MODILLION MCELLENDORF. 



9 



The Germans often date the end of modern history 

 with tlie French revolution, and call the rest the 

 most recent history. In the history of art, literature, 

 customs, &c., modern is frequently used in contra- 

 distinction to ancient or classical, (q. v.) " Modern 

 civilization," says A. W. Schlegel, " arose from the 

 blending together of the elements of Northern origin 

 and the fragments of antiquity." (See Romantic.) 

 In science, modern is also used in contradistinction 

 to ancient ; thus we speak of modern philosophy. 



MODILLION; an ornament resembling a bracket, 

 in the Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite cornices. In 

 Grecian architecture, however, the Ionic order is 

 without modillions in the cornice, as are also the 

 Roman examples of the same order, with the excep- 

 tion of the temple of Concord, at Rome, which has 

 both modillions and dentils. 



MODON (mothone); a strong city and port of the 

 Morea, on the Mediterranean; lat. 36 51' N. ; Ion. 

 21 40' E. It is entirely surrounded by the sea, and 

 connected with the main land by a wooden bridge. 

 The port is unsafe, but important on account of its 

 road and its proximity to the gulf of Coron. The 

 city is small and badly built ; the streets narrow and 

 dirty. The Greeks became masters of it in the war 

 of Grecian independence, and, in 1 825, Miaulis burned 

 a Turkish fleet in the road. Ibrahim Pacha took 

 possession of Modon soon after his arrival in the 

 Morea, but was compelled by the French to evacuate 

 it in 1828. Previously to the war, the inhabitants 

 amounted to about 7000. (See Morea.) In 1829, 

 they did not exceed 500. 



MODULATION, in music, is, in its most exten- 

 sive meaning, the diversified and proper change of 

 tones in conducting the melody, or the progression of 

 tones in general, and the sequences of concords. In 

 its narrower sense, modulation signifies that succes- 

 sion of tones by which a musical passage proceeds 

 from one key into another. In quite short pieces, 

 also in long compositions, in which the composition 

 remains for some time in the principal tone before it 

 passes to another, good modulation consists only in 

 continuing for some time melody and harmony in the 

 assumed tone, with proper changes and variety, and 

 at last concluding in that tone. For this it is requi- 

 site that, at the very beginning, the concord should 

 become distinctly perceptible by the sound of its 

 essential tones, the octave, fifth, and third ; and fur- 

 ther, that the melody, as well as harmony, should be 

 carried through the tones of the assumed scale, and 

 that no tones foreign to it should be heard, either in 

 the melody or in the harmony. A variety of con- 

 cords, nevertheless, is necessary, that the ear may 

 enjoy the necessary variety. The composer ought 

 not, after the fashion of some contracted harmonists, 

 to dwell always on two or three concords, or repeat 

 them in transpositions, much less to return and con- 

 clude in the principal tone before the piece or the 

 first strain is finished. The rule to let only those 

 tones be heard which belong to the assumed 

 scale is to be understood thus, that a tone foreign 

 to the scale ought to be used merely in passing, and 

 to be left again immediately ; thus, for instance, in 

 the scale C sharp, one could certainly go through G 

 sharp into A flat, and through F sharp to the domin- 

 ant, and from this back again to the principal tone, 

 without violating, by these two tones, foreign to the 

 fundamental tone, C sharp, the effect of this scale, 

 or destroying it. It is only necessary to avoid tones 

 totally foreign to the scale of C sharp ; as, for in- 

 stance, C sharp or D sharp. The second kind of 

 modulation, or that which is so called, in a more 

 restricted sense, requires more knowledge of harmony, 

 and is subject to greater difficulty. It consists in the 

 art of giving to longer pieces the necessary variety, 



by more frequent change of tones, and requires a 

 knowledge of the relation among the various keys, 

 and of the tones connecting them. As it is indispen- 

 sable, in longer pieces, to carry melody and harmony 

 through several keys, and to return at last to the 

 fundamental, it is necessary, in respect to such modu- 

 lation, duly to consider the character of the composi- 

 tion, and, in general, whether the modulation has 

 merely in view a pleasing variety, or whether it is 

 intended to serve as the support of a grand and bold 

 expression. Considerations of this kind give to the 

 composer the rules for particular cases, and show 

 where he may depart widely from the principal tone, 

 and where he may remain near it ; where he may 

 thus depart suddenly, and perhaps witli some harsh- 

 ness, and where his departures ought to be slow and 

 gradual ; because such departures are the most im- 

 portant means of musical expression. In pieces of a 

 mild and quiet character, it is not permitted to modu- 

 late so often as in those which have to express viol- 

 ent and great passions. Where es r ery thing relating 

 to expression is considered, modulation also must be 

 so determined by the expression that each single idea 

 in the melody shall appear in the tone which is most 

 proper for it. Tender and plaintive melodies ought 

 only to dwell upon the flat tones, while the lighter 

 sharp tones, which must be touched in the modulation, 

 on account of the connexion, ought to be left imme- 

 diately afterwards. It is one of the most difficult 

 parts of the art to remain steadily without fault in a 

 modulation. It is therefore to be regretted that those 

 who write on the theory of the art, dwell so little on 

 this important subject, and believe themselves to have 

 done enough, if they show how the composer may 

 gracefully leave the principal tone, pass through the 

 circle of all the twenty-four tones, and return at last 

 to the first tone. Piccini had the best views of mo- 

 dulation. " Modulating," he says, " is to pursue a 

 certain path. The ear will follow you ; nay, it 

 wishes to be led by you, yet upon condition that, after 

 you have led it to a certain point, it shall find some- 

 thing to reward it for its journey, and to occupy it 

 for some time. If you do not consider its claims, 

 it suffers you to go on, at last, without regard, and 

 every endeavour to attract it again is but lost labour." 

 To conduct a melody according to a given modula 

 tion ; never to deviate from it, except for good rea- 

 son ; and in the right time to return to it in the pro- 

 per way, and without harshness ; to make use of 

 changes in the modulation only as means of expres- 

 sion, and, perhaps, for the necessary variety, such 

 are the real difficulties of the art ; while to leave im- 

 mediately a key which has hardly been perceived, to 

 ramble about without reason or object ; to leap about 

 because the composer does not know how to sustain 

 himself ; in one word, to modulate in order to modu- 

 late, is to miss the true aim of the art, and to affect a 

 richness of invention in order to hide the want of it. 



MODULE ; an architectural measure ; the lower 

 diameter of a column being divided into two parts, 

 one is a module ; and each module is divided into 

 thirty minutes; thus neither is a determinate, but 

 a proportionate measure. The term is also some- 

 times used with reference to the different sizes of 

 medals. 



MCELLENDORF, RICHARD JOACHIM HENRY, 

 count von, a* Prussian general, born in 1724, was 

 educated at Brandenburg, and, in 1740, admitted 

 among the pages of Frederic II., whom he accom- 

 panied in the first Silesian war, and was at the bat- 

 tles of Molwitz and Chotusitz. His behaviour pro- 

 cured him promotion, and, in 1746, he obtained a 

 company in the guards. He served at the siege of 

 Prague, in 1757, and at the battle of Rossbach and 

 that of Leuthen ; for his conduct on which last occa- 



