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Polytempic Polymicrotonal Music A Road L
Polytempic Polymicrotonal Music A Road L
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POLYTEMPIC POLYMICROTONAL MUSIC:
“A Road Less Traveled”
BY
THESIS
Urbana, Illinois
Doctoral Committee:
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Dedicated to my father, Egil, and Milko, my cat and best friend.
Also, in memory of Astrid and Meash
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Acknowledgements
I would never have even been here were it not for the support of my father, Egil
would have been much more difficult, in particular my drum teacher Freddie Gruber, for
his having advised me that I had the thinking of a composer way back when, while I was
I would like to thank Johnny Reinhard for his help in understanding the nature of
I would like to thank the faculty at the School of Music from the University of
Illinois for allowing me back into the fold after a personal period of illness: Erik Lund,
I would like to thank John Wagstaff and Chris Pawlicki for helping me in my
queries at the greatest music library in the country, the UIUC Music library.
I would like to thank Rod Butler, now deceased, who was my first composition
teacher at Cal State Dominguez Hills, and who believed in a late starter like me. Also, I
would like to thank Burns Taft, of Ventura College, for his recognition in my interest in
Lastly, I would like to thank John M Kennedy, and Bill Kraft, for both of their
open mindedness regarding my compositional aesthetic. I would also like to thank Kyle
Gann and Brian Ferneyhough for their supportive email correspondences, which have
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Abstract
Microtonality is the basis for its inception, from which the discussion proposes music
with more than one microtonal tuning system. Examples from the literature are discussed
to give an historic framework showing that this tendency has been present throughout
human musical history. Polytempo is a tool for which polymicrotonal structures can
function in relief from its background. Polytempo acts as a frame, or ground structure,
Examples of music literature are displayed for musical precedence in this area, focusing
on Charles Ives’s Universe Symphony, unfinished since 1925, and realized recently by
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 5: The Progenitor Charles Ives, His Universe Symphony and its Legacy:
Polymicrotonal Polytempic Art Music and Its Practice .................................................. 167
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1
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Charles Ives’s Universe Symphony is the first, and up to now, possibly the only
polytempic polymicrotonal work. Written between 1915 -1926, the Universe Symphony
lay in disrepair for half a century until two individuals, Larry Austin in 1974, and Johnny
Reinhard in 1996, pieced together the scraps and notes of the score, [in their original
intention, as Ives proscribed in his notes], and, released two vastly different versions. The
version that best suits the scope of polymicrotonality is Reinhard’s version, from 1996,
whom released the official Universe Symphony score and recording through the
Within the Universe Symphony, there are three levels of tempi and four different
experience for the audience than even Ives’s Symphony No. 4, which is already a
yield microtones that go well beyond Ives’s Three Quartertone Pieces, and point to a
completely startling, evocative, and pioneering use of pitch color never before heard.
seen by comparing this phenomenon with the similar polytextuality of the early motets of
the fourteenth century, the Italian trecento. Then polyphony was in its infancy, and
1
Johnston, 2006. Maximum Clarity. p. 119.
2
Reinhard. 2004. The Ives Universe: a symphonic odyssey. Self -Published via AFMM, NY. New York.
2
composers were willing to separate the simultaneous melodies by using differing texts,
which were often polytextual literature (e.g. French and Latin3) in order to create
perfect analogy for polymicrotonality, except gradations of pitch are used in the latter to
define the voice part in extreme subtlety; further independence is achieved by setting
each line in a different tempo. Just as it is possible that the trecento composer
intent to help define a style that takes Ives’s Universe Symphony as a foundation, building
Stockhausen [Gruppen] Charles Ives, among others, will also be explored culminating in
the actual simultaneous use of multiple tunings and multiple tempi in Ives’s Universe
Symphony.
3
The thirteenth century motet has often been regarded as the most difficult type of composition to
understand and appreciate in the whole history of western music before 20 th century, not only because of
the simultaneous performance of two or more different texts, sometimes in two different languages.
(Harmon, 1958)
3
This is not an analytical paper, but rather a type of Hegelian dialectic synthesis by
examining the historical evidence for polymicrotonality in Greece and potentially Europe
from Zarlino to Werckmeister, and building thereupon for a new music for the Twenty-
first century. There will be some examples illustrating tempi and tunings, but there is no
paper hopes to find its way to elucidate this relatively unknown area of music. I leave it
to future theorists and musicologists to devise an analytical strategy with respect to this
area of music, if it does, in fact, become a genre in its own right. Here, I present a brief
The following numbered points will provide descriptions of the materials and
This inquiry will briefly cover the Greek Generas divisions of the tetrachord,
which yielded its own unique, microtonal tuning; the obvious question is how it managed
Just intonation in the early Renaissance through Zarlino will be explored, along
with its influence on tuning by introducing the just third. Among others Mersenne’s
experiments with split key organs having its influence, in turn, on Vicentino’s tunings
including 19 tones to the octave all the way up to Jean Etienne Marie’s polymicrotonal
The curious reader may wonder why Harry Partch or other microtonal pioneers
are not included in this paper. The reason is twofold: one, he is neither polymicrotonal
nor polyphonic in his approach to music, and two, he is similarly not polytempic. Alois
Hába, similarly, will also not receive a more in depth consideration for the same reasons:
he does not fit the scope of this thesis due to their not falling into the class of
written about both of these great pioneers. This author’s lack of inclusion of both these
Wyschnegradsky, who did employ polymicrotonality along with a rhythmic system based
It is understandable that there will be dissension about Harry Partch not being
included in this paper, when in fact he does not fit into this author’s discussion with
acoustic reality has been proven false: they do not exist in nature, even if the
mathematical and theoretical implications may be valid.4 Partch, however, does represent
another arm of the influence of Henry Cowell, who actually advocated the notion of
4
Rehding, 2003. Hugo Riemann and the Birth of Modern Musical Thought.p. 16-17.
5
explored as Nancarrow is quite possibly one of the greatest polytempic composers of all
time. His influence on Ligeti is legendary, leading to Ligeti’s own Piano Etudes, and his
Nancarrow, and Elliott Carter. With regard to Stockhausen’s Gruppen, he was influenced
by the work of Cowell in relating rhythmic values to the overtone series. Although
groups with their own tempos, it is not polytempo so much as it is antiphonal, since the
1.3.3. Literature and Works Suggesting Relationships Between Pitch and Rhythm
Henry Cowell’s manifesto New Musical Resources, written at the age of 20,
relationships by ratio, and then analogizing them to rhythmic structures ranging from
note duration, through meter, and ultimately to tempo itself, as evinced by Ben
Johnston’s string quartets, where his tempo relationships reveal the underpinnings of the
just intoned ratios already in use in his pitch vocabulary. Nancarrow also initially tested
Some of the integral serialists, such as Stockhausen, and Messiaen and tonal
composers from Riemann to Stockhausen have all tried in some measure to discover the
direct link between pitch and rhythm. The problem encountered by serializing rhythm
was the connect-the-dot nature of the compositional process, which would preclude
choice on behalf of the composer. The Enlightenment musicians Jean Phillipe Rameau
and Moritz Hauptmann found a relationship between the first few overtone series partials
and simple rhythms for tonal cadences. The serialists tried to pair pitch to rhythm
negation of choice, and the lack of ability to regulate timbre. Perhaps this idea of a direct
link is a mistaken one: how can you relate what is already the same phenomenon? Or,
rather, why are we thinking of them as different? Frequency is periodic. Frequency is the
periodicity of both rhythm and pitch. Where periodicity concerns rhythm, a slow enough
cycle, under 20 hertz, will be perceived by the ear as discrete “beats.” Above 20 Hertz,
the periodicity becomes blurred into a low frequency. Therefore, the psychoacoustical
nature of the human animal will perceive the same phenomena of periodicity as two
distinct and separate objects, when in fact, they are the same object at different states.
musical time" used originally via Henry Cowell's insight, in his application of the
Stockhausen’s failure regarding the serial control over timbre, however, was more about
controlling timbre and pitch to rhythmic compositional technique via serial methods.
Stockhausen was more interested in the applicability of this serial composition method to
duration. One can compare Cowell and Stockhausen in their use of overtone series and
7
use of instruments capable of performing according to their rhythmical ideas. So, the
Pitch and rhythm, as the same phenomena, therefore can correspond to itself, and
create a relationship to itself, but the idea that they are separate is an illusion. This
relationship has been a riddle for composers for centuries because the quest has probably
been an erroneous one based on a lack of knowledge concerning basic acoustics that
could only have come about in the twentieth-century through technology. Nevertheless, it
music. Henry Cowell, Ben Johnston, and Karlheinz Stockhausen have suggested the
systematization of the overtone series to rhythmic groupings and other structures, which
Jeff Pressing, in his article “Cognitive Isomorphisms Between Pitch and Rhythm In
World Musics” presents yet another angle to the linking of pitch and rhythm, considering
number values as isomorphic, or structurally identical. 5 Pressing makes a case for the
correspondence between twelve note African Ghanaian rhythms from Ewe drumming, to
the twelve pitch classes in Western equal tempered tonality. The commonality here is
actually the number 12, which is an abstract construct. But this author’s point is that this
relationship. I, on the other hand am seeking, quite literally, a direct relationship between
pitch and rhythm as a physical phenomenon. I maintain that pitch is simply a fast
5
Pressing, Jeff. 1983. “Cognitive Isomorphisms between Pitch and Rhythm in World Musics: West Africa,
the Balkans and Western Tonality,” Studies in Music 17: 38-61.
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rhythmic cycle. On the other hand 2212221 does seem to arise as a type of morphogenic
1.3.4. Charles Ives’s Universe Symphony and its legacy: Polytempic Polymicrotonal Art
Music
“uncompleted” Universe Symphony, a work that was actually completed, but just not
assembled. After examining the notes and pages of the Universe Symphony, Johnny
Reinhard acted as the individual agent Ives referred to in posterity, as the one who could,
and would, put together the scraps of paper and notes into a legible and audible form.
Reinhard’s realization, approved by the Ives Society,6 reveals the deep complexity of
Ives’s thought, replete with Pythagorean tuning, quartertones, eighth tones, and just
intonation, along with three competing global tempi and a subdivision of polyrhythmic
pitch and in rhythm/tempo, the restrictive nature of 12-tone equal temperament could
conceivably explode into an infinity of pitch and rhythmic possibilities. While the
rhythmic structure and nature of time itself operate in an unlimited musical universe,
where the Einstein-Rosen bridge even suggests that nature itself is capable of time
manipulation, not to mention the Shapiro7 time delay, where gravity directly slows down
6
Reinhard. 2004. The Ives Universe: a symphonic odyssey. p. 6.
7
Shapiro delay is described in (Irwin I. Shapiro, 1964). Gravitational time dilation causes apparent delays
in radar signals.
