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FORM

696

FORMOSA

In this example a single phrase is used as a distinct unit of thought, standing in somewhat the relation to the preceding a b, and succeeding a2, b2, strains, that the second couplet, b 6, in Example 4, sustains to the couplet a a and strain c a, between which it stands. In the following old folk-song the phrase as a distinct unit of thought is used in the form of an echo:

EXAMPLE 6

-etc.;

and in the chorus of Hail Columbia

EXAMPLE 7 a

it is used to build up a complete stanza-form. It is also to be met with as a kind of parenthetic interpolation and as a refrain. The strain, couplet and phrase, then, are the primary units of thought involved in all the large structural and aesthetic forms of music.

In a simple way we see how the melody of Example i is a compound idea, for the second strain is not a repetition, but an aesthetic development, a more intense, more deeply solemn utterance of the spiritual significance of the prayer. This greater impressiveness is the result of the relation in tonality of the two strains and the tone-stratum in which the second strain is sung. The first strain is clearly in the dominant key, and the second in the tonic. This is a specimen of a rare type of what is called binary form, to be found, so far as the writer is at present aware, only in very simple primitive folk-songs like the above. A second more common type of binary form is illustrated by Example 2, when the second part is developed out of new melodic material. The most common

type of the binary form, however, is where the second strain, stanza or strophe introduces new melodic material in relation with that derived from the first part. This is frequent in two-strain folk-songs and the simpler folk-dances, especially in their idealized forms, i. e., Bach's minuets, written for children.

In Example 4 are to be discerned three distinct parts, the third of which is a repetition of the first. This is termed the ternary (three-part) form. This type of structural design is probably more commonly followed than any other. If space permitted, it could be shown that, in general, this design is the essential basis of well-developed fugues, dances of all kinds, the so-called first-movement form, the rondo, the finale and the aria.

It remains to point out one more highly significant form, illustrated in a most elementary way by Examples 7 and 5. In this form the ideas (in Example 7 phrase-units, and in Example 5 couplet and strain-units of thought) follow one another with ever-increasing intensity of interest and spiritual force, embodying, like the sonnet, that poetic form which it most closely resembles, the innermost "holy matters" of the heart, such as may appear only in "a letter [song] from the poet [singer] marked 'confidential.'" Bach's first Preludein The Well-Tempered Clavier is a most simple but wonderfully significant and beautiful specimen. C. B. CADY.

Formo'sa or Taiwan, an island, now belonging to Japan, lying off the coast of China, having a length of 235 miles and a breadth of from 70 to 90 miles. Its area is 13,458 square miles. The highest mountain is Mount Morrison, 12,487 feet high. The island is famous for its vegetation, many of our rarest hot-house plants growing wild on its mountain-sides and in the valleys. Camphor and teak-trees, pines, firs, bananas, bamboos and palms are there in profusion. There are 43 species of birds peculiar to the island, and fish are plentiful along the coast. The principal products of commerce are tea, sugar, coal, camphor, rice, sweet potatoes, bamboos and rattan. The island was ceded by China to Japan in 1895. Taiwan, which is a treaty-port, is the capital (population 50,000); and the other chief towns are Tam-sui and Kelung. The population of the island is estimated to be about 3,392,063, including about 50,000 Japanese. Its commerce is now largely with Japan, though there still is considerable trade with China, as also with the United States. There are 230 miles of railway, besides 125 miles of a light railway line; there is also a telegraph service with 88 offices open and over 1,100 miles of line. Its mineral resources are being developed, including gold,