Historical Hypermetrical Hearing

Abstract

This paper proposes a cyclic model to represent how hypermeter in the minuet was perceived by the typical late eighteenth-century listener: a first-time listener intimately familiar with the local style. The listener seeks to match the music to a quadruple hypermetrical cycle whenever possible. Disruptions to the cycle includeinterruption, where a cyclic hyperdownbeat arrives unexpectedly early;deferral, where an expected cyclic hyperdownbeat is delayed; and irregular hypermetrical schemas. The fluctuation between easy hypermetrical regularity and tense disruption animates the music for the listener.