CORNELL

180 MODERN HARMONYand, indeed, all the composers who may be considered progressivein the best sense.In their music we find phrases of eight, seven, six, five,four, three, two, and one bar, and even fractions of a bar,contrasted, responded, paired off, rhymed, extended, andcurtailed. As an instance of perhaps the extreme point towhich the elasticity of the bar can be carried at present, thefollowing will serve :Ez.389.SCRIABINE, Impromptu,Op.7,N92.This increased refinement of rhythm in musical thoughthas acted and reacted on harmony in many ways, and musicis now eloquent with a gloriously imaged and highlyimpassioned prose, which easily out-distances either of thesister arts of pen or brush in its powers of aspiration.