Lessons in Music Form | Page 9

its power and permanency of interest.
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DEFINING THE FIGURES.--It is not always easy to distinguish the figures in a melodic sentence. While they are unquestionably analogous to the words in speech, they are by no means as concrete, nor are they separated as distinctly, as the words upon a written or printed sheet. This is in keeping with the intangible quality of music, and the peculiar vagueness of its medium of expression; the quality which veils its intrinsic purport from the mass of music admirers, and lends it such exquisite and inexplicable charm to all hearers alike.
In a word, it is not the common practice for a composer to cut up his melodic sentences into separately recognizable small particles, by distinctly marking each component figure. Here and there it is done, by way of contrast, or emphasis, or for a definite rhythmic effect,--as shown in Ex. 2 and Ex. 6. But more generally the figures are so closely interlinked that the whole sentence may impress the hearer as one coherent strain, with an occasional interruption. The very minute "breaks" between figures are often nearly or quite imperceptible; and in many cases it is possible to define the figures of a motive in various, equally plausible ways, simply because the "breaks" (which are of course surely present, and become more and more apparent between the larger members of a composition) are likely to be too inconsiderable among these, smallest factors of the melodic form.
The following three guides may serve to indicate the extremities of the melodic figures:--
(1) A brief rest, or a longer tone, usually marks the end of a figure. This is fully illustrated in Ex. 6. See also Ex. 10, Ex. 12.
(2) Similarity of formation (rhythm and melodic direction) almost invariably defines the mutually opposed, and therefore separable, divisions of the melody,--both small and large. For example (the figures are bracketed a):--
[Illustration: Example 7. Fragments of Czerny, Mendelssohn, and Schumann.]
See also Ex. 1. The operation of this exceedingly important rule of "corresponding formation" (about which more will be said later on) is seen--on a larger scale--in Ex. 2, Ex. 5, and Ex. 6, where it defines the whole motive.
(3) In default of more definite signs, the figures may be found to correspond to the metric groups (that is, in lengths of whole or half measures). Thus:--
[Illustration: Example 8. Fragments of Beethoven.]
This example illustrates the interlinking of the figures, and suggests the difficulty that may be encountered in the effort to define melodic figures. The difficulty is probably greatest in melodies of a lyric character, where it is necessary to sustain the coherency of the sentence; for instance, in many of the Songs Without Words,--see No. 40, No. 22, and others, in which an entirely definite separation of the figures is well-nigh a hopeless task.
For this reason,--that is, because the melodic divisions are so minute and vague between these smaller particles of the musical sentence,--it is advisable to give no heed to any factor smaller than the "motive," and to undertake the analysis of nothing less than the latter; for even the most scrupulous "phrasing," in the playing of a composition, must avoid the risk of incoherency almost certain to result from distinctly separating all the figures. The melodies in Ex. 8 should not betray the secret of their formation.
THE MELODIC MOTIVE OR PHRASE-MEMBER.--This, as has already been stated, is a somewhat longer section, compounded of two or more figures. Being thus longer, the "breaks" or spaces between motives are generally more emphatic and recognizable than those between the figures, and therefore it is easier, as a rule, to define the extremities of motives.
Melodic motives differ in length from one to four measures; by far the most common extent, however, is two measures, and the student will do wisely to accept this dimension and analyze accordingly, unless there is unmistakable evidence to the contrary. The indications are precisely the same as those illustrated in the preceding two examples as guides for the definition of figures.
For example:--
[Illustration: Example 9. Fragments of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Mozart.]
In the first of these examples the extent of the motives is proven by each of the three given guides: the rest, which marks the end of the first member; the similarity of melodic and rhythmic formation, which proclaims the beginning of the second member, parallel with that of the first; and the regular (two-measure) dimension. In Nos. 2 and 3 there are no rests between the motives, and the melodic formation differs; here it is the standard of two measures that defines the members.
Ex. 3 is a two-measure motive. In Exs. 2, 5, and 6, the motives are all two measures in length.
In the following:--
[Illustration: Example 10. Fragment of Beethoven.]
one is tempted to call each single measure a motive, because of the