Quarter-Tones

Author(s): Sydney Webb

Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 77, No. 1115 (Jan., 1936), pp. 57-58
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/919130
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January, 1936 THE MUSICAL TIMES
nevertheless it is clear that the musician cannot be
satisfied with anything less than results based upon
reactions to music as distinguished from reactions to
individual tones. Possibly this is what Sabaneev
means in his reference to experimental investigations ;
it is certainly his meaning when he says that artistry
is based not only on the ability to distinguish tonal
phenomena but also to appreciate them aesthetically.
The necessity for a study of the interpretative
aspects of music has already been pointed out
(British Journal of Psychology, vol. 17, p. 111, 1926,
and vol. 19, p. 397, 1929; 'Proceedings of the
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society,' vol.
76, p. 53, 1932) and some tests based upon musical
material have been evolved which give considerable
promise of success, thus showing that the experi-
mental method is not impossible even in the aesthetics
of music.
It is to be hoped that musicians will follow the lead
given by Sabaneev and let us have the benefit of their
experiences. Their contributions would be of great
value as a guide in the application of the results of
experimental work.-Yours, &c., H. LOWERY.
College of Technology,
Manchester.
Just Intonation
I Firstly, the appeal of modern music is emotional,
SIR,-May as a subscriber of seventy years (from
1866) add a few remarks to those already made re the
article by Dr. Percy Scholes on Temperament.
In 1868 I was appointed organist of Corsham
Church, Wilts. The organ, built by Clark, of Bath,
in 1835, was tuned unequally, or mean-toned. In
the keys that were sweet the result was heaven, but
in, say, the Gloria of the twelfth Mass (Mozart), the
effect of the A flat section was horrible. This state
of affairs caused me on many occasions to transpose.
I remember well the sweetness of the key of E and
the in-tuneness of the five descending bass notes in
the Pastoral Symphony of 'The Messiah' where the
key of C is resumed. On an organ of the present day
these notes are all out of tune, and a major third
howls infernally.-Yours,
&c., H. G. SPACKMAN
Hastings, N.Z. (Lateorganistof Napier Cathedral,which
was destroyedin the earthquake).
SIR,-In considering intonation, people seem to
think only of the third and fifth of the three main
chords. The great difficulty is elsewhere. In the
ideal scale r to I is not a perfect fifth, and 1 to r is not
a perfect fourth; while r to f is not a perfect third,
nor f to r a perfect sixth; each is a comma, or nearly
a quarter of a semitone out-more than the difference
between a just and tempered third. If a choir starts
in C major, and modulates to G, it needs F sharp, but
it also needs a new A. Going to D major, it needs a
C sharp-a major third above the new A, and a new
E; and so on. Modulating down from C major, in F
it needs a B flat and a new D, and so on. To modu-
late right through from G flat to F sharp raises the
whole scale a comma.
To take a simple case: a choir singing a supertonic
minor chord will have voices singing r, f, and 1; if
the i is now sharpened the 1 which the choir is still
singing ought to rise a comma, if there is modulation
a step- up, and perhaps in any case. If the chord is
followed by a dominant seventh in the original key,
those singing 1 have to flatten it again. How could
singers cope with even this very simple case ?
As to the orchestra: trombones (and slide trum-
pets) are free to adjust pitch. Strings are free except
as to open notes. Valve instruments are naturally out
of tune, sometimes widely if more than one valve is
down. A player will say he corrects with his lips:
but it is more likely he controls pitch by setting his
vocal cavity as for singing the note, the tube acting
like that of an organ reed pipe whose note can be
tuned by the tuning wire. The flute and piccolo are
57
adjustable enough, but I think the reeds are not, and
are thus also at the mercy of temperature; but I do
not know. If the strings tune to A all the strings
tuned by perfect fifths down are out of the key of C.
Thus the viola has only one string in C; and if the
music is in a sharp key, all its open notes are wrong.
It is thus difficult to see how an orchestra can play in
just intonation, even if the players knew when to
make comma changes.
If may be said that whenever a choir or strings do
not agree with a piano they are not in just intonation,
but merely out of tune; but it is quite possible that
those with a good ear may adjust their intonation to
one another in a way that corrects bad fifths and
thirds temporarily: but this, even if practicable,
cannot be called using just intonation.
