by THE SAME AUTHOR COUNTERPOINT Amott admirable Bookie Bla (Ober) * A sy of mn which rer example cme rom fe oe TAN aye reader tit No wonder ha ben a sc ety a bck bad been saab in Our young days Tee eRe eyed! The Mice Teche ORCHESTRATION 1 cam ny without the sight doubt that he main pr te TL SERRE Ranta Si ara away beer than soyching RoR om ttre dan Bea ean tin latent “Pit rate—allitays ha such pati wae SEAS lf se race 1 paca ee wie valuable addon tothe Moray of works this eject The ca at aco desop what inal he at {ae ee ec hs token ames naan Trini" Gado J “Myon ae hi ein dal “rough many volume wie esaned wading The auto cto, anger oe et, chia od Se a he caps woo td facing “eepol Pet "tie Mane Tack 1 yale to the HARMONY by WALTER PISTON VICTOR GOLLANCZ LTDone 4 eve en ih W. Nara CI Musical Mstrations drawn by MARIO. CARMOSINO \ | CONTE erannuction ' Fi scauss aso nerenvats ' YA. twas 1 GG. ranmoste procression 7 Jae rosnury Axo Mooatiry 29 | Ane asec nuerme 4 fp The, HARMONIC STRUCTURE OF THE PHRASE 36 § Ape manasosnzarion oF 4 GWEN PAR & SB moovrarion: ” | 9, coms oF tue sixmi—rie ricuneD mass 8 } an. rue stx-rour cuore nT || 12. capexces Bs 13, THe ponarsar sevennit coro 8 | aq secoxpany noseneasrs 150 15, mazcuLan RESOLUTIONS 13 ( 16. THE DIMINISHED suvENTH CHORD 76 {) ipa ae eeconrere nayon sor 189 | ig. tue sequence ait 20. NONDOMINANT HARMONY—SEVENTH CHORDS 235, 21, NINTH, ELEVENTH, AND THURTEENTH CHORDS 239 22. THE RAIED SUPEATONIC AND SUBMEDIANT 385vi CONTENTS 230 THE NEAPOLITAN SETHE 6s 28 305 307 sat INTRODUCTION Gist important cp in the sy of harmony is hat of iantying the purpore of wach sly. Much conion ex fas today as why we sy uscal theory and what See hou expect co ein fm Un che preset wre’ teaching {he confasion of eulok furihe the gommones and Fete ris ober progres inal branches afi thecy. MThere are thse wo comer tat aie in harmony, counter Bos and fugue ae the cxciive prvine ofthe incended co Poser Bot if we reflect that theory mus follow practice, rarely tence by chance, west reaze hat sal theory Wipe ate of aiectios for composing asc Weis rather the col Tested and sysematzd dots gutted by obyereing the prac Hs of composes ovr ong tine, snd acempesto wet foch what hus been their ornon pace Ir cells nox how mes will be Prien in he frre, bt how mosc has ben ween inthe past. Ete results of such a defnron ofthe re are of mseal the sce lipo no Se cs i indapenable to musicians inal fds ofthe art, whether They be composers performers, conductors cies, teaches oF Hsicologie Indeed.» secure grounding in theory seven more A ecety to the misalscholr than fo the composer, singe i Horm the br for any incligent appa of individal tye of the por pres {On the ehcr han, the person gid for creative musa com Boson staking» sro in suing tha hs genni great eovgh to ger song without» dep knowledge of the common2 INTRODUCTION price of composers. Mastery of the technical of theoretical pects of mae spould be cared out by him a a ife's work, run- SPE parle eo his eenive avy but uite separate frm i. In Thora he & following common practice while in the other he is fesporible solely co the dictates of his own persona ates and urge for expresion Ti che specific Fld of harmony we must fs seek the answer to ‘wo questlonswhac are the harmonie materials commonly used by Composers and how have these materials been used? We eannot Sond in the fie stages of our sud to become incerested in the Jaividval compose tthe expense of concentration on establishing the norm of common practice. With such a norm firmly in mind, the way willbe clear tothe investigation of the individual harmonic practices of composers of ll periods, and especialy to the scientific Examination of the divergent practices noticeable in che cwenteth Tisoically, the petid in which this common practice may be ereced incides roughly the eighteenth and nineteenth cents During th time tere ourprisgly ie change inthe harmonic trates wed and inthe manner oftheir wse. The experimental pe- ‘Hod of the early twentieth ceorury will appear far Iss revolu- tionary when the lines of development from the practice of oker Composers become clearer by faiianty with the music. As yet, however one cannot define a ewenteth century common practice “Hence the aim of this book isto present as concisely as posible the harmonic common practice of composers of the eighteenth tnd ninetcenth centre, Rules are announced as observation re- ported, without attempe a thei jusifcaion on aesthetic grounds bes laws of nauce, The written exercises should be pecformed ‘S cemplieations ofthe common practice of composers and noc as ‘forts in creative composition. The author believes thar through ‘hese principles a prompe and logical grasp of the subject will be achieved. SCALES AND INTERVALS oni of harmony ithe neva. This names given the sonore reaking frm the smuitanenoe sounding of 0 fones alhough it more accra applied odes the tance” beewcen the to tones, measured by thir diferencia itch, Ihe wo tones ae not herd at the siete, bt ae con fective toner of one melodic ine, the interelicled meld