Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
This dissertation was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document.
While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this
document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quaiity of
the original submitted.
1. The sign or "target" for pages apparently lacking from the document
photographed is "Missing Page(s)". If it was possible to obtain the
missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with
adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting thru an image and
duplicating adjacent pages to insure you complete continuity.
3. When a map, drawing or chart, etc., was part of the material being
photographed the photographer followed a definite method in
"sectioning" the material. It is customary to begin photoing at the
upper left hand corner of a large sheet and to continue photoing from
left to right in equal sections with a small overlap. If necessary,
sectioning is continued again — beginning below the first row and
continuing on until complete.
University Microfilms
300 North Zeeb Road
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
I
| ARLIN, Mary Irene, 1939- , „
I ESQUISSE DE L'HISTORIE DE L'HARMONIE, CONSIDEREE
| COMME ART ET COMMS SCIENCE SYST^MATIQUE OF
i‘ FRANCOIS-JOSEPH FETIS: AN ANNOTATED TRANSLATION.
!■ 5
• Indiana University, Ph.D., 1972
i Music
© Copyright by
1972
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
ESQPISSE IE L'HISTORIE BE L'HARMONIE. CONSII8SRBE COMME ART ET
AN ANNOTATED TRANSLATION
BY
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Accepted by the faculty of the Graduate School, Indiana University,
Fhilosophy*
rector of Thesis
Ttus
iZtotk s!4
T u J .
kLk
A Odd.(£*■— -
ii
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
PLEASE NOTE:
S om e pages m a y have
indistinct print.
F i l me d as received.
U n i v e r s i t y M i c r o f i l m s , A X e r o x E d u ca t io n C o m pa n y
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
have helped complete this work, to those who have encouraged as well as
High School, Utica, New York, my deepest thanks for her generous
College for helping me procure research material) to Dr. Albert van der
certainly not least, to my mother, who read and corrected the first
assurances, and encouragement this work would not have been possible.
iii
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
tables o f contests
Page
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . » r , 1
Foreword 22
Chapter I. The Creation of a Harmonic System « • 25
Chapter II, The Results of the Creation of a Harmonic System , * 103
Chapter III, The Nineteenth Century* The Development of the
Art. A Complete and Definitive Formation of the Theory of
Harmony . . . . . . . 181
BIBLIOGEtAPHY 231
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
iv
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
INTRODUCTION
of the most lucid musicologists of his time" and "one of the first to
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
2
lation is hased upon the need to provide access to his ideas on the
of contemporary scholarship.
Biographical Sketch
was the son of a musician, Antoine, who was the organist at Saint-Wandru,
and organ from his father. In the Blographie universelle Fetis wrote,
"The first instrument which was put into his hands was the violinf at age
seven he wrote some duos for this instrument, and began to study the
piano, Yet even Fetis was forced to admit that he was not a child
Rather, "what engrossed me then was the desire, to be more exact, the
2
need to compose."
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
While young Fetis had had no formal training in harmony or compo
sition prior to writing some piano concertos and sonatas, a Staaai for
two choirs and orchestras, and some string music, he had studied and
Mozart.^- Fetis was particularly struck with the works of Haydn and
Hozart, because in them he found " . . . the secrets of a new and lively
2
harmony, of which he had no idea at all previously." He imitated these
his piano study with Boieldieu and Louis Pradherj he studied harmony with
the history and theory of music| he read and compared Catel's Traite
Catholic Church and the preparation of a text which was more in keeping
30 years.
able fortune, and in 1807 Fetis won the second prize (later called the
^Wangermee, p. 12.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Brlx de Rome) in composition* Fetis believed that easy circumstances
would permit him to devote his time to composition, but in 1311 pecuniary
of the principles of the theory of music, and for the analysis of the facts
Baris in 1818 where his stage-works, mostly comic operas, met with more
contrepolnt et de la fugue,
music in France motivated him to fill the void, and from February 1827
opera, and each article appeared in either the Revue muslcale, Le Temps,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
1
or National the morning after the performance. The publication of
Revue musicals and daily newspaper articles helped to make Fetis renowned,
on 26 March 1871, Fetis held dictatorial authority over the musical life
research and study. In the Preface to the Tralte d'harmonie (p. ix),
Fetis states that he read and studied mere than 800 works dealing with
harmony before attempting to write his own. When he died he was writing
(Baris1 Didot, 1869-76)j only five volumes of the projected eight had
3lbld.. 131.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
the time of his death and housed in the Bibliotheaue royale de Bruxelles,
Theoretical Concepts
theory, and the Traite d*harmonie (1844), the twelfth edition of which
d*harmonie, Fetis contends that the efforts of all theorists who have
melodic and harmonic successions. This is the first use of the term
of tones in major and minor, the distances which separate the tones, and
the resultant melodic and harmonic affinities (p. 2). But, as Hindemith
has said*
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
7
major and minor scales was in vain, because scales are a posterior fact,
first note of the scale, the "tonic,1* is the fundamental note not
which it has been culled. Hence, one wastes time analyzing and dissecting
scales and is not the result of the emergence of major and minor scales.
Scales are not the arbiter of tonality, but the converse, Furthe? ore,
tone— tonic.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
8
axe four kinds of consonances: (l) the perfect consonances* the perfect
fifth and perfect octaves* which create the feeling of repose| (2) the
imperfect consonances, the thirds and sixths, which do not give a feeling
of repose; (3) the "mixed" consonance, the perfect fourth, which lacks
finality, is not variable in the major and minor modes# and does not
limited; and (4) the "appellative" consonances, the augmented fourth and
The two remaining intervals, the seconds and sevenths, are classified as
dissonances because they " . . . are not pleasing by themselves and only
nance created between the fourth and fifth degree of the scale is called
on the scale (p. 18). This seventh and its inversion does not have to be
to explain the "laws of tonality," laws which sure rooted in the meta
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
9
what renders the quality of repose to any scale degree! he merely lists
the degrees which possess repose* The tonic scale degree is the only one
which has the character of absolute reposey the fourth and fifth degrees,
Neither the triads nor the interval of a third on the fourth and fifth
degree may succeed each other because, ", . . having no point of contact
between them, £they] present the aspect of tonal absurdity to the musical
sense" (p. 17). This juxtaposition of thirds on the fourth and fifth
the scale, why exclude the juxtaposition of two of the diatonic intervals
dissonance and to the two notes which, because they separate two tetra-
" . . . the note of this sixth is at the same time the fifth of the domi
nant, and that establishes the contact" (p» 17). If Fetis* objection is
to avoid the parallel fifths which could result from the succession of IV
"we ought to avoid two major thirds by conjunct motion"— a rule which de
offered by Fetis*
may not have root position triads built on them because the interval of
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
10
on the one hand, that the law of tonality resides in the order of the
that the interval of the perfect fifth is the interval of repose* Fetis
never reveals hew the interval of the perfect fifth gains ascendancy as
the primary structural unit. The reasoning which Fetis uses for exclud
ing the perfect fifth on the third degree of the scalecould also he
"appellative” :
note which is not sounding? Is Fetis implying that the triad on the
perfect fifth, because the sixth degree is also the tonic of the relative
minor, and in the minor mode the sixth scale degree is also the fourth
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
11
to an; of the remaining scale degrees. For example, the third scale
the second scale degree in major is the fourth scale degree in the rela
Fetis says,
V/i,iJij i
First of all, the interval of a perfect fifth on the second degree
of the scale no more "effects a vague change of tonality" than any other
indicates:
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
12
For Fetis, the only intervals which can give the second degree of
the scale *tonal character" are the sixth and third or sixth and fourth.
Fetis appears to he stating, in his own inimitable way, that the notes of
tonal repose are those notes which can be the roots of cadence chords,
chords which normally occur in root position, hence, the perfect fifth.
This 1b probably why, in the face of two choices, (l) accepting the
melodic cadence pitches will reveal that any note of the scale may be a
cadence note, although some notes are more common than others.
of the second degree of the scale becomes one of the main theses in
to be one of the basic flaws of every harmonic theory until his own.*'
*For Fetis, the seventh chord on the second degree of the scale
originates from "modification" by substitution and prolongation of the
dominant seventh.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
13
chord, that which contains a third and perfect fifth and occurs on the
tonic, fourth, dominant, and sixth scale degrees. This consonant chord
and of conclusion” (p. 23). Root position triads can occur on scale
degrees other than the tonic, fourth, dominant, and sixth only in a non
and regains it only at the final cadence, where normal order is restored"
(p. 26). Otherwise, the second, third, and seventh scale degrees may
have only first or second inversion chords, depending upon the harmonic
circumstances,
the dominant seventh chord used in conjunction with the tonic chord
All the other chords, "artificial chords," are the result of pro
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
14
chord, aside from the perfect chord and the dominant seventh chords is
of the art and the science" (p, 6l). Every non-dominant seventh chord is
composer for that matter, who has placed seventh chords on every degree
(p. 66)r
sonant triads* modulation from one scale to another was impossible because
the church modes did not have a tritone between the fourth and seventh
degrees of the scale to define tonic, and "this lack of tonal determina
tion Is precisely the cause for the absense of modulation" (p. 155) •
This period of tonality existed until the end of the sixteenth century
elements at their disposal, have been unable to escape from the rigorous
Contrary to what Fetis asserts, the composers did "escape from the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
15
ficta. This trend, which hegan with Willaert (c, 1490-1562), reached its
was effected, not through the tritone, hut through common chords and
means root position triads, are the preferred structure, although, because
century was definitely not unitonlque, but, on the other hand, it was not
relationship of the fourth degree with the leading tone defined tonic and
than can be verified! the dominant seventh chord did not emerge as a
century, and modulation was effected through a common chord and not by
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
16
succession must be coupled with, for example, longer note values, metric
Fetis explores for the first time the concept of common tone
because ", « , musical sense compensates for this implied harmony at the
called ordre pluritonique. and Fetis contends that Mozart was the first
in the diminished seventh chord, the German and the Italian augmented
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Regardless of its "origin*” the above defies empirical verifi
The ordre omnltonique has no other goal than the destruction of tonal
compatible with his, and he castigates those whose ideas run counter to
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
18
the facts, errors, and truths of harmony so that future theorists would
not have to ascertain them and could avoid perpetuating the "errors,"
major harmonic systems until 1840) herein lies its value. In a letter
(19 April 184-1) to Cousssmaker, Fetis said* "For its object this
[Esquisse] is a new work, and its material is one of the most important
in his own harmonic theories because* while "Rameau, Sorge, Sehroter, and
Some changes in the text have been made, however. Fetis* spelling
changed from French into the original language or the more usual Latin
■*-Ses p. 217.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
19
All musical examples cited by Fetis have been verified and any
have been checked for accuracy, and where phrases or words have been
author, or pages of the quotation were omitted, these have been included
in brackets also. All brackets and ellipsis are those of the translator
and annotator. Since FStls does not indicate when he has italicized
italics)— has been added at the close of the quotation by the translator
and annotator;
between Fetis* footnotes and those of the translator and annotate^ all
have been left in the original language. The names of the scale degrees
have not been changed into their present equivalents because Fetis states
explicitly in the Traitd d*harmonle that the degrees of the scale are
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
20
the Tralte d'harmonie (p, 6) that only major and minor intervals become
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
ESQUISSE BE L'HISTORIE BE L'HARMONIE CONSIBEHEE
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
22
FOREWORD
Germany and even in France, where the literature of this art was less
facts whose vagueness has not yet "been dissipated because the documents
which could raise our doubts have not come to us, have been silent on
harmony.
in its history, so much more remarkable since the means and end change at
not seem to have such great importance. Thus, through a simple aggrega
tion of sounds (one is astonished not to see them introduced into the
art before the end of the sixteenth century) one suddenly sees music lose
its calm and religious character, acquire the expressive accent which
portrayal of passions, give birth to opera, which would not have been
diversity of its elements and the tenuousness of the bonds which bind
them together, presents, perhaps, more difficulties than any other for
than the history of the constant and almost always barren efforts of a
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
23
dictory that some have sought for its principle in the harmony of the
the division of the monochord, in the physical makeup of man, and, finally,
in Isolated and empirical facts whose influence has been the greatest
the midst of multiple errors there appear, from time to time, a few
I believe that the time has come when history ought to set down
all the facts, errors, truths! to analyze them, search for their origin,
and ascertain the actual state of the art and the science in order to
rists the useless efforts of redoing what has already been done, and to
avoid the pitfalls already pointed out by the failures. The volume which
I am offering today to a few friends of the science and the art is not
this history in all its developments! just as the title indicates, this
is only the outline of it. It has occurred to me that such a great work
could not be released to the public before its attention had been
am only bringing them together in this volume, which is not designated for
The Author
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
2k
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
25
CHAPTER I
from the barbaric system of diaphony, i.e., the long successions of fifths
or fourths and octaves, the first elements of harmony present only very
These initial attempts were only in two voices. We see some of the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
26
states that there already was three-voice counterpoint at this time. But
since he does not furnish an example, and since he does not talk about
the uniting of two intervals, there is reason to believe that the third
concordances and discordances. The concords are divided into three kinds,
namely, (l) the perfect concords which are the unison and the octavej
(2) the imperfect concords or the major and minor thirdsf and (3 ) the
(ditonus cum diapente), and the minor seventh (semiditonus cum diapente),
the imperfect dissonances are the major sixth (tonus cum diapente),
It would take too long to examine the principle which led Franco,
evident that these principles were arbitrary and false, because the tone,
-*-*The fourth and fifth are intermediary concords— they fall half
way between the perfect and the imperfect concords in aural perception.
According to Franco " . . . they produce a concord better than the imperfect,
yet not better than perfect." (Couss,, Script., I, 129.)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
27
"but a sense of concord to the ear and do not imply a necessity for reso
lution, With respect to the perfect fourth* ranked here with the conso
nances, we will see in another place that it has given rise to some lively
controversies,
harmony or discant of his timej he only says that this harmony could
begin with a unison, octave, fifth, fourth, major or minor third. Here
beginning with a fourth, I have corrected the mistakes of the poor copy
5
£
5
•3~»
W
3-
m ■O
advancement about the middle of the thirteenth century. Here are some
rules to which I am adding the examples that are lacking in the manu
script *
1♦
The volume number is undoubtedly a typographical error. It
should read Vol. Ill,
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
28
■^Se 11 chans monte III notes, ut* fa, nous devons prendre la
witisme note* et nous tenir au point.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
29
Although these rules and the ones which follow3* for the accompa
niment of the various movements of the chant appear to have heen made for
or chant sur la llvre, and which the Italians have since then named
harmony, but solely of two intervals, i.e., the fifth and the octave.
the theory of the art, even in this remote time— a strange anomaly in a
time when many imperfect movements were being admitted into the practice.
In the same manuscript where there are some rules so consistent with
those of a more perfect art, we find some examples where the sequence of
fifths and fourths are numerous even in two parts, but where favorable
harmony. In the three-voice examples,1 the fifths and octaves are used
as actual harmony.
Revue muslcale (1827) (as well as several other pieces from the
3*An English translation of all the rules for dechant can be found
in Hugo Rieraann, History of Music Theory, Books I and II, trans, Raymond
Haggh (Lincolni University of Nebraska Press, 1962), pp. 8I-83.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
30
third and fifth, and even of third and sixth, permit; us to see percep
and does not expound enough on the objective of our actual researchj
Franco, with respect to concords and discords, was still in force two
centuries after him.^* Thus Marehettus says (in the second chapter of
the sixth treatise) that the fourth is not only a consonance, but a
because Its parts are, with respect tc music, those which are in other
respects the four seasons of the year, the four evils of the world, the
four elements, the four gospels, etc. He must admit that these are
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
31
strange reasons for making a divine consonance out of the worst interval
better to the octave than to the fifth, and answers in the affirmative.
some chromatic successions, so much the more strange and remarkable for
the time when Marehettus was writing, because his works have plainsong,
where similar successions would be meaningless, for its goal. Here are
f :- f - = f frj*--
ij f
8 $6 8 5 #6 8 8 #6 5
r „ r ; f - ^ d = ^ = « = ^ = f -
significance in his time and only had application nearly 300 years
later, because they did not meet any need in the tonality of plainchant.
The only one of these things which are found in practice at the close of
1 JkL ^
In each of these examples Fetis erroneously transcribed the
treble voice an octave higher them the manuscript indicatesf thus each
of the harmonic intervals should be simple rather than compound.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
32
the thirteenth century is the major sixth accompanied by the third and
-o-
r
m
having been passed on from the library of the Abbot of Tersan into that
sixth with the major third which resolves down. Here is this passages
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
33
is classified amongst the consonances and the major and minor sixth
that harmony made progress very slowly in four hundred years— to the
end of the thirteenth century— because we must not forget that some
(1) Harmony of the third and fifth and of the third and sixth
are known and employed* this latter is, as a matter of fact, considered
not prepared and resolves down when it ismajor with the minor third,
fourths, and octaves have become more rare and are interspersed with
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
34
and which is expected to prevail in the end over the imperfections of the
century, where we shall see the art resplendent with new elements.
of this piece of music with which its author was in advance of his
time, either with respect to the melody or the good taste of the
ornaments and the art of harmonizing them) but I will point out as
(See Examples a and b Qp« 351*) For the first time I also notice in
•*-*Fetis gives the dates 1314-1321 In the Revue musicale (p. 269)
and 1316-1321 In the Blographle unlverselle (V, 2 8 2 ) for this three-
voice rondeau. The above date (1327) is undoubtedly a misprint. In spite
of this apparent contradiction, Fetis erred: Jehannot l*Escurel was
executed in Paris in 1303* (Reese, MMA, p. 333») Gilbert Heaney
asserts that if 1303 is considered to be the death year, and ca, 1310-
1316 the origin of the Roman de Fauvelff then the secular songs of
l’Escurel were written ca. 1300, ("Jehannot de L’Escurel," MGG, VIII,
666.)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
35
as pure as the most proper composer could make them today* (See
\1*
Example c,)
b.
i i
6 3
A
A,
m m
L_3— '
Example b).
‘’In order to let no one doubt the age of these chansons, it will
suffice to say that they were written in black notation; now, examples of
this notation were rare after the first years of the fifteenth century.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
36
a. b.
rf-tr-l— 1— ^ I I T —f 1 — | i J■ A.
j -- CJ M. iff-
Ji
¥1 ~ ^
-*-i— i "1 -e-2— —
5 3 TIT . T .
i^ F r F r
65
“fr.
65 6 A 3
.,
--------------
h t t r r j n
some examples of the same kind (See Examples a and b), but which also
of a ninth (see Example c). This latter fault has bssn made sometimes
-----r ----
f c l
3 4 3 6 5 3 3F
6 7 6 5 5 I I 1 8 7 6 5 5 b
,«L _ ©-----
J - i 8— *— j L
-*a
N
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
37
centuryr a-&<l which from that time became a mannerism amongst the musicians,
suspensions, tfe can see any number of examples at this time, Francesco
Landini, the celebrated composer and organist from Florence about the
I published the first part in score in the first volume of the Revue
Hn
hs=£=
■—C—
*■ r
I jj
-i-=—
~r 0
mr
if*
—
c
«•--"
tenor, but not with the intermediary Cupper] part. Similar anticipations
became more rare when, the theory of harmony was grounded on a more solid
-*-*This canzonette, “Non arra ma* pieta," was published on pp* 111-
113 of Fetis1 article "Decouverte de plusieurs Manuscripts interessans
pour l’histoire de la musique"} measures 2-4 are illustrated, A compari
son of this Revue musicale copy with the above reveals two misprints:
(l) a* between ms, 1 and 2 in the upper voice should be tied} (2) g* in
the upper voice on the last half of the third beat in ms, 2 should be an
e*, Thu^ rather than an unstylistic anticipation at the cadence, there
is the more characteristic 7-6-1 or "under-third" cadence.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
38
from this example would cause one to form an absolutely false opinion
about the state of the art in the middle of the fourteenth century.^* In
all of the manuscripts from the middle ages where there is some music, the
this period so frequently confused even the composers that they made many
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
39
the state of the art in the period of each of these pieces as of early
number of mistakes than the one where Landini's chanson is found) some
one part have been placed in another, and we see there the use of
dissonances which were never accepted in the music of the middle ages.
This is what the transcriber did not understand at all) he has given a
over the other musicians of his time could never be doubted, and appears
didactics of the art of the period in which he wrote, i?e.r about 1360,
intervals, their use and movement within harmony. The Abbot Gerbert has
musica, II, 306),•*■* There we see that the fourth has disappeared from the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
40
the major third, minor third, and major sixth* We do not know why the
minor sixth was not included in this category* it seems that all of the
masters were in some accord on this part of the teaching, because the
he, we see that the ideas as regards the major sixth were rectified and
that this interval has taken its natural place among the consonances*
sition for the first time* two perfect consonances created by similar
descendendo, prout possumus, evitare. Here the theory was still more
of this period that have come down to us, we still find some examples of
two unisons, two octaves or two consecutive fifths, although these faults
have become more rare. In this connection, Landlnl wrote many more than
his contemporaries.
for the first time, these rules which are still in force today*
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
41
(l) that all counterpoint ought to begin and end on a perfect consonance
("Sciendum est etlam, quod discantus debet habere principium et finem per
ehumerized heres
fourth and fifth, seventh and third, and even ninth and third, are inter
practice »
century. But here a single exception to the rule that forbids the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
42
expresses the exception in this wayi "Item possumus ponere • < > duas
quintas cum octava et tertia* et duas octavas cum quinta et tei*tia per
tion of Charles V, King of France* in 1364* The error was not long in
refinement. The first, particularly, who was one of the singers of the
It is not without reason that tht. writers of the fifteenth century have
can give an exact idea of his merit. There we find the first well-done
imitations and even some two-voice canons which we consider as the first
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
43
T* 2*
attempts of artificial counterpoint. The fullness of its harmony
and the natural stride and melodiousness of the parts are very remarkable.
We can judge this by the opening of the "Eyrie" from his four-part Hass
1*
While the canon is not employed extensively as a structural
element in sacred music until after Dufay, canons and imitations are
found in Italian treeentc music. Landings "Del dinmi tu" I (153), a-
three-part madrigal, has a canon at the fifth between the two lower
voices in the first section and a three-part canon at the fourth in the
ritornello. In the three-voice caccia "Chosi pensoso" 2 (154)# the two
upper voices are in canon at the unison, (Schrade, Polyphonic Music of
the Fourteenth Century, IV, 216-220.) For a concise history of the
development of the canon in western music see Imogens Horsley, Fugue:
History and Practice (New York: The Free Press, 1966), pp. 6-37.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
44
tonality, we would not know how to write consonant harmony any better.
the third measure j this is what we call la note changes, because f takes
the place of e which would have been the consonant note. This harmonic
proof and which we find in some pieces of the same composer in a manu
"Kyrle" from 1*Homme armg Mass of this composer. The most flagrant
dissonances which not only was not in use a long time before Dufay, but
which has never even existed, and the false relationships there are
1*
Only one work in this manuscript is ascribed to Dufayi "Du
tout m'estoit abandonnee"! "Signeur Leon" has only been attributed to
Dufay, See the unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (Indiana University, 1959)
"Art Edition of the Pixerecourt Manuscript! Paris, Bibliothfcque Nationals,
Fonds Fre 15123," Vol. 1 by Edward Joseph Pease, and Dragon Flamenac,
"An Unknown Composition by Dufay?", M.Q., XL (1954), 190-200.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
k5
strange error of the transcriber who has written this piece in the first
tone transposed from plainsong, whereas the chanson from l'Homne arml is
in the fifth tone, just as the composition of this chant and the Masses
theme prove f thus all the minor harmony of the transcription should be
major, I only make this observation in order to show what false ideas
tions made from faulty copies by musicians who do not possess all the
was composed in the period of Dufay and merits the name art j nevertheless,
a few inaccuracies still appear every now and then in the works of this
chords of the fifth and third, and of thethird and sixthj we have seen
the chord successions become regular, theunison more rare, and the origin
Finally, we have seen the direct succession of fifths and octaves dis
then introduced into the art: they did not know how to make the voices
respect the compositions which belong to the second half of the fifteenth
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
46
the chords and the regularity of their succession,, Here are Some of them*
*7\
5 i flj
*
=
s
$
&
/?*
xzm m
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
47
the desire for complete harmony must have been active at the time when
this excerpt was written (14-76)* since the tenor is divided into two
by a chorus) in order to have the perfect chord of the third* fifth and
octave* lastly the 4-3 suspension is used with a great deal of elegance,1*
Chapter V of his Liber de arte contrapuncti (see Ex. l),^* and of the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
U8
fourth and seventh in the same book. Chapter X (see Ex. 2), This last
1.
prolongation is complete, with the exception of the fourth and the sixth
which did not appear at all as consonant harmony in the works of the
in the chords of the third and fifth, third and sixth, third and octavef
and in four voices, third, fifth, and octave. This harmony is modified
by delaying the thirdl by suspending the fourth into the chord of the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
H9
third and fifth to produce the fourth and fifth (Ex* l)j by delaying the
octave in the chord of the third and octave or the thirdr fifth and octave
to produce the ninth and third, or ninth, third and fifth (see Ex* 2}t by
delaying the sixth in the chord of the third and sixth to produce the
third and seventh (see Ex* 3)I by delaying the lowest note of this sane
chord to produce the second and fifth (see Ex. 4)j by delaying both the
produce the ninth and fourth, or ninth, fourth, and fifth (see Ex* 5) I
finally, by delaying the third and the sixth in the consonant harmony
composed of these intervals to produce the fourth and seventh (Ex, 6),
1 Z. 3
— 0-- f P- — «--- -f— p— ~ fi_____ .
9 = V
— H----
JL*— a----- -9o--- -
V - *-- 0
—
5 9 a 6 9 8 7 6
4 3 — a---- -j’s..™,.."—
At
. J.- o— — e—
H
K. c 6.
f c ~ = =
■=s-l
— .p ,.p:.q
-1-----
Ft 4 ^ — H-:
--
9 =
r= n
F = =t=j=?
— •---- — O--- o A . V
.a..:.«_ 4 j --itp|
— ©— - ' a —
9 — *— 5 9 8 8 7 6
JL 4- 3 6 4- 3
4 3
:— = = .s
H &- T — - “*r- — ar-“ — E---- -
y. -A —
\
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
50
the composers in the second half of the fifteenth centuryj until the
end of the sixteenth century no others were known, because the tonality
of plainchant, the basis for all music until this time, was not able
unltonlque. i.e., does not modulate, in effect does not contain the
elements of any harmony other than the consonant chords and some
ideas richer in variety. This was what led them to the discovery
earliest traces of these quests can be noticed towards the end of the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
51
quality which was superior to all the other musicians of his timer Xt
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
52
1^ 1*-— — fr~f"—
p p - r r
i r Ui..::: T ~ T T T J 1 i
1 .....4 4 -- 1------ 0 0 u --
9 — «--------------*— ----- ^ r r n =
l jf f~- - "■“T T i f i ± z t { r
-n
1
T. - if
j j —, *
P — »
1
— =- - r
1
4 - i- b1— 1
Ai-f- p- -J-
f- f ■■■?. : .
-JL.-
4 -. w
- - .J.j
«L_^._ -fri- r
- r ■
— I- - -
t. **i t=y=-:.'-
-1
J
truly deserved the admiration which he inspired not only in his students*
hut in all the musicians of Europe. I still find myself compelled to do,
at this point, a critique of the errors which are the pitfalls of music
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
53
art in past times. The piece of which I have just stated the beginning
voice fugue (canon) at the fourth above, after a complete measure. Despite
of Music (Vol. II, p. )?1* He reverses the order of the voices in such
a way that the canon is at the fifth below, and that wherever there ought
y jri, i
k i = = = = b u d
w i y f f ~T f I "p J
--=
-- c-- i " p - p - r- ~
1™ f--!~
f f . ■- -1
W 'T 1 ■_a___| __
^4
■*-*Vol. 1, p. 729 in the Dover reprint (1957) edited by Frank
Mercer.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
5^
18013 (Pr 530)^* and hy Mr, Kiesewetter in his memoire laureating Dutch
any genre, the musicians regarded these adjuncts of the art as the
principal object, applied all their faculties and, with some very few
exceptions where more bold and original trends appeared, all the music,
sixteenth century, namely, for nearly one hundred and eighty years*
In this long period of time, melody made little progress, because the
themes of popular songs served as the foundation for madrigals and for
all mundane music, and the singing of hymns and antiphons, or even that
name sine nomine, appeared in immense quantity in the works which remain
•*- Fetis apparently did not read Forkel*s explanation for the
inclusion of Burney*s transcription, Forkel points out (pp, 529-530) that
Burney avoided the fault of Wilphlingseder and Hawkins by correctly tran
scribing the canon in tempus perfeetum. But Forkel continues1 "On the
other hand, Burney side-stepped another of Ockeghemrs instructions,
according to which the three voices should follow each other at the fourth
above (Epidiatessaron). and wrote it at the fifth below, but however in
the Epldlapente instead of the Epidiatessaron under the canon. If there
fore this canon is to be solved complete according to the instruction of
the composer, the upper voice should be changed into the lower, and the
lower into the upper." (p, 533»)
2*The use of a secular cantus firmus rather than a Gregorian melody
was one of the characteristics of Burgundian polyphony. A sine nomine Hass
denoted a composed, as opposed to borrowed, melody serving as the cantus
firmus.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
55
4magiTin that their composers attached little value to this aspect of the
art.
in the space of 140 years, the chordal combinations remained nearly the
time when Dufay lived. However; in the second half of the fifteenth
century two men of keen intellect and profound erudition came along to
Belgian priest who was choir master for Ferdinand d*Aragon, King of
Sicily and Naples (prior to 14-75)» and who dedicated his books to this
Princes All Of the musical science of this era is contained in his works.
T#
The Art of Counterpoint. that is to say, the art of writing, is particu
larly well set forth by Tinctoris in the rules concerning the succession
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
56
must not search for the reasons for the chords taken individually, nor
The views of musicians were not at all directed towards such considera
tions, and they did not understand, moreover, the necessity for
systematic classification,
have been printed and several editions have been made of them, while those
of Tinctoris have remained in manuscript and copies of them are very rare,
Gafurius has given the rules for the art of writing harmony also in his
treatise Practlca muslcae £Milan, 1496]f but we find in this work only,
or four tones,**
great musician whose works ought to be considered the code of the art at
this time, has nothing which could give us the idea of a synoptic science
enlightenment for Rameau 160 years hence, and which lead him to the
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
57
remarkable that the inversion at the octave, the results of which are
all consistent with tonality, did not stand cat in the minds of musicians,
and that double counterpoint at the tenth and at the twelfth, much less
the celebrated writer are the only ones which ws know of in this era, and
of which not a single one is found in all of those of the masters of the
Roman School which have reached us prior to the end of the sixteenth
century.
been fixed, and that this was a sort of foreboding of the impossibility
of introducing any new varieties, thus throwing the musicians into the
The direction taken by all the artists during this long interval of more
than 150 years attracted them so much that not only were they not at all
Interested in the need to vary the forms of the chords, but also that
music that they did not even condescend to invert any; and that the most
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
58
significance of the words that they no longer respected either the mean
ing or the prosody* The extravagance of the musicians even went so far
that in churchr while one part of the choir chanted "Credo" or "Miserere*"
the other musicians said the words of the secular chanson which supplied
the theme of the Mass or Psalm, e.g., "Baisez-moi, mon coeur" or else
priety, such a degradation of the art is one of the most remarkable facts
of its history. Taste, simple and true sentiment do not have strong
atrocious errors that this same art is beholden for the immense mechanical
progress which it made then with regard to the purity of the harmonic
progressions, the elegance of the movement of the parts, and the magical
manner in the most confined space. This art is unknown in our day, but
particularly in the Roman School, When Palestrina came in the second half
of tbls century, he was to refine the style without impairing the skill
fulness of the art of writing, and to give to church music the noblest
Thus it became necessary to throw the art into new courses, in a word,
to transform it| several talented men were excited by this necessity and
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
59
made some more or less successful attempts* But In the midst of them
changed tonality and made it what it is today. Here I ask for the
first simply a violist, later the music director for the Duke of Mantua,
which gave a new direction to music* This new direction was in Book III
rfl---------
0 - c—
■' - "i
1 "
4-in a ... , A 4 J ■ i- k . J . 1
\ji - .
- -0-----
____ —A------ ------ ■ ar — - H9------ '•O'-'
“*1598 is the date of the third printing, The third book of five
voice madrigals was published initially in 1592 by R, Amadino in Venice*
("Claudio Monteverdi," MGG, IX, 518.)
