Part Two.

On Musical Punctuation in General.

§. 78.

Before we take up the musical expression of the various grammatical and rhetorical punctuation marks, and give to each part of speech its appropriate formula of division, we want first, to become generally acquainted with punctuation marks in music.

§. 79.

In the arioso style one encounters 1) full cadences; 2) half cadences; 3) rhythmic; and 4) suspended breaks [schwebende Absätze ]. Just as full cadences are more perfect than the half: so also are those rhythmic breaks, which are derived from the full cadence, more complete than those which originate from the half; further, among suspended breaks, those which involve consonant intervals are more complete than those which involve dissonant intervals.

§. 80.

In the recitative style one encounters 1) full cadences; 2) elliptical or shortened full cadences; 3) regular breaks [ordentliche Absätze ], and 4) suspended breaks [schwebende Absätze]. The mechanical nature of these formulas of division will be shown presently.

§. 81.

Provisionally it is to be noted that, since expression imitates natural speech in recitative and is not actually to be sung, one does not then have the same freedom in this style, as in arioso, to conclude a word with a feminine ending in a masculine manner; rather, one must treat masculine endings as masculine and feminine endings as feminine. The following examples err in this regard:

§. 82.

One observes in the second example how the vocal part ends with the same closing formula as the bass. This was formerly very fashionable in bass recitatives, and still currently appears in French recitative. But since Italian recitative requires one manner of singing, whether for treble, alto, tenor, or bass, it does not at all tolerate this and similar kinds of bass formulas.

First.

On Full Cadences in Recitative.

§. 83.

The bass in the full cadence, generally prepared by the fourth or the sixth of the closing tone [tonic], progresses from the dominant to the closing tone. While in proper song feminine cadences are allowed only in certain cases: in recitative they are given preference over the masculine, especially at the end of the recitative. It would do well that our poets always end their recitatives with a feminine rhyme as the Italians do. Otherwise a composer can not use feminine cadences.