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):--



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:--



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.



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