitive study have already been
relaxed, while still in England we halt between
two opinions. But though free counterpoint is
more to be desired than strict, it is not from the
point of view of rhythmitonal evolution a satisfac-
tory presentment of pitch-outline. It starts from the
assumption that pitch is the essential factor in music,
and thus repeats the mediaeval illusion. It is, in
fact, a hybrid, neither ancient nor modern. Yet by
this means the word counterpoint has found its way
into modern music, an unfortunate occurrence, because
when once extended beyond the interval system it
becomes a loose term incapable of clear definition
that can be made to mean anything in pitch-outline
COUNTERPOINT e^. CHORD-CONCEPTION 133
except simple chord-movement or a melody. In
order to clear up this confusion, it will be necessary
to confine the word counterpoint to its original
meaning, and find some other term to signify the
pitch-outline of the rhythmitonal art which implies
a chord-conception. The word "polyphonic" is
already in use as a synonym for counterpoint. But
since it is manifestly unreasonable to employ two
terms indiscriminately for two differing styles each
of which requires a name to itself, in this work
polyphony will signify the development of natural
harmonic usage and counterpoint the conventional
system.
PART II
RHYTHM
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Rhythm the underlying unity of musical form — Recurrence of units —
Strict and free rhythm — The law of union — A relative balance — The
standard units— Alternation — The three main divisions of rhythm —
The free unit of the idea — The idiom— Rhythm of pitch — Limitations
of pitch as a factor of evolution — The under-emphasis or over-emphasis
of the key — The rhythmic significance of tonality — Undulating rhythm
— Need for rhythmic balance — Rhythm in education.
Musical form consists of a combination of varied
rhythmic movements conveyed by means of the tone-
material already described ; these are all grouped
under the central principle of rhythm.
At first sight it may appear unlikely that all the
widely differing factors of music should have anything
of importance in common ; the object of intellectual
study of an art, however, is precisely to discover
those underlying features of unity which exist in
all art, disguised by superficial variations. If no
similarity existed between the various parts of a
composition, it would not fulfil the conditions neces-
sary to a work of art, which require relation of all
the parts to the whole. The general features of art
are variety of appearance combined with unity of
GENERAL PRINCIPLES 135
principle. This unity is necessarily the rhythmic
principle, and when its various manifestations in
tone have been grasped both severally and as a
whole, it will become easy to understand on general
lines the development of the art of music, and to
explain why and how one style differs from another.
All, in short, depends upon the relative proportions
assumed by the various factors in the sum of the
whole, and when a new style arises, it means that
a new relative proportion has been intuitively dis-
covered. An examination of detail is necessary, not
as an end in itself, but as a means of classifying
the various parts of musical form into their right
places with regard to one another, and thus building
up a conception of the whole from study of the parts.
The essential fact of rhythm is its periodicity or
recurrence. The understanding of musical form re-
solves itself into a knowledge of the units or points
of recurrence and their combinations.
It is to be noted that the rhythmic principle as
a whole makes invariably for orderly arrangement of
material. Whatever be the nature of the unit, the
fact of periodicity enables us to perceive an intel-
ligible order, which is the basis of unity in art.
This order, in music usually called "form," is in the
early stages of a very simple and obvious nature.
The material then available for use is very small,
the units recur at frequent and generally at regular
intervals, the rhythmic relations are thus very much
all alike, and may therefore be described as strict,
or exactly symmetrical. In course of time this strict
136 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
form, which at first satisfied, begins to appear mono-
tonous, and variety is desired. It is a fact that
monotony of any kind soon ceases to command atten-
tion ; instinctively the mind wanders in search of variety,
and variety in art comes in not as a new and un-
related thing, but as part of the rhythmic order,
a varying of what is already in existence. Thus is
produced ** free " form, which is essential to the pro-
gress of any art, and perhaps especially of the art
of music.
The general relations of strict and free form have
given rise to the fundamental law of musical evolution.
The law of the union of strict and free form is
that the strict or exact reiteration shall be clearly
perceptible through the inexact reiterations of free
form.
The function of free form is here to oppose and
vary the exactness of strict form. If the strict form
be too obvious, the result is monotony, especially
after the first hearing. If free form overpower strict,
rhythmic feeling is unable to grasp the reiteration,
and hence the music will appear incoherent. A balance
is required that shall avoid monotony on the one hand
and incoherence on the other. It is evident, however,
that to a mind undeveloped in rhythmic perception,
reiterations may be obscure that to the trained mind are
perfectly obvious. The balance is thus a relative matter
that varies with period, nationality, and culture, and
may also differ with individuals. The general lines of
development, however, indicate a progress from strict
to free. The strict is the earlier stage, unless, as
GENERAL PRINCIPLES 137
has frequently happened, it appears as the result of
an artificial development or of degeneration.
There exists, however, necessarily a certain portion
of standard outline [i.e. exact reiteration) that is in-
dispensable, since, unless it is clearly perceptible, music
will appear without form and void. This standard out-
line consists of standard units of exact recurrence,
of a permanent and unalterable nature, the basis of
the art. These standard units are independent of the
individual composer, and are due to racial evolution.
The 7'ate of their recurrence, however, is, within certain
general limits, at the composer's option. They are
considered as the tone-material of music, and have
been so described in the former part of this work.
The principle of alternation of factors which enters
into rhythm is sometimes mistaken for the essence
of its nature. It is obvious, however, that alternation
implies the existence of two units, and of two units
only. Whereas rhythm certainly exists in the re-
currence of one single unit, such as a blow regularly
repeated, and equally in the recurrence of several
factors in succession, or in the opposition of one
factor to several others of varying nature which must
be regarded as single units. In none of these can
alternation be said to exist. It is clear, therefore,
that alternation is not the rhythmic principle, but
that it constitutes an occasional condition of rhythm.
It forms the stage of the recurrence of two units
which follows upon the earlier stage of the recurrence
of one only, and is merged into the reiteration of
several units variously combined.
138 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
The nature of rhythm may now be defined as
" the periodic quality, pulsative, circling, or undulating,
of all movement."
These three essential characteristics of rhythmic
motion, beats, circles, and waves, are all to be found
in music. Although it is their combination that
produces the sum of musical effect, each has its
own development apart from the others. Musical
rhythm, therefore, divides naturally into three great
branches : the pulsative, or beating rhythm, the circling,
or centering rhythm, and the undulating, or wave-
rhythm. Of these pulsative rhythm naturally has
precedence, being the primary source of the art.
The union of strict and free form is to be found
in both pulsative and circling rhythms ; the first has
produced the time-system of music, the second that
arrangement of pitch-outline called tonality, which
refers all pitch-relations to the tonic centre. The
third, or undulating rhythm, has a movement to be
found in all the outlines, culminating in the climaxes
of great musical works. This wave-movement is in-
dependent of strict form, having a naturally free
irregular character, suggestive of the waves of the
sea. The recurring wave is necessarily of a less
definite character than the recurring beat or chord ;
it has, strictly speaking, no incisive point of re-
iteration, but presents a general condition of re-
currence of a former state. To this cause is due
its independence of strict form. It may therefore
be called free rhythm.
The thing that appears to differentiate music from
GENERAL PRINCIPLES 139
all the other arts is that its standard material, how-
ever indispensable, is yet neither the whole nor even
the most important part of the material to be found
in all great musical works. It seems to exist solely
for the purpose of rendering this other material aid
and giving it prominence. It is this other material
which is the essence of music, and alone determines
the value and the character of a work. We are
speaking of the material which is created by the
composer, and generally known as the musical idea.
This consists technically of a few notes, with or
without harmony, which, if it be an important ini-
tiative idea, will certainly contain some striking feature
in its time-outline, which will arrest attention, and
form a unit of recurrence. The whole idea may lie
in this unit, or it may eventually be broken up,
forming various differing units which will appear in
succession.
In both the providing of this material and the
manner of its use the composer has an absolutely
free hand. But he cannot escape from his own
rhythmic nature. Whatever material he use, where
and how he employ it, he must reiterate it. This
is the essential condition of all musical form, cul-
tured or primitive. The sole difference consists in
the number of units employed and the manner of
their reiteration. Strict reiteration is exact repeti-
tion, and this need only exist in the familiar standard
part of the material. The time-beat, the bar, the
chord, the key must be exactly repeated, or there
will be nothing by which to recognise them ; thus we
I40 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
get exact time and exact pitch in music. But there
is no occasion to reiterate the idea strictly ; indeed
the whole charm of music consists in its free re-
iteration. At the same time the idea exists in strict
form as well as free, and has therefore definite re-
lations to the standard outline, which will presently
be entered into.
The idea is technically analysable into the time-
figure and the pitch-figure, which form the units of
recurrence. This essential reiterative outline of music
has been hitherto unnamed, except by the vague
term of " development," which conveys no specific idea
of its nature. It is here named the "idiom" of music ;
the recurrent time-figure produces time-idiom, the re-
current pitch-figure, pitch-idiom, and both of these are
included under the general heading of idiomatic outline.
This subject is the most important one in the
whole range of questions relating to music, and it is
the one that is also most commonly neglected. Per-
haps its vast range has deterred writers from seeking
to give any account of it. It is the one effect in
music that owes everything to individual genius.
Effects of colour, of harmony, of force-outline, lie
ready to hand and can easily be tabulated, whereas
the idiom springs as a new creation from the com-
poser's brain, and presents in the case of each great
master and to some extent in each of his works a
new variety. It is time-outline that leads to pitch,
and therefore in order to understand the construc-
tion of rhythmitonal art, first we must examine the
units of its time-outline. For here is revealed the
GENERAL PRINCIPLES 141
organic nature of the idiom in its most vital usage,
which is to be found in all great instrumental music
from Haydn downwards, whether its basis be called
absolute, poetic, or dramatic.
When we turn to review units of pitch, the com-
plexity of music is nowhere more apparent. The
actual number of combinations employed is enormous
when compared with those of time. The key-unit
divides into numerous chord-entities, whose compli-
cated relations contrast strangely with the simple
fractional relations of the bar. And besides bulk of
material, in pitch-outline there is great complication of
rhythmic motion. As already stated, circling rhythm
is the one peculiar to pitch, but since it contains also
both idiomatic outline and undulating rhythm, it par-
takes thus in almost every kind of rhythmic move-
ment that exists in music. All these various rhythms
of pitch, when united, form the sum of the effect
of pitch-outline in rhythmitonal art ; it is seldom that
that effect is due to less than all these in com-
bination, and when it is further considered that each
rhythm contains within itself varying units of motion,
and that all these varying units, with all their inter-
relations and varying recurrence, are harmonised into
one outline, it becomes evident that we have here a
system even more highly organised than that of time-
outline. In view of this complication it is not sur-
prising that undue importance has been attached to
pitch. But complication in itself is a thing that
makes for weakness rather than strength ; it is apt
to tie the hands of the artist till he become the
142 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
slave of his own art, and therefore, as a general
rule, the stronger the music, the more certainly will
pitch fall into the background.
History shows clearly that tonality is an accessary
rhythm. It is impossible for the weaker tonalitive
standards to develop without the assistance of the time-
standards. A definite time-outline must first exist, and
no tonalitive development has ever taken place that
was not founded upon the time-beat. The only attempt
at basing music upon synchronous pitch-outline was that
made by the monks of the Middle Ages. But even
the monks, with their false notions of consonance, were
unable to proceed at all without a time-standard, and
once the elementary beat of pulsative rhythm had
entered in, it began to leaven the whole, and finally
after some centuries true consonance appeared. These
musicians held to their original idea, in that they
regarded consonant and dissonant relations as the main
thing, and admitted pulsative rhythm no more than
they were obliged. During the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries we have in church-music and certain secular
types founded upon it, the nearest approach to a music
based upon circling rhythm that has ever existed.
It may be urged, however, that this development
can hardly be described as one of circling rhythm,
seeingf that tonalitive relations in the modern sense do
not exist in it. It is true that the tonalitive definiteness
to which we are accustomed is not here, because this
music lacks the standard of the key, the absence of
which produces the uncertain rambling movement which
distinguishes it from the normal tonalitive usage. But
GENERAL PRINCIPLES 143
on comparing it with microtonal music the difference is
at once apparent, and the type appears by contrast
to approximate more closely to European tonality.
It is precisely this lack of the key-standard that
points to the limitations of pitch considered as a factor
of evolution. It is due to the absence of the bar-
standard of time from this music. Such indications of
time as then existed were merely a means of counting
correctly the time-beats of the single part, and implied
no collective grouping into a larger unit. Thus the
attempt to develop music on pitch lines only, defeated
its own end, and was doomed to early destruction,
affording historical proof of the true relations of time
and pitch.
The aimless rambling amongst chords which formerly
characterised music has given place to a movement of
the opposite extreme, the over-emphasis of tonality
by means of which the key is exalted into an end in
itself. " In order to establish the key " is a phrase
constantly to be met with in musical instruction books,
whereas it is quite certain that no composer with ideas
in his head has had any object in writing except that
of giving the fullest utterance possible to these ideas.
If the idea required a well-established key, established
the key was ; but this is quite another thing from intro-
ducing an idea in order to establish the key, or to bring
about a modulation. The notion is ludicrous in the
extreme, because it reverses the normal condition of end
and means. Any tyro in composition can establish a
key or an orthodox succession of keys, but who can
orive us the ideas of Beethoven "i
144 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
The whole conception of tonality requires to be re-
cast in relation to idiomatic outline. The key is of value
only for its emotional effect. The gravitation of tones
and chords to a centre produces in itself a feeling of
repose when contrasted with movement towards other
points, which appear as temporary centres, and excite
feelings of unrest. The more rapid the transit from
point to point the greater the restlessness. This is
the rhythmic significance of our key-system. The out-
line of pitch is the only one that can suggest repose
in music, the absence of movement, and, therefore, of
rhythm also in the tonalitive sense. This, it will be
perceived, is a certain, and to some extent, a mechanical
method of obtaining an emotional effect. But when
it is made the accessary to the idiom, the mechanical
character vanishes, and it becomes a factor of enormous
value. The single idea requires the repose of the key
in which to develop itself; a kindred idea will require
a kindred key to the first ; a strongly contrasted idea
will require an equally strong contrast of key. An
examination of Beethoven's work shows that this was
his method of key-distribution, however little he may
himself have been aware of the reasons for his choice.
Undulating or free rhythm being a condition of
rise and fall stands apart from idiomatic and tonalitive
outlines. It is concerned not with the single notes
of music themselves, for they belong to strict form,
but with the speed at which they are taken, with their
direction and position in pitch, with their varying
intensity, and with their colour. Its material is thus
the general tone-material of music, irrespective of the
GENERAL PRINCIPLES 145
standard units of time and pitch. The complete wave-
rhythm consists of hastening and slackening of speed
(accelerando-ritardando) of a rise and fall of pitch, and
of an increase and decrease in intensity (crescendo-
diminuendo). Colour has no wave-rhythm of its own,
but by adding instrument to instrument assists to form
the climax.
While it is evident that undulating rhythm con-
stitutes a most important part of musical effect, its
nature is one of the greatest simplicity, and its use
is largely dependent upon the union of strict and free
form. As both standard and idiomatic outlines grow
out of this union, it is rightly regarded as the essential
form of the art. It would be quite impossible for a
concerted art of music to exist founded solely upon
the vague emotional impressions of wave-rhythm. The
sharp, clear outlines of strict and free form are needed
to give intelligible order and, therefore, coherence, and
any attempt to understand musical form is mainly con-
cerned with analysis of the principles upon which that
union rests, and the tracing out of these principles in
the technical evolution of the art. Modern tendencies
in favour of a preponderance of force and colour over
the other factors of music may produce compositions
sensuously charming and with an air of novelty, but
they cannot have the grit, vigour, and spontaneity
that arise out of the union of strict and free form, and
especially from the development of pulsative rhythm.
The loftiest emotional music is invariably found to
be of a rhythmic nature throughout its whole range.
Time-outline is naturally rhythmic, since it makes no
K
146 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
sensuous appeal, but into the other outlines a very large
sensuous element necessarily enters. The lowest order
of emotions are the ones most closely connected with
sensation. Therefore, unless these sensuous outlines are
dominated by rhythmic principle, their tendency will
be to give utterance to the lower sensuous emotions.
Where we find a lack of idiomatic development, a pitch-
outline freeing itself from the rhythmic cadences of
tonality and revelling in the purely dissonant and
chromatic in combination with colour and force of
overwhelming proportions, this is the music of the lower
nature. In order to combat the effect of this demoral-
ising emotional force, it is necessary to assert and
to reassert the supremacy of rhythm.
The most important truth of musical evolution is
that the highest in music is only to be attained by a har-
monious working together of all the factors under one
controlling principle. Of its three main rhythms every
one is essential to the full development of the others.
Pulsative rhythm lacks repose without a pitch-standard,
tonality is virtually dependent upon a developed time-
outline, both are apt to become monotonous if long con-
tinued without undulating rhythm, while wave-movement
itself, without idiomatic outline, loses all sense of climax,
and wearies the mind by a ceaseless rise and fall. None
of these rhythms when isolated, that is, when the mind
is entirely absorbed in it, has anything approaching to
the emotional power possessed by the combination.
And so rare is it to find a mind that is capable of
appreciating and balancing all three, that the greatest
in music is necessarily of equally rare occurrence. In
GENERAL PRINCIPLES 147
Beethoven we have perhaps the solitary instance of an
absolutely perfect balance.
It is evident, however, that any mind can in its
early training be taught to look for and appreciate
all three kinds of rhythm, and that this mind will
have an untold advantage over the one that has con-
centrated its attention upon one only, or has never
been taught to look for rhythm at all. There is no
fear but that the mind which knows the whole will
soon discover its own natural bent, but the student
who is trained upon tonality only, looks upon it as the
whole instead of as a part, has no knowledge of any-
thing else, and is narrowed and perhaps thwarted for
life. The evil is made worse by the fact that to the
weaker accessary rhythm is given preference. Pul-
sative rhythm will, in the Western mind, lead to
tonality, but the reverse is not the case. The narrow
use of tonality that at present holds the field in
education leads nowhere, but to a repetition of exactly
what exists already, and for which there is no future.
CHAPTER II
TIME-IDIOM
Analysis of time-outline — The time-figure — List of time-figures — Relation
of the figure to the accent and the beat— Phrased, slurred, and tied
figures — Syncopation — Relation of the figure to orchestral instruments
— The function of equal time-outline — The idiom in melody and poly-
phony— Relation of the idiom to the accent — Free time-idiom.
The analysis of time-outline in melody, it is hard to
see why, has hitherto been held to lie outside the
domain of the musician. A more mistaken view could
hardly exist. For the critical understanding of melody,
the intellectual appreciation of its beauties, analysis of
time-outline is as essential as analysis of chord-move-
ment is to harmony. Melody, moreover, is a far more
finely organised outline than is harmony, and its analysis
is a more essential matter. Time-figures form, as it
were, the skeleton of the art, and lacking these, music
tends to become invertebrate or wooden, like human
figures drawn without sense of anatomy.
Since the strict precedes the free, we shall find this
gradual evolution taking place in time-outline. The
primitive savage at first repeated his time-figure with
one unaltered clothing of pitch, force, and colour, and
thus produced a monotonous sing-song, an absolutely
strict form of development depending solely upon
exact repetition. In course of time this has given way
to incessant variations in pitch, force, and colour, and
148
TIME-IDIOM 149
even the time-figure is no longer regularly or precisely
repeated. It is combined with other figures, varied
with passages of equal time-outline, and still fulfills the
two purposes of unity and vigour of utterance. Having
once grasped by ear the form of the time-figure, we
shall recognise it under astonishing transformations,
and in such recognition lies the main continuity of
rhythmitonal music, the time-figure causing a relation
to exist between what has gone before and what is to
follow after. It is clear that in the understanding of
music memory plays a most important part, since if we
are unable to remember the form of the time-figure
we shall not recognise it, especially when disguised.
Memory for time-relations is even more important
than for pitch-relations.
The time-figure has definite relations to the
standards of time-outline, and its character of strict
or free is determined by these relations.
The followinij list of time-ficjures will make this
clear : —
Beat-figures
Strict —
I I
Free —
n. jtj sj.. jJ IT: jn jm
Bar-figures of Two Beats
Strict —
150 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
Free —
n M R M n I I M hi M I
III III I I I I I I n
9' -m -m \ «««*l ««*«l'0« w \ ««••!
N| h > 1 I r
II I II
« I -« « 19. I -0 '
Equal Figures
D3 > ' I I piiiii£,iii iiiiH^
! I I i~"!'*i'^~i~^ r^"^™^'
I I I I I I I
^ -o -9 -m ■» -9 ■»
&C.
It will be seen from these examples that the main
effect of difference between strict and free is caused
by the position in the bar of the longest note, and to
a lesser degree by the manner of the division of the
single time-beat. The effect of a longer note is to
impress the ear with a sense of greater importance
than belongs to shorter ones. When this effect is
united with the strict accent, i.e. when the longest
note occurs upon the first beat of the bar, the time-
outline appears to flow with the regular accents. In
the reverse case, as in all the examples marked " free,"
where the longest note is not on the first beat, the
time-outline beats against the accent. And while the
strict accent of music continues its mechanical unvary-
ing method of pointing out the standard outline of the
^ It is obvious that the greater the inequality of values the more difficult
does it become to grasp them in relation to the standard. Extreme con-
trasts are generally impracticable, being inartistic through lack of balance,
particularly in melodic art. With the exception of certain eccentricities
in the splitting of values, this list practically exhausts the material available
for time-figures. It can be translated into its equivalents of a higher or
11 S ^
lower value, <?.^'. c^, ^ or ^. ^ the relative duration remaining unaltered.
TIME-IDIOM 151
bar, within the time-measure thus rigidly punctuated
runs the free time-outline of music, sometimes flowing
with, sometimes ebbing against it. Occasionally the
ebb becomes a counter-current of sturdy defiance, and
counter-accents are called in to assist the contest.
Thus the monotony of the unopposed flow of time-
outline is relieved, a new balance is created, and a
feeling of energy is imparted to the music. If strong
counter-accents are added, a restless and agitating
effect may be produced, and so powerful is the force
of accent that it alone can create the sense of con-
tradiction quite apart from the effect produced by
relative duration. The following instance, IJ J J J I
where no figure exists, but only an equal outline, has
an undoubtedly free effect. As a general rule the
more counter-accent is used the more striking and
passionate will be the utterance, while that of duration
is of a quieter nature.
The term bar-figure does not imply necessarily that
the figure occupies the whole bar, but that it relates
to the bar-standard, and in the analysis of time-outline
it is important to consider whether the figure relates
to this standard or to the beat. The strict beat-
fioure, I "1 if continued and varied with other beat-
figures, free or equal, relates to the beat only ; but
if it be followed by a crotchet, f^i I it becomes
a free bar-figure, because the longest note of the bar
is not found on the first beat. The strict effect of
the dotted quaver is overpowered by the free effect
of the following crotchet. In order to decide whether
152 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
a figure is strict or free, it is necessary by ascertaining
its lenofth to discover to which standard it refers. In
the majority of cases the bar-standard prevails, and an
outHne based upon a beat-figure may be known by
the fact that the figure or some variation of it must
recur on each beat.^
The equal beat-figure is in itself neither strict nor
free, but becomes so according to its position in the
bar : Strict, I | H I I Free, I fT^l II It thus
relates to the bar-standard and not to the standard
of the beat. Its equal character can be altered by
phrasing, which concerns the connection (legato) or
disconnection (staccato) of its notes. If the whole
figure is legato, or again all staccato, its equal character
is maintained, but if the two effects are mixed an
inequality appears contradicting the equal notation.
The mixture of legato and staccato effect forms figures
out of a notation of continuous equal time-outline, a
change of pitch being needed to give effect to the
legato.
Example : —
The various decrees of staccato shorten duration
as if rests were written : —
The staccato markings thus form a kind of shorthand,
^ Tunes based on the ternal beat-figure are common in English folk-
song, and an example of the dual beat-figure is to be found in the Morris
Dance, " Rigs o' Marlow." — Appendix, Sections S and R.
TIME-IDIOM 153
which is much more easily read and written than the
complete notation. All phrased figures are strict or
free as are the figures of notation. As, however, the
importance of a note in time-outline lies more in its
attack (or starting) than in continuance, the employ-
ment of rests (or of the staccato marks) to shorten
duration does not affect its character of strict or free.
The legato line placed over two notes or chords of
moderately fast tempo and of varying pitch is called
the "slur," and has the effect of giving a feeling of
accent to the first and slightly reducing the duration
of the second. Thus f^ — f^f sounds as if written
f—f — ^ — If the first note of a slurred figure
fall between beats, it forms a free beat-figure —
The tied figure J I J J I annuls the strict accent,
and is therefore free. The first note of this figure is
a minim, being written as two crotchets for convenience
of notation ; and what should be the accented beat is
joined on to the last beat of the former bar. Here
the strict accent is made to disappear entirely, but so
strong is the conception and consequent expectation
of this accent that its effect will continue mentally
perhaps for many bars without intermission when no
accent is actually heard, and when the time-outline
itself appears to suggest another accent altogether.
154 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
This is an effect known as syncopation. What renders
it possible is the regularity of the strict accent. Hence
this can be easily retained by the mind (any exact
time division being remembered far more easily than
successive varying ones), and even held against an
opposing force.
The following table shows the types of syncopa-
tion with differing time-signatures. Some of these,
especially in I and I, are very difficult, owing to the
irregular nature of the bar, and are consequently but
little used.
Syncopation on Beats
•2 I I I I I I 3 I I I I I I I
4 1111111 5 1111111
4. -0 \ -m (^ -9 \ ^ 4. -m \ c^ c? -m \ G
5 11 I II 6 /3\ I I I III
6 I I I I I I I I G I I I I I I I I
6 I I I I I I I I I 7 I I I I I I I I
4, <^ \ -m G G> c? \ -m
Syncopation between Beats
This does not vary with change of bar, but only
with the beat-division, dual (i) or ternal (2): —
(1) (2) (2)
hi h I h hi I h I h i I h I h I
An effect of the nature of syncopation can be pro-
TIME-IDIOM 155
duced by the alternation of strict and free in consecutive
bars as follows : —
2 r J r I J r « I r J r I J r J I
or with the addition of a time-figure : —
s „ I 1^1 I « I i « I 1^1 I - I i
The essential feature of this effect, as in syncopation,
lies in the mental carrying on of the strict accent, and
the consequent realising of the \ time against the
irregularity of the outline, which is written as in | time,
an effect overlooked by writers on music, who refer to
it as giving the impression of a change of time to \.
If that were intended the composer would so have
written it.
Time-idiom identifies itself with instrumental art,
and it is natural that an important part should be played
by orchestral colour in the determination of the time-
figure. Time-outline forms no inconsiderable part of
the technique of an instrument, and effective orchestral
writing is as much dependent upon congenial time-
outline as on congenial pitch-outline. The exact
figure treatment which is best suited to any instru-
ment can only be grasped by practical acquaintance
with its character ; it must be either played or
frequently listened to alone and in combination with
other instruments. As a general rule, the broader and
heavier the quality of tone, the less suited is it to
staccato effect and rapid rhythmic movement. The
brass instruments of the orchestra and the louder stops
of the organ come under this heading. Broad and
156 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
equal masses are the natural treatment for heavy
quality, and any other treatment tends towards
vulgarity. The strings and wood-wind instruments,
being mostly of a lighter quality, lend themselves easily
to rapid staccato or legato effect. The staccato of the
strings, however, has quite a different effect from that
of the wood-wind, and is capable of finer degrees of
variation. In all wind instruments both the attack and
the stoppage of the tone are less sharp and sudden
than those made upon any bowed stringed instrument.
Where the attack is made by the bow a detached
effect can be produced without appreciable change in
the value of the tone. This is impossible with wind
instruments, where any deviation from legato must
consist in a shortening of duration. It is also evident
that the sharp accents characteristic of the strings and
percussion instruments are not to be obtained from
the wind or from voices. The time-outline suitable
for wind instruments, and especially for voices, is
necessarily weaker and stricter than the normal
instrumental usage.
