ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how rhythm and meter functions in notated meter, the slower-moving pulse layers. A hypermeter is a sounding meter in which the grouping of the tactus spans more music than the grouping of beats indicated by the notated time signature and bar lines. Regardless of which interpretation one chooses, phrases and subphrases begin on beat 4 of the hypermeter throughout the passage. Multiple interpretations of the theme’s hypermetrical structure exist as well. Thus, the hypermeter and the phrase rhythm throughout are offset by one bar. An elision is when the end of one melodic group and the beginning of the next share one or more notes. Phrase rhythm is directly related to hypermeter because phrases and their component parts are melodic groupings, and the accents formed by these melodic groupings are often significant in articulating the different pulse layers of a given hypermeter.
