Accent

According to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians:

Accent is "The prominence given to a note or notes in performance by a perceptible
alteration...any quality that distinguishes notes from their predecessors and successors
can produce...accent."
Four types of accent are frequently discussed by musicians.
Metric Accent occurs as the result of a note's position within a measure. If a note occurs on a strong beat,
or on a strong portion of a beat, it bears a metric accent relative to notes in lesser metric positions.
In example 1, the otherwise undifferentiated rhythm is shaped by metric accent as shown. Note that there
are different layers or degrees of metric accent here: (a) The first beat of each measure is more strongly
accented than the second; (b) Notes on the beat are more strongly accented than notes off the beat; (c) The
first and third eighth notes of each half-note beat is more strongly accented than the second or fourth. And
so on.

The harmonic rhythm of a passage will usually follow its pattern of metric accent--i.e. the harmony will
change on strong beats. Study the left-hand chords in Chopin’s Prelude in E minor; you’ll notice that
when this is not the case, the result is cross-accentuation (see below).
Accent (p. 2)

Agogic Accent occurs when a note is longer than any of the others within a given rhythmic unit. In
example 2, the first note of each measure bears an agogic accent, shown with a boxed (>).

Tonic accent (sometimes called pitch accent) occurs when a note is higher or lower than the notes
around it. In example 3a, note how the otherwise rhythmically undifferentiated line gains a tonic accent
at its high point; in 3b, note the use of a trill to underscore the tonic accent on the second beat of the
measure; this beat is both tonically and agogically accented. (Subtle question: how are the first beats of
mm. 4 and 5 of this example accented?) Clearly melodic contour can cause accent.

Dynamic accent results from an increase in loudness. In example 4, note the dynamic accent on the
second beat of each measure in the first violin's part, reinforced by a tonic accent in the form of a grace
note. The entrance of the lower instruments on the second beat of each measure provide a more subtle
form of dynamic accent as well.
Accent (p. 3)

Other types of accent. You can probably think of several other kinds of musical emphasis that create
accent.
•Chromaticism in a diatonic context.
•Skips or leaps to a note.
•Changes of scoring, doubling, etc.
•Similar motion to a perfect consonance (hence the well-known prohibitions on parallel 8ves and 5ths).
The music theorist Mathis Lussy (b. 1828) discussed three types of musical accent:
•Accent métrique: Notated downbeats, and by extension all metric accent.
•Accent rhythmique: The first and last notes of a “rhythmic group,” by which Lussy meant a distinct
motive, idea, or phrase.
•Accent pathétique: Any unexpected event that breaks an established pattern or norm, “tonal, modal,
metric, and rhythmic irregularities,” as Lussy put it.
The notion of some kinds of accent as the product of deviation from what is expected is Lussy’s most
provocative contribution. (Compare the definition from New Grove at the start of this article.)

Accentual counterpoint, or cross-accentuation, occurs when two or more kinds of accent are placed in
systematic conflict. There are several examples of this in the pieces excerpted in examples 1-4 above.
Study cadences to see how cross-accentuation, and its resolution, can underscore important harmonic and
melodic arrivals. A good example is hemiola (cross-accentual groupings of 3 against 2, or 2 against 3):