2*
Claudio Monteverdi, Tutte le Opere, ed, G, Francesco Malipiero
(14 vols.f Viennai Universal, 1926-42), III, 26-32,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
60
noticed here and there in the works of Palestrina, but these instances
Roman School? whereas the passage which we have just seen Includes not
the seventh descending to the sixth, and the ninth resolving to the
octave, but also the notes delayed by the three upper voices are
the second in the fifth and last measures. On the one hand Monteverdi
harshness.
because between the leading tone, which forms the major third, and the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
61
1#
harmony, dissonant by suspension, which derives from it,, If we
attentively examine all of the music which preceded the remarkable fact
pointed out here, it will be seen that what gives it the strange character
for our ears is the connection of the phrases to each other without
searches in vain for a conclusion— the forming of a phrase before the end
of the piece. On the contrary, as soon as he had made use of the minor
seventh with the major third and fifth, the need for the resolution of
the resolution which concluded it, and gave a fixed form to the phrases.^*
from the delay of a sixth chord differs from the seventh chord composed
of the dissonance being made, he has a sixth chord which does not belong
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
62
delaying the chord of the sixth because if the suspension were resolved,
we would have a harmony of the fifth and sixth (see Ex. 2). Thus it is
clear that, following modern tonality, when the seventh resolves down,
the major third ought to resolve up which, in the case where the bass is
stationary, creates the harmony of six-four (see Ex, 3)« It is thus that
the seventh with a major third and fifth in the madrigal M0 voi che
before Monteverdi had his third book for five [[voices] published. But
before long the latter, guided by his instinct, comprehended that the
attacked, without preparation, not only the seventh, but even the ninth of
the dominant} composers have imitated him ever since. The relationship
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
the key Is the principal constituent of modem tonality. Me would search
in vain in all the music prior to Monteverdi and Marenziox it does not
The attraction of these two notes, the necessity of the seventh degree
leading tone which received its name because of its tendency. Thus all
modem tonality is built on this succession which was unknown to all the
the eight church modes from the domain of harmony, and there were only
two modes of tonality? major and minor for each note? one or the otherof
these types was built on each note, with each type constructed in the
same way. In both modes the relationship of the fourth degree and the
notes, the end was always the tonic and harmonic dominant, i.e., the
note which is heard in the greatest number of chords is always the fifth
one key to another by the sole act of attacking the dominant harmony of
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
64
the new key hy the double appellation of the fourth degree and the lead
ing tone. It Is this faculty of liaison between keys which I have called
the church modes. Thus it occurred that the efforts of Nicola Vicentino^
music were fruitless, because,never having the need for the resolution of
key was optional. Actual modulation was never made apparent. Hr, von
Winterfeld, who has only a vague notion of all this, like the other music
They had not known this genre because its existence in their system of
flho would believe that there was not a word of everything we now
and particularly in music for the change of tonality with all its conse
but such a fact is not found in any of the compilators nor enough of
obscurity. All that Burney and Martini saw, copied by Forkel and routine-
minded people, is that Monteverdi had added some new chords to those
which were used before himj as for the results of these new harmonies,
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
65
Notice, however, that these results were not limited to those whom
I have known previously, because as soon as there was a means for modula
tion and of cadentisl action, the phrases were shaped rhythmically— they
had some closes; in their sequence they had as a goal tc move successively
from one key into another, then to return to the original key in order to
vary the feeling which previously lay on another base. Now the direction
and of imitation, which existed only as an object for study, and produced
the substitution for it of the real and tonal fugue, the technique of
phrase called the "subject," The true fugue, then, dates only from this
1*
epoch, although the name was known a long time before; but the name
scientific pieces was slow because the change of tonic was not perceived,
and because the actual principles of this tonal change were still a
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
66
and created indecision amongst the students. Even today when students of
sort of trial and error experiment the first few times. However, I have
ations are as manifold as in the music, and when the music is capable of
numerous transformations.
lower and treble voices obliges the musicians to turn their attention
rules are the prolegomena of the fugue} we can evaluate the shortcoming
1 2 1
of criticism and of the order of ideas which lead Berardi, Trevo, Fux,-'
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Marpurg,^- and Albrechtsberger,^ to d9al with some double counterpoint
only after the fugue, which would not exist without double counterpoint.
subject, have followed this order. I still ought to cite, with regard
even by the most educated men, and that much more is made of some curi
Instltut des Pays-Bas and secretary of the fourth class of this erudite
society, wrote to me, enclosing the volume which contained the report of
with interest that Mr. Kiesewetter has demonstrated that the Netherlanders
contre point artificial, nomme par les modemes CONTKE POINT DOUBLE,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
68
Kiesewetter, and showed him that double counterpoint did not arise prior
to the second half of the sixteenth century, and that its use in the
friend, who wrote to me from the Baden resort near Vienna on 27 July 1830.
can not help regretting that the study in which he indulged after having
read my letter had not preceded his work} nonetheless, this error remains
Why "of our day"? Didn't Zacconi deal with De* Contrappantl doppii
in the second part of his Prattlea dl musica* published in 1^22? Isn't it
also the same for 1. Penna in Book II of his Prlml alborl musical!* pub
lished in 1656? for Bononcini in Part II of his Muslco prattlco (1673)?
for Berardi in his Document! armonlcl (I687), and for 20 other seventeenth-
century writers?
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
69
compels me to stress the fact that the natural harmony of the dominant
created modem tonality? that the latter led to the destruction of imita
the fuguej finally, that the inseparable conditions of the latter gave
but, once more, the philosophy of music history has been completely unknown
until today.
the two modes or with the sixth degree of the minor mode, was contained
with the birth of this harmony? all the new forms which transformed the
art— true opera, the cantata, the air with instrumental accompaniment-
The bold spirits who discovered the new harmony and all its consequences
writing to which the composers of the older schools were indebted for the
Naples? Home alone resisted and retained the excellent traditions which
more than two centuries have not destroyed completely. Proud of its
success, the new school did not delay invading the church? the dramatic
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
70
style was Introduced Into sacred music and took the place of the ponderous,
solemn and devout tone of the works of Palestrina* Then the absurdity of
and "Psalms" became dramas* The symbol of the suffering of the Savior was
since vocal harmony ceased to constitute every single kind of music. Thus,
instruments assumed the same importance in the church as in the theatre and
the first half of the seventeenth century* The concert# style followed the
simple (osservato) style of the old sacred music) from that moment the genres
were merged and, as Abbot Bainl said, church music was destroyed* Since
music have been composed) some models of perfection of this genre are the
recent +imes, the Masses of Cherubini. But the genre itself is an abase
ment of the primary object of the art in the service) the degradation
brilliant art, frequently told me that the only profound and lasting
was made by the works of Palestrina, which he heard in Rome 25 years ago*
For the worldly people, and even for the musicians who hear only this
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
71
Tell | but for whomever has made a serious study of the immortal works*
ceased to exist with the appearance of theatre music* and that it lost
-<n one side what it gained on the other. Thus it was not without reason
khat Artusi attacked Monteverdi and the other innovators in his book
that Instead of the older art* which they had ruined* they had fashioned
interrupted bass of older choral music* was born} this instrumental bass
and continuo soon led to the need of certain signs to Indicate to the
accompanist the chords with which he was supposed to support the voice.
in the first years of the seventeenth century that this science, the
facts of music history, there are few which would be more difficult to
T♦
Fetis is referring to a two-volume work of Giovanni Artusi} the
first volume* L*Artusi, overo delle Imperfettioni della musica modaraa,
appeared in 1600* and was followed in 1603 with a second volume entitled
Conslderazloni musicall, Monteverdi replies to the attacks of Artusi in
the foreword to his Fifth Book of madrigals. For an English translation
of the "Foreword with the ’Declaration' of His Brother G« C. Monteverdi,"
see Strunk, pp, *K)5“12.
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
72
dispel than those which have enveloped the origin of the basso continue.
his rights to the invention have been disputed recently with the appear
subject, and to restore to each one the part of the glory which belongs
1#
to him in the creation of the primary foundations of harmonic science.
bass which is different from the vocal bass of older compositions! the
bass of the latter was often interrupted, whereas the other is continuous.
The bass of this last type fbasso continuo*] arose as soon as there were
opere, II, 23), the first attempt at this kind of music was the episode
of Count Ngolin, set to music about 1580 by Vincenzo Galilei for solo
we are able to get an idea of its structure from the recitative in Jacopo
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
73
Peri's Burldice, and In the drama of Emilio del Cavalierly works which
did not seem to have been destined to serve as a guide for the right hand
chordsj there is reason to believe that originally this bass which served
said, in the preface which preceded this work, that the figures placed
under the bass notes represent the consonances and dissonances, and that
the sharp and the flat placed above or below the figures specify the
Viadana himself furnishes prove that he had used basso continuo for organ
Cavalieri1s work, that this invention dates back to 1596 or 1597r a-ad
per sonar nell* Organo Nova inventione commoda per ogni sorts de Cantoris,
five contains the basso continuo part * "Basso per sonar nell* organo."
■*■"11 numeri piccoli posti sopra le note del Basso continuato per
suonare, significano la Consonanza, 6 Dissonanza di tal numeroi come 11 3
terzaj 11 4 quartai e cosl di mano £in mano]* Quando 11 diesis e posto
avanti overo sotto di un numero, tal consonanza sara sostentata: e in tal
modo il b molle fa il suo effetto proprio." [n, p.]
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
After having reviewed completely in his preface to the reader^* the
motives which led him to write sacred music for every genre of solo voice,
with an accompaniment part for organ, he adds that they were conceived
about six years beforehand (1597) in Home, and that he decided to publish
invention had been received with applause, and because they had been
imitated many times since. (See the identical words of Viadana in the
figures, and he says nothing about the subject in the instructions in the
for the singers as the organist, is the manner of executing the different
pieces contained in the work. Viadana recommends for the latter* (l) play
the score simplyj (2) do not cover the singer when embellishing the
cadences* (3) glance at the whole piece before performing; (4) never
accompany the treble voices too high, nor the bass voices too low; (5) play
tasto solo, i.e., without chords, the fugal style entrances, etc. In
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
preface of the previous edition, he added some information on the use of
the figures above the basso continuo * the information appears to have
been borrowed from Guidotti.- In the same year another edition of the
same work appeared in Latin, Italian and German with this titles Opera
motets with basso continuo under the title Cantlones sacrae quinque
vocum, cum basso ad organum. But at this time this musician had just
with the invention of a new genre of music, which, moreover, he did not
usurp. 1*
author who said positively in his Appendix de basso, general! seu continuo,
in the series of his book entitled Synopsis masica (12 vols.* Berlin, 1624),
that this musician was the inventor of basso continuo. Here are his words*
1*
The existence of this purported 1597 edition has been disproven
by Sir Frederick Bridge in Twelve Good Musicians* From John Bull to Henry
Purcell (London* Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co.,Ltd., n.d.) pp. 50-62,
Bridge believes the date 1597 is a misprint of 1617* Fetis probably secured
the erroneous date from either Hawkins (A General History of the Science
and Practice of Music) or Burney (A General History of Music). The dis
covery of additional facts and the subsequent reassessment of the existing
information about Deering’s (Bearing, Bering, Diringus) biography reveals
that he was not in Italy in 1597* he presumably made his first trip
between 1610 and 1612. See Peter Platt, "Dering’s Life and Training,"
ML, XXXIII (January, 1952), 41-49.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
76
the preface which Gaspar Vincenz* organist at Spire, put at the beginning
have this collection near at hand. After Cruger* Printz expressed himself
Brossard appears to have drawn his information on that account from the
latter’s book, but I do not know from which authority he said, in the
who had seen the 1603 collection of motets in which Viadana reported
his invention and the time when it was known in Rome, established in several
Pierluigi da Palestrina, notably Volume I* note 238, pages 149-50r that before
Viadana's birth* about the middle of the sixteenth century* £l] a counter
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
77
realized| (2) in order to avoid the dissonances which could arise from
parts, some figures and symbols which indicated the nature of the intervals
were marked above the bassj (3) the contemporaries of Viadana, particularly
Banchieri in his Moderna prattlea della muslca (1613), do not cite him as
the Inventor of basso continuo, but as one of the first and best didactic
the multitude of compositions published "5>n the second half of the six
teenth century with these wordsi da cantare e suonare, that the instru
ments performed the same parts as the voice. As to the figures and symbols
placed above the bass, these are not noticed at all prior to the year 1600.
Concerning Viadana*s invention, the error of Mr, Baini results from knowing
neither the passage where this musician himself speaks, nor the testimony
of Cruger,
From all of the preceding it follows that (l) the initial idea
voice songs supported by an instrument, about 1580} (2) this bass, becoming
more animated and varied in its forms, was adapted to organ for vocal
accompaniment by Viadana, and received the name basso continuo from him
about 1596t (3) about the sane time, the usage of figures and symbols
above the bass for raising or lowering £notesJ was introduced by either
Emilio del Cavalieri, his editor Guidotti, or perhaps by some other unknown
•j jt
Arnold states that "The term was first brought into general
notice owing to the large and immediate circulation of Viadana*s Concerti,
1602, though the term Basso continuato was used by Guidotti in 1600,"
(Arnold, I, p, 6, n, 27)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
78
musician. Soon afterwards many sacred works with figured basso continuo
were published, and from that moment the genre madrigal-liker i»e*,
be in vogue in order to make way for what the artists themselves called
system was the immediate result of the double invention of basso continuo
and figures intended to denote its accompanimenti things did not move so
tions on the use of the figures, and had extended its applications in his
Del sonare sopra 11 basso con tutti 11 stromentl e dell* uso loro nel
conserto, placed at the front of the fifth book of his motets which
appeared in 1607? he did not show the nature of the chords which ought to
have belonged to such and such degree of the scale. Galeezzo Sabbatini,
work entitled Regola facile e breve per sonare il Basso continuo nell*
because he gave the first rule of the octave which is known, namely, the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
79
I*
harmonic formula indicating the proper chord for each note of the scale.
is the inventor of its method; but the ambiguity of his words leads one to
believe that this musician was the first who had a treatise on accompani
It does not seem that Sabbatini's method had much success in its
newness, because Lorenzo Fenna, who had a treatise on basso continuo and
on the manner of accompaniment r said not one word about the rule of the
1656), Most of his rules are arbitrary; he does not go into the consider
Italy until the end of the seventeenth centmry with respect to harmonic
wrote a great many figured basses, to which they gave the name partimentl1
instead of striking some chords, following the French and German usage,
these masters demanded that the accompanist have all the parts of the
long time.
In the rule of the octave each note in the diatonic scale was
given a preferred figure; this figure would be used only when that particu
lar scale degree appeared in an unfigured bass.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
80
few pages it gives the proper principles for the accompaniment of various
bass movements, progressions, and especially for major and minor scales*
again. This rule, different in many respects from the usage set up in the
French and German schools, offers this pecularityi the ascending fourth
Gasparinl*s book, frequently reprinted, remained the vade mecum of all the
Italian schools during the entire century, and has been profitably replaced
The systematic works of Tartini, which came to light about 50 years after
^*A1though Gasparinl states (p, 68) that the fourth degree in minor,
whether approached by step or by leap, must always be accompanied by a minor
third, he neither states nor consistently illustrates this scalar degree
with a "perfect chord," i.e., a minor chord in root position! occasionally
he uses six-three or six-five. See Francesco Gasparinl, The Practical Har
monist at the Harpsichord, trans. by Frank S. Stillings and ed, by David
L. Burrows (New Haven* Yale University Press, 1968\ pp. 29, 69, 74, 75*
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
81
for the first time the isolated construction of consonant chords, desig
nated by the author as triade harmonlque, is foundj the name was retained
by his successors* It does not seem that Cruger understood the formation
1*
of natural dissonant chords --at least he says nothing at all about them--
although they were known as early as his era. The other German writers of
the same period who discussed basso continuo at the end of the seventeenth
examples furnished by Cruger, but did not try, any more than their prede
writer, he often tires the reader with his diffuse style, but it can not
the first two parts of his book on this science. The first, Guide musical,^
cadences which are still in use today, the way to realize them, and the
theory of passing tones which can be substituted for the struck chords are
found there.3* The natural dissonant chords of the seventh and ninth are
1#
'L A "natural dissonant chord" is one in which the seventh and
ninth are unprepared, The dominant seventh and dominant ninth chords fall
into this classification,
^Chapter VIII.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
82
whom we owe a second edition of the second part of Niedt*s book, has said
nothing at all about this irregularity. The last chapter of the first
1*
part also attracts attention by the formulas for harmonic modulations,
In the second part of his Guide musical. Niedt presents many varia
tions of simple bass movements, with some rules for the ornamentation of
the harmony in the upper voices. Mattheson issued a second enlarged and
improved edition of this second part (Hamburg, 1721), to which he added the
dispositions of 60 of the best German organs. The third part of the Guide
chords* the idea of such a generation had not occurred to any harmonist
before the genius of Rameau conceived it. Thus, we ought not to expect to
after Niedtrs work* but the method of exposition and the natural classifi
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
83
into two parts, each one of which contains five chapters. In the first
the author arranges all of the true chords into two classes, consonant
and dissonant. The perfect chords— major, minor, and the chord of the
sixth— are the only ones admitted into the first classification by
Heinichenj the six-four chord does not appear in the exercises which he
gives for the use of consonant harmony, because he does not accept an
In this respect, he is less advanced than his predecessor Niedt. The third
chapter deals with passing notes and the way to distinguish them from the
manifests great sagacity in this matter, and presents some delicate con
following chapter we find the application of all the rules which concern
chords, figures and passing notes in all the keys. The last chapter has
In the second part of the book we find some rules for the accom
paniment of an unfigured basso continuo. 2* a very good chapter on the
*1 H
Neu erfundene und Grundliche Anwelsung, wle eln Muslc-llebender
auff gewlsse vortheilhafftlge Arth kSnne zu vollkommener Eh"lera»n|g des
General-Basses L(Hamburg! 17 Schillers, 1?10)J, 284 pp,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
84
produced a new edition, which seemed more like an entirely new work on
century, which forms a volume of more than a thousand pages, appeared under
from the same plan as the first, although the material is developed with
a great deal more depth; nevertheless, the ideas of Heinichen had been
all of the first half of the eighteenth century, benefited from the work
of Niedt and Heinichen for the composition of his booki Die exemplarische
1719. Just as this title Indicates, the principal part of this work is
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
85
foreign to the subject, or which have no direct bearing on it. The second
chords into different classes,3* and examines with much care the harmonic
can be said, nevertheless, that this book, published 13 years after Rameau’s
Tralte de l’harmonle, is not on the level to which this great man had just
^*The book is divided into four "classes"; (l) lowest, (2) ascend-
ing, (3 ) higher, and (4) upper; each class is divided into seven lessons
(Aufgaben), and on occasion the lesson is subdivided into smaller units
called Abthellungen.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
86
raised the science. In all his vork Mattheson observes profound silence
this work nor the theory of the inversion of chords discovered by Bameau.
published in France before Bameau had entertained his theory of chords and
Couperin and Dandrieu.'1"* All wrote in the same spirit, i.e., without
to have an idea of the utility which could be drawn out of these works, it
contains the fourth and the sixths1 the dissonant includes the second,
seventh, etc.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
87
dissonances than hy "good usage and good taste"! Such was the state of
the science when Bameau gave it a real existence*I will expose presently
the creations of this man of genius and the results which they produce in
all of Europe*
While the science was stationary* the art was enriched hy several
types of new effects* Thus the composers had introduced into the chords
some momentary alterations of natural notes, and hy this means had estab
new aspect* Moreover, as well as substituting the sixth degree for the
1#
dominant in the dominant seventh chord and its derivatives* they gave
rise to some new dissonant chords which were attacked without preparation,
like those from which they originated. The substitution in the seventh
chord had produced the chords commonly called the "major dominant ninth"
in the major mode, and the "minor ninth" in the minor aode.^* The same
the leading-tone seventh chord in the major mode, and the diminished
1*
A "derivative" is an inversion* It is "derived" by transposing,
for example, the dominant (root) note to an upper octavej the resultant
structure, a dominant six-five chord, is the second combination of a
dissonant chord* (Fetis, Traite d'harmonle, pp. 40-44.)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
88
seventh in the minor,1* Lastly, each one of the seventh chord derivatives
they were to he employed, The result of the minor mode substitution and
the ascending alteration of the natural notes in the perfect chord and
its derivatives had been to create the transition, i.e., the optional
modulation which can be resolved into several keys, and leaves the ear
modem musicI One must not believe that those who found these novelties
were passionately fond of themj they employed them only very guardedly,
and their appearance in compositions was so unusual until the era when
Such was the situation of the art and of the science when Rameau
inclination for music than knowledge of its theory and practice, he had
1#
In each inversion of a dominant Beventh in which substitution
will occur, the root of the chord must be in the soprano. Fetis explains
it thusly i "It [[the sixth scale degree[] is a melodic accent in the
inversions as in the fundamental chord, and consequently it is always
placed in the upper voice, and is found at the distance of a seventh
from the leading tone. . . . " (Fetis, par, 121, p, 48.)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
89
visited northern Italy, but it seems that the sojourn which he made to
Milan was of such little profit to his education that he was more than 30
years old when he learned the rule of the octave from an obscure musician
2*
named Lacroix in Montpellier, It is from this moment that his meditations
on harmony date. Going to Paris in 1717 but not being able to locate there
suitably, he was obliged to retire to a province, and for four years he ful
These four years were spent perusing the books of Mersenne, Kirchner,
Paris.