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time by proximity while other streams move ahead uniformly, also revealed by Einstein’s
Rather than despair at the innumerable combinations of pitch and rhythm, the
twenty-first century composer can easily see new approaches to age old problems: form,
and the linking of pitch to rhythm. Aristoxenus of Tarentum adopted the analogy of
infinite space from Euclid’s geometry, more philosophically than practically, but his truth
is immanent in that there is infinite space between two points. Rhythm has not suffered so
much by this theorem: composers have had much more freedom with respect to new
rhythmic designs due to the limitless nature of rhythm, but even more to point—what
composers have allowed themselves to be limited by, by imposing rules and artificial
constraints on their ideas of musical materials. This is the same for intervals. The human
animal is capable of infinite development, including microtonal hearing and even though
there are always boundaries of perception, such as the Just Noticeable Difference, or the
1.3.5. Compositional Resources: scale and tuning sources and computer music software
for the composition and realization of polymicrotonality
should be expected. A way around this is software that deals exclusively with microtonal
capability, in which a composer can print microtonal and polymicrotonal scores for
performers, as well as export midi files that can be realized in more professional sound
synthesis software.
system with untouched intervals, whether or not they exist in nature. If a mathematical
system invents a hierarchy of intervallic structures, then all attempts to modify the
from all angles. The overtone series is a pure tuning. Pythagorean is also a pure tuning,
but meantone and equal are both temperaments, due to the tampering of the perfect fifth
from 702 cents, down to 696 cents and 700 cents for mean tone and equal temperaments
respectively.
as it has concise explanations of the various mathematics behind historical tunings and
temperaments and mathematics explaining the phenomenon of noise and the harmonic
spectrum in acoustics. Fast Fourier Transforms and spectra are discussed in a friendly
way that reaches the lay person, such as this author, as he is not a mathematician. This
paper will also not be going into deep mathematical formulas for tunings or
temperaments, but only to describe the nature of human hearing and the inclusion of
CHAPTER 2
PITCH
HISTORICAL INFORMATION LEADING TO THE POSSIBILITY OF
POLYMICROTONALITY: REPRESENTATIVE FIGURES AND WORKS
Central to this author’s ideas are the three Greek genera: the enharmonic, the
chromatic, and the diatonic. These three genera produce three different tunings of the
tetrachord spanning a perfect fourth; they constitute the basic vocabulary of ancient
Greek music, which was monophonic. There is the “characteristic interval,” or the IC,
which proscribes the boundaries of the main interval essentially defining the flavor of the
genus. It ranges from a whole tone to a large major third in size. The remainder of the
tetrachord is called the Pyknon and it literally means “packed-in space.” The pyknon
90 cents, to as little as a quarter tone of 50 cents. The small diesis, a term attributed to
known as third-tones). These are also used in some of the varying chromatic genera. The
largest pyknon, and the genus that sounds common to Western ears, is the diatonic genus,
which we hear as a perfect fourth with major sounding whole and half steps. It is the pure
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Pythagorean major sound consisting of two 204-cent “major” seconds and a 90-cent
“minor” second.
In ancient Greek tuning systems, intervals have specific names. The apotome is
the result of the 90 cent limma combined with the 24 cent Pythagorean comma (see
below) and amounts to 114 cents. Then there is the limma, under which there are the
greater and lesser dieses, at 63 and 41 cents, respectively. There are two commas. The
Pythagorean fifths at the octave; the Syntonic comma is the subtraction of the just intoned
major third from the Pythagorean major third, 408 c. – 386 c., equaling 22 cents.
Ex. 2.1.1. Ptolemy’s example of a diatonic tetrachord amidst three various sized whole
tones.8
Later in the Medieval and Renaissance periods, Zarlino discovered the senarius,
or the first 6 partials of the overtone series. René Descartes canonized these in his
Compendium of Music (1656).9 It is at this point in history that the overtone series was
Mersenne, and Descartes. The senarius is important because it is the 5-limit justly tuned
version of Western tuning that incorporates both Pythagorean (3-limit just intonation)
8
Ptolemy.1999. Harmonics, p. 16.
9
Descartes. 1961. Compendium of Music. p. 17.
13
with 5-limit just intonation. This means that the fifth overtone, at 5/4, when converted to
cents (5/4 ln(1731.234)) equals 386 cents, which is the just major third that was
discovered by pipe organ builders in tuning pipe organs and thereafter manifested in
Western ears as pure consonance. Fokker went on to advocate for the “septenarius,”
Ex. 2.1.2. From Ptolemy’s Harmonics showing individual differences in the leading
theorists’ intervals.10
10
Ibid. p. 50.
14
Ex. 2.1.3. and 2.1.4. Graphic display of the various sizes of Greek genera.11
11
Chalmers, John. 1992. Divisions of the Tetrachord. p. 18.
15
pre-Socratic philosopher who lived in Miletus in 560 B.C., believed in the infinite
division of unity (a concept that predates both Euclid and Aristoxenus), which in turn
said that all and innumerable worlds are infinite in possible harmonies, with respect to
tunings and scales. He believed in a matrix architecture with alternative choices, like the
three genera, and that we would pay the penalty for adhering to just one division, or
tuning, such as 12TET. Chronos the Greek Titan god “set the ball rolling and generated all
statement, but it certainly applies to tuning.12 Since then, there have been many
developments regarding tuning in Greece, of which the three genera are apparent.
It is quite possible that not just a few tragedies were set to music, such as
Euripides’s Orestes (set in the enharmonic genus13) but that all of them might have been
set to music. This new spin puts the classical tragedians in a newly perceived role as
composer is a rather new idea, but imagine also thinking of Sophocles, Aristophanes, and
Aeschylus as composers. Are these Greek tragic dramas an early form of opera? In any
case, the Greek genera are the most specific aspect of Greek music theory, due to
monody, which was the standard practice for Greek music.14 According to Pachymeres
(1242-1310), ancient Greek classical tragedy mainly used the diatonic genus, even
12
Siemen Terpstra. personal correspondence of Johnny Reinhard., referencing
http://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/anaximan.htm
13
New Grove, Second Edition. 2001.Vol. 10. p. 341. And, West, E.P., (2001). Documents of Ancient Greek
Music.
14
Barsky. 1996. Chromaticism. pp. 2-3.
17
though Euripides was fond of the enharmonic.15 Why would this statement exist if there
music, or monody, manifests its complexity in its intervals and rhythms, which can be
profoundly difficult, so as to effect the “subtler nuances of mode.”16 Greeks call melodies
ekmelik if they are not melodious, and melik if they are. Shades of microtones are called
chroai, and help enhance the melos and ethos of the modes, taught as morally edifying.
August Wilhelm Ambrose, in his Geschichte der Musik, 1881, discovered that melos
came in three varieties: common, mixed and non-mixed.17 Ambrose pointed out five
different accidentals, from ½, 1/3, ¼, 1/6, and 1/8th tone shades of Greek micro-
intervals.18
According to the Montpellier Code,19 Greek music also has four types of
modulations, called metabolae: genera, tonoi, system, and melos. The genera are the
tetrachordal tunings, tonoi the tone position, system a type of mode or scale, and melos
the way it is sung. There is no right or wrong in Greek musical thought, but only good,
and not good, based on commonly accepted stylistic trends. According to Aristotle, the
about the Greek genera spread into Europe through Boethius, composers such as Nicola
Vicentino began to reanimate the Greek enharmonic genus, discarded in the Middle ages
as unsingable by the Catholic Church, which had embraced simple 3-limit Pythagorean
tuning. It is through Bulgaria that Greek tuning made its entry into Europe and it is in
15
Ibid. p. 5.
16
Ibid. pp 5-7.
17
Ibid. p. 8.
18
Ambrose. 1881.Geschichte der Music. p. 11.
19
Barsky, p. 19.
20
Barsky. p. 39.
18
Bulgaria, today, where there are still the three Greek genera, plus one more: pentatonic. It
is also Bulgaria that is the link between tunings of Europe and the Middle Eastern
microtonal tetrachords. The Pythagoreans use of ratios include fractions called epimore22
ratios, where they are super-particular, in that they are of the form n+1/n, in an arithmetic
series.23 Non-super-particular ratios are called epimeres, and are of the form n+m/n.24 To
find intervals between two integers, the Greeks used Katapyknosis, which involved the
insertion of a epimore ratio by setting the lower and upper bounds by multiplication.25 All
these methods were anathema to Aristoxenus, who preferred to find intervals by ear, and
Pythagoras’s student, Philolaus, ventured beyond the whole tone and semitone by
calculations of fifths and fourths based on instrumental tuning practices. Differences were
all relegated to the chromatic and enharmonic genera.26 The Greeks used tetrachords
spanning a perfect fourth, called tetraktys, where the first and fourth notes, the hypate
hypaton, and the hypate meson, were fixed; while the inner two notes, the hypate
parhypate, and the hypate lichenos, were moveable, just as their stringed counterparts in
21
Ibid. pp 40-41.
22
For further clarification on the difference between epimere and epimore ratios, consider, for example, 7/6
as epimore, where consecutive numbers define the fraction and 7/5, where a skip in numbers define the
fraction, as epimere.
23
Gibson, 2005. Aristoxenus Harmonics. p. 10.
24
Chalmers. 1992. p. 7.
25
Ibid.
26
G. Assayag. 2002. Mathematics and Music, A Diderot Mathematical Forum. p. 5-7.
19
the physical lutes upon which they were modeled. Pythagoras and Philolaus27 were
convinced there was a mathematical basis for consonance, expressed as ratios based on
nodes of a single string called a monochord. It is probable that Pythagoras did not invent
tuning by the multiplication of a tone by the fraction 3/2, but that he was introduced to it
The Greek tetrachord based on the perfect fourth, which is not found in the
overtone series as an actual distance above the fundamental until very far up the series, is
in fact the “shadow” of the perfect fifth. It is the “undertone” inversion of the perfect fifth
27
Frazer, 2001. Development of Musical Tuning Systems, p. 1.
28
Pythagorean Knowledge in Ancient Babylonia. Accessed 3/5/12.
http://www.egyptorigins.org/babpyth.htm. Also, Pythagoras may have spent some time in Babylon, Iraq,
and had learned much of his mathematics in Babylon.
29
Ptolemy, p. 76.
20
in relation to the second octave of the fundamental and it is the main organizing principle
for all Greek music. The tetrachord is also used in the Middle East in the Arabic maqam
in much the same way it was spread by Ptolemy.30 Greek music did not make deliberate
use of the octave, so the scales, harmoniai, and modes, tonoi, seem to have come later
towards the first century C.E., under Ptolemy, from whom Boethius “rewrote” their
essential functions for use in European musical theory.31 The monophony of the Arabic
maqam comes much closer to the sound and use of the Greek tetrachordal system,
according to O Wright.
Pythagorean tuning is essentially 3-limit just intonation. The only overtone series
partials used are the fundamental and the second overtone, the perfect fifth (3:2), which,
at 702 cents, is pure. Archytas then improved 3-limit just intonation to include ratios
beyond the fourth partial, such as the fifth partial, which is the just major third, at 386
proportional means and proposed three methods of octave divisions: arithmetic, 12:9:6,
great deal, since the Greek genera, the diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic, were divided
by these means to produce intervals of a profound diversity, ranging from the comma, at
24 cents, to a large whole tone at 231 cents. Each genus was a type of “tuning” that was
defined by the size of the pyknon, or remainder, of the tetrachordal divisions after the
major thirds, minor thirds, and whole tones had been designated. The pyknon was the
30
Wright, 1978, the modal system of Persian and Arabic music, 1250-1300. p. 32.
31
Chadwick. 1981. Boethius, the consolations of music, logic, theology, and philosophy. p. 89.
32
G. Assayag, 2002, p. 7.
33
Ibid.
21
densest region of the non-diatonic genera, the chromatic and enharmonic genera equal to
less than half of the span of the perfect fourth.34 The lichanos is the indicator, as the third
note from the bottom, of the genus in question and indicates the CI, or “characteristic
interval” within the pyknon, that tells the genus type.35 The CI width, therefore, indicates
the genus.36 According to Richard Crocker, Pythagoras, Archytas, and Aristoxenus all
had different views regarding the size of the lichanos. Archytas believed the lichanos to
be 28/27, or 63 cent third tones; Pythagoras believed it to be the limma, at 90 cents; and
Aristoxenus believed it to vary between 50-100 cents.37 In fact, Andres Barbera created a
formula called the “rate of change” for the lichanos: (lichanos2 – lichanos1/ parhypate2
– parhypate1).38 The Lyre was used to unequally divide the pyknon in Aristoxenus’s
time. Historical studies by classicists have organized groups of tetrachords and their
microtonal ingredients, placing them into categories and have also found that there was
The prototypical diatonic genus can be found in Plato’s Timaeus; called the
cents.40 The Timaeus tetrachord contains the following ratios: 256:243:216:192, which
corresponds to 90 cents, 204 cents, and 204 cents, which is a half-step, and two whole
steps.41 This was given to Plato from Pythagorus to Philolaus to Archytas, who was then
a contemporary of Plato. The pinnacle of Greek scalar achievement lies within the
Immutable Perfect System, which contains 15 steps and covers two octaves, beginning
34
Chalmers, 1993. Divisions of the Tetrachord.p. 18.