The percussive effects of time-outline are used in
the East as a substitute for the harmonic accompani-
ment of the West. Asiatic drummers are said to
possess considerable skill in adding such extempore
accompaniments to a song. There are various different
ways of striking the drum to produce an acute or a
graver sound, and lesser incidental beats are inter-
polated between the more essential ones, so that the
art of effective time-accompaniment is by no means
to be despised. It is unfortunate that Europeans who
TIME-IDIOM 157
have made studies of the music of any Asiatic country
usually forget to mention that such a thing exists.^
A continuance of notes of equal length is in equal
time-outline. This forms a most important effect in
modern music, but its use here appears to be a late
development. The origin of equal outline was the time-
beat, and in primitive music it exists principally in this
one form. Thus if the crotchet be taken as the beat
notation, it may be said that equal outline was confined
to the crotchet. Practically in all vocal parts and in
non-percussive instruments the outline consists of some
simple idiom, the drum or gong being reserved to
indicate the accent and the beat. But in course of
development, as monotony gives way to variety, every
new possibility of contrast is seized upon, and thus equal
time-outline becomes of use, not merely simultaneously
with an idiom, where it forms a natural background, but
also to cover large tracts of music-space on its own
account. Here its function is still that of an accessary,
for as the form of music is not only synchronous but
^ A notable and apparently almost the only exception was the French-
man Villoteau, who, when sent out a hundred years ago on the Napoleonic
scientific expedition to Egypt, made an invaluable collection of music in
Cairo, including many examples of time-accompaniment, which he had
minutely studied. These are composed of strict figures, one of which, after
continuing for some time, will change to a more rapid one, the beat growing
louder, and at each change there is increase of intensity in pace, force, and
figure till the highest point is reached and a fall commences. Thus a
distinct wave-rhythm is produced quite apart from any pitch-outline. This
is a dance-type, of which time-outline is the only musical accompaniment,
and many of these were noted by Villoteau in Cairo, played upon casta-
nettes, tambourins, and drums. Percussive time-outline appears in Europe
as the accompaniment of the march or the dance. In Spain it is familiar
on the castanets, and as hand-clapping or stick-rapping occasionally assists
the English Morris Dance.
158 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
successive, time-idiom is made of greater prominence
by spaces of equal time-outline in the course of develop-
ment, and such spaces are absolutely essential to the
balance of a long work. This effect throws a veil over
the memory of the sharp unequal outlines of figures,
which would otherwise weary us by their perpetual
inequality. The larger the scale on which equal time-
outline is required the more rapid must be the pace
of it. Therefore a considerable amount of technique
is required for its performance, and it is an effect
impossible to primitive art. It will be found that the
closer this equal outline approaches to the actual pace
of the beat the less effective does it become. It requires
either to be the beat, or else to be considerably slower
or considerably faster. The former may be an effect of
solemn grandeur and dignity, but it cannot long con-
tinue without monotony, whereas the more rapid the
outline the longer it can be maintained. In this way
not only does it obliterate a previous idiom, but unless
strongly accented its tendency is to lessen the effect
of the bar-standard. Thus is produced a general and
broad effect of contrast between strikingly free form,
which, while contradicting the strict accent, also em-
phasises its existence, and strict form which pursues
the even tenor of its way, neither contradicting nor
emphasising. The same alternation may occasionally
be observed in miniature in a folk-song.
All variations of time-outline in melody can be
classified broadly under three heads, according to the
predominance of equal outline, of the strict figure, or
of the free figure : ( i ) The basis of equal outline varied
TIME-IDIOM 159
by figures; (2) the basis of the strict figure varied by-
other time-figures, strict, equal, or free ; (3) the basis
of the free figure also varied in the same manner/
It will be found that in a small melodic vocal type,
where but little pitch variety can be obtained, the
time-outline will consist of one principal figure an-
nounced at the opening, varied by other figures.
Upon the balance and order of these figures the main
effect of the melody will depend, the pitch-outline
(generally a diatonic mode) being of a limited char-
acter. In a large polyphonic instrumental movement,
on the contrary, the pitch-features represent endless
variety, while time-oudine has to preserve unity.
Consequently one time-figure will sometimes prevail
throughout an entire movement with variations of pitch
or of equal outline only.^ This is, indeed, the more
usual condition of advanced idiomatic development.
It is remarkable that the essential effect of an
idiom as well as of the single figure is due to the
standards of time-outline. It is a fact of lesser
consequence that the figure itself sets a temporary
standard, forming a model upon which all successive
variations proceed. Such variations, from the point
of view of pitch, force, and colour, are often con-
siderable, the time-figure itself may undergo slight
changes and still be recognised, but so strong is the
^ See Appendix, Sections R-W.
^ An example of this will be found in the Scherzo of Schubert's Sonata
in A Minor, Op. 42. Exclusive of the trio, this movement consists of 134
bars, in which one figure is repeated no fewer than 72 times. In the first
28 bars it occurs 10 times, in the next 8 bars 6 times, in the next 56 bars
35 times, in the last 42 bars 21 times.
i6o THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
effect of the time-standards that it is less the nature
of the repetition than the position of its recurrence
in the outline that causes the main effect of the
idiom, and therefore of the whole time-outline. Time-
idiom as well as the single figure is strict or free,
but the idiom relates not to the standard of the
single bar but to bars in succession. The strict
reiteration which causes the beat and bar succession
can either be enforced or contradicted by the idiom.
When a figure is repeated in the same position in
each bar, i.e. at exactly regular intervals, the idiom
is strict ; if repeated in another part of the bar, or
not regularly in each bar, the idiom is free. The
strict figure can be irregularly reiterated in a free
idiom ; the free figure can be repeated exactly in a
strict idiom. If differing figures are successively com-
bined so that no coherent repetition occurs, the idiom
is lost. But even where some contrast of time-figures
is desirable, as in melody, it will be found that any
good tune not based on equal outline has one pre-
vailing figure throughout the whole of it, sufficient to
give the impression of an idiom ; it is freely varied,
but the variations are recognisable as such, and do
not appear as new and unrelated matter. The ten-
dency to add figure to figure without reference to
what has gone before indicates a lack of rhythmic
grip. An apparently opposite tendency is that of
contrapuntal art — the drowning of all figure effect by
the preponderance of equal outline in the sum of the
parts. Whether, however, we have too many figures,
or none at all, the practical result is the same — the
TIME-IDIOM i6i
absence of idiom and hence of clear reiteration. The
reverse failing is found in too obvious a repetition.
A strict or partially strict idiom carried on throughout
a work indicates a weak and undeveloped condition
of rhythmic initiative, a mind that cannot break away
from the tyranny of the strict accent. Most of the
modern church music and the popular music to be
heard on barrel organs is of this description.
On the other hand, the charm of a free time-idiom
lies in the ease and unexpectedness of its appearance
or disappearance. Perhaps other figures are woven
in, or the background of equal time-outline is used
to carry on the movement. There is here no law,
but a vista of endless possibilities, an immense store-
house over which the composer's imagination hovers,
selecting intuitively that which answers the image
forming in his brain. If the figure depend on the
individual mind, so much the more does the idiom,
and it is precisely the track of this development that
testifies to the genius of a composer or exposes his
deficiencies. A perfect development implies a balance
between strict and free form which answers exactly
to the underlying emotional condition of which it is
the utterance. There will be just so much strict and
so much free as is needed to awake the right feeling,
and this not by any process of calculation, but, as it
were, by the grace of God. This marvellous balancing
of manifold opposing factors into a consecutive organic
whole is a thing that actually transcends intellectual
comprehension in detail. Every moment the con-
ditions change, the mind is baffled by the rapidity
i62 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
of the motion ; the factors may be grasped for one
bar, but what of the thousand bars to follow, all
relating backward or forward to one another ? There
is no parallel to it in any other art, and in com-
plexity of actual form and simplicity of appeal, music,
of all human utterances, approaches nearest to the
immensity and the infinite variety of Nature. Only
the intuitive mind that called such art into existence
can grasp it, and it is then grasped not by means of
its factors, but suddenly and without effort as a
whole. The intellectual attempt to realise the factors
is necessarily limited, and can never take the place
of the intuitive grasp, but it can at least go far
enouofh to realise somewhat of the conditions that
make for the highest art, and thus to distinguish
critically between the true art-work and the spurious
mechanical imitation.
CHAPTER III
PITCH-IDIOM
Rhythm in pitch — Dependence of pitch-outline on the standards of time —
Hence importance of free time-idiom — The pitch-figure— Relations of
time- and pitch-figures — Pitch-idiom a secondary form — Figures of
accompaniment — Sequences — Changes of values in pitch-figures —
Metamorphosis compared with idiomatic development.
It is proved by ethnological research that there was
a stage before definite pitch appeared when music
consisted of noise or howls reduced to time. When
aided by early flutes and the stretched string of the
hunter's bow men began to sing sounds of definite
and sustained pitch instead of confusedly rambling
about, the principle of the rhythmic order appeared
in pitch-outline. Reiteration, already well developed
in time-outline, was naturally applied to pitch. The
tendency of this was to establish an elementary
circling rhythm. Reiteration of any single note will
produce a sense of a melodic centre, and when notes
in chord or scale form are intermingled, reiteration of
one of these upon an accented beat will produce a like
effect. To elementary tonality frequent reiteration is
essential.
Since pitch-outline implies movement in time as
well as pitch, and cannot exist without a time-outline,
it follows that it is governed in the first place by the
163
i64 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
reiterative standards of time and only in the second
place by the standards of pitch. We have already
considered the relations of time-outline to its own
standards, and it is now all-important to make clear
the effect of the beat and the bar upon pitch-outline.
Musicians are well aware that any striking effect,
such as a cadence, a suspension, or any pronounced
change of chord or key, if placed between the accents
(and more especially if between time-beats), will
either lose all its force and become mere passing
detail, or else sound like a mistake. An apparent
exception may occasionally occur where a sudden
leap to a high note takes place on a weak beat, but
it will be found that, unless accompanied by free
accent, the even flow of the strict accent will remain
undisturbed, and in any case the effect is one for
exceptional and not normal use.
We are thus brought face to face with the following
facts : firstly, that it is less the relative pitch of a
note, consonant or dissonant, that determines its im-
portance than its position in the bar ; secondly, that
the only thing in music that is strong enough to
overpower the strict accent is free time-idiom in-
volving free accent. From this it appears that pitch-
outline is completely at the mercy of time-outline
and accent, and that all its own effects which are in
origin and character due to pitch have to be adjusted
in accordance with the strict accent, in order that
they may be rightly heard. And it further follows,
if the right balance of strict and free form is to be
preserved, that time-outline must generally predominate
PITCH-IDIOM 165
over pitch-outline, because only a free time-idiom can
preserve this balance, the effect of pitch being in-
evitably that of strengthening the standard outline in
order to get a hearing for itself. It will be found
that wherever music has developed freely on natural
lines, that this balance has asserted itself. Melody
is essential to it, while a purely polyphonic music will
always lack the balance because the mind is absorbed
in pitch to the neglect of time. Hence comes a
strict time-outline. In order to obviate the monotony
of this in performance the bar-standard is allowed to
drop out by omission of its accent, and there is only
a subordinate time-beat left to keep the parts together.
Strict accent comes to be considered a somewhat
vulgar superfluity, its true function having completely
disappeared.
But where pitch-outline has developed on natural
lines it assumes an idiomatic character derived, in
the first instance, from time-outline. The time-figure
naturally gives birth to a pitch-figure, a few notes or
chords of varying pitch modelled on the lines of the
time-figure. In a strict development the pitch-figure
is usually incessantly and exactly repeated. But in
course of time, as strict form gives way to free,
variety is required. As the following example will
show, this variety mostly comes in, not as a modifi-
cation of the original time-figure, but of the derived
pitch-figure. The principal variations of one of the
leading ideas of this sonata are here presented, and
the movement is one that will repay exhaustive
analysis.
i66 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
Sonata in A Minor (Schubert, Op. 42).
Time and Fitch Idiom.
(1)
:3^=3:
(3)
Izz^iqzq:
iii
q:
J_ ij-J^-^
zi^zizsri:
(10)
(11)
(12)
=1:
i^ii: :^
ti^Z^trc:^-
Frequently pitch-idiom will tend more and more
to variation until it may lose its identity and become
merged in a continually varying pitch-outline. When
this stage is reached repetition in pitch-outline is at a
minimum, the ear being satisfied by the relations of
time-idiom and the larger outlines of circling rhythm.
But the pitch-figure does not, therefore, disappear from
music altogether. On the contrary it reappears under
new conditions. It is in combination v/ith equal time-
PITCH-IDIOM 167
outline that the pitch-figure finds its normal function.
Here it is indispensable. Owing to the absence of
unequal values, and, therefore, of the time-figure, the
pitch-figure and its idiom actually replace time-idiom.
Time-relations fiill into the background, and pitch-
relations take their place as the exponent of the
idiomatic idea. That these are the weaker kind is
evident from the fact that its possibilities of variation
are much smaller. Time-idiom will naturally develop
a free pitch-outline without loss of recognition of its
figure, but pitch-idiom requires an equal time-outline,
else it will remain unnoticed, or merely reinforce the
time-idiom. So long as daylight lasts, moonlight is
ineffectual, and the absence of sunlight is required that
moonlight may appear. These relations suggest their
counterpart in music in the relative positions of the
time-figure and pitch-figure. Wherever the two idioms
are found to coincide exactly, there is a temporary re-
versal to primitive conditions for the sake of extreme
clearness. The advanced stage is the independent
evolution of both, each producing its own effect, which
is essential to a fully developed musical work.
In considering pitch-idiom we are thus dealing with
the secondary and derived use of the idiom, which,
though it may appear simultaneously with the primary
use, becomes essential to music only in the absence
of the latter.^
^ The development of idiom that first asserted itself in the music of
culture was not the primary one of time, but this secondary one of pitch.
When we consider that pitch-outline was then uppermost in the minds of
all musicians, this inversion of the normal order appears very natural. The
preludes to the " Forty-eight " are to a great extent founded upon melodic
pitch-idiom.
i68 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
Pitch-idiom is especially noticeable in what are
generally known as "figures of accompaniment," for
the most part consisting of melodic outline. These
figures are seldom absent from the great rhythmitonal
works, where they appear constantly in accompanying
parts, and also occupy long spaces of equal time-outline
on their own account. If the figure be an important
melodic one, only slight changes can take place in its
intervals, for if these be too much varied its form will
not be recognised in the repetitions, and the idiom
will vanish. If, however, it be founded upon harmony,
as are most accompanying figures, the intervals will
vary with the chord-change, and direction of pitch
becomes the binding force.
Example : —
The student of music will recognise as an idiom
of pitch the usage that is known as sequence, the
repetition of the pitch-figure upon a higher or lower
plane of absolute pitch. This is an outline generally
harmonic, involving undulating rhythm. The sequence
must rise or fall ; and though the wave-motion is as
it were by step and not by gradient, the ear is
familiar with this necessity of pitch and accepts it
in place of the gradual movement. Where a long
pitch-figure forms the step of the sequence (extending
over two or more bars) the wave-rhythm will be perhaps
more apparent than the idiomatic outline. The tone-
movement will appear to be gradually rising, suggesting
a coming climax, or falling down into the depths, and
PITCH-IDIOM
169
the fact of repetition by step will be but slightly
noticeable. Under these conditions a time-idiom is
frequently found also, in order to strengthen the
pulsative rhythm, its small figure undergoing several
repetitions on one step of the sequence. This complex
movement is necessarily a polyphonic development.
A sequence does not admit of breaks in the
repetition, and therefore the pitch-figure cannot appear
and disappear with the freedom of the time-figure,
but will be practically lost unless continuously repeated
on successive steps. There is only one case where
the sequence can be taken as opposing the bar-
standard. This occurs (i) where the number of
beats in the pitch-figure and in the bar do not
coincide, or (2) where each step of the sequence
begins on a weak beat in each bar.
Example : —
(1)
(2)
^z=4
2=z^:
--=\-
i
-\-
The ear holds the rhythm of the pitch-idiom
and recognises the beginning of each step, while it
also hears mentally the strict accent, a complex
effect due to the union of strict and free form
between time and pitch, instead of, as is more usual,
between varying time-outlines only. This effect, how-
ever, must be considered of a doubtful nature, since
it is possible to hear both these sequences strictly,
I70 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
and in order to ensure a free effect the slur must
be added, thus forming a phrased sequence.
Example : —
i=4=zE=:
:P=:
:t=:
-P —
IZIZD
Attention has already been drawn to the important
part played by equal time-outline as an accessary in
the later evolution of music. It has been much used
to link together time-idioms of an opposing character,
which would not follow one another immediately with-
out a disagreeable abruptness in the transition. But
this can also be done by means of the pitch-figure
only, in a more concise manner. Varying time-figures
can be shaded into one another by an anticipation of
the new one combined with the previous pitch-figure.
Example : —
"Parsifal" (Wagner), Vocal Score, p. 74.
s^Pf
~^-
-^-
^--
:^
is:
^^:
^-^-
fit=4:
(Grail Motive!)
r-
P cres.
:t:
,-===feS=S:
i=g
r-
p*l {Faith Motive.)
&C.
^^^— 4==p
PITCH-IDIOM
171
It is possible to have a variation in the time-
outline between a pitch-figure and its repetition. Since
there are varying values of equal time-outline, it is a
simple matter suddenly to halve or double that value
by turning crotchets into quavers or minims, each
figure still existing in equal time-outline, and being
recognised by its pitch-outline. If the figure involve
the whole oudine, this effect will be a hurrying up
or slowing down of the tone-movement by jerks. In
this way it is used by Beethoven, but is an effect
obviously for occasional use only.
Example : —
Sonata in E Minor (Beethoven, Op. 90).
8va
^^^^
i
H^lI^
s
:^^-^^
i^^!
±1:
W:
-.-<2.
gi^^gj
:p=i^
:?:
-n—
=t=zit=z=:?=
-^-
g
In counterpoint it is familiar as diminution and
augmentation, these relating to a single part.
Sometimes there occur time and pitch figures in
combination, where not time but pitch becomes the
172 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
factor of reiteration. The intervals of pitch are
preserved intact, but the values of time are changed.
The beat may be altered from dual to ternal, or
the reverse, certain tones may be lengthened, others
shortened, accompanied by changes in absolute time.
It is, however, to be noted that the general time-
features of the original figure are preserved. A long
note will be more prolonged, a short one hastened, but
their relative values will not be reversed. Instances of
such changes are given as follows : —
"Episode de la Vie d'un Artiste" (Berlioz).
(1)
:«=^
--^=-I=l^:
1^=?=^:
m
?2Ziq
i^i
s
-^
t:
m
:z2:
(2)
(3)
/r.
ir.
tr.
5E3^
Hii:
^gjg^^gg^'rgg^i^
Siegfried Motive (Wagner).
(2)#
^A
^A 1-
g3f
PITCH-IDIOM 173
Not any one of these examples can be said to con-
stitute an idiom. This involves unity of emotional
import with variety of external aspect, whereas the
instances above quoted show exactly opposite condi-
tions. They combine similarity of appearance with
distinct emotional change, which is not a working out of
the original idea, but a new conception that will require
to make its own impression. The pitch resemblance
is no more than a link with what has gone before ;
it does not in any sense constitute a development.
Nor have either of these composers attempted to use
it as such. The value that the method has for the
composer is the means it affords him of introducing a
new emotional effect without abrupt dislocation of the
tone-movement. The feeling is new, but the form is
familiar ; this is the direct opposite of the idiom which
sustains one emotional mood with an ever-varying form.
The latter is development of an idea ; the former is its
metamorphosis. The extraordinary psychic difference
thus produced by simply exchanging the functions
of time and pitch is a further proof of the essential
differences in their constitutions. Time-outline is the
fundamental emotional force, and changes in time-
outline perforce bring about changes in feeling ;
pitch-outline is the secondary and lesser force, and
unless this is carefully isolated in equal values, its
emotional effect disappears, and there remains only
the external recognition by the ear. It is easy to
see that the effect we have just considered may be
of occasional use to the purely musical composer,
but will prove of greater value in the combination
174 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
of music with drama and poetry. Here we meet
with a number of differing themes, which appear,
vanish, and reappear under new emotional conditions.
These require change, while the art technique de-
mands unity. Metamorphosis satisfies both these
requirements. At the same time, even in this
music, a certain amount of idiomatic outline must
also be present for the sake of coherence, and for
the composer of absolute music it is certain that
the idea can only be fully realised by idiomatic
treatment. A striking theme will impress on a first
hearing, but development is needed to drive home
its possibilities.^
^ For an example of metamorphosis in a folk-song, see Morris Dance,
" Laudnum Bunches," bars 18-21, in Appendix, Section Y.
CHAPTER IV
PHRASE AND STANZA
Definition of the phrase and its origin — Relation of phrase to bar-standard
— Articulations of phrase-form — Connection with circling rhythm —
The cadence of the leading-note — Function of the harmonic cadence
— The stanza — The free phrase — Phrase-form of melody — Relation
of phrase-form to modulation.
The tendency to extend the standard of the bar into
a larger unit has already been observed. This unit
is generally called phrase, section, period, or some-
times vaguely "rhythm." Out of this collection, phrase
is the word best suited for the purpose, because it
suggests what is a true analogy with language. The
word-phrase and tone-phrase are identical in orio-in,
and may be defined as a grouping of accents. The
only difference between them is that the word-phrase
consists of irregular accents (accents at not precisely
regular intervals), and the tone-phrase of regular ones.
When the word-phrase is sung, it becomes regularly
accented, and this difference practically disappears.
Both kinds of phrase originate in the physical necessity
of taking breath, for the primitive tone-phrase, if it
depart from vocal usage, occurs upon wind instruments
only. This necessity has created a normal length of
phrase, which can be observed in music and equally
in conversation.
From these facts it may be gathered that the
175
176 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
phrase is not of purely musical origin, as are the
bar and the time-figure, but that it is a general
vocal usage common to language and music both. It
follows therefore that those who would confine the
normal phrase of music to equal groups of bars,
thus making it into an extended bar-standard, are
ignoring its origin and its constitution, and merely
show that they themselves cannot escape from the
tyranny of the strict accent. A strong rhythmic
individuality, on the other hand, will require a certain
relation between successive phrases, but not an exact
relation. Exact time-relation in music is confined to
the beat and bar, the two smallest equal units of
recurrence, and beyond that, the larger the units, the
freer their relations tend to become. The phrase
being the smallest of these free units is naturally
the one most influenced by the bar-standard. The
functions of the phrase and bar respectively are,
however, of an entirely different nature. The bar
exists for the purpose of marking strict time, the
phrase exists for the purpose of articulation of the
free outline, and there is no need to confuse these
two functions. The bar-standard is essential to con-
certed music, but phrase-form varies from clear to
indefinite articulation, and in instrumental music may
disappear altogether.
It is necessary to distinguish between the occur-
rence of phrases in music and a definite phrase-form.
By the latter is meant a distinct articulation at the
termination of each phrase, forming a break in the
continuity of the outline. A slight pause effects this
PHRASE AND STANZA 177
in language, and this is the primitive method of
music, where the silence is accounted for by rests.
There are, however, several other musical methods
of pointing out the phrase. It can be done by a
long note (long in proportion to the values of the
notes preceding), by a pause (/^) over a note (a vague
prolongation), or by a tonalitive figure known as the
cadence, which is of great importance to circling
rhythm. The cadence consists of the last note (or
last two notes in the case of a weak ending) which
are made by reason of the articulation more prominent
than the rest. From the point of view of pitch,
they represent a temporary centre, a point of repose
in the circling rhythm. There is degree in the
importance of cadences, but each one must be to
some extent a note on which the mind will desire
to rest either momentarily or permanently. The
relation of the cadence-note to the rest of the outline
will depend entirely on the direction of the circling
movement. If it is tending from the tonic the
cadence is likely to occur upon an atonic tone,
because after a syntonic succession this will afford
relief to the ear, but syntonic cadences are naturally
the more restful. The normal melodic syntonic
cadence is the fall by full-tone or rise by semitone
to the tonic. When the leading-note is replaced
by the minor seventh there is no semitonal rising
cadence. This is the case with a certain proportion
(it is said one-third) of English folk-songs. It is,
doubtless, mainly due to the general vocal instinct
which prefers the downward-tending leading-note,
M
178 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
emphasised probably by the scale of the bagpipe,
which has the minor seventh, and possibly by the
tones of the church-modes, which (with one exception)
lacked the leading-note. The combination of the
minor seventh or minor second with either the major
or minor thirds and sixths of the scale produces modal
varieties common to all purely vocal developments.
The essential feature which distinguishes such varieties
from the major and minor modes is the lack of the
normal rising syntonic cadence of the leading-note.^
When harmony is added the cadence becomes
further accentuated. The harmonic figure, dominant-
tonic, is the most elementary and the most typical
of all chord-movement used for this purpose. It
became for centuries the standard syntonic cadence,
which was never allowed to rust. It received the
name of a perfect cadence, or full close, from the
constant habit of concluding, not merely every piece
of music but every few bars with this figure, or the
reverse form of it, tonic-dominant, which was called
the half close, representing a slighter articulation. The
only chord allowed occasionally to replace the dominant
was the triad of the subdominant, and the cadence
was then called plagal, after the class of church-modes
which started on the fourth below the final note.
It is probably this persistent usage that has given
rise to the idea that the harmonic cadence is the
cause of phrase-form, which is only another instance
^ We may observe that it appears incorrect to attach the Greek names
of the church-modes to such scales, because those names indicate a form of
Asiatic tonality which has no existence in music native to Europe.
PHRASE AND STANZA 179
of the desire of musicians to ascribe everything in
music to tonalitive influence, regardless of actual
cause and effect. As a matter of practical usage,
when distinct articulation does take place in harmonic
outline, and the harmonic cadence is used to empha-
sise the phrase-form, this frequently becomes over-
emphasised, because too many methods are being
used simultaneously to point out what is already
obvious. Consequently harmony is now employed
more frequently to disguise the phrase-form than to
strengthen it, having plenty of means in its power
that will ensure continuity and destroy the effect of
articulation.
The cadence known as the full close usually in-
dicates a larger unit of recurrence. This is some-
times called a sentence, or period, but a more
suitable word is "stanza." For this unit is of the
same lingual nature as the phrase, only composed
of several phrases, and as it is generally poetry
and not prose that is united with music, the corre-
spondence is with the stanza and not with the sentence.
The stanza represents an articulation so distinct as
to divide the tone-movement into a series of blocks,
each of which is more or less subdivided by the
phrase. In some music the block actually constitutes
the main feature. But if phrase-form is inessential to
music, still less essential is the stanza. It is natural
to most vocal music, and to an early stage of instru-
mental development, where it affords facilities for ob-
taining a balance, which in an immature stage the ear
might otherwise be unable to grasp. But as rhythmic
i8o THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
feeling grows, a less obvious and more subtle method
creeps in. The block of the full close irritates, and
continuity is desired, the articulation of the phrase
appearing sufficient to define the outline ; tonality is
indicated by suggestion rather than by direct state-
ment of the tonic, and the full close is avoided ; at
the same time the phrase-form tends more and more
to irregularity. This is a natural phase of evolution.
The development of tonality leads to cadential varia-
tions, the tonic remaining no less the standard, but
now requiring less obvious and more subtle suggestion,
and therefore allowing for a much greater variety
in atonic cadences. For the same reason the return
to syntonic outline appears at less frequent intervals
than it was wont to do, unless the movement is one
strongly suggestive of repose. The perfect cadence
is seldom heard in modern music in its complete form,
except as the real close, and is not considered essential
even for this, its original purpose.
It should now be evident that we are dealing with
units of far less musical value than the time-figrure.
The phrase is not concerned with the values of time-
outline, and, in short, is a mere counting of strict
accents. For convenience' sake we speak of phrases
of so many bars' length, but the real factor of the
phrase is the accent and not the bar. In a short
bar of one accent only, the two are, of course,
synonymous, but in longer bars where a subsidiary
strict accent occurs half-way through, the difference
becomes apparent, as the phrase may end on the
lesser accent. This indicates again its resemblance
PHRASE AND STANZA i8i
to the word-phrase, which is further shown in the two
>
forms of phrase-endings, i.e. J or J J corresponding
to the strong and weak terminations of poetry.
Since the phrase consists solely of strict accents,
its freedom can lie only in a variation in the number
of accents thus grouped together. The variation is
made, not only by irregular numbers of equal bars,
but by the occasional insertion of one or more bars
of different length. A single bar thus inserted does
not seem to upset the standard, the mind accepting
it as a passing variation ; but more than one bar in
another time undoubtedly changes the standard, as
well as giving freedom to the phrase. It is necessarily
inartistic to vary the time-standard needlessly, and
merely for the sake of variation, unless the time-
outli)ie or the word-outline requires it. Most of the
time-changes in primitive music and English folk-song
(where they are of frequent occurrence) are due as
much to the word-outline as to the musical idiom.
The small concise type of melody, not admitting
of any prolonged time-idiom, is necessarily depen-
dent upon phrase-form. It is true that there do
exist melodies in which time-idiom predominates
and the phrase-form is indefinite, but these appear
to be the exceptions. The bulk of melodies, whether
of popular or cultured origin, are clearly, one might
say, obviously phrased. The character of this phrase-
form will be derived, in the case of dance-songs, from
the dance, in the case of word-songs, from poetry.
The fine sense that balances phrases of unequal
length is natural to rhythmic feeling, and under
i82 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
natural conditions both dance and poetry reveal un-
equal phrase-form, but in the conventional dance
and poem of society this freedom disappears. Con-
sequently in the music of culture the four-bar phrase
becomes paramount, and any variation upon this
monotony is regarded as a fault, or at the best as
an eccentricity. The time-outline also becomes con-
taminated, and instead of an idiom we find the
complete phrase-outline (the time-outline of a phrase)
exactly repeating itself (with or without change of
pitch) as well as the number of its accents ; time-
idiom ceases to exist unless in a very strict form,
and the result may be a melody of even more sickly
monotony than the equal outline of the hymn-tune.