2*When Bameau actually learned the rule of the octave can not be
conclusively ascertained} nothing was written of his early years during
his lifetime. Sr. Michaela Maria Keane, S.N.J.N., suggests that during
his return home from his short sojourn in Italy ". . .he may have met
M. de la Croix who was to teach him at the age of 20, the then popular
rule of the octave." (The Theoretical Writings of Jean-Phllippe Rameau
(^Washington* The Catholic University of America Press, I9&J, p. 10.)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
90
of the material and the obscure and verbose style of the author made it
say that people did not exactly understand the importance of it. This was
musicians. But where can the latter be found in a time when education
for artists was lacking, and when all their learning was restricted to
been able to understand that Rameau's work did no less than lay the founda
seemed so ludicrous that it certainly would have been the object of their
taunts. There was a great distance between this frame of mind and that
which would have been necessary to welcome the Tralte de l'harmonle with
the analysis of the theory, so new then, set forth in this book,
of applying numbers to the science of sounds| his ardent soul was enthused
tion to music theory,^-* From that time the regular divisions of the mono
and all his attention was turned towards the development of the logical
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
91
efforts have, then, for a goal to settle that the sound of one string
became the criterion for the generation of chords for himj it is stated
this way*
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
92
c c g c e g c
1__________ 2___________ 2__________ 4_______ 1______6________ 8
octave double triple
octave octave
from which all the other chords are generated by a supposition or super-
the monochord taken as the basis for consonant harmony* it gives only
the perfect major chord, Rameau understood that it was very grave to
only drawing upon the proportions of the major third (4*5) and of the
minor third (5*6), given by the notes c-e and e-g, in order to form all
departure, He says t
^*With the exception of the number eight which Rameau has added,
this arithmetical series of numbers represents the senaxlo of Zarlino,
Rameau has omitted the number seven because he is trying to confine his
theory to the consonance of the major chord as it is contained in the
senario.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
93
From this theory Bameau established that there are two perfect
chords, one major, the other minor, and that each of these chords generates
hy Inversion a chord of the sixth and of the sixth and fourth.2 To the
minor third and forms the dominant seventh chord (g-h-d-f) which, hy
inversion, gives the chords of fausse quinte (minor fifth and sixth),
(a-c-e), he forms the minor seventh chord (a-£-e-g) which has for deriva
tives, hy inversion, the chords of grande sixte (fifth and sixth), petite
1Ibid,, p. 33,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
94
inversion.2
The aggregation of two minor thirds gives Rameau the fausse quinta
chord (minor third and minor fifth or perfect diminished chord), and that
of two major thirds, the qulnte superflue chord (augmented fifth chord),
(e-g-b-flat).
or more thirds under any seventh chord. It is thus that he explains the
harmonists,^
•^Ibid.. pe 40,
2Ibld,. p, 41,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
95
time when he was writing, we could not help but admire the powerful mind
which created all that he invented, and of which I have just stated a
of chords possessed, this genius of a man seized hold of them to form the
had still not focused his attention on the phenomenon of the production
made him modify his ideas, and which successively gave rise to the publi
cation of his Nouveau system de muslque theorique and his other works.^
thirds which guided him in his system when his first book of harmony
all chords, he found himself obliged to abandon the whole idea of tonality,
because he did not always find the thirds disposed as he wanted them in
his system, for each dissonant chord, on the notes where these chords are
placed according to the tonal principle. For example, the chord of the
If
A "sonorous body" is theacoustical phenomenon in which the funda
mental tone is accompanied by itsovertones in a harmonic ratio,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
96
false harmonic systems, this chord, I say, which we commonly call the
•
'’seventh chord on the second degree" because It is formed on the second
note of a major scale (d-f-a-c), could not arise from the minor perfect
chord of this second note, because he knew very well that in the system
of modern tonality this chord does not occur on the note from which it
is set into motion. He was thus obliged to take, for the origin of this
"chord of the minor seventh with a minor third," the perfect minor chord
of the sixth degree (a-c~e), so that his seventh chord (a-crl-s) seems to
Because these rules, consistent with the natural laws of tonality, assign
certain positions to the chords, they were incompatible with the doctrine
Such, then, was the radical vice of the harmonic system conceived by
aspect, but the effect of which was to leave all the harmonic groups
his system he had to supply some new rules which would not be contrary,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
97
ing the harmonic regularity and not an actual bass; this is why he pointed
2
out that one ought not to stop writing successions of consecutive octaves
or fifths,3* The principle rules of this bass are (l) to form harmony
with the other parts, there can only be perfect chords on the tonic, fourth
degree, dominant, and sixth degree; and seventh chords on the dominant and
five chord on the fourth degree moving to tonic. This difficulty led
to which one will sometimes add the sixth; he gave it the name "added
sixth," But considering the perfect identity of this chord with that of
the second degree which he designated as the grande sixbe, he also gave
the former the name chord of duplication f d*accord de double emplol], and
supposed that until it makes its resolution on the perfect chord of the
dominant, it is the grande sixte chord and is derived from the minor
towards tonic, it is the added sixth and fundamental chord (Example b).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
98
a b.
=4-— z±-— :
fe— * ---- • 1 -fl-------
^ — «----- — -a
v 1 _A _______
destroys the economy of Rameau's system from top to bottom| but such is
bass deceived himself on this capital shortcoming, and that his partisans
least one of the notes which composes the chord should be found in the
ought to have been heard in the preceding chord, (5) In the six-five
chord or the "added sixth," the bass, its third, or its fifth must have
been prepared in the preceding chord, but the dissonance formed by the
sixth against the fifth is free in its movement, (6) Every time the
rise a fourth* (7) When the fourth degree is in the fundamental bass,it
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
99
These rules, given by Rameau for the formation of & hass different
from the actual bass of the music and for the verification of good employ
which all the inventor's sagacity was not able to rectify. One was the
that has become much more apparent since a great quantity of harmonic
But it is not only for their inadequacy that the rules of fundamental
must have been prepared by the preceding chord, whereas what distinguishes
that they could be attacked without preparation. Following the fifth rule,
the bass, the third, or the fifth ought to have been prepared, while the
dissonant sixth is free in its attack. Now in this chord it is not at all
the sixth which is the dissonance, but the fifth, and the pecularity of
preparation, while the bass and the third are free. Moreover, the specified
succession of this six-five chord to the perfect tonic chord is not good,
and although it has been employed in these times by Beethoven and some
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
100
system. In the sequel when this great musician became enthusiastic for
the subject of the perfect minor chord when the experiments had not found
theory of fundamental bass has made him contrive the double emplol of the
which produced to a weaker degree this minor perfect chord which he needed.^*
3*An "aliquot part" is that part which will measure the whole without
a remainder— an exact divisor. Thus k is an aliquot of either 12 or 16,
whereas 5 would be an "aliquant part" of 12 or 16,
"In forming the minor third of this new fundamental sound, that one
judges must be the sound A, the principle C still gives its major third
for a fifth. . . . This new fundamental sound that one can regard in this
case as generator of its mode is not a generator except by subordination!
it is forced to follow, in all points, the law of the first generator,
which cedes to it its place only in this creation, in order to occupy there
that which is the most important," (Demi>nstratlon, pp. 70-71.)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
101
As a matter of fact, he would have been able to find many other resonances
will demonstrate elsewhere that these have no coincidence with the real
system of harmony. However that may be, we noticed from that time on
that Bameau insisted less than he had formerly on his doctrine of the
fundamental bass pleased him more each day. Therefore it was this part
people who did not understand his theory of the generation of chords set
forth in the Tralte de l'harmonle were enthused over the fundamental bass,
One observation which has escaped all the critics who spoke about
infallible and conforming to what we call the laws of tonality and our
musical consciousness, they would not have been able to take the place of
the older practical rules, because the application of the latter gives
some immediate results, whereas the fundamental bass was only a means for
Rameau’s system, it is none the less true that this system could only be
the work of a superior man, and that it will always be noteworthy in the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
102
this system an idea which alone would immortalize its author, might he
otherwise not have any titles to famei I wish to speak of the considera
tion for the inversion of chords which belongs to him, and which is
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
103
CHAPTER II
Each era has its tendencies in every matter) we observe that the
need to search for a theoretical base for harmonic practice was a pre
first who rushed into this research was the illustrious geometrician Euler.
published in 1729 in St. Petersburg, he was only 15 years old when this
book appeared) I only know the edition which he put out in 1739* Even
sound relations that man makes without realization, he concluded from this
that the most simple ratios are those which ought to please more, because
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
1<&
establishes that the sensation of the unisonr expressed by the ratio 1*1,
two sounds which give this impression to our perception occur in our mind
The ratios of the single octaver double, triple, etc, octave also
strike the mind with a feeling of order, but not that of identity, because
number, and they increase in the same proportion from octave to octave,
2 , * * . , , . . . * * * * * * * * first
1. * * * * * * * * octave
**• * * • , * * * * * * ■ » « * * * « second
1 * * * * , octave
tones because of the proportional facility which the mind has to comprehend
these ratios.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
105
numbers which express these ratios rise further* For example? the ratio
to the ear where identity is restored only at each third vibration of one
part, and at each fourth of the other] for the eyes, the effect corresponds
ratio of the
2 * * * * * * * * * * * fifth
ableness .
The identity becomes more infrequent and the ratio is more difficult
to grasp, if the proportion is 4*3r i»e»? if the two tones form the inter
val of the fourth* Euler likens the sensation which results from this
interval to what produces for the eye two lines of dots disposed in this
way:
4 . * . * * . , * * * , . * r * . * ratio of the
3 * ** • * * * . * . * • * fourth
ableness*
seventh degree of agreeableness, ought to? according to him, give the ear
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
106
5 ratio of the
4 major third
simplicity of numerical ratios, and which clearly clashes with the rules
of the art, turns up* Every musician who will consult the ear will
state that the major third and even the minor, of which the ratio is 6*5
affects a much more agreeable sensation than the fourth. From that come
the thirds among the best unions of two tones and banish the fourth.
This is not the only anomaly which the classification of the union
because Euler ranks not only the minor third, expressed by the ratio 6*5,
in the eighth degree, but the major second (9*8) which, as one knows, is
a dissonance, and the minor sixth (8*5)* Euler foresaw the objections
which would arise against his system in this regard} he believed that he
I have already said that contained under the name chords are
those which are commonly called consonances and dissonances. With
the help of our method, we will be able to assign, to a certain
extent, the bounds which separate these two categories of chords}
for the dissonances belong to the higher degrees of agreeableness,
and we consider as consonances the chords which belong to the
lower degrees. Thus, the tone £major second], created from two
tones having an 8*9 ratio and belonging to the eighth degree, is
Included among the disonances, while that of the ditone or major
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
107
obvious. One of two things [is true]: either the criterion of his theory is
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
108
of tones than to see the harsh dissonance of the major second put in
the same degree as the minor third, consonance of repose, and the minor
explain this anomaly hy saying that the chords whose use is less advan
sunt appellatate"), even though they are easier to perceive than some
is not able to deal with this result. This is how he expresses it:
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
109
diction exists between these paragraphs and those which have been cited
"Supra autem iam constituimus ipsos sonos per pulsuum, quos dato
tempore conficiunt, numeros exprlmere, ex hocque sonorum quantitatem seu
tenorem, qui gravitatis et acuminis ratione continetur, metiri. Quo
itaque proposita consonantia placeat, necesse est ut ratio, quam sonorum
simplicium quantitates, seu ipsi soni (sonos enim tanquam quantitates
consideramus) inter se tenent, percipiatur* Hoc igitur modo conson-
antiarum perceptionem ad numerorum contemplationem revocamus* * * «
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
110
note that the simplest chord of three sounds belongs to the third
degree of agreeahlenessj It Is composed of the tones 1*2*4, and
its exponent^* is 4. It is apparent from this, that the more
tones of which a chord is composed, the higher the degree of
agreeahleness of the chord £i.e,r the more the agreeahleness
decreases]], even if it is the simplest genre of s o u n d , 2
each added tone complicates the comparison of ratios* it is none the less
true that, as a result of this very paragraph, there is a new proof that
for example, the doubling of all its tones in various octaves, from the
lowest to the highest, is one of the most fascinating and most powerful
to this effect.
1*
An exponent is the smallest integer into which all of these
can be divided equally, hence the least common multiple#
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Ill
tone, its octave, the fifth and its octave, and the doubling of this
fifth, because these are the tones which correspond to 1*2*3*6* whereas
music only by adding the third to these sounds. But it is evident that
the chord called "perfect" by musicians is, following the theory of the
chord composed of c-e-g-c, and we will find combined there (l) the 2*1
ratio which is that of the octave* (2) 3*2 for the fifth c-g* (3) ^*3 for
the fourth g-£* (4) 5*^ for the major third c-e* (5) 6*3 for the minor
third e-g* and finally (6) 8*5 for the minor sixth e-c. And if by
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
112
for the major sixth g~e. Now, it is precisely to retain the simplest
judge the excessive complication of all these combined ratios and of the
separation, the perfect chord, composed of all its intervals and their
theory does not support the development of its consequences. But before
that this system is the most complete negation Imaginable of the reality
the production of the harmonic intervals of the perfect chord through the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
113
proportion that these ratios become complicated and lose their simplicity.
has not permitted him to deal Hith the construction of truly complete
so high for simple chords of two tones admitted by the ear with pleasure,
that for him the construction of chords of three and four distinct notes
complexlng for the mind, I admit that I am not able to explain why this
circumstance did not enlighten him on the lack of his principle if, as
Mr. Fuss (his son-in-law and biographer) said, music was one of Euler's
Euler brought all of his geometrical mind to it. It is very likely this
and which absorbed the pure feeling of harmony with Euler, put his
the fifth chapter of his book. The incisiveness, the precision of his
mind had made him see that the succession of harmonies ought to be one of
of the chordsf and in that he had seen farther than Rameau, whose views
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
114
to see it singly, we would believe that the writer had preceded or sur
passed his century in the theory of music, and that he had penetrated its
and to build a scale of these sounds, i.e., the scale or rather the scales,
a part of it by the numbers which represent them, and to form the smallest
ableness, and that degree which will correspond will make known how much
in his systemi
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
115
tion of the ratios of two chords. This consideration led the great
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
116
the easier it is to comprehend the order which governs it, Now, if the
fundamental principle of all Euler’s system was that the agreement which
to this theory any further} what we have seen will suffice to make clear
tion, from this same theory, of what Euler calls "genres of music." The
would make use of only certain pre-determined chords. Thus the first
but owing to its very great simplicity, it is not employed. The second
genre of music is that which contains only the tones 1, 3r and their
multiples, i.e., the fifth, octave, and their doublings, "By representing
the lowest tone with 3» the form of the harmony will be 3*4i6 (£-£-&) t
where the lower interval is the fourth, and the upper interval is the
fifth," (Ch. viii, par. 14.) He adds that this genre is still very
simple and that it has never been employed} but in this he is deceived,
because the diaphony of the tenth and eleventh century was nothing else.