35
Ibid., p. 47.
36
Schlesinger. 1970. The Greek Aulos. p. 161.
37
Chalmers. 1993. p. 48.
38
Ibid.
39
Ibid., p. 52.
40
Godwin, 1993. Harmony of the Spheres. p. 3-9.
41
Aristides Quintilianus, first century AD—1983. p. 161.
22
diezeugmenon tetrachord, and the hyperbolaion tetrachord, each with specific steps:
hypate hypaton, parhypate hypaton, lichanos hypaton, hypate meson, parhypate meson,
Greek names refer to lyres from ancient Greece. The Immutable Perfect System is
composed of two smaller systems: the Greater Perfect System, and the Lesser Perfect
System, where the standing notes are the proslambanomenos, and the mese, and the
mutable notes are the lichanos and the parhypate, as discussed earlier.44
Nicomachus of Gerasa, first century A.D., took Plato’s Timaeus very seriously in
his The Manual of Harmonics.45 Nicomachus believed that the properties of musical
intervals were governed by number, as in Pythagorean thought, and that there was
means “conjunct,” where these terms indicate the combining of tetrachords. The disjunct
tetrachord is separated by a whole tone and the conjunct shares the same pitch. In
were employed, as both the diezeugmenon and synemmenon tetrachords were the
42
It has been customary for Greek scales to be spelled downwards, starting at the top and climbing the
scale down; however, Xenakis claims this is erroneous, and has since reversed the opinion of this matter.
43
Schlesinger. 1970. p. 139.
44
The New Grove, 2001, pp. 663-665.
45
Nichomachus, 1994, p. 99.
46
Ibid.
23
distinctions used to determine the Greater from the Lesser Perfect Systems,
respectively.47 The heptachord is the result of the seven-note set made from combining
the synemmenon and the meson tetrachords, as they were conjoined, or conjunct; while
the octachord is formed by the diezeugmenon and meson tetrachords, which are disjunctly
separated by a 9/8 whole tone, thus creating the two species of the Perfect System. When
Nicomachus reveals that Plato had realized all the scale degrees for the diatonic
scale in Timaeus: 1/1, 9/8, 81/64, 4/3, 3/2, 27/16, 256/243, 2/1, which is 3-limit
Pythagorean tuning, from Archytas.49 Plato had also canonized two of the methods for
string divisions: harmonic mean, b = 2ac/a+c, and arithmetic, b = a+c/2, which, along
consonance; this brings to mind Stockhausen’s Stimmung, in which the performers must
2.1.2 below). As a side note, Plato’s Republic, at the end of book III, discusses the ethos
of the modes in feeling and character: Lydian, as mournful; Dorian, as cheerful; Ionian,
as happy; and Phrygian, as self-restrained.51 Nicomachus also helped pave the way to
System is infused with all three genera.52 Examples are shown above. McClain notices
47
Ibid.
48
Ibid. p. 110-112.
49
Ibid.
50
Ibid., p. 182.
51
Plato, The Republic, pp. 157-59.
52
Nicomacchus, p. 176.
24
that Albert von Thimus had created the Thimus-Nicomacchian Table, as a model of
characters, possibly) who are found in a Platonic dialogue utilizing both Pythagorean and
Aristoxenian ideas. Aristides also borrowed the tri-generic Immutable Perfect System
“six shades” in excess of the three genera, utilizing third tones.54 The third tones of
Aristides’s system come from Aristoxenus’s soft chromatic genus. Modulation of genera
is discussed in connection with alteration of the underlying scale and character of the
According to Aristides, melos, was divided into four areas: genus, scale, tonoi,
and rhythm, in which the three genera were the most important element of modulation.
century B.C.) disapproved of the Greek harmonicists—a school of theorists who based
53
McClain. 1978. The Pythagorean Plato. p. 146.
54
Aristides Quintilianus, first century AD—1983. On Music. p. 77-88.
55
Ibid., pp.83-85.
56
Ibid., p. 89.
57
Aristoxenus. 2005. Harmonics. trans. Sophie Gibson, p. 1-4.
25
their music on one genus, the diatonic, emphasizing octave equivalence.58 Aristoxenus
derided the harmonicists’ notion of “scale” as mechanical and soulless, even though a
synthesis of scale and genera would yield many more than 7 species of mode, as shown
by Eratocles.59 Aristoxenus, however, claimed that scales were useless and that notation
was similarly pointless. Aristoxenus believed in the motion of the voice in actual
performance, where the tetrachord, alone and with modulations, was the basic musical
unit; the perfect fourth was its most essential interval. It is Aristoxenus who first hailed
voice leading as the most important principle of music.60 Aristoxenus did not resort to a
cosmology, as did Pythagoras, and also rejected the ratios of Pythagoras by stating that
Aristoxenus stated that the smallest melik interval to be sung was the quartertone,
at 50 cents.62 Anything smaller was considered ekmelik, or unsingable, even though the
Table 2.1.2.1
Enharmonic 3 quartertone 50 c. 3 quartertone 24 large major third
Chromatic mild 4 third tone 63 cents 4 third tone 22 smaller major third
58
New Grove, second edition, Volume 10, p. 336.
59
Ibid., p. 337.
60
Ibid.
61
Aristoxenus (Gibson). 2005. Harmonics. p.16.
62
Ibid., p. 339.
26
immeasurable approximations).63 The tetrachord, when extended into a full octave, would
yield 72 divisions of the octave by Cleonides’s divisions. Even though they were purely
theoretical, some have taken these measurements literally. Aristoxenus defined the
pyknon as three notes bounding two small intervals, where tonoi was the position of the
voice.64 The modulation of genera pivoted on the mese, an immovable note from which to
adoption of Euclid’s philosophy of geometry, there are infinite points on a line, and so
there are infinite lichanoi between two pitches. The enharmonic retuning of the lichanos
of three different types: by genus, by system, and by key.67 Ethos, in Aristoxenus, was the
system, key, and melos. Additionally, there were “retunings” that Aristoxenus advocated,
which were the 13 tonoi, or modes, as progenitors of the modern day key. These were
63
Ibid., p. 339, and Chalmers, p. 7.
64
Ibid.
65
Ibid., p. 341.
66
Barsky, Chromaticism, 1996, p. 3-5.
67
Winnington-Ingram, 1936. Mode in Ancient Greek Music. p. 33.
68
Ibid., p. 74.
27
2.1.3 Ptolemy
addition to the Almagest, his famous treatise on mathematics and the cosmos, Ptolemy
was a brilliant music theorist who solidified all of ancient Greek theory in his writings.69
Ptolemy explored and defined Pythagorus, Aristoxenus, and Archytas, and combined the
1/3 the proportion of each number; and geometric, 2-4-8-16-32, simple multiplication by
2, including the notion of square roots, not available to Greeks without a mesolabium.70
Although each means of division allowed variance between the cents value of each
interval, the overall differences are slight. Consonance was determined as the smallest
and simplest ratio.71 Ptolemy also acknowledged modulation by genus, in which outer
notes, the hypate and mese, remained stationary at a perfect fourth, while the inner notes,
the parhypate and lichanos, were moveable, and therefore able to modulate, metabolae,
Ptolemy, with regard to Aristoxenus, created a chart of the latter’s genera in broad
strokes: the enharmonic was defined with quartertones; the soft chromatic, with third
tones; and the diatonic with semitones.73 Ptolemy cites Archytas as having equated the
69
Ptolomy, first century A.D. Harmonics. Trans. Jon Solomon. 2000.
70
The mesolabium was a tool for extracting roots and constructing geometric means in ancient Greece.
71
Ptolemy, p. 9-16.
72
Ibid., p. 39.
73
Ibid., p.41.
28
third tones to a ratio of 28/27, at 63 cents; however, in Archytas’s system, the third tone
was found in more than just one genus.74 The idea of polymicrotonality holds more
paradigm, Aristoxenus’s criteria for his genera hold very well; and since he was a major
Greek figure, aside from Pythagoras, in holding a theoretical stance with weight.
Table 2.1.3.1
Enharmonic 5/4 (just third) 24/23 (1/3 tone, 63 c.) 46/45 (38 cents)
These ratios are, as Ptolemy decreed, within both reason and perception for musicians in
Ptolemy himself recommended that the enharmonic genus modulate to the soft
chromatic and then to the intense chromatic by the congruence of pyknon sizes and
intervallic unity.77 This proves that genera modulations were not just supported by
Aristoxenus alone, but widespread enough that Ptolemy recognized the performance
practices of composers and musicians of his day. If we still agree that genera are the
Greek equivalents of tuned systems of pitch, then this is tantamount to poly temperament.
And since these genera involve microtonal intervals, they are polymicrotonal by
74
Ibid., p. 44.
75
Ibid., p. 50.
76
Ibid., p. 52.
77
Ibid., p. 58.
29
definition, despite their limitations to monophonic textures. For during the course of one
work, two or more genera will be used, thus allowing a species of polymicrotonality:
what Ivor Darreg called “immigration,”78 rather than modulation, since modulation refers
to a relative position within one tuning scale, as opposed to leaving the tuning altogether.
We can also see that Ptolemy was 11-limit inclusive in just intoned ratios that venture out
well beyond Pythagorean 3-limit tuning. Also in Ptolemy’s system, the renaming of a
pitch, in the Greater Perfect System, for example, changed its function, which would then
change its genus. “All genera can modulate.”79 In studying Ptolemy, we find that
intervallic re-spelling was not an original idea in Western chromatic theory. Ptolemy
Table 2.1.3.2 Ptolemaic comparative table of the enharmonic genus from Archytas,
Aristoxenus, Eratosthenes, Didymus, and Ptolemy.82
Archytas Aristoxenus Eratosthenes Didymus Ptolemy
Ptolemy, in fact, had raised just intonation to the 11th limit, quartertones, and had never
espoused equal divisions for either the octave, the tetrachord, or the whole tone.83
78
From a personal correspondence with Reinhard: Johnny Reinhard knew Ivor Darreg, part of the San
Diego contingent of microtonalists, and Ivor referred to modulation of one tuning to another as
“immigration,” since it was akin to going into foreign territory.
79
Ibid., p. 75.
80
Ibid.
81
Ibid., p. 78.
82
Ibid., pp. 99-123.
30
The intervals in use in Gregorian chant did come smaller than the semitone,
according to the Montpellier ‘antiphonary’ codex.84 The diesis (63 cents), smaller than the
limma (90 cents) somewhere in the area of a third tone (also 63 cents) showed that the
Greek enharmonic genus was still in use. The Greek genera and the “new” European
diatonic flavor had overlapped during the dark and middle ages and classifications of
intervallic systems of the middle ages were based on the Greek genera and Greater
Middle Ages, beginning with the Ars Nova, fluctuated between 12, 14, 17, and 19 pitches
per octave, all based on extended Pythagorean tuning.86 Carl Dalhaus called this variance
the lower and upper limits of available resources via monochord divisions by
mathematics.87 In fact, even Guido de Arezzo had insinuated the existence of the diesis.88
Philippe de Vitry’s Ars Nova in (1320) alluded to a 14-tone per octave system that
had double leading tone cadences. In fact, the term “leading tone” was first seen in the
writings of Ptolemy.89 The extended Pythagorean tuning of 17 tones per octave in the
system of Prosdocimus de Beldemandis involved dividing all scalar whole tones into two
83
Ptolemy, Harmonics, (first century AD), trans. Jon Solomon, 2000.
84
Barsky, p. 20.
85
Ibid.
86
Ibid.
87
Ibid. p. 20.
88
Ibid.
89
Ptolemy, p. 53.
