Microtonal music: Difference between revisions
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The earliest music of which a written record exists anywhere on earth appears to be the [[Hurrian|Hurrian]] Hymn (Fink 1988; Dumbrill 2000). The clay tablets were discovered in the ancient city of [[Ugarit|Ugarit]] on the Mediterranean coast of [[Syria|Syria]]. The first modern recording of this music was made by Anne Draffkorn Kilmer and Richard L. Crocker in 1976 (Kilmer, Crocker, and Brown 1976). This music may have been microtonal, even though, while interpretation of many aspects of the Hurrian records has been disputed (West 1994), expert opinion overwhelmingly favors some variety of diatonic, Pythagorean tuning (Duchesne-Guillemin 1975, 1977, 1980, 1984; Kilmer 1965, 1971, 1974, 1976; Vitale 1982; West 1994; Wulstan 1968). | The earliest music of which a written record exists anywhere on earth appears to be the [[Hurrian|Hurrian]] Hymn (Fink 1988; Dumbrill 2000). The clay tablets were discovered in the ancient city of [[Ugarit|Ugarit]] on the Mediterranean coast of [[Syria|Syria]]. The first modern recording of this music was made by Anne Draffkorn Kilmer and Richard L. Crocker in 1976 (Kilmer, Crocker, and Brown 1976). This music may have been microtonal, even though, while interpretation of many aspects of the Hurrian records has been disputed (West 1994), expert opinion overwhelmingly favors some variety of diatonic, Pythagorean tuning (Duchesne-Guillemin 1975, 1977, 1980, 1984; Kilmer 1965, 1971, 1974, 1976; Vitale 1982; West 1994; Wulstan 1968). | ||
The Hellenic civilizations of ancient Greece also left fragmentary records of their music—c.f., the [[ | The Hellenic civilizations of ancient Greece also left fragmentary records of their music—c.f., the [[Delphic Hymn]]s. The ancient Greeks approached the creation of different musical intervals and modes by dividing and combining [[tetrachord]]s, recognizing three genera of tetrachords: the enharmonic, the chromatic, and the diatonic. Ancient Greek intervals were of many different sizes, including microtones. The enharmonic genus in particular featured intervals of a distinctly "microtonal" nature, which were sometimes smaller than 50 [[Cent_(music)|cents]], less than half of the contemporary Western [[semitone|semitone]] of 100 cents. In the ancient Greek enharmonic genus, the tetrachord contained a semitone of varying sizes (approximately 100 cents) divided into two such smaller, microtonal, intervals; in conjunction with a larger interval of roughly 400 cents, these intervals comprised the perfect fourth (approximately 498 cents, or the ratio of 4/3 in [[Just_intonation|just intonation]]) (West 1992, 160–72). | ||
[[Joel_Mandelbaum|Joel Mandelbaum]] has argued in his PhD thesis that scholarship done on the [[Antiphonary_of_St._Benigne,_Dijon|Antiphonarium Codex Montpellier]] suggests that it records microtonal tunings, probably the Greek enharmonic (Mandelbaum 1961). In his opinion, this indicates that microtonal tunings survived and were commonly used late into the medieval period. | [[Joel_Mandelbaum|Joel Mandelbaum]] has argued in his PhD thesis that scholarship done on the [[Antiphonary_of_St._Benigne,_Dijon|Antiphonarium Codex Montpellier]] suggests that it records microtonal tunings, probably the Greek enharmonic (Mandelbaum 1961). In his opinion, this indicates that microtonal tunings survived and were commonly used late into the medieval period. | ||
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[[Jacques_Fromental_Halévy|Jacques Fromental Halévy]] composed a quarter-tone work for soli, choir and orchestra "Prométhée enchaîné" in 1849, and European composers produced an ever-increasing number of microtonal compositions as the 19th century waned and the 20th century began.<tt>Citation needed|date=March 2010</tt> | [[Jacques_Fromental_Halévy|Jacques Fromental Halévy]] composed a quarter-tone work for soli, choir and orchestra "Prométhée enchaîné" in 1849, and European composers produced an ever-increasing number of microtonal compositions as the 19th century waned and the 20th century began.<tt>Citation needed|date=March 2010</tt> | ||
By the 1910s and 1920s, a fad emerged for [[ | By the 1910s and 1920s, a fad emerged for [[quarter tone]]s ([[24edo|24edo]]), inspiring composers as [[Charles_Ives|Charles Ives]], [[Julián_Carrillo|Julián Carrillo]], [[Alois_Hába|Alois Hába]], [[Ivan_Wyschnegradsky|Ivan Wyschnegradsky]], and [[Mildred_Couper|Mildred Couper]]. Such was the popularity of 24 equal during the late teens and 1920s, for example, that [[Erwin_Schulhoff|Erwin Schulhoff]] gave classes in quarter-tone composition at the [[Prague_Conservatory|Prague Conservatory]].<tt>Citation needed|date=March 2010</tt> [[Béla_Bartók|Béla Bartók]] came late, and only sporadically, to quartertones (e.g. in his Sonata for violin solo, which uses quarter tones in an essential manner). | ||
