Musical Form

Excerpt from Musical Form

The preceding volumes of this series have dealt chiefly with matters of musical theory, though theory and practice are so closely connected that it is impossible to draw a hard and fast line of demarcation between them. The present volume, on the other hand, is almost practical, and points of theory are hardly touched upon.

None of the earlier works of the series have involved anything like the amount of labour in their preparation that has been needful for this one. Very little is to be found in English musical literature concerning the subjects which occupy the greater part of the volume; and the materials had to be compiled partly from large German treatises on composition, which, however interesting and instructive, can certainly not be considered as "light reading," and, to a still larger extent, from the careful and often minute analysis of the works of the great masters. This, it is hoped, will be deemed a sufficient apology for the delay in the appearance of the present volume.

In dealing with the subject of Musical Form, the author felt that the only satisfactory and logical method was to begin with the rudiments. Rhythm - that is, the more or less regular recurrence of cadence, is as much an essential of music as it is of poetry. The first part of this volume is therefore devoted to an examination of the fundamental principles of Rhythm, as shown in the construction of musical phrases and sentences. Such an examination would have been incomplete without the analysis of a musical sentence into its ultimate constituents - the motives. In his treatment of this part of the subject the author must express his deep indebtedness to the researches of Dr. Hugo Riemann. He believes that this distinguished German theorist has been the first to recognized fully the true nature of the motive, and the connection of its unaccented notes, not with the preceding, but with the following accented note.