Critical and Historical Essays
try to make clear in our consideration of form in music.
Until the very end of the fifteenth century, music, so far
as we know, had no language of its own, that is to say,
it was not recognized as a medium for expressing thought or
emotion. Josquin des Pres (born at Conde in the north of France
in 1450, died 1521) was the first to attempt the expression
of thought in sound. Luther, in rebelling against Rome, also
overturned the music of the church in Germany. He incorporated
many folk songs into the music of the Protestant church and
discarded the old Gregorian chant (which was vague in rhythm,
or, rather, wholly without rhythm), calling it asinine braying.
While Luther was paving the way for Bach by encouraging
church music to be something more than merely the singing
of certain melodies according to prescribed rules, in Italy
(at the time of his death in 1546) the Council of Trent was
already trying to decide upon a style of music proper for the
church. The matter was definitely settled in 1562 or 1563 by
the adoption of Palestrina's style.[13] Thus, while in Germany
ecclesiastical music was being broadened and an opening offered
for the development of the dramatic and emotional side of music,
in Italy, on the contrary, the emotional style of music was
being neglected and an absolutely serene style of what may be
called "impersonal" music encouraged. Italy, however, soon had
opera on which to fall back, and thus music in both countries
developed rapidly, although on different lines.
In England, the budding school of English art, as exemplified
by Purcell, was soon overwhelmed by the influence of Haendel
and the all-pervading school of Italian opera, which he brought
with him.
In France, up to 1655, when Cardinal Mazarin sent to Italy for
an opera troupe with the purpose of entertaining Anne of Austria
(the widow of Louis XIII), there was practically no recognized
music except that imported from other countries. Under Louis
XI (d. 1483) Ockeghem, the Netherland contrapuntist, was the
chief musician of the land.
The French pantomimes or masques, as they were sometimes called,
can hardly be said to have represented a valuable gain to art,
although their prevalence in France points directly to their
having been the direct descendants of the old pantomime on
one hand, and on the other, the direct ancestor of the French
opera. For we read that already in 1581 (twenty years before
Caccini's "Euridice" at Florence), a ballet entitled "Circe" was
given on the occasion of the marriage of Margaret of Lorraine,
the stepsister of Henry III. The music to it was written by
Beaulieu and Salmon, two court musicians. There were ten bands
of music in the cupola of the ballroom where the ballet was
given. These bands included hautbois, cornets, trombones, violas
de gamba, flutes, harps, lutes, flageolets. Besides all this,
ten violin players in costume entered the scene in the first
act, five from each side. Then a troupe of Tritons came swimming
in, playing lutes, harps, flutes, one even having a kind of
'cello. When Jupiter makes his appearance, he is accompanied by
forty musicians. The festivities on this occasion are said to
have cost over five million francs. Musically, the ballet was no
advance towards expressiveness in art. An air which accompanied
"Circe's" entrance, may be cited as being the original of the
well-known "Amaryllis," which is generally called _Air Louis
XV_. Baltazarini calls it _un son fort gai, nomme la clochette_.
Music remained inert in France until 1650, when the Italians
gained an ascendancy, which they retained until 1732,
when Rameau's first opera "Hyppolyte et Aricie" was given in
Paris. Rameau had already commenced his career by gaining great
success as a harpsichord player and instrumental composer,
mostly for the harpsichord. By his time, however, music,
that is to say, secular music, was already becoming a new art,
and the French merely improved upon what already existed.
Now this new art was first particularly evident in the dances of
these different peoples. These dances gave the music _form_, and
held it down to certain prescribed rhythms and duration. Little
by little the emotions, the natural expression of which is
music, could no longer be restricted to these dance forms
and rhythms; and gradually the latter were modified by each
daring innovator in turn. This "daring" of human beings, in
breaking through the trammels of the dance in order to express
what lay within their souls in the language that properly
belonged to it, would seem almost ludicrous to us, were we
not even to-day trying to get up courage to do the same thing.
