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Cornell University Library
ML 3845.M14
The foundations of musical stheticsior.
http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022202810
Zbt /Dnslc Xoper'g Xibrarg
EDITED BY
A. EAGLEFIELD HULL
MUS. DOC. (OXON.)
With a frontispiece.
A Century of Welsh Music. By J. Graham.
Modern Music Its Aims and Tendencies. By R. H. Myers.
;
SY
Leave to bloom the flower of things, and dig among the roots."
Fifth impicssion
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LTD.
BRO.\nWAY HOUSE, 68-74 CARTER LANE, E.G.
W6
Printed in Great Britain by Ebenezer Baylis and Son, Limited,
The Trinity Press, Worcester, and London,
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
J Introductory i
V Harmony 43
—
connection is to unite the purely sensuous
materials of Music into a whole, more or less
coherent and consistent. This function in the
earliest stages of the Art was probably filled by
what may be called the principle of Emotional
6 THE FOUNDATIONS OF MUSICAL /ESTHETICS
MUSICAL SOUND
8
MUSICAL SOUND 9
I Fundamental tone.
The Octave above No. i.
The Fifth above No. 2.
The Fourth above No. 3.
The Major Third above No. 4.
etc.
S 2Z
2Z
* "^ J 4 S 6 T 8 9 /O // IZ 13 /4 15 r6
MUSICAL SOUND 13
MUSICAL SOUND 1
EQUAL TEMPERAMENT
e.g.—
4000
27"5
EQUAL TEMPERAMENT 2
i
and refer it in turn to a succession of different
keys or tonalities, C, B, A, etc., etc. In each
case the single sound C is accompanied by a
specific feeling which is extra to the sensation
of definite pitch, and which is different in each
case. This specific feeling is caused by the
different relations exhibited between this sound
C and the central sound of each new tonality.
A point of considerable importance is that
this feeling of Tonality and the manner in
which it appeals to the musical sense are not
fixed and definite for all time, but are subject
to the process of evolution and development.
If we examine music composed in the course
of the last 600 years we cannot fail to observe
signs of this process of evolution. From the
earliest times, even in the dim ages of which
we have no record, some such unifying prin-
ciple must have been at work, and in the
32 THE FOUNDATIONS OF MUSICAL ESTHETICS
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Tonality, according to mediaeval music, and
music which is invented or composed by people
without harmonic prepossessions, must be real-
TONALITY AND SCALES 35
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Centre
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CHAPTER V
HARMONY
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In the above progression, the chief deter-
mining factor is the necessity for simplifying
HARMONY 47
$
effect
2r
or to create an implicit
feeling of contradiction.
—
^
somewhat inconclusive:
if not an explicit-
231
i
In this latter case care must be taken to counter-
act this feeling of key contradiction by special
manipulation of the melodic progressions.
S
# However, even in the case of such a progres-
harmonies not directly related
sion as the last,
can be forced into a kind of direct connection
—
HARMONY 53
$ 1
This fact of chord-fusion renders possible
the logical use of any combination of the notes
of the key. As the chief fact in the idea of
Tonality is the implicit and explicit tendency
to progress to the key-centre and as the direct
progression to this key-centre takes place only
from the Dominant harmony, such chord fu-
sion is mostly carried out on the basis of
Dominant harmony. But it is equally possible
54 THE FOUNDATIONS OF MUSICAL /ESTHETICS
CHAPTER VI
THE RHYTHM OF CONTRAPUNTAL MUSIC
operative.
The early musicians were so influenced in the
choice of the time outlines of their compositions
by their realisation of verbal quantities, that
some of them of set purpose attempted to
formulate regulations for musical rhythm based
on the syllabic quantities of the words sung.
A certain Jean Antoine de Baif (1532- 1589)
wrote some " Chansons Mesur6es " which were
set to music by contemporary composers In
— — . 1
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64 THE FOUNDATIONS OF MUSICAL /ESTHETICS
i
or by pitch :
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or by both time value and pitch :
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then such differences, especially if they occur
regularly, produce points in the succession
which can be regarded as indicative of some
shape.
