Studies in Phrasing and Form PDF

STUDIES IN PHRASING AND FORM

STEWART MACPHERSON

RICKS COLLEGE LRC

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Arthur W. Dace

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THE JOSEPH WILLIAMS SERIES OF HANDBOOKS ON MUSIC UNDER THE EDITORSHIP OF STEWART MACPHERSON.

STUDIES IN

PHKASING AND EOKM.

BY

STEWART MACPHERSON (Professor and Lecturer in Die Royal

Author of "Practical Harmony,"

Academy

"Form

of Music

in Music," etc.)

PUICE TWO SHILLINGS AND SIXPENCE.

LONDON: JOSEPH WILLIAMS, LIMITED, 32,

Great Portland Street, W. Agents for America:

The Boston Music Company Coj)yri(jht

(G.

ScmitMEit, Inc.), Boston, Mass., U.S.A.

MCMXL, by Joseph Williams, Limited.

PRINTED BV GEO. BARBER

FURNIVAL PRESS

X

CURSITOR STREET, CHANCERY LANE, Tel. No. 1077 Holborn.

E.C.

TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE

Introductory Remarks

— On

the Value of Intelligent Analysis Part

1

I.

THE "PHRASING" OF MUSIC. Chap.

I.

Chap.

II.

— — (continued) — Indications

Meaningless Phrasing-Marks The Correct Uses of NOTATIONAL SlGNS THE SLUR

The Slur

4

of Staccato and

of Special Accent

19

Examples to be Phrased

33

Part

II.

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES IN MUSICAL FORM.

—Accent, Time and Rhythm Group. — Phrases and Sentences — Rhythmic

First Group.

76

...

Second and Contraction

Extension

...

...

Third Group. — The Simple Binary and Ternary Forms Fourth Group. — The Minuet and Trio (or Episodical)

102

Form —

The Older Rondo

104

Fifth Group. — Sonata-Form Sixth Group. —Departures from the Normal Type of SonataForm — Variations — The Sonata as a Whole Seventh Group. — Fugue and Canon Eighth Group. — The Symphony — The Overture — The Concerto — Concerted Chamber-Music

Group.— Dance-Forms

Ninth

Indefinite Forms

87

:

The

Suite,

Partita,

106

109 Ill

120

—

etc.

121

...

Group.— Historical Development Modern Tendencies...

Tenth

of

Sonata-Form

—

...

_

APPENDIX.— Detailed

Analysis of a Fugue of Bach and of Sonata of Beethoven

124

a _

125

\* The thanks

of the Author are due to the following firms for permission to use extracts from their copyright works :

Messrs. Alfred L-enKniek & Co., for Brahms' " Intermezzo " in C. Op. 118. ,,

"Intermezzo" Op. 118. "Ballade."

in

Op.

E

118.

9

minor.

Messrs. Peters (Leipzig), for Grieg's— " Pianoforte Stticke." Op. 1. No. 2. " Pianoforte Concerto." Op. 1(5. " Ballade." Op. 24. " Lyrische Stiicke." Op.

.07.

No.

SI.

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2012 with funding from

Brigham Young University-Idaho

http://archive.org/details/studiesinphrasinOOmacp

STUDIES IN PHRASING AND FORM.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. ON THE VALUE OF INTELLIGENT ANALYSIS. In undertaking the analysis of a work of musical art, it is possible to approach the task in one of two ways, (i) in the spirit of one who merely seeks to measure the superficial area and to "label" its various sections of that work so to speak according to a prescribed method or (ii) in the spirit of one who, realizing the value to the student (or even the mere listener) of an appreciation of shape, yet desires to penetrate more deeply into the mind of the composer, and to follow his thoughts and intentions to the full. Unfortunately, the number of even professed music-students who are content with belonging to the first of these classes is lamentably Unmusical large, and it is owing to the unmusical and inartistic attitude of such that the idea of Musical Analysis stands in the minds of many g^asi-artistic people as the equivalent of a pedantic dissection of the music, by which all its aroma, all its vital essence, is in danger of being lost. The position of these high-souled persons is represented by the following remarks, culled from a review upon a comparatively recent work on Musical Form: "From the point of view of the student, and in the light of modern development, it is questionable if the critical examination

—

—

;

anatomy

a classical work is of any value whatindividual who achieves enjoyment listening by to a fine fugue, for example, finding his melody in a subject that must necessarily be artificial, all the harmony he wants in the mechanical passage of the various parts, and his structure so determined that he need not give the question a moment's thought, cannot be expected to realize the ideals of that other individual, who looks for a more natural expression in the art that gives him pleasure, who derives his satisfaction from the sensuous charms of rich, full harmonies, and the melody that arises out of them; ivith the structure on no preconceived the ever

of

Copyright,

of

The

1911, in U.S.A.,

by Joskph Wilijams,

Tjimttf.p.1

J.W.,

r

l. ), 238.