The reason why a violin and organ sound unpleasant
is that while an organ sounds a definite note, the
violinist is fluctuating between two notes of different
pitch with a rapid portamento. This has nothing to
do with just intonation.-Yours, &c.,
J. SWINBURNE.
Quarter-Tones
SIR,-Mr. Challen's letter in the November issue
has many points of interest.
but I cannot agree that it is logical. First of all,
because first-movement form has been almost dis-
carded, the composer putting what he himself fancies
in its place, so that the logic and balance of the first
movement have been almost destroyed. In other
forms the maltreatment has not been so apparent.
Secondly, because of the seeming lack of development
of thematic material. There is no modern parallel
to the exhaustive working-out in the first-movement
of Schubert's' Unfinished.' Thus, the logic of modern
music must be sought in other directions.
Let us look at its harmony, the chief characteristic
of which is dissonance. Continued dissonance has
nearly the same effect upon most of us, viz., it
produces excitenment, not always pleasurable. Excite-
ment is physical and sometimes emotional, but not
logical. Both in jazz and modern music this quest
for excitement (one might almost say 'sensation')
is manifest. Since prolonged excitement is not good
for the nerves, the nervous system rebels against it,
and since anything we hear is accepted or rejected
primarily by the nerves, the appeal of modern music
is not physiological. The logic of modern music is a
mystery except to the wiseacres.
The chief advantage of a quarter-tone scale
would be a greater variety of keys. The difficulties
of composing in this style are not unsurmountable,
and should appeal to a composer having a logical mind.
For instance, the key of C semi-sharp minor (using
Vyshnagredsky's notation) would bear the signature
C: (semisharp), D: (semisharp), F#t (hypersharp),
Ft (semisharp), GS (semisharp), B# (hypersharp),
and Ct (hypersharp). Thus:
This, of course, is not in terms of a keyboard instru-
ment.
I have never indicated in any way that I thought
the day near when this scale would be adopted: I
merely remarked that I thought it would happen.
(And I still do, even in the teeth of such opposition
as Pythagoras and Yasser.)
Mr. Challen appears to have been thinking in terms
of contemporary instruments, whilst I see little
advance until electrical instruments are in use.
Has Mr. Challen forgotten that the much-maligned
pibroch once had a scale containing four intervals of
three-quarters of a tone each ? I do not recollect any
outcry on account of this peculiarity: indeed, the
58 THE MUS 'IC'AL TIMES
instrument seems to have attained considerable
popularity. Since, also, it had to be tuned, it must
have been necessary for the makers, at least, to be
able to recognise the difference between one tone and
three-quarters of a tone. Had the ' Hielander' an
ear more acute than the Sassenach ?
Also, is Mr. Challen aware that the Chinese musical
scale (which may, or may not, be regarded as primi-
tive, according to the light in which one regards it)
is one of twelve equal tones, which surely is more
logical than that of Pythagoras which contains five
intervals of nine commas and two intervals of four
commas, or a scale of nineteen notes (which is an
uneven number). When in Iraq, I had many oppor-
tunities of hearing Arabian music, which employs a
scale very different from ours. Whether the unusual
intervals were quarter-tones I could not tell, but I
have heard it said many times (and am myself nearly
convinced) that the Arabs were the founders of
quarter-tonal music. (Could any reader possessing a
Farmer on Arabian Music deny or confirm this ?)
I imagine that the greatest drawback of a nineteen-
note scale would be its unnaturalness. Music is
nothing but a natural phenomenon, and like the others
must have a perfect balance. Balance is preserved
in the year by having four seasons and twelve months,
two equinoxes, &c., each number being exactly
divisible by two, ensuring equal balance. Only the
moon is deranged, appearing thirteen times in the full
each year. It is, therefore, clear that music must have
a scale with an even number of intervals, if we are not
to come under the influence of the moon.
Who is to be regarded as the authority as to
whether our present scale, the nineteen-note scale,
the twenty-four-note scale are more logical than the
twelve equal-note scale used by the Chinese ? The
Arabs and Chinese had forgotten how to be civilised
before Europe was thought of. How, then, shall we
judge them primitive ? Assume a man is born in
China of European parents, lives there until he is
thirty, hears Chinese music all his life, and then comes
to England; how would he regard our music ? As
very illogical, no doubt.-Yours, &c.,
West Drayton, SYDNEY WEBB.
Middlesex.
