Illustration of large alla breve
large alla breve
- Definition:
The name given to compound 4/2 meter by German theorists and
composers of the first half of the eighteenth century. They
ascribed equal metric weight to the first and third half-note
beats of the bar. Consequently, they regarded each measure of
this type as a composite of two 2/2 bars. Baroque and
classical composers employed large alla breve in slow
movements of sacred works and in works written in
stile antico.
During the first half of the eighteenth century,
German theorists and composers regarded the stately 4/4
frequently employed in fugues as a notational variant of
large alla breve. See
Grave (1985).
