Critical and Historical Essays, Edward MacDowell [fun to read .txt] 📗
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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 bourrée, but slower.
6. LOURE.-Similar to the bourrée, 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.
11. MARCH.-Same as the old march, but modified in character and movement according to its title-funeral march, military march, cortege, festival march, etc. In funeral marches, the third and fourth periods are generally in major.
The modernizing of dance forms has been undertaken by almost every writer from Scarlatti (d. 1757) down to our day. Scarlatti joined sections together with isolated measures, repeated sections and phrases before completing the period, and added short codas to periods indiscriminately. Since his time, everyone has added to or curtailed the accepted forms by putting two forms together; hence the fantaisie-mazurka, etc. Wagner represents the culminating point of the modern tendency to disregard forms which were interpreted differently by every composer, and which had their origin in dances.
The attempt to emancipate music from the dance commenced very early; in fact, most of the earliest secular music we know already shows the tendency towards programme music, for, from an emotional standpoint, secular music began at the very bottom of the ladder. It was made to express things at first, just as in learning any new language we naturally first acquire a vocabulary of nouns to express things we see, such as table, chair, etc., in the same way that in written language the symbols first take the shape of animals or other things they are meant to represent. This same characteristic naturally showed itself in music before the words for emotion came, the common, everyday nouns
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 bourrée, but slower.
6. LOURE.-Similar to the bourrée, 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.
11. MARCH.-Same as the old march, but modified in character and movement according to its title-funeral march, military march, cortege, festival march, etc. In funeral marches, the third and fourth periods are generally in major.
The modernizing of dance forms has been undertaken by almost every writer from Scarlatti (d. 1757) down to our day. Scarlatti joined sections together with isolated measures, repeated sections and phrases before completing the period, and added short codas to periods indiscriminately. Since his time, everyone has added to or curtailed the accepted forms by putting two forms together; hence the fantaisie-mazurka, etc. Wagner represents the culminating point of the modern tendency to disregard forms which were interpreted differently by every composer, and which had their origin in dances.
The attempt to emancipate music from the dance commenced very early; in fact, most of the earliest secular music we know already shows the tendency towards programme music, for, from an emotional standpoint, secular music began at the very bottom of the ladder. It was made to express things at first, just as in learning any new language we naturally first acquire a vocabulary of nouns to express things we see, such as table, chair, etc., in the same way that in written language the symbols first take the shape of animals or other things they are meant to represent. This same characteristic naturally showed itself in music before the words for emotion came, the common, everyday nouns
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