User:AwesoMan3000/Undecuple meter

Undecuple meter, or undecuple time, is a musical meter characterised by eleven beats in a measure. The meter was practically "invented" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in the 19th century in two of his operas, The Snow Maiden and Sadko.

Since 11 is a prime number, undecuple meter is considered to be an "asymmetric compound measure", making it suitable for the expression of melody as well as dance. This measure is now found in jazz, pop and rock music.

History

17th century

An extremely rare example of undecuple meter is found in the work of Claude Le Jeune, "Cigne je suis", noted in 11/4 in his Premier livre de chansons in 1608. In England, John Bull's In Nomine IX for harpsichord, now in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, is also scored in 11/4.

19th century

In addition to his analysis of rhythms in the music of Ravel, Vladimir Jankélévitch note with astonishment: "The final chorus Snegourotchka and that of the 1st table Sadko, in Rimsky-Korsakov, are written in 11/4!"

In this first opera, composed from 1880 to 1881, the Russian composer innovates by composing "the final hymn to Yarilo the sun in the rhythm at 11/4", of which "the major agreement to the part Superior [...] gives it a solar color, particularly luminous" on a majestic tempo (Allegro maestoso):

20th century

Suite in duet for flute and harp (or violin and piano) by Jean Cras, composed in 1927, ends with a "dance at eleven times" on a very lively tempo:

Features

Notation

Charles Dowd, in an article on the battering of asymmetric composite measures (Rock in odd time signatures), insists that "the desired result in this study is total independence and fluidity with respect to these measures, which Must be considered as a unit rather than a group of two times and three times.

This article proposes the following combinations, where the highlights are marked by an F :