Annotation for Floyd K. Grave
Metrical Displacement and the Compound Measure in Eighteenth-Century Theory and Practice
Annotation (by Jonathan D. Flowers):
- During the first half of the eighteenth century, leading German
theorists ascribed equal metric weight to the first and third beats of
common-time measures. Baroque composers typically described one measure of
4/4 as a composite of two 2/4 bars. In movements employing this compound 4/4
meter, the half bar, rather than the full measure, functions as the highest
regular metric unit. Consequently, phrases and subject entries beginning on
beat three usually do not constitute a metrical displacement in baroque
fugues, allemandes, concerto first movements, and other movements employing
compound 4/4 meter. With the rise of stile galant, notated
downbeats attained metric primacy over the third beats in 4/4 measures. As a
result, mid-bar phrase beginnings can convey metrical displacement more
saliently in classical works than they do in baroque works. Unlike their
baroque predecessors, theorists from the second half of the century
recognized mid-bar metrical displacement as a compositional resource for
creating rhythmic tension. Grave offers extensive documentary support for his
findings. He paraphrases treatises by Mattheson, Walther, Veracini, Marpurg,
Scheibe, Riepl, Vogler, Koch, and Kirnberger and cites several relevant
secondary sources. He also provides rhythmic analyses
of twenty three excerpts by Corelli, J.S. Bach, J.C. Bach,
Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. For a Schenkerian perspective on metrical
dispacement in keyboard music by J.S. Bach, see Burkhart (1994).
- Keywords:
