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.



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