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Topic: Classical music in odd time signatures? (Read 2271 times)

ranjit

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Posts: 1485

Classical music in odd time signatures?

on: July 13, 2019, 05:03:55 PM

It appears to me that odd time signatures were very uncommon in classical music pre-20th century. What is the earliest piece of classical music you can think of which uses an odd time signature? Is there any Bach in 7/8?

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brogers70

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Posts: 1791

Re: Classical music in odd time signatures?

Reply #1 on: July 13, 2019, 10:51:06 PM

Well, all I can do is look online, and I find, for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintuple_meter#Medieval_and_Renaissance which lists a few pieces that use quintuple meter in the Renaissance, as well as a few in the Baroque, including a passage in 5/8 from Handel's opera "Orlando".