AV E,SSAy ON MUglC. 



mary a view. But it may be leujaikecl in 

 general, that by far tbe most common dis- 

 cord is tiie note which constitutes the dis- 

 tinction of the scale of the key from that of 

 its dominant ;• for instance, F with tlie triad 

 of G, which is called the accord of the flat 

 seventh of G ; and F, not being in the scale 

 of G, is considered, as a regular preparative 

 to the final accord of C ; in which that part 

 or instrument by which the F is. introduced, 

 must necessarily descend to E, the third of 

 the key. The second, kind of discords are 

 suspended discords, when one or more notes 

 of any preceding accord are continued after 

 the commencement of a different harmony 

 in otber parts of the composition. The third, 

 which is rare, and less uni|Versally adopted, 

 consists in an anticipaiipn of a subordinate 

 note of an accord which isj to follow, as in 

 the case of f;he added sixth of the French 

 school. The fourth kind are passing discords, 

 where a note^ forming only a melodious step 

 between two others, is inserted without any 

 regard to its harmonious gelations. 



IV. OF THE TERMS- JiXPRBSSIVB-OF-TlMEi 



Tlie notation of music, as it, has been 

 established for more thaii two centuries, is 

 in general admirably adapted for its purpose: 

 but there is one great ; deficiency, which 

 might very easily be remedied, and that is, 

 the total omission of any character expres- 

 sive of the absolute duration of each note, 

 however accurately the relative value of the 

 , notes may be prescribed. It is true, some 

 little allowance must be made for the execu- 



tion of the performer, and tor the habits of 

 the audience ; but this is no reason why time 

 might not be niitch more accurately noted, 

 than by the vague terms which are usiially 

 adopted. Tt woiiirfbe easy to prefix to each 

 movement a munber, signifying how many 

 bars are to be performed in a minute, whicli 

 might at first be ascertained by.the.help of a 

 stop watch, and would soon become perfectly 

 familiar both to composers and performers, 

 even without this assistaitce. According to 

 Quanz, the nuQiber whidh should bp substi- 

 tuted for Allegro assai, in common time, is 

 about 40 ; .for Allegretto, (20 ; for, Lurghetto, 

 10 ; and for Adagio assai,_ 5. But it^ is usual 

 to perform modern music much mord rapidly 

 than this ; or at least the style of composition 

 is so changed, tl^iat the terms are very differ- 

 ently applied. An allegro, or even an alle- 

 gretto, in common time, without semiquavers, 

 is often performed as fast as 60;. seldom 

 sl9wer than 30. 



jA very superficial attempt, to affix a deter- 

 minate meaning to the words denoting musi- 

 cal time, may be seen in the table subjoined . 

 which, if it were more completely arid accu- 

 rately filled up, might be of considerable use 

 to young musicians ; although it will appear, 

 from inspection of this table, that composers 

 have hitherto employed those terms in very 

 indefinite significations. But it must be con- 

 fessed, that much latitude must necessarily be 

 left for the ear and taste of a judicious per- 

 former, and that it is impossible for human 

 art, to describe on paper every delicacy of 

 finished execution. 



