nd its announcement at the
end of the first triplet is very brief. For all that, it is an
unmistakable perfect cadence; the chord thus shattered (or "broken,"
technically speaking) is the tonic harmony of the key, and the keynote
_does_ appear as uppermost (and therefore most prominent) tone, in the
same order of percussion as that given to each of the preceding melody
tones.

* * * * * *

At the end of an entire piece of music, or of some larger section of
the piece, the cadence-chord, on the other hand, is often lengthened
considerably, for the sake of the greater weight and decision of
cadential interruption required at that place. Thus:--

[Illustration: Example 33. Fragment of Schubert.]

The last two measures are merely the prolongation of the final
cadence-chord. See also, Mendelssohn, Songs Without Words, No. 4, last
five measures; No. 8, last eight measures; and others.

Another peculiarity of the final cadence is, that sometimes the
_uppermost_ tone is the 3d or 5th of the tonic chord, instead of the
keynote,--a significant device to counteract the dead weight of the
cadence-chord, especially when prolonged as just seen. See No. 10 of
the Songs Without Words, last six measures; it is the tonic chord of B
minor, but the tone _d_ (the 3d) is placed at the top, instead of _b_.
Also No. 16, last chord; No. 38, last chord; No. 6, last three measures
(the 5th of the tonic chord as uppermost tone). At any other point in
the piece this default of the keynote would, as we shall presently see,
almost certainly reduce the weight of the cadence from "perfect" to
"semicadence"; at the very end, however, it cannot mislead, because it
does not affect the condition of actual finality.

SEMICADENCE.--Any deviation from the formula of the perfect
cadence--either in the choice of some other than the tonic chord, or in
the omission of the keynote in either (or both) of the outer
parts--weakens the force of the interruption, and transforms the
cadence into a lighter, more transient, point of repose, for which the
term semicadence (or half-stop) is used. The semicadence indicates
plainly enough the end of its phrase, but does not completely sever it
from that which follows.

It is these lighter, transient forms of cadence to which a number of
different names are given; for the student of analysis (and the
composer, also, for that matter) the one general term "semicadence," or
half-