[Music: SCHUBERT:Sonata in E[flat] major]
[Music: BRAHMS:Ballade in G minor]
As everyone is familiar with the latter composition, only the
melody is cited. This propulsion of the mind forward beyond the
accustomed point of rest always produces a stimulating rhyth-
mic effect.[61]
[Footnote 61: Other charming examples of five-bar rhythm may
be found in Schubert’s Quartet in A minor, op. 29, and in the
opening choral (St. Anthony) of Brahms’sOrchestral Varia-
tions, op. 56a.]
The normal phraseology of four and eight measures is altered
at times by theomissionof certain measures. This often takes
place at the beginning of the sentence, as may be seen from
the structure of the so-called Anglican chant, familiar to all
Protestants,e.g.
[Music: SAVAGE]
The beginning of Mozart’sOverture to Figarois also well known,
e.g.
[Music]
The elision of a measure often takes place in the middle of a
phrase as may be seen from the theme of Mendelssohn’s familiar
Spring-Song.
[Music]
Just as in the case of the systematic insertion of an extra mea-
sure, which produces “five-bar rhythm,” so when a measure is
omitted in each phrase which would usually consist of four mea-
sures, we have “three-bar rhythm.” This gives an effect of great
concentration and intensity and is a prevalent feature in Scottish
and Hungarian folk-music,e.g.
[Music: Scotch]
[Music: Hungarian]
Additional examples of three-bar rhythm may be found in the
Scherzo of Beethoven’s Tenth Sonata and in the Minuet of Mozart’s
G minor Symphony—the latter, one of the most striking exam-
ples in literature.