Berry 1985

Society for Music Theory
Metric and Rhythmic Articulation in Music

Author(s): Wallace Berry
Source: Music Theory Spectrum, Vol. 7, Time and Rhythm in Music (Spring, 1985), pp. 7-
33
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Music Theory
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Metric and Rhythmic Articulation in Music
Wallace Berry
This discussion is ordered in three parts: first, I shall identify Example 1. Haydn, Sonata in D Major, H.XVI, 37, Finale
certain preconceptions which I take as points of departure, thus Presto, ma non troppo
exposing fundamental issues that recur problematically in stud- A.. pa
ies of rhythm and meter; a second segment brings some of these r^^J
It
I M?
9
r IA F
issues into focus by analysis of two pieces, both widely treated
-6: . * W, 4 i
in analytical studies; and finally I shall list in summary certain
propositions to which I am led.
- n - , ,- I 'I
U-1 * *ri L^ 1- LA
Underlying assumptions. I conceive rhythm as the articula-
Accents of pitch, duration, dissonance, anacrusis
tion of time by events of a particular class. In thus suggesting
that there are many interacting or cohering streams of rhythm
in any individual structure, one acknowledges as well some ulti- measure is marked by a melodic impulse underscor
mate rhythmic composite of all events in all operable elements, ture, relatively high pitch, duration, and also by its
one that must typically be, in interesting pieces, a rhythm of be- through a leaped anacrusis. (The upbeat substantiates
wildering complexity. line accent, as we might demonstrate by the rever
Meter I regard as such a punctuation of time by events of the quence of leaving it out.) I shall argue that harmonic r
classification "accent." Without going further in this prelimi- like motivic and other rhythms, often concurrent w
nary context, I refer to a few bars from Haydn (Ex. 1) in illus- yet a distinct mode of articulation at times subtly o
tration of a patently unequivocal series of accents, points of ar- here at mm. 5-6.
ticulative exposure at a particular level of structure, by virtue of The question of accent can further be stated: In the metric
intrinsic contextual properties. Later I shall refer to a further unit, what does "one"-the "one" of counting-signify?
aspect of meter, one to which I ascribe imperative significance: (Riemann's term Hervortreten, a "stepping forth," is sugges-
the interactive association of disparate yet functionally interde- tive. Moreover, merged arrival and departure, in fulfillment of
pendent impulses. anacrusis and the thrust of downbeat impetus, is an apt conceit
The problem of accent. With respect to bar-line meter, that by which to characterize many notated measure beginnings.) If
palpable recurrent articulation, what specific factors determine "one" in the metric unit is to be defined as a relatively strong
a sense of grouping? In Example 2, we can observe that the first impulse, there follows of course the difficult issue of criteria of
8 Music Theory Spectrum
Example 2. Chopin, Prelude in E Minor, op. 28, no. 4, mm. 1-6
0o o0
Accents of duration and anacrusis [throughout] and pitch [m. 1]; bass
changes usually complementary and corroborative [but see mm.
4-5]. At right, meter in its periodic aspect as a levelled system of r r r r r
beats and amplified beats (four levels functional in this context); rep-
resented are superficial and deeper units of analogous strong-weak r rr *
determinants and content.
WII
*The least articulate grouping as to accent
accentual projection: presumably these criteria have to do with"accent of weight" characterized as "the principal rhythmic
such properties as longer, higher, more this, more that.' accent [emphasis added], which corresponds with the end of a
The question of accent returns in this study, and I do not pur-musical 'phrase,' "2 and for Cone a comparable phenomenon:
"By structural downbeat,. . . I mean ... phenomena like the
sue it here except to note the obvious factors of its importance
and complexity, while drawing attention to a few patently evi- articulation by which the cadential chord of a phrase is iden-
dent criteria. Clearly we need to know more about the experi- tified, the weight by which the second phrase of a period is felt
ence of accent as a determinant of grouping. as resolving the first." (Here the association of "weight" and
Tonal function and accent. Does I in tonal music denotetonic is explicit.) And later in the same paper, "the cadence is
"weight"-accent in some sense, as often assumed? My view isthe point in the phrase at which rhythmic emphasis [again, my
that the obvious primacy of I in tonal structures must not beitalics] and harmonic function coincide."3 I acknowledge that
confused with its variable metric import. Theoretical consider-
ation of this issue has been, I believe, much influenced by early
2Harmonic Practice (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1951), 83.
studies of Edward T. Cone and Roger Sessions, who view the 3"Analysis Today," Musical Quarterly 46, no. 2 (1960):182-83. In this
cadence as an accent of some kind. Both discuss a number of early, seminal study, Cone notes (p. 185) in connection with his characteriza-
types of "accent" or "downbeat," including for Sessionstion
an of Stravinsky as a "downbeat" composer that an exception can be found in
the end-of-phrase accent (by mode change and orchestration) on the word
'See the author's Structural Functions in Music (New York: Dover Publica-
Dominum at the beginning of the final movement of the Symphony of Psalms.
tions, in press), chap. 3; see also William Benjamin, "A Theory of Musical Me-
This seems to me significantly to qualify the view of accentual weight inherent
ter," Music Perception 1, no. 4 (1984):355-413, which includes a substantial
in the cadential action itself, since here Cone is citing specific properties of a
and important discussion of criteria for accent (especially pp. 358-71). particular cadential event independent of its tonal function.
Metric and Rhythmic Articulation in Music 9
Cone and Sessions, in these distant and tentative studies, are though as Caplin points out Riemann does not follow this to the
thinking of accent in senses different from that of my metric ini- conclusion that meter is thus disrupted. Caplin's reference here
tiative, yet terms such as Cone's "rhythmic emphasis" presum- is to Riemann's treatise Musikalische Dynamik und Agogik,
ably denote something of metric consequence. from which I quote (in my translation); Riemann is commenting
Example 3 makes the point that either barring is plausible, on performance requirements rather than meter, but I shall
depending on properties of events other than their tonal posi- want to extend the import of his commentary concerning his ci-
tions and functions. It is notable that the version having agogic tation from Beethoven's Op. 31, No. 1, my Example 4:
accents on dissonances is in general effect more "active."
The progression out of a consonant chord into a dissonant one re-
The issue of relation between accentual weight and tonal
quires a stronger execution of the latter, while the resolution of a dis-
function is the subject of a recent study by William Caplin enti- sonance is always a negative formulation, the release of conflict, a
tled "Tonal Function and Metrical Accent: A Historical Per-
turning back, and therefore has claim to a diminuendo in perform-
spective."4 In an interesting observation, Caplin indicates thatance. [Compare my uses, in comparable circumstances, of the terms
Hugo Riemann appears to depart from the view of tonic as im-"progression" from I and "recession" to I.] When in the next-last
plying metric accent in citing examples in which dynamic accenttime unit in less emphasized motives or phrases a dissonance occurs
on harmonic dissonance seemingly contradicts the bar line, al-which is resolved in the ultimate time unit, the dynamic high point will
almost always be displaced from the latter to the former.5
Example 3
The sforzando (Ex. 4) is Beethoven's, the clearly inevitable
i) I J I crescendo-decrescendo markings Riemann's. Riemann appears

quite content that the natural tonic "accent" into which the dis-
sonance resolves (in his "negative" formulation) is unmo-
:r: r r ? y-f
r f rIt(l
lested. But I should argue that, while it would be absurd to sug-
gest that at this 57th measure of the movement the firmly
preconditioned bar line is displaced, something "metrically"
Example 4. Beethoven, Sonata in G Major, op. 31, no. 1, 2
4In Music Theory Spectrum 5 (1983):1 -14. 5Musikalische Dynamik undAgogik (Hamburg: D. Rahter, 1884), 187-88.
active happens: the bar line "wobbles" a bit in a circumstance, Figure 1

