Musical metaphors of time

Abstract

Musical discourse is conditioned in the first place by its temporal articulation which depends on the composition type to which it may be assigned. For a composer, the temporal challenge is the most important: how to manage the temporal data of the work of art he creates. In this paper, we attempt to render some temporal archetypes that can be spotted in several periods, musical styles, works, and composition profiles. We approach works that belong to religious and lay music, instrumental and vocal music, baroque, classical, romantic, and modern music.