Just as if the straight line referred to above
should now become curved:
— m m* m *
-JH^ ^— ^ m
72 THE FOUNDATIONS OF MUSICAL iESTHETICS
''^i'UisjiOL
The bar-lines in the above have been arranged so that they occui
only before the rhythmic climanes of the several units.
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—
CHAPTER VII
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86 THE FOUNDATIONS OF MUSICAL /ESTHETICS
A
musical work in which this principle of
rhythmic regularity and balance is the basis of
design, consists of a chain of such units or
phrases, so arranged and of such dimensions
as to give the effect of continuity with more or
less regular articulations. Each unit is identic
fied with its own accent, and these accents are
so arranged that they occur either at regular
intervals or at intervals which present simple
relations of value.
The distinction between the rhythm of
modern music and that of the contrapuntal
idiom is, therefore, twofold ; in the first place,
in rhythmically balanced music every accent
is associated with a symmetrically balanced
group or unit secondly, the occurrence of these
;
I : 2, 2 : I, I : 4, etc.
It is, therefore, possible to indicate graphic-
ally the rhythmic outline of modern music in
some such manner as the following :
The figures on the curve show the points which correspond to the
accents of the five units which make up this example.
point :
Haydn: Sonata in F.
O c/e/tcatissirno.
=2-
ZZ-
a
f
92 THE FOUNDATIONS OF MUSICAL ESTHETICS
B.
i ^
THE PRINCIPLE OF RHYTHMIC BALANCE 93
.2
5
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94 THE FOUNDATIONS OF MUSICAL ESTHETICS
rirf i- l ifnf^
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THE PRINCIPLE OF RHYTHMIC BALANCE 95
A. Tempo.
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96 THE FOUNDATIONS OF MUSICAL iESTHETICS
8v...
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MUSICAL FORM
—
rowed due attention being paid to such
matters as quantity and pitch. As the work
progressed and the words of the text changed,
new musical outlines moulded on new words
appeared, and this principle continued until
the piece came to an end.
As Key, inour sense of the word, was not at
this time realised by musicians, there is, in such
works, neither modulation nor key-develop-
ment. The unity of the work from the point
of view of pitch is secured by the general pre-
dominance of certain melodic relationships, im-
plied by consistent use of one so-called mode
throughout. The chief place with regard to
design was taken by the principle of melodic
Imitation. Just as the discovery and inven-
tion of harmony arose from the endeavour on
the part of different voices to sing the same
tune at the same time, so the chief character-
lOO THE FOUNDATIONS OF MUSICAL ESTHETICS
(a)
I02 THE FOUNDATIONS OF MUSICAL /ESTHETICS
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MUSICAL FORM 109
As concerned
far as the lines of definition are
the above scheme is essentially the design of
the modern Sonata Form, but these early
Works differ from the modern examples in two
chief points. These are: first, the poverty and
indefinitoness of the subjects; and, second, the
middle section lacked organisation
fact that the
and was based more on the effect of contrasting
modulations than on development of subject
matter in the if*l sense of the term.
The Tiodpfn composer, with few exceptions,
is not content to base his work on the first
MUSICAL FORM 1 1
(i) Statement,
(2) Development,
(3) Re-Statement.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Helmholtz. The Sensations of Tone. Trans-
lated by Alex. J. Ellis.London, 1912.
Taylor, Sedley. Sound and Music. London,
1896.
Wood, Alex. The Physical Basis of Music.
Cambridge, 19 13.
DTndy, Vincent. Cours de Composition
Musicale. Paris, 1909.
Lalo, Charles. Esquisse
d'une Esthetique
Musicale Scientiflque. Paris, 1908.
Matthay, Tobias. Musical Interpretation.
London, 19 13.
Macpherson, Stewart. Musical Form. Lon-
don, 1908. Music and its Apprecia-
tion. London, 19 10.
McEwen, J. B. The Thought in Music an —
Enquiry into the Principles of Musical
Rhythm, Phrasing and Expression.
London, 19 12. The Principles of
Phrasing and Articulation in Music.
London, 1914.
Parry, C. Hubert H. The Evolution of the
Art of Music. London, 1909. Style
in Musical Art. London, 191 1.
"3
—— — — ——