[[Alexander_John_Ellis|Alexander John Ellis]], who in the 1880s produced a translation with extensive footnotes and appendices to Helmholtz's ''On the Sensations of Tone'', proposed an elaborate set of exotic just intonation tunings and non-harmonic tunings (Helmholtz 1885, 514–27). Ellis also studied the tunings of non-Western cultures and, in a report to the Royal Society, determined that they did not use either equal divisions of the octave or just intonation intervals (Ellis 1884). Ellis inspired [[Harry_Partch|Harry Partch]] immensely (Partch 1979, vii). | [[Alexander_John_Ellis|Alexander John Ellis]], who in the 1880s produced a translation with extensive footnotes and appendices to Helmholtz's ''On the Sensations of Tone'', proposed an elaborate set of exotic just intonation tunings and non-harmonic tunings (Helmholtz 1885, 514–27). Ellis also studied the tunings of non-Western cultures and, in a report to the Royal Society, determined that they did not use either equal divisions of the octave or just intonation intervals (Ellis 1884). Ellis inspired [[Harry_Partch|Harry Partch]] immensely (Partch 1979, vii). | ||
During the Exposition Universelle of 1889, [[Claude_Debussy|Claude Debussy]] heard a Balinese gamelan performance and was exposed to their non-Western tunings and rhythms. Some scholars have ascribed Debussy's subsequent innovative use of the whole-tone (6 equal pitches per octave) tuning in such compositions as the ''Fantaisie'' for piano and orchestra and the Toccata from the suite ''Pour le piano'' to his exposure to the Balinese gamelan at the Paris exposition (Lesure 2001), and have asserted his rebellion at this time "against the rule of equal temperament" and that the gamelan gave him "the confidence to embark (after the 1900 world exhibition) on his fully characteristic mature piano works, with their many bell- and gong-like sonorities and brilliant exploitation of the piano’s natural resonance" (Howat 2001). Still others have argued that Debussy's works like ''L'Isle joyeuse'', ''La Cathédrale engloutie'', ''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune'', ''La Mer'', ''Pagodes'', ''Danseuses de Delphes'', and ''Cloches à travers les feuilles'' are marked by a more basic interest in the microtonal intervals found between the higher members of the | During the Exposition Universelle of 1889, [[Claude_Debussy|Claude Debussy]] heard a Balinese gamelan performance and was exposed to their non-Western tunings and rhythms. Some scholars have ascribed Debussy's subsequent innovative use of the whole-tone (6 equal pitches per octave) tuning in such compositions as the ''Fantaisie'' for piano and orchestra and the Toccata from the suite ''Pour le piano'' to his exposure to the Balinese gamelan at the Paris exposition (Lesure 2001), and have asserted his rebellion at this time "against the rule of equal temperament" and that the gamelan gave him "the confidence to embark (after the 1900 world exhibition) on his fully characteristic mature piano works, with their many bell- and gong-like sonorities and brilliant exploitation of the piano’s natural resonance" (Howat 2001). Still others have argued that Debussy's works like ''L'Isle joyeuse'', ''La Cathédrale engloutie'', ''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune'', ''La Mer'', ''Pagodes'', ''Danseuses de Delphes'', and ''Cloches à travers les feuilles'' are marked by a more basic interest in the microtonal intervals found between the higher members of the harmonic series, under the influence of [[Hermann_Helmholtz|Hermann Helmholtz]]'s writings (Don 1991, 69 ''et passim''). Berliner's introduction of the phonograph in the 1890s allowed much non-Western music to be recorded and heard by Western composers, further spurring the use of non-12-equal tunings. | ||
While experimenting with his violin in 1895, [[Julian_Carrillo|Julian Carrillo]] (1875–1965) discovered the sixteenths of tone, i.e., sixteen clearly different sounds between the pitches of G and A emitted by the fourth violin string. He named his discovery ''[[Sonido_13|Sonido 13]]'' (the thirteenth sound) and wrote on music theory and the physics of music. He invented a simple numerical musical notation that can represent scales based on any division of the octave, like thirds, fourths, quarters, fifths, sixths, sevenths, and so on (even if Carrillo wrote, most of the time, for quarters, eights, and sixteenths combined, the notation is able to represent any imaginable subdivision). He invented new musical instruments, and adapted others to produce microintervals. He composed a large amount of microtonal music and recorded about 30 of his compositions. | While experimenting with his violin in 1895, [[Julian_Carrillo|Julian Carrillo]] (1875–1965) discovered the sixteenths of tone, i.e., sixteen clearly different sounds between the pitches of G and A emitted by the fourth violin string. He named his discovery ''[[Sonido_13|Sonido 13]]'' (the thirteenth sound) and wrote on music theory and the physics of music. He invented a simple numerical musical notation that can represent scales based on any division of the octave, like thirds, fourths, quarters, fifths, sixths, sevenths, and so on (even if Carrillo wrote, most of the time, for quarters, eights, and sixteenths combined, the notation is able to represent any imaginable subdivision). He invented new musical instruments, and adapted others to produce microintervals. He composed a large amount of microtonal music and recorded about 30 of his compositions. | ||