to which is accountable much of the vitality of classical rhetoric
at even the most explicit mensural levels, of subtle, veiled coun-
teraction to the prevailing meter, the tonic notwithstanding. (a)
The fluctuant accent is one of loudness, pitch, supportive ana-
crusis, and dissonance; it is independent of tonal function as
such. (It is notable that, in the Beethoven example, implica-
tions of duple grouping follow the quoted bars.)
Internal structure of the metric unit. The periodic aspect of
metric structure is best conceived as an inflated pulsation, and (b) >(
what is especially interesting about meter is the association of
interactive impulses within a dynamic, articulate metric unit
structured as an integrated pattern of organically interfunc-
V
tional tendencies. This is the aspect of meter which is extensible
hierarchically, and which is vitally functional and not merely
referential. Music's animate substance is accountable in signifi- (a) metric initiative accent; downbeat
cant part to this property of meter, in contrast to that aspect of (b) reactive impulse from; afterbeat(s)
meter which is a rigidly inanimate, referential, periodicity of (c) anticipative impulse to; anacrusis, upbeat(s)
(d) conclusive (final reactive) impulse
levelled pulsation.
Elsewhere, I have discussed what I refer to as the "func-
tions" of interdependent impulses which comprise the metric tiative accent with which the metric unit begins. Metric units in
unit, in an interrelation of actions to and from which accounts course, at a particular level, typically conclude with renewed
for what is organic and dynamic in metric structure.6 These in- tendency toward the subsequent accent, as we know so well
terrelations, like those of tonal functions, are a necessary ele- from experience.
ment in what we sense as flow, surge, and ebb in music, as is the Essential for me, then, is the metric gestalt (pattern, shape,
often applicable directed stream of broadening or declining, image) as a central factor of definition, as a compelling focus of
thus processive, temporal intervals of metric articulation. interest, and as a conditioner of grouping distinguishable from
Figure 1 is a portrayal of the internal structure of the metric all others.
unit, viewed as an abstraction. Of the characteristic impulses Carl Schachter's stipulations about meter do not substan-
only the initiative, or downbeat, is a point of action- tially intersect with mine, but he does discuss tonal rhythms
Riemann's Hervortreten, an accentual thrust, a discharge of en- both as to durational partitioning and as to animate tendencies
ergy, so to speak. The other functional impulses are currents, (akin presumably to Riemann's "positive" and "negative") of
typically comprised of lower-level attacks: the anticipative to, tonal functions-in a system of organic content comparable to,
the reactive from, and the conclusive final dispersal of the ini- but different from, meter. As I understand him, Schachter sees,
in addition to "rhythmic implications of tonal repetition and as-
6Structural Functions, 326-34. sociation," a further rhythmic aspect "in the tonal system, the
turning point [i.e., where motion from becomes motion to- of half-relief. More extreme situations reveal accent-delineated
ward]" as having "rhythmic implications" of one kind.7 groups in mobile contexts deliberately opposed to the notated
Further to my point, I like Schachter's later qualification of bar line, commonly with a subsequent process of resolutive ten-
meter as two things: "When we speak of 'meter' we normally dency toward reclarification of an established order. In Exam-
mean something more than the division of time into equal (or ple 5 there is such opposition at the beginning, followed by fluc-
equivalent) segments; we mean a pattern composed of strong tuation toward affirmation of the notated bar line and meter at
and weak impulses in some kind of regular alternation."8 m. 5.
The two aspects of meter which I deem definitive are thus My reading interprets mm. 1-3 as periodic in meter, not in
pertinent also to other rhythmic groupings-manifestly to those accord with the signature, with a slightly extended grouping in
of tonal harmony; and they tell us something about ancient per- m. 4 "modulating" toward the bar-line accent of m. 5. (There is
ceptions of music as both continuous and punctuated by contig- immediate fluctuation again.) Through much of the piece,
uous events.9
Periodicity and fluctuation in foreground (bar-line) meters. I
have questioned the assumption that meter's aspect of temporal Example 5. Chopin, Prelude in D Major, op. 28, no. 5, mm.
punctuation-for me, accent to accent-is necessarily one of 1-5
regularity even at the level of the bar line. I return to Chopin's

Allegro molto
Op. 28, No. 4, where metric periodicity is in this sense a series of
A Li I II I I1 1
"amplified beats" at a number of levels-an inflation of funda-
mental periodic pulsation, imperatively referential, yet in itself
powerfully uninteresting. In Example 2, I list some apparent ac-
centual conditions by which the notated meter is articulated, Ir1j' I I I I I
and a representation of levels of pulsation in a scale of operative
beats discernible in the piece, the bar-line meter simply one of
these. (That of whole-note beats, expressing meter at the level
- - A- t
of the phrase, comes up later.)

I
Example 4, on the other hand, suggests fluctuations in a kind Ij I. I ij_ - ii~_

;\ ', ', s
7"Rhythm and Linear Analysis: A Preliminary Study," The Music Forum 4
(1976):314.
8"Rhythm and Linear Analysis: Durational Reduction," The Music Forum 2
5 (1980):231.
9See Lewis Rowell, "The Subconscious Language of Musical Time," Music
Theory Spectrum 1 (1979):96-106. In this study Rowell observes that "one
central problem is this: how can we reconcile musical continuity, perceived as Accents of duration, (pitch), articulative stress, dissonance; corrobo-
motion, with music's pulsating structure of beats .. ?" He refers in this regard rative motive grouping.
to ancient Chinese views of experienced time as both "continuous and com-
partmentalized" (p. 98). *Decelerative effect of 5-unit.
counteractive accents-the initial 2-grouping and subsequent resultant functional, expressive processes? By processive fluc-
fluctuations-prevail so generally that it may be doubted there tuation I mean that of deliberate directedness: units getting
is any appreciable metric standard at all, although there is a de-longer or shorter, in palpable effects of retardation and acceler-
cisive, finally resolutive accord with the notated bar line four ation, the former for example as an aspect of cadential tendency
bars before the end. I have come to believe that circumstances and the latter of development, at whatever level and on what-
of this kind, often having a dimmer experienced reality in rela- ever scale. Let us consider Example 6, often cited in studies of
tion to a determinate preconditioning meter (as in Ex. 4), are meter. If Mozart's sforzato, "dynamic" accents project an ap-
common, and often a basis for animate structure, vitally impor- preciable countermeter, in half-relief, and if my reading can be
tant to understand in performance. Since I take accent to be the taken as legitimate, the fluctuation is processive in that the 6-
defining metric determinant, I do not consider that meter is sus- unit, following two asymmetrical 5-units, is cadential-that is,
pended or interrupted in such mobile contexts. retardative metrically-and supportive of cadential function ex-
Processive metric fluctuation; metric dissonance. Where the pressed tonally by approach to the Bb:V and thematically by
bar-line meter is fluctuant, what can we hypothesize concerning subsequent resumption of the fluctuant motive. By the same to-
Example 6. Mozart, Piano Quartet in G Minor, K. 478, 1
54 - -_ ___ '______
Area of metric fluctuation LU4~4~~ j ~ ~rr-
against preconditioned basis: V1 {f PP
RFp~ bb I e accents
7 of 11 f}ar- K4rN
pitch, sforzato P J -
JIr 2 I * ticulation, duration.
4.IrJJJjJJ
ipw j I JI )- L . - I I I I (f Ijj I ~-I If-
- r
P dP (f p- P
sf p ,f p If /ipf// sf' ( jp
la.(>J>S
MM_~_~6iL-r;
J J- ?.: ~2 c tJ'-' -~ 1A r..-
(6-unit of 5-5-6 fluctuation is functional in ten-
tative m. 61 cadence, complementing upper-
IF 'ri 'ir- li
I I I
5 5 6 5
voice descent.) r
?
ken, that resumption restores developmental process in the re- Example 7. Bach[?], Prelude in C Major for Organ, BWV 567
verse juxtaposition 6-5, an acceleration. I believe that music,
even of apparent metric uniformity, is replete with such condi-
tions of comparably ordered processive tendency to and from r
relatively active or resolutive states. Such mobility in the bar-
line meter comprises a factor of, so to speak, "dissonance"
within the metric element, an aspect of development comple- m. 10
mentary to that of tonal fluctuation, and subject to appreciable

tendencies of resolution. (See Exx. 4, 5, 7, and 9.) The true nat- Yet there are times when compositional intent is an expres-
ure of metric fluctuation commonly depends on subtleties of in- sion of metric ambiguity, as in Example 5, or in the Beethoven
flection in performance. theme quoted in part as Example 8 and occurring in Der freie
Preconditioning in the experience of metric fluctuation. How Satz as an instance of Schenker's "antimetric rhythmic situa-
decisive might preconditioning be with respect to metric fluc- tions" (the Oster translation). Schenker comments: "The form
tuations in a particular context? In Example 5, referential meter of the opening is boldly maintained throughout the entire
is itself of some uncertainty. Example 7 is, on the other hand, theme and even in the variations. Hence, performers and listen-
like Examples 4 and 6, more characteristic of tonal music: meters alike tend to confuse the upbeats with downbeats."10
ric anomaly in a perspective of well-preconditioned grouping, The meter's 2-grouping is resolutely clear, but its placement
noncongruent meter in half-relief, experienced against a clear as to the bar line is confused by the motive's descending third
preconditioned standard, subtly expressive of mobility if the against unmoving lower voices. I should differ with Schenker's
performer does not extinguish it by overt resistance. These ex- comment that this state prevails throughout, for as the motive
amples thus pose no real questions of fundamental metric orien-
tation; events momentarily "tug" at the bar line one way or an- 1?Free Composition, trans. Ernst Oster (New York: Longman, 1979), 123,
other and it is promptly reaffirmed. concerning fig. 146, ex. 4.
Example 8. Beethoven, Quartet in E-flat Major, op. 74, 4