The third genre is that in which the sound 5» i.e., the major third,
is introduced into the harmony, but without preserving the sound 3r which
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
117
is the fifth, so that the chords there are composed of only the third and
the octave* Apropos of this novel harmonic element, Euler makes this
remarki
Until our day we have admitted into music only the chords
whose exponents are composed of the prime factors 2, 3 and 5f la
fact, in the formation of chords, musicians have not gone beyond
the number 5«^*
muslcaei
had been refuted by Euler himself about 30 years after the publication of
After having remarked that the character of the chord &-b-d-f is contained
number 64, he points out that the latter number undergoes a modification
1*
"In Musica ad hunc usque diem aliae consonantiae non sunt receptae,
nisi quarum exponentes constant numeris primis dolis 2, 3 et 5, adeo ut
musici ultra quinarlum in formandis consonantiis non processerint," (ibid,,
ch» viii, par. 15.)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
118
through the attractive affinity of the intervalj and he adds (par. 13)
that the ear substitutes 63 and 64, so that all the numbers of the chord
are divisible by 9, such a way that (par. 14), for the audition of the
2*Ibid., p. 173*
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
119
1*
developments. It is necessary to render justice to this great manf if
the fascinating hut false hypothesis on which he hullt his system led him
astray, and if his weak view of harmony caused him to construct some
philosophy of this art is none the less indebted to him for the discovery
just cited. He was the first who saw that the character of modem music
resides in the dominant seventh chord and that itB determining ratio lies
in the number 7l but until today his words have not been understood. This
ratio constitutes the genre which I have named transltonique, I will show
of actual music, raised its exponent to the prime factor 11, and that the
ultimate limits will be attained in the ordre omnltonlque when the exponent
Tentamen novae theoriae musicae, because all of these things are actually
incompatible with the true art. But I will remark that before having found
the important truth of which I have just spoken (with reference to the
1*
To recognize seventh chords, particularly the dominant seventh,
as more consonant and thus give them a lower ratio, Euler uses the seventh
partial as well as the second, third and fifth to derive scales. Beginning
on F and using the formula 2n ,3^»5^,7r Euler derives a 24 tone chromatic
scalei he calls the 12 new tones tons strangers.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
120
for him to give the exact formation of the diatonic-chromatic genre , the
of modern tonality.
author, it has remained unrecognized, and I think I can affirm that until
today no musician, not even one of those who has made the theory of this
art the object of his studies, has either known or understood,-*-* although
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
121
those of Bameau and Euler came the one which the celebrated violinist
This book is divided into six chapters, the contents of which follow*
(l) "Of harmonic phenomena* their nature and their usage") (2) "Of the
circlet its nature and its use") (3) "Of the musical system* consonances,
dissonances, their nature and definition") (4) "Of the diatonic scale, of
practical musical genre* its origin, its usage, and its consequences")
(5) "Of the modes or ancient and modem keys") (6) "Of the intervals and
consistency comes in this book, because there we can see a man acquainted
with all the secrets of his art search outside of the structure of this
art for the principles which serve as its basis, and wear himself out
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
122
in barren efforts to draw them from a doubtful form, and from calculations
whose mechanism he did not know* Repelled by the obscurity which prevails
in all the work, the critics have reproached Tartini for not having
presented his ideas in a clear enough manner and attributed the lack of
clarity which they noticed to his style »•*•* With more attention, they
would have seen that the obscurity is in the ideas themselves, and that
if ingenious views are not lacking in the system which the author endeavored
to coordinate, rigorous liaison does not exist between them; finally, that
the results which he draws from them have no soundness at all.^* But do
not anticipate, and let us only say that Tartini’s system having exercised
his time. He accepts those harmonics forming the octave of the fifth and
the double octave of the third of the principal sound of a deep sonorous
body, and does not reject the resonance of the octaves and double octaves
1*
Recognizing that , there are many parts of the original very
complicated and difficult to comprehend*" Tartini’s follower, Benjamin
Stillingfleet, attempted to explain these principles "in a more easy way"
(p. iii) in Principles and Power of Harmony (Londons J, and H« Hughs, 1771),
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
123
of this sound, to the weakest degrees) hut he does not immediately draw
any conclusion from this fact. Moving ahead to the examination of the
natural tones produced hy the horn and the trumpet at the harmonic points
he draw any fundamental conclusion from this fact, and passes rapidly to
affirms that hy lightly touching the point which cuts this string in half,
this harmonic, the existence of which other tests have proven. All the
the fundamental sound which would generate the harmonics, hut the combi
nation of the latter, from which the fundamental sound would result. And
for proof he took the organ stop called foumlture, where on each touch
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
124
pipes of which they are composed, and which to the ear produce only the
the harmonics of the fouralture are not absorbed into the sensation of a
single tone any more than adding some large pipes such as the bourdon or
the eight foot open flutej so that here, as in all, it is not the har
monics which generate the deep sound, but the latter which contain the
harmonics.
phenomenon which admirably proves the Bame thing, and indeed a great deal
a harmonic interval, produce, when they resonate loudly and with perfect
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
125
the harmonic system? the harmonic system itself enters into unity as
thesis of that of Rameau?^* one will see by the following that this
point of departure leads to some much less complete and much less
musician.
The second chapter of Tartini's book has for its aim to profit
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
126
two and nine of the third hook of his Harmonicsi^~ the same subject has
this chapter than in all the rest of Tartini*s book, and one can see in
the author himself did not understand, and that he had so little con
fidence in the results which his pursuits had produced, that he ended
by asserting that these speculations are not necessary for the compre-
hension of his system. Here are his words: "Pero mi son dilatato, e
fruitless to give an example, taken from this same chapter, of the lack
•^Pages 229, 252 and following of the Wallis edition (Oxford, 1682),
or Vol. Ill, pages 129 aad 141 of the mathematical works of the latter.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
127
size by relation to the first two terms. He adds that the circle gives
the proof, because, he says, the radius represents the first term, 1 ,
the diameter the second term, 2, and the circumference expresses the
unity with the unity of the plan of a circle in which all the arcs and
into the fundamental tone. He does not doubt that there would not be
reality of these relations, one does not understand why Tartini had the
idea of rushing into this research without possessing the most elementary
elements of analysis,3*
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
128
basis of his system, because the first ^Tartini] departs from the har
monics to go back to the low tone, while the latter {^Rameau} follows an
T'fc
inverted course. Whence it follows that Tartini*s system lacks some
criterion for the generation of chords, and that it can not match the
and who had grasped the question much better than d’Alembert and Rousseau.
of unity and the facts of the practice of the art, that having come, in
the third chapter of his book, to the musical deductions of his speculations,
he further finds only arbitrary rules of which the first are insignificant,
and of which the others are contrary to the known rules of the art of
1*
While Rameau emphasizes the multiplicity of sound with the
sonorous body, Tartini " . . . considers multiplicity a function of unity
and regards the division of unity into multiplicity and the resolution of
multiplicity into unity as parts of a complete cycle," (Planchart, p. 36.)
Thus, Tartini and Rameau are not, as Fetis would lead one to believe, in
direct opposition to one another.
2*
Antoine Suremain de Missery, Theorie acoustico-muslcale, ou De
la doctrine des sons rapportee aux principes de leur combinalson (Pariss
Didot, 1793).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
129
writing; since he can not form a complete table of the recognized chords
In harmony, and In those which he does cite he falls Into some gross
1/3, 1/5 . This can be good for the complete chord in which the octave can
be effectively placed near the bass, then the fifth and finally the third
in the top parti but this is not always practical in the others, and
not to redouble the principal tone at the double octave in following this
progression: 1 , 1/2 , l/3, l/4, 1/5, etc., i.e., in composing the chord
£•-£-£-0-67 etc.
and which would make all harmonic music Impossible, is explained only
a patient study of his obscure phrases discloses that the rule intends
to avoid the fourth which is found between the two terms l/3, 1/bt i.e.,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
130
the fourth was net, in this connection, the product of the fifth which
is a consonance. ‘
This theory, I say, has no other cause than the
case, it is not as a fourth that the note which forms the interval is
sated with his third rule which permits all the tones which are part
harmonic sextuple 1, 1/2, l/3» l/4» l/5» 1/6 . . . . The tones 1, 1/2,
l/4 contain merely the possibility of a harmonic chord, hut they still
form no defineable harmony, as for example the chord 1 , 1/3, l/4
fC-£ Cl, or 1/2, 1/5, 1/6 fc-e'-gl, or 1/3, 1/4, 1/5 fg-c'-e'J, and
therefore they also produce no satisfactory chord. Moreover, 1, l/2,
l/4 is a geometric progression, and we will see later that the geometric
progressions are at the hase of the dissonant chords." (Tartini,
Traktat, trans. Rubeli, p. I67.) While the geometric progression (A
geometric progression is a series of numbers which progress hy multiplying
each preceding term hy a fixed number called the "common ratio." The
common ratio of 2 , 8, 32, 128 is 4} of 2 , 6, 18, 54 is 3*) 1» l/2» l A is
not dissonant, the geometric progression li3*9 fc-g-d] is dissonant,
1*
To the contrary} while Tartini recognizes the theory of inversion,
he employes the word "position" instead, (Planchart, p. $1.)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
131
shroud this rule with the appearance of obscurity, which hs knows how to
forbidden the doubling of the octave (1/^) in his second rule because of
the fourth which it forms with the third term of the harmonic progression
Thus, here the fourth, which was dissonance, becomes the consonance
it actually is. But observe that the major sixth, of which he does not
1*
The third rule has nothing to do with voice-leading. Tartini
says, "But it would contradict the mathematical and physical facts of
my system, if one were to add notes which can not be brought to unity
with a note of the sextuple through transposition by one or more
octaves. . . , Rule threes Hie tones of the harmonic sextuple may be
transposed by one or more octaves." (Tartini, Traktat, trans. Rubeli,
p. 168.)
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
132
l/5, l/6, since it is found between gy the third term of this progression
and er the fifth term, As for the minor sixth, it could not be found in
the six terms of his progression. Notice further, that the sixth term
third term), if it did not aid in the production of the minor third* now,
I will say nothing of the two following rules, because they are of
no practical use* but 1 notice in the seventh a fact borrowed from Bameau
for the formation of dissonant chords, because this rule is stated thusi
tonality. One can see what I have said of the drawbacks of this system
rule that he did not understand that there are some natural dissonances
which result from the tonal relationships* others arise from the artful
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
133
device of prolongation, and these are the ones which have to he prepared*
This rule and the preceding one suffice to destroy from its foundation a
I have nothing to say about the ninth rule which is found in the
other than the tones which lack exactness, and that every interval, what
ever it may be, is harmonicj but this subject, which contains a complete
order of new considerations about harmony, would not be proper here, and
would involve me tee such w Quo will find it dealt with theoretically in
l'harmonle*
mental bass. It is often said that its obscurity gave rise to successj
I believe that the opposite is more exact, because when one does not
Tartinirs system for another theory which, having not been noticed when
muslque of the Bordeau Cathedral, was the first who made it known in a
^•*It is noteworthy that Fetis, with his obsession for the prepara
tion and resolution of dissonance, did not comment about Tartini's reso
lution of the augmented twelfth down rather than up* (Ibid*, p* 82.)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
134
the first part of this work Levens proves that he was a good musician
and that he wrote more correctly than most of the authors of musical
which the author does not always understand and sometimes contradicts.
The second part of the book offers more of interest with the plan for a
a complete scale, and thi? fourth note was not necessarily its product
some other which would be in the proportion of 4*3, which is that of the
fourth, with it. This consideration leads him to propose to turn to the
to the tenth term, the latter one rising, the other descending. From this
progression he divides two strings of which the first gives him an ascend
ing series of tones whose intervals are those of the natural tones of the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
135
1 2 3 4 5 6 ? 8 9 10
the "major tone" in the proportion 7*81 the "perfect tone," in that of
8*9i finally the "minor tone," as 9*10* Prom the experiment which he
divide the major tone into two unequal tones in the proportions of I4il5
and I51I6, the perfect tone intotwo semitones of which the proportions
are 16*17 and17*18* finally, the minor tone into two minor semitones, as
foundation, is, on one hand, that it does not correspond to the formation
-*-*To derive each of the new tones it was imperative to find the
harmonic mean of each proportion, which is the average obtained by doubling
(the new tones will occur an octave higher) the ratio of each proportion.
This harmonic mean becomes the "mean proportional" in the expression
a*b=b*c, In 2(7*8), the harmonic mean Is 151 therefore the expression
aib=bsc is 14 *15=15*16* In 2(8*9), the harmonic mean is 17, and the
expression is 16*17=17*18, Consequently, Levens ends up with six differ
ent semitones, ranging in size from 119 cents (l4*15) to 89 cents (19*20),
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
136
of any tonality, and,on the other handr that with regard to their pro
other side. But these difficulties do not stop Levens, and do not
seventh chord (c-e-g-b-flat) on tonic, although the note which forms the
seventh may not be of the keyj a six-five chord (£”e-g-a) on the same
note, although this chord never occurs theref a dominant seventh chord
(g-b-d-f), forgetting that this last note does not exist in the first
not the true fourth degree of the keyj the six-five chord (f-a-£~d),
although the first two notes of this chord are also missing in the
chord from the harmonic progression, although the third of this dominant
2*
may be formed with a note lower than the true leading tone.
1#In this case the two extremes of the scale are the upper portion
of the ascending harmonic progression and the lower portion of the
descending arithmetical progression,
2*In the harmonic progression the minor second from b-c (15*16 or
112 cents) is larger than the minor second 17*18 (c-sharp-dT which, at
99 cents, is an approximation to an equal-temperament semitone of 100 cents.
The solution to this disparity of just intonation was propounded by Andreas
tferckmeister who, in his Husikallsche Temperatur (1691), formulated the
principle of a twelve-tone scale in which all the half-steps were equal.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
137
we recognise at first glance that the latter was a much less competent
in nearly the same way as his predecessor the necessity to extend the
at Bameau's objection against the natural sounds of the horn and of the
trumpet* "The tones l/7, l/ll and l/l3» being not at all harmonics of 1
1* 2
or 3, are always false in these instruments*-" Bameau, like all those
who have expressed the same opinion, had not seen that the ratio of the
number seven was precisely the one which could give the fourth note of
the key its attractive character with the leading tone, as Euler saw so
well* (See the above mentioned.) Balllere did not see so far; he was
If by the word "false" one means that they deviate from the
principles which musicians have established, flnef but if one means
to say that they deviate from the natural laws, the wnrd "always"
fails to apply to the proposition. How can I "believe, in fact,
that a sound which nature "always" presents is not that which it
ought to present? One Is more justified In believing that the
principles of musicians lack some exactitude. 3*
instinct the necessity of the number seven, not for the seventh degree
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
138
but for the fourth j Euler saw quite well that for that [^reason] he had to
same way. In order to arrive at the same result while avoiding the
c, d, e, f , g, a, b-flat, b-natural. c.
c b, b-flat, a, g, f, e, d, c.
3, 5 (which form the perfect chord) are the principle of harmony, he does
not see any difficulty, Mthe impression of 1 being given," with this
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
139
attribute a meaning to his words which they do not have, and that
musique of Jamard would not occupy me further, if I did not find there
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
140
principles, and which does not serve to confirm them? This tone
f l/ll certainly is not at all offending on the hunting horn when
it is not accompanied hy other instruments which play f 3/32* Why
then, should it he called more falBe than the latter? If these two
f's sound together, the ear is torn, I agree, hut does it follow
from that that one of the two is false? No, unquestionably,
hecause if these two sounds heard apart elsewhere create a good
effect f it simply follows that they are not at all intended to he
heard togetherj it is this, I believe, on which everyone agrees*
Let us return to Hr, Levens, and admit therefore that so skillful
a musician, who was occupied with our ordinary practice, and who
regarded the rules of the chords and the system of fundamental
hass as the foundation of all harmony, or rather of all music;
admit, I say, that he went to a great deal of trouble to reject
f 3/32, subdominant of the mode, from his system in order to
admit f 3/33 in its place, since hy rejecting f 3/32 he had to
renounce absolutely the whole system of fundamental bass.3-
refrain from deploring the blindness of this fad for a system which,
what was the art which existed, hut since the philosophical school of
this time was preoccupied with the sole thought of searching for the
too delicate and too difficult for the scope of those who had given
culties in the point of view where they stood, they ended up hy refusing
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
141
they did not fail to represent as real music, if only by means of some
Levens, Balliere and Jamard are some of the most striking examples of
the facility which certain writers have to take appearance for reality,
and of the degree of absurdity to which a false system can come, pushed
enter into the combinations of music today, but with neither the form
nor the name which Jamard gives them, I do not need to explain the
they would lead* Moreover, I am net finished with the principle of this
divided into three parts, I have nothing at all to say about the first
1*
two parts, because they only contain a classification and analysis of
1*
For a succinct and concise discussion of the first two parts of
this treatise, see Mitchell, pp, 87-90} for a detailed discussion see
Richard Dale Osborne, "The Theoretical Writings of Abbe Pierre-Joseph
Roussier" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 1966),
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
142
although he had little skill in the art of writing and his early educa
tion as a musician had been neglected,. Roussier shows much more sense of
method than the Inventor of the systemr and he was the first in France
is what he saysi
sentiment* which was weak then, Roussier foresaw the possibility of making
good use of certain harmonies which only Mozart's genius and a small
number of his contemporaries and their successors had known how to bring
into play. Thus it is that the "augmented sixth*" or as was said then*
diminished third and just fifth* and that of the minor third and minor
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
sixth with the major fourth (tritone)f thus it is, moreover, that hy
moving from the chord of the "diminished third and just fifth" to that
third as in the perfect chord. If he had been content with the altera
the highest opinion of his instinct, his taste, and his experience.