31
parts so that each tone had upper and lower leading tones.90 But first we should explore
Boethius.
and only a cursory translation of the works of Nicomachus and Ptolemy,91 was the last
European vector of Greek musical theory to the West until Guido de Arezzo.92 Boethius
Pythagorean theory, and Greek modal theory, which is the progenitor of scales in the
reversed. The classical Greek modes are not discussed here because they are not issues
particular to tuning; nevertheless, they are a circumstance of the various diatonic genera
they contain. Moreover, they represent more of the beginnings of Western tonality. The
writings of Boethius were revived by the Carolingian renaissance, three centuries later.
The Greek theory and genera bequeathed by Boethius to the compilation of the French
codex by Cassiodorus was an ongoing process that extended through 150 codices during
the Middle ages. During the late 9th century there was a Boethian revival.93 The
Pythagorean system espoused by Boethius was adopted by the Catholic Church, who
focused solely on the diatonic genus because it was readily adaptable into chant and
liturgy. Initially, there were discrepancies between Boethius’s interval ratios and the
chant melodies--- incongruities that arose from conflicting systems, yielding potentially
90
Barsky. 1996. Chromaticism. p. 21, this is referencing Carl Dahlhaus’s work on Johannes Ciconia.
91
Chadwick, The consolations, 1981, p. 89.
92
New Grove. Vol. 3, pp. 784-786.
93
Ibid.
94
Ibid., p. 785.
32
its proposed use of just intonation up to the 7th limit (chapter ix).95 The treatise was
an age that was completely dominated by Pythagorean tuning up to the third limit, or the
perfect fifth, this document stands in isolation against the prevailing logic of its time. It
obviously must have influenced a great deal of musicians in Germany, and therefore it
coexisted with the common Pythagorean tuning, leading to speculation that at least two
tuning systems were competing for wide spread use: Pythagorean and 7-limit just
intonation.96 Curiously, the document is filled with Greek intervallic terms: limma, diesis,
and colon, which are two commas (roughly equal to a quartertone). The tuning system of
Musica Enchiriadis is based on the 9/8 Pythagorean sesquioctava, the epogdoos, initially
The official stance of the Catholic Church was that it had dispensed with the
enharmonic and chromatic genera in favor of the diatonic for its liturgical chant, due to
the small intervals.98 In France, musicians were training on the monochord, using the
three methods of means: namely the arithmetic mean; the geometric mean; and the
harmonic mean. These were in opposition to the Pythagorean methods of spiraling fifths,
so ratios were coming into focus.99 In Spain, Al Farabi (872-950) had spread his theory
simultaneous use of both arithmetic and geometric means, or rather the simultaneous use
95
Musica Enchiriadis, Ninth century---rewritten in 1976 at the University of Colorado.
96
Ibid., chapter ix.
97
Ibid., p. 10.
98
Ferreria, p. 13-16 (G. Assayag, 2002).
99
Ibid., p. 17.
100
Ibid., p. 18.
33
of the Byzantine method of discrete ratios and continuous approximations that Xenakis
valued.
Early medieval music theory, therefore, was about the simultaneity of competing
tuning systems around all of Europe, from just ratio, to Pythagorean, to the Aristoxenian
approximations by ear, until the Catholic Church settled on strict, simple Pythagorean
tuning, which remained intact until Zarlino. Johannes Ciconia, ca. 1400, had thoughts
about the fusion of certain tuning aspects of the Ars Nova with the Italian trecento, where
Pythagorean tuning would be fused with the 17th harmonic, the sesquiseptima, at the
ratios of 17/16, and 18/17, semitone of 105 cents, showing already a desire to break away
from strict Pythagorean tuning.101 In fact, Marchetto of Padua, in his Lucidarium (1317),
had written about the justly tuned major third, or the fifth harmonic, in 5-limit just
ratios.102 In fact, the Luciderium was filled with divisions of the whole tone into nine
parts which was a carry-over from the theories of Al Farabi, who had brought the maqam
to the West. The maqam had been subjected to an octave division of 54 tones in Turkish
practice by the teachings of both Archytas and Ptolemy, except that Ptolemy did not
advocate equal divisions.103 Also, via Byzantine music, we get the chrysanthos, the
practice of the ancients, systematizing Greek modes with elements of Turkish music that
divided the whole tone into 9 parts, or commas, as seen in the writings of Marchetto and
Johannes Ciconia.
The confluence of the many different paths that by which Greek theory was
introduced into the West (and their concomitant inaccuracies) led to Renaissance
revivials of Greek practices that were based on spurious information; this incremental
101
Johannes Ciconia, de proportionibus and Nova Musica, p. 109.
102
Marchetto of Padua, Luciderium, trans. Joe Herlinger, p. 115.
103
Ibid., pp. 131-149.
34
digression inevitably happens over the course of centuries, yet this is how fundamental
Luciderium that Ciconia based his work, incorporating the 17th partial into Pythagorean
tuning.104 Also, the reduced set of diatonic tones had been increased to 12, by 1300, by
the use of multiple leading tones from the practice of Ars Nova and potential
both Phrygian and Dorian modes with their concomitant leading tones, as well.105
Although modes had infiltrated Europe through Boethius, it is not wholly true that mode
for example, in the early twentieth century, alongside Ives’s Universe Symphony.
Around the sixteenth century, at the height of the Renaissance, chordal harmony
began to break away from the strict Pythagorean tuning found in organum, discant, and
motets. Musicians began looking back to the Greeks, a pattern of revival that has been
brought to this author’s attention, as well as to Barsky, prior to this research. Nicola
Vicentino and Gioseffo Zarlino were Greek revivalists, both of whom in the 1550’s used
just ratios, and rediscovered the three Greek genera, again, after Boethius had transmitted
them to Europe 1000 years earlier. The Frenchman Marin Mersenne, in his Harmonie
Universelle, 1637 had promoted the Greek systems of chromatic and enharmonic genera
104
Ibid., p. 157.
105
Barsky, p. 80.
106
Egan, Marin Mersenne: Traite de L'Harmonie universelle: a critical translation of the second book ,
1962, p. 11.
35
leading tuning away from Pythagorean methods; thus it is odd that Pythagoras was to
include the fifth partial, or the justly tuned third, at 5/4, or 386 cents. In fact, it was
Zarlino who had established the senarius as the first six overtones to be the fundamental
led the foray against Zarlino, in an effort to rid music of numbers, (as Aristoxenus had
Zarlino wrote his Le Istitutioni Harmoniche in 1558 and declared the major scale
as the following ratios: 1/1, 9/8, 5/4, 4/3, 3/2, 5/3, 15/8, and 2/1, which is 5-limit just
intonation.110 Zarlino was also skeptical about ratio precision in intervals that necessitated
the use of geometric ortogonio for dividing intervallic space visually, using the
18/17, or roughly, 99 cents, which would have predated Simon Stevin’s later discovered
12th root of two (12TET). Even Descartes rejected equal temperament in favor of rational,
perfect intervals, if not for the sake of purity itself.112 Ultimately, Descartes discovered
the overtone series, which would unleash a third tuning approach to the already
disheveled system of tuning held by Renaissance music theorists, who were still
107
Isacoff, 2001-2003.Temperament: how music became the battleground for great minds of Western
civilization. p. 136-137.
108
Levarie, Levy. 1968. p. 30.
109
Isacoff. p. 142.
110
Zarlino. 1558, 1965. Le Istitutioni Harmonice. p. 51.
111
Ibid. p. 52.
112
Isacoff, p. 175.
36
grappling with just and Pythagorean tunings. Zarlino, Kepler, and Descartes all hailed the
overtone series as “nature’s divine plan.”113 Zarlino sought to improve the Pythagorean
thirds. At 408 cents he held they were too wide, rejecting them in favor of just thirds, at
386 cents, 22 cents narrower, and an interval itself referred to as the syntonic comma.114
Zarlino would come to deny genera modulation, advocating the coming hegemony of the
diatonic genus,115 free from polymicrotonal implications, as the diatonic status quo of
Europe.
Medieval and early Renaissance composers had fallen under the spell of the
Greek Perfect Immutable System, composed of the Lesser Perfect System, hypaton,
meson, and synemmenon tetrachords, plus the Greater Perfect System, hypaton, meson,
medieval music treatises have this scheme, including all the Greek note names, from
1547, had referred to the three Greek genera.116 In fact, in Europe, tetrachords still existed
well into the sixteenth century; Pythagorean tuning had admitted just intonation by the
use of the 5/4 major third, the splitting of the 9/8 whole tone, and the use of the 17th
overtone, all in order to round out and make certain intervals more consonant in
polyphony. As mentioned earlier, the whole tone divided into 9 equal parts was also
discussed in Glarean’s treatise, with weight given to certain parts of the nine divisions.117
113
Ibid., p. 179.
114
Zarlino, The Art of Counterpoint, p. xx, terze part.
115
Ibid., p. 273.
116
Klein, 1989. Die intervallehre in Deutche Musiktheorie in des 16 Jahrhunderts. p. 32.
117
Heinrich Glarean, 1965. Dodecachordon. pp. 90-91.
37
Gesualdo and Frescobaldi, among others, on which one could play all three Greek
genera.118 Vicentino rediscovered Ptolemy and Boethius and their discussions of the
in the early Renaissance, even though Vicentino was more Aristoxenian in his approach.
Vicentino desired more microtonal shading for text interpretation.119 The split key
genera, and included the just ratios up to the thirteenth limit. Vicentino’s default tuning
was ¼ comma meantone, where 5.4-6 cents are shaved off four of the fifths to produce
for a 44-fret lute, a 19-tone per octave keyboard, a 17-tone per octave keyboard, and his
chapter five, he transformed the notation of small enharmonic intervals from the Greek
genera, into a Renaissance ideology, thus transforming ancient Greek musical theory into
a Renaissance aesthetic. In Libro Primo he discussed a 38-tone per octave written system,
including “Quattro diesis” intervals, and also a 24-tone per octave system, though not
118
Alves, 1989.The Just Intonation System of Nicola Vicentino. p. 1.
119
Ibid., pp. 1-4.
120
Vicentino, L’antica Musica, 1565—1959, index.
121
Ibid., pp. 12-13.
38
Ex. 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 Nicola Vicentino’s 31-tone to the octave pitch and interval list122
Don Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613), Prince of Venosa and the Count of Conza, has
been called a mannerist.123 Like Vicentino, he departed from the standard Renaissance
122
Alves. 1989. The Just Intonation System of Nicola Vicentino. pp.4-5.
40
aesthetic practice by leading into the Baroque creating his highly expressive madrigals
the act of producing art that did not represent nature, or natural logic, and was for its time
a type of maximalism.125 For this purpose, Vicentino was also a mannerist, and had
profound influence on Gesualdo. “The mannerist no longer sees the canon of nature as
Gesualdo’s use of the notes Gb, G, G#, Ab, A, A#, Bb, B, B#, Cb, C, C#, Db, D,
D#, Eb, E, E#, F, F#, which included no Fb, accounted for a circa 20-21/octave scale
from extended Pythagorean tuning. Again, the enharmonic genus was in full use, as no
Vicentino, even though Gesualdo used his 36/octave Archicembalo.127 From here, this
paper moves on to Marin Mersenne, who was the next historical figure in the
Mersenne dealt with the overtones from the monochord and discovered up to the 27th
partial, noting the sequence of the first, second, and third partials, and their concomitant
significance in European tonality.129 Mersenne also found the same series in brass
instruments, thus leading to the first hypothesis of the overtone series, (even before
123
Watkins. 1973. Gesualdo: the man and his music. p. 294.
124
Ibid. p. 196.
125
Ibid. p. 97.
126
Ibid., p. 102.
127
Ibid., pp 201-294.
128
Ludwig, 1935, p. 11.
129
Ibid., pp. 41-42.
