A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Measure (of time)

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A Dictionary of Music and Musicians
edited by George Grove

Measure (of time)

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From volume 2 of the work.

1670008A Dictionary of Music and Musicians — Measure (of time)

MEASURE, in relation to music pure and simple, apart from the dance, means the group of beats or main rhythms which are contained between two bar-lines. This is the measure of time, and defines the number of pulsations, such as 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, or other aggregate which is to be taken as the determinate standard or unit by which the multifarious complications of rhythms in an extended piece of music are to be ultimately regulated.

[ C. H. H. P. ]