Lessons in Music Form | Page 2

FORM THE
EXPOSITION THE DEVELOPMENT, OR MIDDLE DIVISION THE
RECAPITULATION DISSOLUTION RELATION TO THE

THREE-PART SONG-FORM
CHAPTER XVIII.
--IRREGULAR FORMS.
CAUSES AUGMENTATION OF THE REGULAR FORM
ABBREVIATION OF THE REGULAR FORM DISLOCATION OF
THEMATIC MEMBERS MIXTURE OF CHARACTERISTIC
TRAITS
CHAPTER XIX.
--APPLICATION OF THE FORMS.
APPLICATION OF THE SEVERAL DESIGNS IN PRACTICAL
COMPOSITION AFTERWORD

LESSONS IN MUSIC FORM.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
THE NECESSITY OF FORM IN MUSIC.--So much uncertainty and
diversity of opinion exists among music lovers of every grade
concerning the presence of Form in musical composition, and the
necessity of its presence there, that a few general principles are
submitted at the outset of our studies, as a guide to individual reflection
and judgment on the subject.
Certain apparently defensible prejudices that prevail in the minds of
even advanced musical critics against the idea of Form in music,
originate in a very manifest mistake on the part of the "formalists"
themselves, who (I refer to unimpassioned theorists and advocates of
rigid old scholastic rules) place too narrow a construction upon Form,

and define it with such rigor as to leave no margin whatever for the
exercise of free fancy and emotional sway. Both the dreamer, with his
indifference to (or downright scorn of) Form; and the pedant, with his
narrow conception of it; as well as the ordinary music lover, with his
endeavor to discover some less debatable view to adopt for his own
everyday use,--need to be reminded that Form in music means simply
Order in music.
Thus interpreted, the necessity of form, that is, Order, in the execution
of a musical design appears as obvious as are the laws of architecture to
the builder, or the laws of creation to the astronomer or naturalist; for
the absence of order, that is, Disorder, constitutes a condition which is
regarded with abhorrence and dread by every rational mind.
A musical composition, then, in which Order prevails; in which all the
factors are chosen and treated in close keeping with their logical
bearing upon each other and upon the whole; in which, in a word, there
is no disorder of thought or technique,--is music with Form (i.e. good
Form). A sensible arrangement of the various members of the
composition (its figures, phrases, motives, and the like) will exhibit
both agreement and contrast, both confirmation and opposition; for we
measure things by comparison with both like and unlike. Our nature
demands the evidence of uniformity, as that emphasizes the impressions,
making them easier to grasp and enjoy; but our nature also craves a
certain degree of variety, to counteract the monotony which must result
from too persistent uniformity. When the elements of Unity and
Variety are sensibly matched, evenly balanced, the form is good. On
the other hand, a composition is formless, or faulty in form, when the
component parts are jumbled together without regard to proportion and
relation.
Which of these two conditions is the more desirable, or necessary,
would seem to be wholly self-evident.
The error made by pedantic teachers is to demand too much Form; to
insist that a piece of music shall be a model of arithmetical adjustment.
This is probably a graver error than apparent formlessness. Design and
logic and unity there must surely be; but any obtrusive evidence of

mathematical calculation must degrade music to the level of a mere
handicraft.
* * * * * *
Another and higher significance involved in the idea of Form, that goes
to prove how indispensable it may be in truly good music, rests upon
the opposition of Form to the material.
There are two essentially different classes of music lovers:--the one
class takes delight in the mere sound and jingle of the music; not
looking for any higher purpose than this, they content themselves with
the purely sensuous enjoyment that the sound material affords. To such
listeners, a comparatively meaningless succession of tones and chords
is sufficiently enjoyable, so long as each separate particle, each beat or
measure, is euphonious in itself. The other class, more discriminating
in its tastes, looks beneath this iridescent surface and strives to fathom
the underlying purpose of it all; not content with the testimony of the
ear alone, such hearers enlist the higher, nobler powers of Reason, and
no amount of pleasant sounds could compensate them for the absence
of well-ordered parts and their logical justification.
This second class is made up of those listeners who recognize in music
an embodiment of artistic aims, an object of serious and refined
enjoyment that appeals to the emotions through the intelligence,--not a
plaything for the senses alone; and who believe that all music that
would in this sense be truly artistic, must exhibit "Form" as the end,
and "Material" only as a means to this end.
* * * * * *
Still another,