41
Descartes).130 Mersenne also had synesthesia, which led him to note specific colors to
specific pitches.131 Mersenne ratified Zarlino’s senarius, and also made a case for the 7th
partial, the septimal ratios, as consonant, years ahead of Adriaan Fokker. Mersenne also
discovered that multiples of ratios were also consonant, so the pitch palette could be
genera, but misrepresents them. He claimed the diatonic genus had 9 pitches and 8
intervals; the chromatic had 16 pitches and 15 intervals; and the enharmonic had 25
pitches, and 24 intervals.134 These former figures, of course, are incorrect, and are based
on a heptachordal octave, plus accidentals, which the Greeks never used. Mersenne’s
format and style, for his treatise, adopted Euclid’s geometry, replete with theorems, and
axioms comparing intervals with geometry, a format also adopted by Spinoza in his
Huygens created tuning from the overtone series, with ¼ comma tuning as his reference.
In the construction of his 31-tone system, Huygens used logarithms rather than geometric
roots in order to find consistent mean proportions, in order to preserve the 31-tone
130
Ibid.
131
Ibid., p. 44.
132
Ibid., p. 63.
133
Ibid., p. 75.
134
Marin Mersenne, trans. Egan, 1962, p. 11.
135
Ibid.
136
Hays, 1977, p. 18.
42
system—the first in Europe. He had made it perfectly circular, so that a full chromatic
modulation was possible, even in the mid 1600’s.137 He also advocated Vicentino’s
Archicembalo and had one built. Huygens, probably the first theoretical acoustician, as
well as microtonalist, also discovered that singers sing in a separate and distinct tempered
tuning that was not pure.138 On the polymicrotonal path, Huygens asked “how can we
reconcile multiple tunings?”139 Again, there is precedence for polymicrotonality and this
is also a part of Huygens’s legacy, just as well as Ives, Marie, and Carrillo.
tuning methods: 2/7 comma meantone, ¼ comma meantone, and equal divisions of the
octave as well. Huygens had drawn a design for a 19-tone keyboard in 1676, for
meantone transpositions between 12 and 19 tones per octave.140 Huygens had discovered
the meantone connection between both 19 and 31 tones to the octave, which became a
symbol of “Dutch tuning,” which is espoused by Fokker, as well. Huygens was the first
discoveries, instigating a new approach to European tonality via the overtone series.
Saveur was, in fact, Huygens’s true successor as advocate for the new science of
acoustics.141 Saveur had also discovered “beating” with respect to consonance and
genuine music theory. Like Huygens, Saveur had traveled up the overtone series to the
137
Ibid., p. 22.
138
Ibid., p. 27-29.
139
Ibid., p. 30.
140
Huygens, 1691-1986, pp. 46-76.
141
Farrar, 1956, p. 51.
43
32nd partial, quartertones, and he gave numbers to what organ tuners had known all
along.142
On the other hand, Rameau had retreated from all the adventurous tuning methods
discovered by his predecessors by favoring the senarius, and consequently basing his
musical theories on only the first 6 partials in his “Nouveau Système.” The senarius is a
fundamental concept on which we all have become slavishly dependent, even until the
present day. Rameau called the first partial the “Fundamental Tone”143 in his reductionist
attempt at forming a legitimate music theory. Rameau was in favor of 12 equal divisions
of the octave and was opposed to both Well Temperament and meantone temperament.
Rameau criticized Zarlino, Jean Jacque Rousseau (who advocated larger tuning systems),
student Kirnberger, and even Kelletat’s Zur Musikalische Temperatur inbesonders bei
Bach. Johnny Reinhard has written a very insightful work on tuning in the time of Bach,
who based his views on the tuning theories of Werckmeister and the German
explorations of this topic will only produce redundancies in the quest for the most
practical tuning that facilitates chromatic modulations. But the addendum for the
Thuringian aesthetic is that it should reflect microtonal differences enough within the
142
Ibid.
143
Keane, 1961, p. 45.
144
Ibid., p. 176.
145
Reinhard, 2009.Bach and Tuning. p. 94.
44
modes that each mode has its own specific sound, due to the irregularity of the intervallic
structures. Hence, the notion of Well Temperament was not about the equality of the
sizes of the interval, but of making a workable 12-tone circle of modulation, while still
Lewellyn Lloyd, the great acoustician, stated that “string quartets and choirs are
the acid test for chromatic shading that reaches for differences of a comma.”146 Lloyd
also stated that 12, 19, 31, 50, and 53-tone equal temperaments are all circular in design,
and all have a tempered fifth. They are irregular in that they are tempered, rather than
pure, at 702 cents per fifth.147 Lloyd also stated that “better players do demand a greater
degree of pitch accommodation,”148 rather than the poorer player. Lloyd is alluding to a
phenomenon that has actually been happening for a long time: the fact that we have
actually always been polymicrotonal. Strings always play in Pythagorean tuning. Singers
sing justly toned intervals. Brass plays the overtone series. These are three different
that it has been an unconscious phenomenon for centuries, at least until the primacy of
12TET, which took off in the common practice period. Another point of interest is that
master tuner, Orgel–Probe (1681), which influenced Marpurg and Huygens conceptions
146
Lloyd, 1963, 1978, p. 109.
147
Ibid., p. 163.
148
Ibid., p. 164.
149
Ibid., p. 170.
45
classification for consonances in terms of disonance, where all his intervals came from
incorporate as much of just intonation into the meantone system at the time. There were,
in fact, circa 150 different meantone tunings before settling on 12TET. In terms of
diesis, at 41 cents, the Pythagorean comma, at 24 cents, and the diaschema, at 20 cents.151
Werckmeister is known for six major tuning systems: a 20/octave just system, a standard
meantone system, four “correct” temperaments based on his Well-tempered theories, and
lastly, a septenarius (based on the inclusion of the seventh partial) tuning. Even
Werckmeister utilized the 9-comma whole tone, introduced by Al Farabi via Turkey.
Commas and dieses were called “grad,” or degrees, and these systems were all tempered,
tuning” and became the standard Bach used, as Werckmeister III was a closed circular
system, allowing a full chromatic tour of the 12 semitones.152 This is what is called well
microtonal keys for the keyboard, as in the case of Vicentino’s Archicembalo; therefore
the Halberstaedt Plan, 12 notes per octave for keyboards, was adhered to.153
Werckmeister III was thus: C, 0 cents, C#/Db, 90 cent limma, D, 192 c., D#/Eb, 294 c., E,
150
Werckmeister.1691. Musikalisches Temperatur. pp. 8-19.
151
Ibid., p. 20.
152
Werckmeister, p. 26, for a full description of the six Werckmeister tunings, please see Rudolf Rasch’s
version of Werckmeister’s “Musikalische Temperatur.” Also, please download from the internet Johnny
Reinhard’s self-published “Bach and Tuning,” as it describes Werckmeister’s work in clarity.
153
Reinhard. 2009. Bach and Tuning, p. 53.
46
390 c., E#/F, 498 c., F#/Gb, 588 c., G, 696 c (the ¼ comma meantone), G#/Ab, 792 c., A,
888 c., A#/Bb, 996 c., B, 1092 c.154 Nevertheless, the Werckmeister III gamut produced a
total of 39 microtonal intervals to the octave, but only 12 are used at a time. Another
advocate for circular unequal tuning was J.N. Forkel, from Göttingen, where German
musicians post-Werckmeister preferred 1/6 comma meantone tuning, even with its “Wolf
fifths” 16 cents sharp.155 Telemann also had a tuning system of 55/octave, in equal
divisions, used for strings, winds, and singers, which equated with the 1/6th comma
meantone in favor for these particular German composers. [Why is this not talked about
in academic theory books? Why is there a blackout of this vital information?] There is
literature out there now that discusses the variance of tunings during the Renaissance and
Baroque music of Germany and are listed in this paper’s bibliography. Nevertheless,
advocated for math exercises for musicians to calculate correct tuning ratios.157 Marpurg
shows the overtone series up to the 25th partial as an arithmetic progression on page 26 of
his treatise, and does not deny the 7th, 11th, 13th, 14th, or even the 17th partial tunings.158
Marpurg welcomes the microtonal pitches, and on page 33 of his manual, has a very clear
classification for all of them, including the syntonic comma, and the apotome, at 114
cents.159 Marpurg also advocated for “klanggeschlecht,” or pitch choice, for building
personal scales by employing the classical Greek arithmetic, geometric, and harmonic
154
Werckmeister, 1691.Musikalische Tempuratur,/Rasch, and Reinhard, p. 56. (also from same source).
155
Reinhard, 2009. p. 95.
156
Ibid., p. 99.
157
Marpurg, 1757. Beginning Music Theory. p.26.
158
Ibid.
159
Ibid., p. 33.
47
methods of means.160 Marpurg’s teachings can easily fit into the wide expanse of
polymicrotonality.
Musical Composition (1708), predecessor of Bach, stated: “Schliesslich, dass ein Tonus
minor 8 commata übertieffe aber das 9te nicht erfülle—aber ein Tonus major halt 9
commata in sich und das 10th macht er auch nicht voll!”(Lastly, that a minor tone
overtops 8 commas, but doesn’t include the ninth—but in major tone has 9 commas in
itself and the tenth also does not make it complete.).161 So, even Walther saw the
1708. Walther also stated that one can easily hear the difference between a chromatic and
survey of Baroque tunings. The treatise begins from Zarlino, Schlick, and Salinas (not
mentioned in this paper), who were all responsible for the invention of several meantone
temperaments.163 Kelletat states that well tempered tuning was a German enterprise. Bach
grew up with meantone, but fully embraced the well tempered system, even though he
possible, that Bach may have composed harmonically in meantone, and linearly in
himself, Bach tuned his strings in Pythagorean tuning because that was the practice of the
160
Ibid., chapter IX, p. 51.
161
Walther, 1708. Precepts of Musical Composition, p. 88.
162
Ibid., p. 67.
163
Kelletat, 1960. Zur Musikalischen Temperatur insbesondere bei Johann Sebastian Bach. p. 21.
164
Ibid., p. 21-25.
165
It is my conjecture that Bach may have thought polytemperamentally, in both vertical and horizontal
directions.
48
day. As an organist and harpsichordist, Bach was accustomed to meantone and just
intonation. As a composer, Bach can not have been less affected by the sound and
function of these tunings in his ear. Pythagorean is best suited to lines, and not to vertical
structures because of the wide thirds, at 408 cents. But string players, even today, still
not beyond the realm of possibility, therefore, that Bach thought linearly in Pythagorean,
and vertically in meantone, as well as well tempered tuning, which are all different
intervallic sizes.
Lastly, Kirnberger’s Kunst des reinen Satzes in der Musik, 1771, upon which Fux
based his Gradus Ad Parnassum, displayed the influence of Marpurg by the use of the
1/12 comma meantone system, which yielded him 194 pitches with multiple variations of
Simon Stevin and Huygens would seal the fate of polymicrotonality shut by their
joint contribution of logarithms and the twelfth root of 2 to produce the equally-tempered
scale that Western musicians have all come to know over the last two hundred years,
The reason the foregoing materials are so densely packed with tuning trivia is that
the nature of tuning and microtones, for various reasons, littered the Baroque musical
landscape. There was a heightened awareness of nuances of pitch never before imagined
in European history and it was the awareness that served as a prelude to the microtonal
explosion of the twentieth century, when composers again went into extensive detail
about the accuracy of pitch and the importance of microtones as both structural and
embellishing features.
166
Ibid., pp. 45-46.
49
Perhaps the single most important work for twentieth century microtonality,
acting as a catalyst after a short period from a 2500 year history of quiescence in tuning
and microtones, is Hermann Von Helmholtz’s Die Lehre von den Tonempfindungen als
physiologische Grundlage für die Theorie der Musik (On the Sensations of Tone as a
Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music), translated into English by Alexander Ellis
in 1877.
the late nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century. George Ives is one
example.
Manual for 53/octave organs, specially tuned harmoniums in just intonation, tuning tables
comparing all known tunings to the cent (an invention of Ellis himself), and an invention
called the “Harmonical,” which is a specially tuned harmonium using the overtone series
up to the 13th partial.167 Additional personages from the age include Henry Ward Poole,
who invented an organ capable of both quartertones and eighthtones, as well as septimal
just ratios, including the septimal comma at the ratio of 64/63. The septimal comma at 27
167
Ellis/Helmholtz. 1877/1954. On the Sensations of Tone. p. 470.
