On 1 Jul 2005 at 11:19, Andrew Stiller wrote: [I wrote:] > > I *do* see a problem with calling something a hemiola that is > > EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of what a hemiola actually is. > > Of two examples given in the relevant _New Grove_ article, the second > (from Lully) is of the type you call "reverse hemiola," and is > characterized in the text as "an instance of the same basic > phenomenon." Note that the writer of the article does not consider > this an opposite at all--as neither do I.
Well, I'm shocked. To me that's a mix-up that demonstrates a lack of understanding of the entire functional basis of hemiola, a rhythmic slowing (something of a metrical modulation, to use a more modern term), whereas this reverse hemiola *speeds up* the beat. Secondly, the 3/4 vs. 6/8 thing (or in older music 3/H vs. 2/H.) happens within a single measure, whereas hemiola takes place over two measures. Last of all, the main function of hemiola, traditionally, was a pre- cadential slowing of the harmonic rhythm, to mark cadentially significant points. Calling the 3/4 vs. 6/8 shift the same thing obscures extraordinarily important distinctions, and leaves out essential aspects of the mechanism involved in defining the hemiola functionally. Given the fine distinctions we make musically, it seems that we ought to be equally concerned about precision of terminology. > I note, too, that in any case (such as the Lully) where there is a > regular alternation of 2X3 and 3X2, the composer's choice of time > signature (3/4 or 6/8) is essentially arbitrary, yet the musical > meaning of the passage is not affected thereby, nor is the nature of > the metric phenomenon under discussion. > > What it all boils down to is that multiplication is commutative. Well, I'm concerned about the idea that you would assume that Lully wrote anything at all in 3/4. I don't know of any French music from that period in which modern 3/4 occurs in the original sources, nor any time signature with a 6 in it. -- David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton David Fenton Associates http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
