Modified Repetitions
The quality and extent of the changes that may
be made, in order to enrich the composition without altering its
structural design, depend, as has been intimated, upon the judgment and
fancy of the composer. The student will find no part of his analytical
efforts more profitable and instructive than the careful comparison of
these modified repetitions with the original Parts; nothing can be more
fascinating and inspiri
g to the earnest musical inquirer, than thus to
trace the operation of the composer's mind and imagination; to witness
his employment of the technical resources in re-stating the same idea
and developing new beauties out of it,--especially when the variations
are somewhat elaborate.
It must be remembered that mere repetition (even when modified,--as
long as it can be proven to be nothing more than repetition) does not
alter the form. A phrase, repeated, remains a phrase; nothing less
than a decided alteration of the cadence itself will transform it into
a double-phrase (or period). Similarly, a period, repeated, remains a
period, and does not become a double-period; and a Part, repeated,
remains the same Part. Therefore, the student will find it necessary
to concentrate his attention upon these larger forms, and exercise both
vigilance and discrimination in determining which sections of his
design come under the head of modified repetition.
For an illustration of the repeated First Part, see the 9th Song
Without Words; Part I is a four-measure period (of two small phrases)
closing in the seventh measure; the following four measures are its
modified repetition. For an example of the repeated Second and Third
Parts, see No. 48. In No. 29, both repetitions occur, with
interesting changes; the repetition of Part I begins in measure 13;
that of Parts II and III in measure 35; the last 10 1/2 measures are a
coda.