WebFacts 1
As we have seen in previous chapters, many Baroque pieces-such as Bach's C-Major
Prelude or his fugues or inventions-do not feature clear four- or eight-measure phrases.
Instead, they either follow a Fortspinnung (spinning-out) model or they feature phrases of
irregular length. In chorales, for example, we can find two-, three-, four-, and five-measure
phrases. Baroque dance movements, on the other hand, whether for concert performance or for
actual dancing, conform to the regular four- or eight-measure pattern of the formalized dances of
that time.
In the Classical period, the four- or eight-measure phrases of the Baroque dance became
the standard, while "spinning-out" passages were reserved for specific places-such as
transitions and development sections-in larger forms.
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