In a small melodic type consisting of one or
two stanzas only and where modulation rarely
occurs, the material available for cadences is neces-
sarily very limited, and here the desirability of un-
equal phrase-form is especially evident, since so
little variety can be made on the pitch-side. The
connection between a pitch-outline confined to one
key and a phrase-form of unequal character may be
studied in almost any kind of natural melody, and
often it produces results of great charm, which are
unknown to the cultured modulating melody with its
equal phrase.^
^ Where degeneration has occurred the free phrase-form is one of the
first things to drop out. See the "Helston Furry Dance," in Appendix,
Section V.
CHAPTER V
THE TALA OF THE EAST
The Eastern time-system — The Sanskrit theory of beat, values, and bar —
Definition of tala — Absence of accentual standard from Hindu theory
and practice — ^Talas and time-signatures — The principle of the Western
bar— The principle of the Eastern bar — The relation of the accentual-
bar to Western melody — The relation of the tala-bar to Eastern
melody.
We have left thus late the consideration of the Eastern
time-system in order to explain satisfactorily its peculiar
constitution. It is composed largely of material that in
Europe belongs to free form, and that cannot be in-
cluded under the head of standard tone-material from
the Western point of view.
At first sight one might take for granted that the
prevalence of time-emphasis upon percussion instru-
ments throughout the East must indicate a stronger
rhythmic feeling than the West can boast of, but a
closer examination reveals a tendency to stereotype
by this means units that in our music are naturally
free. It involves, in fact, a use of time-figure and
phrase that is utterly foreign to the European art.
And the fact that time-outline has been with us so little
analysed and is so much a matter of intuitive practice,
tends to make the understanding of this foreign usage
still more difficult. The day is past when an English-
man could seriously propound the theory that the raga
was the major key and the ragini the minor ; but we
183
i84 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
are just as far from any rational comprehension of the
Asiatic bar-system, which actually differs from our own
quite as fundamentally as the raga differs from the
key. It is as misleading to bar a true Eastern melody
according to European time-signatures as to put it into
a European key.
It is in the elementary conditions of time-outline, the
values and the time-beat, that we shall find the common
soil out of which these diverse systems have sprung.
Fortunately, there are Sanskrit treatises in existence
that deal with such points, and though of uncertain date,
they contain the theory handed down from generation to
generation by oral tradition, a theory which may have
been in existence in the Vedic age, and which still sub-
stantially underlies the modern practice of the Hindus.
This theory, as stated by Raja Sir S. M. Tagore,
is as follows : Any equal interval of time is called a
mdttra, ; this is the beat ; it is divisible into half-beats
and quarter-beats termed broken indttrds, and it is also
doubled, forming a compound mdttrd : there are thus
four values similar to ours of 2, \, \ and \, which also
have names, guru, iaghu, ardha, and anu, corresponding
with minim, crotchet, quaver, and semiquaver : ^ in addi-
tion there are larger compound mdttrds, called pluta^
which consist of three or more beats, corresponding with
the dotted minim and semibreve : the bar is named
mancka, is divided by perpendicular lines, and consists
fundamentally of a fixed number of beats, as with us.
It is to be observed, that though the group of three
^ Raja Tagore takes the quaver as the beat, and so brings the cor-
respondence with crotchet, quaver, semiquaver, and demisemiquaver.
THE TALA OF THE EAST 185
beats is a recognised unit, there is no mention made in
Hindu theory of ternal beat-division ; this, however,
appears in practice under the occasional form of the
triplet.
We find, therefore, that the standard of the beat, the
values, and some kind of bar are practically common to
both East and West. We come now to the point where
the roads divide. This is indicated in Hindu theory by
the term tdla, of which the following definitions are
given : —
" Tdla simply means the beating of time by clapping
the hands."
" Tdla is regular metre, without which music loses
all its power over the human passions."
" From simple, compound, and broken mdttrds are
formed Tdlas, the only object of which is to calculate
the measure of beating time. They are in use amongst
us in both vocal and instrumental music. It is to music
what metre is to poetry. Tdlas derive different names
from the variety of mdttrds that form them." (S. M.
Tagore. )
These statements sound very simple and such as
might apply equally to European music. We may
not beat time usually by clapping the hands, but what
matters the method? It would not readily occur to the
mind, that, behind this apparently obvious expression,
" the beating of time," there lurks a double entendre.
When a European beats time never would he beat
otherwise than tji/Zthe beats; but when a Hindu beats
time he beats a certain selection of these chosen for him
by his time-system. We are further told : " Tdla con-
i86 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
sists of two principal actions, viz, Aghdta and Birdma,
i.e. the beating and the rest " (S. M. Tagore), and an
acquaintance with the application of talas to Hindu music
shows that their classification depends, firstly, upon the
number of beats that compose them, i.e. the length of the
bar ; secondly, upon the beats chosen to form tala-beats,
i.e. the particular beats upon which the hand-clapping
or drum-stroke is made as opposed to the " rest " or
silent beats. Did these tala-beats fall customarily upon
the normally accented beats of European music, there
might still be accordance between the two systems ; it
would be quite possible, though less easy, to beat only
the accented beats of European music instead of all its
beats. But since there are only a few talas that show
regular alternation of beat as against a large number
that are entirely irregular, it would seem that some
other principle is at the root of the Hindu custom.
Even a slight acquaintance with Sanskrit theory
reveals the fact that the Hindu is in his way a more
thorough theorist than the European musician ; he
possesses a genius for classification, and if his music
contained a practice of systematic accent such as exists
in Europe, that practice would be elaborately defined
in his theory. But no mention of any such system of
accent is ever made.
When, moreover, we come to examine Hindu
melody, the fact is clear that it springs out of no
alternation of varying degrees of accent. The first
thing noticeable is the length of the bar, which has an
average of eight beats ; the bar of sixteen beats being
as frequent as that of four. A bar of less than four
THE TALA OF THE EAST 187
beats is not acknowledged in Hindu theory. The same
average length of bar is found also in a number of
Javanese melodies written down by native musicians.
It is impossible to apply the European system of strict
accent to such bars, because the alternation cannot be
grasped, and the bar simply divides up into several
smaller ones. Further, it is noteworthy, that whereas
in our melodies all points of stress occur necessarily on
the first beat of the bar, in these Eastern melodies all
cadences and especially the final note are placed pre-
ferably anywhere but on the first beat, and more
frequently upon the last beat, or even on the final
beat-division, where a pause serves to enhance the
emphasis of the big gong that in Java is reserved
for this special position. The normal balance of the
European bar is reversed, the weight being placed at
the end instead of at the beginning. It is clear that
if a bar is to be indicated by stress at all it must be at
one end or the other, and where there is no alternation
of accents to demand stress at the beginning, it seems
to be a natural impulse to shift the accent to the end.
H
INDU
System
Thoongree—
1
1
r
J
.'5
r
4
Ekat^la—
1
■9
r
1
■9
r J r
1
"
"'
4 5 6
Chawtala —
•m
r
«
1
"
3
4 5 6
Tdla Surphakta
1
r
1
■m
3
1
J r
4 0
i88 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
Jhanptdla —
^ h ^ 1^ ^«
Ara-chawtdla— ^ ^ T ^ V ^ V
12 3 4 5 6 7
Drutatritdlee— * * f ••
12 3 4
Madhyam^na —
3 4 5 6 7 8
Slathatritcilee —
TAla Ara-
2 3 4
i ^ ^
0 10 11 12 13 14 16 16
12 3
•^* n r 1
4 5 6 T
European System
2(1)-
3(1)-
4(i)-
5 (2)-
^ ^ r^ or "'l—
11111(2 or J
V (D-
9 «
I I I
■p « «
I I I I
• « « -#
I I I i I or J ' I I I
I I I I I I or I I ' I ' I
I I I I I J J or J J J J J
In the Eastern table the notes indicate the tala-beats ; the numbers
under the notes are the bar-beats. The rest is kept for the Sanskrit sign
of Birdina, therefore tied notes are used to indicate the space between tala-
beats, but these do not necessarily imply continuance of the sound. In the
Western table all the beats are indicated by notes and the varying degrees
of accent by lines under the notes. The subsidiary accent may vary with
the sub-divisions of the beat, and the dot has to be added to obtain ternal
beat-division.
THE TALA OF THE EAST 189
From the foregoing tables the differences between
the Hindu and European systems will become manifest,
and it will be observed that practically the whole of
the latter is here represented, while of the talas are
given only a few out of many. These, however, are
sufficient to show the trend of Hindu feeling. It is
toward differentiation of vahie rather than of accent.
If the following tala-unit be thus written, J e^, J, a.
time-figure appears, and the union of this time-figure
(considered as relative duration and not in its exact
values), with varying combination of beats, constitutes the
form of the last four of the talas in the preceding table.
When we arrive at the combination of this tala-unit
with nine bar-beats (the odd ninth beat being equally
distributed amongst the tala-beats and rest, so that each
consists of two and a quarter bar-beats), and realise
further that when this four against nine has been
grasped, there remains still the time-outline of the
melody to be added thereto, it would seem that the
last word has been said in the simultaneous differentia-
tion of values. The ear of the Hindu in this respect
might amount to the possession of a sixth sense. ^
Such an example points, doubtless, to a long stage
of evolution, an evolution which takes us back into
primitive conditions, when clapping, stamping, and
drumming were music, and time-outline had not yet
assumed its robe of pitch. As already stated, rhythmic
feeling expressing itself in the beat and the group of
beats is common to all music ; where the variation
occurs is in the methui of the grouping. The European
^ See Appendix, Section X.
I90 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
musician groups equal values by means of varying
accent ; the Asiatic groups equal values by means of
unequal values. Thus the Eastern notion of a time-
system is formal differentiation of duration with equal
intensity ; the Western idea is formal differentiation of
intensity with equal duration. As usual, the methods of
East and West reverse one another.
Hence we must clearly differentiate between the bar
of the East and the bar of the West, if we admit the
former as a bar at all. Such it is not, in the Western
application, but since it has the outward appearance of
the bar in notation and serves a similar purpose, it will
be well to distinguish it as the " tala-bar," in opposition
to the bar of our own music which can be named
" accentual." It cannot be denied that this Eastern
method is the subtler, and, so far as one bar only is
concerned, the more interesting. But such units of
strict form must be exactly reiterated ; the object is to
mark time, and the more unobtrusively this is done,
the better is the chance given to free units and their
development. The general law of rhythmic evolution,
the balance of strict and free form, here enters in.
Hence the desire of the Oriental partially to avoid the
basis of even and strict units results in the stereotyping
of free units. Thus we find in the tala-bar a stereo-
typed phrase, and in the tala-unit a stereotyped time-
figure. The latter is the thing that appears strangest
to the European mind. We do not work our time-
figures into a system (Heaven be praised!), but leave
it to our composers to combine and reiterate them as
they will. Not so the Asiatic. His tala, having taken
THE TALA OF THE EAST 191
time-figures under its wing, offers an immense selection
of these to the musician, but upon the one condition
that whichever is chosen shall be reiterated unaltered
to the end of its course. The tala is, in short, a formu-
lation of strict idiom, owing its character to its persistent
recurrence. The free unit demands a strict develop-
ment in order to redress the balance. The results of
this upon the development of Hindu melody are very-
remarkable.
All natural European melody springs out of the
rhythmic feeling for alternation of beats and accented
beats as expressed in our bar-system. This is a con-
ception innate in the mind of the European, so that
a melody is not arbitrarily put into bars, but springs
up naturally out of that rhythmic sense which deter-
mines the accents of the melody and therefore the bar-
unit that belongs to it. Any one possessed of rhythmic
feeling and a knowledge of notation can say whether
a melody is rightly or wrongly barred ; that is, whether
its natural accents are enforced or nullified by the strict
accent of the bar-system. We distinguish between the
melody and the standard outline ; still the connection of
the two is felt to be a vital one and is not broken by the
use of counter accents in the melody. Such an organic
union of time-outline and melody can take place only
upon an accentual standard basis of equal outline. For
whereas the equal nature of the Western time-system
forms a soil out of which free idiom naturally springs,
the Eastern basis of a strict idiom, even if extended over
sixteen beats, renders any development of a free idiom
in melody virtually impossible. Upon such a basis what
192 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
arises is not a melody in the sense of idiomatic treatment,
but a promiscuous time-outline, a sort of time-discant
upon the tala, neither strongly accenting nor contra-
dicting it, and which may exist independently of any
tala at all. This is exactly the constitution of the raga,
apart from its special tonalitive characteristics. It is
an unbarred tone-movement of rambling time-outline,
lacking a definite phrase, and wholly irregular in its
stanza- form. It has been shown that all that is needed
to turn a raga into a melody is to unite it with a tala
and sing it to words. Language brings phrase-form,
the tala enforces the needful reiteration and thus re-
mains master of the situation, having practically the
melody for its accompaniment. A very complex tala
may influence the melodic outline to the complete loss
of its independence. It falls in then with the tala,
repeating its time-outline in each bar. Nevertheless
the raga makes its influence felt in the lengthening
out of the bar, whereby the phrase and the bar are
brought to synchronise, a long note serving to indicate
the close of both. In this way an attenuated form of
tala-unit may appear, such as in Slathatritdlee, which
must give greater independence to the melody than
the more concise units. And once the melodic outline
begins to predominate over the tala it acquires a more
rhythmic character, the raga-type vanishes, and a
slow process sets in of approximation towards the
European style of melody. Gradually the tala sinks
to the level of a time-accompaniment, and the melody,
freed from its restraint, assumes an accentual and
idiomatic outline. When this process has gone far
THE TALA OF THE EAST 193
enough, there remains nothing but Eastern tonality
to distinguish it from Western melody. The tala-bar
has given place to the accentual-bar required by idio-
matic development, the phrase loses its connection with
the bar and becomes a free unit as in European music.
Most of what are called Eastern melodies when written
down by Europeans are of this nature. How far they
actually represent the present music of the East, how
long such a process of melodic development has been
in existence, and again how far it may be due to
Western influence, these are questions that can be
answered only by those who have lived long in the
East and have deeply studied its music.
N
CHAPTER VI
IMITATION
General charactei' of counterpoint — Origin of imitation — The round — The
canon — Evolution of the rhythmic unit of imitation — An effect of time-
outline — Two contrapuntal styles— Organ counterpoint conditioned by
the instrument — The style of Bach — Lingual character of round and
early part-songs producing phrase and stanza — The madrigal — Causes
of the strictness of counterpoint.
A SINGULAR contrast to the precise reiterations of the
tala is afforded by the mediaeval art of the West.
Though this art, as has been shown, owes its origin
on the pitch-side to Asiatic tonahty, no trace of the
Eastern time-system is to be found in it. The funda-
mental character of this ecclesiastical art is its lack of
reiteration in general, and of time units in particular.
Of strict units of recurrence only the time-beat exists
in it, there being no accentual grouping into the bar,
and of the free units none whatever can be found.
Time-figure, pitch-figure, phrase, stanza, all are missing.
Hence the unrhythmic character of early counter-
point, the lack both of unity and of contrast.
The time-outline of this art presents irregular
and continually varying conditions in the values.
The object of the composer seemed to be to avoid
all similarity in this respect, whether between the
different voices at any given point or in the con-
secutive arrangement of one voice-part. The long
notes that look as if they were syncopated are due
IMITATION 195
to this cause. It is evident that mere variety in
itself does not provide contrast. This can only be
obtained when art is built upon a basis of unity. In
other words, to realise the free, we must first have
the strict form, to make the initial definite impression,
without which no contrast can follow. Unity in time-
outline is obtained, not by a promiscuous mixing of
values, but by recurrence of a selected arrangement,
i.e. a fissure.
But since the idiom is an instrumental rather than
a vocal usage, in a very primitive stage of music, there
appears what is generally known as the principle of
imitation, by which is meant that one voice will follow
another in singing the same phrase, the second be-
ginning later and imitating the first. Several voices
may be thus employed, and when these voice-parts
make harmony in their imitation, a primitive musical
type is produced known as the round. It is recorded
of the Hottentots, by Kolbe, a German traveller
of the early eighteenth century, that they sang the
notes of the major triad from one octave down to
the next, one voice after the other, each beginning
the phrase when the former had reached the second
or third tone. The voices in combination repre-
sented one chord continually sounding, while each
voice imitated, that is, followed after the one before
it. This is the constitution of the round, or catch. It
has all the monotony of primitive song, maintaining
exact repetition with only the variety of the colour-
distribution of the voices. When this kind of singing
had become familiar with a single chord, it must have
196 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
been easy to add another and so get the assistance
of the natural alternation that exists between tonic
and dominant. Then a verbal phrase became possible,
which wound its way easily enough between these
harmonies, the close of each phrase always coinciding
with the second chord, whether it required one or
more alternations. Each voice took up the reitera-
tion of words as well as notes, and an amusing
effect was often produced. Since nearly all the
notes of the diatonic scale are available between these
two chords, there was a fair field for melody, which
formed probably the chief attraction to the singers,
the harmonies involved being felt merely as a back-
ground. The round grew to the length of a stanza,
and as each voice came to the close of the stanza it
started again at the beginning with the same words
and tune. Many old melodies show this habit of alter-
nating between tonic and dominant or tonic and super-
tonic harmonies, each syntonic or atonic tone occurring
on a strict accent, and frequently with passing-notes
between. This is a habit undoubtedly traceable to
round-singing, which was common in England, probably
from the time of the Saxon invasion, if not before it.^
The Welsh had a kind of part-song called
" nghanon," mentioned by Aneurin in his poem of
the months, said to be of the sixth century : —
" In September comes the metrical nghanon."
Whether or not this song was in the style of the
round does not appear, but it shows unmistakably the
^ See Appendix, Section I.
IMITATION 197
derivation of the word "canon," which was originally
similar to the round.
To the natural kind of choral singing practised
in England and Wales in the twelfth century, Gerald
Barry (Giraldus Cambrensis, Descriptio Cambrice)
bears witness as follows : —
" The Britons do not sing in unison, like the
inhabitants of other countries ; but in many different
parts. So that when a company of singers among
the common people meets to sing, as is usual in this
country, as many different parts are heard as there
are performers, who all at length unite in consonance,
under the softness of Bb. In the northern parts of
Great Britain beyond the Humber, on the borders
of Yorkshire, the inhabitants use the same kind of
symphonious harmony ; except that they only sing in
two parts, the one murmuring in the bass, and the
other warbling in the acute or treble. Nor do these
two nations practise this kind of singing so much
by art as habit, which has rendered it so natural to
them, that neither in Wales, where they sing in
many parts, nor in the North of England, where
they sing in two parts, is a simple {i.e. single) melody
ever well sung. And, what is still more wonderful,
their children, as soon as they attempt using their
voices, sing in the same manner." The words "as
many different parts as there are performers " are
very suggestive of round-singing.
Imitation is commonly supposed to be a special
prerogative of counterpoint ; that this practice, how-
ever, was not indigenous to it, but like all that went
198 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
to make of counterpoint a fine art was acquired in
the first instance from rhythmitonal music, is proved
by the two facts that imitation is found in primitive
song, and is not found in the earliest music of the
Church. It is actually recorded that the monks
of Anglo-Saxon days were censzired for " breaking
up and dividing their song by a method of figurate
descant, in which the various voices, following one
another, were perpetually repeating different words
at the same time."^ This can be nothing else than
round-singing, and it appears to have been a popular
and unauthorised custom of vocal entertainment in
which the monks, being human, had ventured to join.
That they continued to indulge in it, despite the
authorities, seems likely from the famous round of
the Reading MS. already referred to, which is clearly
a popular and not an ecclesiastical composition. But
from the existence of a curious pun upon the words
round and canon in this very MS., it would appear
that a distinction was then recognised between them
— in short, that the canon had already found shelter
under the roof of the Church.
The canon in unison (when each voice repeats
the notes at the same pitch) is indistinguishable from
the round if a popular tune be employed, but a canon
of contrapuntal voice-parts proceeding, not by har-
monic instinct, but by the science of intervals, is a
very different matter. All tonalitive balance and
phrase-form at once vanish, and it becomes just as
easy to make the parts repeat at another pitch, at
^ See " Musical Association," vol. viii. p. 95.
IMITATION 199
a fifth higher or lower, or at any other interval, the
contrapuntal formula having taken the place of natural
harmonic feeling. In this sense the canon is an
entirely different composition from the round, contra-
puntal instead of rhythmitonal, retaining only the
principle of imitation for its basis. It is further
noteworthy that imitation in ecclesiastical music was
confined for centuries to the canon in two or more
parts, and that when the idea began to filter through
into the ordinary contrapuntal usage, for a long
period it was commonly used only for the starting
of each voice one after the other, the parts directly
afterwards meandering off in the usual promiscuous
manner without further reference to the imitated
figure of the opening. By this means, however, the
idea arose of imitation of units instead of imitation of
the complete vocal part from first note to last, and
this proved the regeneration of counterpoint in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Imitation is a rhythmic principle, since it consists
in repetition more or less exact, but compared with
the clear reiterations of the idiom, it is a weaker be-
cause indirect and somewhat disguised rhythmic effect.
In combination with time-idiom it may prove a valuable
asset, but used in this manner it must be the imitation
of a figure or at the most of a phrase-outline, and not
of any larger unit. The smaller the unit, the more
easily it will be recognised, the more frequent is likely
to be the repetition, and the freer will be the tone-
movement. Thus the unrhythmic canon, which has
lost the vocal phrase and stanza of the round without
200 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
acquiring the rhythmic figure of instrumental idiom,
begins to be merged into the fugue (originally only
another name for the canon), where repetition of a
subject (a prolonged phrase-outline) provides a unit
of imitation. This is less unrhythmic than continuous
imitation, and when the consummator of the fugue
arrives in the person of Sebastian Bach the time-
outline of the subject grows into a well-knit unit that
admits of easy recognition by the ear. Moreover, in
a few instances, the subject is actually broken up into
_figuresj upon which the whole fugue is imitatively
worked out, the complete subject seldom recurring
after it has been once stated by each voice in the
exposition. Beyond this point imitation could no
farther go, having practically reached the stage where
it merges into the time-idiom ; the only difference
being in the passage of the figure from part to part
instead of reiteration in one part. The normal fugue,
however, does not indulge in figure imitation, but
is founded upon, and for the most part limited to,
imitation of phrase-outline.
Imitation has been hitherto regarded as a move-
ment in pitch, but when founded upon pitch-outline
only it is a mere futility from the rhythmic standpoint.
It has already been shown that for sequence or any
kind of pitch-idiom to be effective it must be isolated
in equal values. Plt_ch-imitation is decidedly less easy
to grasp than pitch-idiom, because the ear has to carry
the unit from one part to another. When, therefore,
we find this obscurer use of pitch-reiteration not even
combined with equal values, but existing in a promis-
IMITATION 20I
cuous time-outline, it can have no possible rhythmic
effect, and merely produces a sense of general pitch-
similarity or absence of contrast if sufficiently worked
out to have any effect at all. The rhythmic effect of
pitch-outline came into counterpoint through the more
obvious channels of sequence and tonality. But
rhythmic effects of time-outline entered in by means
of time-imitation, which is what one would naturally
expect to find in vocal art, and hence the gradual
shortening of the unit of recurrence from a whole
piece to a phrase-outline or even a figure. This was
the slow leavening of counterpoint by the rhythmic
instinct.
We are apt to refer to the contrapuntal style as if
it had been always one and the same, but there are
in truth two modes of counterpoint, which tend to
merge into one another though their extremes are
distinct; the one_ is vocal, the other an organ style.
It is the latter that contains the bulk of the familiar
features of imitation and pitch-idiom which we asso-
ciate with the term counterpoint. This is not an
abstract conception, but a style called mainly into being
by an instrument. It is not too much to say that,
lacking the organ, this particular development of coun-
terpoint would never have come into existence, so pre-
cisely does the style fit the instrument. Its subsequent
transfer to choral music has somewhat obscured the
issue, but a study of Bach's vocal part - writing side
by side with Palestrina's, and Beethoven's in the Missa
Sole??mis, will show the differences between the true
vocal style and the transferred organ one. The former
202 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
has none of the extreme rapidity of movement which
is suitable to the organ but not so to a choir ; it culti-
vates harmonic rather than imitative effects, which are
reserved chiefly for initial phrases ; in short, it is the
style best suited to the choir, and the other is the
style best suited to the organ/
Imitation, to be continuously effective, demands
balance of tone between the various factors. Its
employment in the orchestra on contrasting instru-
ments is useful for brins^ino^ out isolated fragments
of melody, and is melodic rather than contrapuntal.
Where the actual texture of the music consists of
contrapuntal imitation, a homogeneous and continuous
quality of tone is to be desired. The two things that
specially characterise organ-tone, and, therefore, have
conditioned the music written for it, are continuity and
homogeneity. Exceptional continuity the organ has
always had since keyboards became responsive to a
touch of the finger instead of a blow of the fist, and
its homogeneity was even greater at the time of Bach
than at present. It is idle to conjecture what use
Bach might have made of the present heterogeneous
collection of orchestral stops, because they must have
been useless to the contrapuntal style ; and had Bach
written in the rhythmitonal manner, his works would
have been planned not for the organ, but for the
orchestra. The orchestral stops are there for the
purpose of orchestral imitation, and all the improved
^ ''The body of (vocal) sound used in performing Bach's church music is
regarded as a vast organ, of which the stops are more refined and flexible
and have the individuality of speech." (Spitta, " Life of Bach.")
IMITATION 203
facilities for registering point in the same direction.
The organ has taken to itself orchestral colour, and
has found means for the application of it ; part of the
instrument admits of a gradual crescendo ; ^ in other
respects it is the organ of Bach. Even its additions
do not greatly detract from its homogeneity, for organ-
tone is still too apparent for any trained ear to be
deceived into mistaking a stop for an orchestral instru-
ment. If a solo is played, the accompaniment, though
varying in colour and force, is of exactly the same
character as the solo, bearing not the slightest resem-
blance to a wind instrument accompanied by the strings.
This is mainly because there can be no difference of
attack and no accent upon the organ ; the diversities
of the orchestra lead naturally to divers uses of
time-outline ; on the organ there is but one generally
suitable, that of equal outline. The time-figure may
appear occasionally, but it takes a very subordi-
nate place. The parts are all on an exactly equal
footing, and therefore afford unrivalled opportunities
for imitation. Effects of time being of necessity in
the background, those of pitch take their place, and
in Bach's organ music is found the apotheosis of
sustained pitch - idiom and imitation. This is the
essential technique upon which the fugue and its
kindred types are built. Bach is to be regarded as
the consummator of contrapuntal art, into which he
introduced on the pitch-side somewhat of the license
of a descanter,^ and on the time-side the freedom of
' Mr. Hope-Jones' latest organ is entirely enclosed in swell-cases.
^ Hence students entering for examinations are advised not to study
Bach !
204 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
the rhythmist ; but he is more than this, he is also
the daring experimenter in idiomatic outline, although
its most striking development was necessarily closed
to him by reason of his contrapuntal habits of mind.
Taking his work as a whole, nothing shows Bach's
artistic greatness more than the fact that he limited
his musical utterance to types of form which were
absolutely in harmony with the style of which he was
master. A lesser man would have failed in Bach's
complete mastery of counterpoint for the purposes of
utterance, and might have wasted himself upon fruitless
rhythmitonal experiment. The result would have been
the mongrel style only too common in music. It is the
highest genius alone who can be called thoroughbred.
It is noteworthy that the original practice of
imitation in the primitive round has come down to us
virtually unaltered, except in the addition of further
chords and in the lengthening out of its phrase and
stanza. It remains still the only use of imitation
that can be described as linofual as well as vocal.
The words en i/msse are a nonsense effect, but each
single part makes sense without the repetitions and
elongations of syllables dear to counterpoint. The
words are considered to be of importance,, and are
indeed an essential feature of the type, and out of
the syllabic character of the word-phrase springs the
musical time-outline. It is this lingual character that
has given the round its popularity, and also confined
it within its present limits.
In the case of vocal counterpoint, though words
are sung it is clear that the essential forms of language,
IMITATION 205
and therefore for the most part its sense also, are dis-
regarded. There is neither phrase nor stanza, for
though what may be called a cadence articulation does
take place occasionally at long and uncertain intervals
(sometimes of over twenty bars !), it is only a pause
in the proceedings, and has nothing whatever to do
with the nature of the words employed nor with any
point or direction of the tonality of the music. It is
simply a casual cadence without any thought of phrase.
This vagueness of construction characterises all the
church-music of the period, and but little difference is
to be found between the various ecclesiastical types.
When contrapuntal elaboration threatened to override
all bounds of lingual decency and order the Church
protested, and even strove to abolish music from its
ritual. The nature of the reforms effected by Palestrina
consisted mainly in the restoration of some measure of
sense to the language employed in the church-music.
