Melody consists of two elements, the one rhythmical, the other harmonious.
The former may also be described as the quantitative, the latter as the
qualitative element, since the first is concerned with the duration, and
the second with the pitch of the notes. In the writing of music the former
depends upon the perpendicular, and the latter upon the horizontal lines.
Purely arithmetical relations, thus relations of time, lie at the
foundation of both; in the one case the relative duration of the notes, in
the other the relative rapidity of their vibrations. The rhythmical
element is the essential; for it can produce a kind of melody of itself
alone, and without the other, as, for example, on the drum; yet complete
melody requires both elements. It consists in an alternating _disunion and
reconciliation_ of them, as I shall show immediately; but first, since I
have already spoken of the harmonious element in what has been said, I
wish to consider the rhythmical element somewhat more closely.
_Rhythm_ is in time what _symmetry_ is in space, division into equal parts
corresponding to each other. First, into larger parts, which again fall
into smaller parts, subordinate to the former. In the series of the arts
given by me _architecture_ and _music_ are the two extreme ends. Moreover,
according to their inner nature, their power, the extent of their spheres,
and their significance, they are the most heterogeneous, indeed true
antipodes. This opposition extends even to the form of their appearance,
for architecture is in space alone, without any connection with time; and
music is in time alone, without any connection with space.(26) Now hence
springs their one point of analogy, that as in architecture that which
orders and holds together is _symmetry_, in music it is _rhythm_, and thus
here also it holds true that extremes meet. As the ultimate constituent
parts of a building are the exactly similar stones, so the ultimate
constituent parts of a musical composition are the exactly similar beats;
yet by being weak or strong, or in general by the measure, which denotes
the species of time, these are divided into equal parts, which may be
compared to the dimensions of the stone. The musical period consists of
several bars, and it has also two equal parts, one rising, aspiring,
generally going to the dominant, and one sinking, quieting, returning to
the fundamental note. Two or several periods constitute a part, which in
general is also symmetrically doubled by the sign of repetition; two parts
make a small piece of music, or only a movement of a larger piece; and
thus a concerto or sonata usually consists of three movements, a symphony
of four, and a mass of five. Thus we see the musical composition bound
together and rounded off as a whole, by symmetrical distribution and
repeated division, down to the beats and their fractions, with thorough
subordination, superordination, and co‐ordination of its members, just as