Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/225

* MUSICAL NOTATION. 187 MUSICAL NOTATION. I- strumontal teoliiiique led to a subdivision of six- tceiitlis into thirty-seconds, and of these latter even into sixty-fourths. The si<rns denotinj; the rests in mensurable music have been adopted into the modern system without moditieation. The C'lEFS. The oldest of the clefs is the F clef, which in its original form as a red line dates back to the tenth century. Almost as old is the C clef, which originally was a yellow line. These colored lines were used without a clef signature, as it was understood that every note upon the red line represented F, and every note upon the yellow line C. Later on the colored lines disappeared, black ones being sub- stituted and the letter F or C placed at the beginning. (See Neitmes.) The modern forms of these clefs are the result of a series of modifications of the plain letters. The G clef is more recent than the other two, but its present form is the result of similar changes of the letter G. Example 6. (C) C c t: ^ I r K - (F) ^/;^)i[^:^J • : C i ^ 15] j.-^: a: ? i: (Gl^ 6 ^6 (9 & 6 4 ^ Originally the difTcrent clefs had no fixed posi- tion as they have to-day. In order to avoid the use of ledger-lines ( which, in fact, were unknown ), the position of the clefs was con- stantly shifted, so as to bring the range of every voice within the limits of the stave. In old manuscripts we find eA'ery clef, at various times, on even- line of the stave. Even within the same melody the clef changes frequently. This arbitrary use of the clefs continued until the seventeenth century. The establishment of opera (q.v. ) brought with it the introduction of many new instruments. To bring the range of all these instruments within the limits of the stave could not be accomplished any longer by the trans- position of clefs. Previously some polyphonic writers of the sixteenth century had on very rare occasions resorted to the use of a single ledger- line above or below the stave. This idea was taken up by the operatic composers, and thus ledger-lines became a fixture in music. Xow that there was no longer any need for tlic con- stant transposition of clefs, the positions of those that remained in use became definitely fixed. Each voice-part had its own clef, as also the violin: Example 7. C f g' Soprano. Alto. jH MaM i^ Tenor. Bass. Violin. In this form the classic masters have used the clefs. For the pianoforte the G and F clefs are used; the higher pitched orchestral instruments play with the G clef, those of lower pitch the F clef. The viola is the only one for which the alto clef (C) is retained. During the nineteenth cen- tury the C clefs have been superseded even in vocal music by the G clef. TiME-SiGNATURES. Before the introduction of mensurable music there was no need of time sig- natures. The signatures used in mensurable music will be found in the special article on Vol. XIV.— 13. SIe.vsubable ilusic. Wlien, in the seventeenth century, the bar was introduced, composers soon saw an opportunity for reducing the very com- plicated and cumbrous time-signatures of men- surable music. The underlying principle of rhythmic division into binary and ternary forms still remained the basis. ISut, whereas in the older system ternary division (perfect) was the principal consideration and binary division (im- perfect ) only secondary, the new system inverted these relations by recognizing only binary di- vision as natural. Ternary division was retained, but Avas regarded only as a modification of the natural binary division and obtained by the use of a dot which increased the value of the note by one-half. Moreover, all notes were referred to the whole note (the semibreve of mensurable mu- sic) as the standard of value. Thus the whole note was divided into two half notes, each half note into two quarters, etc. The time-signatures of this new system were expressed by fractions, the denominators indicating the subdivision of the standard whole note, and the numerators the number of subdivided notes to be allotted to each measure. The only signs still retained from mensurable music are the semicircle for common time (four quarters in a measure) and the semi- circle with a line (alia breve), where the line still has the meaning of reducing the notes to half their duration. The B.r. The earliest example of the use of vertical bars is found in Agricola's Miisica In- strumcittaUs, which was published in 1528. The object of these bars, however, was only to keep the notes of the difl'erent voices one under the other, rather than to indicate rhythmic di- visions. A few original drafts of older com- positions give evidence that composers during actual composition did use bars to indicate the rhythm, although all the part-books up to the seventeenth century were printed without bars. The general use of bars we owe to the early com- posers of operas. Peri, in 1600, published the score of his Eurt/dice exactly as he had written it. In order to indicate clearly the connection between the different notes in the voices and accompanying instruments he drew vertical lines through the whole length of the stave. Caccini and Jlonteverde adopted this plan. The great facility of reading music printed in this way immediately led to its universal adoption. The new system of music, having established new sig- natures for time, allotted a certain number of beats to each bar, and in this way the bar be- came what it is to-day. AcciDEXT.l.s. In spite of the strict laws gov- erning plain chant and the use of the old Church modes, the human ear from the earliest times felt the need of a 'leading tone.' The tone of the scale that was subject to this modification was B. Thus at a very early time this letter was written in round ({j) and later sqiuaro (b) form to indi- cate whether the lower or higher tone was to be sung. It is easy to see how from these two forms arose our flat and natural (bt^). Toward the end of the thirteenth century the sign ts "iis care- lessly written 5, and being applied to other tones than B, denoted the higher of the tones on the same degree. Thus, FJf denoted the modern FJt, but Fb was the same as our F natural, just as Bb was regarded as the natural tone and Bf (our B) a chromatic alteration of Bb- As a key-