But it is not at all so, because the barbarity of his ear made him
and which he expresses thus: "All major dissonance ought to rise one
degree} all minor dissonance ought to descend one degree" (p. 42).
alterations} but the double empioi of Rameau led him so far astray
that he finds no application of his rule except for the six-five chord
on the fourth degree (f-a-c-u), because he takes the sixth for the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
144
1*
secondsr it Is the lower which is the dissonance.
In spite of the extensive faults which I have just pointed out, the
Traite des accords and the complement of this work which Boussier pub
des accords (Barisi 1775) could have rendered eminent service in Prance
himself had not lost sight of his practical vrorks by a return to a theory
3paris, 1770-71.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
145
des anclensy^ and in his notes on the memoir of the Jesuit Aaiot con
Plato, and the dreams of Censorin had turned Roussier's head; thence he
the "triple progression," because the proportion of the just fifth 3 *1*
tripled from fifth to fifth, gives him the following descending pro
point of departure being this last notej because in the order of the
planets corresponding to the hours of the day to the days of the week,
this numbers game in opposition with the results of the indicated harmonic
proportions, he denied the reality of the latter and threw in many sup
where one saw the series of seven main divinities beginning at Saturn and
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
146
processes, and as if the forms of the scales were not determined by laws
this same system the numbers had not been reduced to a hypothetical value I
sound result, But where can one find the law of this triple progression
on which one wishes to place the criteria of the art and of the science,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
1k7
new breed of Illuminati? What would make one believe that the Abbe
anciens and in his Lettres on the relationships of the zodiac and the
planetary week with the scale, he speaks very highly of the wisdom of
the Egyptian priests who revealed the secrets of their musical doctrine
only to those whom they initiated into the mysteries of their theo-
let us return to theories more positive and more consistent with the
double relationship of the art and the science, let us say a word about
the last two systems which closed the sphere of speculation on this
ing the necessity of the absolute justness of the octaves} that is why,
to make it a constant point of comparison, and cuts the second into two
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
148
equal parts, whence results the octave in the proportion 1/2• He also
stresses a great deal the almost absolute analogy of this octave with the
from Hameau. For the other intervals he consults the ear, and finds his
£own] sense of accord with experiment and theory in the accuracy of the
fifth resulting from the proportion 2/3« The inversion of this proportion
gives him the interval of the just fourth 3/4. For the other intervals,
earj thus the major third employed in music will not always be represented
exactly by the proportion 4/5, nor that of the minor third by 5/6. But
this matters little, because the ratios of the accordance of sounds are
absolute accuracy. The farther away we get from the simplicity of the
Mercadier*s doctrine.
This result attained, the author of this theory forms the perfect
chord from the sounds produced by the proportions 1/2, 4/5, and 2/3, and
seeks the other consonant chords which can be formed in the same way,
with the sounds produced by the less simple proportions. Next taking the
1*
Having demonstrated that there are but two perfect consonant
chords (major and minor), Mercadier uses the proportions for the major,
claiming, "Experience teaches us actually that it likes the perfect chord
a great deal more in this disposition 1 5/4 3/2. than in the other 1 6/5
3/2." (Jean-Baptiste Mercadier, Nouveau systems de musique thfeorique et
pratique £Paris: Valade, 1776], pp. 20-21.) Hindemith opposed this
irrational procedure of measuring intervals, claiming, "Construction by
means of a series of fifths and thirds does not represent a primeval
method of erecting a scale. One is simply taking the scale already pre
sent in practical music and trying to explain the intervals of the series.
. . r" (Paul Hindemith, Graft of Musical Composition, trans. Arthur Mendel,
Bk. I £4th ed.j New York: Associated Music Publishers, 1945], P* 33»)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
sounds 2/3 from the division of the first string as the generator, he
proceeds in the same way and, finding the fifth in 2/3 of the total
length of the string tuned to the unison of the sound produced hy this
proportion, and the third in 4/5 of this same string, he obtains two new
sounds necessary for the formation of the scale. Now, let us assume
that the sound 1 is ci the sound 1/2 will be its octave, the sound 2/3
will be g, and the sound 4/5 will be e, Taking next the sound g as
the new generator on a new string, 2/3 of this string will be d and the
sound 4/5 will be b, To tell the truth, these sounds will not have a
mathematical justness, but they will satisfy the ear, and following
Let us go on, and taking for the third generator the sound 2/3 of the
sound, next by taking the sound 2/3, i.e., a, fifth of this d, nothing
more will remain but to find the last tone in order to have the complete
scale. But here a difficulty arises, because the sound 4/5 of the
third generator is not f which we need, but an f-sharp which does not
found between the sound 2/3 and that of 1/2} then bringing all these
ear Indicates, with a natural temperament which will avoid the comma from
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
150
omitted all the calculations viti. which Mercadier backed up his system.
of these chords, and even his fundamental bass, after having made a
his melodic generation is drawn, like that of Rameau, from the fundamental
movement of fifths. Mercadier had not noticed that he put into contra
diction the two principles which he wished to make the foundation of his
the laws of calculation, which indeed can not generate any scale, he
ought to have perceived that sound structured from numbers became useless,
do not do it so many ways? they also satisfy the ear, but they do not
1*
Barbour declares that Mercadier is propounding a Pythagorean-type
of temperament in which some of the fifths are tempered by either l/6 or
l/l2 comma? the latter is the temperament of the fifth of equal tempera
ment. In summing up the labyrinth of calculations into which Mercadier
leads the reader, Barbour saysi "He directed that the fifths from C to E
should be flat by l/6 syntonic comma j^80i8lj, and those from E to G-shaxp
by l/l2 comma. Then G-sharp is taken as A-flat, the next three fifths
axe to be just, and the fifth F-C then turns out to be about l/l2 comma
flat" (p. 168). (James Murray Barbour, Tuning and Temperament! A His
torical Survey ^2d ea. ? East Lansingi Michigan State College Press,
1953], PP. 167-169.)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
151
Roussier, although he may he a few years later. His system did not have
any success*
had proved that the logical results of Levens’ and Balliere *s systems had
all theoretical in his hook. The Chevalier de Lirou was the first French
author who, in a hook on harmony, completely hroke away from this system
of fundamental hass and became the guide for all harmonists amongst us,
and who resisted the attacks of his adversaries for a long time. An
criterion of the science and the art* In lieu of the quest for the
Since de Lirou contends that ", * * the fifth is the basic inter
val of harmony, the interval par excellence," (p. 18) and that music
emanates from a "common center," tonic, in effect, represents duality* it
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
152
our major scale and correspond to the two tetrachords of Greek music*
notes which compose the scale with a mechanical and arbitrary processr he
He does not know that all the difficulty is precisely in the determina
tion of the first note of the scale, Having reached this result, de Lirou
Lirou had only a very imperfect command of the art of composition, so that
but he is, I believe, the first who specified sufficiently good rules,
After de Lirou*s book, which appeared in 1785 and which was scarcely
noticed, the eighteenth century was closed in France with respect to the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
153
the school of Naples* In this book one no longer sees either the
search for the true foundations of the science in the practice of the
art. From the first words of the preface which he put in the front of
his treatise, we are tempted to believe that he had grasped the true
without regard for the laws of succession which rule them, But immedi
only one chord, that of the third, the combinations of which produce all
'T*
the others. And for the proof of this principle, he offers this series
perfect chord on the fourth degree (f-a-c), the perfect minor chord
(a-c-e)t the tonic chord (c-e-g), the relative minor chord of the dominant
(e-g-b), the dominant chord (g-b-d), the major seventh chords (f-a-c-e. and
c-e-g-b), the minor seventh chord with the minor third (a-c-e-g), and the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
15k
beginning of his book. This fault, which, although not analyzed by its
readers, just the same cast much obscurity onto his system, is detrimental
chords had not occurred to any German harmonist prior to the publication
had not only not adopted the idea which brought so much honor to Rameau,
in spite of the errors into which he let himself be led, but in lieu of
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
155
lished in 1742 and frequently reprinted* had not pulled the science to
the empirical point of view where Helnichen and Mattheson had left it}
the middle of the eighteenth century had therefore arrived before the
taught by practice* But one is going to see that from this time on* all
Germany was under the stress of agitation for the creation of a similar
theory,
anything from Rameau's theory* seemed to be won over to his idea of the
Although Sorge dees not account for this subject* there is reason
l*Since Fetis gives neither the volume number nor the page on which
he found this quotation in the alleged work* he probably was relying on
his memory and meant instead to refer to the ELeine General-Bass-Schule
where Mattheson castigates Rameau with these very words in a footnote on
pages 220-21} the latter appeared later (1735) than either Gritlca muslca
(1722-25) or Grosse Generalbass-Schule (1731),
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
156
had made an Impression on his mind, and that it is from this book that he
qualities of the chordsr Like them, he divided the chords into consonant
is composed of any three sounds from the intervals of the third, fourth,
of these same chords. In the ratio 4*5*6 he finds the perfect major
chord, and he remarks (ch. vi, p. 14) that experiences of various kinds
prove that this chord exists in the resonance of several sonorous bodies.
The natural sounds of the trumpet give him the perfect minor chord, which
he calls trlas minus perfects (ch. vii, p. 17) and which he represents
ment gives him the chord e-g-b-flat which he calls trlas defIdeas, and
the calculation without any difficulty, and represents the chord following
the proportions 5*6*7 (ch. vili, p. 18). For the perfect chord with the
proportion to 48*60*75 (ch. ix, p. 20)j finally the perfect chord with
180*225*256.
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
157
In the second part of his book* he deals with the chords of the
sixth* and of the fourth and sixth* derived from the preceding perfect
belongs* and does not call to the attention of his readers what is
Just as the sounds of the trumpet have given the perfect diminished chord
forms dissonant chords of the same kind hy adding the minor seventh to
the perfect minor chord, following the arithmetical proportion 10ii2 *15iI8 |
All these chords and their derivatives are ranked hy Sorge among
ration} as to the other dissonances* they appear to enter into the category
fully* because here we have arrived at one of the most important facts of
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
158
in this science, and the glory of this discovery belongs to the humble
today. For the first time he has established that a dissonant chord
the perfect minor chord, although this chord is only formed and used as
after Rameau, who first had perceived the foundations of this science, and
own the books of this expert musician, and I had not read them when I
was the only real thing done for the advancement of the science of harmony
Catel's work, A fortunate accident having put these very rare books into
1* ^
Shirlaw points out Fetis' factual error, Rameau, not Sorge, was
the first to recognize that the dominant seventh chord could be taken
without preparation, (Shirlaw, p, 307*)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
159
that I have just pointed out~a fact which ought to become one of great
importance subsequently*
over, had made him see the enthusiasm that the theory contained in these
the study of this theory, and it was from this, with modifications, that
he drafted his Bandbuch bey dem Generalbasse und der Composition* pub
principle is to isolate all the chords and remove their actual formation
exactly opposite to consonance, since they are more gravitional than any
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
160
the third of the perfect chord) lastly in the construction of the dominant
having, said Sorge (in his preface), added some new errors to those of
his model.
The response was not expected, because less than six months after
But he did not touch at all on the fundamental things and really did not
make any solid objection to the facts established by the latter, although
and the confidence which they inspire is such, that Marpurg evidently
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
161
conquered In this conflict; passed as the victor, and the editions of his
the poor organist from Lobenstein fell into utter discredit and did not
sell at all,
service of the Duke of Wurtemburg, was worried, as they were, about the
tonality. Although this work only appeared in 1756, he had finished it,
previously, does not seem to have been employed! either he was too un
treatise.
intervals. These three chords are the perfect chord, the dominant seventh
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
162
chord* and the six-five chord on the fourth degree* It is a long way
However* it is evident that Daube borrowed his chord on the fourth degree
Sorge, of whom he does not speak, the idea of the original existence of
the dominant seventh chord. Lastly, Hameau also gives him the theory of
the inversion of fundamental chords. Daube does not explain the motive
which makes him accept the six-five chord as fundamental, rather than
that of the seventh on the second degree. But after what he says in
the second chapter concerning the dissonance of the second which generates
the seventh, and not the seventh giving rise to the second, there is
reason to believe that it is this motive which makes him consider the
The three chords of which he has just spoken appear to the author
of the system to constitute all harmony, because he says (ch. iii, p. 20)
they and their derivatives suffice to accompany all the degrees of the
tonal formula with the harmonies drawn from these very chords* but some
1*
Daube, in giving the figured bass for the inversions, lists the
six-four-three as the first inversion and the fundamental seventh chord
as the third inversion^ (johann Friedrich Daube, Generalbass in drey
Accorden gegrflndet {^Leipzig * J. B. Andra, 1?56]r p. 17.)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
163
of the minor fifth and sixth on the leading tone? whence it follows that
the dissonance of the chord on the sixth degree has no possible resolu
tion. This fault, and the six-four chord on the dominant which deprives
this degree of its chord of repose, makes the harmonic formula of the
scale and many other things, under the mask of anonymity, in the second
volume of his Historisch-kritische Beytrfige zur Aufnahme der Muslk (p* 465).
chord on the fourth degree, because this harmony, derived from certain
Rameau and Sorge; nevertheless, in his book one finds some good modulatory
"L* «
Christoph Gottlieb Schroter, Deutliche Anwelsung zum Generalbass.
in bestandiger Veranderung des uns angebohmen harmonlschen Dreyklanges
mlt zulMngllchen Exempeln (Ealberstadti J. H. Gross, 1772).
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
16k
and in the calm of a small village. He had read everything which had been
published on this science, had analysed the work of his predecessors with
care, and had resumed his observations and analysis in a history of har
this interesting man had a moment of error in taking part in the discussion
the observations inserted by Marpurg into his Kritische Briefe, but later
he severed himself from the latter in the most important points of his
theory.
Schrflter establishes in the eighth chapter of his book (p. 38) that
there is only that perfect chord which exists by itself, and that all the
others are the products either of the inversion of this chord, or of the
substitution of the seventh for the octave for the formation of the
seventh on the second degree and the harmony which derives from it, or
Well then, here is a great step in the true theory, in that the
harmony of the minor seventh and those which derive from it are considered
in their real aspect, i.e., [as] a prolongation which retards the natural
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
165
isr he would have met with a great deal of embarrassment to find a satis
e.g., in the chord d-f-a-cr one will have d-f-a-b for a resolution, which
analysis did not dig so deeply— it stopped at the discovery of the fact
of retardement. One can not deny that this discovery is of great impor
tonality. This was the first blow raised at the false theory which had
ranked the seventh chord with a minor third in the same class of harmony
ing it as the product of the substitution of the seventh for the octave
which it is the generator, This is what Euler and Sorge saw so well.
and the nineteenth to the retardements of all natural and altered har
monies, In the latter the author gives proof of a great sagacity- Some
of his views are more advanced than the state of the art of his time, and
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
166
des muslciens, V, 341) that we have conceded too much to this theoreti
this work, because I was acquainted with neither Sorge's books nor that
of Schroter, and because the music historians who spoke about him had
not understood his merit. All the writers who have cited Kiraberger's
book Die wahren Grunds&tze zum Gebrauch der Harmonle (Les vrai nrlncipes
harmony to the perfect and the seventh chordsf even he, in the prefaces
its three tonal forms, namely, the perfect chord with the major third,
the same chord with the minor third, and lastly the chord of a minor
third and minor fifth (on the leading tone), so he considers the seventh
and the fifth are minor, as in b-d-f-a, or even whether the third and
only in the quality of the intervals, but the quality of the intervals
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
167
it from the retardation of the sixth in the chord of the sixth on the
same degree, derived from the chord of the minor third and minor fifthr
by virtue of what law and by what technique is this strange note introduced
into the chord? This is what he has not seen at allr and what he does not
ence. Indeed, this difficulty is the most extensive of all the rational
harmonists
tions in Germany wrote some harmony and basso continuo treatises during
the last part of the eighteenth century, but among them only one appears
forth his system. The author of this system was Abbe Vogler who, having
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
168
the progress of the school hy the new method entitled Betrachtungen der
the system’s lucidityf the obscurity of the doctrine and the incoherence
of Its elements were actually the faults for which the critics of the
and the Gazette musicale of Spire became the organ of a polemic on this
he made a course of his theory, a Handbuch zur Harmonielehre und fur den
his person have been the object, and of the accusations of charlatanism
which were hurled in his face. Whatever opinion one has of the doctrine
and writings of Vogler, one is deeply touched to see a man who has had
the glory of training in his school at Darmstadt the two most eminent
German musicians of the present time, Carl Maria von Weber and Meyerbeer,
obliged to debate the legitimacy of his claims for the respect of artists,
After this digression, which seemed necessary for those who do not know
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
169
other, he obtains the harmonic and diatonic intervals in the lower and
trumpet and horn, and the chromatic intervals in the higher notes.
Vogler also obtains the perfect major chord (c-e-g) from the
minor chord (g-b-flat-d), the chord of a minor third and minor fifth
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
170
this scale. Although he may be obliged to comply with usage and establish
note which does net seem to belong, every harmony which is foreign, may
action sets up the new key. It is true that, in the formation of this
those fixed by these tendencies, without affecting the ear by the dis
comfort which false intervals produce, because the ratios are no longer
the same. For example, the number seven, which gives the gravitational
dissonance of the fourth degree with the dominant, sets up a ratio which
can only exist between these two notes, following their functions which
of all exact theory, because it reduces the art and the science to a
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
171
fruitless.