In secular music, where the Latin of the Church
was superseded by attractive poetic forms of the
vernacular, the desire to give expression to the words
necessarily introduced some measure of phrase-form
and stanza. And in proportion as phrase-form began
to come in to the froitola, canzonetta, villanello,
and balletto, the popular Italian part-songs of the
sixteenth century, counterpoint began to go out, the
two being mutually destructive. It is clear that
if words are being promiscuously repeated among a
number of voices at the same time, all moving inde-
pendently, that no possible effect of poetry, let alone
mere sense, can be produced. When the poetic phrase
2o6 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
began to predominate it compelled the voices to move
in blocks from chord to chord, and the part-song
became only distinguishable from its modern equiva-
lent by the nature of the cadences, which moved within
the vague inflections of the modes rather than in
the definite rhythm of the key. The poetic phrase
invaded the whole of secular vocal music, not ex-
cluding the cultured madrigal, which had originally
differed but little from the ecclesiastical motett. Per-
haps the greatest charm of the madrigal is that it
holds a delicate and ever - varying balance between
counterpoint on the one hand and an articulate phrase-
form on the other. Without being very strongly imita-
tive there are some madrigals that are purely contra-
puntal, and also a few that are merely part-songs,
but the majority exhibit every shade of difference
between these extremes in perfectly artistic combina-
tion. While phrase-form is sufficiently suggested to
give effect to the words (usually of a pastoral or
amorous character) the supreme beauty of vocal tone
is never sacrificed. For the strength of vocal counter-
point, whether imitative or promiscuous, lies in its
being a non-lingual style. It employs the voice for
its tone only as if it were an instrument, using words
as mere vocalisation, and developing its musical out-
lines unhampered by language. It is this that made
the contrapuntal art of the sixteenth century a thing
of beauty, though never a strong emotional utterance,
for that can only be achieved by the instrumental
idiom. The early instruments of the orchestra, domi-
nated as they were by the vocal style, demanded
IMITATION 207
music that led inevitably in the direction of idiomatic
development, and ultimately to its domination.
That counterpoint remained for the most part a
strict and unemotional style, except when vitalised by
a great genius, is due to the fact that in the first place,
as already observed, vocal usage is naturally stiffer than
instrumental, and that when counterpoint ceased to be
purely vocal it developed its technique on the lines of
the least expressive of musical instruments. Added
to this were the stereotyping influences of tradition, a
tradition that has perpetually mistaken the means for
the end, and delighted in mere feats of technical in-
genuity which are regarded as the aim and end of
music. To such performances the art of counterpoint
opened a wide playground, which proved in the earlier
stages its weakness, and in the end its destruction.
CHAPTER VII
LANGUAGE AND MUSIC
The lingual period of musical evolution— The time-character of language
compared with that of music — Word-songs and dance-songs — Inability
of language to develop true musical form — Recitative — Phrase-form
in music and language — Relation of the sense of words to musical form
— Difificulties of the combination — Music an essentially non-lingual art.
The influence of language on the evolution of musical
form is a subject that no student of the art can afford
to ignore. Music is vocal as well as instrumental, and
vocal music implies words. When once the primitive
stage is past, in which words are mostly meaningless
and exist only for the purpose of vocalisation, the art
of poetry begins to exert a powerful influence upon
musical form. It is natural that vocal music should
have the start of instrumental, because it is obviously
easier to sing than to invent an instrument. In the
one case the means of tone-production lie ready to hand,
in the other a long phase of evolution is necessary to
produce the means whereby an art may exist. Yet
because of the inevitable introduction of language into
vocal usage, the true independent art of music is instru-
mental, and, though late in its arrival, contains within
itself both the essentials of the present and the seeds
of the future. These elements existed in primitive art
before the ascendency of language had begun, and
remained for the most part in abeyance during what
208
LANGUAGE AND MUSIC 209
may be termed the lingLuil period of musical develop-
ment. It can readily be shown that language is opposed
to the essential idiom of music.
Although innocent of bars and time-beats, to a
certain limited extent it may be said that each lan-
guage produces a musical time-character of its own. It
is evident that the syllabic formation is an irregular
kind of time-outline, and must influence to some extent
this outline in vocal music. At the same time, the
sound-side of language rarely forms effective musical
figures such as are natural to an instrument, and
there exists no definite syllabic repetition (other than
the equality of poetic feet), such as is made by the
reiteration of the time-figure in music ; syllabic outline
is vague and irregular compared with musical pre-
cision, having no foundation of strict rhythm, and is
therefore destructive of the time-idiom of music.
Accordingly we find that in vocal music an equal
time-outline frequently prevails, or, if figures are found,
the outline generally lacks the close reiteration of the
figure necessary to its recognition as an idiom. It will
be found throughout the whole of musical evolution
that it is the rhythmic feeling associated with the
dance in instrumental usage that develops a strong
time-outline, and therefore an idiomatic style. Tunes
based upon a recurring time-figure do not owe that
figure to any verbal suggestion, but to unconscious
rhythmical instinct. The figure is repeated, not be-
cause it fits the words, but because it is a law of
nature that the figure shall repeat itself. When
language replaces the dance, vocal music departs upon
2IO THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
a line of its own, developing lingual outline, until
instruments begin to make their influence felt in the
evolution of the art. In European folk-music we find
all stages of the transition from voice to instrument.
Instruments are still of limited scope, and there are
dance-songs^ as well as word-songs. It is not possible
nor desirable to attempt a definite classification, for
the two styles merge naturally into one another ; but
it may be taken as a general distinction that the tunes
of clear time-idiom are dance-songs, and those of
equal outline, with or without figure variation, are the
word-songs. It may be said that, as regards the time-
idiom of instrumental music, the influence of language
is practically non-existent ; and where language has
had a hand in the making of vocal time-outline, the
result is sometimes a freer phrase, but a still further
stiffening of the naturally strict time-outline.
The connection of language with phrase-form in
music is a very much more vital matter, for, as has
already been shown, the phrase is common to both.
But what is here peculiar to music is the circling
rhythm which assists to articulate the phrase-form, and
this has no parallel in language, nor is there any form
of poetry which can of itself develop tonality in music.
A striking example of the helplessness of language
in this respect is afforded by the nature of the would-be
dramatic efforts to produce an artistic combination of
music and poetry by the inventors of opera in Italy at
the beginning of the seventeenth century. It is true,
of course, that any form of art must grow, and is not
^ Songs used in dancing, to which words form a mere accompaniment.
LANGUAGE AND MUSIC 211
made all at once by a few enthusiasts bent upon a new-
contrivance ; but if these composers had li^^hted upon
a true evolutionary basis of development, their work
would have achieved success on its own lines sooner
or later. The rhythmic motive power lay ready to
hand in the music of the people, but ignoring this, Peri
and his followers, led astray by false analogies with
Greek drama as to the relations of music and poetry,
sought in effect to make the cart draw the horse.
Rightly rejecting counterpoint as unsuited to their pur-
pose, they found little but chaos left. In the music
of culture there was neither idiom nor any circling
rhythm on which to build, but only the articulations
of unrelated modal cadences. Language came in and
prescribed the outlines of the phrase-form, but circling
rhythm was conspicuous by its absence, the essentials
of melody were missing, and the result was that most
dreary of all hybrids — recitative. Recitative, accom-
panied after the manner of a hymn tune that has lost its
way, and this not as a link to bind together more inte-
resting elements, but as the actual stuff of music ! Had
it not been for the later introduction of some essential
musical elements — by Monteverde of orchestration, by
Cesti and Stradella of melodic interest — it is unlikely
that we should ever have heard of this curious attempt
at musical form. Its value to posterity lies in its clear
illustration of the fact that language (and this the most
musical of all languages), having here a free hand and
an unprecedented chance in the making of music, made
nothing but an impossible kind of recitative.
The cadences of circling rhythm spring, like the
212 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
idiom, from the dance-song, out of simple alternation
of tonic and dominant. When there are but two or
three chords to be used, articulation must result from
the reiteration ; and where words are sung, the phrases
of language will naturally assist to define what they are
unable to create. The point where the word-influence
is strongest is in determining the length of the phrase,
and consequently the position of the cadences. This
influence shows itself in a strong tendency to stereo-
type the natural free articulations of music into fixed
formulas corresponding to those of language. But
everything here depends upon the nature of the poetic
form employed ; a free irregular outline will ally itself
naturally enough with music, but equal poetic lines tend
to produce in music a very formal effect, because the
articulation comes at regular intervals. On the other
hand, as harmony grows and more chords are employed,
and the general feeling for balance becomes stronger, in
instrumental music less and less articulation is required.
Reasoning from the analogy of language, many
writers have concluded that phrase-form, which is there
never absent, is also essential to music ; but this con-
clusion cannot be maintained. In an advanced stage of
circling rhythm, articulation is unnecessary. Phrases
are generally found, though not universally, but they
tread upon each other's heels so that a new phrase
begins in another part on or before the termination of
the former one. In this case the essential purpose of
phrase-form, which is articulation, is frustrated, since
there is here no break in the continuity ; and in much
instrumental music no phrase-form whatever can be
LANGUAGE AND MUSIC 213
found to exist, because the character of the music
frequently demands an unbroken continuity.
The mistake above referred to has arisen from sup-
posing that the constitution of music is similar to that
of language, whereas, though many points of likeness
do exist between the two, the fundamental develop-
ment of music is, as has been already explained, of a
different nature. And the nature of language differs
further from music in that its phrase-form is, compara-
tively speaking, of a uniform character. From the
actual word-outline apart from the sense, it would be
impossible to judge whether an idea was being stated
for the first time or developed, since the grammatical
form would scarcely vary, and the sentence-construction
would necessarily proceed much as usual, whatever was
being said. In a musical score, on the contrary, a
glance is sufficient to show whether statement or de-
velopment of an idea is taking place, for this statement
can be distinguished from development by the nature
of the actual outline. In language we proceed from
sentence to sentence, and new combinations of words
are incessantly introduced, demanding the articulation
of the sentence for their comprehension. In ad-
vanced musical form, once a clear statement of the
principal idea or ideas is made, there is little further
necessity for articulation, since these ideas themselves
form the actual stuff of the development (which consists
in a perpetual varying of the original statements), and
are therefore easily recognised without being formally
marked off from their context. The idiom is here all-
important ; there may frequently be phrases including
214 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
more than one figure, but in the great orchestral works
of music a definite phrase-form is rarely insisted on for
long, because it would produce a halting character, and
destroy that continuity which is one of the greatest
charms of the art. The practice of the great masters
is conclusive in this respect. The clear-cut marking
off of the original statement is perhaps nowhere more
remarkable than in the opening of Beethoven's C Minor
Symphony and of Wagner's prelude to " Tristan," while
the " Parsifal " prelude contains a masterly statement
of the main themes of the drama, each one distinctly
articulated by pause and rest, a procedure which never
occurs again after the development of these themes has
commenced. If a phrase-form is found, that phrase-
form is of the freest. The strict use of four-bar
phrases is little favoured by the great masters, except
in the " statement," where a prompt grasp of the
rhythmic matter being essential, the most naturally
obvious method is used. This if continued would become
nauseatingly obvious, as is frequently the case in the
works of lesser composers. But all the great rhythmic
giants of music have given prominence to time-idiom
and thrown phrase-form into its right place in the back-
ground, with just the amount of variation that will
neither confuse nor bore the listener. This variety is
endless within the length of phrase possible for the
mind to grasp, and the only thing avoided is unifor-
mity. If an irregular kind of time is used, such as I,
the phrases become stricter in order to balance it.
Never does phrase-form degenerate into the aimless
ramble that is caused by lack of balance, nor the rigidity
LANGUAGE AND MUSIC 215
due to want of rhythmic initiative, neither does it betray
the self-consciousness due to intentional design. It is
not trying to avoid being stiff, but is free by nature.
It is obvious that such freedom cannot possibly exist
in vocal music where the poetic phrase-form is pre-
served. The setting to music of an even word-phrasing,
poetic lines of equal length with a sense-pause at the
end of each, must necessarily produce equal phrase-
form in music, since it is obvious that the termination
of the tone-phrase must coincide with that of the word-
phrase. To avoid such monotony, irregular poetic
phrasing should be sought. The poetry best suited
in this respect for combination with music is either
that of equal lines where the sense-pauses occur fre-
quently in the course of the line instead of at the end
of it, thus creating a freer use of phrase, or else
where the line itself varies constantly in length and the
poetic accents fall irregularly, as in most of Wagner's
poetry.
So far we have considered only the sound-side of
language, but its sense-form has also a definite relation
to time-idiom. There is, unfortunately, in the com-
bination a certain opposition between sense and sound.
Language necessarily conveys its main impression, which
is intellectual, through understanding, its secondary one
through auditory sense ; music, on the contrary, is
purely emotional, and conveys all its impressions through
the ear. Hence language when sung is continually
liable to the reversal of its normal conditions through
the influence of music, and once the sense vanishes it
becomes a mere sound-peg for musical development.
2i6 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
No one can study vocal music without noticing the
senseless manner in which its language is frequently
employed. It is possible for a singer to have no intel-
lectual conception whatever of the words of his song,
and to be unable to arrive at their sense, unless he
consider them apart from the music. So strong is this
natural tendency, that if it be desired to enforce the
sense of words in music, while giving the voice the
chief melodic interest, song-music must be barred ac-
cording to the natural accents of the poetry. Each
sense-accent in the poetic line has to form the be-
ginning of the bar, and there must be no bar-line in
between the strong lingual accents, else superfluous
sense-accents will be introduced into the poetry and
destroy its effect. Exceptions may be made occasionally
with syncopated notes or sudden rises of pitch on a
weak part of the bar, but this is an effect of counter-
accent of an opposite nature to the normal use.
For the composer of vocal music there are two
courses open. One is to ignore poetic rhythm and
sense for the most part, and use the voice boldly to
the best advantage on its colour side, as has been done
in choral art. This is an effect of absolute music of
an instrumental character, the words suggesting no
more than a general sense of atmosphere. The other
legitimate effect is so to unite poetry and music that
though both must resign something, yet each gains
somewhat from the other. To music is added an
intellectual interest, and to poetry an emotional force.
It must be confessed, however, that in this combination
music appears to lose the most. If poetic rhythm is to be
LANGUAGE AND MUSIC 217
preserved as it must be, all the finest effects of imitative
writing (purely musical effects) have to be renounced,
for there can be no word-repetition, and the poetry must
flow on in its natural course ; therefore the chorus, if
employed, is reduced to a simple time-outline corre-
sponding to the poetic line. Modern attempts at
mixing the imitative with poetico-dramatic effects are
never a success, because they produce a hopeless con-
fusion of opposite styles. There is the further draw-
back that music requires more than double the length
of time for its idiom than does poetry. This difficulty
can be to some extent provided against by using what
is known as parallelism in poetry, a repetition of sense
with variations of language, and also by providing"
frequent sense-pauses in the course of the poetry,
which will allow of intermediate space in which to
develop the time-idiom of music. The artistic com-
bination of the two arts is an extremely difficult one
to accomplish in a large work, and requires poetry
specially written for the purpose.
It is evident that if elaborate choral effects are to
be resigned, the musical interest is restricted to the
solo voice and to instrumental writing. From what
has been already said, it is clear that the solo voice
cannot advantageously carry on a time-idiom ; yet this
being the essence of music, when ably worked out must
attract the chief attention of the hearers, because it
is the main source of imaginative musical utterance.
Either the idiom must disappear altogether, in which
case there will be no strong purely musical interest left,
or it must be carried on in instrumental parts indepen-
2i8 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
dently of the vocal ones. The latter is exactly what
has happened In modern music. Wagner, however he
might desire to enforce his drama and his poetry, was
powerless to avert the natural consequences of cause
and effect. Time-idiom can be nowhere but in the
orchestra, and wherever time-idiom is, there is the main
musical interest. The passing of a generation has
proved the fallacy of Wagner's theories and the cor-
rectness of his musical practice. His music holds its
own in the concert-room, innocent of the vocal parts
which the orchestra was supposed to accompany, but
even a Wagner enthusiast would not desire a perfor-
mance of a Wagner opera, or any portion of it, given
with the finest singers and without the orchestra.
If we admit poetry as the equal partner of music,
good results of the combination may be obtained, but
the finest in music will not be reached. This is only
found in purely instrumental art, or where the verbal
effect of vocal music has sunk into insignificance, and
the result is absolute music though words are sung.
This is the case in the primitive dance tunes, out of
which the modern art has evolved. We are thus
brought back to the statement that in the orchestra
lies the future of music as an independent art, and
the vocal style, if it is to take part in this further de-
velopment, must ignore poetry and revert to purely
musical conditions.
CHAPTER VIII
IDIOMATIC DEVELOPMENT
The type of the dance-song — Evolution of circling rhythm from melody
to polyphony — The birth of modern music — Principles versus types —
Text-book formulas and contradictions — So-called second subjects —
Omission of the idiom from theory — Outlines of analysis — Evolu-
tionary nature of tonality.
In tracing the natural evolution of music out of the
folk-period two distinct lines present themselves, both
governed in the first instance by stanza -form. The
one owes its origin mainly to the dance, the other to
the ballad.
The music of the folk - dance, as we know it, is
usually a simple tune of a single stanza, which is
repeated as often as required. Sometimes the full
close at the end is omitted in order to lead back more
easily to the beginning, and this shows the natural
rhythmic instinct of the dance for continuity, and con-
sequent desire to be rid of the full-stop of the stanza.
The repetition of some clearly defined figure at the
beginning is sufficient to indicate the point of reitera-
tion. In another case the dance - tune will complete
its stanza with one or more repetitions, and then pro-
ceed to a new stanza, repeated in like manner until a
return is made to the first. In this simple beginning
lies the germ of what is generally known as the Minuet
and Trio, and also of all the types grouped under
220 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
the head of Aria and Song, the principle of which
is (i) statement of one idea; (2) statement of a second
idea; and (3) restatement of the first idea, with pro-
bably a slight prolongation known as the coda added
to round off the whole. The sole difference between
the popular and the cultured type is that there is
more of the latter. We find, perhaps, double or treble
the number of phrases, with corresponding variety in
the cadences, a longer coda, and the rhythm of the
key-circle called in to provide tonalitive contrast that
will emphasise the difference between the two ideas.
The second idea is probably in the key of the domi-
nant, and this necessitates a longer treatment than the
centering tune of the folk-dance. But as if to show
that tonality is not considered to be a sufficient means
of contrast in itself, at this stage the same idea is
not repeated in another key, but the new key is the
natural complement of the new tune. This simple
foundation has always been, and still remains, the most
useful of all musical types on a small scale. It may
be developed till each part contains several stanzas
and a modulative outline within itself, provided the
essential principle of contrast in the middle section be
maintained. Its general character is melodic rather than
strongly idiomatic, for though figures may be found
and even an idiom may be traced, as a general rule
the phrase and stanza-forms are well pronounced, and
this indicates the subordination of idiomatic to melodic
interest. This type of form, when taken at a slow
pace, is usually of a cantabile and expressive nature.
In rapid movement the time-features tend to pre-
IDIOMATIC DEVELOPMENT 221
dominate, and the Scherzo character appears. The
Minuet stands half-way between these two types, and
has in its cadences something of the formal precision
characteristic of the society dance.
Taken as a whole the type exhibits a small circling
rhythm in process of formation, which, once brought
to perfection, can get no further, and consequently dis-
appears as a factor of the later development. This
is an inevitable part of musical evolution. Melody,
being by nature a small type of form, must arrive at
a comparative perfection while harmony is still restricted
to half-a-dozen chords. At this stage melody is the
vehicle of circling rhythm, reinforced by harmony
expressed in definite cadences of limited scope. But
as tonality develops and seeks a larger field, its tendency
is to break the bounds of the formal cadences of melody
and find its natural outlet in harmony. Thereupon
the cadences begin to melt away into continuous chord-
movement, and the formal outlines of melody vanish
also. Thus the melody that belongs to this wide
harmonic range is necessarily of a different character
from the small independent type. It has a far greater
harmonic adaptability, and since it is now no longer
cut up into small fragments by cadences, it offers
opportunities for free polyphonic treatment. But lest
there should be (as frequently has been the case)
an over-balance in favour of the factor of polyphony,
the balance is adjusted by the natural predominance
of time-idiom, which is now able to make itself felt
as a factor of surpassing interest, unchecked by the
formalities of the cadence. Circling rhythm is trans-
222 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
ferred to harmony, and melody, resolved into the
pitch-Idiom, becomes of interest for its idiomatic and
undulating characteristics only. In this way a pliant
style is produced of an entirely different texture to
the smaller stanza type. It is mainly this difference
of texture (idiom and polyphony replacing melody) that
distinouishes the later stao;e from the earlier.
This new texture of musical material beg-ins to
show signs of developing itself in Haydn's work, and
is scarcely to be found in that of his predecessors, all
of whom were more or less influenced by contrapuntal
training. Haydn, we find, was in the matter of com-
position self-taught, of peasant birth, and familiar from
babyhood with the folk-dance. Exactly at the time
when his development as a composer required it, he
was completely isolated from the rest of the musical
world and carried into the wilderness by his patron
Esterhazy. Owing to the lack of means of communi-
cation and transport, in those days the wilderness was
the wilderness. Haydn was thrown entirely upon his
own resources, and forced to be himself, since he had
no one to imitate. A band at his disposal supplied
him with the means of hearing and testing his orchestral
effects. These were ideal conditions for natural music
to grow in, unhampered by the swaddling-clothes of
counterpoint.
These facts sufficiently account for the appearance
at this particular period of what has since been gene-
rally recognised as the birth of modern music. It was
simply that music had at last found a congenial soil
and atmosphere. That the new style did not die with
IDIOMATIC DEVELOPMENT 223
Haydn, but was taken up by his contemporaries, shows
that there was that in it which appealed to their natural
musical instinct. Bach had accomplished in counter-
point all that man could do, and a change was wel-
comed ; but it must have been a change of the right
sort that could have lured musicians so completely
from the time-honoured paths. There was no deliberate
and conscious intention of making something new, but
the expression of a rhythmic force pushing its way
out into tone-imaginings, both destroying and creat-
ing anew. All music is dependent upon the instru-
ments of its utterance — firstly, the instrument of the
imagination ; secondly, the instruments of the actual
tone. It is when the right mind and the right means
come together, the initial imagination, then the players
with their instruments, that a sudden and startling
advance takes place, an advance that, without regard
to the long and silent storage of force preceding it,
might appear of the nature of a miracle.
We are commonly told that at this period of special
grace arrived all the form of absolute music, a series of
types of absolute beauty representing a standard that
later generations ignore at their peril. Setting aside the
extreme unlikelihood, not to say impossibility of such
a general proposition, one might point out that no
great composer has ever reproduced the style of a
predecessor without transforming it almost out of
knowledge, and adding thereto much of his own.
Reproduction in art means stagnation. An age that
has life in itself will be absorbed in seeking its own
outlets, not in copying the work of its predecessors.
224 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
What is eternal are the principles on which form is
built ; what is mutable is the form itself.
That the name of a special type of form survives long
after its actual nature has undergone transformation
does not check natural evolution, but may deceive the
unlearned into supposing that they still possess the
thing to which the name was originally given. Thus
the term " sonata," as first applied by the Italian school
of the early eighteenth century to a solo composition
for violin with harpsichord accompaniment, had scarcely
anything either in its texture or matter to suggest what
is now generally understood by the name. These
labels are thus frequently misleading, because they are
made to cover many various types of form. When
we are once past the early stage of tonality, and the
cadence has ceased to be essential, the tendency is at
once to greater variation, and to produce types of
form that merge into other types, which it is well-
nigh impossible to classify with any approach to
accuracy. That much classification exists already is
due mainly to the superficial method of analysis which
has hitherto prevailed. It is evident, if we select only
a few features out of many, and these the less essential,
and proceed to classify as if they represented all that
there is to know, that the thing can easily be done.
When it is accomplished it may be a convenient
formula wherewith to dose the young, but as the in-
tellectual summing-up of what does actually exist it
would be ludicrous, were it not so essentially false.
With idiomatic development comes naturally a greater
freedom and elaboration of subjects, complex variations
IDIOMATIC DEVELOPMENT 225
meet us at every turn, and to analyse with any com-
pleteness a few of the greatest works in music from
this point of view alone would fill volumes.
Possibly for this reason educational text-books and
primers are given to passing lightly over the matter,
presenting analyses of the sonata-type somewhat after
this manner : —
Exposition — First subject: Bars, 1-13; bridge-
passage, 13-49; second subject: 50-66; codetta,
66-81 ; free fantasia, 82-129. Recapitulation — First
subject: 130-142; bridge -passage, 142-174; second
subject: 175-191 ; coda, 191-229.
It is evident that the above formula, presented
as an analysis, conveys about as much idea of the
character of the movement as might be gained of the
aspect and style of a house by a careful counting of
the bricks in its several walls. Unfortunately, when
once this method of dealing with " form " has been
acquired, teachers and students are only too prone to
rest satisfied that this is all there is to know. And
since the assumption is negatively acquiesced in, if
not actively encouraged by standard instruction books,
who can blame them ?
The line of reasoning upon which such analysis is
founded appears to run as follows : There is a first
subject, and there is also a second subject ; the second
subject is in the key of the dominant ; therefore, the
first subject once stated, as soon as the dominant key
appears, there is the second subject ; if the first sub-
ject chance to modulate to the dominant, it is no longer
the first subject, but is now part of the second sub-
226 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
ject. Further, there is a development section ; in the
development section the first subject is developed ;
therefore, should it appear to develop elsewhere, this
is no longer the first subject, but it is a bridge-passage,
or, it may be, the second subject. As well might one
reason thus : Should an Englishman go to France he
is now a Frenchman, because at this moment there are
no Englishmen in France. But haply, if he travel at
another season, then he is still an Englishman. We
are but mad " north-north-west."
Such considerations do not disconcert the authors
of musical primers. First subjects masquerade in their
pages as second subjects, or as " missing links," and
nobody so much as scents a joke. Even if the domi-
nant key make its appearance in the middle of a phrase,
there begins the second subject. As well might an
author start a chapter in the middle of a sentence. It
is clear from the text-books that Beethoven did not
know what he was about.
This fatuous theory, as might be expected, breaks
down in practice.
Dr. H. A. Harding ("Analysis of Form") analyses
thus the opening of the first movement of Beethoven's
Sonata in A Major, Op. loi — First subject : 1-4 ;
connecting episode, 5-16; second subject: 16-25;
coda, 25-33.
Mr. W. H. Hadow ("Sonata Form") describes it
as follows : —
" Its first subject is a melody in A Major with a
deceptive cadence ; then comes a bar of transition
modulating to E, then a second subject (beginning
IDIOMATIC DEVELOPMENT 227
with the last chord of bar 7 and ending with the first
chord of bar ;^2>)-' I his amounts to — First subject:
1-6 ; transition, 7 ; second subject : 8-33 ; but one bar
of connecting- episode, a second subject in another
place altogether, and no coda.
A movement of this type is described by some
writers as binary, by others as ternary, and these are
names supposed to represent entirely different species.
The Adagio of Beethoven's Sonata in G, Op. 31, is
.said by Dr. Harding to be a rondo ; according to Mr.
Hadow it is a simple ternary type. Other instances
might be named. ^ These are all important points, and
cannot be set aside as matters of detail.
Under these circumstances how is the unhappy
student to decide ? Probably, and wisely, he will give
it up as hopeless.
The cardinal error in such teaching lies in the
emphasis given to the transient and secondary features
of a past age. What was merely a phase has been
made the essential condition. In the sonata-type of
Haydn and Mozart the first and second subjects
were actually blocked off by cadence and pause ;
the dominant key coincided with the entrance of the
second subject ; on this point no doubt could exist.
In Beethoven's style appears a continuity peculiar then
to himself, and these formal outlines disappear. Hence
the dilemma of the theorists when they persist in
endeavouring to explain a Beethoven sonata by means
of the obsolete formula.s. It is an attempt to make a
^ See Macpherson's "Form in Music," p. 132, and compare with
Harding's " Analysis of Form," p. 62,
228 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
strict tonalitive development appear the sole under-
lying cause of the sonata-type, to say that this
is, in effect, an affair of keys, tonics, and modulation
in the first place, and of ideas only in the second
place/ The sooner it is understood that the tonali-
tive conditions of the sonata-type were the result
and not the cause of its existence, the better for the
understanding both of the sonata and of more recent
developments. To the old - fashioned formulas the
present generation of composers will have nothing to
say once past its schooldays, and rightly, for these
things have no bearing upon the essentials of music.
Nor, as has been shown, can they in themselves ex-
plain the type they are supposed to summarise. The
essential principle is omitted, the vital principle to be
found in all rhythmitonal music of whatever age or
nation, the reiterative outline of the idiom.
Whether there is one subject or two, whether one
secondary subject or many, whether these occur in the
key of the dominant or in some other key, these are
points that might assist us in determining the exact
position of a work in the evolutionary order, were
there any doubt on the point. But since we are now
well within the historical period, such investigations
are superfluous, and, from the point of view of prac-
tical analysis, they suggest an entirely false standard,
because they are secondary considerations.
