Illustration of compound meter
compound meter
- Definition:
(zusammengesetzte Tactart) a term used by eighteenth-century
German theorists (Mattheson, Walther, Marpurg, Scheibe, Koch, and
Riepl) for measures containing more than one pair of strong
and weak beats (e.g., 4/2, C, 12/8). Each measure of this
type contains two or more simple measures, which contain only one
strong-weak pair of beats. In a
compound 4/4 measure, the first and third beats receive equal metric
weight. A single bar therefore could be renotated as two 2/4 bars without
changing the accentual structure. Similar equivalence may inhere between 4/2
and 2/2, and between 12/8 and 6/8. In choosing between compound
meters (e.g., 4/2, 4/4, 12/8) and their simple equivalents
(2/2, 4/4, 6/8), baroque composers typically followed
traditions of tempo and style. Simple meters customarily
denoted lightness and quick tempi, as in the bourée,
passapied, and fast gigues and finales. Compound meters
were employed in more stately movements, including
allemandes, first movements of concertos, preludes, and slow
introductions. See also Grave (1985),
large 4/4 and
large alla breve.