3 ,,
I Allegretto con variazioni r

5 5 ._ .., 10
T
N- ^ _ V cresc. / '
-AY. I li "- -? -L 1 -- --
PH cresc.
17 __ I -- - I I
I f I I I
p cresc.
If
changes direction into m. 7, and with m. 8's accent of pitch, tex- Example 9. Mozart, Symphony in C Major, K. 551 ("Jupiter"),
ture, and duration, the bar line comes at least tentatively into 2
focus.
Meter and other modes of grouping. If we are to apprehend b ^--- ,
(in analysis and in experience) the manifest intricacies of rhyth-
mic structure, we must consider meter discretely, even though
other partitioning elements are commonly corroborative of
meter, and may prevail where meter is indecisive.
Here is a very critical issue indeed, a necessary assertion of
distinction between meter and other kinds of grouping. I thus
distinguish insistently between the observation that harmonic
grouping (or motivic, or some other) causes metric grouping
and the preferred formulation that harmonic and other units (to broadened, 3 +2
are often conformant and corroborative in relation to those of
meter.
I believe that meter and form (as motive, phrase, and the thing metric is non
like) do not invariably coincide, particularly at levels of the mony. Interpretive
phrase and beyond, and that such counteractions in music are athe strikingly comp
critical aspect of rhythmic vitality. It is fascinating (and accords, To my ears, this p
I believe, with experience) to conceive interesting music as a zart's. Harmony, at
network of rhythmic articulations inter-, counter-, and coactivethe notated bar line
along lines of grouping involving all contextually applicable ele-meter wherever the
ments. Much difficulty in studies of rhythm and meter hason the one hand stro
stemmed from a failure to make imperative distinctions amongfirst quarter. On th
grouping modes, and to associate meter, by definition, with co-has, like Mozart's, s
incident elements of grouping. tentially displacin
The essential point of Example 9, from a provocative move-pitch, of dramatica
ment often cited, is the counteraction of several grouping perhaps see, and po
modes: harmonic rhythm, concurrent with the notated bar line; tion toward the seco
the motive, embracing two notated measures; and an upper- to the second quarte
voice meter articulated by accents (primarily of upbeat ap- In Example 11, the
proach, pitch, duration, texture, and dynamic intensity) tracing while motivic struc
an ascent by step followed by an area of retardation and resolu- current with the n
tion. Anyone can hear very plainly the periodicity of harmonic
articulation; but it is noncongruence between this and accent- "Riemann's "positive/ne
delineated metric grouping which is provocative here: some-ber of levels: the "positi
Example 10. Haydn, Sonata in C Major, H. XVI, 35, 2
Adagio
-i 7 S^~ ? .e-1t ----r r
Example 11. Beethoven, Sonata in E-flat Major, op. 7, 2

entire first phrase (mm. 1-4), and it is the essential basis for mm. 1-13, after
which the theme resumes. While the dissonant dominant can of course function
accentually, it is not tonal function itself that effects metric impulse in the ambi-
guity of the foreground. The displaced accent that we sense from the outset is
Largo, con gran espressione
attributable to other factors. I agree with the analysis of this passage by Ben-
jamin (op. cit., 370), whom I quote: "If one were to think of the first three
measures... in terms of group [i.e., motivicj structure, and without regard to
accent, one might hear the terminal silence of each measure as an independent r F
'null' group and ... end up with 6 meter. That one is little inclined to do this is
the result of two factors: The first is another kind of grouping, the so-called
harmonic rhythm, which pulls together events across the terminal silences ...; I - '-'
and the second, and more important, is the succession of time-spans between
attacks which, disregarding the sixteenth note in m. 2, is 1,2,1,2,1,2, etc.,
which puts an (unrealized) accent of length on the second beats of notated mea- , , : ;,
sures. Taken together, these factors substantiate a 3 meter the measures of

which begin on the second beats of those actually notated." (Italics mine.) I
should put this only slightly differently, to say that the "displaced" meter of r r r i 3
agogic accents (and of dissonance, and initially of pitch) happens here to coin-
cide with harmonic rhythm and is fortified thereby. The consequent phrase is a
resolution in which notated first beats are accented: points of exposure are
placed clarifyingly at the bar lines.
The critical issue of tonal structure as a rhythmic determi- sis which I shall take up presently.13 It is perhaps sufficient to
nant comes up in extenso below, especially as to the problem of note here that my view of encompassing metric structure neces-
deep tonal structure and durational partitioning, and the fre- sarily ascribes particular importance to the organic aspect of
quent misconstruction of such broad structure as a background meter as an association of interfunctional events. Indeed, the
"meter." issue of periodicity obviously loses all relevance as one pene-
Metric structure at underlying levels. Does meter have mani-trates a structure to regard increasingly few units and, ulti-
festations over larger spans, at more basic levels? And, if so,
mately, a single encompassing gestalt. Conceiving meter as an
organic array of interactive events within the metric unit at
must not the properties by which such encompassing units are
articulated be analogous to those of relatively superficial lev-whatever level, and not merely as a stream of marked pulsa-
els? Most theorists, I believe, would acknowledge grouping tions (periodic or otherwise), I find altogether plausible the
analogous to that of the shallow mensural unit extending to the concept of a totally overreaching metric grouping describing a
phrase; beyond that things become increasingly problematic. broad course of directed, dynamic organization. I shall draw
this point further in analysis of the two major examples which
Example 2 is a suitable passing illustration: the first impulse is
putatively the point of primary accent (the accentual initiator) follow.
for each four-measure unit, and this principle applies also to the
overall twelve-measure phrase. I now turn to two C-major keyboard preludes in analysis di-
How far might the principle extend in a hierarchy of accen- rected to a number of the concerns detailed above. These prel-
tual values? Might that further aspect of meter which I have re- udes are the first of Bach's Well- Tempered Clavier and of Chop-
ferred to as an integrative metric gestalt apply to broad, even in's Op. 28, both endlessly revealing of subtleties and
comprehensive, units of structure? One hang-up in the consid- perplexities of structure despite their guileless appearances.
eration of meter at deeper levels is the assumption that meter Some of the rhythms of the Chopin Prelude. Of the Chopin, I
is, by definition, periodic, a bias that is, I have argued, of ask by way of introduction what its rhythms are, considering
doubtful usefulness in characterizing many surface metric that its rhythmic analysis is a quest for understanding of those
structures, and increasingly questionable at phrase- and, to be articulations and consequent groupings by which the piece's
sure, at deeper levels. My sense of meter as to commonly fluc- time is partitioned within each functioning element. A rhyth-
tuant attributes at all levels, and as to an internal structural asso-
mic partition might be: of one thing (e.g., tonic prevalence, a
ciation of impulse-tendencies, dismisses the binding concept of particular registral placement, a phrase); or an area offluctua-
meter as merely an amplified beat, a referential pulsation appli-tion from one state to another, unified in a binding processive
cable to relatively shallow levels of metric function.12 tendency (say, a crescendo, or graduated change in tempo).
I shall not labor the issue of deep-level accentual implica- Seeking to identify such cofunctioning rhythms, one sees at
tion, since it comes up in both of the subjects of detailed analy-once what an intricate paradigm is a piece's inclusive rhythm: of
the absolute surface, the composite of all foreground attacks;
'2While the terms of reference are of course his own, Benjamin's discussion
(op. cit., 410) of the first 21 measures of the second movement of Mozart's So- 13A pertinent supplementary reference is my analysis of Bach's Little Prel-
ude in D Minor, in "Dialogue and Monologue in the Professional Commu-
nata K. 330 is pertinent here: as to meter in relation to other grouping modes,
and as to accentual grouping functions at underlying levels of structure. nity," College Music Symposium 21, no. 2 (1981):92-97.
Example 12. Chopin, Prelude in C Major, op. 28, no. 1
Agitato
n 3A -- 3 ___C_ ~ C I I 1 L-, i " 1 I I,."b I . -I
/., u l _ " I t r I 11 t I I - -- -:g. ..i - !
j1S u L L q L 5 UFL . 5 --t3 r - g r '1A

!
(n IlII
- =- -E Ji
-- 0
- _O I -
I^ -r 4t -
=' '7
1
, .
If. * U%. * q>.

