MUSIC. 
Pqftorale, Graciofo, See. See. but tliefe rather apply to the 
ftyle and manner of playing than to the time. Even the 
terms we have here retained are very indefinite ; fince, 
though the proportions may be correct, yet the actual de¬ 
gree of velocity is yet a matter of doubt, and can only be 
decided by the compofer himfelf. 
But even the proportions are not to be abfolutely de¬ 
pended upon; for the order in which the above terms 
fhould be placed is much difputed. Some put Adagio in 
the fecond degree, (after Grave;) others in the fourth, 
.(after Larghetto.) In Rouffeau’s Dictionary of Mufic, 
time is divided into five principal terms, in the following 
order: Largo, Adagio, Andante, Allegro , and Prejlo. 
There are alfo other collateral terms; and there are alfo 
various modifications of thefe, by the addition of the 
words molto, poco, non troppo. See. and by combinations, 
as andante allegro, andante larghetto, See. Thefe terms 
are, perhaps, only intelligible when confidered in fuc- 
ceflion. Slow and quick, like great and fmall, exift only 
by comparifon. 
It is not furprifing that compofers lhould be mifunder- 
.ftood, fince we find they are themfelves inconfiftent. 
Handel has marked the bafs air in the Mefliah, “ But who 
may abide,” with the word Larghetto ; but he has marked 
the fame fong Andante larghetto in the appendix. The 
recitative “ For behold, darknels fhall cover the earth,” 
is marked Andante larghetto, and the fucceeding air, Lar¬ 
ghetto. Now larghetto is certainly flower than andante 
larghetto, yet the quavers in the air are always performed 
full as quick as the l'emiquavers in the recitative. The 
air, “ Thou art gone up on high,” for a foprano voice, is 
marked Andante; the lame fong, with the flighted: varia¬ 
tion, for a bafs voice, is marked Allegro. In old, and 
efpecialiy church, mufic, where the notes of the Ihorteft 
value were quavers, and thofe but feldom ufed, the 
minims were no longer than our crotchets. Pleyel, and 
fome others of the later compofers, feem to have revived 
this iong-negleCted fpecies of notation, in the preftos and 
other quick movements of their iinfonias. Indeed time 
frequently feem s to depend on the number of notes con¬ 
tained in a bar. 
Dr. Nares, in the preface to his Anthems, remarks, that 
“ mufic performed in juft time is like a painting fet in a 
good light;” and he is therefore anxious that the terms 
of time lhould be particularly regarded. We partake in 
the good doftor’s anxiety; but before the “ terms of 
time” can be properly “ regarded,” they mull firft have a 
definite meaning, a correCt character, exprefiive of theab- 
folute duration of each note. This is the objeCt of our 
prefent enquiry. 
It has been remarked, in an excellent “ Effay on Mu¬ 
fic,” printed in the Britilh Magazine, (OCt. 1800.) that it 
would be eafy to prefix to each movement a number, fig- 
nifying how many bars are to be performed in a minute, 
which might at firft be afeertained by the help of a ftop- 
watch, and would foon become perfectly familiar both to 
compofers and performers, even without this afliftance. 
According to Quantz, the number which lhould be fub- 
ftituted for Allegro affai , in common time, is about 40 ; 
for Allegretto, 20 ; for Larghetto, 10; and for Adagio 
affai, 5. But it is ufual to perform modern mufic much 
more rapidly than this ; or at leaft the ftyle of compofition 
Is fo.changed, that the terms are very differently applied. 
An allegro, or even an allegretto, in common time, with¬ 
out femiquavers, is often performed as fall as 60 ; feldom 
flower than 30.” 
The idea, however, of a mufical chronometer, is not 
new, though it has not been brought into fuccelsful 
praCHce till very recently. But it is neceffary that we 
mould fpeak of fucceftive as well as fuccefsful inventions. 
' M. Loulie, a French mufician, invented a machine for the 
• purpofebf meafuring time by means of a pendulum. The 
form of the inftrument is that of an Ionic pilafter, and is 
thus deferibed by Malcolm in his Treadle of Mufic, pub- 
liftied in 1721. “ The chronometer conlifts of a large 
Vol. XVI. No. 1121. 
