Now this new art was first particularly evident in the dances of these different peoples. These dances gave the music _form_, and held it down to certain prescribed rhythms and duration. Little by little the emotions, the natural expression of which is music, could no longer be restricted to these dance forms and rhythms; and gradually the latter were modified by each daring innovator in turn. This "daring" of human beings, in breaking through the trammels of the dance in order to express what lay within their souls in the language that properly belonged to it, would seem almost ludicrous to us, were we not even to-day trying to get up courage to do the same thing. The modifications of dance forms led up to our sonata, symphony, and symphonic poem, as I hope to show. Opera was a thing apart, and, being untrammelled either by dance rhythms or church laws, developed gradually and normally. It cannot, however, be said to have developed side by side with purely instrumental music, for the latter is only just beginning to emancipate itself from its dance clothes and to come forth as a language for the expression of all that is divine in man. First we will consider the forms and rhythms of these dances, then the awakening of the idea of design in music, and its effect in modifying these forms and laying the foundation for the sonata of the nineteenth century. The following shows the structure of the different dance forms up to about 1750. OLD DANCE FORMS (1650-1750). [ :Motive-|-Motive--|-Motive-----|--|-Motive---|--|-Motive----|---] [2/4: 4 8 8 | 8. 16 4 | 8 8 8 8 | 4 4 | 4 8 8 | 4 4 | 8. 16 8 8 | 2 ] [ :------Phrase-----|----Phrase-----|---Phrase----|----Phrase-----] [A phrase may be three or four measures, and sections may be unequal] [ :-------------Section-------------|-----------Section-----------] [ :------------------------------Period---------------------------] This period might be repeated or extended to sixteen measures and still remain a period. 1. |--I P.-|--II P.-| (II is generally longer than I) 2. |---I---|---II---|--I--| 3. |---I---|---II---|-III-| (generally III resembles I) 4. |---I---|---II---|-III-|--I--|--II-| or |--I--|--II--|-III-|--I--| 5. |---I---|---II---|-III-|--IV-| 6. |---I---|---II---|-III-|--IV-|--I--|--II-| 7. |---I---|---II---|--I--|-III-|--IV-|-III-|--I--|--II--|--I--| In all these forms each period may be repeated. Often the first, third, and fourth periods are repeated, leaving the second period as it is. This happens especially when the second period is longer than the first. In Nos. 2, 4, 6, 7, a few bars are often added at _Fine_ as a coda. ANALYSIS OF OLD DANCES 1. SARABANDE.--[3/2] [3/4] lento. Rhythm [3/2: 2 ^2. 4 | 2 2]. Form 1, sometimes Form 2. This is of Spanish origin (_Saracen_ dance), and is generally accompanied by variations called _partita_ or doubles.