Exceptions
In its ordinary, normal condition the phrase is a musical
sentence four measures in length. But this rule has its necessary
exceptions; necessary because, as we have learned, the principle of
Variety is quite as vital as that of Unity or symmetry. The phrase is
not always regular; by various means and for various reasons, it
occasionally assumes an irregular form. When such irregular phrases
are encountered (phrases
of less or more than four measures) the
student will best distinguish them by defining their extremities, their
beginning and ending--as beginning and ending, without reference to
their length. This should not be attended with any serious difficulty;
at least not to the observant student who reads his musical page
thoughtfully, and attaches some meaning to the figures and motives of
the melody; who endeavors to recognize the extent to which the
successive tones appear to cling together (like the letters in a word)
and constitute an unbroken melodic number,--and, in so doing, also
recognizes the points where this continuity is broken, and a new number
is announced. Much assistance may be derived from the fact--striking
in its simplicity--that the ending of one phrase defines, at the same
time, the beginning of the next, and vice versa. The locating of
one, therefore, serves to locate the other. There is, usually,
something sufficiently indicative about a beginning, to render it
noticeable to a careful observer, and the same is true of an ending.
This is illustrated in the following:
No. 1 is from the pianoforte sonata, op. 10, No. 3, second movement;
see the original. This phrase exhibits an ending, unmistakably, in the
fifth measure, and not in the fourth. Its form is therefore
irregular.
In No. 2 (from the first pianoforte sonata), the first phrase ends with
the fourth measure, obviously, for the evidence of a new beginning in
the following measure is perfectly clear; the phrase is therefore
regular. But the next phrase runs on to the sixth measure from this
point (the tenth from the beginning of the whole), because there is no
earlier evidence of an ending. Observe that the first phrase has a
preliminary quarter-note, the second phrase none. Turning to
Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words, the very first (introductory) phrase
of No. 3 is five measures in length; the first one in No. 35 also
contains five measures; the first one in No. 16, and in No. 9, contains
three measures. The irregular phrase will be again considered (in a
different aspect) in a later chapter.
The recognition of these syntactic traits of the melodic sentence is of
great moment to the player, for they constitute the information upon
which conscious, intelligent, effective phrasing depends; and without
intelligent phrasing, without a clear exposition of the formation and
arrangement of the members and phrases, full comprehension and adequate
enjoyment of a musical composition is impossible.
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