To any one who has mastered the elements of
music there will be no difficulty in knowing at once
^ "The primary fact in musical structure is key-distribution " (Hadow,
" Sonata Form," para. 4).
IDIOMATIC DEVELOPMENT 229
what chords are used, what keys are employed, where
cadences occur ; this is the mere grammar of the art.
When we are reading a poem, we do not stop to
consider its grammatical formulas unless there is some-
thing wrong about them which invades our attention.
In like manner should all great music be studied, and
it is entirely useless to analyse inferior compositions,
which depend upon sensuous effect, and are lacking
in the higher rhythmic development.
The essential thing is the following out of the
idiom ; this will reveal the true balance of the work.
It will serve to indicate the purpose and the relations
of the various climaxes, the outlines of the undu-
lating rhythm that, along with tonality, exists for the
purpose of developing idiomatic utterance, the manner
in which close reiteration will lead up to a climax
of feeling that subsides again into the serenities of
equal outline ; the contrasts afforded by the juxta-
position of varying ideas heightened by effects of
orchestral colour, of modulation, of chromatic harmonies,
of force-variations. All this and much more will be
grasped by a conscientious and thorough examination
of the precise time and pitch formation of the ideas
and their manifold transformations and ramifications
in idiomatic treatment. And when we have thus
pierced to the core of musical form, it does not seem
to matter greatly whether we call it sonata, symphony,
symphonic poem, or by any other name. Provided
the true rhythmic utterance is there it will justify itself
to the understanding, and if it is not there, there is
nothing worth looking for. In the end, it will always
230 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
be found that all music which makes a great and a
permanent impression upon the imagination reveals a
complex development of this nature, marvellous to the
intellect which thus from its own standpoint confirms
and ratifies the intuitive impression. To artists, there
is no need to enlarge upon the value of such an
experience.
In order to estimate rightly the work of any com-
poser, we must take into account the exact conditions
of rhythmic development of the material of the art
which prevailed in his lifetime. These must neces-
sarily limit his utterance. For instance, when tonali-
tive perception is at the stage where the central
key requires much insistence, and admits only of
mild contrast without loss of the circling rhythm,
obviously modulation will be limited, and a large
proportion of the composition will be devoted to the
centering outline. Hence a tradition grows up that
these exact tonalitive conditions are the only right
ones, providing a pattern that all the weaker brethren
hasten to copy. Presently comes along a genius who
breaks the traditions and introduces a new balance,
less centering outline and stronger contrasts, and
this again in its turn creates what is called a
"form" and sets up a tradition. The second com-
poser may or may not be greater than the first ; that
is a matter, in the first instance, of rhythmic initia-
tive ; both may have equally broken down traditions
and thus enlarged the scope of idiomatic treatment.
But the second starts from a larger platform than the
first, and this means greater emotional possibilities
IDIOMATIC DEVELOPMENT 231
because a wider technique. In the earHer stages
of tonaHty coherence and placidity go hand-in-hand.
If one key is much dwelt upon, as then it must
be, repose ensues, and this the strongest idiom
is unable entirely to counteract. When stanza-form
gives way to the looser framework of the idiom it
is not nearly so easy to grasp the circling rhythm,
unpunctuated now by the cadence-articulation. Hence
the insistence upon the central key, the establishment
of this by a mild form of contrast associated with
another subject, the grouping of modulation into one
place in the middle, then the recapitulation of all the
first part in the central key only, the familiar tonali-
tive scheme which characterised the sonata-type
of Haydn and Mozart. Without some such definite
formula in which to expand their idioms composers
would have lost their way at this period, but as the
perception of circling rhythm ripened, it became no
longer a need, but a convention. Having served its
purpose, it vanished into the sonata-type of Beethoven.
Practically nothing is here retained but the modula-
tions of the middle section, and the recapitulation of
the close, the identity of which is generally disguised
by considerable alteration and a long coda. The thing
that links these two examples together and justifies the
application of the same name to both is the idiomatic
treatment. This has expanded in all directions and
gained enormously in emotional power, involving con-
trasts and climaxes impossible to the earlier stage.
But there can be no doubt that we have still
here the identical idiomatic oudine, emphasised and
232 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
strengthened by the character of the mind that now
employed it. At the same time, though the nature
of Beethoven was doubtless a far deeper and more
passionate one than that of Haydn or Mozart, this
nature alone does not account for all the difference
in his compositions. Tonalitive perception, in general,
had reached what made a point of departure for one
mind of prodigious strength to embark from ; but for
that starting-point the final goal could not have been
reached. But for the development of tonality, the
ideas could not have been thus uttered.
And this goal was final only for Beethoven. So
far has our sense of tonality grown, that Beethoven's
tonalitive scheme has become in its turn a convention.
There is now no need to pack the bulk of modulation
into the middle part only, and admit long spaces of
exact recapitulation in order to define tonality. So
keen has grown our sense of the central key that,
when once stated, suggestion and occasional reference
are all that is required. Less and less has tonalitive
coherence to be considered, since it has become an
obvious thing ; the repose of the key is emotionally
just as effective, nay, more so, because there need
be no more of it than the emotional nature of the
work requires ; orchestral instruments no longer con-
fine modulation ; there is unlimited scope for idiomatic
development. In the idiom alone lies the link with
the past and with the future.
CHAPTER IX
DERIVED VOCAL TYPES
The folk-ballad — Origin of the rondo — Mixed types — The rondo in the
East — The European rondo — The variation type — The early Welsh
type — The middle stage — Final development into idiomatic outline.
The line of development that takes its origin from
the folk-ballad is even more closely connected with
stanza-form than the line that originates in the dance.
As already observed, language cannot make a circling
rhythm, but undoubtedly it does suggest a phrase-
form, and it leads to the articulation of the stanza.
When once the small tonalitive type of melody which
usually accompanies the folk-ballad has been evolved,
its further development offers opportunities of a differ-
ent character to those of the folk-dance, and these arise
mostly out of its alliance with language.
The folk-ballad consists usually of a number of
verses or stanzas of equal length. To all these verses
one tune is repeated, with or without slight variations.
These variations arise out of the varied syllabic formulas,
but still more so from the character of the story which
is generally a feature of the song. The events of the
tale will demand now rapidity of utterance, now a
deliberate slackening ; the special words to be em-
phasised will vary in each verse, even the pitch-outline
of the tune may be altered to suit the character of the
words. The peasant singer does all this naturally and
234 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
unconsciously, intent upon his tale, and instinctively
adapting his musical utterance to the emotional char-
acter of his text. Considered as a folk-song only,
this is a type complete in itself, and that admits of but
little advance upon vocal lines.
The cultured song which has different music to suit
each verse {durch-componirt^ as the Germans have it),
does not develop out of the ballad, but is a vocal
rendering of the folk-dance already considered. Its
basis is statement, contrast, and restatement ; and this
is a fact so completely recognised that the name song-
type has come to be applied to it. Upon this all the
modern varieties are built. It is necessary to take
into account the cross-currents and borrowings of vocal
and instrumental music in order to understand their
respective developments.
The type known as the Rondo seems to be an
instance of mixed origin. It involves several recur-
rences of the first idea, with contrasting links in between.
Thus it may have developed out of the simple dance-
song by addition of another contrasting idea and further
repetition of the opening subject (involving five divisions
instead of three), but it seems to be more accurately
accounted for by the refrain or burden which frequently
concluded each verse, both of the folk-ballad and of the
choral dance. The repetition of the same words natu-
rally called for repetition of the same tune, or it is again
possible that the desire to repeat the tune called for the
same words, which are often mere nonsense. Recur-
rence is less essential to poetry than to music ; therefore
the idea of the rondo may well have originated in the
DERIVED VOCAL TYPES 235
choral dance, afterwards owing some of its development
to the ballad, and at a later period, when the music of
the dance had grown beyond two ideas only, becoming
an instrumental dance-type.
It should be borne in mind that two statements only
of an idea do not constitute a rondo as generally under-
stood, and to apply the name rondo to the primitive
dance-song destroys a clear distinction which un-
doubtedly does exist. The essential idea of the rondo
seems to be varied alternation, one factor persisting and
the other changing ; and this is not the same thing as
alternation of two similar factors throughout. This
must sooner or later involve monotony, whereas the
rondo is continually introducing new ideas, without
losing hold of its original theme. It is therefore a type
freer, more highly organised, and hence less primitive,
than strict alternation of ideas.
Equally distinct from the rondo is the type that,
after one repetition of each stanza, or perhaps without
repetition, goes on continually to something different
in the next stanza. In this case there is nothing but
similarity of key, and a general resemblance of style to
preserve unity. This is usually combined with words,
which assist to hold the movement together, as in
the English glee and the modern part-song. In the
music of the Byzantine empire, this rambling character
is found also in instrumental usage in the modern
Turkish schiarky for the piano. This music is, on
its pitch side, a somewhat unsatisfactory mixture of
European and Asiatic characteristics, in which har-
monic tonality and a highly elaborate modal scheme
236 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
appear to strive for mastery, each thwarting the other.
It is a mongrel species of low rhythmic development,
and considering that the Turks have not hitherto
shown themselves an artistic nation, this is scarcely
surprising.
In India and China the true rondo type appears
in the actual ballad. A popular Hindu ballad opens
with the theme (called pallevi, two bars in length),
which recurs after each stanza, usually about six times
in all. The stanza-form is irregular, one example being
as follows : Bars (without theme repetition) in each
stanza: 2.8.4.8.6. This, including the theme repetitions
and two introductory bars leading from it to the first
contrasting stanza, makes a total of forty-two bars.-^
In a Chinese ballad example the theme, two bars
in length, is started on the orchestra (a collection of
guitars and pipes), and recurs twice in alternation with
the voice, which has phrases of varying length ; the
whole of this is one stanza, and, when the voice has
concluded on a long note, the orchestra comes in with
four bars of melody, more or less in imitation of the
vocal part, before it recurs to the rondo theme. Time-
figures appear and assist to unify the ballad, but its
essential unity is due to the reiteration of the tune.
Here the orchestra provides the persisting factor, the
voice the changing ones. There are said to be no
fewer than forty-eight stanzas in this particular ballad,
so the audience would have heard plenty of the theme
before it was done with.^
In all Eastern music, owing to the absence of har-
^ See Appendix, Section Y.
DERIVED VOCAL TYPES 237
mony, the cadence is frequently indefinite, phrase-form
is articulated by rest, and stanza by special emphasis
and pause on the last note. Nothing in the exact
nature of the European block stanza can exist, and this
appears at first to add to the indefiniteness of Eastern
music, notwithstanding its fundamentally coherent and
intelligible basis.
The European rondo is an instrumental type re-
markable for the precision and regularity of its cadences.
Bach infused into it the free flow of counterpoint, but
this was but a passing phase, for Haydn and Mozart
reverted to the distinctly articulated type that had been
well established by Couperin in his harpsichord pieces.
With the development of the idiom the rondo became
freer and larger, and its various sections began to mingle
with one another ; but substantially the same type
persisted, and it has remained one that grows by addi-
tion rather than by process of idiomatic development.
It has generally been associated with some rapidity of
tempo, and has now an air of simplicity, compared
with complex idiomatic treatment, that suggests its
folk-origin.
The music of the folk-ballad, devoid of refrain, has
been also transferred to instrumental art. Under the
names of Variations, Chaconne, Ground,^ Doubles, &c.,
it has a long pedigree, and was the first natural type of
form to be cultivated by European musicians. Funda-
mentally it is a melody, repeated with variations sug-
gested originally by the vocal variations of the ballad.
Once this type had dropped its words by transfer to
^ A ground was continual repetition of the bass of one phrase or stanza.
238 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
an instrument, the need for greater variation in the
melody became at once apparent, since the element of
variety supplied by the ballad story disappeared. But
the primitive characteristic remained, and distinguished
it from the rondo. Instead of introduction of a new
melodic idea, the same melody formed the foundation
of the whole movement, and its phrase and stanza
were exactly repeated. In later times the manner
of variation differed greatly, and it might be the bass
or the harmony that made the unit of recurrence ;
but whatever that unit was, it recurred with its
cadences in exactly similar positions ; and this division
into well-defined and equal blocks, the matter of which
was constantly repeating itself in differing ways, is
what characterises the variation-type from first to
last. This precise and formal nature, combined with
a usually centering outline, commended it to the early
English composers, who in their virginaU pieces used
little else, with the exception of the contrapuntal prelude.
The texture of the movement admitted of some adoption
of the customary contrapuntal manner, and assisted the
use of imitation when a popular melody was taken as
the theme, but its reiterative stanza character was en-
tirely opposed to the unbroken flow of counterpoint.
At this time (the sixteenth century) it was a useful com-
promise between popular and scholastic ideals, though
its method was rigid. This, however, is by no means
the first appearance of the variation-type in notation.
Reference has already been made to the Welsh
school of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The
^ An early keyed instrument, preceding the harpsichord.
DERIVED VOCAL TYPES 239
standard instrumental music of the Welsh was founded
upon the variation-type only. Originally indistinguish-
able from vocal music and governed by the twenty-
four measures (or metres) of poetry, which was called
" song of the voice," instrumental music became recog-
nised as a separate art by order of the Prince Gruffydd
ab Cynan, and was called " song of the strings."
Musical degrees were instituted, and students had to
study many years to obtain the highest distinctions of
the bards. In order to establish some basis of musical
form apart from poetry, twenty-four measures of music
are said to have been introduced from Ireland, and as
the names of the measures are not in Welsh but in
ancient Irish, this appears very likely. The Welsh
have always shown independence in music in their
rejection of the Gregorian style, but the Celtic music
of Ireland must naturally have been closely allied
with their own, and similar methods would commend
themselves to both countries. The foundation of this
music was harmonic and not melodic, apparently for
the simple reason that whereas harmony (especially in
a primitive stage) admits of easy classification, with
melody this is far more difficult, Vv^elsh music shows
no lack of melodic instinct, but its theory, based
upon that most primitive of harmonic usages, alterna-
tion of tonic and dominant, consisted of the measures,
already described, which were from one to six bars
in length, with a chord on each beat. Four-beat time
was the most frequent, but three-beat is also found,
and change of bar occurs, as also change from dual to
ternal time. The phrase of the measure, commonly of
240 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
four bars, usually begins and invariably ends on the
tonic chord. The chord-succession of the measure is
repeated throughout the variations. Above it appears
one part consisting of some simple pitch-figure con-
stantly reiterated with occasional synchronous consonant
intervals, and what is usually called the theme does not
differ greatly in form from the variations. At the same
time each variation has a distinct character, for what-
ever pitch-figure is chosen distinguishes it throughout,
and usually forms an idiom. Syncopations appear
sometimes, but for the most part equal time-outline
prevails. Thus there is little of time-idiom to be
found. Celtic imagination runs rather to wealth of
decoration than to the definite utterance of the time-
idiom. What is generally known as ornament in music
consists of shakes, trills, grace-notes, and turns, too
rapid to have any idiomatic significance ; and this Welsh
music had an extensive set of signs to this effect used
incessantly, the exact reproduction of which can only
be guessed. Upon this decorative principle the in-
terest of the variations chiefly depended. It is a very
primitive type, as appears from its monotony, but it is
of great interest as indicating a stage in the evolution of
music that has scarcely been known to exist. ^
The drawback of the variation-type, found in it from
the Welsh music onwards, lies in the ease with which
it adapted itself to any kind of superficial triviality. It
became all things to all men — to the Welsh decorative,
to the English contrapuntal, to others melodic and har-
monic, but to none of these the true musical utterance
^ See Appendix, Section Z.
DERIVED VOCAL TYPES 241
of great art. This is perhaps not surprising, since
technical ingenuity was the thing required of musicians,
and spontaneous utterance was regarded with suspicion.
There is something almost pathetic in the frequent
borrowings of composers of all nations from folk-song,
showing their instinctive desire for what they themselves
were unable to create ; and when a borrowed tune super-
ficially decked out made the essence of the variations,
necessarily these took the name of art in vain. The
type had all the littleness of the folk-ballad in an
attenuated form, without any of the breadth possible
to the independent contrapuntal style. It was at once
limited and monotonous and yet spun out at great length,
and there existed no proportion between its duration
and its tonality, since one key was usually employed
throughout. Deprived of the natural consecutive in-
terest and relation of parts to a dramatic climax which
is usually to be found in the ballad, it was a mere string
of loosely connected units, because the feeling for
undulating rhythm in music on a large scale (which
takes the place of what is called dramatic sense in
literature) arrived very late, and had to wait upon the
growth of the idiom that alone made it possible. Pitch
and time idioms are found in the variation-type, but
pitch mostly predominates, and neither can develop fully
because of the cadence block continually recurring.
So long as the stanza-form is held intact, all that can
be done is to have as long a stanza as possible, and
while the tonality is so limited, to make variety by
means of imitation and the idioms. This Bach, in his
chaconnes, was able to do by means of his astound-
242 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
ing mastery of imitation and of pitch-idiom. In his
variations harmonic outline is, as with the Welsh, the
unit of recurrence ; but unlike them he forms a string
of complete little movements hung on the thread of the
harmony, each of varied emotional interest. Thus the
variation-type began to take on a human character, and
to come to its own as a musical utterance. In the
sonata period more ease and freedom were infused
into it, and, in the hands of Beethoven, it becomes at
length an even freer movement than its companion, the
sonata-type. Instead of the formal and stiffly divided
reiteration of one theme, the cadences for the most
part fall out or are rendered inconspicuous, subsidiary
themes appear in other keys, and while the main theme
is varied and transformed in every conceivable way,
the whole works towards a climax to which every part
of the movement bears its relation. The stanza-form
can now scarcely be found if it is looked for, and has
entirely ceased to obtrude itself. This extraordinary
and sudden transformation of a type that had existed
for so many centuries almost untouched is due to the
same causes that developed the sonata-type out of
the primitive dance-song. The essential personality
of a composer, which cannot be freely expressed until
a corresponding freedom has arrived in the means of
expression, is the transforming influence ; and the
freedom of the means consists in the development of
rhythm as a whole, and especially of musical idiom.
Thus the folk-ballad by its long road, and the
dance-song by its seemingly short one, arrived together
at the same goal.
CHAPTER X
THE CYCLE
Anomalous cycles of opera and oratorio — The Mass — Ordered sequence
of the suite — Early French dance-types — Tonalitive scheme of suite
— A cosmopolitan cycle for the harpsichord — -The modern suite — The
greater cycle — Reversal of time and pitch characteristics of suite —
Influence of instruments — The early sonata a combination of differ-
ing types of form in a small balance — Development of larger balance
under Beethoven — Undulating rhythm essential to unity of a great
musical work — Unity of subjects — The quartet.
The Cycle is a succession of several movements grouped
together under one head. Whether this succession
presents (i) a string of disconnected movements ; or
(2) an ordered sequence ; or (3) one single conception
in which each part is essential to the balance of the
whole, the result is still considered to be a cycle.
Between the mere fact of succession and the artistic
whole there are all shades of variation to be found, and
these variations depend entirely on the use made of
units of recurrence.
The desire for the cycle arose when unity on a
small scale, that is, within the limits of a small move-
ment, was understood, but unity on a large scale was
unthought of. What was wanted was greater length,
but how to fill these greater time-spaces puzzled the
composer of limited imaginative power. The day for
unwearying repetition was past, and musical types,
with the one exception of the variations, were very
244 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
short. The problem was solved by falling back upon
language to supply the factor of unity required ; a
dramatic tale presented in secular or sacred guise on
the stage was the origin of the musical cycles known
as Opera and Oratorio. As soon as music had re-
covered from the recitative phase of the early seven-
teenth century, both the opera and oratorio settled
down into the cycle, a heterogeneous succession of
airs, choruses, ballets, and little instrumental interludes
called ritornelles. Where the story would not lend
itself to any of these types it fell back upon recita-
tive, which became thus a useful though no longer
the most important feature of the opera. After a
time oratorio left the stage for the concert-room, and
developed itself upon less dramatic and more musical
lines, but its cyclic character changed for the worse.
Its choruses became under Carissimi, and later under
Handel, more contrapuntal, its arias more florid ; accom-
panied recitative also made its appearance, and if we
except the choral works of J. S. Bach, who infused
a contrapuntal character and therefore a unity of style
into everything he wrote, oratorio was and is a hope-
less anomalous mixture, not only of differing types,
but also of differing styles. It is least unsatisfactory
when the dramatic story, if there at all, is filtered
down into moral or pastoral reflections which offer
some scope for counterpoint. Its popularity is due
largely to its religious associations, but as a cyclic
whole it lacks form, despite the frequent virtues of its
factors separately considered.
On the other hand, the movements of operas were
THE CYCLE 245
generally discreditable as music, filled with super-
ficialities that would show oft' the charms of the solo
voice, or the decorative arrangements of the stage.
In opera as a whole there was less anomaly, because
it did not lend itself so well to contrapuntal methods,
but there was far more superficiality. Considered as
a union of arts, the need for musical display in a
series of fragments spoilt the drama, and the drama
itself was an encumbrance to the music. The attempt
to supply the place of musical unity by means of the
dramatic unity of a story was not an artistic success.
The operatic cycle had no form at all in the rhythmic
sense, but remained a mere stringing together of un-
related parts. Musical reiteration of some sort is
necessary to musical unity ; a reiteration not merely
within the limits of each part, but carried on through-
out the whole. This in opera is conspicuous by its
absence ; hence the lack of unity and also of contrast,
which are the essential conditions of form.
The Catholic Mass, though certainly a cycle, is not
an easy one to define musically. Its unity is funda-
mentally literary, admitting of many diverse musical
interpretations. In the course of a long history, it
seems to offer examples of almost every musical style
that has ever existed in Europe. It gave birth to
the vocal contrapuntal style of the sixteenth century,
which must be regarded as specially belonging to it,
and nevertheless it has proved an inspiration of the
highest order to later contrapuntal and rhythmitonal
composers. Again, it has been merely a peg for
superficial music of the operatic stamp. Under its
246 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
many guises it comprehends the whole range of cyclic
variation ; its sequence of movements is now anomalous,
now orderly, in the hands of genius rising at times
into the unity of the balanced whole. The fact can
never be overlooked that the two greatest choral works
of music, the masterpieces of Bach and Beethoven, are
founded upon the Mass.
The first cycle of instrumental music was that
known as the Suite, which belonged to the seventeenth
and early eighteenth centuries. It was written for the
harpsichord, and consisted of a string of little move-
ments in stanza-form all in the same key and on the
same tonalitive scheme, each of which was called after
a favourite dance of society. With the name the
resemblance to the actual dance ceased, if we except a
certain convention which was in force prescribing the
time-signature proper to each, and which may very
well have arisen from the original dance-movement.
It is a question whether the debt owed by the
suite to dance-feeling has not been altogether over-
estimated. As far back as the thirteenth century,
instrumental pieces were written for the viol or vielle
on the lines of dance-tunes, showing the influence of the
society dance upon instrumental music at a very much
earlier period than is commonly supposed. The rage
for dance-tunes was no sudden incursion of the six-
teenth century. In his interesting monograph^ M.
Pierre Aubry shows that the name estampie (Pro-
vencal estampida) was given to a melody for the viol
of clearly defined phrase and stanza-form, and that it
^ Estai/ipies et Danses Royales. Pierre Aubry.
THE CYCLE 547
must have been one of the commonest instrumental
types of the thirteenth century. It differed Httle from
the Dansse real (royal dance) except in being of a
stricter type. Examples of estampies were found in
an MS. of the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, con-
taining a valuable collection of songs of the trouveres
and troubadours, the volume having belonged to Car-
dinal Mazarin. These examples quoted by M. Aubry
show a stanza, then known technically as a punctum,
thus constructed : First a phrase of four, five, eight,
or ten bars, followed by another of four, six, seven,
or ten bars known as the apertum, and ending on a
cadence ; then came repetition of the first phrase,
followed by one which began with a repeat of the
apertum, but ended differently on a final cadence, and
was called clausmn. This made a stanza of four phrases,
with something corresponding to a half-close in the
middle ; the phrase-form is fairly free, but the four-
bar phrase predominates. The estampie consisted of
from three to seven stanzas, each beginning with a
new melodic outline, but repeating the apertum and
clausum without variation. The melodies show a
transition stage of tonality, partly Gregorian, partly
popular. They are written in but three values, with
ternal beat-figures, and are translated uniformly into
\ time.
This is altogether a very rhythmic formula for the
age, showing dance origin, but of an altogether different
character from the folk-dance. It was at once more
elaborate and stricter in its formation. From this
source came the dances whose names were given to
248 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
the little contrapuntal pieces in stanza-form which were
grouped together into the suite. The dance-feeling
was now filtered down not only through social influ-
ences, but also through the musical technique of the
period, which was of an opposite nature to natural
rhythmic usage. Practically nothing of the feeling and
but little of the original dance-type remained, this
being chiefly represented by the cadence block in the
centre. With the exception of the opening prelude
the tonalitive scheme was uniform — stanza i, a start
from the tonic key leading to a temporary repose in
the dominant key ; stanza 2, return from the dominant
key, usually by way of the subdominant to the tonic.
This scheme shows a definite, if formal appreciation
of elementary circling rhythm.
In addition to this, though much depending on it,
a certain air of brisk contentment for the most part
pervaded the suite. It was not deeply emotional,
but in the hands of J. S. Bach, its greatest ex-
ponent, it became idealised. In the place of the
trite contrapuntal commonplaces of the time, we find
in the English suites a marvellous interweaving of
idiom and imitation, mostly on the pitch-side, but by
no means confined to it. There is far more develop-
ment of time-outline in these little pieces than any
prelude or fugue will bear ; here Bach seems to cast
off his organ style, and to write whole-heartedly in
the exact form of combined idiom and imitation suited
to the harpsichord. Into all perfect instrumental art
the idiosyncrasies of the instrument enter largely ; the
composer's technique consists in great part in his
THE CYCLE 249
capacity for adapting himself to these varying idio-
syncrasies ; it happens generally that there is one
instrument that appeals naturally to his temperament,
and whose technique seems born within him, while
that of all the others has to be more or less acquired.
The greatest master is he who can acquire the most
variations of technique without obstructing the natural
flow of his own imagination. In Bach's time there
were in Germany but two solo instruments of any
importance, the organ and the harpsichord, but these
two demanded very different technique. The harp-
sichord could produce none of the big rolling sequences
and massed climaxes of the organ - tone, but it was,
though incapable of accent, a much more rhythmic
instrument, because each note had a clear attack, re-
sulting from the twang of the string by the quill. The
tone -colour was thin and light, and therefore time-
figures were effective which on the heavy organ-tone
became unsuitable or even vulgar. Imitation was the
essential of organ music, but on the harpsichord it was
used in its most rhythmic character, bar answered by
bar, and blended with time and pitch idioms, which
frequently predominated. The clavichord, a delicate
chamber instrument, had less general influence upon
the suite than the harpsichord, but was beloved by
Bach for its graded tone, and used by him for some of
his most intimate and expressive utterances.
Taken as a whole, the suite is a cycle of ordered
sequence, without any attempt at the larger rhythm of
undulation or climax. These two effects were im-
possible on the harpsichord, and the suite was com-
250 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
plete without them. There was nothing in it of the
anomaly of the mixed art of language and music. Its
movements were perfectly homogeneous in texture,
uniform in key and in key-relation, and in stanza-
form. Upon this strong basis of unity, contrast was
made chiefly by changes of tempo and of time-
signature between the various movements, and these
changes were summed up in the names given, each
of which indicated a type of time. It was a popular
cosmopolitan harpsichord cycle, existing in England as
lessons, in France as ordre, in Italy as sonata de
camera, in Germany as partita, for the generic name
was of later application. It showed little in the way
of development, but the general tendency was to pro-
ceed from a great number of different movements,
grouped as many as twenty together,^ to fewer types,
which became at once more fixed and more definite.
The average suite contained some six or seven move-
ments.
The modern cycle of this name has nothing in
common with the historical suite, save in being a
succession of short movements. The amount of unity
and contrast to be found in it depends upon the com-
poser only, since there is nothing in the nature of
a conventional style existing in it. Its association
with descriptive titles or with a definite programme
now prescribes its emotional character, and renders it
somewhat of a mixed art, whereas the fancy titles
occasionally applied to the historical suites had little
if any effect upon their musical contents.
^ See Couperin's Ordrcs.
THE CYCLE 251
Similar, but of vocal usage is the song-cycle, which
is variously written for one voice or several, but usually
possesses the character of orderly sequence, assisted by
literary unity.
