The 1958 Encyclopédie Fasquelle defines a period as follows:
"A complex phrase, in which the various parts are enchained."
Another definition:
"In traditional music...a group of measures comprising a natural division of the melody; usually regarded as comprising two or more contrasting or complementary phrases and ending with a cadence." (Harvard Dictionary of Music, 1969)
Source
Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1990). Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music (Musicologie générale et sémiologue, 1987). Translated by Carolyn Abbate (1990). BooksEnthsiast.com.
(1969). Harvard Dictionary of Music.
This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by [ ṣlocalurl: : |action=edit}} expanding it].