59 3 
ruler or board, fix feet or 72 inches long, to be fet on 
end 5 it is divided into its inches, and the numbers fet fo 
as to count upwards; and at every divifion there is a 
fmall round hole through whofe centre the line of divifion 
runs. At the top of this ruler, about an inch above the 
divifion 72, and perpendicular to the ruler, is inlerted a 
fmall piece of wood, in the upper fide of which there is a 
groove, hollowed along from the end that Hands out to 
that which is fixed in the ruler, and near each end of it a 
hole is made: through thefe holes a pendulum-cord is 
drawn, which runs in the groove ■■ at that end of the cord 
which comes through the hole furtheft from the ruler, the 
ball is hung; and at the other end there is a fmall wooden 
pin, which can be put in any of the holes of the ruler. 
When the pin is in the uppermoft hole at 72, then the 
pendulum from the top to the centre of the ball mull be 
exaCtly 72 inches; and therefore, whatever hole of the 
ruler it is put in, the pendulum will be juft fo many 
inches as that figure at the hole denotes. The manner of 
ufing the machine is this: The compofer lengthens or 
fhortens his pendulum, till one vibration be equal to the 
defigned length of his bar, and then the pin Hands at a 
certain divifion, which marks the length of the pendulum; 
and this number being fet with the clef at the beginning 
of the fong, is a direction for others how to ufe the chro¬ 
nometer in meafuring the time according to the com- 
pofer’s defign : for with the number is fet the note, 
crotchet or minim, whofe value he would have the vibra¬ 
tion to be; which in brilk duple (common) time is belt 
a minim, or half-bar; or even a whole bar, when that is 
but a minim ; and in flow time a crotchet. In triple time, 
it would do well to be the third part, or half, or fourth 
part, of a bar; and, in the Ample triples that are allegro, 
let it be a whole bar. And if, in every time that is 
allegro, the vibration is applied to a whole or half bar, 
practice will teach us to fubdivide it juftly and equally. 
Obferve, that to make this machine of univerfal ufe, fome 
canonical meafure of the divifions mull be agreed upon, 
that the figure may give a certain direction for the length 
of the pendulum.” This, we think, mull have been an 
unwieldy, complex, and expenfive, inftrument. 
Another chronometer, invented by M. Sauveur, is de¬ 
feribed in his “ Principles of Acouftics.” It was a pen¬ 
dulum of a particular kind, which he exclufively applied 
to afeertain the time in the performance of mufical com- 
pofitions. L’Affilard, in his “ Principles dedicated to 
Religious Ladies,” placed at the head of all his airs 
figures which expreffed the number of vibrations of the 
pendulum during the performance of each bar. 
Rouffeau faid, in his Dictionary, forty years ago, that 
it was then thirty years fince a fimilar inftrument appear¬ 
ed under the title of chronometer, which beat the time 
itfelf; but none of them had fucceeded. “ Many, how¬ 
ever, (continues Rouffeau,) have afferted, that it is verjr 
much to be wilhed that fuch an inftrument was completed 
in order to fix with precifion the time of each bar in a 
piece of mufic ; as, by that means, the true original mea- 
l'ure of each compofition would be recorded, without 
which expedient, it lofes its character; and, after the 
death of the author, it is only by a kind of tradition, 
very likely to vary and be loft, that the time is known. 
Old people already complain that the time of many airs 
is loll; and it is believed that they are performed too How. 
This may have come on by degrees, from the characters 
in prefent ufe, which look much quicker than thofe of a 
hundred, or indeed of fifty, years ago, when demi-femi- 
quavers were feldom ufed ; and, where there are now only 
minims, there ufed to be femibreves, as in alia breve 
time.” We are certain, from our own memory, that the 
time of Handel’s mufic is often miltaken, and performed 
fometimes quicker and fometimes flower than when under 
his own direction ; but moftly quicker. 
The objections of Monf. Diderot to the ufe of a chro¬ 
nometer are by no means infurmountable; and fome of 
them are ingeoioufly anfwered by Rouffeau. But one of 
5 H them 
