A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Metre

by William Smyth Rockstro

METRE, the rhythmic element of Song: as exemplified, in Music, in the structure of melodious phrases—in Poetry, in that of regular Verses.

As the rhythm of Poetry is measured by syllables and feet, so is that of Music by beats and bars. The two systems, notwithstanding their apparent difference, may almost be described as interchangeable: since it would be quite possible to express the swing of a Melody in Dactyls and Spondees, or the scansion of a Verse in Crotchets and Quavers. Upon this coincidence, Music and Poetry are almost entirely dependent for the intimacy of their mutual relations: and, as we shall presently shew, these relations influence pure Instrumental Composition no less forcibly than Vocal Music; the themes of a Sonata being as easily reducible to metrical feet as those of an Opera. Themes which are not so reducible—in other words, Melodies which exhibit no rhythmic correspondence with any imaginable kind of poetical Verse—may, indeed, be safely assumed to be bad ones. We shall most readily make this position intelligible, by considering the syllables and feet which form the basis of Poetical Metre; and then shewing their application to the phrases of a regularly-constructed Melody.

Syllables are of three kinds; long(–), short (‿), and common (–‿). One long syllable is reckoned as the equivalent of two short ones. A common syllable may be treated either as long, or short, at pleasure. In Classical Prosody, the length or shortness of syllables is determined by the laws of quantity. In modern Poetry, it is dependent upon accent alone; all accented syllables being considered long, and all unaccented ones short, whatever may be the quantity of their respective vowels. This distinction is of great importance to the Composer; for Poetry regulated by quantity has very little affinity with the Sister Art. The association of what we now call Tune, with Sapphics or Elegiacs, would probably be impracticable. But the regular cadence of English or Italian verses, in which the claims of quantity are utterly ignored, seems almost to demand it as a necessity.^[1]

The union of two, three, or four syllables, constitutes a foot. Four forms only of the dissyllabic foot are possible—

Pyrrhic	‿ ‿
Spondee	– –
Iambus	‿–
Trochee, (or Chorius)	– ‿

Of trisyllabic feet there are eight varieties—

Tribrach.	‿ ‿ ‿
Molossus	– – –
Dactyl	– ‿ ‿
Anapæst	‿ ‿ –
Bacchius	‿ – –
Antibacchius (or Palimbacchius)	– – ‿
Amphibrachys	‿ – ‿
Amphimacer (or Cretic)	– ‿ –

Tetrasyllable feet—always divisible into two dissyllabic members—are sixteen in number—

Proceleusmaticus	‿ ‿ ‿ ‿
Dispondæus	– – – –
Diiambus	‿ – ‿ –
Ditrochæus	– ‿ – ‿
Choriambus	– ‿ ‿ –
Antispastus	‿ – – ‿
Ionicus a majore	– – ‿ ‿
Ionicus a minore	‿ ‿ – –
Pæon primus	– ‿ ‿ ‿
Pæon secundus	‿ – ‿ ‿
Pæon tertius	‿ ‿ – ‿
Pæon quartus	‿ ‿ ‿ –
Epitritus primus	‿ – – –
Epitritus secundus	– ‿ – –
Epitritus tertius	– – ‿ –
Epitritus quartus	– – – ‿

Two feet usually constitute a Metre (or Dipodia). But, in Dactylic Verse, each foot is regarded as a complete Metre in itself, even when the characteristic Dactyl is intermixed with feet of some other kind. Each tetrasyllable foot is also treated, by reason of its composite character, as an entire Metre.

Verses^[2] are classed according to the number of Metres they contain: thus, the Monometer, Dimeter, Trimeter, Tetrameter, Pentameter, and Hexameter, contain one, two, three, four, five, and six Metres, respectively.

When all the Metres are perfect, the Verse is called Acatalectic. When the last syllable of the last foot is wanting, it is Catalectic. When two syllables are wanting, or an entire foot, it is Brachycatalectic. When a superfluous long syllable is added on, at the end of the Verse, it is called Hypercatalectic.

Most Verses are marked, in or near the middle, by a slight pause, called a Cæsura, which must necessarily fall, either on a monosyllable, or on the last syllable of a word; as in the well-known Alexandrine—

'Which, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along':

and a similar peculiarity is observable in innumerable well-constructed Melodies; as in the Giga of Corelli's Sonata in A—

etc.