It will be observed that in the suite, the pitch-
features made for unity and the time-features, such as
they were, for contrast. These are not the lines on
which musical form could far develop. When we turn
to the greater cycle known as the Sonata, Quartet,
Symphony, and Concerto, these characteristics are to
a great extent found in reverse order. The pitch-
features, starting in formal unity, become gradually
freer, while the promiscuous nature of the time-outline
is transformed into a complex yet solid basis of unity,
consisting principally of idiomatic treatment, almost
every note of which bears its exact and necessary
relation to the general scheme. The contrast of tempo
alone remains, and without this contrast the cycle
would cease to exist and become a continuous musical
work. The distinction between these two classes of
composition is not that one has pauses and the other
has none ; from this point of view a Wagner opera
would appear cyclic, and a concerto or suite, with its
movements strung together by a few chords, would be
continuous. The pause is a matter of convenience ;
in spite of it the Wagner opera is continuous, because
of its unity of subject matter and lack of formal con-
trasts of tempo ; the acts are not severally distinguished
by fast or slow characteristics, but these occur through-
out when and where they are wanted. Even without
any pause the concerto is cyclic, because of its depend-
252 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
ence upon these formal contrasts of tempo, whether
or not unity may exist in the relations of the various
subjects.
The greater cycle is variously named according
to its adaptation to varying combination of instru-
ments. It is called sonata for a solo instrument or for
two solo instruments such as piano and violin, trio for
three such instruments, quartet for four, and so forth.
The term symphony is reserved for the orchestra and
concerto for a solo instrument accompanied by the
orchestra. All these different names represent a cycle,
which may vary in the number of its movements,
but usually consists of three or four. It is the first
instance of recognition of the influence of instru-
ments upon music by distinction of name, and this
is a distinction not found to exist before Haydn's
time.
The early sonata or symphony started under a
disadvantage. Instead of the perfectly symmetrical
and similar little movements of the suite, it dealt with
an anomalous collection. It comprised the varied types
of the sonata, the variations and the rondo, and added
thereto the primitive one of the minuet and trio. The
sonata-type took its tonalitive scheme from the suite,
and retained for long the stanza character which caused
it to be known as binary, that is, in two parts divided
by a full close, usually in the dominant key. This
made the first movement, and was considered the
type of form essential to the sonata. The other
movements were admitted by way of contrast. So
long as all these as well as the sonata-type retained
THE CYCLE 253
their stanza-form, the differing stages of development
represented by each one were less apparent. This
could only be retained so long as the movements
remained short. The growth of musical form may be
fairly estimated by its length, as a tree by its height,
and the fact that the single first movement of
Beethoven's Waldstein sonata covers a larger space
in print than an average whole early sonata of Haydn,
is one that speaks for itself. The balance of stanza-
form is necessarily a small balance ; unless repeated
at fairly frequent intervals it will not be recognised.
A large movement must either add stanza to stanza
after the manner of variations, and thus destroy the
charm of the small movement, without attaining to a
larger balance, or it must drop out the stanza and
develop on larger lines. As has been shown, this latter
fate befell the sonata-type, the rondo, and finally even
the variations in the hands of Beethoven, and thus
these three types became merely different manifestations
of one spirit ; but still the minuet and trio remained
hopelessly in the rear, a little primitive thing represent-
ing a complete anachronism. Hence it disappears from
the advanced greater sonata cycle, and the scherzo is
substituted, which, while distinct from the others, is
on a par with them in texture and capabilities of
development.
The sonata and its kindred cycles now had the
material that could work into a balanced whole. There
was sufficient variety between the movements, and these
were based upon the unity of idiomatic treatment. The
only thing lacking was undulating rhythm, which by
254 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
its alternating rise and fall should prove a larger prin-
ciple of unity, and in combination with the idiom pro-
vide the means of climax. The study of the works of
Beethoven and Schubert shows how they first realised
this new balance within the single movement, and then
were led to seek for it on the larger scale of the whole.
Instinctively they held something in reserve for the end.
Compared with the denouement, the first movement took
on a character of reserve power, energetic it might be,
but well restrained ; the second became a serene and
quiet phase with a slow tempo and predominance of
pitch-features ; both leading up to a headlong rush
which bore all before it. Sometimes this prodigious
vitality sufficed in itself, sometimes it led step by step
to a greater climax which called in new resources of
actual tone. Such works as these are the mountain-
peaks of music, and are the highest possible achievement
within the scope of the cycle.
It will be noticed that the right balance of the
vast resources of undulating rhythm is now the factor
that mainly constitutes a perfect whole made up of
varied parts. From this point of view definite relation
between the initial subjects has a lesser effect. Some
contrast of ideas is demanded by the variation between
fast and slow movements ; this was in the nature of
the cycle. Yet there are certain underlying features
of unity between the subjects of the various movements
of Beethoven's greater works, which show the general
direction of his imagination. In the Appassionata it is
a time-figure, in the C minor symphony an emphasis
on syntonic outline, and sometimes is found the subtlety
THE CYCLE 255
of a reiterated interval of modulation which predo-
minates throughout the work, it may be of a semitone
or a full-tone or of a larger interval. It is quite certain,
that wherever unity is felt to exist, some reiterative
feature of a nature perhaps not easily perceived is there
to account for it.
The true balance of such a work on orchestral lines
is of abnormal difficulty, and demands genius of the
highest order. It seems unlikely that the symphonic
cycle will ever again reach to such a height, for its
consummation corresponded with a particular phase of
evolution, when the continuous style was scarcely
apprehended. But the normal walks of cyclic usage
are still open, wherein orderly sequence shall prevail
and satisfy. Where the whole body of tone is small,
as in the string quartet, or where one solo instrument
predominates as in the concerto, and consequently great
climaxes of sound are either impossible or unsuitable,
some sort of cyclic arrangement must be employed in a
work of any length, because too long a continuous
working out of any ideas would lack the needful con-
trasts of force. We do not want a quartet to be an
imitation symphony, a sort of would-be orchestra in
miniature, but most of us would rather it remained its
normal fascinating self. To do this it must avoid the
symphonic texture, and cultivate the tempo contrasts of
the cycle in order to obtain sufficient variety on its
small platform. In circling rhythm its best effects of
tone are limited, but the whole key-circle is available
for occasional use. The charms of the quartet lie in
dainty perfection of detail, in an unrivalled rhythmic
256 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
vigour, and a delicate phrase-articulation without need
for stanza. Thus the higher development of the idiom
and some measure of imitation also come within its
powers, and these ensure its vitality, although the
wider emotional rhythm of undulation on a large scale
is necessarily closed to it.
CHAPTER XI
THE CONTINUOUS STYLE
General lines of evolution— Need for continuity — Advance of undulating
rhythm — Assistance of the drama in developing continuous form —
Proportions of orchestra and length of work — Orchestral condition
of dramatic music — The symphonic poem — The perspective of music
— The continuity of counterpoint — Counterpoint in the Church.
The general trend of musical evolution is in the direc-
tion of continuity. We have traced the development of
the cycle out of the recurring stanza which was once
essential to circling rhythm into the continuous move-
ment, where tonality is enforced by the amount of space
occupied by the initial key rather than by any syste-
matic chord-recurrence. The tendency is for the smaller
bounds to drop out and larger limits to be set. For
example, the overture, once a small cycle, became
transformed into a single sonata-type. Then in course
of time even the larger limits come to appear a con-
vention, which means that the need for them is past,
and less obvious and more subtle methods begin to
make their appearance. Thus strict form gives way to
free. The feeling for the larger outlines of undulating
rhythm grows stronger, and all its factors, once used
to emphasize the stanza and cycle in a conventional
manner, are now put to their natural free rhythmic use
in the scheme of the whole. As has been pointed
out, free idiomatic utterance needs continuity, advanced
258 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
tonality is necessarily continuous, and undulating rhythm
in any of its larger phases is impossible without some
measure of continuity. The free rhythm of undulation
is the latest arrival, and does not begin to exert much
effect until pulsative and circling rhythms have got
past the small-block stage. It takes time for the
subtle influences of rise and fall to make themselves
felt above the obvious ones of sudden contrast, but
they gain ground inch by inch with the inevitableness
of a rising tide. Rise and fall of pitch on a large
scale comes to mean more than any particular course
of modulation ; rise and fall of force does away with
the conventional arrangement that a slow movement
shall be soft and a fast one loud, fortissimo effects
begin to invade the Andante, and the pianissimo is
heard in the Allegro ; the formal arrangement of con-
trasts of tempo, the bulwark of the cycle, is the last to
go, but this, like the earlier obstructions of undulating
rhythm, will surely fade away sooner or later. Critics
and theorists may grumble, missing their familiar land-
marks, and declare the new style to be invertebrate,
chaotic, and irrational, but no man can stay the march
of evolution. Music ever advances blindfold.
Thus the continuous style is practically synonymous
with the growth of free undulating rhythm, and its
wider emotional range. For a long time it is merely
a subtle influence pervading the cycle ; not until the
whole is leavened can we speak accurately of a con-
tinuous style.
The operas of Mozart and Weber show sometimes
a linking up of scenes in order to obtain climax at the
THE CONTINUOUS STYLE 259
end of an act, or a prolonged scene which admits of a
succession of emotional moods ; these are things which,
entering into that cyclic waste, the opera, show in which
direction the wind is blowing. But we have to wait for
Wagner before the real continuous style arrives. And
Wagner himself has to write volumes upon volumes of
explanation, not always appropriate, in order to justify
his proceeding to the world, so strange it seemed. The
experiment of the early seventeenth century was re-
peated in the nineteenth, and this time with success, for
music had meanwhile built up its own means of utter-
ance. It does not follow that Wagner had necessarily
a greater dramatic insight or even a greater musical
facility than Monteverde, but whereas the Italian fore-
runner had to seek the straw for his bricks ere he
could build, Wagner had all his bricks ready to hand.
The means were there, and all that was wanted was
the master-brain. But without any means, even such
a brain can achieve but little.
In music the tracking out of new conceptions is so
much a reaching forth into the unknown, a bringing into
existence of what has never been before, that it is small
wonder that a kindred art should be called in to give
some measure of stability to an equilibrium of absolutely
unknown proportions, and that cannot in itself at this
stage be grasped intellectually. It was just this measure
of balance, prescribing emotional mood-succession and
position of climax that the drama could supply.
Wagner had the dramatic sense both inborn and well-
developed ; it proved the tree up which his less
developed musical sense climbed like a tropical creeper,
26o THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
and thus supported grew to a lavish luxuriance that
wellnigh killed the tree. From the musical point of
view, the Rubicon was crossed ; here was the new
style, and the manner of its birth and growth mattered
little. But it was natural that Wagner should deceive
himself into supposing that the play was the thing and
music its accessary, and that other people should go on
repeating the same after him. Now, however, that the
world perceives that instrumental music did not, as was
expected, die with Beethoven, but has taken on a new
lease of life, it is worth while to inquire into the mean-
ing and scope of this vitality, and its relation to
Wagner's music.
The first fact that meets us is the development of
the orchestra ; further, the skill displayed by composers
generally in the management of its technique, and the
increasing popularity of orchestral music. If we admit
that the future of music lies in a continuous treatment,
the orchestra is indispensable. One essential of con-
tinuity is a body of instruments capable collectively
of continuous tone-utterance, offering sufficient colour
and force - variations to dispel any possibility of
monotony.
In music a relation should exist between the length
of the work and the variety of instrumental tone em-
ployed. A Wagner opera lasting for four hours de-
mands a larger orchestra than a Beethoven symphony
of forty or fifty minutes. The reason why the Wagner
orchestra is not four times the size of Beethoven's is
because a great part of the needful contrast of the opera
is provided on the stage. The orchestra is here largely
THE CONTINUOUS STYLE 261
a factor of unity, and a study of Wagner's method of
orchestration shows that he sought instinctively for the
effects of subtly blended colours, more than for those of
contrast between one instrument and another. There-
fore the instrumental parts have less individuality,
especially those of the string orchestra, and are made to
merge into a continuous flow reflecting the prevailing
mood of the operatic situation. The texture of the
music becomes at times more imitative and promis-
cuous than idiomatic, in this way reverting somewhat
to the earlier contrapuntal conditions. These are the
musical conditions of the theatre rather than of the
concert-room. But when we turn to present con-
cert-room music, few composers seem able to discern
any difference between the technique of their own art
and that of the theatre. On the whole the operatic con-
ditions threaten to dominate everything, as counterpoint
did at a former time. And lacking the human element
of the drama, the sensuous element of the orchestra
(enlarged since Wagner's time) rides roughshod. In
this department of music as in others, on the one
hand, too much diversity, or, on the other, too homo-
geneous an orchestral style, means lack of unity and
of contrast, and hence of the higher emotional phases.
The best effect to be obtained lies in a certain economy
of means based upon unity, and the cultivation of the
individuality of instruments. The orchestra required
for, say, a continuous composition of an hour's length
will probably be found to be larger than Beethoven's
in mass as well as in variety of tone, but mere colour
does not require to take the front seat. Where it
262 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
does so, there is a fault either in the texture of the
music or in its relation to the size of the orchestra.
Orchestral concert-room music is just now in a
transitional stage. It wants to be continuous like the
drama, but has not yet arrived at distinguishing its
own continuous style. The fact that this new con-
dition has come into music through the drama, is quite
sufficient to account for the predominance of the
dramatic and poetic element in concert-room pro-
grammes. The symphonic poem is a sort of half-way
house ; it is freer than the opera, but it still clings
to poetry much as an inexperienced swimmer will
cling to a rope. It is further hampered by its weight
of orchestral apparel, and its imitation of operatic
orchestral methods. It has grasped something of the
general principles of free rhythm, but it lacks sufficiently
strong idiomatic development, the free generation of
ideas. Where a great number of orchestral parts are
proceeding at once, the sum of these, considered as
time-outline, is either monotonously equal or un-
certainly promiscuous. It is less homogeneous than
the time-outline of organ counterpoint, because orches-
tral instruments cannot be coerced into proceeding
uniformly in a contrapuntal manner. It is merely silly
to eive the trombone a time-outline similar to the flute,
and in counterpoint the time-outlines of the various parts
should be all on an equal footing. Counterpoint is in
this sense flat, like the pattern of an ironwork gate, and
we accept its lack of perspective as we do the gate, as
a matter of course. But in the orchestra the case is
different. Here there must needs be diversity of time-
THE CONTINUOUS STYLE 263
outline, and this should mean perspective. Without
attempting to find exact analogies between two widely
differing arts, in a general way it may be said that
pitch, intensity, and quality in music correspond to
colour and tone in painting, and that time-idiom is the
drawing of music. In true polyphonic art the idiom
produces a picture in so far as perspective is concerned,
in which foreground, background, and middle tones can
distinctly be observed. This means that all the time-
outlines which are proceeding simultaneously distinct
from one another, are not of equal importance to the
ear. One of slower duration may stand out, or a strik-
ing form of time-figure will attract attention above the
others, and all the rest will group themselves round it,
and assist to give it point and emphasis. This main
idiom is always in the foreground ; in an orchestral work
there will frequently be found subsidiary themes appear-
ing and disappearing in the middle distances, while
small and insignificant figures of accompaniment fill up
the background. All this is primarily and funda-
mentally due to time-outline. To the beauty of the
effect polyphony, colour, and force are essential, but
these three factors, which might at first sight appear
all-important, are thus less of value in themselves than
in so far as they serve to indicate the true balance and
proportions of the idiom. If there are no striking
figures, no themes of stirring interest, but only a pro-
miscuous time-outline, the finest proportions of pitch,
colour, and force will be pointless, because nothing exists
of any interest to be proportioned, these proportions
having- become an end in themselves instead of a means
264 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
to an end. Much modern programme music is open to
this criticism. It cannot be pretended that a poetic
idea, scene, or action, however interesting, is able
under any circumstances to perform the function of
idiomatic treatment in music. It can interpret that
development for its own purposes, but it cannot replace
it if it is missing. All such work, however cleverly
scored, is doomed to oblivion, because it lacks the
musical elements of permanent interest and profound
emotional appeal. It substitutes for the true musical
utterance a promiscuous speech, which is emotionally
more or less of a blank, lacking rhythm. Continuity of
texture a continuous composition must have, but it
should be a coherent continuity, either of pitch or of
time. The symphonic poem has too often neither
one nor the other.
A continuity of pitch only, results in a coherent com-
position if worked out upon the old contrapuntal lines,
and does admit of some effect of climax. Its scope is
limited, but it is within these limits a fully developed
style. Counterpoint had continuity from the beginning,
owing to its indefinite tonality, and thus altogether
missed out the early stanza stage. It was an advanced
style while the orchestra was in its youth. One might
say indeed that counterpoint has never been young.
With its early stages the rhythmic vigour of childhood
and youth had nothing to do. When it expresses any-
thing, it is the utterance of grave and reverend age.
Thus with the waxing of rhythmitonal means of con-
tinuity has occurred simultaneously the waning of the
contrapuntal ; continuity, formerly the one solid ad-
THE CONTINUOUS STYLE 265
vantage possessed by counterpoint over natural music,
is now common to both. At the present time the
rhythmic continuous style and frequently the actual
details of orchestral music are transferred bodily to
the organ, the contrapuntal instrument, which becomes
converted into an imitation orchestra to the loss of its
own individuality. This is a fact to be deplored, but
it is also significant as a sign of the times. To
confine a large body of musicians, whose horizon is
more or less limited by the organ, to the archaic
musical speech of counterpoint is a thing beyond the
wit of man to compass. Rhythmitonal art these
modern musicians will have, and since most of them
have not an orchestra available, they transfer it to the
organ. What suffers the most in this transaction is the
Church. Counterpoint was an ecclesiastical creation in
past ages, and undoubtedly is the musical style best
suited to the church-services. It is also best fitted to
the musical material therein employed, which consists of
choral and organ tone. Under the shelter of the Church
one might have hoped to find the sober dignity of
the contrapuntal style cherished and upheld. Yet
in Anglican churches, with the exception of certain
cathedral services where the old traditions linger, for
contrapuntal music one may go far to seek. The
modern vocal substitute misses the dignity of con-
tinuous art without acquiring the rhythmic vigour of
natural cyclic music, and justly lays itself open to the
criticism which perceives in sentimentality a debased
form of art. The best hope for the restoration to the
organ and the Church of their true continuous style
266 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
lies in the multiplication of orchestras. If people have
plenty of the real thing they reject an imitation, and
when the craving for rhythmitonal art is satisfied out-
side the churches, musical taste may come to demand
something very different inside from that which now
appears to satisfy.
CHAPTER XII
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Our task draws to its close. We have examined
minutely the tone-material of music, and have shown
the rhythmic principles that fashion it. We have traced
the various types of music to their origins in the work-
ing of these principles, and assigned them their place
in the evolutionary order. We have seen that the bulk
of the actual tone-material (apart from instruments)
comes into being at a very early stage, and the de-
velopment of music consists thenceforward of the use
made of the material as units of recurrence. It has
become evident that the whole secret of musical form
lies in the recurrence of units, units that are of a fixed
or strict nature (the beat, the bar, the triad, the key)
requiring exact repetition, and those that are of an
optional or free nature, the ideas that determine the
character of the utterance. We have analysed the
development of these ideas in idiomatic outlines, and
shown how the idea dominates by means of its reitera-
tion the whole texture of music, and assisted by circling
and undulating rhythms is able to awaken and con-
trol vast tracts of the emotional nature. It has been
proved that in time-outline is found its earliest and
its most essential utterance. We have noted the
underlying unity of East and West, and compared
267
268 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
and contrasted the diverse development of each. We
have seen that Eastern music is still conditioned by
frequent lack of notation or the use of imperfect forms
of it, and that instruments generally are in a back-
ward state : consequently, that excepting in the far
East where the bell-type of instrument is much de-
veloped, of purely instrumental music but little exists.
In melody we have realised that the East has struck
out a path of its own from which the West is cut off
by its harmonic tonality. Further, we have unravelled
the complication caused by the early introduction into
Western ecclesiastical music of Eastern tonality, and
traced the slow progress of this art till by gradual
assimilation of rhythmic features it became a definite
though conventional system of the West. We have
noted the unique position occupied by the composers
of the mature contrapuntal system, and that perfect
works of art can exist that by their very limitations
oroduce their effect, and are consequently the last words
in their own particular range, which admits of no further
development. Finally, we have indicated the natural
evolution of rhythmitonal music from primitive dance-
song to the more formal melody of the folk, and thence
by growth of phrase and stanza to the types of the
cycle, and their gradual transformation by means of free
rhythm into a partial and at length a complete phase
of continuity. In this is summed up the evolution from
strict form to free. Whither the principle of continuity
will lead us remains the problem of the future.
Much more miorht have been written on all of these
points and on many others, but sufficient has been said
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 269
to fulfil the task of the analyst. As already observed,
the object is not personally to conduct the tourist
through musical regions, but to provide an intellectual
outfit that the musician may use as seems to him fit.
This could only be done effectually by working from
first principles, and it is upon the agreement of musicians
generally as to these first principles that the practical
value of this theory will depend. If the principles are
conceded when their logical outcome is realised, much
will be gained ; for the critic, a sound intellectual basis
for his criticism in place of the chaos that has reigned
since the standard of the sonata cycle fell to pieces ; for
the composer, a knowledge of his tools and the readiest
way to use them ; for the teacher, a clear road instead
of a labyrinth ; for the student, the right use of the
precious years of childhood and early youth instead of
a dead loss never to be made good in later life. And
for the vast audience of music, those who hear with
the spirit, if not with the understanding also, there will
be the possibility in the next generation of becoming
readers as well as hearers.
It is not too much to say that the whole future of
music will depend upon the number of people who are
able to read and write it, at least in its simpler utterances.
Then there will be a demand for simple music which
the people can read. Music is now in the position of
literature before the education of letters became general,
when a book was as completely a sealed thing to the
people as a score is nowadays. Every one knows the
enormous difficulty of learning to read in later life, but
it is learned in childhood with comparative ease, and
270 THE EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL FORM
experience shows that with even greater ease can
musical reading be taught to the young when this
teaching is conducted upon rational lines. In this way
we open to them a storehouse of healthy enjoyment, a
recreation from which they are at present effectually
barred. The prodigious technique of music will then
be easily mastered, and will fall into its right place as a
means and not as an end. The true inwardness of
musical form will then be perceived. For the power
of music is universal. Setting aside the cases of tone-
deafness and actual deafness, of which but a small per-
centage exists, there is some music that is attractive to
everybody. Superficially music may be a toy, a play-
thing, a game of skill, an academic exercise, a mathe-
matical puzzle, but its real attraction goes deeper. It
is a mirror of ourselves. It tells us not what a man
thinks about things, not how he appears to the multi-
tude ; it is not even the selection of himself that he
offers to his friends, but the utterance of that essential
personality of which we, and probably he also, are
more or less unaware. There is no more irresistible
attraction than a new personality, and it is this that
draws us when we listen to music. Here is the human
imagination in action, untrammelled by the necessity of
reproducing any forms of the outside world, any known
experiences that can go into words, carving out channels
for itself in rhythmic tone with an elemental freedom and
abandon of convention that seem to suggest perennial
youth, the escape of the spirit of man from its prison-
house of conventional thought. Many of us have felt
this influence without understanding it ; music is the
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 271
strongest mental force that a man can bring to bear
upon his fellows, because the most direct. There is
nothing between him and them, no convention to be
observed, no intellectual formula to be mastered ; it is
a simple speaking from heart to heart. The value of
music to the race, intellectually considered, is that it
forms this unique human document.
How long we shall be content to leave the record
unread intellectually depends upon ourselves. To point
out the method of its interpretation this book has been
written, but the application of the method to all the
music of the world opens a vista which from the present
standpoint may well appear illimitable. We are as yet
spelling out the beginning only of what Music has to
teach us.
APPENDIX
THE EVOLUTION OF EUROPEAN TONALITY
The design of the first six sections is to illustrate the evolution
of melodic pitch-outline from consonant to dissonant conditions,
the transition from chord-form to scale-form, and the subsequent
amalgamation of these separate vocal types. The earliest stages
of the evolution of European tonality have to be sought outside of
Europe. When sufficient material has been collected, something
like a plan of the geographical distribution of consonant conditions
may be mapped out. At present it may be said that these occur
in America, in parts of Africa, and that a mixed type, chiefly
consonant, appears to prevail in the South Pacific Islands,
becoming more microtonal as it reaches Australia and New
Zealand. The similarity existing between the various examples
in each section respectively is too obvious to need pointing out in
detail. With "Harmonic Consonance " we enter upon primitive
harmonic conditions, leading to actual harmony on the pedal bass,
which gradually develops the harmonic bass. The importance of
the round in this connection should be pointed out. The same
evolution is traced in instrumental harmonic examples, where
considerable differentiation in time-outline begins to appear, as the
character of the instrument makes itself felt. Morley's ** Consort
Lesson" completes the illustration, showing that at the close of
the sixteenth century some idea of score had arrived, and that
instruments were not then written for uniformly on the lines of vocal
usage as is generally supposed.
Throughout these illustrations the crotchet beat is used, change
of value from minim or quaver having been made in the few cases
where it was required.
The name of the collector or transcriber has been inserted in all
cases where it could be ascertained.
273 S
274
APPENDIX
i
Section A. — Melodic Consonance. Degrees of
Scale, 5, 3, 1.
Niger. Cradle Song.
Nubia. Naumann. Canoe Song. Mockler-Ferryman.*
^eS
^^il^^^
Delagoa Bay. Kaffir Musical Bow.
BURCHELL.
i
^
^
Hottentot Gomgom.
Balfour.
^SE^^^^^^^^^i ^B=J^=E^^
Egypt. Funeral Song with Dance. Villoteau.
Hottentot.
Balfour.
A-ba A-ba A-ba A-ba A-ba A-ba. Ho ho ho ho.
Mockler-Ferryman.
P
Niger. Love Song.
— -— — -r--& P5*,
i^^^g^
New Guinea, Papuans.
Andante.
SCHELLING.
Cherokees, N. America.
Baker.— KRAUs.f
Section B. — A Transitional Stage. Degrees of
Scale, 5, 3, 2, 1.
Macusi Indians of Guiana, S. America. Engel.
^gE^l^§^^^^^gg^^i|gpg|^g^EJpip'.^Ep &c.
Omaha Indians, N. America. "The Scalp-lock Ritual." A. C. Fletcher.
:5=&t=i^
=i==j* — i-
— • <B— 9 — jd 9 ^ ^
-^s=zjK=zx==^^=^=-'
-^ — it aL
* From " Up the Niger," by permission of Lieut-Col. Mockler-Ferryman.
t From " Appunti suUa Musica del Fopoli Nordici," by permission of Baron Kraus
FiGLIO.
APPENDIX
275
^^^^■^
^^
»3=!Kig=e=tff=it=e
:ti=6cd
Fiji Islands, S. Pacific.
Wilkes.
ȣii'^-jjJi<.Lj^J=
Fiji Islands.*
Wilkes.
=S^
ipr:^BZ
Bahama Negroes, West Indies.*
Edwards.
-J * J.^
-> \ h
:^ J * * ^
-J .. N^it:
■*— 5Jr-^-
Soudan.
ViLLOTEAU.
:^iti!:
Section C. — The Pentatonic Formula. Degrees
OF Scale, 6, 5, 3, 2, 1.
SCHELLING.
New Guinea
/I lUf^ro.
.^Jt=i-=».-.
^^§^=
X^^
1*=:^
^=k^^^Fj"^
* With 4th as a passing-note.
APPENDIX
SCIIELLING.
Kaffirs of Natal.*
p
Shooter.
Sioux, N. America, Dance of Dogs.t
fe|-
=|5=ff=e:
3^=aL:
Baker. — Kraus.
1^-4— PB*B F
3tzz3=^=^
-i 1-
-a* — *:
-* — *-
-j-p — » ff^nr-y-jg — w=f=f^
^^ J --^^ J — *^
^^^=^^^S
h f i-^
i
^-*-^V— "^ * • •'^-^ — vi — •>
il?ii
-1 — t-
=ffi*r
nl^t:
"^C —
Germany. Watchman's Song.f
HowiTT.
^-
i;{g=Sg=^f^pgg^{^^^^
■:X=^
* With passing 7th. + With passing 4th.
APPENDIX
Ireland. " The Eagle's Whistle."
Very brisk and marked.
L. Broadwood.*
^ip^^ep^i^^i^^
^6*^
■ffZ.ZM=iZ
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^■.
-J- hW.
Section D. — Elementary Scale-Form. Degrees
OF Scale, 1, 2, 3 (5).
Tutuila, Samoan Islands
Niger. Hunting Song. Mockler-Ferryman.
Angola, W. Africa.
SOYAUX.
S=E
Amhara.
iP^
Naumann. Tigre. Naumann.
^EfEsa
Siberia.
Kraus.
* With passing 7th. Noted at Camphire, co. Waterford. " Folk-song Journal,"
No. 10. By permission of Miss Lucy' Broadwood.
278
APPENDIX
i
Egypt. Water Carriers.
(I)
Lane.
3j:e3^
m
Lane.
(«)
3^
-nru~4
Section E. — Scale-Form. Degrees of Scale, 1 — 4,
1—5, 1—6.
Niger. Mockler-Ferryman.
gi
Caribbean Natives, West Indies
Wallaschek.
Ig^^z^^^^z^^^^^^g^j-J J J ,gg
*-, smors.
i
Nile. Boat Song
ViLLOTEAU.
y=p-r— r-y
i^zfirircj^ r~rT^?^
^
^
Esthonia, Russia.*
p^^^^^^gs
m
I 1 1
J- 1 I
=u=
^rsii
* Selections from the Most Celebrated Foreign Journals, 1798.
