{"id":10213,"date":"2011-07-07T07:00:01","date_gmt":"2011-07-07T07:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.msdn.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/2011\/07\/07\/and-that-cadence-means-its-halftime-concert-goers\/"},"modified":"2011-07-07T07:00:01","modified_gmt":"2011-07-07T07:00:01","slug":"and-that-cadence-means-its-halftime-concert-goers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/20110707-01\/?p=10213","title":{"rendered":"And… that cadence means it's halftime, concert-goers!"},"content":{"rendered":"

In college, one of my classmates (who is now the conductor of an orchestra, so I guess that whole music thing worked out for him) coined the term halftime<\/i> to refer to a resounding cadence in the first half of a piece, the type of cadence that might fool an inattentive or unseasoned listener into thinking that the piece is over, when in fact it’s just getting started. We’re not talking about a false ending, which is comparatively easy to find, but rather a “big finish” when we’re nowhere near the finish.\n Also sprach Zarathustra<\/i> has a big halftime cadence<\/a>, complete with a reprise of the opening fanfare, at the end of Der Genesende<\/i>. This was the piece that inspired the coinage of the term.\n Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini<\/i> has a quiet halftime cadence<\/a> (echoing a big Dies Irae<\/i> just a few seconds earier)<\/a> in variation XX.\n Schubert’s Trout Quintet<\/i> has a halftime cadence in the precise center of the final movement<\/a>. Warning listeners about it doesn’t help<\/a>.\n The first movement of Mahler’s Second Symphony<\/i> has a massive halftime cadence<\/a>. (Super sideburns version<\/a>.) The piece closed Gerard Schwarz’s final concert (for nitpickers: Schwarz’s final regular-season concert as music director of the Seattle Symphony), and when the halftime cadence was reached, I heard scattered applause through the hall. Which told me a few things.<\/p>\n