168
Ibid, pp. 473-495.
50
Hába, Julian Carrillo, George Ives, Charles Ives, Ivan Wyschnegradsky, and Adriaan
Fokker. Alois Hába (1893-1973), shares the same birth year as Ivan Wyschnegradsky.
The Czech composer incorporated Slavic quartertone inflections into his works,
microtonality having come into Slavic music via Turkey into Bulgaria during the Middle
ages.
Hába tried to adapt quartertones into the Occidental heritage through the
prominent use of late Romantic chromaticism that began in the late Romantic period and
spilled over into the early twentieth century. In particular, Hába explored this synthesis
by way of his string quartets. Hába also made use of Forster pianos, specifically made for
Julian Carrillo (1875-1965), from Mexico, created the Crusade for the 13th Sound,
theoretical work El Infinite Musical used the square roots of the intervals most commonly
found in Bach’s Preludes and Fugues, compressed into a range of half an octave, in
microtonal literature campaign, from his Mexico City office El Sonido 13.171 Carrillo is a
figure of incredible imagination who investigated history for alternative methods for
simplifying microtonal notation, since he was operating with 72 TET, and discovered
how unwieldy standard notation can be for advanced microtonal systems. Instead,
Carrillo sought to re-design the staff system using numbers, much similar to the way Jean
169
Starkhendon, 1962. XXth Century Experiments in Microtonalism. p. 2.
170
Ibid.
171
Carrillo, 1957. Sistema General de Escritura Musical. p. 12.
51
Jacques Rousseau’s use of numbers, rather than pitch and staff placement, to indicate
pitch. Register would be taken care of by moveable clefs172 (see Example 2.3.1). Number
would therefore represent the precise division of the octave, while clef would indicate
what range, or register the pitch is located in. The staff becomes reduced to a single line.
Carrillo also transcribed popular classical pieces to his new system, showing that it could
work.173
172
Ibid, p. 12.
173
Ibid, p. 32-45.
52
174
Carrillo, p. 31.
53
In his Toccata for violin, cello, guitar, cornet, and harp, he mixes quartertones with
sixteenth tones; the cornet and harp are tuned to sixteenths and the rest of the choir is in
quartertones.175 One possibility of this system having never caught on with composers
175
Ibid, p. 49.
176
Ibid.
54
may be the lack of melodic contour, or the absence of the visual element, that inhibited
the ease of vertical expression. Tepepan, is a work that also mixed sixteenth tones with
quartertones.177
Carrillo worked with a master tuning grid of 96 pitches per octave, which can be
subdivided into smaller microtonal systems, much like Wyschnegradsky, who had
subsystems within his 72-tone grid. The question whether or not polymicrotonality in this
context is nullified, based on the idea of subsumption, cancels out when one considers
composer.
Horizontes, for harp and percussion, is mostly in third tones. Although there are
no semitones, other odd divisions from fifth tones to sixteenth tones are present.178
177
Ibid, p. 50.
178
Ibid, p. 54.
55
In the example above, 2.3.3, Carrillo mixes tunings from a 96-tone master grid,
where all pitches are numbered accordingly. In the first system, the harp ascends and
179
Ibid. p. 51.
56
descends in eighth tones, followed by a 2/3 tone skip before a fermata. The harp then
descends in 16th tones, followed by skips of a 1/12th tone, followed by a fermata. Then
the second system features a harp descending in 1/16th tones, followed by skips of 24th
Adriaan Fokker (1887-1972), famous for his Euler-Fokker genera, the Fokker
Periodicity blocks, just intonation, 31-tone equal temperament, and his work as a
physicist, working among such luminaries as Max Planck and Albert Einstein, wrote two
major treatises in microtonal theory: Just Intontation (1949), and New Music with 31
Notes (1975).
Let an n-dimensional lattice (i.e. grid) embedded in n-space have a numerical value
assigned to each of its nodes. Let n be preferably equal either to 1, 2, or 3. In the two-
dimensional case, the lattice is a square lattice. In the 3-D case, the lattice is cubic.
Examples of such lattices are the following (x, y, z and w, are integers):
· One-dimensional: 3-limit
A(0) = 1
· Two-dimensional: 5-limit
· Three-dimensional: 7-limit
181
180
Fokker, A. D., (n.d.), Unison Vectors and Periodicity Blocks in the Three-Dimensional (3-5-7-) Lattice
of Notes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_periodicity_blocks. Accessed 11/11/11
57
Fokker is known for rekindling the theories of Christiaan Huygens, whose tuning
of 31 notes to the octave with pure thirds, sevenths, and 5-cent flatted fifths are the same
as meantone tuning. Since 31 TET is circular182, it also contains both 12 TET and
meantone tunings.183
Fokker advocated the adoption of the pure seventh (968 cents) incorporated as
standard tuning, adopting Giuseppi Tartini’s geometric angle symbol for a diesis flat
(resembling the number 7).184 This same symbol has been used by Ben Johnston, found in
Fokker termed his genera “complete contracted chords” in the form of (1, 3, 5)
whose “guide tones” were products of this formula, in this case: 15. Euler-Fokker genera
are essentially prime numbers 3, 5, and 7, or higher, where each number forms a
Wilson and also used by Ben Johnston for his “53 to the octave” tuning. In short, the
31 became the number where the spiraling fifths came close enough together to become a
181
Find n nodes on the lattice other than the origin such that their values are sufficiently close to either 1 or 2.Vectors from the origin
to each one of these special nodes are called unison vectors. A quantity n of unison vectors are enough to define an n-dimensional
tiling pattern. Let the n unison vectors define the sides of a tile. In 1-D, a tile is a line segment. In 2-D, a tile is a parallelogram. In 3-D,
a tile is a parallelepiped.
Each tile has an area given by the absolute value of the determinant of the matrix of unison vectors: i.e. in the 2-D case if the unison
vectors are u and v, such that and then the area of a 2-D tile is
Each tile is called a Fokker periodicity block. The area of each block is always a natural number equal to the number of nodes falling
within each block. Source: http://www.huygens-fokker.org/docs/fokkerpb.html. Accessed 4/2/12.
182
Cirularity is the condition that all keys are accessible within one gamut of pitches, e.g. meantone tuning,
if left at only 12 pitches is not circular since some keys will be grossly out of tune.
183
Fokker A. D. 1975. NewMusic With 31-Notes. p. 16.
184
Ibid, p. 19.
58
example, E## and Gbb would be separated by only 10 cents, which is the limit that both
Partch, regarding undertones187. Fokker’s theory was triadic and included the 7th,
Marie was a student of Messiaen and was influenced by Messiaen’s polytonal and
carrying on the lineage from Debussy. Marie thought that the most exciting music
polymicrotonal system and gives a brief and particular survey of his predecessors: Hába,
Carrillo, and Wyschnegradsky. Oddly, he fails to mention Ives, except that it would be
Johnny Reinhard’s realization of the Universe Symphony, in 1996, that would bring
attention to its polymicrotonal characteristics, then unknown to Marie. Marie’s first work
in polymicrotonal systems was Concerto milieu divin (1969/1970) in third, quarter, fifth,
185
Ibid, p. 19-45.
186
Ibid.
187
Although undertones are theoretically possible, they are not actually possible, since they would fall
below the threshold of perception for the human apparatus.
188
Marie, 1976. L’homme musical. p. 20.
189
Ibid., p. 89.
59
and sixth tones for orchestra. There is a recording of this piece under the direction of
live pianos in 12TET and 18TET (third tones), with tape of two pianos tuned to fifth and
sixth tones. The tape idea helped alleviate portability problems by simply recording the
fifth and sixth tone tuned pianos to tape, whereby only one piano, in third tones would
need retuning on location. Marie was practical. The work is the second deliberate
190
Marie, 1966. Le tombeau de Carrillo.
60
191
Marie, L’homme musical. p. 90.
61
Le Tombeau is ternary: the A section uses live pianos in half and third tone
tuning, while the B section employs sound masses of the fifth and sixth tone tuned
In the previous example, 2.3.6, Marie demonstrates the multiple systems at work
in his Le Tombeau. All pianos, the strata break down thusly: the top system of 8 staves
are divided into 30 equal steps per octave; the middle system is 12TET; the second from
the bottom are divided into 18TET, and the last system is divided into 36 tones per
octave. Marie’s system is represented by a root 2 procedure, thus ensuring the equal
192
Loc. cit.
62
Ex. 2.3.6. Marie’s Le Tombeau de Carrillo, 1966, showing the layers of different
microtonal systems by square root terminology.193
193
Ibid. p. 91.
63
Pierre Guezec (1971). The initial motivic cell, A, G#, Bb, A, becomes transposed
through four other equal divisions: third, quarter, fifth, and seventh tones. Each line
194
Ibid., p. 92.
64
begins with a different rotation of the cell, so there are serial procedures involved in the
an audible compression of the intervallic structure. The lines also transpose down by one
Like Ives, Marie was not a tuning purist; they both evinced a predilection for
equally divided whole tones, rather than basing their pitch structures solely on the
overtone series, or just intonation.195 Marie, like Bartók in his String Quartet No. 4, was
which necessitates equal divisions, rather than unequal just tunings. Schoenberg is also
credited by Marie in framing 12TET in terms of standard tuning as a series of the twelfth
root of 2, an octave divided into 12 equal spaces.196 Much in the same way as creating
any division of the twelfth root of 2—an objectification of our common materials seen
Marie’s system, however, lay in his dependence and reverence for the piano, as the
Marie notes that Hába began to create scales from his tunings, including self-
limiting constructions as tetrachords, except over an octave, in third tones. Marie wanted
systems, by deliberately creating layers of separate tunings, revealing the intent of the
composer to structurally oppose different divisions of the octave as individual and viable
195
Ibid. pp. 41-44.
196
Ibid. p. 26.
65
approach and exploration of microtonal scales and new harmonies possible with artificial
limits.197
It appears that Marie’s attitude towards microtonality and tuning had an impact on
Xenakis, who also was a student of Messiaen. Marie also acknowledges the influence
197
Ibid., pp. 52-65.
198
Ibid.
66
199
Ibid. p. 41.
67
Ex. 2.3.9. Marie’s polymicrotonal table of strings for the possibility of manufacturing
microtonal pianos.200
200
Ibid. p. 31. (Planche 3)
68
Ex. 2.3.10. from Marie’s Concerto milieu divin, for orchestra, with polymicrotonal string
section.201
Examples 2.3.8 and 2.3.9 are charts of microtonal systems to the exact cent value,
for 2.3.8, and for 2.3.9, for the potential construction of pianos, from third tones all the
way to twelfth tones. Each microtonal system on the spreadsheet is divided into numbers
of keys, to contain the system, size of the piano strings, duration of the keyboard
milieu divin. First violins are in sixth tones centered around D above high C. Second
violins are incorporating both third and fifth tones centered on A . Violas are fluctuating
from third to fifth tones centered on E#. The cellos are fluctuating from quartertones to
third tones on B, while the basses are vacillating from third to quartertones centered on
pitch D below bass clef. Although microtones are present in other instruments as well,
such as a quartertone in the soprano clarinet, the bulk of the polymicrotonal usage is
201
Marie, Planche 21.
69
Marie felt that one can transcend the Occident by pushing its limits. Maximum
and minimum resolution, also, plays a role in limiting the reality of polymicrotonality: in
order to play third tones through sixth and seventh tones, there needs to be a realizable
electronic device, such as an Ondioline, by George Jenny,202 for example, that has a
tuning resolution of at least a 4twentieth tone. Our ears, according to Helmholtz hit the
JND at around 10 cents. Within the context of polymicrotonality, Marie felt it was
important for identities to become lost, and then rediscovered within the context of a
piece of music.203
managed by small intervallic cells, like tetrachords, but in much smaller spans than a
unwieldy, leading one to wonder whether or not accidentals are the problem, or perhaps
the staff.
structures. By retaining the same intervallic number of steps between all the tunings, one
powerful and new sonority. Since there are no major, or minor triads with respect to the
classical 12TET number scheme, new methods of chordal change become necessary,
such as intervallic expansion and compression. Persichetti also speaks of these processes
202
The Ondioline, from 1941, was an electronic synthesizer that could divide the octave by equal parts.