St. Margaret's,Westminster
'
SIR,-Your correspondent' H. C. in his interesting
account of Schweitzer at St. Margaret's, Westminster,
remarks that the instrument was built for Lemare as a
typical modern concert organ of the period. May I
ask what organ he had in mind ? Willis, who con-
structed more concert instruments in this country
than anyone else, built some small four-manuals about
this time, but they were of a very different character.
It is true they would probably have made better
three-manuals, but that is not the question. The
Great and Swell departments at St. Margaret's, except
for the wooden double diapason, present little origin-
ality and are conventional almost to the point of
dullness; one would hardly have guessed that Lemare
of all people was responsible. The tonal design is
that of a cathedral rather than a concert instrument,
as may be seen by studying Lincoln, which was built
about the same time. The Swells are almost identical
-vox humana and all. The effect of the two instru-
ments is, however, widely different. St. Margaret's
Church is a dead building, the chorus reeds compara-
tively poor, and the weight of diapason work points
to the church rather than the concert hall. On the
other hand, at Lincoln the dominating Great reeds
and relatively mild diapasons and chorus have
affinities with the concert hall rather than the cathe-
dral. The pedal of the former, though smaller, is not
unlike that of Lincoln. When we come to the Choir
organs there is again a certain family likeness, but
Lincoln is unenclosed. St. Margaret's was, however,
January, 1936
the first instrument in this country where the third
manual with a flue double was completely enclosed.
But there is no 16-ft. orchestral reed as at Lincoln,
and the sub-octave coupler is no adequate substitute.
Most important of all, the Solo Tuba is absent, and
no provision was made to play the Great reeds
independently on the third manual as a substitute.
To sum up, it would be true to say that with the
possible exception of the Choir, St. Margaret's was a
church organ of almost unimpeachable orthodoxy-
much more so than its predecessor at Sloane Street.
That it would not suit Schweitzer's style of playing
Bach can be understood-but, from the description
given, the cathedral organ at Lincoln would probably
suit him even less.-Yours, &c., GEORGEDIXON.
St. Bees, Cumberland.
The Teachingof Counterpoint
SIR,-My critic, Mr. Choppen, finds that all is
well with the teaching of composition, and that no
reforms are needed; as in the days gone by, harmony
and counterpoint, to be acquired by duly studying
Bach's ' 48,' will provide the equipment wherewith to
tackle modern music. He has evidently not con-
sidered the reception modern music would give
to persons thus armed. The arguments he puts
forward are quite simple: taking certain contem-
porary literature as his guide, he tried to do something,
but his efforts were unsuccessful; a course on strictly
old-fashioned lines, however, made everything clear
to him. Moreover, in his opinion there has been no
evolution in the sphere of harmony, and he has
discovered in Bach all Wagner's harmonies, and
manifestly has little sympathy with those composers
who do not fit in with Bach's harmonic code, and who
are almost out of bounds from a musical point of view.
A sense of complete satisfaction is, of course, a very
agreeable and substantial acquisition, and Mr. Choppen
would be well advised to continue in this tranquil
frame of mind, the more so as his appetites are modest;
for his purposes the old theory is, perhaps, more than
sufficient.
My article, however, was intended not for these
law-abiding and right-thinking young composers,
but for the steadily increasing number of doubters,
who are dissatisfied with things as they are; and
especially for those teachers who suffer logically and
morally from the fact that they are compelled to
teach things which are refuted at every turn by the
practice of actual composition. Of course, if Debussy
is considered a heretic and all that comes after him
to be of the devil, the question is very easily settled,
but the teacher of to-day has to do with living and
youthful composers (youthful not only in years but
also in spirit), whom he wants to train to write
grammatically in the modern style and not in that of
Bach. Every conscientious teacher finds more satis-
faction in teaching his pupils to write small works in
the modern spirit grammatically (in the new sense of
the term) and beautifully, rather than to cover sheets
of music paper with futile imitations of the classics.
My article was a protest against a state of affairs in
which many musical treasures have continued to live
on an illegal basis and have given grounds for the
very dangerous opinion that theory in general is
unnecessary, that in modern art everything is per-
missible, thereby fostering musical anarchy. Not
everyone is as fortunate as my critic, or finds that
the music of the great innovators of last century is in
such blissful harmony with academic theory. Every
teacher knows quite well that this nonconformity with
the rules has a very injurious effect on his authority
as a teacher.
Unfortunately the limits of a letter do not permit
me to prove this by facts and thereby destroy Mr.
Choppen's paradise: for this purpose I should have
to take the music and point out the innumerable