Chapter 4b
Chapter 4b
Motives (§ 13 - § 18) - Summary of Chapters 3 and 4
Motives
For paragraphs § 1 - § 12 see: Chapter 4a
§ 13
The motive always ends on an accented note except where the notes immediately following are connected with it in harmony or in cases like suspensions. An example will make this clear.
It is easy to see why in so many of the motives in this examples the accented beat is followed by an unaccented one. Thus at (a) we have a clear case of suspension. D resolves on C sharp, and we feel that C sharp belongs to and completes the motive. At (b), on the contrary, the motive clearly ends on the accented beat (A), for the following note (A sharp) has no harmonic connection whatever with the accented note.
§ 14
It should be most clearly understood that we are never justified in assuming a feminine ending to a motive, unless the harmony or the context unmistakably shows that the unaccented note belongs to the preceding accented one. It is only by consistently following out this system that we are able to explain some of the progressions to be found in the works of the great masters. Dr. Riemann has admirably shown this in the case of the apparent consecutive fifths in a well-known passage of Bach’s Organ Toccata in D minor BWV 565.
Here it looks at first sight as if the harmonic progression were the following, the effect of which is horrible.
But when we subdivide it into motives, we see at once that the implied harmony is quite correct.
§ 15
But there is one very important caution to be given.
A musician is not to suppose that any break is of necessity to be made, even in thought, much less in performance, between one motive and the next. The points of rest are at the ends of sentences and phrases, and sometimes (though not invariably, and always to a less extent) at the ends of sections.
Speaking roughly, these divisions may be compared to the stops in punctuation. The end of a sentence corresponds to a full stop, that of a phrase to a semicolon, and of a section to a comma. This must not be taken as more than an attempt, and necessarily a rough one, to show the analogy between musical and literary composition. But the motives are the equivalents of musical feet; and it would be just as absurd to make, or to think of, a break after every motive as it would be to pause after every foot in reading poetry.
§ 16
We are now in a position to give an intelligible definition of a motive.
A MOTIVE is composed of a strongly accented note, preceded by one or more unaccented or less accented notes, and followed by unaccented notes, only when the harmony requires it, or the context shows that the following motive does not begin immediately after the accent.
§ 17
In quick music, with sometimes only one note in the bar, the motive will consist of two bars. We give an example showing the two-bar motive with feminine endings. The first sentence contains 16 bars, with only one beat in each, and therefore equivalent to the 8-bar sentence with two beats in a bar.
§ 18
Let us now examine the constituents of a motive. These are three in number. The notes composing a motive may vary in:
pitch,
duration,
accent.
Of these constituents the last is by far the most important, and is indeed indispensable. In the majority of cases, variety of pitch and of time-duration are also to be found, as we have already seen in our examples. But one or two of these can be dispensed with, as will appear from the following extracts.
In this passage there is plenty of variety of pitch, but the motives are composed of notes of exactly the same time-value.
Here is the converse case; the pitch remains the same, but the length of the notes varies.
As the 5th, 6th, and 7th bar of this passage contain in the upper parts only one note each, we have here evidently 2-bar motives. If we examine the second motive (bars 2 to 4), we see that neither pitch nor length of notes varies, but the indispensable attribute, accent remains.
Summary of Chapters 3 and 4
By Rhythm is meant the system on which the cadences in a composition are placed. If these cadences come at equal distances through a piece, or portion of a piece, this is said to be in “regular rhythm”; if the cadences come at unequal distances, the rhythm is irregular. By far the most common arrangement of cadences is at distances of 2, 4, or 8 bars.
A portion of a composition usually ending with a full cadence, and divided by one or more middle cadences into at least two parts, is called a Sentence or Period. It is not necessary that in the final tonic chord of the cadence at the end of a sentence the root should be in the upper voice, though in the majority of instances this will probably be found to be the case; it is also possible for the sentence to terminate with a feminine ending, the tonic chord being on the less accented beat or even to end with a half cadence.
The first subdivision of a musical sentence is into Phrases. There is no restriction as to the number of phrases composing a sentence. There must be at least two, because without the balance, or counterpoise, given by the responsive phrase, there is no feeling of completeness in the sentence. The majority of sentences will contain either 2, 3, or 4 phrases. A phrase will almost always end with a cadence of some kind; this may be either a full, half, inverted, or interrupted cadence; occasionally a phrase can end on a discord. A full cadence in the tonic key will be rarely found as a middle cadence, unless the sentence ends with a modulation.
In many cases, though not invariably, the phrases will themselves be divisible into Sections or Semi-phrases. Though it is possible for even a section to end with a full cadence, we mostly find the cadence-effect less distinctly in a section than in a phrase. Very often, if a sentence consists of two phrases, one of these will be sub-divisible into two sections, while the other is indivisible. By this means variety of detail is obtained without the sacrifice of symmetry.
If we further subdivide phrases or sections into small portions containing one strong accent each, we have Motives. Except in the cases mentioned in § 13, unaccented notes always form part of the same motive as the next accented note which follows them. When a sentence, or phrase, begins (as is often the case) with an accented note, such note is an incomplete motive, with elision of its unaccented notes. It is possible for such a motive to have a feminine ending, in which case it looks like, but is not in reality, a motive with reversed accents.
Just as a bar consists of an alternation of accented and unaccented beats, a sentence or phrase contains an alternation of accented and unaccented bars. To determine which are the accented bars, examine the cadences, and remember that the last note of a cadence, except where there is a feminine ending, always comes on an accented bar. In rapid tempo, with only one beat in a bar, a motive will often extend over two bars.
It must be understood that the principles here laid down apply fully only to sentences which are perfectly regular in their construction.
Cfr. Prout, Musical form (Augener ed.), Ch. 3; Bertenshaw, Elements of Music (Longmans ed. 1896), Ch. LXI