Such was the last system of harmony which closed the eighteenth
century in Germany, and which was not at all a success, in spite of the
public teaching which its author did in several large cities. As for
an analysis of them because they contain more or less new views only in
detail, and only in what concerns more or less easy methods of teaching.
It is in this way that I have employed some of them for certain books of
the same kind published in France in the second half of the eighteenth
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
172
same category
a glance on what was done In Italy and England In the last part of the
eighteenth century.
only vague speculations which did not have any direct application in
practice. It was not the same with respect to a theory, both systematic
the pupils of this savant musician, was very different from those of
point of maturity when the author decided to publish it, but he had then
reached the age of 82 years, and death surprised him before he was able
to bring it to light. Only the first part was published under this
Ehe three other parts, unpublished to this day, were expected to deal
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
173
and to the system of harmony, if his pupil and successor, Sabbatinl, had
not made them known in his treatises of harmony3- and fugue*2 The first
Sabbatini's method was purely empirical| one must not search for
Sabbatini finds the perfect major chord on the tonic, the perfect minor
the minor third and minor fifth chord, which is made on the leading tone.
As far as this last chord is concerned, he has shown more sagacity than
well that this chord which responds to no tonal condition of the major
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
174
theorists have shown themselves less advanced on this points As for the
Rameau's doctrine *
not present the augmented fifth, diminished third, nor the other modified
employment of the intervals which are all assumed in this chromatic scale.
Thus the addition of a major third above the perfect major chord on tonic
gives him a major seventh chord (c-a-g-b) which he considers as the first
in order. Likewise, the addition of a minor third above the perfect minor
chord on the sixth degree creates a minor seventh chord (a-c-£-g). Prom
four-three, and second chords,3* Lastly, a major third added above the
1#
At no point does Sabbatini discuss "the chromatic scale as a true
scale," nor is the use of the augmented triad and diminished third triad
arbitrary. The augmented fifth and the diminished third triads or their
inversions are, like the diminished fifth triad, consonant harmony by
analogy, and are derived by chromatic alteration from a specific chord in
minor. The augmented fifth triad occurs on the mediant and precedes tonic
in a quasi dominant-like manner! the diminished third triad occurs on the
raised subdominant and precedes the dominant, (ibid., pp. 15-19 *)
2*
Sabbatini was obviously well-versed with Tartini1s Trattato, be
cause his precept for the formation of dissonant chords from consonant
chords (”. , . che non si dk, nk puo darsi posizione dissonants, se non
fondata sopra la posizione consonante" £p. 20]) is almost verbatim what
Tartini stated on page 77 of his treatise, (See p. 132, n. 2*.)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
175
minor third and minor fifth chord creates the leading-tone seventh chord
(b-d-f-a). Sabbatini says next (to vera idea delle musical! numerlche
segnature, art. v, p. 32) that there is another minor seventh chord which
is made on the fifth of the principal note of the key, and which is com
posed of a major thirdr just fifthr and minor seventh, as g-h-d-f. That,
he says, differs from the others in that it does not need to be prepared,
chords at this point throws the author of this system into a great con
fusion of ideas, and the logical order which we have seen with the
what is this seventh chord which exists outside of the system of practical
generation adopted by the author, which has different conditions for its
use, and which only resembles them by the necessity to resolve the
dissonance by descending?-*-* And how is it, that having found from practice
that this dissonant chord does not need preparation, Vallotti and Sabbatini
did not conclude from it that it was the constituent chord of tonality,
as well as the perfect major and minor chords? How, finally, is it that
contains the dissonance, since the parent chord is here standing on its
head." (Harpurg, Handbuch bey dem Generalbasse j^2d ed„j Berlin, 1762],
par. 44, p. 66.)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
176
seventh did not make them see that these chords had an origin other than
arise from this systemr hut I hasten to arrive at the singularities which
to the practice.
of the minor mode leads Vallotti and Sabbatini to the diminished seventh
chord f the same addition to the same chord with a chromatic or diminished
augmented chord gives rise to the major seventh chord with an augmented
fifth (c-e-g-sharp-b).^* All the harmonies derived from these chords are
modem school. But here is a new, unusual part, where the ear is offended
resolutions are made are always heard in the chord. Thus, in the perfect
chord c-e-g-c, where he even doubles the intervals, Sabbatini says when
one adds the ninth, so that the chord he presents is composed of c-e-g-
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
177
whose intervals are redoubled* the chord thus composed occurs in this
educated in the most perfect principles'— only by the spirit of the system,
and because he had not understood the technique of suspension which delays
chord is delayed, it can not be heard at the same time as the suspension*
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
173
proven to him that his so-called eleventh is only a fourthj this fourth
delays the third, and consequently the third and the fourth can not he
should have had £-f-g-c, delaying c-e-g-c j its derived harmonies would
in Italy, It [[the theory^ was special in that it alone had the pretension
of reforming the art of writing, because all the other systems had
hypotheses.
but outmoded tradition} it did not represent the actual state of the art.
In the eighteenth century England did not have any harmonic theorists
musicians were Germans, and the fifth was Italian, The first, Gottfried
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
179
Rameau, it was not his intent to make a system of harmony of his Methods
some rules for accompaniment, as the title of his book indicates.-*- There
Harmony,^ but this musician, also German by birth, does not seem to have
known the Tralte de 1'harmonle of the French theorist, and stuck to con
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
180
Kollmann, the last of the writers mentioned above , had come from
nature de cette science et les prlnclpes des auteurs les plus celebres*!
gaps in it, he borrowed some ideas from Marpurg, not knowing the contra
dictions which axe found between the doctrines of these two theorists*
Later he noticed the anomaly of the two systems which he had tried to
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
181
CHAPTER III
which created modem tonality and the first means of actual modulation*
years elapsed before one felt the need for new means of effects. It was
only towards the end of the seventeenth century that musicians began to
raising the sixth of a chord of the sixth on the sixth degree of the minor
leading tone. For example* the chord of the sixth on the sixth degree of
tion. Now let us suppose that the augmented sixth chord f-a-d-sharp is
lation will follow it since* following the law of tonality* the seventh
chord f-a-e-flat immediately defines the key of B-flat* being the dominant
of this key. Likewise* the harmony of the dominant seventh chord can be
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
182
changed Into that of the augmented sixth and consequently define a modu
surprise results, a feeling which did not exist in music prior to the
unknown until today to all theorists, whose unrecognized existence had been
the cause of so much bad reasoning and so many vain disputes f~sic!.
expression of the composer's audacity for a long time} in the first part
to the musicians who used them. Mozart was the first who, observing the
with a rare sagacity, and inserted them systematically into the dissonant
chords. From that time, he could not only insert a greater number of
dramatic accents into his songs, but also increase and vary the means of
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
183
alteration in the third of the minor fifth and sixth chord (commonly
it should be found in the melody, namely, in the upper voice. Now what
definitive theory) and the delay of some one of the natural notes of
the chords are joined! the attractions will multiply, and the means of
ducing there, through the means that I have just indicated, lots of new
1*
occurrences. The last expression of this course is that where the
"I
Fetis, in his Traite d 1harmonle, explores the concept of common
tone modulation, which he calls an "intuitive attraction," because
", . , musical sense compensates for this implied harmony at the moment
of the tonal change." (Bk, III, ch. iii, par. 270, pp. 180-81.)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
184
this problem* A note being given, find some combinations and some har
monic formulas so that it can be resolved in all of the keys and in their
most renowned professors of each branch of the art who taught, each
according to his ideas and his method, were brought together, because
there had not been time to prepare a main doctrine for a uniform education.
This is why Rudolph gave lessons according to his empirical method, stripped
completely of the capacity of analysis^ why Rey made his courses according
to the system of fundamental bassi why Langle developed the results of the
theory which we saw set forth previously, and why Berton, freed from every
was only some years later that this celebrated composer conceived his
p
family tree of chords sued the dictionary which is its outgrowth,
Martini, LeSeur, Mehul, Catel, Lacepede, Frony, and the professors who
have just been named^* was appointed to begin in 1801 with a view to
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
185
was the one that Catel published shortly afterwards under the title
dans cet etabllssement (Paris» 1802), The influence which the Con
what was better; this was the coup de grace given to Bameau's system,
and the destruction of the latter was proportionally more complete and
rapid because the remaining sectaries were excluded from public teaching
at this time.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
186
immediately a vogue which had been the reward of Bameau only after 30
which all of the others are contained" (p. 5)*^* What is thischord, and
and if we divide it in half, we find its octave Ql] j its thirdpart gives
the octave of its fifth fd]f its fifth the double octave of its third fbji
thus, from this division. This chord is that to which in practice the
(g-b-d), the perfect minor chord (d-f-a), the perfect diminished chord
(b-d-f), the dominant seventh chord (g-b-d-f), etc., and the leading-tone
chord to the third octave, ire., starting from the sound 1/8 [~grl« we
find the sounds l/lO, l/l2, l/l4, and l/l7, which produce the dominant
by inversion of the intervals we can obtain the natural chords like them,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
187
and which, the same as the fundamental ones, are attacked without
* 1*
preparation, as arising from the formation of tonality.
had no difficulty admitting the sound l/7 as the true f of a scale, and
the sound 1/9 as a, although these proportions are not those of geometri
cians for those notes, with the exception of Euler, whose memoir on the
. . (Fetis’ italics.)
establishes that all the harmonic combinations other than the former are
1*
All harmony having its origin in the first nine partials of the
monochord or sonorous body— perfect triads, dominant seventh or ninth,
and the half-diminished seventh— constitutes "natural or simple harmony"*
the dissonance does not have to be prepared.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
188
substitution which I will discuss later, Catel did not see it at all,
the analogy of the use of the diminished fifth chord (fifth and sixth
the search for the origin of the harmonies and of their analogy in the
If Catel had delved further into this consideration, he would have left
nothing for his successors to do, because he would have found the
some special cases, he knew the technique well in what concerns the
consonant chords and some of the dissonant chords. But the obstacle
against which some of the preceding theories had run aground still recurs
1♦
These harmonic combinations which are founded on the natural
chords Catel calls "artificial or composed harmony,”
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
189
expect, the minor seventh chord on the second degree and the harmonies
which derive from it* We have to recall that In the dominant major ninth
chord, produced by the division of the string, he found the perfect minor
chord, d-f-aj therefore this chord exists, for him, on the second degree
of the scale, although this Is not the one that Is located there In the
the seventh chord which it concerns. But more difficulties arise here:
(l) the perfect minor chord on the second degree does not belong to the
tonal* (2) Catel can only show this alleged origin of the seventh chord
theory ought to rest. (3) Lastly, the principle of the artificial con
degree| the application of this fundamental rule can not find its place
new dissonant six-five chord, d-f-a-b, which does not belong to the key,
and which would be that of the fourth degree of the relative minor key.
Catel understood this difficulty well, but not knowing how to get out of
it, and not having boon able to find the true origin of the chord, he had
recourse to this arbitrary rule whose falseness arises from itself, and
l*Catel uses five-parts only for the root position seventh chord,
and not for any of the inversions.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
190
If Catel’s views had heen more general, and if he had known the
borrowed from his precursors, or at least what was said only after them,
we will see that Sorge was the first to consider (in 17^5) consonant
harmony and the dominant seventh harmony as forming the class of natural
chords, but that the latter had been mistaken in classifying the minor
seventh chord on the second degree in the same class, while Catel had
not discover the nature of the device. Sorge also saw, however, that
some chords, notably those of the eleventh, of Rameau and Marpurg were
but Schroter (in 1772) is the first who saw the seventh chord on the
second degree is one of the chords of this class, although he could not
say how the prolongation was effected. Finally, Schroter was the first
who analyzed clearly the facts of the alteration of the intervals of the
natural chords and the new aspects which they give to these chords. If
Catel had had no knowledge of these author's books, he at least had only
to renew what they had already published. But what appertains to him in
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
191
particular is the view of the analogy of the major and minor dominant
ninth chords, leading-tone seventh, and diminished seventh with the domi
nant seventh chord. Also, it is the order which he had put in various
parts of the system and, lastly, the analysis of the facts of practice where
not astonished at the general success which his theory achieved in France
during the first 15 years of the nineteenth century* notice, on the con
backward step that Reicha and some other harmonists have tried to have
would like on his system, which is, in a way, only the reproduction of old
which had caused such great strides to be made in the science since Sorge,
dissonant chords, among which a certain number are primary, and the others
the products of alteration.^-* From the first few facts by Reicha in the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
192
iar facts, a fault quite singular with a man who had followed courses in
major and minor chords? the third is the perfect diminished chord (third
and ninth. What causes Reicha to rank this chord among the dissonant
the true dissonance, unless it takes the character of the leading tone
the augmented fifth? but here the confusion of the author's ideas of the
system come out already, because in the chapter where he deals with this
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
193
fifth.1*
the "first kind"; then comes the sixth chord, which is this chord of the
minor seventh with the minor third, object of so many errors for all the
kind," and limits himself to saying that this chord ", . .is employed
mainly on the second degree of a major scale" (p. 36), without further
and the major seventh or the fourth kind,3* the major ninth, and the
minor ninth are equally considered by him as primary chords of the same
rank, and although chords 11, 12, and 13 are only alterations of the
chords derived from the augmented sixth, with a fifth and with a fourth,
Such is the system which was very popular amongst some artists in
Paris, because the professor who invented it lived down its shortcomings
students. But that is, all the same, the least rational theory which it
3*0nly the seventh chords of the second, third, and fourth kind
need preparation; the first kind (dominant seventh) may be taken without
preparation because it determines tonic and is ", . . the most pleasant
of the dissonant chords after the diminished chord." (Reicha, [^Diabelli
edition], p. 41.)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
19^
century* This system annuls the good that Catel's method had done in
France, and opens the door again to a multitude of false theories which
had been produced in this country and elsewhere for some years. Propor
in other parts of the art, it calls into question again what was decided
the destruction of the science, if it had not found in its path a theory
which averted the harm which Reicha's false system could have produced.
those which France had seen bora in the firs'. 20 years of the nineteenth
century, because these are the ones which were most successfulj it remains
for me to speak of some tentative facts, about the same time, in order to
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
195
with haughtiness, and in various works'** which have not heen popularly
received.
note scale with b-flat and b-natural, does not think to consider the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
196
the two semitones in the Beven notes without resorting to the repetition
of the first at the octave, divide the scale into t~'o just fourthsr and
have the semitones in the same place in these fourths» because one of
the most severe objections of de Momigny against the scale form com
mencing on tonic bears on the major fourth or tritone, which the fourth
and the seventh note create between them, not noticing that it is
respect, he exposes them with a great deal less clarity. In this way,
the sole natural chords. But as for the others, in lieu of explaining
what devices create them, he declares them "chords which are not," and
Moreover, nearly all of the examples which he gives of the use of chords
are poorly written, and prove that this author had only confused notions
of harmonic usage.
Balliere, and Jamard, the transfer of his fundamental tone of the scale
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
197
to the dominant from Sorge, the division of the string from Catel, in
order to form the natural chords from bangle, and the progressions of
fourths and fifths for the formation of scales from Abbe Roussier*
Really, everything belongs to the one who raised his voice so high for
who did not fall to notice the justness concerning measure and rhythm,
barren efforts could not revive a theory whose mission had ceased* I will
There is more merit in the book which G* L* Chretien published under the
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
198
intervals are false, he says, because the mono chord and the calculations
can only have a force of inertia* and not a generant force. The monochord
and the calculations can serve to measure and verify the justness of the
intervals, but they would not know how to generate either a scale or a
and one can ccnsider [it] as new, although it is only a positive expression
scale and this harmony, object of his quests} his enthusiasm for the
phenomenon of harmonic resonance does not allow him to see that this
phenomenon can not be more than the division of a string, the principle
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
199
Chretien,
There is only one chord, the perfect major chord, produced by the
unique chord by lowering, with the consent of the ear, the third a
semitone,
The perfect major chord, dissonant from the seventh, produces the
dominant seventh.
