Music.

In this last example, F, B, and E are all considered sharps in contrast with F, Bb, and E of the minor scale.

Rhythm.-In musical notation the relative duration of notes is indicated by their form. Notes may be open or close; they may consist of a head only, or of a head and stem. Where there is a stem, it may be turned up or down, according to convenience. The semibreve, the longest note in ordinary music, is open, and consists of a head only (@). The minim is an open note with a stem, half the length of a semibreve; the crotchet is a close note with a stem, half the length of a minim; the quaver is a close note with a stem and hook, half the length of a crotchet; a quaver is further divided into two semiquavers with two hooks; four demi-semiquavers with three hooks and eight semi-demi-semiquavers with four hooks In slow religious music, an open square note, called a breve, sometimes occurs. The semibreve is equivalent in time to two minims, four crotchets, eight quavers, sixteen semiquavers, thirty-two demi-semiquavers, and sixty-four semi-demi-semiquavers. The notes formed with hooks may be grouped

together

is to be sung to one syllable. one-half; when two dots,

In vocal music this is not done except when a group

When a dot is placed after a note it is lengthened by it is lengthened by three-fourths.

Every piece of music is divided into portions equal in time, called measures, which are separated from each other by vertical lines called bars. The term bar is often loosely used to denote the measure as well as the line. The exact length of the measure is indicated by a sign at the beginning of the movement. In common time, indicated by the

signeach measure includes a semibreve, or its equivalent made up in notes of lower value: All other measures of time have for their

signatures two figures placed as a fraction, one over the other. The figures of the denominator are either 2, 4, 8, or 16, which stand for minims, crotchets, quavers, and semiquavers respectively (i.e., halves, fourths, etc., of a semibreve); the numerator indicates the number of these fractional parts of a semibreve contained in each measure. There is another form of common time besides that already noticed, which is called half

time, has a minim or two crotchets in the measure, and is known by the signature

2

4

When there are ets, or quavers in is said to be in

When two or four measures of triple time are united in one measure, the movement. is said to be in compound common time. Its usual forms are indicated by the signaIn the first, there are three submeasures of three crotchets;

tures 6 and

4

quavers, or semiquavers, grouped in threes. Its signatures are A variety occasionally occurs in simple or triple time by the

16

measure note being divided into three, or even five or seven, instead of two parts, which

The object of the division of musical passages into measures is to indicate their rhythm, a quality forming an essential element in the pleasure derived from music. Notes of music, like words or syllables, are accented or unaccented. The principal accent is given to the first note of a measure. Of the four measure notes in common time, the third has also a subordinate accent, as has the third measure note in triple time. There are occa sions when a strong accent, or emphasis as it is called, is laid on the part of the measure which is usually unaccented; this the composer indicates by the Italian terms rinforzando, sforzato, abbreviated rinf., f.

When in the course of a movement silence is required for a time, this is indicated by rest or rests corresponding to that time; the breve, semibreve, minim, etc., have each their respective rests, which are represented as follows:

Breve.

Semibreve.

Minim.

Crotchet,

Quaver. Semiquaver. Demi-semi- Semi-demi-
quaver. semiquaver.

A rest may, like a note, be dotted to indicate the addition of half to its length.

The double bar

consists of two strong vertical lines, placed at the end of a

musical composition, and also at other parts (not necessarily coincident with the end of a measure) where a strain or rhetorical division of a movement terminates. When dotted on one side, all the measures on the side with the dots are to be repeated from the beginning, or from the antecedent double bar.

A tie is an arch placed between two notes on the same degree, to indicate that instead of the two notes written, one note is to be played of the length of both. When the last note of one measure is thus connected with the first of the next measure, the former, though naturally the unaccented note, acquires the emphasis

When the same arch is drawn over two or more notes not in the same degree, it is called a slur, and merely indicates that they are to be played

smoothly or fluently (legato)

When notes are to be played short, distinct, and detached (staccato), a dot is placed over them. A dash implies a greater, and the union of dot and slur a less degree of

staccato

The pause

placed over a note indicates a delay in the time of the movement, and a continuance of the sound made on that part of the measure.

The various degrees of softness and loudness which occur in a piece of music are indicated by the letter f for forte, loud; p for piano, soft, also pp for pianissimo, very soft; mf for mezzo forte, rather loud, and ff for fortissimo, very loud. A gradual increase of loudness is denoted by the word crescendo, or the sign <; and a diminution from loud to soft by the word diminuendo, or the contrary sign >. Many other expressions are used in the body of written music, indicating slowness, quickness, and the character of execution. The most important of them are explained under separate articles--as are the various musical graces or embellishments known under the names of the appoggiatura, beat, shake, and turn. Among abbreviations in frequent use are a line drawn over or under a semibreve, or through the stem of a minim or crotchet, to divide it into quavers; or a double line, to divide it into semiquavers. Two minims may be connected to indicate their repetition as quavers. Thus

Written.

Played.