Pt * * a. *
*
_ni '- rv --- r gii;;; ..

I( i i J It - i
=- rr,5 .J
stretto- 3
.....
De. * ?. <f-.
* te. * ',e'b. * **
*o. ?- * v. '. *
q1*v. . . ..
o 4 C
I25 fr3 5 - II ^ 3I _ _- d / 3I
I
: :r_, ,, ,, r, , _. ,, _ ,, _ .-'- -
I
- _ r- _ 1
** ab. * fb. * Ub. $ vU. * v. * ve. * U~. '~:
of individual lines or voices; of tempo and modulations of In the activity of the right-hand thumb, there is functional
tempo; of unities and fluctuations in dynamic intensity; of fore- contrast between occurrences at the bar line (mm. 18-20,
ground harmonic changes; of underlying harmonic content; of where the placement compensates for tempo acceleration, and
broad registral unities (for example, that linking the e2 of m. 7 25-26, expressing relative stability over the tonic pedal), and on
to that of m. 16); of form-motives, phrases, periods; of low- the other hand the usual displacement, responsible for much of
level metric units; of such higher metric orders as may be in- the piece's driving energy. Chopin's notation, indicating a sus-
ferred; of areas of acceleration and deceleration (other than of taining of "tenor" attacks, is suggestive of this interpretation
metronomic tempo)-as, for example, in harmonic rhythm; of (Ex. 13), while a mid-bar accent of pitch and duration appears
formal processes-for example, cadential or developmental; of explicit in the notation of mm. 29-32. The latter maintains a
paths of melodic descent and ascent as opposed to areas of duple meter, enhanced by the accompanimental "ripple"
action more-or-less in place (as in the piece's beginning three which, but for its final retardation, rises to and descends from
bars, or its conclusion). I am sure that these are only some of exactly this point. Yet that interpretation which represents the
the rhythms of the Prelude-segments identifiable as to actions shortest interval of displacement is manifestly agitato, articulat-
of particular kinds-which can be adduced in theory and appre- ing a triple meter of invigorating, counteractive implication
hended in experience. (Ex. 13).15
Surface meter. I wish to consider a few of these rhythms
which are especially interesting and problematic, beginning Example 13
with surface meter, that of the notated measure. One agitato as-
pect of foreground rhythmic grouping is the apparent displace-
ment of the upper-voice melody in relation to the bar line and Agitato
initiating bass articulation, and in relation to surface harmonic i.e.,

11
rhythm. That melody, momentarily stable on g (or g ), can be

interpreted as in the register of the right-hand thumb or, on the i
other hand, in the uppermost register. Insisting again on distinc-

jconteractive
tion between harmonic rhythm and (accentually articulated)
meter as two rhythms, however they may coact or interact, one counteractive
harmonic rhythm
can see that there are conflicts between harmonic rhythm14 and
metric structure in either melodic placement, the latter dis-
placed by a half bar or triplet sixteenth note. The performer
who stresses the initiating bass note of each measure in the in-
terest of "clarifying" the situation misses the point. t5Interesting to compare as to placement of the upper-voice melody and
consequent metric effect are recorded performances by Vladimir Ashkenazy
14Conventional harmonic rhythm in the Prelude might be represented as to (Decca CS 7101, 1978) and Rafael Orozco (Seraphim S-60093, 1969). The
changes in bass pitch classes, where it is a regular rhythm held back only at former at first projects a mid-bar placement of melodic attacks, shifting this to
points of cadential retardation, or as to changes in bass pitches, where it has the right-hand thumb as the piece develops; the latter concentrates more on the
perfect regularity up to the concluding pedal. Either is largely a referential, right-hand thumb placement, in a relatively overt interpretation bringing out a
periodic, amplified pulsation which coincides with the bar line. fairly consistent 3 meter associated with that placement of the melody.
Rhythmic implications of tonal structure. The question of Example 15 represents articu

rhythmic articulations in tonal structure is, I think, less prob- esses in the sense just describe
lematic at middle than at deeper levels: for example, there is phrases is capsulated as first to
presumably no problem in the assertion that mm. 1-4 (Ex. 14) dominant preparation, and it is
constitute a rhythmic group in this sense. tent which is the vehicle of ex
(The expansion is represented
Example 14
mm. 1-4 Example 15a
~ J i mm. 4 5 7 8 9 12
rI" IN 1,V expanded - I--"