The modifications of dance forms led up to our sonata, symphony,
and symphonic poem, as I hope to show. Opera was a thing apart,
and, being untrammelled either by dance rhythms or church laws,
developed gradually and normally. It cannot, however, be said to
have developed side by side with purely instrumental music, for
the latter is only just beginning to emancipate itself from its
dance clothes and to come forth as a language for the expression
of all that is divine in man. First we will consider the forms
and rhythms of these dances, then the awakening of the idea of
design in music, and its effect in modifying these forms and
laying the foundation for the sonata of the nineteenth century.
The following shows the structure of the different dance forms
up to about 1750.
OLD DANCE FORMS (1650-1750).
[ :Motive-|-Motive--|-Motive-----|--|-Motive---|--|-Motive----|---]
[2/4: 4 8 8 | 8. 16 4 | 8 8 8 8 | 4 4 | 4 8 8 | 4 4 | 8. 16 8 8 | 2 ]
[ :------Phrase-----|----Phrase-----|---Phrase----|----Phrase-----]
[A phrase may be three or four measures, and sections may be unequal]
[ :-------------Section-------------|-----------Section-----------]
[ :------------------------------Period---------------------------]
This period might be repeated or extended to sixteen measures
and still remain a period.
1. |--I P.-|--II P.-| (II is generally longer than I)
2. |---I---|---II---|--I--|
3. |---I---|---II---|-III-| (generally III resembles I)
4. |---I---|---II---|-III-|--I--|--II-| or |--I--|--II--|-III-|--I--|
5. |---I---|---II---|-III-|--IV-|
6. |---I---|---II---|-III-|--IV-|--I--|--II-|
7. |---I---|---II---|--I--|-III-|--IV-|-III-|--I--|--II--|--I--|
In all these forms each period may be repeated.
Often the first, third, and fourth periods are repeated,
leaving the second period as it is. This happens especially
when the second period is longer than the first. In Nos. 2,
4, 6, 7, a few bars are often added at _Fine_ as a coda.
ANALYSIS OF OLD DANCES
1. SARABANDE.--[3/2] [3/4] lento. Rhythm [3/2: 2 ^2. 4 | 2 2].
Form 1, sometimes Form 2. This is of Spanish origin (_Saracen_
dance), and is generally accompanied by variations called
_partita_ or doubles.
2. MUSETTE (_cornemusa_ or bagpipe).--[3/4] [2/4] allegretto.
Form 1. Always written over or under a pedal note, which is
generally sustained to the end. It generally forms the second
part (not period) to the gavotte.
3. GAVOTTE.--[4/4] allegro moderato.
Rhythm [4/4: 4 4 | 4 8 8 4 4] or [4 8 8 | 4 4 4 4].
Always commences on the third beat. Form 3 or 5.
When accompanied by a musette, the gavotte is always repeated.
4. BOURREE.--[C/2] allegro. Rhythm [C/2: 8 8 | 4 4 4 8 8].
Form 3 or 5. Generally faster than the gavotte, and commences
on the fourth beat.
5. RIGAUDON.--Similar to the bourree, but slower.
6. LOURE.--Similar to the bourree, but slower. (In French
the verb _lourer_ means "to hold," which may have been a
characteristic of the _loure_ bass).
7. TAMBOURIN.--[C/2] allegro. In form and rhythm like the
gavotte, but faster. Usually founded on a rhythmic pedal
note imitating a tambourine.
8. CORRENTE, COURANTE.--[3/4] allegretto.
Rhythm [3/4: 8 8 8 | 8 8 8 8 8 8] or [3/4: 8 | 8 8 8 8 8 8]
(does not usually commence on the beat). Form 1, sometimes
Form 2. The rhythm is usually uniform, a kind of perpetual
motion, though not in one voice.
9. MINUET.--[3/4] generally a little slower than moderato,
although in later minuets the tempo became allegretto.
Rhythm, generally, [3/4: >(4 | 4) 4 4 | 4 8 8 8 8] etc.
Old minuets often began on the first beat. Form 4; the third
and fourth periods being generally in a different mode from
the first and second periods, and called Trio or Minuet 2.
Minuets exist also without the Trio, and are in Form 1 or 2.
10. CHACONNE.--[3/4] moderato. Form undecided; has sometimes
even only one period, sometimes three or two. It is generally
accompanied by doubles or variations, and is invariably
written on a ground bass or _basso ostinato_. The rhythm is
often syncopated.
