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Viens dans ce bocage belle Aminte, Sans contrainte L'on y forme des vœux; Viens, Viens dans ce bocage belle Aminte, Il est fait pour les plaisirs et les jeux. |
In this rhythmic and sprightly dance of exactly 8 measures (an old French Tambourin taken from Weckerlin's Echos du Temps Passé) we see clearly the influence of the metrical stanza of words and of the balanced phrases in the instrumental part, necessary to accompany the steps of the dancers. The melody of the accompaniment was played on a flute or some simple kind of pipe, and the bass on a Tambour de Basque—a rude form of drum, which repeated continually the tonic and dominant of the key; the same effect which we associate with the Bagpipe and Hurdy-gurdy.
Purcell: Jig.
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In this Jig, which was a favorite type with the English peasantry—divided into three sentences of exactly 8 measures each—the dance rhythm is very sharply defined. From various dance-patterns a structural type was gradually evolved, of which the chief features will now be indicated. The music was divided into two distinct halves and it became the convention to gain length by repeating each half—in the early days of the form, literally (with a double bar and sign of repeat); later, as composers gained freedom, with considerable amplification. Each half presented the same material (it was a one-theme form) but the two halves were contrasted in tonality, i.e., the first part, beginning in the home-key, would modulate to some related key—generally the dominant; the second part, starting out in this key, gradually modulated back to a final cadence in the original key, and often—especially in Haydn and Mozart—repeated the entire main sentence of the first part. The general effect of such a form has been wittily described[65] as resembling the actions of "the King of France who, with twenty thousand men, marched up the hill and then marched down again"—but he surely had no exciting adventures in between! It is evident that this form, while favorable to coherence and unity, is lacking in scope and in opportunity for variety and contrast. It did, however, emphasize the principle of recapitulation; in fact it became the convention (as we shall see in the dances of the Suite) for the closing measures of the second part to be an exact duplicate in the home-key of that which had been presented at the end of part one. We shall observe, as we continue our studies, that the trend of musical composition gradually swung over to the Three-part form, the essential feature of which is restatement after intervening contrast.
For illustrations of the Two-part Form see the Supplement Nos. 20, 21, 22, 23, 24.