50 THE NATURE OF MUSIC 



chords that original harmony in one voice and chord- 

 harmony in several voices require the most careful 

 distinction, that the former is the evolutionary fore- 

 runner of the latter and that the latter is rooted in and 

 explained by the former. Harmony and chord there- 

 fore can no longer be regarded as synonymous terms. 

 The identification of music's harmony and shaping 

 principle with universal harmony and the universal 

 shaping principle adds new, truer and deeper mean- 

 ing to this term. 



The new meaning and importance attached to the 

 term rhythm in preceding definitions and analyses can- 

 not be overemphasized. After all it is not so long ago 

 that G. Weber told us that "rhythm is of no conse- 

 quence." Now we discover that rhythm is at the 

 bottom of everything in music, that the relation of 

 cadence and repose had it not first existed in rhythm 

 could not have appeared in tone, that cadence and 

 repose are two interdependent and inseparable ele- 

 ments at the foundation of rhythmic and harmonic 

 relation, that rhythm-cadence and rhythm-repose at 

 once explain the origins and solve the problems of 

 form and relation, of dissonance and consonance. 

 Therefore everything in music is relation and has been 

 derived through relation. From light to heavy accent, 

 from cadence to repose, from unstable to stable equi- 

 librium, such are rhythmic form and relation, such 

 through rhythm have arisen harmonic form and rela- 

 tion. 



Elsewhere I have defined music as follows : Melody, 

 the flower; harmony, the plant that bears the flower; 

 rhythm, the root of the plant that bears the flower. 