2

STUDIES IN PHRASING AND FORM.

plan, but evolved from a poetic basis, and subject to all manne of surprising and delightful changes." And, if the attempt to get beneath the surface of th music we come into contact with, which we call Musics Analysis, were really and of necessity to imply that our fine musical feelings would by its means become so atrophie that we should inevitably end by " finding all our melod in that which must be artificial, and our harmony in th mechanical passage of the various parts," then, surety, sue analysis would indeed be, not only useless, but pernicious But when we begin to realize that, undertaken in the rigb spirit, it merely indicates that we bring on intelligence to bear upon the study of on T ru ® an(* music, and seek to follow out in a reasonabl analysis way the development and interplay of th composer's thoughts, such shallow and meaningless statement as those quoted above carry with them their own condemnatior For we may be sure that the " sensuous charms of ricr full harmonies " which the writer of the passage seems t regard as the summum bonum of all musical experiences, wi' not be appreciated less fully by him who brings the hearin, ear and the understanding mind to bear upon those feature simply because they require the aler of the music which use of our faculties so often are passed over by the averag

— —

unrecognized and even unheard. But, important as a critical knowledge of his music i Half th to the listener, to the executant it becomes vital. unmeaning performances we hear in drawing Unmeaning' rooms and in concert-rooms result from th ... performances. -r? ^ bnape in +tn non-appreciation otf i^orm or QU Such matters as the proper balancing and blending c music. rhythmical figures into sections, phrases and sentences eac! with its point of climax or of culmination and the wide conception of the contrast of Subjects o Perception of other larger " Paragraphs " of the compo ° ^ sition, are too often matters concerninj which the player " trusts to luck," with the result that, evei if saved from utter failure by some degree of natural musica feeling, his performance falls hopelessly short of what it shoulc be, simply from lack of an intelligent grasp of the Form of his music Recoguizing how grossly the idea of Form in music is miscon ceived and misrepresented even by those musicians who realh should know better, the author of the presen Misconception of volume ventures to put forward a definitioi of the expression which he trusts is wid< enough in its application to justify what has been said above of ite study fa A true definition. and to prove he importance. really to know the musi< who wishes him f with which ho is brought into touch. listener

•

—

*

y

*;

,

—

i

STUDIES IN PHBASING AND FOBM.

3

Form signifies the presentation oe musical ideas in such a way that, when they are placed in connexion with, or relation to, one another, they may produce an intelligible and consistent result. Viewed in this light, the matter should surely he compreand important enough for the student to hensive enough regard an intelligent and sympathetic analysis as an absolutely

—

—

essential part of his study, and, moreover, for such intelligent " analysis to be spared the cheap gibe of " pedantic dissection from those who when all is said and done really know very little about the question.

—

b2

—

— STUDIES IN PHRASING AND FOBM.

Part

THE

"

I.

PHRASING" OF MUSIC.

CHAPTER

I.

MEANINGLESS PHRASING MARKS— THE CORRECT USES OF NOTATIONAL SIGNS— THE SLUR. The

indication of the intentions of the composer as to the manner in which his music is to be performed is a matter which is only at the present time beginning to emerge from a state of chaotic uncertainty, and to assume any kind of definiteness, or indeed of method. Too often and here the classical masters were great offenders the various slurs, etc., which one finds scattered over the printed page, serve the one and Unmeaning* only purpose of decoration so far as and carelessly supplying directions to the player is conPhrasing* marks. cerne d, they are not only useless, but if taken au pied de la lettre and acted upon in good faith are usually productive of a totally erroneous, and frequently ludicrous, effect. An example or two will make this clear if we take the following extracts from Beethoven's Sonata in E minor (Op. 2, No. 1), as printed in the original edition of Breitkopf and

