[Illustration: Example 43. Fragment of Beethoven.]
[Illustration: Example 43 continued.]
The portion marked b is a complete repetition, with quaint variation, of the original four-measure phrase, marked a in Ex. 42; c is a repetition of the last figure (just one measure) of the phrase, with the melodic parts inverted, or exchanged; d and e are a literal repetition of the two preceding measures—(c) and c; f is another recurrence of (c), with still another inversion of the melodies; g repeats e an octave higher; and h is nothing more or less than a curious repetition of g, in longer tones, and in reversed direction. Distinct cadential interruption is carefully avoided after the original phrase has been announced, that is, throughout Ex. 43,—which is the significant proof (borne out by the manifest identity of the melodic members) that these measures form part and parcel of the original phrase, as extension or development of it, and not a new phrase. The total length is sixteen measures, developed thus out of the original four.
For an exhaustive explanation of phrase-extension, with all the technical details, the student is referred to my HOMOPHONIC FORMS, Chapter III.
Another method of extending a phrase consists in prefacing a measure or two of purely introductory material; it is, therefore, rather anticipation than prolongation, and is composed most commonly of the figure of the accompaniment, announced briefly before the actual phrase-melody begins.
This is shown very clearly in the first measure of the 22d Song Without Words; also in the first measure of No. 7, No. 31, No. 42, No. 40, and others; the first two measures of No. 34, and No. 1; the first three measures of No. 19, No. 26, and No. 37,—and needs no further illustration. It emphasizes the necessity of vigilance in defining the correct starting-point of the first phrase; for a mistake at the beginning may interfere seriously with the locating of the cadences (according to our fundamental four-measure rule). For instance, in No. 42 the cadences do not fall in the 4th, 8th, 12th measures—and so on—but in the 5th, 9th, 13th, 17th, from the very beginning of the piece.