The five species of Verse most frequently used are, the Iambic, the Trochaic, the Spondaic, the Anapaestic, and the Dactylic, each of which may be used in the form of a Dimeter, Trimeter, or Tetrameter, either Catalectic, or Acatalectic. But no kind of Verse is strictly limited to feet of one particular order. We constantly find an Iambus substituted for a Trochee; or, a Trochee for a Spondee. In Dactylic Verse, especially, the Spondee is of very frequent occurrence, and the Trochee by no means uncommon. In like manner, the phrasing of a Melody may, at any moment, be relieved by the introduction of a subordinate figure, though, if the Melody be good, the new feature will be no less reducible to rule than the original one.

The variety of Metre permissible in modern Poetry is unlimited; and as an equal amount of freedom is claimed in the rhythm of modern Music, it would manifestly be impossible to enumerate even a tenth part of the different forms now in common use. Nevertheless, as all are constructed upon the same general principle, the Student will find no difficulty in making an analysis of any that may fall under his notice. This analysis cannot be too carefully conducted. Its importance is obvious enough, where words have to be set to music: but, as we have already intimated, it is equally important in other cases; for, without a sound practical acquaintance with the laws of Poetical Metre, it is not easy to invest even the subject of a Fugue with the freshness and individuality which so plainly distinguish the works of the Great Masters from writings of inferior merit. An instrumental Theme, devoid of marked rhythmic character, is never really effective. Great Composers seem to have felt this, as if by instinct; hence, their Subjects are always reducible to metrical feet. All the Metres most common in Poetry, and innumerable others, have been used by them, over and over again: sometimes, in their strictest form; but, generally, with greater variety of treatment than that allowable in Verse, and with a more frequent employment of the various tetrasyllable feet, every one of which falls into its proper place in the economy of Instrumental Music. We do not, indeed, always find the foot and the bar beginning together. This can only be the case when the foot begins with a long syllable, and the musical phrase with a strong accent. But, in all cases, the correspondence between the two modes of measurement is uniform, and exact; and to its all-powerful influence many a famous melody owes half its charm. We cannot carefully examine any really fine composition, without convincing ourselves of the truth of this great law, which we will endeavour to illustrate by the aid of a few examples, selected from works of universally acknowledged merit.

The theme of the Scherzo in Beethoven's Sonata quasi una Fantasia in C♯ minor (op. 27) is in Iambic Dimeter Acatalectic—the 'Long Metre' of English Hymnologists:—

etc.

The Rondo of Mendelssohn's Pianoforte Concerto in G minor (op. 25) also begins in Iambic Dimeter; with the peculiarly happy use of a Pæon quartus, in the fourth, and several subsequent places—

etc.

Mozart's Sonata for Pianoforte and Violin, in B♭, starts in Trochaic Dimeter Catalectic—

etc.

The well-known Subject of the Slow Movement in Haydn's 'Surprise Symphony' is in Spondaic Dimeter Catalectic—

etc.

The Theme of Weber's Rondo brillante in E♭ (op. 62), is in Anapaestic Tetrameter Brachycatalectic, very rigidly maintained—

etc.

The Slow Movement of Beethoven's Symphony in A, is in alternate verses of Acatalectic and Catalectic Dactylic Tetrameter, with a Spondee in each of the even places—

A no less captivating alternation of Amphimacers and Trochees is found in the Tema of Mozart's Pianoforte Sonata in A—

etc. It would be easy to multiply examples, ad infinitum; but these will be sufficient to shew, on no mean authority, the importance of a subject, which, though too often neglected as a branch of musical education, will well repay a little diligent study.

[ W. S. R. ]

1. Not very long ago, a celebrated Poet, experimenting upon the possibility of producing good English Hexameters, wrote some curious examples in accordance with the laws of quantity a proceeding which left the real point at issue untouched.
2. Throughout this article, the word Verse, is used in its strict sense as indicating a single line of Poetry. In common parlance, the word is frequently treated as the synonym of Stanza: but a Stanza is really a combination of several Verses.