Harmony. We have mentioned that when a string is struck, its harmonics are more or less distinctly heard along with it. This arises from the string spontaneously dividing itself into aliquot parts-as one-half, one-third, one-fourth, one-fifth, one-sixth, one-seventh, etc., of the string. The numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, expressing the relative number of

Music.

vibrations in a given time, are a measure of the pitch of the note, and placed proportionally to one another, or in the form of a fraction, they are a measure of the interval. The prime numbers 2, 3, 5, and 7, and their compounds, constitute the harmonics of a musical sound; no division by a higher prime number is tolerable to the ear along with the fundamental note, and no sound corresponding to such division is audible in the vibrations of a string

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The degrees of the harmonic scale consist of intervals decreasing in a geometrical ratio from the octave to the minor tone, viz.:

Other intervals more or less consonant are to be found in the harmonic scale, of which the most important is 4: 7, the grave seventh. From this scale is derived the triad, which we have seen to be the foundation of the diatonic scale, and also the whole theory of chords.

The first five notes of the harmonic scale are the component parts of the major common chord, by far the most conscnant chord that can be produced by five notes. Neglecting octaves, its essential notes are the major triad, C E G, or 4, 5, 6, which, as already seen, consists of a fifth divided harmonically into major third and minor third. The root on which a chord is formed, or the note by whose division into aliquot parts the notes of the chord are produced, is called its fundamental bass, and the fundamental bass of the triad CE G is C. The common chord is the triad with the addition of the octave of the root; its proportions are 4, 5, 6, 8. Every key contains within itself two other triads besides that of the key-note-viz., those of the subdominant and dominant, which have the subdominant and dominant of the key-note respectively for their fundamental bases; and the feeling of satisfaction produced by the diatonic scale arises out of the fact that its notes belong to a progression of chords formed on a fundamental bass suggested by the ear. This fundamental bass is here indicated on the lower staff

The relative position of the notes of a chord, and consequently its intervals, may be altered by raising one or more of them an octave; and, on the whole, the nearer the intervals approach to their position in the harmonic scale, the purer is the harmony. Close, in contradistinction to dispersed harmony, is when the notes of a chord are so near that no component note could be placed between them. When the fundamental bass of a chord ceases to be its lowest note, the chord is said to be inverted. Thus

and

are inversions of the common chord, but not

where the fundamental bass is still the lowest note.

The minor triad is, as we have seen, a compound chord, whose ratio is 20, 24, 30, taking its minor third from the triad below, and its major third from the triad above. Its fundamental bass is the key-note. The minor mode has, like the major, three triads in each key-those of the tonic, subdominant, and dominant; and the minor common chord admits of the same inversions as the major, by making the third or fifth the low

est note.

The first seven notes of the harmonic scale contain the chord next in consonance to the common chord, the chord of the seventh or dominant harmony. Rejecting octaves, it is the harmonic triad with the addition of the grave seventh, 4, 5, 6, 7, C E G B, or GBDF, and admits of three inversions, according as the third, fifth, or seventh is taken instead of the root as the lowest note. This chord belongs to the key of which its fundamental note is the dominant; and in order to satisfy the ear, it requires to be followed by a resolution into the common chord of the key, or one of its inversions, the major third rising a semitone to the key-note, and the seventh descending one degree

The dominant seventh note is flatter by an interval of 63, 64, than the subdominant of the key, though the two are not distinguishable on keyed instruments. The chord of the dominant seventh is the same in the tonic minor as in the major mode, but differs in

its resolution, in respect that it descends a tone instead of a semitone

The dominant harmony affords numerous means of modulating from one key to another. For example, the addition of a dominant seventh to the common chord of a key, effects a modulation into the key of the subdominant

In modulating

into the key of the dominant, the supertonic bears the dominant harmony, and becomes For other modulations, we must refer

dominant of the new key

to works on the theory of music.

The following more complex harmonies are also in general use

1, the chord of the added ninth, consisting of the dominant harmony (its root generally omitted) with the fifth of the adjacent triad above; 2, 3, and 4, the different forms of the added sixth, or chord of the subdominant; 2 is the triad of the subdominant, with the third of the adjacent triad below, or rather its octave; 3 is the triad of the subdominant, minor mode, with the third of the adjacent triad below; and 4, the same triad with the third of the tonic major to the adjacent triad below; 5, the diminished seventh, a com pound of the characteristic notes (B F) of the dominant harmony of the major mode with those (GD) of the relative minor; 6, 7, and 8, the augmented sixths, all dominant har monies, resolving into the major tonic; 6, called the Italian sixth (F A DE), is a compound of the characteristic notes (A D) of the dominant harmony of the minor mode (B DE FA) inverted, with the dominant seventh note (F) of the major triad (CE G) below for a bass; 7, the French sixth (F A B D), the same as the last, with the addition of the octave to the fundamental bass; 8, the German sixth (F A CD), compounded of the characteristic notes of the dominant harmony of the minor mode inverted, with the domi nant sevenths of the major triads below and above.