APPENDIX
Kamtchatka. Dance
A llegro.
TiLESio.— Kraus.
^^m
Section F — Combined Chord-Form and Scale-Form.
West Africa. Soyaux.
Kaffirs of Natal.
Andantino.
Shooter.
Niger.^
England. The Story of Orange.
Deliberately.
F. KlDSON'.f
simile. cres.
--I *-
^m-
I i I
:iil— *— ^
=1=^:1=^
-J—*-
* " Narrative of Expedition to the Niger, 1848."
t " Folk-song Journal," II., p. 295. By permission of Mr. Frank Kidson.
APPENDIX
Enget..
Section G. — Harmonic Consonance.
Niger. Hunting Song, Funeral Song.
(') _ _ ^ „ (2) ^-. , — ^
spirit Song.
(3)
Mockler-Ferryman.
^^^^i^=gi^i^^l^^=^^^
i
Egypt. Fellaheen. (Sung whilst excavating.)
Solo. Chorus.
I u
--f—m w g-
es^J^
Lepsius — Engel.
^ U g-^ '^ J*" I nw:
w-^^^
Courland,* Russia.
^
Engel.
^
-■^^t:
i^^
-e-T — M — d—
g=P
=#P=
^^^^^1|^^^^^
* The alternative version is the original air which was introduced into Courland, and
was heard being sung by the peasants shortly afterwards as altered above, c»!fi vjith the
addition of the second part. See Engel's " Introduction to the Study of National
Music."
APPENDIX
281
Norway. Sailors' Song, " Opsang."
Vivacf.
=ft-4s MP
L. A. Smith.*
^
i^^:^^
4S— >-
— j» ». ^, — K-
rl^E
^^^^^^^^^^^^M
^^^^m
^fi=^-
^=^-^=^
^^^^^1
Holland. Sailors' Song, " De Kabels Los."
L. A. Smith.
^
L-it-i=(?:
^S
r-^^-- — fc
:^=d^
I I.
:^=^
1 I i> I
^d^^i^
-m-^^L
^^^^
Germany. Christmas Carol. Wichern.
-m-' -9-' ^ • -m-'
te^
♦ " Opsang," " De Kabels Los," and " Haul on the bowlin," from "The Music of the
Waters," by Laura A. Smith, are transcribed by permission of Messrs. Kegan Paul,
Trench, Trubner & Co.
282
APPENDIX
Section H. — Vocal Harmony on Pedal Bass.
Tongatabu. Wilkes.
■m • «— P^
r—r—r
Bushmen, S. Africa.
The Company.
BURCHELL.
m^
ltiZ3fc]
Aye O aye O
The Dancer, i.
aye O
aye O
aye O O O
i^
:h=}v:
-*— * — \-
:jE=Jt
tK * -I:
::l5r:t5:
3t=3t
:*-=^
^m
Wawakoo wawakoo, &c.
Water-drum.
^1|-4-
=t?=P=
i f-
P
m
i^s
Lok
tea
lok
tea
lok
tea.
^
?S3^
1^
England. Round (Three Voices).
$
»
^
zir-zir
^^
zii=
:S^^
Turn
3:
a - gain, Whit - ting- ton, Thou wor - thy
Harmony of Round.
—1.
cit
1 - zen,
i=f^
Lord Mayor of Lon - don.
ET
—I — !<-
It— F=ggEF=g-
Section i. — Vocal Harmony on Two Bass-Notes.
England. Round i (Four Voices).
Go to Joan Glov-er, And tell her I love her, And at the
Harmony ,
J' i-_ J. r>
mid
of the moon I will come to her
APPENDIX
283
Round 2 (Five Voices
=N ft h — K
Ileigh, ho ! no - bo-dy at home ; meat nor drink nor money have I none,
Harmony.
It: ^
Yet I will be mer - ry.
Round 3 (Four Voices).
2E3:
fif:
m
:t^
-4* P ^
i
O my love! Lov'st thou me? Then quick -ly come and
Harmony.
^ -J—
^^fS
»rr:=^
save him that dies for thee.
?=Nif^
Bachapins, S. Africa. Dance-song.*
BURCHELL.
^^^^^^^^^^.
k=^^E^^^EA
T r
Russia.
/I lUgretto
Engel.
if Sung for an hour without pause, occupying twenty-nine seconds in repetition.
284
APPENDIX
Germany. " Drei Sterne."
Andantino, _ ^ - fi!
Engel.
a^^— k-}^-^::£:£g^
Section J. — Vocal Harmony on Three, Four, or more
Bass-Notes.
Spain. " Je n'aimerai."t
jff-.:-
^
J 1 1 n
England. Round. J " Burner is icumen in." Four Voices with Two-part
"Burden."
* This passage is a doubling of the second part in the octave, and not a Harmonic
Bass.
f In MS. de Montpelier (12th or 13th century), deciphered by Coussemaker.
:J: From Harl. MS. 978, in British Museum; written by John Fornsete, a monk of
Reading, 1228.
APPENDIX 285
Harmony of Round with addition of " Burden." Bass on three notes.
'^^^m^^^^^m
Pa or Burden.
=»==|!t
isiE:
i
England. Round (Four Voices).
^^
^
1 irz=m
w — r — 1»-
^-.
=*?={=
Jack boy, ho boy, news ! The cat is in the •well, Let us now
Harmony.
J—J^-
:or her knell ; Ding dong, ding dong bell. \ 'I*"
i "krztc
England. Sailors' Song. Capstan Shanty, " Haul on the bowlin'."
Allamarcia. L. A. SMITH.
^> ! N fe-
Chorus.
England.* Three-men's Song (in print, 1609).
We bee soul-diers three, Par-don-nez moi je vous en prie.
^m
.:ftl-
^
^^^-
Late-lycomeforthof the low coun- try With never a pen - ny of money.
* "Three-men's Songs" are mentioned in the time of the Norman Conquest, in
connection with Hereward the Wake.
286
APPENDIX
Section K. — Instrumental Harmony on Pedal Bass.
England. Played on Concertina.
A llegro.
Dongola. Song with Accompaniment of Kissar (Nubian Lyre). Villoteau.
i
^^^^^
L.H. fingers
t— -— oi-J-s- — - _ m-ii-m-. --•'-J of- -^-Ami- »-M^^-. -•'-^•-^
R.H. plectrum.
^-35^,
(tt
^^^^1
J^
3=*=^=^^*
^?^-
s#^;
:^r— rj-i-g' -J— p^-i-g^
i^pspl
-L-TT" c;:r'
Germany,
Conrad Paumann, 15th Century,
Organ.
^ — *-ir
iSr-*-
-^s*^--
?%^
APPENDIX
287
Section L. — Instrumental Harjiony on Two Bass-Notes.
England. Cittern. "The Hunt is up." " Musick's Delight," 1666.
U)
" The Whish."
(2)
=K=l=s;
^^^Wwf'^^wm^^f'-^
area iioo.
Wales* Harp.
i
t «_j|_*_Jl
-b« -C^ ba 1» 1 "S^ ^»^
^r^-i
-I* m.
^
t-.i£_;SL
i
:t-
^^
-«. JB. JR. .«.
*- :fr *- ij?- .*. j«. .*. .*. .0. .m. .m.
-I bl — 1—
lym^^^^jj^jA^fegfyy
* Transcribed by the Author from the original letter notation printed in " Myvyrian
ArchjEology of Wales," taken from Add. MS. 14905, in the British Museum.
288
APPENDIX
Section M. — Instrumental Harmony on Three, Four,
OR more Bass-Notes.
Wales.* Harp. " White Piper."
^^^ T ^ T T
:g r r r -g=g^g
^—^iir-m-^. ^ J- * :il:
" Prelude of David Athraw
-ss ^*^— »— P^— » — ^
I . \ 1 1 U-.
^ r ^~
•r - y-
=£^
Russia. Cossack Dance (for Four Pipes).
Vivace.
Kraus.
d3
E^S
:^
tK^-T-f-
*
i^
i
fe*=^
England. Lute. " Green Sleeves."
3J&
|— r-igniK
^■e*8
J'-fe^-P^
^^*^H"==f^
-F=^^^
s^
'- L» — ^^' — ^ • — ij . J I — ^ • m 1 g? H
* From Add. MS. 14905, in British Museum.
APPENDIX
289
" The Irishe Ho-Hoane." Fitzwilliam '• Virginal Book," 17th Century.
France. Air from " Le Balet comique de la Royne " (for Five Viols.), 1581.
i
■^_:i J -^ . J J-
J. -i
^s^^—^=^
^^±
^F-
^
^
=F=^P
"f— r-
I I
im
J- J.
J. J
±=mz
1 — w~
¥=^
J. J.
J-
^^
290
APPENDIX
From Morley's " Consort Lessons," 1599.*
England. " O Mistris Myne." (Lute and Bass Viol parts missing.)
Treble
Viol.
Flute.
(Recorder.)
Cittern.
Pandoee.
fe^g^B^y^^^f^g^B=^^^'^i?^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
igii^^^Pr^^^^
^1 ii[^— fi'r r I p=^ti! Mf ^^fJ^!^=fMf^
f
4=1::
^s.
m^^^
^
^^^^^^^
$
7^ :g7
^
F^^^
^s~^
*^
^
^m
Ed=
r I '
S
1^1
1^^
4=:= =4
--m-
* Transcribed from the original parts in tablature by the Rev. F. W. Galpin.
beat- value is changed from tsi to •<
The
1 APPENDIX 291
THE EVOLUTION OF ASIATIC TONALITY
The following sections are designed to show something of Asiatic
tonality from its rise in microtonal conditions to its development
in the Hindu raga. In sections O. and P. it is essential to
distinguish between the tonic and the scale-tone ; the pitch of the
tonic is stated and tlie scale-tone used is C. This is the tone
adopted invariably by the Raja Sir S. M. Tagore in translating
Hindu music into European notation. It does not mean that the
actual pitch of C is necessarily used, but it represents a system of
relative pitch notation for the use of singers. The original Hindu
notation is the counterpart of our Tonic Sol-fa, but the Raja
adapted it to the European letters of the scale of C. The
advantages of using this scale only in stave notation are evident.
Since there is no key in Eastern music, the use of key-signatures
to represent absolute pitch may be misleading, and elaborate
modal inflections are far more easily studied and compared when
reckoned from the one scale-tone. In sections N. and Q., the
examples are in their original notation. The specimen of Javanese
discant was written down by native musicians who had learned
European notation, but must be regarded as somewhat of an
approximation rather than an exact reading. The tuning differs
considerably from the European scale, but the time-outline is
probably correct, the preponderance of equal outline being due to
the type of instrument employed. With the exception of the
rebab and the tjelempoeng (a kind of harp), all the instruments are
of the bell or gong species. The nature of the type of form
cannot be understood from this small extract, but it possesses
features of interest. Each piece opens with an introduction of
seven to twenty-six beats unbarred, in unison and somewhat after
the manner of a Gregorian chant. Then follow several phrases in
the tala-bar, of eight-bar length, all more or less alike and followed
by a coda which is sometimes in longer notes. The nature of the
melody is that of one formed upon the tala-unit, being mostly in
equal outline with occasional changes of value. Pitch-figures are
found extending to a bar in length, four or five of which may be
repeated in an irregular order embedded in promiscuous pitch-
outline. Only fifteen differing talas are in use, each of which is
recognised by name. It should be borne in mind that this music
is an extemporisation, and is naturally of an elastic nature ; at the
same time the basis of strict form usually to be found in the
East is here unmistakable.
292
APPENDIX
Section N. — Primitive Microtonal Types.
New Zealand. Maoris,
(I)
J i
j=z:^z:^zx
0S=F=^
l:=i:^lW=|it|i:|S=^^t^^=i|it-|S±J=:^*r^it|it=
z]z^=z|5~lv.^ : &c.
2. Solo.
(2)
Chorus.
:^.=\-
■J. ' *
^^
i
ii-
y^;^^^4i-^=^^^^^^^^^^:S^Si^^E^:^^:;z2-=^-:^
^^^#^g^^^#^^^g#=^-^^g^^^
Washington Island. Cannibal Song
Solo. j
Engel.
i ..i.
:&c.
Section O- — Tetrachordal and Modal Types.
Davies.
China. Tonic F
Java. Tonic F
(I)
l^^^^^gg
Tonic G.
(2)
APPENDIX
New South Wales. Tonic G.
Wilkes.
p^3^^i^^^^0^^r,m^~j^
Japan. Tonic F.
El
$
m
T— r I - tar:
m
-r ^ 1?^
-i^
^^^^
"I— r-
I I :=g=l=— L — =t
fr^r=^T=rrf^^^^^^^^f^^
China. Tonic G.
Van Aalst.
^.pj3^k^J5ff^j3:^;jjvJ^/J ^-^j=^^^
Section P. — Hindu Ragas and Melodies.*
Sexatonic Mode. Ragini Bhupali. Tonic E. First Strain.
|=j=j^j^^'=f=^ feig^^^^P3^=^
P
* J J~^=^
J I I r
£gE32i3ES:
* From "The Musical Scales of the Hindus," S. I.I. Tagore.
294
Second Strain.
APPENDIX
Melody. Rsgini Bhupali. Tala Madhyamana.
^3^^^^i^;=?^^^E^^^r"grr^
^^^^^^^TT^^^s^g:^
Complete Mode.
Ragini Pilu. Tonic B. First Strain.
Melody. Ragini Pilu, Tala Thoongree.
">• bit
APPENDIX
295
Song of Salutation.* Tonic G.
Adagio.
Japan. f
Andantino,
Section Q. — Discant.
fz|frr Cft'LSnilTrrF^rsT^'^tr^
^
r f
£=&
\Jf r >^
^.fff-f|-M
f'pfi
^P=F —
^■= 1 M I.
f^
— rn r
r ^ —
— f — » —
l§bi=
1
— ^..^rj l.irr
1 — i. . .
— ' — -1 — -
^^^1t^.
* From C. R. Day's "Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India and the
Deccan." By permission of Messrs. Novello & Co., Ltd.
t From " A Collection of Japanese New Popular Music, a Japanese Fashionable,
Comical, Dancing, Theatrecal. Shamisen and Koto Musics," 1892.
296
APPENDIX
Java.*
Rebab.
-J—j—J^=i=^-~i—^—-^^3—J^^
Gambang Kadjeng.
Gender.
^
.L- r :t==
trrnm.
Saron.
Demobng.
f=^=F"=^=r i- r^i^=:£=E
Bonang I. & II.
BONANO III.
Tjelempoeng.
Kendang.
Ej-^- .1 ^ ^,^1.1 - JJ ^
Ketock, &c.
^^^
♦ From " De Gamelan te Jogjakarta," Drs. Groneman and Land, 1890.
APPENDIX 297
ANALYSIS OF TIME-OUTLINE IN ENGLISH
FOLK-SONG
For purposes of analysis it has been thought well to separate
the outlines of time and pitch, in order to facilitate a new study.
The time-features of the previous examples were left unclassified,
because these were chosen as illustrations of pitch, and in the
following tunes the conditions are reversed.
The bulk of our English tunes would appear to fall into the class
based upon equal outline and that of the strict figure. The manner
in which a folk-singer will introduce variety while maintaining an
equal outline is as interesting as it is instructive. By changes of
time, by a shortening of the cadence bar, by free phrase-form, by
a frequent use of five-beat time, the monotony of the equal outline
is broken; Where it is strictly maintained pitch characteristics
have naturally the main interest, but by far the larger number of
songs show equal outline with figure variation. These time-figures
are indicated above each tune, and also the phrase-form, in order
to assist analysis. The question of how far syllabic outline may
have conditioned the time-outline of each individual song is one
which cannot be entered into here in detail. This is the class
of song in which the influence of language is at its strongest, and
verbal suggestion is likely to appear in the figure-variations,
though by no means does it invariably control them. The cadential
pause-note which frequently terminates a phrase is a prolongation
only, and does not constitute variation of the outline.
The classes of the strict and free figure contain the finest tunes
of English folk-song. The leading figure is given first, and the
others form variations upon it, and priority is here of great
importance. It does occasionally happen, however, that the
leading figure is not to be found in the first bar, as in '• The Seeds
of Love," and in all probability this is due to verbal influence.
The free figure at the close of *' The Trees they do grow high " is
a frequent characteristic in this position, or at the end of a phrase.
The basis of the free figure is perhaps less congenial to the English
folk-singer than is that of the strict, but in three-beat time a fairly
strict idiom with a pause on the second beat of each bar presents
a characteristic type, familiar to us in " Barbara Allen," and here
298
APPENDIX
illustrated by the fine tune of " Bruton Town." " Lord Bateman "
is a somewhat similar example. It is considered by the author to
be in six-beat time which brings the characteristic pause on to the
third beat instead of the second, and adds dignity to the tune
without altering the free nature of the figure.
Throughout all these examples there exists an immense variety
of detail in the treatment of figure, which cannot possibly be
eclipsed, if equalled, by the folk-song of any other country. Also
noteworthy are the freedom of phrase and the ease with which
change of time is made. It is thought that this may be considered
on the whole a typical collection, although it represents but a few
out of the many tunes published by Mr. Cecil Sharp, by whose
permission these are here reproduced.
Section R.— The Basis of Equal Outline. 1. Unvaried.
The Banks of the Sweet Dundee. 4.4.4.4.*
p^P^^^g^^^g
-r—f—f-fz
i J J I J. »ff=i=i=i
ft^r=f=J-j4J=J-i^^hN— m=r^g^^
r^T^^^j^^-^^i^gsj;^^^
ip— r-
±=t=:
The Broken Token. 2.3.3.3
The Bold Fisherman,
Allegretto. 2.2 A.
3l^- j|J=j.=,^^^
Ei
=1 — I 1:
^1
-* J •'-
litr*
^Eg=j=j=^^j^^,^_,I^^E^^.j3^,
* These numbers indicate the number of bars in each phrase successively.
APPENDIX
299
2. Varied with Figures, Strict and Free.
The Lover's Tasks.
Moderato. 2.2.4. J J j varied J J*
Robin Hood.
7.8.4. J J J .. J J J J J.^J
y ?> ^ I j^rTl7=^g^^^^^^^^
^
24^^^
^^^
^^^^
*->-^
Admiral Benbow.
Allegro moderato. 4.3.4.4. J J
J .. J J J
^pi^^g^^^^^^^:^^
^^
3c;=it
i
JS^, I J, I j:.^j:^yE^
g=^5^
=il=S=
The Hearty Good Fellow. ^^ ^^
A/od.r«/o. 2.2.2.2.2.2. jT] i'- jTTj JTj J Jj J J^
300
APPENDIX
Dabbling in the Dew. ^____ A ^a
Allegro commodo. 2.2.2.2. J J J J v. fZ J Fj
Section S. — The Basis of the Strict Figure varied by
OTHER Figures, Strict, Free, or Equal.
Dicky of Taunton Dean.
Allegro moderato. 4.4.2.2. J** J v. JTjJ TTZ
i
-I s
s^=^:^g^^
:f5=T
^
:i)=i-
:*=5t
iS
^^
-r — r-
i" F r^n--?"^^
The Trees they do grow high. /^ y\
Allegretto espresiivo. 4tAA.^. ^ } v. J J J J. J^ J
b=T=}t=|=Js
=^
^^S
3=P=
^^=^
APPENDIX
301
As I walked through the Meadows.
Andante graxioso. 2.2.2.2. J^ J v. J j j J J J j
i
The Seeds of Love. y^^
^nrfa«<i«o. 2.2.2.2.2. .n J „. J . J*
1=
3EdE
=51=*=
^^^-J|r-r-r=^S^
High Germany. —a rs ?"= i p+n
^«rf<;«<.. 4.4.4.4. J. ] J J r. J. 3 J. J J JJ]
:f=a:
■5^=?BK
-\—<i i ^T
,J^-J| ^•J:g^^^
s) :S.T:i.-^--^
The Banks of Green Willow
Allegretto. 2.2.2.2.2. jTj v. fZ J^ J JT] J
.m 0 jTz^-g-^-g,
1 1 1
J I uJ
^^^gfe^^
302
Midsummer Fair.
APPENDIX
Allegretto.
2.2.2.3. ,^J .. rTi fn m
Section T. — The Basis of the Free Figure varied by
OTHER Figures, Strict, Free, or Equal.
Bruton Town. ^^
Moderafo. 2.2.2.2. JZ J v. JTj ^J A^
^g^^^.j=g5£g=,^r-^r+J^-J
I s
I
Lord Bateman. /^ /^ /\
Jl/orfcfa/o maestoso. 2.2.2.2. j J J «. J .H J J j j J J
^S
!^i^^s^
B^^H-^^-^
^
fbizth
^^p^^^^^P^^^-^-7^^^
(i) Cold blows the Wind.
Mod«^«/o. 2.2.2.2. /71 > V. rn ' jm
$
2iz:ra!5i=it
^^^
^^
^^^g
^^^^^^^
APPENDIX
(2) A '^ '^-. w
' ' Grazioso. iA. J J 2 V. J J /^ J J.J^
303
Morris Dance.* Shepherd's Hey.
iAAA.fTTj J^-J J J. Sfj
000 000
XXX XXX 0000 000
^^
f^^r=gg
i<X=3t
Morris Dance.* Rigs O' Marlow.
4.4.4.4. fj.. .. J^ ri
• •^■r»-_ X X
X 2 ^' T^« . X X :ff'
X X X X
^^
♦ By permission of Messrs. Novello & Co., Ltd. From " Morris Dance Tunes,"
Set II, The signs O and X signify respectively hand-clapping and stick-rapping.
304 APPENDIX
ANALYSIS OF TIME-OUTLINE
IN ENGLISH DANCE-TUNES OF THE
17th and 18th CENTURIES
The following tunes are not given as examples of folk-Song or as
quasi folk-song, and into the question of their origin it is needless
here to enter. Their purpose is at least as interesting and more
certain. These tunes were not printed and published for the
people but for the educated classes, and there can be little doubt
that we have here the actual tunes to which danced the country
squires and dames of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a
fact to which some of their names testify. And apart from their
historical interest, the tunes have an intrinsic value. Upon the
whole they represent natural conditions of time-outline that are
instrumental rather than vocal ; there is less freedom of phrase,
but more elaboration of time-figures uninfluenced by words than is
found under purely vocal conditions ; equal outline rarely appears
unvaried, and the basis of the free figure is nearly as common
as that of the strict. They are tunes that will repay thorough
analysis.
" The Three Sisters " and " Helston Furry Dance " are of later
date and are tunes that do claim to have come direct from the
people. The former has the natural grace of a folk-song, and
might well be one, the latter is a version of the well-known
Cornish folk-dance which has a lengthened opening phrase of
three bars instead of the usual two-bar one, which is found in
"Songs of the West." It is more than likely that we have here
the original version of the tune, to which the free phrase lends a
considerable charm. The earlier printed version of Davies
Gilbert's, 1823, does not contain it, but in all respects this is a
stiff and inferior tune.
APPENDIX
305
Section U — The Basis of Equal Outline, varied
WITH Figures, Strict or Free.
" Dancing Master."
Punch Alive.
^ 4.4.4. Jl V. J73
:pri?t
^^^
gfcnMn'-f-^^^^^
Lady Nevil's Delight. ^ ^< Musick'i Delight," 1666.
4.4.4.4. J J r. J -H JTI3J JIJ J.;*
Ju .^iiarr-J I ! r
The 29th of May. " Dancing Master."
4.4.4.4. J J .. hn J J J Oi J } r:
fs^-=r-^^}S^^^^y^-p^^g=^
3o6
APPENDIX
Dance.
4.4.4.4. rji „, }j ry]
The Bashful Swain.
4.4.4. J J .. n J -^
4.4.4.
" Dancing Master."
gi^jij J J M^rir J J r If ^^^^^^^^ee^
Section V.— The Basis of the Strict Figure, varied by
OTHER Figures, Strict, Free, or Equal.
O Good Ale.
4.6.2. j r^ J,. J.^N J J J j J
fe^
:e=|t:
^^f=r=-7^^Q=[J_^n:'iiH:^
i
=1=J5
^3^ jir- ,.;^E^tJ-^J^
^^==*:
=it=*:
The Three Sisters.
2.2.4. J ^ „. .rj-]
"Christmas Carols," D.wies Gilbert.
APPENDIX
307
d^J55=^=^^t^^^g5^kEg
E^
Lulle me beyond thee.
2.2.2.2.2.2. J .nH] v. m j. rTi m ; " ^^"^'"^ ^^'^"•"
£^-f"T^=J^CgP^::^
Parthenia.
6.2.2.4. J ^„. J. J.] J JT]
Skill of Music," Playford.
fiF=#HF^g^^
The Dame of Honour.
4.4.4.4. J ^ „. .rfj^ > J J3j J^
D'Urfey, 1719.
^^ir^rH^^^^j^^^^f^l^^
^^^3^^,j?=^^f7.^j II ,rJ^.^^=^^U^^J=4
I 11 "I
-K,
S*^=i^»
^^^^^pl
3o8
APPENDIX
Helston Furry Dance. ^^ " Cornish Itinerary," 1845.
3.2.3.2.4.4. J n ^. nfi n rn
$
Con spirito.
S
^^^^^^m
-r r r r '-
*^. -t
P=trt=r=c^
"r— r I L r r r r-y^
1^=W=f^
^=ii:^
Section W.— The Basis of the Free Figure, varied by
OTHER Figures, Strict, Free, or Equal.
Red House.
4.4.4.
-N J] r. J^ fTi FPj n
" Dancing Master."
^^^^^^^^^^
-^—f^.
5^^^
?3^^^
^^^^^^^
f^^i^S^^
^
3^
^^^
Windsor Terass.
4.4.4.4. J jij, ^. jjjnj. rsjn
" Dancing Master."
APPENDIX
309
^^^m^;^^"^^^^^^
Love lies.
^^^^i^s3s3^
The Whish.
m V. J .N J. >i
^— g^^-^^
* j-
-i«i — •-
iSt=t
^ " Dancing Master."
g=#; J J^=fc;4a.E£.J^^?^:a
Old Simon the King.
4 fTPl rr^j I ^ f^ " History of Music," Hawkins.
Sir Roger de Coverley.
2. 2 2 In J J I ^ 1,1 i I J 1 " History of Music," Hawkins.
* This barring is chosen as indicating the natural accents of the tune which is
unbarred in this version.
310
APPENDIX
TIME-TYPES OF THE EAST
This section illustrates the range of the Hindu tala from simple
conditions hardly to be distinguished from the European bar up to
the most complicated units. It should be remembered that the
melodies are entirely unaccented; a European time-signature would
thus give a false impression. Ekdtdla has been rendered into f
and also f ; and either of these readings is equally incorrect. The
melody here given appears to contradict the tala, but when sung it
would scarcely convey more than an effect of slight variation upon
it. No attempt has hitherto been made to indicate the more
elaborate talas in European notation. The difficulty of singing
a melody against the eccentric regularity of Tala Ara will be
appreciated by musicians. The melody is here noted as in the
Hindu record without reference to bar-beats ; the position of each
beat being indicated by the tala-notation.
Section X. — Hindu Talas and Melodies.*
Tala Thoongree. Raga Jogeeah,
Tala Ekatala. Kaga Parajica.
J r J r J r J r J r J r- J r J r J r J
i
f" • r * r
^
Itt^
1^^
^
^rfF^-^-fg-^^
Tala Chawtala, Raga Chhayanata.
* From " Hindu Melodies," and " Seven Principal Musical Notes," S. M. Tagore.
APPENDIX
311
Tala Drutatritalee. Raga Kalingara.
r
Tala Madhyamana. Raga Basanta.
Tala Slathatrltalee. Raga Paraja.
I I,
i^j J^J^J^j ^ ^ ^ ^ j^J-J-J
J-J-J-J J-J^J-J r r r r
Tala Surphakta. Raga Surata.
J r J J r J r J J r J r J J r J r J J r
Tala Ara-chawtala. Raga Bibhasa.
J J r J r J r J J r J r
J J P J
J ^ J J r J r J
312
APPENDIX
Tala Jhanptdla. Raga Jhighiti.
J J 1 J J ^ J J n J J n J J . J J T J J -. J J -.
J J n J J 1 J J . J J -, J J -, J J . J J n J J -.
fe^
^i^
^^^*^15
Tala Ara.
J^J-^J^J^,^ . r V .*J^J J-J--«»>.-^ .r .
i^^BE^E^j^S^ggg^^^^^g^
THE ELEMENTARY RONDO TYPE
In this section the refrain of the Rondo is indicated by the letter
R. Sometimes this also forms the opening theme. The Ballad
rondos have been already described.
Section Y.— English, Chinese, and Hindu Rondos.
Dance-Tune. The Faithful Shepherd. R. R. R. R,
^ 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2.
^3^^^g=^g?3=Fi^^^
:sl=4
'^^
R.
-r n-c
f-r+T-trt"
^N^^^i^:
^^
APPENDIX
313
R.
fef^E^^^B^i^^^g^
Morris Dance.* Laudnum Bunches. R. R. R. R. R. R.