—

—

;

—

—

;

Haertel and reproduced with an almost touching fidelity by more recent editors, we shall see at once the vague, and even contradictory significance of the slur, as there used. To be of any service as a "phrasing" mark, or even as a mere indication of a "legato" rendering, such slur must end somewhere, and clearly this point should be the actual rhythmic termination of the passage, be it long or short, a tiny figure such as :

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—— STUDIES IN PHRASING AND FOBM. or one

much more

extended, such as

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it

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II

just in this matter of the ending of the slur, or

phrasing-mark, that so much uncertainty In the same sonata an ^ confusion exists. f th Beethoven has written the following bars, with the phrasing as here shewn 1111

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In the slow-movement of the same sonata, many instances meaningless phrasing are to he found, of which the following a specimen :

Adagio.

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lore, again,

7

to regard tho slurs as a guide to the passage would at once bo On any consistent basis, to failure.

any attempt

the proper performance of

doomed Strict

observance

it is

difficult to see

why Beethoven grouped

^ 1C demisemiquavers

the first bar into two groups of eight, while in bar 2 the whole twenty-four are connected together, to be succeeded in bar 3 by We sixteen corresponding to the first two beats of the bar have here a striking illustration of the entire absence of method which has been such a remarkable feature of musical notation in the past, and still is in too many cases even at the present day. Let the student compare the above example with the following, which shews forth the true musical shape of the passage, remembering in so doing that it is necessary to adhere strictly in both cases to the printed indications

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important to hear in mind that, rhythmically, a phrase is rarely co-terminous with tho bar, but that in the majority of cases such phrase or figure; The culmination finds its point of culmination on an accented It is

or figuro

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fiffure

the actual

As a consequence

of this, the be representative of of performance, should in such instances

'pulse.

" phrasing-marks," to

manner

— 8

!

STUDIES IN PHRASING AND FORM.

be so indicated as to lead up to and include that accented pulse, thus :

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Here, clearly, any attempt to make the rhythmic-di vision correspond to the ^me-division (as indicated by the bar-line) would be to court disaster * and yet it is Time-divisions that seeming reluctance to "phrase across ^ ne bar-line," evinced by many composers and divisions editors, which has caused so much confusion, " and has rendered so large a proportion of so-called " phrasing utterly valueless, save for the purpose of clothing an otherwise naked page with examples of freehand drawing It is clear that, as was pointed out in our Introductory Remarks, the proper realization of the shape and character of even the smallest rhythmical figures, and of Realization of ^he means by which they may be built up intelligibly in performance into complete figures. phrases and sentences, is of vital importance to the executant who wishes to be convincing in his rendering of any composition with which he may be dealing. It must be confessed, though, that such matters are too frequently left to be considered if they are considered at all in " the light of nature," with the result that much of the phrasing one hears from players of even brilliant powers of execution falls very far short of representing the true meaning of the music. Surely if, in the less subtle region of speech, details of punctuation, inflection, stress or emphasis, and rhythmical clearness are needful points to be observed Close study of and studied by him who would recite or read Phrasing aloud intelligently, how much more necessary absolutely is it that such matters should receive close essential. attention when transferred to the less articulate, but more intimate sphere of music, where the definite meaning attached to the words of a language finds no place as a means of imparting a certain degree of intelligibility. Lest it should be thought, from the foregoing remarks, that the present writer is guilty of implying that successful phrasing in performance is purely a question of a mathe;

—

—

See Beethoven's slurs on page

5.

:

STUDIES IN PUBASlNG AND FOBM. matical subdivision of the music into its component parts, let it be said here and now that, in the first ail

2,

No.

1.

22. k

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phrase),

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bars are

marked

the weaker bars u.

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STUDIES IN PHRASING AND FORM.

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In connexion with our passages in rapid " tempo,"

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14)

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extremely important to bear in mind that the indication ? at the corn-

Wrong" timesignatures,

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andi many Beethoven

scherzos (particularly those of entirely misleading, the effect being in realit}r not that of Simple Triple Time, but that of Compound Duple Time two bars of the music, as written, together making one bar as it is intended to sound, e.g.

and Chopin),

is

—

:

Beethoven. — Sonata, Op.

As written.

10,

No.

2.

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— Scherzo in C$ minor, Op. 39.

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