Also, Marie felt that by annexing additional keyboards and strings to a standard piano, one could also
achieve similar results in creating microtonal keyboards.
203
Ibid., p. 94.
204
Ibid.
70
in his discussions of twentieth century harmonic techniques, but this applies just as well
to microtonal systems.
Ex. 2.3.11. Marie’s theory and examples of proportional intervallic transposition via
microtonal steps from half tones through seventh tones. 205
205
Ibid. p. 88.
71
generalized a system from the Enharmonic, through the Diatonic by degree of size of the
Pyknon in the tetrachords: the Enharmonic, the smallest, were quartertone, at 50 cents;
the Chromatic, the middle sized, were third tones, at 66 cents; the Diatonic, the largest,
Xenakis used tetrachords and materials from Greek music by going back in
history to his own genetic roots. Genera mixing and modulation did occur in Greece,
depending on the instrumentation involved and the performer’s erudition. Xenakis also
contended that Byzantine culture mixed the Pythagorean and Aristoxenian philosophies
of tuning. It therefore gave precedence to allow Xenakis to mix quartertones and third
tones in his sieves, while designing his “outside-time” scalar structures for some of his
Xenakis used opposing tunings for the distinction between vertical and horizontal
effects, a type of counterpoint between quartertones and third tones, with no leaping in
the voices.208 Xenakis’s use of microtones, via sieves, or permutations, were unmasked
with respect to the differences of tuning and were intended to be obvious between the
third and quarter tones. The following table shows Aristoxenus’s genera, in terms of 30
divisions to the tetrachord of the perfect fourth, as used in ancient Greece.209 In addition
to thirdtones and quartertones, Xenakis also employed eighth tones, the comma.
206
Xenakis had generalized these divisions as induced by his understanding of how the Byzantine culture
came into possession of the Greek genera as third tones, via Aristoxenian philosophy of non-measurement
207
Xenakis, Formalized Music, 1971.
208
Marie, L’homme musical, 1976, p. 65-71.
209
Ibid. p. 65.
72
Cleonides 0 12 22 30 42 54 64 72
Aristoxenus appealed to Xenakis was due to the equal divisions of his tetrachords. In
creating a sieve, the resolution of the tuning can be infinitely small; however it will be
uniform and equal. Therefore, in Xenakis’s system where 1 equals the semitone, ½ will
be equivalent to the quartertone, and 2/3 will be equivalent to the third tone. The
quartertone will then be called k24 (since that is what Xenakis called them), or modulo
This paper will not discuss the particulars of Xenakis’s sieve theory and Boolean
logic, since they can be referred to in his book Formalized Music, of 1971. Nevertheless,
according to Xenakis’s ideas on sieve theory, a scale or tuning is an outside time structure
octave scales in favor of the tetrachordal system, in particular the Immutable Perfect
210
Xenakis, 1985. Arts/Sciences Alloys: the thesis defense of Xenakis. p. 95.
211
Ibid, p. 107.
212
Xenakis, 1971.Formalized Music. p. 183.
73
System, as discussed earlier, because he favored the nesting of the pyknon within the
tetrachords. Aristoxenus took the tone and subdivided it into melik, or singable, divisions,
where the quartertone and third tone is considered performable. In fact, Xenakis’s entire
pitch theory revolves around the Enharmonic and Chromatic genera of Greek musical
theory. Xenakis accepted the perfect fourth diatesseron as a functional unit and the
mutable inner parts, the lichanos and parhypate, as the metabolae, or catalysts of
modulation and change.213 The outer hypate and mese remain fixed while the inner
pitches create the species differences. In Xenakis’s mind, the Byzantine style
amalgamated the two philosophical and mathematical differences between Greece and
Aristoxenian method. Another way of stating this relationship is the arithmetic versus the
AD.214
According to Xenakis, Byzantine music focused more on scales and the octachord
and pentachord, rather than the diatesseron (containing the perfect fourth). One may even
mix the genera of tetrachords in the Byzantine style, as in the Selidia, a compendium of
mixed genera scales, of Ptolemy.215 The notion of montage comes to mind, or perhaps
even polymicrotonality, since Xenakis does, in fact, extrapolate the pyknon from each of
the enharmonic and chromatic genera for his own personal use. Was Xenakis looking for
a loosening of practice for his own vision, or seeking permission for his own use?
Ultimately, Xenakis saw tropes, the quasi improvised lines of solo singers in the
medieval motets, as a corollary to his own sieve formulation, with mixed genera and
213
Ibid., p. 184.
214
Ibid., p. 184-189.
215
Ibid., p.189.
74
circulation between the genera and their notes and subdivisions thusly leading to his own
Xenakis felt that Occidental music, or polyphony, had led to the reduction of the
outside time structures to the microtonal pitch palette. This reduced pitch selection, for
calcification of Western music that Xenakis called the degradation of outside time
structures,216 which many twentieth century composers have been desperately trying to
revive. The maqam of the Middle Eastern Arabic peoples has maintained its vitality due
to the monophonic nature of Arabic music. This concept was not lost on Harry Partch,
who also subscribed to the idea of monody, except for one thing: Partch said that
microtonal vertical structures are ugly(A Genesis of a Music)? I, for one, do not. Instead,
I believe that not only can single-system microtonality sound beautiful in its verticality,
but that mixed temperaments and tunings also sound beautiful in their verticality.
Xenakis felt that the beginning of the breakdown of this calcified Western system
was led by Debussy.217 I would suggest Charles Ives in addition to Debussy. The French
symmetrical pitch structures-- whole tone, octatonic, and modes of limited transposition--
were employed by composers, such as Messiaen, Debussy, and even Stravinsky, and
216
Ibid. p. 193.
217
Ibid. p. 208.
75
were all non-tonal materials.218 Conversely, there are theorists and composers, such as
Dmitri Tymoczko, and Stephen Taylor, who contend that they extend tonality. An
additional aspect to this predicament is the notion of compositional choice, where choice
must “go beyond them” with respect to the current state of Western pitch materials, and
Anaktoria (1969) incorporates three systems: 12TET, 18TET, and 24TET. It is an eight-
part mixed octet with standard micro-intervallic voice leading, as Xenakis did not use
leaps or jumps in his microtonal intervals. Example 2.3.15 shows the polymicrotonal
chords, in particular at measure 39, where there are both third tones and quartertones
there is a sudden shift from third tones into quartertones, showing an instance of
218
Ibid., p. 208.
219
Xenakis, 1971. Anaktoria.
76
Three more Xenakis works fall into the realm of polymicrotonality: Aurora,
(1971), Eridanos, (1972), and Akanthos, (1977). Again, all three works feature the
with different assignments for tuning: first violin is in third tones, second violin is in
quartertones, viola uses both, cello is in third tones, and bass uses both.221 Xenakis uses
Eridanos was composed for orchestra and the work is more modulatory, or
metabolic, in conception; third tones appear from mm. 217 to 222, as a quasi cadential
220
From Anaktoria, Xenakis, 1971.
221
Xenakis, 1971. Aurora.
79
device as quartertones return just before the ending. The rest of the piece is tuned to
quartertones.222
Akanthos, also for quartertones and eighth tones, features a metabolae from
quartertones to eighth tones in the soprano voice at measure 86, where changes begin to
In addition to the previous polymictotonal pioneers, there are others who also
made some significant contributions. Even though they made one or two pieces in this
horn choir and orchestra is a polymicrotonal piece mixing both overtone series tuning and
quartertones, alongside standard 12TET. The work exploits the natural overtones of the
222
Xenakis, 1985. Eridanos, pp 19-20.
223
Xenakis, 1977. Akanthos.
224
Ligeti, 2002. Hamburg Concerto.
80
Ex. 2.3.17. Ligeti’s legend for the Hamburg Concerto showing the exact tuning for
horn.225
225
Ligeti, 2002. Hamburg Concerto, Instruments page.
81
Ex. 2.3.19. Ligeti uses many valve positions for a full range of natural tunings.
Not only is the lead horn in natural overtone tuning, but the entire horn choir is as
as in Ex. 2.3.17. The harmony at this point, m. 11, is B,D1/4#, F1/4#, A, C1/4#, E in the
strings, and a standard tuned A with an 18 cent flat A, and a 35 cent flat B in the horns.226
Gardner Read’s 20th Century Microtonal Notation is, so far as this author knows,
the first book to employ the word “polymicrotonalism.”227 The word was used in
reference to Jon Catler and Johnny Reinhard’s microtonal group where the two virtuosos
Marie’s “polytemperé.” For Johnny Reinhard, 1996 is also the same year that he realized
Reinhard states that he is not attracted to any singular tuning and that musical
to Ives.229 Reinhard feels that since most microtonal music uses one tuning, such as
19TET, quartertones, or just, that the next step is polymicrotonality, looking back to
polytonality and polymodality of the early twentieth century composers Bartók and
addresses a taboo twentieth century concept: composer’s druthers, which is the desire to
simply compose music without any particular system-- the ultimate faux pas.
Like Ives, Reinhard believes that the human ear’s acuity is capable of much more
than the mild prejudice of 12 equidistant intervals. Alexander Ellis’s conception and
226
Ibid.
227
Read.1978. 20th Century Microtonal Notation, p. 120.
228
Ibid., p. 120.
229
http://stereosociety.com/jrpolymi.shtml , 11/11/2011.
84
division of 1200 cents to the octave has given us 98 new intervals between the piano’s
keys.230
Johnny Reinhard (born 1956), the director and founder of the American Festival
of Microtonal Music in New York, has led numerous microtonal festivals since the
known personally Jean Etienne Marie, and who has reams of scores from Julian Carrillo.
can be incorporated into the full pitch continuum, revealing many more essential
states: “When a composer internalizes a relationship between point of pitch and uses it
compositionally, its affective logic transfers to the audience. Moving through different
tunings is exciting to listeners because audiences feel the intent and conviction of the new
material.”231
microtonal group Cowpeople, where both Reinhard and Catler performed quartertone and
31TET together. Jon Catler also composed for 19TET and 31TET, performing on electric
guitars while Reinhard played an electric bassoon. “Form takes on new meanings in poly-
organicism as fresh forms spring from imagination providing an ideal ‘gestalt’ for
presenting new semantics of poly.”232 Gestalt, in this sense, means essence, or its
230
Ibid.
231
Ibid.
232
Ibid.
85
Ex. 2.3.20 Johnny Reinhard’s Dune, from 1990, for solo bassoon.
86
though stirring up the air and speeding up. The piece is dedicated to Herbert Spencer’s
87
science fiction Dune, and is programmatic. Reinhard uses various divisions of the octave
from example 2.3.21 appears to be in overtone tuning. The section dedicated to the
polymicrotonality, is an excellent source for the nature of one of the more beguiling
tuning systems since ratios became the de facto standard for pinning down specific
pitches and intervals. Since polymicrotonality includes just intonation, Doty’s work
becomes relevant.
Doty explores the nature of limits, lattices and ladders, and other tricky subject
matters in a terse, to the point manual.233 For example, all of Western history, and some
of the Middle East, can be represented by tolerable limits in just intonation: Pythagoras
and 3-limit; Western tonality and 5-limit; the Middle Eastern maqam and 7-limit; Ptolemy
and 11-limit; Vicentino and 13-limit; Partch and 11-limit, and Ben Johnston has gone as
Limits in just intonation are the end points at which a new prime number, which
unlock new microtonal sonorities as divisors, stop. Each successive prime number added
to the limit includes all those before it. All other numbers, odd and even, are simply
multiples of overtones that are already represented in the tuning. Western tuning stops at
5-limit just intonation, since the ratio of 5 to 4, when logarithmically calculated into
233
Doty, 1993. A Just Intonation Primer. p.1.