Feeevd es singed from the harmon interval in whch the fro tones are sounded opt. Tees bieral ie irl Te toes which form the incerva ae dawn from she cle Thee snes are wed a the bass the music with which we are Hare concrned-the major scl, he minor sae (with i haonie and melodie forms), and the chromatic sal SSHARMONY SCALES AND INTERVALS 5 m5 =e eis customary to refer to the sale degres by Roman numerals asin the example, wel as By the following names: 1. Tonic (the key-note) II, Superconie (the nex step above the tonic) TIL, Meant (halfway from tonic to dominant) IV, Sabdominane (as fr below the toni asthe dominant is shove it) \V. Dominant (actually a dominant element inthe key) VL, Submediane (halfway down from tonic ro subdominant) VI, Leading-tone (with melodie tendency toward the tonic) “The scales are tinguished by the disribaion of half-one and whole-cone neps recognition of which is asumed on the are of Thaler ofthis book. The chromate scale, having its origin in the “Chromatic sleraon of tones, i most conveniently considered as 0 ‘ant of one ofthe other seals, as shown by the Roman numeral “The proper noaion af hisses (For instance, whether one should rate A harp or Bat) is deermined by melodic snd harmonic ‘Grcumstanes to be considered Iter. “The mlodic minor scale may Tikewise be looked upon a variant of the bamonic form. In ascending, che characteristic sixth degree {f changed so thatthe step greater than a wholerone between VI tnd Vit's eliminated, while preserving the hal-tone progresion From leadingtone to tone, In descending, the seventh degree no Temger acs leadng-tone, 30 tis lowered to reduce the step down tothe minor sch degree. Tei importane co noice that che major and minor (harmonic) scales fer ony in their I and VI. “The general name of an interval is found by counring the Hines and spees included by the evo nots. eases Be specc ane of aime (he kn of yh) may etna tos scnps nig rd er Samar cd pent eer wy na I pen conc wh evn of ea re Wali lr cng nh ee of ores fours sd Taea teh dete pee" ved a Fa es ee ihe appr ner oc xcs with aoe ofthe wl he Ping ners aco ppin. An ices haltone ver than naj inervl i BA cra alcove feat ncmogrcrd™ E Amines hllcone sale thn mioe oper in - ‘terval is “diminished.” bes ms pp rgec than a major ora perfee in og 6 min set eoptek meg aun the above example, consider the itera of a ith Ear Cc Chobe acide es ee {Ele mjor sd he neva would uve ben a major Te a soe erent Beet hove lnger Teor, sarmet bn eprops Sapte andthe irons scaled an “aogmened sah" attest vente speed ys hry fa he ere Bay be zalycd with he sharp oa an th en con at withthe egal incerval by rferene fo the above res‘ HARMONY For example, suppose the interval tobe from D sharp up to The wei at Beskary majors with nine sharps, i noe convenient a8 & verter device Taking the sae of D major, we find that Cis & aaa cof the seventh degree The interval D to Cis there: pa tome or seventh ‘The restoration ofthe sharp to che DD makes Foe Anca s halftone smaller, by Fasing the lower note; hence i {sa diminished seventh. ‘he student surged to perfec himself by exercises in dictation cor other procenes of ca-trning, inthe ability to recognize the Sranvals Gy eat when che are played or sung andro hear mentally incervals writen or printed. ira gre tan the atv may e reckoned by ee Er ch eral eal compound era Sen ce for erage the th ae carci Senne formes re aly eed by she Teer mer ee ee—| 4 ain majo nN a Sere} OO) x6 ‘A consonant interval is one which sounds stable and comples, whereas the ehaacterati ofthe dissonant interval i its reeset Uhdit need for resolution into consonant interval These qualities Te admeedly open to subjective, personal, and evolutionary intr- pretation but wis clei thc inthe common practic of composers Fhe following clasifeaton holds tre. ‘Consorsar-the perfect interals and the major and minor thirds and sats. issonant-the aogmented and diminished itervals and the Insjor sd minor seconds seventh, and ninth. (Exception the perfect fourth is dasonant when there is no SCALES AND INTERVALS ? tone below its lower tone. Ice consonant when ‘there ea thied or perfec fifth below it) “The major and minor thieds and sets are frequently set apart from the perfect intervals and termed "imperfect consonance” "This dxncton has ite significance for the harmonic yle ofthe ghtcenth and nineteenth centuries. Only the sixth when ince tain tonal rktonships withthe as, seme to ack the stability of the perfect consonances and ro need resolution to the fifth . ena Ms witose dione itera i chen ices and mpi pce ste disonanecomen which furnishes much of te ae Berets stim enagy, The hor of rmsea ye fasbeen largely occupied with the important subject of dissonance Bicarbonate meg cpa Bhat the ewential quality of dissonance is its sense of movement and Bona somctinescroncocslysouned, is degree of woplensnines ‘to the ear. * " Spates cate cny Seat cs Soom path gr ke i rac tri ed ed SAE ner relodle grove ‘Ordinary contrapuntal inversion, which s common, isa mosifca- Hon ofthe mirror type. Here the same sale is kept for both forms,