13 22 23-24 25
[ r-- * r d.i - )l r
Further, one might regard the entire piece,

Example
hearing
15b more
deeply, as to three tonal-harmonic operations: a progression (II6)
(II6)
from I to V (mm. 1-8), the same progression elaborated
mm. 5and 13
expanded (mm. 9-24), and the resolving I-its pedal and fer-
mata: 8 + 16 + 10. The decisive clarity of the I-V progres-
sion as a rhythmic segment delineator depends upon parallel 4 + 10 + 2,
/ \ 16
factors to which it corresponds. Figure 2 lists a number of com-
plementary modes of rhythmic articulation by which such an
overall 8 + 16 + 10 grouping is (more-or-less distinctly) ex-
pressed. RV \
mm. 14-17
Figure 2
Some analyses of this piece, regarding m. 16 as structural,
consider m. 17 as thus the essential underlying articulation of
8 + 16 + 10 measures
IV, its upper voice (f2) a neighbor to the imperative 3 of a
Schenkerian Ursatz.16 My reading views the two phrases as cor
form: proportionate relations of 3 phrases (i.e., 2 phrases + codetta)
tonal-harmonic process: I-V, I-V, I
16The first tempo unit of 16 corresponds to what is at times seen as an initial
resumptions at mm. 9, 25: motivic, registral, harmonic
broad unit in tonal structure-the tonic six-four of m. 16 regarded as the inner
progression, expanded progression, resolution most reach of tonic prolongation, the essential scale degree 3 representing a
active, more active, inactive culmination of the gl-e2 arpeggiation launched at m. 1. Salzer (Structura
bass fifth, bass twelfth, fixed bass Hearing [New York: Dover, 1962], 240-41) thus considers m. 16 as structura
diatonic, chromatic, diatonic in this sense. And in Allen Forte and Steven Gilbert, Introduction to Schenker
responding in point of IV occurrence (Ex. 15a), this IV a basis shall return to the suggestion that the enigma of durational
for expansion in the second phrase, and the I having precisely rhythmic implications of basic tonal elements appears to
the same presentation in mm. 9-12 as in 1-4. To summarize all deepen with deeper penetration of the tonal structure.
of this in a special way, m. 16 (with its counterpart at m. 14) Broad metric structure. I revert now to the issues of accent-
elaborates the structural IV surrounding it, anticipating and to-accent metric grouping, seeking an approach to questions of
overreaching to the cadential V at m. 24--one point of the har- broader metric structure in the Prelude, and defining that struc-
monic repetition, thus of emphasis, of mm. 14-15 in mm. 16- ture as to accents of encompassing spans of implication.
17. Moreover, if there is a (rhythmically implicative) initiating In a first step, I reduce the scale of the piece by discounting
sixteen-measure segment expressing the Ursatz I, its critical segments of "parenthetical" function, aiming to get at the Prel-
completion the occurrence of scale degree 3 at m. 16, in what ude's basic course of action. For instance, the upper-voice mel-
sense might such a rhythmic segment include the subsequent ody is in place in the first three bars while the tonic is clearly set,
upper neighbor of 3, embellished by rising sixth chords in mm. and in this sense m. 1 points to m. 4, and analogously m. 5 to m.
17-22, where these elaborative chords also "express" the pre- 8. This is suggested in Example 16, which overlooks the rich-
dominant IV? ness of surface detail to grasp essential content and action.
What is crucial and profoundly interesting is that such vari- Another listener might well differ as to the gist of the piece;
but to get to my central point about broad meter, I infer that
ant implications of harmonic articulations point to putative un-
derlying durational rhythmic structures inherently indistinct bythis exercise would assess as parenthetical mm. 6-7, 10-11,
virtue of overreaching (elsewhere I use the term "multi-16-17, 25-28, and 30-34, the residual elements traversing all
lateral") and overlapping tonal functions-a factor seen even essential melodic and harmonic ground.17 Seventeen measures
more palpably in the Bach Prelude whose analysis follows. Inare in this sense deemed auxiliary to the overriding action-
consideration of underlying "tonal rhythm" in the Bach piece, I
17Note that I have done away with m. 16, a focus of earlier discussion of
ian Analysis (New York: W. W. Norton, 1982), 191-94, m. 16 is viewed as ca- tonal structure, regarding it as a "redundant" extension of m. 14 because it is a
dential, the end of the second phrase, as a "point of rest," on this basis of pri-reiteration, as I hear it, and also because I shall ascribe to m. 15 particular ac-
mary tonic prolongation. centual significance.
Example 16
exactly half of the piece, just as, with reference to Example 16, My claim would be that, in such a representation, we see-
we deleted half of the first phrase. and hear-meter as meter in its vital aspect, its broader mani-
I give the consequent contraction as Example 17, whose festations oriented toward, motivated by, and finally receding
chief purpose is to portray accents of deep implication. Mani- from, focal accents of broad spans of implication, such a synop-
fest at mid-level in this portrayal is a regularity of 2-units, indi- tic meter one of the Prelude's palpable rhythmic structures, an
cated by solid and dotted bar lines in Example 17a. The basic important feature of which is a vitalizing acceleration (the 3-
meter is depicted primarily as to peaked objects of directed, unit) toward what is construed as a primary accent. While peri-
upper-voice progressions, criteria of accentual value thus odicity is irrelevant at the deepest level (Ex. 17b), it is yet an
mainly of dissonance (the Prelude's motivic appoggiatura) and aspect of meter at the mid-level (Ex. 17a).
pitch. In conceiving meter as an organic structure marked by In distilling one of the intrinsic, dynamic lines of controlled
accents analogous to those of the bar-line unit and its internal action to and from-an encompassing meter of associated im-
pulsations, I am led to a derivative, overall metric configuration pulses which are extensions of those (anticipative, initiative, re-
given in proportionate reduction as Example 17b. While such a active) of the metric gestalt experienced more patently at the
representation is of course (as in any reduction) shorn of the surface-we have induced a measure of understanding of one
richness of contextual elaboration, the encompassing metric thing, a rhythmic thing, that the piece is about.
order does make sense as a telescoping of vital dynamic con- Surface rhythms of Bach'sfirst WTC Prelude. I shall skim the
tours. rhythmic surface of the Bach example, then get to some deeper
Example 17a
concurrence accent replica,
of metric subsidiary pitch peak,
accent and point of
harmonic change interim descent
~- ~~-~ _ stretto. crest. ' (F'-
chromaticism,
concurrence of
harmonic change preconditioned,

return, low-accented
reascent, chromatic occurrence preconditioned, low-lev ,el
resumptions, agogic accent,
formal punctuation, corroborative formal
replication of initial punctuation, etc.
low-level accent
Example 17b m.21

accent of
outer-voice pitch,
object of
stretto, cresc., etc.
m.5
--- Ir -.-? rM --'"'15

''i I Ir I I ]-ts\ r rtr-m
5 3* 14 +
crescendo, stretto, chromaticism,
accelerative implication of
shorter unit (5:3)
*The 5-3 acceleration may be functional in approach to the primary accent of m. 21
questions about its rhythms. There are obvious factors of regu-analysis of measure-groups, eas
In Schenker's
larity, including the sixteenth note's incessantand
recurrence and to quote, the initial segment o
not possible
the motivic half-measure unit. Harmony does not an
bars, change in
obviously cohesive harmonic segment, th
every bar, but there is some subtle modification in harmonic
a first point of mobility.19 A significant point is Sch
content in every measure, and in that sense it too is expressive
pretation of cadence as weak, or recessive: th
of the
regularity. (Elements of surface mobility and asymmetry
19, and 35,will
thebePrelude's most emphatic formal
touched briefly later.) are all "fours" in the grouping. Measure 24 is hea
Some stated theoretical approaches to the
ofpiece's deeper
articulation of the background V, a matter w
rhythms. A number of published analyses are aboutconcerned with
presently.20
groupings of notated measures in this piece, oftenAccentual
without artic-
delineation of measure-grouping is
ulate criteria of grouping. Riemann finds three not
phrases of a nor-
an explicit factor here; yet it can at times be i
mative eight-measure length, the first extended (mm.
ceivably 1-11), For example, the initiating f
relevant.
the final one further extended to sixteen bars-8 + 8 (mm.
(upper voice)20-
has agogic accent, as does the e of
And
35, divisible as four bars of V preparation, eight of the initiators
V, and four at mm. 8, 12, and 16 can all b
of I).18 Later, I shall adopt Riemann's view of m. 8 as a "con-
traction" (my word), the basis for his construction of Graphic
19Five the first
Music Analyses (New York: Dover, 1969
phrase as extended. 20Presumably Schenker's two 4-groups over the dominan
read as an 8-group more deeply; strongest dissonances occur
18Analysis of J. S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, trans. J. 8-group,
the S. Shedlock,
and 3d
two-measure occurrences of the upper-voic
ed. (London: Augener, 1890), 1-3. of 8-grouping, as of course is the pedal itself.
-0-
_ 4 _ I I I I
J J J J J J J J J J
fr i^F f- sfih r vh P r= rk rk r-t r k r f- &f --p ik

t ' t t '/ 4 ,!tBft <,ft vTT I
bC v
- J 1 J 1 d 1 1 J J A J=4 J ; 1 =L IJ l,
J^gk J^J 9k ,)^,Mk )J ,fk ,J ?fk J^ gk J-ifk _^e AJ^fe S
QPB E;6 -g -g LU i 6=g wb 6?g h 1 11 v
T I I DIA 'I[fe D u t pnIaid 'qoS '81 a
CZ o!snfl u! uo!lelno3!JV o!uwqlAq pue op!ley
dissonance accents, as indeed I shall later interpret them. With partitioning as part of a perspective for examination of the per-
all of this, Schenker's mid-level structure of measure-groups plexing issues of underlying tonal elements as rhythmic articula-
could in fact arise from a few simple premises: (1) the first bar as tors, and to advance my argument that the deeper one pene-
an ordered "one," (2) a regularity of group lengths (but allow- trates the tonal structure, the fuzzier any lines of rhythmic
ing for extension inferred in the first four measures), and (3) the articulation to be inferred. My concern has to do with the broad
normative functions of duple units. The association of "four" question of rhythmic implication in an Ursatz or other tonal
with resolution-a construct in which I concur-arises naturally background, but also with interpreted middlegrounds, consid-
in light of these assumptions. ering "rhythmic" as to specificities of durational segmentation
Komar's "large-scale downbeats" are associated with ca- rather than as to motivating tendencies to and from, a further
dences and with the "main background dominant," which he rhythmic aspect whose ascription to tonal functions is patently
sees as that of the pedal, its attack point at m. 21, where it arises obvious, and not in question.
"at a prior level."21 (Does m. 20 also "represent" V, since from The problem of deep tonal elements as determinants of tempo-
it we clearly infer IV, which implies V, and is thus construed as ral segmentation. Primary tonal elements in the Bach Prelude
the V's basic articulation point?) In Komar's four-measure are, in my view, best deemed a complex of overreaching fore-
groupings, where "one" is referred to as a "downbeat" (e.g., ground occurrences, anticipating and reflecting. Two occur-
that of m. 23), the suspension chord of m. 21, the point of as- rences of V, conceivable as one basic manifestation, enclosed
serted deeper emergence of the pedal V, is viewed as weak in by three encompassing occurrences of I, comprise a fundamen-
relation to its "stronger" resolution at m. 23. Komar's measure- tal unity of linked, overlapping events which span the Prelude.
groups, not clearly explained, are 7-10 (especially is m. 7, the
precedent "one," unsubstantiated), 11-14 (m. 11 is cadential), Example 19
15-18, 19-22, and 23 as a further initiator. In general, Komar's mm. 1 11 19 24 32
"ones" are Schenker's "fours," the latter often terminal of for-
a-
mal or harmonic grouping.
I have referred to these studies of rhythmic (not "metric")
Represented in Example 19 are these primary tonal occu

