ACCENT AND REGNANT HARMONY 173 



larger symmetrical periods lay in the rhythmic nature 

 of things. Melody in a state of nature could develop 

 no further and was ripe for greater things, was ready 

 to enter the realm of fine art, *'the paradise and play- 

 ground of the human spirit." Melody did enter into 

 this domain of constructive thought and imagination 

 and the classic form of music took root. Regular 

 symmetries in smaller parts and wholes naturally led 

 to regular symmetries in larger parts and wholes. 

 Hence the classic sonata and symphony, in creating 

 which the old masters simply felt, obeyed and fulfilled 

 the shaping principles of tone-rhythmic thought, leav- 

 ing it to others to define these principles. Genius was 

 their guide and law, art and its universal message was 

 their absorbing end and aim. Nothing could have 

 been more natural than these regular symmetries and 

 the prominence of the group-numbers 2 and 4 both in 

 the germinal melodies and larger structures. Are 

 not nature's most obvious rhythms dual and regular, 

 has not nature produced bipeds and quadrupeds in 

 fulfilment of equilibrium, do we not walk on two feet 

 and group our steps in twos and fours .? True our 

 modern composers have profited by nature's further 

 teaching that there are countless irregular symmetries 

 both in minute forms and in large aggregates and 

 masses, all of which are pervaded and ruled by har- 

 mony. But regular symmetries which in music corre- 

 spond w4th perfect simplicity of form had to come first 

 and did come through the influence of rhythm, while 

 through the influence of harmony have appeared those 

 irregular symmetries in the phrases, melodies and 

 larger structures of modern music which have been so 