The perfect major chord, dissonant from the sixth, produces the
The perfect minor chord, dissonant from the sixth, produces the
it. It is thus that the dominant seventh, arising from the dissonance
added to the perfect major chord, being altered in its lower note, gives
that all the harmonies of the six preceding chords are formed, regardless
Chretien did not learn that there are some sonorous bodies which utter, in
the midst of all their resonances, the perfect minor chord} that there are
others which give the constitutive interval of the dominant harmony, and
even the altered harmonies, Vith this help, he might have greatly
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
200
However that may he* in the state where he left it, there is only
the perfect major chord in nature. But the perfect major chord, c-e-g,
gives only three notes of the scale, and Chretien taught us that we have
to find the diatonic scale in the means which nature offers us* This
difficulty did not stop him for long, because^ having need of the perfect
major chord of the tonic, fourth degree, and dominant in order to form
bodies of which one gives £-£-£, Mother f-a-c, and the third g-b-df
perfect major chord, since in f-a-c the third, a-c, is foundj it is only
necessary to add the fifth, e, originating from the perfect chord c-e-g,
these combinations the types of modes, major and minor. Such are the
consequences where one can arrive with a strong faith in any one fact,
not attribute any particular theory to him, because his opinions have
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
201
/ | p
d*accompagaement des ecoles d1Italle to his Manuel de Muslque, namely,
had job before the printing of his work was complete and stopping publica
tion! lastly, returning to Marpurg* c false theory towards the end of his
life and making it the basis for his Manuel de muslque. although he also
and extended notes. This is what was Choron’s career in the theory of
harmony. Doubt had thus tormented his mind with regard to the existence
of a complete and rational system of harmony, and his works are, in a way,
matter, there are few which merit a place in the history of progress and
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
202
chord, (b-d-f)| the ninth chord, g-b-d-f-a, from which he obtains the
lead*ng-tone seventh (b-d-f-a) and the perfect minor chord (d-f-a)j the
from which he obtains the major seventh chord (f-a-c-£). The chromatic
harmony are the books of Preindl,^ cantor of St. Stephens in Vienna, and
chords are all considered individually, can only be ranked in the class
of practical manuals.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
203
composer* Now* there is a theoryr a false theory to tell the truths whose
origin is found in the hooks of Vogler and which Gottfried Weber had
perfect chord and the seventh chord are made on each of the notes of the
scale where they are present! as far as the nature of their intervals*
they conform to the construction of the key and mode* having* because of
the note where they are placed, either a major or minor third* either a
the same for the ninth chord* and it is only a question* in order to
I have just mentioned the name Gottfried Veher* whose system caused
considerable stir in Germany for about 15 years, and has been nearly
abandoned today. The work* which he published in 1817, has Essal d*une
such that it was necessary to make other editions in a few years* We have
just seen from what angle the chords were considered* but what distin
guishes Weber’s book from all those of the same kind is the care which the
other one* declaring that he does not believe in the existence of a system
with which all the facts of the harmonic experience would agree*^# so
Weber believes that the musical art is not suited for a systematic
establishment! he labels his theory geordneten to avoid ", * . the pompous
title of system” (p, xiii), Furthermore Weber contends that any "system"
which resorts to categories called "exceptions* licences* ellipses* etc."
to explain incongruent phenomena is very pretentious and rendered vulner
able. (Weber, Versuch einer geordneten Theorie der Tonsetzkunst [[4 vols.,
2d ed*f Mainz? Schott. 1824_J. I. xiii*)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
204
thatr according to him, the hest work concerning harmony is that one
which contains the greatest number of these facts in the analysis! thus
was possible in his book. This erudite was not aware that his thesis
took the science back to whet it was in the time of Heinichen and
Mattheson, and that by thus undermining the faith of his readers in the
itselfi for what would a science be, if it were composed only of isolated
his own, and the swift reaction which took the Germans from admiration to
Now this long analysis of what has been done since the commencement
it, we find that all the systems have had one of the six methods from
of the horn or the trumpet! (3) the triple progression! (4) the division
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
205
all the degreeb of the scale* Therefore, it is evident that all these
systems more or less derive from sources which are not tied Intimately
certain point to adjust this art to the strange principle which was
given to it*
The only thing which we have not thought of directly is the quest
But what is "tonality"? However foolish this question may seemingly be,
order in which the sounds of the scale are placed, in their respective
the circumstances which modify theJi, and the laws of their succession
are the necessary results of this tonality. Change the order of the
ships will be destroyed. For example, try to apply our harmony to the
higher than in our scale of the same genre, and is only separated from
the fifth note by a semitone, so that the attraction which exists between
the fourth note and the seventh of our harmonic scale and constitutes the
dominant harmony here is between the tonic and the fourth degree, and
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
206
slntilar to that of our minor mode in a minor scale whose sixth degree is
higher than ours by a semitone, and which does not have the seventh note?
Irish airs which have been published in the anthologies of national airs
are in the major mode, or belong to modern times, which has allowedthem
and those of the Gaelic countries, whi^h- moreover, are often accompanied
at the octave or with a pedal, because their tonal character does not
character that we notice in these airs does not result from the whim of
their composers, but from the scale which they have used.
harmonic facts which results from the disposition of the distances of the
sounds in our major and minor scales| if only one of these distances was
inverted, the tonality would assume another character, and all the differ
of repose which does not exist at all in the others, and to designate
these notes as the terminal points of cadences, i.e», the perfect chordj
such are the tonic, fourth, fifth, and sixth degrees. This deprives the
excludes the perfect chord from them. (2) It assigns to the relation of
the fourth and seventh degree a resolutory attraction which gives the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
207
modulation! for there 1 b no middle course for the harmony of the dominant-—
which forbid the immediate successions of fifths and major thirds are
ing or descending, and two major thirds have the disadvantage of putting
two tones which have no analogy between them in immediate touch. All of
this, I repeat, derives necessarily from the form of the major and minor
But, we ask, what is the principle of these scales and what has
in order to place in a scale the bases of the pleasure intended for our
for the secret cause of this organization of tonality made for our use!
have the import that one thoughtlessly accords them. For example* the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
208
phenomena* Mr. Troupenas has shown (Revue muslcale„ XII, 125) that the
square metal plats struck on one of its comers is no different from the
whereas the vibration in the direction of one of the sides of this plate
all, the possible harmonies to our systemj are we to conclude that these
5*0X6 , when Monteverdi found the dominant harmony which changed the
character of music and constituted our tonality in major and minor modes,
always uniform, whatever the key may be, the existence of the diagonal
vibration of the plate was nought for him and was determined only by his
did not create the fact, but discovered it, and the principle which guided
of the horn and the trumpet, which coincides with the arithmetical pro
is not ours, and we have seen what Levens, Balliere, and Jamard were able
to do with it.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
209
as Catel and de Momigny have done? It contains the harmony of the natural
chords, but by stopping at the latter, one has neither all the tones of
c-e, as Schicht has done| but then the natural and artificial chords will
can not lead to the formation of a scale. Moreover, had the acoustical
phenomena and the calculation given the elements of our tonality, they
would not at all provide the order in which they must be ranked in order
to compose this tonality, and we have seen that this is where the radical
difficulty resides.
deceptive, that they have misled all those who have taken them as a point
which measures them and deduces their results. After so many centuries
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
210
tonal construction which does not belong to them, and that the Aris-
comparison which it does not have* The ear perceives the sounds) the
This laid down, the science of harmony is all done, because this
Tonic appears through the absolute feeling of repose which is felt there,
tonic.
The fourth degree of the scale, the fifth, and the sixth are also
subordinate cadences with which these notes are provided) the consonant
harmony, i.e., the perfect chord, then also forms a part of them. These
harmonies conforming to the key and the mode are major or minor because
of the natural state of the notes. The third and the seventh degree,
which are separated only by a semitone from their upper notes and because
repose, nor consequently support the harmony of a perfect chord which has
has only a character of equivocal repose; thus it happens that the harmony
of the perfect chord does not belong to it in the ascending and descending
1*
A "progression" is a sequential pattern.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
211
harmonic series of the scale, and that this note is accompanied in the
discovery, admitted into all the systems of harmony, the other natural
harmonies derive from the former through the inversion of the intervals
With the natural fundamental and derived harmony, all the harmonic
other harmonic groups which can affect the ear are only the modifications
variety of sensations for their aimj on the other hand, they establish a
greater number of relationships between the various keys and modes. The
takes the place of the dominant, Thus, when the seventh chord is written
part, i.e., the sixth degree for the dominant, one has the dominant ninth
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
212
1#
chord, which,conforming to the mod*, is major or minor. If a similar
major mode, the leadlng-tone seventh (b-d-f-a) and the diminished seventh
chord (b-d-f-a-flat) in the minor mode. It is the same with all the other
derivatives. What shows the analogy of the chords and the origin of their
Catel indeed saw this identity and ascertained the facts of the substitu
tion of a chord in his analogy, but he did not know the technique of the
the demonstration of the origin of certain other chords which have been
a step can be prolonged into the following chord, where it delays the
produces a nine-five-three chord; that that one which delays the third
over, in this way that the retardation of the third of a seventh chord
^*For details, see Fetis, Tralte d'harmonle, Bk, II, ch. vi,
pp. 59-76,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
213
Notice that in the seventh chord and its derivatives, it is always the
tonic which delays the seventh note. Except for substitution, retardation
does not change the destination of the natural chords, and the use of the
tion from the dominant seventh chord, [[See Example 1, p. 214,3 Fbr that
Thus, such is the origin of these seventh chords of the second degree,
of the fifth and sixth, etc., an origin which has been the stumbling
block of all the theories of harmony, because their authors did not
of chords.
1*
Ibid,, ch, vii, pp- 78-89.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
214
'Tf
HE
£ iS
T
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
215
multiple affinities result, which put all the keys and their modes in
have just indicated by the name ordre omnitonlque. and furnish the
and the harmonic-formulas such that it can be resolved into every kejr
and into their various modes. They also generate a great number of
new chords not yet employed by composers, and whose form, destination,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
216
the notes of the chord which ought to follow it} this device is always
Passing notes are those which, too rapid or of very little meaning
these shapes. The ear accepts the usage of these particular expletives
second and descend a third, to rise a fourth and descend a fifth, etc.
the same chords which accompanied the first. There are some of these
these last, the mind suspends any idea of tonality and of conclusion until
the final cadence, so that the scale degrees lose their tonal character,
the ear being preoccupied only with the analogy of movement. It follows
second and descends a third, one will alternately put the perfect chord
and the chord of the sixth on each of the notes} whence it will happen
that the perfect choixL, being placed on the seventh degree, will have a
For "sequence" the French use the term marches de basse} each
recurrence of the sequential pattern (modele) is a progression.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
217
one will place the seventh chord on each of the degrees, and it will
happen from this similarity of movements and of harmony, that the chord
major seventh on the fourth degree and on the tonic| of a minor third,
just fifth, and minor seventh on the third degree and on the sixth. Such
the perfect chord and the seventh chord on each note of the scale,
although actually such a use of these chords would destroy any sense of
expression of the art and the science) it is complete and nothing can be
SchrSter, Kirnberger, and Catel found the first elements, and I have
invincibly is at the same time the history of the progress of the art
^Now in press.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
APPENDIX
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
219
Appendix A
refute the ideas which I have expressed on the origin of our tonality in
Music, and of which the resumes have appeared in the Menestrel (issues of
is only one of the small aspects of the problem which I have dealt with,
I accept the debate on the narrow ground that it has pleased Fetis to
These arguments, according to what Fetis says, are not new) I know
nothing of them. Certainly his are no longer new, :nd I do not know that
discussion?
Monteverdi, yes or no, is the oldest composer with whom one finds
the dominant seventh in a form other than that of syncopation? Fetis says
First objection. The constant use, from the twelfth to the seven
1*
Illegible printing.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
220
This assimilation is not admitted "by my opponent, who sees in the aggre
gation d-f-b only a simple sixth chord, insignificant from the tonal
chord which contains the tritone, the famous dlaholus in muslca of the
suppose that he excludes from his appeal the greater part of harmonic
theorists who, on this point, completely agree with me. Among those
Reicha (Cours de composition musicale, p, 33) and Marx (Die Lehre von
but it is not unreasonable to suppose that I would find in them still more
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
221
I know particularly well his Traite d'harmonle, but I have been unable to
curious, I admit, to see this succession explained with only the technique
for the period of classic counterpoint. I could have added some othersf
I even could have cited a number of examples where this famous chord is
But it was not part of my plan to examine all the compositions of the
estimation.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
222
before all the village of Florence, the intellectual and artistic center
of It-^xy, would these works have remained unknown to Monteverdi? Did not
Caccini say explicitly that a long time prior to the publication of his
work, his airs and madrigals were performed continually by the famous
Italian singers and cantatrices, and that all the composers had adopted
his style? And the publication of Nuove Muslche, was it not precisely
for the purpose of giving an exact version of these songs which had
the Florentine monodists, then he should take the trouble to re-read the
famous letter of Pietro della Valle and some passages from Doni (among
others chapter ix of Trattato della muslca scenica)j he will see what was
the opinion of some contemporaries in this respect. And not only in Italy
the north of Europe. The pretty melody "Amarilli mia bella" had become
popular in Holland in the time of the venerable poet Catsj so that one
could be convinced of this, examine one of his songs composed about I63O
(Alle de Wercken van Jacob Cats [^Zwolle, 1862], I, 629)* The same melody
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
223
them | on the other hand, monody was a genre unduly disdained hy Artusi
because they took the trouble to remove the infractions of the established
rules. . . .
do not wish to raise altar against altar, to set Caccini against Monte
not imitate Fetis when he says of this hero "that he [[Monteverdi] was
the only genius from the end of the sixteenth century to the first half
Grumpelzhaimer, Hans Leo Hassler, Peri) and why he takes away from these
universelle.
Farther on, we read that "it is to Monteverdi that we owe the first
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
22k
Now that I have replied nearly line by line to Fetis' note, let
him permit me to address a question for him. Why has he limited himself
conclusions, sfhich contradict much more severly his historic plan than
the more because I have carefully repeated these conclusions in the last
part of my work.
altered in its essential elements from St. Gregory until the eve of the
(always by the tenets of his system) the gradual fusion of the two major
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
225
how this chord, according to him, the cause, the direct agent of the
completely for a half a century, just at the moment when its presence is
most necessary f slcl, When nothing more remains of everything which I have
that our tonality, this musical atmosphere which we hreathe, this mold
when this essentially impersonal thing is the work of a single man, then
fact, and one without analogies in the annals of the human mind. Then,
just value.
to aspire for myself the title of historian. I aspire only to the more
of our art, my goal has been only to Inform my colleagues of the positive
works too little knownf never have I drawn publicity to these attempts,
all dispute, set forth only the facts which I have examined myself| to
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
226
to hold in esteem the opinions of others; and above all, always never to
assume with my contradictors a motive other than the simple love of the
truth.
F*-A. Gevaert
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Appendix B
1 lii
w
T~
l m
— i----------
rf -f j
ij n1
i—
=l== ,i ,j
p nr~.. = H = F #
... CJ 11
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
228
/ fj jymm
j ' r ...■
... f 1
....
— —
~
_F
1
----------- r------
.... - =J=*=
r
lr-"t'"w------
m f f P a
T—
-a-°~
“H ---- s r C -----
- - r f
a---
. . . - f -
rJ j
-=— 0—
-
a ----------a
1 —
rfr J j } |
* * a ----- f- —
-y—------------
Dt n
i g p U
^ ... —
■H -i=j
------
l a ------------------
|"P""g ? -------- p ---- r------------
b
—
* p-—
— “7*— 4P \H
t r iF = " b ------------------
Hr. W ■ ■ - ------ ■ *— .—
n : L ■ —. ■h— -fl-
-e— —
i
0-.. ti- = * = = = = -
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
229
i= -■
= i 1 i 1^
|ju
W* JI c ... flj
■■— =
"1--- a---4-u--- ----d —a— i —-8--------- -----
^— p-‘flan— —---ar ~d----------- p-“H
n*------------
rr ■=$=---------- f
( L "H------- a---- ~f' .1^.......
W • • -----
A ...
, -ft--... -j -=---- A
JLb----- :---------- P------- _a----
-------y-------
la ------
v "
ll, I 11 i p4= ------ r a— 4-
pftr-d:..J
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
vft u O '— jrv — ... t t—-- ---------- «■ "
y r rra ^ -4— 4*
... • ""4 iff *" '
Uj...,a „9— — .." r - —
P t ----- B--------=-----
W f i
m■ : # .j i
—,—" ---------- „£ :—4.
o
J¥=
— -------------- a----------
m — — ■■ - ..4 z
* 1— ■■ — -<— • --------------
\ z—
-v 1 16 A
O il0 .... 1
1" f "
JL±------------ \--------------
-* ■ 4 " A f IT - -fir----------------
-H-----------------
S
*
--------- —---- ■ 0
— f
~h
f .........
4—1
& a—? P a:: -a------**-----n— 4
rr’—srdr — 1 J 1 p— «
o »,d, ■■
<
8 *
ASF5
Jf b" -------------f*—
______ 1------- *-- i . . a... c l- 4 4 -----------
S 1 n f rir1
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
232
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sources
Bridge* Sir £john] Fredericks Twelve Good Musicians? From John Bull to
Henry Purcell. London* Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co.,
Ltd.* n.d.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
233
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
234
Lescurel, Jehannot de. The Works of Jehan de Lescurel. Edited from the
manuscript Paris, B.N., f. fr. lk6 by Nigel Wilkins, n.p.,
American Institute of Musicology, 1966.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
235
Reese, Gustave, Music in the Middle Ages. New York* W» W. Norton and
Co ,, Inc .^"^9^0 ,
______ . Music in the Renaissance. Rev, ed. New York* W, W, Norton and
Co., Inc., 1959.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
236
______ , Traktat uber die Muslk gemass der wahren Wlssenschaft von der
Harmonie. ttbersetz un erlautert von Alfred Rubeli* DSsseldorf*
Gesellschaft sur FSrderung der systematischen Musikwissenchaft e.
V., 1966.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
237
Articles
Pepusch, John Christoph. "Of the various Genera and Species of Music
among the Ancients, with some Observations concerning their
Scale." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London,
XLIV (1746), 266-74,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
238
Prony, Baron Gaspard Riche de, "Du rapport fait a 1 ’academic des sciences
sur cet ovrage," Prlnclpes de milodle et d*harmonic deduits de la
theorle des vibrations, Baron Blein, Paris, 1838,
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
INDEX
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
240
INDEX
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
24l
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
242
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Vogler, Abbe, Tonwlssenschaft und
Tonsetzkunst, 167-71» 203» 217
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
VITA
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.