21Arthur Komar, Theory of Suspensions: A Study of Metrical and Pitch Re-
lations in Tonal Music (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1971), 119-22. rences: I of the beginning, V of the interim arrival at m. 11, I
Komar's subtitle is "The Location of Large-Scale Metrical Accents," an une- the parallel cadence at m. 19, then V of the penultimate and I o
quivocal indication of the issue. "Large-scale metrical accent" is also referred the ultimate pedal. These events describe the course of the e
to as "large-scale downbeat"; thus it is explicit that metric organization is tire piece, expressing rhythm as to tonal tendencies to be sur
around "accents" and "downbeats," assessed however as to tonal function.
but less certainly as to durational partitioning.22
Underlying events at mm. 1, 21, and 32 are Komar's primary metrical accents,
that of m. 21 subsidiary to the other two, which are "boundary time-points" of
the piece's "structural time-span." Moreover, m. 21 is asserted to be 22I am led to Schachter's position that "progressions on the fundamenta
"stronger" than mm. 19 (cadential) and 23 (actual foreground V), the criterion structure embody tonal, but not durational, rhythm," but for my own reasons
presumably that of inferred deeper significance. In a single paragraph, Komar [Op. cit., vol. 4 (1976):317.] I find some ambivalence in Schachter with rega
uses the terms "strong," "stronger," and "relatively strong," as well as "sub- to this critical question; for example, elsewhere he identifies "brief structu
sidiary" in the evaluation of "metric" significance of events in the piece. dominants" (p. 296) and comparable events.
We might say that a rhythm of durational partitions is cision of demarcation, as we might in the Bach Prelude sense a
marked by these occurrences, in that the second segment fol- "getting shorter," and then a "getting longer," in deep tonic
lows ten bars, the third seven more, the fourth following by and dominant elements.
four bars (in this sense a speeding up), and the fifth by eight. Meters of the foreground and near-foreground. A superficial
Yet a fundamental tonal "event," involving prefatory factors meter, concurrent with motivic grouping, is articulated in the
by which it is implied as well as subsequent phases in which it is opening measures by a "negative" textural factor: the mildly ac-
prolonged, is more than a particular surface articulation, em- centual, naked exposure of c1. There is, moreover, a pitch
bracing rather a preparation-implication and explicit or infer- accent at the second and fourth beats, dividing the motive. But
able "reverberation" in the sense suggested in Example 19. for these relatively submissive factors, shallow metric structures
Any punctuating rhythm of deep tonal content is thus an equiv- are considerably neutral, where grouping is determinately moti-
ocal matter-anticipative, reflexive, reverberative, marked vic and harmonic. Comparatively unassertive accentual meter in
only at the foreground by distinct articulations. The underlying the first measures contributes, I believe, to the larger-scale met-
tonal image thus induced is, while one of rhythm as tendency, ric function of anacrusis-preparation of a downbeat of deeper
manifestly not one of precise durational spans, and surely not significance at m. 5, a point developed below.
metric. This may be a profound factor in our sense of well- I note in passing two subtle countermetric factors (Ex. 21),
crafted music as having organic continuity, while its surface is both enhancing the music's gentle surface motions. One of
punctuated by contiguities of many kinds. I suggest, then, an them is a consequence of directional change in the half-bar mo-
image of musical structure increasingly fluctuant and lacking in tive. The other is effected by the above-noted pitch accent of
periodicities, and increasingly fuzzy in implications of rhythmic even-numbered quarters. Both seem submissive to cofunction-
segmentation, as we penetrate its deeper tonal levels. ing regularities, yet suggesting hazy lines of disjunction through
Example 20 is a further portrayal of tonal elements in the the structure. They are simply there, requiring no performance
Prelude's first nineteen measures, suggesting segments marked interventions, veiled counteractions expressed in inherent ele-
by overreaching occurrences, prolongations, and processes, in- ments of exposure.23
articulative of precise temporal spans. Particular occurrences The broad metric structure. In conjectures regarding an in-
and recurrences seeming in the graph to mark explicit spans clusive, deep metric organization, m. 5 is focal. My reading of
should be read as veiled, blinking, fading and reemerging, sig- the Prelude leads to the feeling that groupings are essentially in
nals. I include harmonic-melodic processes (progressions and fours, an impression fortified by the precedent first four bars,
recessions, spans defined as to tonal going and coming) as well which I regard as broadly anacrustic, unified in that metric func-
as prolongations (occurrence, elaboration, recurrence, here re- tion as in harmonic content. In the broad two-octave descent
gistrally displaced in the broader movements). Harmonic uni- elaborating the tonic and tonic-centered bass line, mm. 1-4 are
ties and processes are thus traced in various ways under the sur- thus a relatively passive preparation for the Prelude's encom-
face. passing, inclusive line of action.
In these references, I am confined to the notion that "dura-
tional" rhythms must involve strictly measurable units of time, 23A performance by Glenn Gould (Columbia D 35733, 1965) interestingly,
although the concept of durational relations may well have and perhaps distractingly, brings out the accentual implication of the upper
significance also with regard to longer/shorter units lacking pre- pitch extreme on the second and fourth beats by staccato articulations.
Example 20
Harmonic occurrence/recurrence
0
(D L~ - - - - - Area of unified harmonic process
...... Extensions of anticipative/reflexive implication 4- ---~
(1) Initiating, near-foreground I elaboration, a basis of departure

(7) Linear II expression, aspect of approach to the retonicized I
for all subsequent motions (8) C-occurrences heard as anticipative-reflexive within the overall,
(2) Linear expression of VI (= II of V), mm. 5-9 three-register bass elaboration of 1
(3) Linear expression of II (= V of V), mm. 6-10 (9) Interim cadential V articulation (m. 11) within broad I prolonga-
(4) Preparation (by fifth descent: A-D-G) of interim V of m. 11 tion and anticipating the later pedal V
(would include the harmony of mm. 1-4, at a middle level (10)
of Broad inclusive area of I prolongation expressed in c -c bass de-
tonal function: thus IV-II-V of V) scent
(5) Area of retonicization of C: II-V-I, in fifth descent (D-G-C)

(11) The mobile phase in I prolongation broadly heard, principal area
paralleling the preceding V-preparation of fluctuant development
(6) Middleground V expression in encompassing octave descent (12) Measures 20-31: fundamental V and V-preparation, followed
(overreaching to the fundamental V of the subsequent pedal) by codetta, the outer reach of an encompassing tonic basis
Example 21 reactive-conclusive impulses separated by eight not

