Although disallowed in subsequent eras, this sonority only expands the modern composer's palette if used judiciously Most of western music, from the days of Vivaldi, Bach, Beethoven, Ellington, Parker, Gershwin to todays songwriters is based on "tertian" harmony. Derived from one of the earliest forms of Western music, organum uses parallel fourths, fifths, and octaves to reinforce its modal melodies. An approach often observed regarding voice leading in pieces that employ quartal harmony is the somewhat archaic use of parallel perfect intervals. Once again, rather than choosing one system over another, composers have taken a more inclusive approach, allowing for both languages to co-exist within the confines of a single work. The sharing of sonorities between the tertian and quartal harmonic realms carries over to the often ambivalent articulation of tonal and modal structures. ![]() In addition, the use of a minor seventh over the tonic implies a flatted seventh scale degree in the key - a modal influence over a tonal one. As such, the intervals of the major second, perfect fourth, and minor seventh all can be considered consonances intervals that no longer need resolution. If one rotates a series of stacked fourths over the tonic in C (C, F, and Bb) one notices that also inherent in the combination is the minor seventh/major second (C to Bb). Instead, they re-examined the concepts of consonance vs. Some of the first prominent composers to write pieces implementing quartal concepts, such as Hugo Distler, Arnold Schönberg, and Paul Hindemith, rarely simply stacked perfect fourths on top of one another (an exception would be Schönberg's Chamber Symphony Op. However, in practice (and in the literature) it is more of an augmentation of the tertian vocabulary, not a substitution. Justin Henry Rubin © 2005 Many young composers are under the impression that since tertian harmony is based on thirds, that quartal harmony is a replacement, being based on fourths.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |