The opening measures of the slow movement of Brahms's Fourth Symphony are an excellent example of a melody in the Phrygian mode, e.g.
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The contrast between these measures, with their archaic flavor, and the sudden change in measure four to the modern tonality of E major, is very striking. Bach's well-known choral, O Sacred Head now wounded also begins in the Phrygian mode, e.g.
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For a beautiful modern example of this Phrygian mode see the introduction to F.S. Converse's Dramatic Poem Job, for voices and orchestra.
The Lydian mode is identical with our major scale except for the semitone between the 4th and 5th degrees. That this change, however, gives a very characteristic effect may be seen in the passage by Beethoven from his String-Quartet op. 132—Song of Thanksgiving in the Lydian mode (see Supplement Ex. No. 8). The Mixolydian mode is also identical with our modern major scale except for the whole tone between the 7th and 8th degrees. This mode has had very slight usage in modern music; because, with the development of harmony,[26] the instinct became so strong for a leading tone (the 7th degree)—only a semitone distant from the upper tonic—that the original whole tone has gradually disappeared. The Aeolian Mode, mainly identical with our customary minor scale, has the characteristic whole tone between the 7th and 8th degrees. Examples of this mode abound in modern literature; two excellent instances being the first theme of the Finale of Dvořák's New World Symphony, e.g.,
