174 THE NATURE OF MUSIC 



unjustly condemned as unsymmetrical because they do 

 not square with the regular symmetries of the classic 

 form. However, such criticisms as well as the concep- 

 tion of the classic forms as conventions and models to 

 be strictly adhered to have their origin in the minds 

 of analyst and theorist, who necessarily follow "limp- 

 ing" in the wake of genius. In a previous chapter 

 a distinction was drawn between rhythmic time and 

 mathematical time or clock-time: the former has the 

 group-pulse or accent which the latter lacks. The 

 same distinction holds between rhythmic and mathe- 

 matical symmetry. The regular symmetries of the 

 classic form are rhythmic, not mathematical, and 

 therefore the classic sonata and symphony are not 

 to be likened to the geometrical patterns of French 

 gardens and the regular squares of a modern city. 

 Symmetry in music, be it regular or irregular, is always 

 rhythmic. When we consider that rhythm pervades 

 body and soul and that we spontaneously express the 

 group-pulse or accent in our ordinary bodily move- 

 ments and speech, it is strange, to say the least, that 

 so large a proportion of performers seem not to know 

 what the rhythmic group-pulse is and in their per- 

 formances so often remind us of clock-time. 



The folk-melody is the bloom of ages upon ages of 

 evolution, and its perfect form of ideal beauty is one 

 of the countless wonders of nature. The thought 

 and imagination which developed this free-born 

 melody into the perfect rhythmic balance and unity 

 of the classic form, and which is so simple and naive 

 in Haydn, so pure and balanced in Mozart, so great 

 and potent in Bach and Beethoven, constitute the 



