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18 ACCENT ACCIAOCATUEA
character of a cry of anguish. That this ia the fluence on the music which is to be wedded to
case will he seen at once if C is substituted for them. This is with Plain-
especially the case
F. The accent is unchanged, but all the force Song, which differs from measured music in
of the passage is gone. having a free and not a strict rhythm in ;

"What has just been said leads naturally to
the last point on which it is needful to touch
the great importance of attention to the accents
and inflexions in translating the words of vocal
music from one language to another. It is
generally difficult, often quite impossible, to
preserve them entirely ; and this is the reason
why no good music can ever produce its full
effect when sung in a language other than that
to which it was composed. Perhaps few better
translations exist than that of the German text
to which Mendelssohn composed his Elijah
yet even here passages may be quoted in which
the composer's meaning is unavoidably sacri-
ficed, as for example the following
27.
=e=p: rq==^:
^^ So
II
ihr
with
mich Ton ganz - em
aU your hearts ye
Henen
tru-ly
Here the different construction of the English
and German languages made it impossible to
preserve in the translation the emphasis on the
word mich at the beginning of the second
'
'
either case the rhythm is determined by the
accents, but the irregularly recurring accents of
Plain-Song are more potent than the regularly
recurring accents of meatsured music. In fact,
the whole of the distinctive rhythm of Plain-
Song is determined by the accents (see
Rhythm).
The simplest form of Plain-Song is a mono-
tone with inflexions at intervals, which are
determined by the accents ; the tones for the
Lessons, the Versicles, and even those of the
' '
;
Psalms, are of this character (see Inflexion).
And even in much of the most elaborate chant
the same characteristics are preserved, though
: the cadences are so multiplied and the recita-
tion is so restricted that the preservation of
these features in the melody is not at first sight
^nriz
suchet,
seek me
obvious (see Rbsponsoeial Psalmody).
Again, it is to accent that Plain-Song owes,
not only its rhythm and much of its melody,
but also its notation, since the whole of the
modern system of musical notation has grown
by an extraordinary evolution out of the simple
accents originally used for elocutionary purposes

(see Notation). w. h.- f.

bar. The adapter was forced to substitute
another accented word, and he has done so
ACCIACCATURA (Ital.from acciaccare, to
with much tact but the exact force of Mendels-
;
crush, to pound ; Ger. Zusammenschlag ; Fr.

sohn's idea is lost. ' In this and many similar

Pined etouffi). A now
nearly obsolete descrip-
tion of ornament, available only on keyed instru-
cases all that is possible is an approximation to
ments, in which an essential note, of a melody is
the composer's idea the more nearly this can
;
struck at the same moment with the note imme-
be attained, the less the music will suffer.
diately below it, the latter being instantly re-
The word rhythm is sometimes inac-
'
'

leased, and the principal note sustained alone

curately used as synonymous with accent.
(Ex. 1). It is generally indicated by a small
The former properly refers not to the beats
note with an oblique stroke across the stem (Ex.
within a bar but to the recurrence of regular
2), or when used in chords by a line across the
periods containing the same number of bars
chord itself (Ex. 3).
and therefore of accents. B. P.
[The famous instrumentalists of the classical
school, such as Joachim, Mme. Schumann, Sir
Charles and Lady Halle, Piatti, and many
others, were accustomed to mark the natural
accent, as distinguished from emphasis, not by
enforcing the sound, but by a hardly perceptible
prolongation of the first note of the bar. This
rhythmic convention gives a remarkable degree
of articulation to the phrasing, and adds greatly
to the beauty and meaning of the music. It
is also to be heard in the performances of the
Ducal Orchestra of Saxe - Meiningen. It, or
something like it, seems to be indicated in
Its use was latterly confined exclusively to
Dr. Riomann's elaborate system of phrase-
the organ, where it is of some service in giving
notation, by the conclusion of a slur placed
the effect of an accent, or sforzando, to either
over the first, or accented note of each bar. ]
ACCENT m
PLAIliT-SONG. The natural
single notes or chords but the practice is
;

generally discredited in the present day.

accent, which belongs to all sentences whether
The term Acciaccatura is now very generally
of prose or of verse, has a very important in-
applied to another closely allied form of orna-
1 In a letter of MendelMohii'a to Bartholomew, now in the poji- ment, the short appoggiatura (see that word).
gesaion of Mr. F. G. Edwards, the composer specially asked the
translator to use tlieae words. M. r. T.