PASSACAILLE, [3/4], resembles a chaconne but is more stately.
11. WALTZ (old German).--[3/4] andante moderato. Generally
Form 6. Rhythm [3/4: 4. 8 8. 16 | 8 8 4 8 8] approximately.
12. MARCH.--[4/4] allegro moderato.
Rhythm [4/4: 8. 16 | 4 . 16 4 4 | 2. 3(8 8 8)] etc., or
[4 | 4 8. 16 4 4] etc. Form 6. Generally all the periods
are repeated and consist of eight measures each; third and
fourth periods change the key and rhythm.
13. ALLEMANDE.--[4/4] moderato. Rhythm generally uniform
sixteenth notes. Form 1.
14. PASSEPIED.--Quick minuet.
15. PAVANE, PADVANA, or PAVO (peacock).--[4/4] andante
moderato. Rhythm [4/4: 4 8. 16 4. 8 | 8 8 8 8 2]. Form 2 or 6.
Sometimes [2/4]; third and fourth periods in different keys.
16. GIGUE.--[2/4] [6/8] [3/4] [3/8] [9/8] [12/8] presto.
Rhythm generally uniform eighth notes. Forms 1 and 2.
17. POLONAISE.--[3/4]. Rhythm [3/4: 8 16 16 8 16 16 4] or
[16 16 8 16 16 8 4] allegro. Form 1, generally with short coda.
MODERN FORMS (1800).
1. MAZURKA.--[3/4] allegretto. Form 6.
Rhythm [3/4: 4 | 8. 16 4 4].
2. POLONAISE (also POLACCA).--[3/4] allegro maestoso.
Rhythm [3/4: 8. 16 8. 16 16 16 16 16] or [8 4 16 16 8 8].
The bass is generally [8 16 16 8 8 8 8]. Form 7.
3. BOLERO (CACHUCHA) (Spanish).--Like the polonaise but
livelier, and generally containing counter-rhythms in triplets.
4. HABANERA.--[2/4].
Rhythm [2/4: 8 8 16 8 16 | 8 8 16 8 16 | 8 8 3(8 8 8) | 8 8 4].
The characteristic element is the mixture of triplets and eighth
notes. Time, andante. Form undecided, generally No. 1. Very often
repeated with slight changes.
5. CZARDAS (Hungarian).--First part [C/2] (_lassan_, _lento_);
second part [2/4] (_friska_, _presto_ and _prestissimo_).
For form and rhythm see Liszt's rhapsodies, Nos. 2, 4, and 6.
6. TARANTELLA.--Rhythm [6/8: 8 8 8 8 8 8 | 8 8 8 8 8 8] or
[8 8 8 8 8 8 | 4 8 4 8]. Time, molto allegro to prestissimo.
Forms 4 and 6, sometimes 7. In the Trio the movement is often
quieter although not necessarily slower. It almost invariably
has a Coda. The Finale is usually prestissimo.
7. SALTARELLO.--Similar to the tarantella, with the exception
of having more jumps (_salti_).
8. POLKA (about 1840).--[2/4] allegretto.
Rhythm [2/4: 8 8 4 | 8 16 16 4]. Form 6. Accent is on the
second beat. Cuban dances (sometimes called habaneros) are
often in polka form and rhythm, with the one exception of
the triplets peculiar to almost all Spanish music
[2/4: 8 8 >4 | 8 8 >4 | 16 8 16 >8 8 | 16 8 16 3(16 16 16) 8]
9. WALTZ.--[3/4]. Rhythm (bass) [3/4: >4 4 4 | >4 4 4].
Faster than the old waltz. Form 2 with a coda. Modern waltzes are
often written in sets, or many different waltzes joined together
by short modulations or codas, preceded by an introduction,
generally in one period, _lento_, and ending with a brilliant
coda containing reminiscences of the principal themes.
10. GALOP.--[2/4]. Rhythm [2/4: 16 16 16 16 8 8 | 8 8 8 8] or
[16 16 8 8 8 | 16 16 8 16 16 8]. Form 6. Time, presto.