Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In music, pertaining to or emphasizing slight variations in rhythm for the sake of dynamic expression: as, agogic accent.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun music an accent that accentuates a note by extending it slightly beyond its normal time value

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek ἀγωγός (agōgos, "leader").

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Examples

  • With Chopin, new dynamic and agogic accents are rather dangerous, at least to the peace of mind of worshippers of the Chopin fetish.

    Chopin : the Man and His Music James Huneker 1890

  • He does not use it at the repetition, but throughout both dynamic and agogic accents are unsparingly used, and the study seems to resound with the sullen booming of a park of artillery.

    Chopin : the Man and His Music James Huneker 1890

  • Schumann's ritardandi and agogic accents -- he employs twelve hemiolas or metric shifts in No. 5 -- makes her performance a keeper, especially given the lucidity of her piano tone, courtesy of engineer Ludger Boeckenhoff, and the SACD's clarity.

    Audiophile Audition Headlines 2010

  • The sheer volume of Schuricht's temperament -- the agogic tugs and stretches -- makes this Beethoven a force with which to reckon.

    Audiophile Audition Headlines 2009

Comments

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  • Obsolete: of or about the making of wax models

    July 9, 2008

  • Agogic accents in music are those created by the properties of the melody, as opposed to the rhythm or an artificial accent marking.

    September 8, 2008