the fundamental 4- and 8-grouping in which my ot
ticular construct accords with many others.
My portrayal of a broad metric structure around
accents (Ex. 22) incorporates (as in Riemann's)25 t
of metric "contraction" at m. 8 as "representing" tw
events, two bars: a passing interim resolution of th
V6, at the same time dissonantly propelling devel
movements by the suspended bass pitch.
etc.
Such a large-scale meter, to which the c -c desce
ponds as a corroborative, discrete grouping mode, i
gestalt; in a supportive tonal articulation the bass
"hypermeasure" descends between scale degrees 1
second between 5 and 1. We can hear shallower
units, as at mm. 8 and 16, points that are sequenti
Although mm. 5 and 6 cling to the c1, in an explicit
whereoverlap
there occur subsidiary accents of dissonance
of initiating tonic and the mobile area which follows, it is conditions.
recessive here Primary elements of broad rec
the action begins-the first thrust of departure,m. the registral
5 are those of registral descent and tonal resolutio
leap of the upper voice into m. 5, a potent, initiating This event.
broad meter is interpretable by subtle inflect
(Any suggestion of accent here must be understood tionsin to
an focal
over-points, to their approaches, and to pur
all scale of articulative restraint.) This is a singular occurrence:
sions. Such inflection could involve modest hesitatio
no event more decisively signals going (Riemann's proach to m. 5, and between the cadential m.
Hervortre-
ten), conditioning all that follows in a broad general course of
resumptive m. 12, interventions often heard, indee
developmental mobility and ultimate recession.24nating performances. And the durational reductio
I thus regard m. 5 as a critical initiating point in my
makes reckoning
a certain point when heard; it reflects, as a
of broad metric function; and my term "initiative impulse"
thentic de- one vital structural attribute of the
image,
notes exactly this aspect of thrust. Further, I regard m. 12-its
of whose richness is of course in the intricacy of the
dissonance, its signalling of modest reascent, its chromaticism,
high-relief.
its role in resumption after cadence-as a subsidiary accent on
25Analysis ofJ. S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, 1-2. See also Edward T.
this large scale, and the cadential measures (11 and 19) as weak,
Cone, Musical Form and Musical Performance (New York: W. W. Norton,
1968), 63 - 64, for an analogous circumstance in which m. 23 is seen as "repre-
2Adherence of the bass to the tonic scale degree in mm. 5-senting"
6 hastwo a counter-
measures, or two harmonic events, a situation also evident in that
part in the upper voice of mm. 8-15, which elaborates c2 while theread
theorists Prelude's
m. 23 variously as II7, VII7, or as denoting both.
2Earlier I the
principal fluctuations are underway, and as the bass descends through notedfirst
that Schenker regards m. 12 as "reinitiator" (my word) in
of its two octaves. A consequence of the retention of c2 is, at
themm.
sense of15-16, the
large-scale pattern repetition (Free Composition, fig. 118, ex. 1),
with
second severe registral change, down to f 1, an underlying link to themm.
g 1-11
2 ofas m.
a statement
7, and 12-19 as its variant, a grouping mode which
as is the f2 of the penultimate measure. I should regard as complementary to meter.
Example 22
-0-
*Complementary, corroborative groupings of sequence, motive, phrase
A K h , 7 I I
01 a _
WrFiI
#-r-
I' -, FI
I Ir n S
p j -'. /
I
,,v -,'- ; I
Before leaving
ric") accent onthis
the suspension of m.infinit
21,27 marked also by deci-
gest three conceivable cont
sive descent in the bass. This grouping makes an extended pre-
tion (Ex. 23). ceding unit, supported by the bass adherence to c, and a
Essential shortened suspensionhave
actions unit, after which (as inrun
all three con-
terpretations structs) 4-grouping
conceive resumes. metr
with lower-orderThe second merelygroupings
conceives the anomalous 3-group of
effects of the first as implying a regular 4-group,
precedent with m. 23 read as con-
metric
local tracting a surface
accentual II4 and VII4 (see footnote 25), in a locally in-
exposure.
here are germane to
tensifying acceleration toward perfo
the dominant pedal.
these or comparable constru
realization. 27Komar's "prior-level" articulation of the structural V, and one of his
The first continuation finds an intermensural ("hypermet- three primary "downbeats."
Example 23
rmm.)
A
12 16
AI
'l ~I rnl } I 1
E r I V A '
) J/7
nl. 21 m. 24 m. 32
(Interprets the 3-group as a contraction of 4, an acceleration)
ZJ J .
4 (implied)
P
??
s~
4 (preconditioned)
And a third view interprets the relatively modest dissonance ture, articulated by accents and defined as to the content of the
of m. 20, within the sustained tonic, as initiator for a further unit as a gestalt of interactive impulses, is often noncongruent
four-measure group, a point of resumption after cadence. Yet with formal, tonal, textural, and other element-rhythms as to
the present hearing relies heavily on the effect of precondition- points of punctuative occurrence regarded distinctly as to how
ing regularity.28 And in these disparate views, much depends and where.30 Metric accent is but one potent factor by which
upon one's construction of m. 20 as, on the one hand, the events are grouped, and if we are to begin to comprehend the
reactive-recessive extension of the metrically weak cadence, complexities of rhythmic experience we must regard accentual
or, on the other hand, a point of renewal, reinitiating a prevail- grouping as distinct, observing that where different groupings
ing 4-grouping in the underlying metric structure. are in alignment, they are of two streams concurring, and not a
single thing. I have labored this point: the concurrence of two
There is in Yeston a cardinal dictum: "rhythm is considered rhythms is yet a rhythm of two things, complementary within a
to be first the rhythm of some thing."29 Presumably there is in given span.
any structure a rhythm of all things; yet we apprehend rhythms Accent is the only rhythmic articulator in which elements co-
as to individual streams of articulation, in interactions with act: a projection in and through the structure, it is thus a prod-
other streams. Punctuations, changes, and projections of uct of such properties as registral exposure, loudness, texture,
events of a particular class, as rhythmic articulations, group timbre, dissonance, indeed commonly of several such elements
such events, partitioning time and thus expressing rhythm in pertinent to a single event. Accent is in this sense a singular
identifiable durations: that is what rhythm is about. In any con- classification among rhythmic determinants.
text, more assertive rhythms no doubt predominate, in effect, Moreover, of component metric articulations, only the ac-
over relatively submissive groupings; and in common instances centual initiative is a point in the unit which it conditions, a
two or more rhythmic elements concur, in corroboration of a point from which reactive events recede and toward which pre-
dominant articulation. The question from which any rhythmic paratory events incline. (Such reactive and anticipative occur-
investigation departs is: Of what thing (that is, of what element) rences constitute, on the other hand, phases or currents of
is this rhythm, and what are its linked articulations? And as action, as when associated with slowing or hastening of tempo,
analysis probes content and structure in a particular rhythm, it or falling or rising pitch, respectively.)
explores that rhythm's convergence and divergence in relation The "beat" I regard as an essentially periodic, referential
to others. metric factor by which we measure rhythmic units: the neutral
As we conceive in analysis and in experience the discrete ac- pulsation comprising a perspective against which rhythmic
tive streams of particular rhythms, we find that metric struc- actions occur and in relation to which they are appreciable in a
framework of passing time. The pulsation series makes palpa-
28It is interesting to note that Schenker ascribes significance to m. 20 as initi-
ator of a 4-group, and as part of what we might term a subdominant-group, in a
durational reduction appearing as fig. 115, ex. la in Free Composition. How- 30I have developed here and elsewhere the view that not only are formal
ever, Schenker's purpose is a discussion of voice-leading, not meter. The mea- phraseology and phrase meter often noncongruent in groupings, but that it is in
sure grouping in Five Graphic Analyses also identifies m. 20 as a "one." the nature of the formal cadence that it is normatively recessive-tonally, re-
29Maury Yeston, The Stratification of Musical Rhythm (New Haven: Yale gistrally, in textural quality, and in other aspects. Thus the so-called end accent
University Press, 1976), 38. (Italics mine.) of the phrase is a rarity, or is some other, unspecified thing.
ble the referential flow of time, as an experiential field in which ever level. Meter is thus understood as a dynamic, or
rhythms are grasped. ment of rhythm.31
The often periodic articulation of musical time in measures, In cognitions of grouping, a factor too little estimate
half-measures, and like units, is thus a levelled pulsation of of preconditioning effect. Once a grouping, metric or
beats, the conventional bar line representing "amplified" established at a particular level, it tends to influence
beats, analogous in experience to lower-level (intramensural)
beats of a structure's normative value. Such metric units-
31The metric unit as an array of interactive tendencies brings to m
neutral, inanimate, and referential-are, as proposed above,
parable factors in other rhythms. The attribute of qualitative tend
grouped by expressive actions of many kinds. And meter is,deed be ascribed clearly to some rhythmic articulations (e.g., that o
while often thus periodic at relatively shallow levels, increas- harmony), but probably not to all, if by tendency we mean an im
"leaning" toward some inferred state. Yet tendency as an aspect of
ingly fluctuant at deeper levels. Figure 3 represents this attrib-
experience, something we know little about except perhaps in ex
ute, while summarizing the conception of meter as to intervals
functioning, may well be a pertinent rhythmic attribute in the art
of accentuation and as to a complex of interactive impulses elements not commonly so construed: in textural accrual, for exam
within the unit initiated by the accentual downbeat, at what- directed changes of loudness or even of timbre.
Figure 3
METRIC SURFACE
Two aspects of meter: (1) relation