R 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 5. 4.
i--a3-
a-zK^=iJ:zri£,
^^^^^^^^^^^^m
53z:^"3^^p^^
-— K4-
D.C.
?=^r^f^q;^3=ad^3.g^F^F^^^^^g^^Mi
^i^^sgE^;P;^E3=g=:3^^?=y^j5|,-j=.^=^
R.
^^^lEiEg^IggS^g^g^^ig
J^^^^EEgE^
:ff=p:
* By permission of Messrs. Novello & Co. Lid. From " Morris Dance Tunes," Set I,
314
APPENDIX
Chinese Ballad. R. R. R.
R. Orchestra. 2. 4. 2. 3. 2. 5. 4.
Voice.
Van Aalst.
R R R R R R
Hindu Ballad* (Svarajota). 2.'2. 2— 2.' 8— 2." 4—2. 8— 2.' 6— 2.
Allegro moihrato.
R. (Pallevi.) ^ ^
(Anupallevi.)
Raga Bilahari.
^^^g.^-^-
♦ From C. R. Day's, " Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India and the
Deccan." By permission of Messrs. Novello & Co., Ltd.
APPENDIX
315
w ^v»
^^£r-^?5-5?^->^^jg=feP^
5.
^^^^^^^^^
* An incomplete bar.
3i6
APPENDIX
THE ELEMENTARY VARIATION TYPE
The following movement has been transcribed by the Author
from the original letter notation as printed in " Myvyrian Archaeology
of Wales." It is in many respects the most concise, satisfactory and
the least florid among many examples, some of which with their
ceaseless reiteration of equal beat-figures of a few notes, suggest
five-finger exercises rather than variations. Monotony pervades
the whole range of the music, a fact which goes far to prove its
authenticity. The grace-notes here given are practically a safe
reproduction, but the sign which is construed by the shake is of
uncertain interpretation ; the shake appears likely, because it is
difficult to see what else could have been intended. A reproduction
of the opening bars in the original notation is given in the article
on '• Wales " in Grove's Dictionary.
Section 2. — An Early Welsh Movement in Variations.
The Prelude to the Salt. Measure Mac Mwn Byr. 11001111.
Gosteg yr Haleii.
1^
k-Bz^==£z
S— r-»--
^-
m
^^h=^==.^
I. Bj f,- ,
f=f^^=^=^=?[f-TTTff=3=^
es
APPENDIX
317
P^^
The Bass of III. continues.
-f-M^&Jg^-^ ^ ?^^rff-r
VIII.
jf f f -r.j^ r r <.^ -^ 1- ..J^r- -p
IX.
i±x£e:r--£E£^:^:g.«d=g=-_g^
^^SBt^
ep^^S^^l
g— g^g-^-
APPENDIX
XI.
f^r^-f-^^
^-^
P m^ m^
=p=r=^
gg
^
=g-:rr-=-Tg^
tst
--t—ll^
^^^^^
m.
J
f-^
gE=^g=r_L=r.iL_zc=rEEai
6*
gi^g^^^^3=^gif-T"^Tfai
Here ends " The Prelude to the Salt," which used to be performed before the
knights of King Arthur, when the Salter was placed upon the board.
GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS
USED IN THIS WORK
This mark (*) indicates jicw or partially ?iew terms,
or the new use of a term.
Absolute Pitch . . . Actual pitch according to a given number of
vibrations.
Accent Stress.
Accidental The written inflection of a note by semitone.
Alto The upper middle part.
'''Atonic Composed of tones other than those of the tonic
triad.
Augmejited .... One semitone longer than major or perfect.
Aug7nented Triad . . The triad composed of two major thirds, covering
an augmented fifth.
Bar The space between two principal accents.
*Bar-Jigiirc A time-figure that relates to the bar-standard.
Bar-line The vertical line dividing one bar from the next.
Bass The lowest part.
Beat or Tiine-beat . . A recurring point marking equal divisions of
duration,
* Beat-Jigtire A time-figure confined to division of one beat.
Cadence A point of rest in circling rhythm.
Cation A contrapuntal type of form, based on continuous
imitation.
^Centering Proceeding within the key.
Chaconne An obsolete variation-type, founded upon a dance
of the same name.
Chord A harmonic unit of tone-material.
Chord of the Ninth . . A chord of four thirds, covering a ninth.
Chord of tJie Sevetith . A chord of three thirds, covering a seventh.
Chromatic (0 A. semitonal variation in diatonic outline ; (2)
movement by semitone.
'''Circling Rhythm . . . Tlie rhythm that gravitates to or radiates from a
centre.
319
320 GLOSSARY
Clef A sign indicating the absolute pitch of the line
of the stave on which it is placed.
*Colotcr-oiitlinc .... Tone-succession in quality.
Concerto A cycle for a solo instrument with orchestra.
Consonant Composed of a synchronous third, sixth, or fifth ;
a major or minor triad ; successions of thirds
or sixths ; successions of triads in first in-
version.
*Coniitmoiis Style . . . Music lacking stanza divisions and formal con-
trasts of tempo.
Contrapuntal .... Parts proceeding simultaneously upon a con-
sonant basis.
Contrapuntal Bass . . A melodic part in the bass.
Counterpoint .... The science of combining moving parts by re-
lations of intervals.
*Cycle Any succession of movements, with or without
stanza divisions, that has contrasts of tempo
between one movement and another.
Degree A fixed point in pitch.
Diatonic Limited to the melodic key.
Diatottic Scale . . . The melodic key.
Diminished .... One semitone less than minor or perfect.
Difninished Triad . . The triad composed of two minor thirds.
*Discant A combination of moving parts without a con-
sonant basis.
Discord or Dissonance , (i) Any interval that contradicts those of the
consonant triad ; (2) consecutive fifths.
Dominant The fifth degree of the scale.
Dro7ie The continuous sounding of one note, usually
against a melody.
* Dual Beat The equal division of the beat.
Duration Degree of length of a tone.
Eleventh The repetition of the fourth at octave distance.
*Equal Outline . . . Successive tones of similar value.
Fifth An interval composed of two thirds.
Figure The smallest free unit of music.
Flat A sign lowering the pitch by a semitone.
* Force-outline .... Tone-succession in intensity.
*For7H The relation of parts to the whole by means
of recurrent (rhythmic) combination and
balance of many varying units.
Fourth The inversion of the fifth.
*Free Informal, at irregular intervals.
*Free Form Form based upon inexact recurrence of units.
GLOSSARY 321
/•'i/i^KC A coutrapuiiUil type of form, Ixiscd on imitation
of units.
*Fii/l-/o/!c The normal interval of the diatonic scale.
Ground A variation-type, in which a phrase-outline in the
bass formed the unit of repetition.
flannonic Bass . . . The lowest tone of each chord in tlic normal
position.
Harmonic Caifcncc . . Pause on the tonic triad, or partial pause on the
dominant or other chords.
Harmony Chord-succession.
Idea A free unit composed of figures.
*Idiom The recurrence of figures in the same part.
Imitation The recurrence of figures (or a coni])letc outline)
by transference from part to part.
Intensity Degree of force of a tone.
Interval The distance in pitch from one tone to another.
Inversion The placing of an upper tone in the bass.
Key The relation of tones to a consonant centre.
*Key-eircle The relations of keys.
Key-note or Key-tone . The tonic note.
Key-signature .... The indication of the number of sharps or flats
required to form a scale upon the pattern of
the scale of C.
Leading-note .... The seventh degree of the scale, a semitone
below the tonic.
Madrigal A vocal type of form, partly contrapuntal, partly
rhythmitonal.
Major The larger of the two normal intervals, hence
applied to the standard type of key depend-
ing on the major third.
Major Triad .... Composed of one major and one minor third,
with the major third below.
Mediant The third degree of the scale.
Melodic Cadence . . . Pause on the tonic note, or partial pause on other
tones of the scale.
Melody (0 -^ small circling type dependent upon figure,
phrase, and stanza ; (2) an isolated outline
in harmonic music.
*Meiamorphosis . . . Changes in time-outline, with repetition of pitch-
outline.
X
322 GLOSSARY
^A/icrotonal Containing intervals smaller than the semitone.
Alinor The smaller of the two normal intervals, hence
applied to that variation upon the standard
key which depends upon the minor third.
Minor Triad .... Composed of one minor and one major third,
with the minor third below.
Minuet A small stanza movement, founded upon song-
type.
"^Mixop/ionic .... Parts proceeding simultaneously without regard
to consonance.
Mode The relative pitch of the scale.
Modulation .... A change of key.
Modulativc .... Passing from key to key.
Motett A vocal type of form, contrapuntal and ecclesi-
astical.
Movement (i) Motion; (2) a separate division of a musical
work, corresponding to a canto of poetry or
an act of the drama.
Natural The sign revoking the sharp or flat.
Ninth The repetition of the second at octave distance.
Note The written tone ; also synonym for tone.
Octave The point where the pitch of a tone repeats itself
Opera A vocal and orchestral composition combined
with the drama, formerly a cycle, now usually
continuous in style.
Oratorio A vocal and orchestral composition, united with
a religious text, of an anomalous cyclic
character.
^Outline The succession of tones.
Overture Generally understood to be a single movement
'in sonata-type for orchestra ; originally a
cycle of small movements.
Part That which is composed or written for a single
voice or instrument, incomplete in itself.
Pedal . The continuous sounding of tonic or dominant
tones against atonic chords.
Perfect Without variation of major or minor.
*Phrase The grouping of strict accents.
"^Phrase-outline . . . The time- and pitch-outlines contained within the
phrase.
Pitch Degree of height of a tone.
* Pitch-figure .... A fraction of pitch-outline forming a unit.
*Pitch-idio)n .... The recurrence of a pitch-figure in one part.
GLOSSARY 323
*Pitch-iinitaiifln . . . Transference of a pitch-figure from one part to
another.
*Pifch-flutlinc .... Tone-succession in pitch.
*Polyp/to/iy The development of synchronous pitch-outHne
upon the natural basis of chord-conception.
*Pulsaiive Rhythm . . The rhythm of the beat.
Quality That which distinguishes the tone of one voice or
instrument from another.
*Raga A tonalitive type, employing time-outline to
emphasise its pitch-relations.
Recitative A melodic vocal usage, in which the lingual
element predominates over the musical.
Rest The written sign for duration of silence.
* Rhythm The periodic or recurring quality of all movement.
*Rhythmito7ial . . . . Composed of tones conditioned by rhythm.
Rondo A rhythmitonal type of form with a recurrent
subject.
Root The harmonic bass of a chord.
Roitnd ...... A melody, which, sung by several voices in
imitation, phrase by phrase, makes harmony
when all its phrases are heard at once.
Scale The name-order in pitch of musical tones.
*Scale-tonc The first degree of the scale.
Scherzo A movement in rapid tempo, frequently in song-
type.
Score The written combination of parts.
Second The interval of the scale.
Seinito/ie Half a full-tone.
Segteeticc A species of pitch-idiom.
Seventh The inversion of the second.
Sharp A sign raising the pitch by a semitone.
Sixth The inversion of the third.
Slur The line that indicates the phrase, or sometimes
the figure.
Sonata A cycle of movements composed of various rhyth-
mitonal types for one or two instruments.
"^Sonata-type .... The type commonly known as "binary " or "first-
movement form."
Song-type Consisting of statement, contrast, and re-state-
ment, usually in three divisions.
^Standard The fixed tone-material of music.
* Stanza Two or more phrases defined by a cadence.
Stave or Stafi'. . . . The group of lines on which notes are written.
GLOSSARY
"^strict. . .
* Strict Accent
^Strict Form
Subdoininant
Subject . .
Subinediant or Super
domitiant
Suite
Supertonic
Suspension
Symphonic Poem
Symphony . . .
Syncopation . .
^Syntonic. . . .
Formal, at regular intervals.
The accent of the bar.
Form based upon exact recurrence of units.
The fourth degree of the scale.
A musical idea.
The sixth degree of the scale.
(i) A cycle of small contrapuntal movements
named after dances ; (2) the name for
the orchestral cycle on a small scale.
The second degree of the scale.
A species of melodic discord, formed by retarda-
tion of a tone.
Music in continuous style for orchestra, usually
associated with poetry.
The name for the orchestral cycle on a large
scale, formerly built upon types.
Reiteration of a tied figure, which annuls the
strict accent.
Music consisting of the three tones of the tonic
triad.
*Tala , . .
* Tala-bar
Tempo . .
Tenor , .
Tenth . .
* Ternal Beat
Tetrachord .
Theme
Third
Tie
Time , , . .
* Time-figure
'''Time-idiom
* Ti/ne-imitaiion
* Time-outline .
Time-signature
Tonality
* Tonalitive
Tone . .
The unit of the Eastern time-system.
The bar containing the tala and determined by it.
Speed.
The lower middle part.
The repetition of the third at octave distance.
The division of the beat into three parts.
Three or four notes in succession, covering a
fourth.
A musical idea.
The interval of the chord.
A sign between two notes indicating that they
are a single tone.
(i) The number of beats in a bar ; (2) beat-
division.
A fraction of time-outline, not less than one beat
forming a unit.
The recurrence of a time-figure in one part.
Transference of a time-figure from part to part.
Tone-succession in duration.
The indication of the number of beats in a bar
and the beat-division.
The relations of all tones to a given centre.
Pertaining to tonality.
The name given to the sounds used in music.
GLOSSARY
;25
* To/n-tna/en'al .
* Tone-niovemetit
Tonic . . .
Transposition
Treble
Triad. ,
Triplet .
Tritone .
Ttveljth .
*Type . .
*7ype of For
The variations of tone forming tlic material of
music.
Combination of outlines.
The melodic or harmonic centre of pitch-relations.
Change of absolute pitch-level.
The highest part.
A chord of two thirds, covering a fifth.
A group of three notes of equal value.
Three full-tones in succession.
The repetition of the fifth at octave distance.
A melodic or harmonic formula.
A familiar and generally accepted plan for a
movement.
*Undiilating- or Free The rhythm of wave-motion.
Rhythm
*Unit Any part of musical material that is perceived to
recur.
*Va/ue The relative duration of a tone.
Variations A rhylhmitonal type founded upon repetitions of
a melodic or harmonic outline.
INDEX
Absolute music, 141, 216, 21S
Abstract form, 118
Accent, 13, iS, 19,20,62, i qo, 151, 153,
156, 164, 165
Accidental, 28, 31
Accompaniment, 61, 107, 108, 168, 203
Acoustics, 3 1
Alternation, 13, 14, 85, 137, 196, 23^,
239
Alto, 4
Anibros, " History of Music," 118
Analysis, 225-229
Andaman Islands, 112
Angouleme, Monk of, no
Antiphony, 108, 1 14
Appa'-.sionata (Beethoven), 254
Arabic, 32, 58, 59
Aria, 220
Atonic outline, 86-88
Aul)ry, Pierre, 246, 247
Authentic modes, 116
B
Bach, J. S., 130, 167, 200, 201-204,
223, 237, 244, 246, 24.S, 249
Balance of strict and free, 136, 161, 164,
190, 253, 257, 268
Bar, European, it, et seq. ; Asiatic, 184-
193
Bar-tigure, 149, 151
Bar-line, 12, 13, 19, 1S4
Barring of song-music, 216
Bass, 4, 41-43 ; evolution of, 65, 66
Beat, 7, 8, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 142, 157,
184
Beat-division, 9, 1 1, 14, 16, 17, 18, 154,
172, 18s
Beat-figure, 149, 151, 152
Beethoven, 19, 144, 171, 201, 214, 227,
231, 232, 242, 246, 253, 254, 260,
261
Berlioz, 172
Biwa, 108
B Minor Mass (Bach), 127
Brossard's dictionary, 128
Buddhist chant, 109, 114
Burma, 107
Burney, Charles, " History of Music,"
129
Cadence, 45, 164, 177-180, 205, 211,
212, 221, 237, 241, 242, 247
Canon, 197, 198, 199
Caiitits firiinis, 120, 123, 124
Carissimi, 244
Centering outline, 93
Cesti, 211
Chaconne, 237, 241
Changing-note, 62
China, 32, 51, 52, 53, 54, 59, 109, 236
Choral ^tyle, 201, 202, 204-207
Chord, origin of term, 128
Chords, illustrations of, triads, 38, 42,
43,63,64 ; chords of seventh, 73-75 ;
chords of ninth, 74 ; chromatic chords,
81-83
Chromaticism, 75, 84, 88, 92, 93, 94,
lOI
Church-music, 15, 30, 31, 110 ei sci/.,
120-122, 142, 194, 198-199, 205,
265
Clavichord, 249
Clef, 3, 29
Climax, 138, 229, 231, 242, 254
C Minor Symphony (Beethoven), 214,
Colour-analogy, 103, 263
Colour-outline, i, 4, $2, 145, 263
Concerto, 251, 255
Concert-music, 261-264
Consonance, 35, 38, 40 ei seq., 60, 61,
142
Continuity, 219, 227, 257 et seq.
Cotton M.S., 123
Counterpoint, 109, 119, 124-126, 132,
160, 194, 238, 262, 264-266
Couperin, 237, 250
Cultured song, 220, 234
Cycle, 243 et seq.
327
328
INDEX
D
Dance-song, 210, 219—221
Day, Captain C, R., 47, 58
Descanter, 119, 123, 124
Discant, 105 et seq. ; definition of, 106 ;
origin of, 109
Discord, 42, 62-65, 88, 123
Discords, preparation of, 90 ; resolution
of, 89-91
Dominant, 39, 64, 79-81,91 ; Gregorian,
114, 115
Dominant 7th, 65, 74
Dot, II
Doubles, 237
Dramatic music, 174, 211, 2x7, 218,
259, 260, 261
Duration, i
Education, 10, 68, 84, 131, 132, 147
Emotional utterance, 98, 99, 145, 146,
161, 173, 231, 233, 254, 258, 270,
271
Equal figures, 1 50
Equal outline, 157, 158, 203, 209
Equal temperament, 5, 27
Estainpie, 246-247
Esterhazy, Prince, 222
Extemporisation, loi, 106, 119, 120
False relation, 8 1
Faiix-bourdon, 1 2 1
Fifths and fourths, 35, 39, 49
consecutive, 67-68, 109 :
Figures, pitch, 165; time, 149-154,
165 ; imitation in, 199, 200
Folk-song, 38, 158, 177, 181, 182, 197,
198, 210, 233, 241
Force-outline, i, 3, 13, 263
Form, strict and free, 13S-137, 138, 145, j
160, 161, 164, 190, 253, 257, 268
Fugue, 200, 203
Full-tone, 2, 25
G
Gerbert, iii
Giraldus Cambrensis, 197
Greek music, 51, 113
Gregorian, chant, 11 3-1 15, 117, 118,
121; modes, 114, 116; tonality, 114-
116, 125
Groneman, Dr. J., 107
Ground, 237
Gruffydd ab Cynan, 130, 239
Guido d'Arezzo, 116, 117, 118, 120
H
Iladow, W. H., 226, 227, 228
Handel, 244
Harding, Dr. H. A., 226, 227
Harmony, systems, 37, 70, 128 ; origin
of, 60, 61 ; instrumental, 68, 69;
primitive, 61, 64, 65; evolution of,
65, 66, 68, 71, 127, 128-131
Harmonic principle, 41, 70
Harmonics, 41
Harpsichord, 124, 248-250
Hawkins, Sir J. " History of Music,''
40, no, 116, 123
Haydn, 222, 223, 227, 231, 232, 237,
252, 253
Hindu, 32, 48, 59, Tj, 98-103, 106,
IIS, 184-191, 236
Hindu FrtW/ or tonic, 100, 114
Hipkins, A. J., 47
Hottentots, 195
Hungarian, T7
Hymn-tune, 182, 211
Idea, 139, 144
Idiom, 140, 144, 166
Imitation, 195 et seq., 217, 249
Instruments, 4, 33, 106, 107, 108, 155,
156, 206, 249, 252, 260, 262, 265
Intensity, i
Intervals, 2, 24, 25, 26, 36, 37, 120, 121
Inversion, 25, 26, 42, 43, 75, 121
Japan, 32, 105, 106
Japanese instruments, 106, 107, 108
Java, 51, 52, 53, 59, 105, 106, 107, 1S7
K
Keller, Godfrey, 128
Key, evolution of, 57, 64, 71, 75, 80, 84,
851?^ seq.
Key-board, 4, 3i, 33
Key-hold, 93, 94
Key-note or key-tone, 25, 39, 40, 64,
80, 83, 85, 86, 89, 91
Key-signature, 29
Key-system or key-circle, 27, 31, 57, 92,
93i 97
INDEX
Language, inlluence of, 204-206, 20S
et sci].
Law of evolution, i },6
Leading-note, diatonic, 45, 46, 64, 80,
177, 17.S
dominant, 79, 8r, 82, ?)l
M
Macpherson, Stewart, 19, 227
Madrigal, 206
Mass, Catholic, 24^
Mittrd, 184
Mazarin, Cardinal, 247
Measures of music, 131, 230
Melodic principle, 60, 61
Melody, Western, origin of, 35, 36, 3.^,
39, 40, 181, 182; evolution of, 44,
45, 46, 49, 50, 62, 148, 149, 191,
221, 222
Eastern, origin of, 47 ; evolution
of, 5'-S4> '9^, 193
comparison of Eastern and Western,
191-193
Metamorphosis, 173, 174
Micrologos (by Guide), 117
Microlonal, 47, 48, 51, 54, 96
Minuet, 21Q, 221, 253
Missa Pap^r ^rar<el/i (Palestrina), 127
Missa Soleiitnis (Beethoven), 201
Mixophonic music, 105 et seq.
Mode. See Scale.
Modern music, 222, 232
Modulation, 92-94
Monotony, 136
Monteverde, 211, 259
Morley, Thomas, 119, 127
Morris dance, IS7
Motett, 206
Mozart, 227, 231, 232, 237, 258
N
Napoleonic scientific expedition, 157
Notation, of time, 2, 9, 11, 15 et seq.; of
pitch, 3, 5. 22, 28 et seq., jt, ; Eastern.
32, loi, 103 ; teaching of, 270
Notes, 3, 10, II, 16
Octave, 3, 35, 41. (^6, 67, 109, 123
Opera, 210, 211, 218, 244, 245, 251,
259, 260
Oratorio. 244
Orchestra, 4, 8, 14, 155, 156,211,260-
262
Organ, 14, 116, 155, 201-203, 248,
24Q, 265
Organum, 1 10-113, 122
Ornament, 240
Outline. I ; standard, 137. 165
Overture. 257
Palestrina, 123, 205
Tarry, .Sir IL, 23, 36, 53, 113
" Parsifal" (Wagner), 170, 214
Part, 4
Part-singing, 61, 64-68, 195, 199
Passing-notes, 62, 125
Pause, 177
Pedal-bass. 65. too, 113
Peii, J.. 21 1
Phrase, definition and origin, 175, 176
J'hrase-form, 176-179, 181-182, 210-
215. 247
Piggott, E. T.. 107
Pitch, absolute, 4, 5, 21 ; relative, 5, 21
et seq.. 98. 99
Pilch-figure, 165 et seq.
Pitch-idiom, 166-170, 203, 241
Pitch-imitation, 200, 203, 241
Pitch-notation, 3, 5, 22, 28 et seq., Ji
Pitch-outline, i, 2, 3,4, 141, 142, 163
Plagal modes, 116, 178
Plain-song. 120
Playford, John, 127, 128
Poetry, 179, 205, 206, 211, 212, 215-
217
Polyphony, 133, 221, 263
Pricked-song, 120
Primitive music, 7, 8, 10, 13, 36, 37,
96, 1 12, 1 15, 149, 163
Principles, 134 et seq., 269
Programme music, 264
(Quality, I .
Quarter-tone, 2, 48, 10 1, 103
Quartet, 251, 252, 255
Raga, 56,98-101, 115, 183, 192
Rameau, "Treatise of Harmony," 127-
130
Reading MS., 122, 198
Y
330
INDEX
Recitative, 211
Relations of time and pitch, 10, 140,
142, 143, 173, 251
Reproduction, 223
Resolution of discords, 89-91
Rests, II, 177, 237
Rhythm, circling, 138; pulsative, 7, 14,
138 ; free or undulating, 2. 138, 144,
145, 241, 258 ; definition of, 138
Rhythmic principle, 134 e( seq., 146
Riemann, Dr., 23, 113, 116, 12S
Rondo, 234-237
Root, 39, 41
Round, 121, 195-198, 204
Sanskrit, 99, 103, 184, 186, 188
Scale, origin of, 22, 36; definitions of,
23, 24 ; mode of, 24, 55 et seq., 76-80,
1 16 ; degrees of, 2, 5, 24, 25, 28, 59 ;
evolution of, 44 et seq.
chromatic, 4, 21, 75; diatonic,
25, 38, 48, 75-77 ; pentatonic, 45,
50, 52, 53. 54. 63, 64; Gregorian,
114, 116
Scale-tone, 96, 97, 102, 114-116
Scherzo, 221, 253
Schiarky, 235
Schubert, 19, 159, 166, 254
Score, 4, 31
Scotus Erigena, no, in
Semitone, 2, 45, 46, 47
Sequence, 25, 168, 169
Sevenths, diminished, 73 ; dominant, 65,
74 ; major, 72 ; minor, 74
Siam, 52, 53, 105, 106
Singers, 117, 118, 195-198
Slur, 153, 170
Sonata-cycle, 224, 251-255
Sonata-type, 225 et seq.
Song- type, 220, 234
Spain, 157
Standards of lime, simple, 7 et seq. ;
compound. 12 et seq., 181
Standards of tonality, simple, 27, 38 et
seq. ; compound, 27, S5 et seq.
Stanza-form, 179, 180, 237, 241, 242
Stave, 3
Stradella, 211
Style, evolution of, 135, 161, 173, 181,
182, 190-195, 201, 202, 206, 207,
209-211, 216-223, 241, 242, 257 (?/
Suite, 246-250
" Sumer is icumen in," 121
Suspension, 125, 164
Symphony, 251, 252-255, 260
Symphonic poem, 262, 264
Sympson, Christopher, 124, 127, 128
.Syncopation, 154. 155, 240
Syntonic outline, 86-88
Tala, 185-193
Tagore, Raja Sir S. M., 58, 98, 99, 102,
184, 185, 186
Tempo, 2, 9, 17, 251
Tenor, 4
Tetrachord, 25, 49, 76, ^y, 113
Theory, evolution of, in, 112, 120,
121, 122, 124-130
modern, 19, 67, 132
Third, 22, 38, 40, 73
Third-tone, 2, 48
Tie, II, 153
Time-accompaniment, 156, 157
Time-beat, 7, 8, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18,
142, 157, 184
Time-figure, 148-155
Time-idiom, 155, 159-162, 164, 209,
217, 218, 263
Time-imitation, 201
Time-notation, 2, 9, 11, 15 et seq.
Time-outline, i, 2, 9, 10, 148 et seq.,
158. 159; promiscuous, 194, 201, 262
i Time-signature. 17, 18
I Time-standard, simple. 7 et seq. ; com-
pound, 1 2 et seq. ,181
Time-system, European, 7 et seq.. 12 et
seq. ; Asiatic, 183 et seq. ; comparison
of above, 188-190
Tonality, 138, 163, 247
European, 27, 39, 40, 84, 85 <r/
seq., 129, 141-144, 177, 180, 248;
Asiatic, 55, 95 et seq.
Tone, I
Tone-movement, 2
Tonic, 25, 39, 40, 64, 80, iT,, 85, 86,
89, 91 ; Eastern, 96-98, 102
Tonic Sol-fa, 3 1
Transposition, 55, 58
" Treatise of Cologne," 1 1 1
Treble, 4, 42
Triad, consonant, 38 et seq., 63, 64;
dissonant, 72 ; chromatic, 81, 83
Triplet, 185
"Tristan" (Wagner), 214
Tritone, yy
Tuning, 5, 27, 33, 49, 107, 108
Turkey, 32, 235
Types of form, evolution of, 195-200,
205, 206, 224-228, 230-232, 233 et
seq.. 247, 252-253
INDEX
u
Union of strict and free, 136, 138, 169
Unit, 13s, 137, 139, 199
Unity, 134, 13s. 19s. 243. 244. 24s,
250, 251, 255
Value, p, 10, 16, 194, 247
Variations, 237-242
Variety, 136, 165, I95
Veriic hymn, 1 14
Villoteau, G. A., 157
Viol, I 24, 246
Virginal, 238
Vitalianus, Pope, 116
W
Wagner. 86, 170, 172, 214. 215, 218,
251, 259, 260, 261
Waldstein sonata (P)eethoven). 253
Wave-rhythm, 138
Weber. 258
Welsh music, 131, 196-197, 239-240
Printed by Rallantvne, Hanson &• Co.
Edinburgh &^ London
Date Due
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Cat. no. M37
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ML 448 . G59
Glyn, Margaret. Henr±et.-ta,
lass-
Analysls of "the evolution of
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