Musical Articulation: A Synoptic View of Baroque Form 

By Edward Lippman 

As it does with any continuing stimulus, the response to a prolonged tone 
or group of tones will eventually disappear from consciousness. How long 
this takes to happen will depend on the nature of the stimulus: in the case 
of a single tone, obviously on its loudness, but also on its structure, on 
whether this is simply sinusoidal, or compound. In any event, the tone 
must be repeated or a different tone sounded if a melodic formulation is 
to arise. 

From the creative point of view, the melodic formulation comes first; 
it is a theme or motif, or even a whole melodic phrase that is then re­
peated but with an ending that complements and is more conclusive than 
the original one. In a continuing style, a theme or motif can become the 
starting point of a continuous melodic flow in which any possible point of 
articulation is indefinitely postponed. Usually, however, a melody is made 
up of a succession of more or less well defined segments, or phrases, each 
of which is readily perceived as such and also bears certain obvious rela­
tionships to the phrases preceding and following it. 

The simplest relationship of this kind is the repetition of a phrase by 
the following one. If the second statement of the phrase is louder than the 
first, it will have the character of insistence; if it is softer, it will have the 
character of an echo. If the two statements are of the same loudness, the 
second will appear simply as the repetition of the first. 

A different kind of relationship of melodic phrases can be called a 
"diagonal relationship." Melodic phrases related in this way, however, can­
not occur in a single voice. The prerequisite for them is the existence of 
two simultaneous melodic lines. If we then consider a melodic phrase in 
one of these lines, and that same phrase occurs again somewhat after­
wards in the other line, the relationship of the second statement of the 
phrase to the first is called, logically enough, imitation. Mter completing 
the phrase in question, the line in which it first appears is free to continue 
melodizing in any way that is compatible with the sounding of the phrase 
when it appears in the second line. Thus the first line of the resultant two­
voice texture can become entirely independent of past material. 

When the second voice completes the original melodic phrase, that 
same phrase-in a three-voice composition-will be announced once again 
by a third voice, while the first two voices are free to continue melodizing 
in any way that is compatible with the third voice that has entered. When 

Current Musicology, no. 75 (Spring 2003) 
© 2003 by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York 



116 CURRENT MUSICOLOGY 

this voice has completed the original melodic phrase, we have reached 
what can be called the end of the exposition. At this point the exposition 
can be repeated, which it often is, although sometimes in stretto fashion, 
so that each successive voice enters a measure sooner than it had origi­
nally. What follows can be thought of as freshly invented manipulations of 
the stated material. These new manipulations, however, are not literally 
new, but are in fact perceptibly derived from what has gone before, so that 
the composition in process of construction will retain throughout a char­
acteristic unity of both material and style, which can be taken as a basic 
property of a Baroque musical work. The element of contrast is essentially 
excluded. It would appear then, that the articulation of such a work would 
represent one extreme of a range of possibilities, namely, the extreme of 
imperceptibility, or of concealment. The music gives the impression of 
unremitting continuity, that is, oflacking articulation altogether. The mono­
lithic character of a Baroque work, however, suggests a number of further 
formal possibilities, each one of which has been realized in practice. 

An imitative work can be coupled with a harmonic or figural piece, as 
in the prelude and fugue. Or imitative works can comprise a group in 
which the themes of the pieces are variants of one another or of the initial 
form. In addition to such coupling and grouping, of course, articulation 
may be intrinsic from the outset, as it is in the homophonic sections of an 
otherwise imitative work. Other clearly articulated works can be found in 
the suite. The Baroque suite usually is made up of a series of stylized dances, 
all in the same key. These are most often the allemand, courante, sarabande, 
and gigue, each of which is divided into two sections. The first section modu­
lates to the dominant. The second section, which opens in the same me­
lodic material, but in the new key, is longer than the first, and cadences in 
this new key. In the course of the second section, also, transitions to closely­
related keys generally occur, until finally there is a return to the initial key 
of the section, and the whole section is repeated without change. What is 
found in each dance of the suite, then, is a two-part form with respect to 
key, and a three-part form with respect to material. 

The structure of a Baroque musical work, of course, generally cannot 
be described simply as imitative or articulated. For just as imitative works 
have inserted homophonic sections, it is even more the case that homo­
phonic works such as dances employ various kinds of polyphonic enrich­
ment. The style of a Baroque musical piece is often not purely imitative or 
purely sectional.