(lower orders often periodic) of co
tiguous groupings; (2) internal di
positions of impulses to and from
downbeat.
DEEPER LEVELS OF METER
of subsequent groupings, even of other kinds. (One aspect of deeply such principles can be heard as applicable to broader
my comment concerning concluding segments of the Bach Prel- structures is to say the least uncertain at current stages of un-
ude is that prevalent four-measure metric groupings can be felt derstanding, but I believe that analysis shows metric organiza-
to continue where accent is comparatively indecisive.) And we tion thus defined to be relevant to entire pieces of the order we
hear groupings as abbreviated or extended in part because we have examined here, and I have hypothesized that such metric
construe certain events as contractions or amplifying elabora- interactions are pertinent to still larger expanses.
tions by reference to an established normative grouping. I sus- It does not seem to me that deep structures can have any
pect that the experience of meter at its most obvious levels com- meaning as rhythm (in the durational aspect) except where
monly reflects the implications of an assertive accentual punctuating events, implying temporal limits, can be assessed
grouping after even one or two articulations-a matter of vital with precision-as can the highest pitch of longest value, for ex-
concern to the performer especially where mobile, variable ample, or such a formal event as an entry of a theme. In this
tendencies of metric structure may be, while never brutally pro- view I have, as I have pointed out, special concerns about ideas
jected, allowed necessary rein by adroit, sensitive understate- of rhythmic implication in deep tonal structures, holding that
ment of preconditioning groupings. the deepest tonal structure (let it be the Schenkerian Ursatz, or
Hierarchies in rhythmic structure are important in that cer- whatever tonal background you wish to consider) has rhythmic
tain events of a particular grouping mode are appreciable as significance in the leaning and absorbing tendencies of tonal
having longer-reverberant significance, or span of implication, function, but not in particulars of durational partitioning.
than others, thus articulating more comprehensive units and I ascribe to underlying tonal events an indeterminacy of spe-
deeper levels of structure. In deeper metric units, principles of cific position, where I hear overreaching recurrences and over-
group content and organization by which we understand the lapping spans of implication. It is thus that I find the quest for
most obvious, local metric groupings are evident in amplifica- the structural dominant of dubious premise, as it must take into
tion. Thus, my answer to the question "What does 'one' denote account prolonging embellishment and preparation obscuring
in a series of measures comprising a deeper metric grouping?" any point of partition suggestive of durational specificity, so
is that it is an accent, analogous to, but of broader implication that rhythmic lines become increasingly indistinct as we pene-
than, that of the shallower unit. An accent of such deep import trate the structural depth even while the rhythmic attribute of
is a point assessed as unique for the unit which it initiates, as in tendency and inclination is perhaps most powerful at deep lev-
the Chopin Prelude heard holistically in this sense, or more els of structure. Indeed, we can be led to conclusions about
problematically in the Bach Prelude. foreground "occurrences" of primary tonal events which strike
My assumption is that the accent whose implication under- us, if we are honest, as bizarre. In some important sense, the
lies the surface, however problematic its assessment of hierar- deeply underlying articulation of a primary tonal event may
chic status, can be identified, or at least usefully interpreted, as well be the arhythmic totality of overreaching, anticipating,
of relatively unique and precise rhythmic implication; and ulti- and reflecting occurrences, as marked by the Bach Prelude's
mately there is only one of it. Thus I hypothesize for the pri- two-octave bass descent enclosing the octave descent from
mary accent, at least in comparatively brief pieces explored in dominant to dominant.
this light, a putative uniqueness at a particular structural level, Finally, I wish to emphasize a set of observations about
and certainly in my inferred overall metric background. How rhythm-interdependent, fundamental, and imperative to any
constructive approach to the study of temporal partitioning by our bewilderment seems at times proportionate to that com-
rhythmic events in music. I make this final point by posing par- plexity. I conclude by emphasis of this point in a few lines
ticular questions having to do with three essential attributes of quoted from a study of Bach's Little Prelude in D Minor, where
any structural event to which we may wish to ascribe rhythmic the piece is described as "a multifarious rhythmic organism re-
significance. The first of these is its position: Where is it, in the quiring various paths of access, each affording some manner of
before-after scheme of things? The second depends upon the insight, none adequate. Is not the miraculous point of this
first, its duration, which may be literal at relatively foreground piece's rhythms precisely that of a deceptively benign surface
levels, or an interpreted span of implication at deeper levels: masking vital cofunctioning rhythmic currents (some provoca-
How long is it? It extends, that is, in occurrence-recurrence, in tively displaced; some overlying, some underlying; groupings
processive elaboration, or in span of implication, from where to enclosing groupings conditioned by diverse factors-linear,
where? And the third is its quality of inclination or reaction: harmonic, textural, registral, accentual)?"32 The present study
What are its tendencies of relatively strong or weak content and raises some necessary questions, while suggesting certain ap-
projection, its dynamic properties of inclination to or recession proaches of study, and some principles by which, in continuing
from other events of its class, this latter attribute especially and efforts of rhythmic analysis, we can perhaps be guided or, at the
critically applicable, I believe, to tonal and metric structures. very least, constructively inspired in productive pursuit or re-
Rhythm is: everything. Music theorists are prone to making sponse.
complex constructions of simple things, but we are also prone
to interpreting complex things too simply at times, perhaps in 32From the author's "Dialogue and Monologue in the Professional Com-
desperation, and rhythm is above all a complex thing, in which munity," p. 96.

Berry 1985

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Society for Music Theory

Metric and Rhythmic Articulation in Music

Example 2. Chopin, Prelude in E Minor, op. 28, no. 4, mm. 1-6

i) I J I crescendo-decrescendo markings Riemann's. Riemann appears

Example 4. Beethoven, Sonata in G Major, op. 31, no. 1, 2

active happens: the bar line "wobbles" a bit in a circumstance, Figure 1

regularity even at the level of the bar line. I return to Chopin's

of the phrase, comes up later.)

Example 4, on the other hand, suggests fluctuations in a kind Ij I. I ij_ - ii~_

Example 6. Mozart, Piano Quartet in G Minor, K. 478, 1

mentary to that of tonal fluctuation, and subject to appreciable

Example 8. Beethoven, Quartet in E-flat Major, op. 74, 4

I Allegretto con variazioni r

Example 10. Haydn, Sonata in C Major, H. XVI, 35, 2

-i 7 S^~ ? .e-1t ----r r

Example 11. Beethoven, Sonata in E-flat Major, op. 7, 2

sures. Taken together, these factors substantiate a 3 meter the measures of

Example 12. Chopin, Prelude in C Major, op. 28, no. 1

j1S u L L q L 5 UFL . 5 --t3 r - g r '1A

If. * U%. * q>.

_ni '- rv --- r gii;;; ..

initiating bass articulation, and in relation to surface harmonic i.e.,

rhythm. That melody, momentarily stable on g (or g ), can be

other hand, in the uppermost register. Insisting again on distinc-

Rhythmic implications of tonal structure. The question of Example 15 represents articu

rI" IN 1,V expanded - I--"

Further, one might regard the entire piece,

~- ~~-~ _ stretto. crest. ' (F'-

harmonic change preconditioned,

Example 17b m.21

--- Ir -.-? rM --'"'15

*The 5-3 acceleration may be functional in approach to the primary accent of m. 21

fr i^F f- sfih r vh P r= rk rk r-t r k r f- &f --p ik

CZ o!snfl u! uo!lelno3!JV o!uwqlAq pue op!ley

Represented in Example 19 are these primary tonal occu

(1) Initiating, near-foreground I elaboration, a basis of departure

(5) Area of retonicization of C: II-V-I, in fifth descent (D-G-C)

Example 21 reactive-conclusive impulses separated by eight not

*Complementary, corroborative groupings of sequence, motive, phrase

(Interprets the 3-group as a contraction of 4, an acceleration)

Two aspects of meter: (1) relation

DEEPER LEVELS OF METER

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