All classical harmonies can be reduced to the chords enumerated, varied by inversions, omissions, suspensions, and pedal basses. A pedal bass or organ point is a bass note sustained through a progression of chords, to only the first and last of which it is the proper bass. The pedal bass of the tonic is often used with the chord of the domi nant seventh, the added ninth, and the diminished seventh, and occasionally with other chords: sometimes the pedal harmonies are taken on the dominant instead of the tonic, and the holding note sometimes occupies an upper part instead of the bass

9:

9:

A musical composition consists of a succession of notes or of chords subject to certain laws. Like discourse, music has its phrases, periods, and punctuation. When a piece of music continues in the same key, it is said to move by progression, a term used in contradistinction to modulation, where the key is changed. Progression in music of two parts is of three kinds-oblique, when one part repeats or holds on the same note, while the other moves up and down; direct, where both parts move in the same way; and

Music.

contrary, where one moves up, and the other down. Consecutive chords should in gen eral be connected, either as having some note in common, or as being the chords of closely connected keys. There are certain chords which require a special resolution-i.e., they must be followed by certain other chords; and there are certain progressions which, from harshness, are in ordinary cases to be avoided, more particularly consecutive fifths and consecutive octaves, the latter, however, being admissible when used merely to strengthen a part. Modulation is generally effected by introducing the chords common to both keys, and the secret of good modulation consists in the skillful choice of intermediate chords. Every regular piece of music is composed in a particular key, in which it begins and ends, and which predominates over all the other keys into which it has modulated. The keys into which a key most readily modulates are those most nearly related to it-viz., the dominant, the subdominant, and the relative and tonic major or minor. We have seen how modulation may take place by introducing the dominant harmony of the new key or one of its inversions, and in this way the entire harmonic circle of the keys can be made, either by ascending or descending fifths; but in order to effect this change, it will be necessary, on reaching the key of C with seven sharps, to substitute, by what is called an enharmonic (q.v.) change, Db with five flats, or vice versa, which on instruments with temperament produces no real change on the pitch, but merely on the names of the notes.

The arrangement of chords which the ear naturally expects at the close of a strain is called a cadence; it corresponds in music to the period which closes a sentence in discourse. It is perfect when the harmony of the dominant precedes the harmony of the key-note, and imperfect when the harmony of the key-note precedes that of the dominant without its seventh.

The imperfect cadence is the most usual termination of a musical phrase, or short succession of measures containing no perfect musical idea. A portion of melody formed of two-regular phrases, and containing a perfect musical idea, is called a section, and its regular termination is the perfect cadence.

Music is produced by the human voice, and by a variety of artificial instruments. For the application of the voice to musical purposes, see SINGING. Musical instruments are classified as stringed instruments, wind instruments, and instruments of percussion. In some stringed instruments as the pianoforte, the sounds are produced by striking the strings by keys; in others, as the harp and guitar, by drawing them from the position of rest. In a third class, including the violin, viola, violoncello, and double bass, the strings are put into vibration with a bow. In wind instruments the sound is produced by the agitation of an inclosed column of air; some, as the flute, clarionet, oboe, bassoon, flageolet, instruments of wood, and the trumpet, horn, cornet-a-piston, etc., of metal, are played by the breath; in others, as the organ, harmonium, and concertina, the wind is produced by other means. In the two last-named instruments, the sound is produced by the action of wind on free vibrating springs or reeds. Instruments of percussion are such as the drum, kettle-drum, cymbals, etc. The chief peculiarities of the more important musical instruments are noticed in special articles.

Musical compositions are either for the voice, with or without instrumental accompaniment, or for instruments only. Of vocal music, the principal forms may be classed as church music, chamber music, dramatic music, and popular or national music. The first includes plain song, faux-bourdon, the chorale, the anthem, the sacred cantata, the mass and requiem of the Roman Catholic church, and the oratorio. Vocal chamber music includes cantatas, madrigals, and their modern successors, glees, as also recitatives, arias, duets, trios, quartets, choruses, and generally all forms, accompanied or unaccompanied, which are chiefly intended for small circles. Dramatic music comprehends music united with scenic representation in a variety of ways, in the ballet, the melodrama, the vaudeville, and the opera, in which last, music supplies the place of spoken dialogue. Instrumental music may be composed for one or for more instruments. The rondo, the concerto, the sonata, and the fantasia generally belong to the former class; to the latter, symphonies and overtures for an orchestra, and instrumental chamber music, including duets, trios, quartets, and other compositions for several instruments, where each takes the lead in turn, the other parts being accompaniments. These and other forms of composition will be found noticed separately.

History of Music.-A certain sort of music seems to have existed in all countries and at all times. Even instrumental music is of a very early date: representations of musical instruments occur on the Egyptian obelisks and tombs. The music of the Hebrews is supposed to have had a defined rhythm and melody. The Greeks numbered music among the sciences, and studied the mathematical proportions of sounds. Their music,