Lessons in Music Form | Page 9

also to
point out the significant resemblance between the structure of language
and of music. The principal melody is, as it were, the voice of the

speaker, whose message is framed wholly out of the primary tones, or
letters of the musical alphabet. The association of primary tone-units, in
successive order, results first in the figure, then in the motive, then the
phrase, period, and so forth, in the manner of natural growth, till the
narrative is ended. The following example, though extending beyond
our present point of observation, is given as an illustration of this
accumulative process (up to the so-called Period):--
[Illustration: Example 6. Fragment of Beethoven.]
[Illustration: Example 6 continued.]
The tones bracketed a are the Figures; two (in the last measures, three)
of these are seen to form Motives; two of these motives make the
Phrase; and the whole sentence, of two phrases, is a Period. See also Ex.
1 and Ex. 2, in which the formation of figures is very distinct.
The pregnancy and significance of each of these tiny musical "words"
(or figures, as we are to call them),--small and apparently imperfect as
they are,--can best be tested by concentrating the attention upon each as
if it stood alone upon the page; it is such vitality of the separate
particles that invests a musical masterwork with its power and
permanency of interest.
* * * * * *
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,