BAR FORM

The 'Bar form' is an old and important musical form in which each stanza follows the pattern ''aab''. It is named after the medieval German poetic form known as ''Bar'' in German. Such a poem contains three stanzas (or more), and each stanza is in ''aab'' form, composed of two ''Stollen'' followed by an ''Abgesang''. The musical form thus contains two repetitions of one melody (''Stollen'' - 'stanzas') followed by a different melody (''Abgesang'' - 'aftersong'). The ''Abgesang'' may sometimes incorporate portions of the ''Stollen'' phrase.
The minnesingers of the 12th to 14th century in Germany wrote songs in this form, and Lutheran chorales also are typically in Bar form. A good example of barform is the Star-Spangled Banner.

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References

References

★ ''Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music'', entries on Bar form and minnesingers. (ISBN 0-674-37471-1)

★ ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2005), article on Bar form. [1]

★ ''A History of Western Music'' by Donald Grout (ISBN 0-393-09416-2)