A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Pause
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
PAUSE (Ital. Fermata; Fr. Point d'orgue; which last has an equivocal meaning, as it also signifies what we call 'pedal point'). A temporary cessation of the time of the movement, expressed by the sign 
placed over a note or a rest. If the pause is over a note, it signifies that the note is to be prolonged at the pleasure of the performer, or conductor; if over a rest, the sound, as well as the time, must stop. The judicious use of pauses is one of the most striking effects at the command of a composer. Handel often introduces a pause with prodigious effect before the last phrase of a chorus, as in 'Then round about the starry throne,' and many another case. Instances of the effect of the pause may be found in the delay on the last note of each line of the chorales of the German church, which is happily imitated by Mendelssohn in several of the Organ Sonatas, and in other places, where, though no pause actually occurs, and the strict time is kept up, the effect is produced by bringing in the next line of the chorale a bar or more late. Beethoven had a peculiarly effective way of introducing pauses in the first giving out of the principal subject of the movement, and so giving a feeling of suspense, as in the first movement of the Symphony No. 5 in C minor, the beginning of the last movement of the Pianoforte Trio, Op. 70, No. 1, etc. Pauses at the end of a movement, over a rest, or even over a silent bar, are intended to give a short breathing-space before going on to the next movement. They are then exactly the reverse of the direction 'attacca' [for which see vol. i. p. 100b ]. 'Pause' is the title of the last but one of the pieces in Schumann's 'Carneval,' and is an excerpt of 27 bars long from the Préambule to the whole, acting as a sort of prelude to the Marche des Davidsbündler contre les Philistins.' 'Pause' is also the title of a fine song in Schubert's 'Schöne Müllerin.'
placed over a note or a rest. If the pause is over a note, it signifies that the note is to be prolonged at the pleasure of the performer, or conductor; if over a rest, the sound, as well as the time, must stop. The judicious use of pauses is one of the most striking effects at the command of a composer. Handel often introduces a pause with prodigious effect before the last phrase of a chorus, as in 'Then round about the starry throne,' and many another case. Instances of the effect of the pause may be found in the delay on the last note of each line of the chorales of the German church, which is happily imitated by Mendelssohn in several of the Organ Sonatas, and in other places, where, though no pause actually occurs, and the strict time is kept up, the effect is produced by bringing in the next line of the chorale a bar or more late. Beethoven had a peculiarly effective way of introducing pauses in the first giving out of the principal subject of the movement, and so giving a feeling of suspense, as in the first movement of the Symphony No. 5 in C minor, the beginning of the last movement of the Pianoforte Trio, Op. 70, No. 1, etc. Pauses at the end of a movement, over a rest, or even over a silent bar, are intended to give a short breathing-space before going on to the next movement. They are then exactly the reverse of the direction 'attacca' [for which see vol. i. p. 100b ]. 'Pause' is the title of the last but one of the pieces in Schumann's 'Carneval,' and is an excerpt of 27 bars long from the Préambule to the whole, acting as a sort of prelude to the Marche des Davidsbündler contre les Philistins.' 'Pause' is also the title of a fine song in Schubert's 'Schöne Müllerin.'
[ J. A. F. M. ]