234
Ibid, p.76.
88
cents, yields the just Major third, at 386 cents. Pythagorean tuning is set at 3-limit, since
the third overtone is the perfect fifth, at 702 cents. Primes are then paired with their
register: for example, the series 2/1, 3/2, 5/4, 7/4, 11/8, 13/8, 17/16, 19/16 contains all
successive primes positioned over the first, second, third, and fourth octaves, represented
as multiples of 2. Identities are therefore odd numbered and prime, which means they will
microtonal organizing principle.235 The Greek Genera can serve as a brilliant method for
creating smaller cells of manageable materials, much like the way they did in ancient
Greece. Tetrachords, also, do not have to conform to the span of a perfect fourth, either,
tuning, again from the Greek viewpoint, works well for linear functions and melody, as
discovered by the Ars Antiqua for parallel fifths, fourths, and octaves of discant and
organum. Pythagorean tuning, due to its 408-cent wide major third, was and still is
considered too dissonant for harmony; so the introduction by Zarlino, of the just third
from the fifth overtone made its entrance into European polyphony, making 5-limit just
At the time Doty wrote this work in 1993, the 11 and 13-limit just intoned sound
was still considered beyond Western comfort. 11-limit is quartertone sounding, while 13-
limit is sixthtone sounding. Partch and La Monte Young both believed that we are still
climbing up the overtone series, to which I agree wholeheartedly. Young and microtonal
235
Ibid, p. 30.
236
Ibid, p. 35.
89
composer Glenn Branca have both traveled as high as the 128th harmonic, employing all
the available primes therein, while Johnny Reinhard has recently written a soon to be
released article on his 8th Octave Overtone Series Tuning, ascending to the 256th
magnitude lie in root movement progressions, versus the static nature of such vast
instruments, but since we have seen the limitations of this approach through Partch, I am
not so sure this is a good idea. I think it is better to help our existing instruments find
their own ways of producing these tones, which are not beyond the realm of possibility.
with their own systems of tuning: Mandelbaum and Yasser with 19TET; and
Blackwood’s etudes on tunings in a numerical order, like the 24 keys of Bach’s Well
Tempered Klavier.239
Moreno argues for non-octave tunings in his treatise and classifies tunings into
two major areas: octave versus non-octave. The purpose was to redefine the octave
octave and non-octave scales and systems of equal tunings. One of the drawbacks to this
system is that octave tunings will overpower, or psychologically induce false octaves in
237
Reinhard, personal communication.
238
Doty, p. 58.
239
Moreno. 1992. Expanded Tunings in Contemporary Music. p. 16.
240
Ibid., pp. 35-36.
90
etudes, Twelve Microtonal Etudes for Electronic Music Media (1980), which were
seminal in conception as a tool for comparative analysis between the tunings 13 through
24. Blackwood’s treatise, The Structure of Recognizable Diatonic Tunings, 1985, focused
on extended Pythagorean, just, meantone, and equal temperaments and tunings, which
was a rather math-intensive survey of the tunings in European history. For example,
Blackwood states that just intonation is simply a matter of tempered Pythagorean tuning,
by lowering the major third from 408 cents to 386, and that the ratio 4:5:6 is a pure
tuning.
essentially Pythagorean tuning, seen as pure tuning by Blackwood.241 There are only two
pure tunings: Pythagorean, and the overtone series because neither tunings have tempered
fifths. Both follow mathematical series, but Pythagorean was created by man, and
series. Blackwood raised the question, again, about the purity of the historical
methodology, except that even with his own treatise, there is always subjective
speculation. Music is both a science and an art: there are no steadfast rules for the
validity of tuning, unless one adopts nature’s model, the overtone series, which may as
Joel Mandelbaum’s 19TET, his dissertation of 1961, settled on this tuning, since
241
Tuning vs. temperament, what is the difference? Please see chapter 1.3.6.
242
Mendelbaum, 1961, p. xiii.
91
maintained that consonance was simply the conditioning of the ear, which I absolutely
agree with.243 He also noted that Aristoxenus and Partch, as well as Xenakis, claimed the
ear over number, reinstating the human being as the arbiter for intervallic meaning, rather
The backbone to meantone tuning is Pythagorean tuning, and the best way to
represent meantone tuning in all its variance is through both 19 and 31TET, where all the
on examples of Pythagorean tuning and its import. A key argument Mandelbaum makes
is that Pythagorean tuning cannot account for the thirdtones and quartertones in the
pyknon of certain genera.244 Therefore, other criteria were used in the divisions of these
twentieth century microtonal experience, and it asks very good questions regarding the
anticipating a “new system,” except that there is no such thing as polytonality if the
enterprise is based on one tuning system: 12TET.245 In the end, Mandelbaum states that
there are only two intervals, period: consonant and dissonant, where dissonant intervals
symposium and “journal” of the microtonal happenings in Europe, led by Franz Richter
243
Ibid., p. 5.
244
Ibid., p. 83.
245
Ibid., p. 130.
92
Herf, who has established Ekmelic Music, after the Greek term for microtones of an order
thought unsingable. The journals have covered Wyschnegradsky, Ezra Sims, Hesse’s
Grundlagedn der Harmonielehre des Mikrotonaler Musik, and all sorts of tuning schemes
and compositional ideas. The festival has been held at Salzburg, Austria.246
In China, there is the history of the Lü, which has been described as a very small
division of pitch.247 “In Heaven and Earth, there is no boundary” seems to vindicate the
ideas of Aristoxenus, even in the far reaches of China, in 218 A.D.248 The Chinese,
independently of the Babylonians or the Greeks, had also come to the realization of
tuning by the perfect fifth, by the ratio 3:2. The Chinese concept of tone generation is
cyclic, spiraling fifths, and never ending, as opposed to the European concept of simple
divisions by 2.249
There are a number of pitch series in Chinese history, starting with the 60 Lü of
Jing Fang, 33-73 A.D., who used the gradations of pitch in relation to the horoscope of 5
sets of 12, totaling 60 “character” pitches, with no octave equivalents, at 1203 cents to an
“octave.”250 There is also the 360 Lü of Qian Lezhi, 581 A.D., a pitch for each day of the
year, with an octave at 1201 cents. All of these were figured by Pythagorean
multiplication. There was also the 144 Lü of Wan Baochang, who chose 12 pitches from
246
Herf, 1985-1991. Mikrotöne I-IV, 1985-1991.
247
Cho, 2003. The Discovery of Musical Equal Temperament in China and Europe in the sixteenth
Century. p. 100.
248
Ibid., p. 150.
249
Ibid., p. 152.
250
Ibid., p. 159.
93
Lezhi’s 360, and then proceeded to divide the semitones, limmas at 90 cents, into 12 parts
of their own.
In just intonation, Wang Po created the pentatonic 1/1, 9/8, 5/4, 3/2, 5/3, 2/1, at 5-
limit, in 959 A.D., circa 500 years before Zarlino had introduced the just third into
The shu’bas and tarkibs in Arabic modal music all require modulation from
maqam to maqam with fluency, where many modulations are changes of genera, as well
as mode.252 In fact, the word shu’ba means “branch” of a tree that metaphorically shoots
off in a new, but related, direction, the way music does when it modulates.
Kevin Jones, in his paper about Xenakis and Ancient Lü of China, also mentioned
that multiple temperaments were common in Chinese music and that it was characteristic
of ancient Chinese music and contemporary Chinese folk ensembles to use simultaneous
tunings derived from open cycles of fifths, just ratios, equal temperament, and the higher
overtone series tuning.253 To a Western listener, this “sweet and sour” combination is
bewildering and distressing, but is consistent with the broader axioms of Chinese
So, are polymicrotonal pitches perceptible to the ear? Yes, and by framing
required in order to hear is met with more drama, and efficiency, by deliberately
251
Ibid., p. 169.
252
Wright, 1978, pp. 194-216.
253
Kevin Jones/Kathleen Wong, The Architecture of Scales and the Notion of Lü, from the International
Symposium Iannis Xenakis, Athens, May 2006, p. 8.
254
Ibid.
255
Ibid.
94
misaligning the vertical structures in such a way that individual pitches can be discerned
This chapter is lengthy because it is the workhorse of this essay setting a solid
foundation for what follows. In other words, it lays down the foundation of all that
follows. The Greek genera were methods of tuning derived from stringed instruments,
such as the Kithera, which found their way and influenced Greek music, ethos, and
philosophy through hundreds of years. The modes that were built from these tetrachords
then made their way into Europe influencing most of European music, from Gregorian
chant, to modern string tuning. Since the Greek tetrachords were all tuned differently
within the space of a perfect fourth, modulation was possible. This modulation essentially
was a modulation of tuning, since the three genera were three different classes of tuning.
Modulating tuning within a work is the definition of polymicrotonality. One tuning with a
The tuning conflicts that emerged during the early Renaissance are important
unwittingly, albeit, in just and Pythagorean tuning. Later, the discovery of the overtone
series led to overtone tuning, and began to manifest into the European consciousness and
its music. From that point on, music theory as we know it emerged from the works of
Zarlino and Descartes, to Rameau, who matched pitch, the perfect fifth, with rhythmic
necessity: the cadence to the octave. All the while, a standard tuning system was
broached by many composers and theorists all over Europe, who were looking for a
95
panacea for a singular tuning, which frankly, has never been found. At the peak of the
Baroque, there were approximately 150 different mean tone temperaments. What does
this tell us? First, it tells us that no one tuning system satisfied everyone; that people
could all hear more than one way to tune, allowing for even the tiniest shades of
microtonal pitches to make the difference between similar tunings. If they were all
capable of being substituted for one another, then why were there so many variants? The
answer is that human ears can tell the difference. The human ear has the capacity to hear
microtonal shades that lay beyond systems of notation. Europe was inadvertently
polymicrotonal without being fully conscious of it. For example, lute players played
historically in just intonation. String players tuned to Pythagorean. Singers sang in just
and Pythagorean tuning, and keyboards were in meantone. They all performed together.
They therefore played in several tunings simultaneously, and they probably knew it and
conscious way. The acoustician Helmholtz paved the way for a new exploration of
microtonality with his book, On the Sensations of Tone. This book provoked the Ives
family, Carrillo, Wyschnegradsky, and many others to explore alternate tunings to further
the pitch palette which had become stale by 1945. Charles Ives was the first composer in
history to deliberately make music in two or more tunings, let alone four. The composers
is actually a logical extension of the Western pitch palette. American composers have, so
The section on the Chinese is essential, due to its relative and cultural objectivity,
while still attending to the same ideas about tuning as the West. This section provides
proof that this phenomena is not just a by-product of Western thinking, but is a universal
CHAPTER 3:
RHYTHM:
REPRESENTATIVE TWENTIETH CENTURY POLYTEMPIC WORKS
polymicrotonality, the topic of polytempo will be dealt with by score examples and
representation in a less intensive manner due to the burgeoning popularity of the topic
and papers concerning it. Jake Rundall has recently written a paper on polymeter, which
makes a case for polymeter, and not polytempo, the two are, nonetheless, sufficiently
interconnected that much of what he describes can be inferred here. Rundall’s conclusion,
however, is that a clear and complete framework has yet to be developed, with respect to
rhythms occur when independent pulse tempos exist in non-fully coincident meters. In
other words, neither the meter nor the pulse link up. Polytempo involves the simultaneous
use of different tempi independently assigned to different parts.258 To the listener, what
would be the difference? To the author, the answer lies in the intent of the composer.
256
Rundall, J. (2011). Polymeter: disambiguation, classification, and analytical techniques. University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
257
Ibid. p. 1.
258
Ibid., p. 59.
98
polytempo, is that they all involve the same phenomenon, but in varying durations of
time. A protracted use of polyrhythm can be measured in metric terms, as for example, a
seven-beat figure occurring in 4/4 meter could simply be written out as 7/4; this would,
however, require an adjusted tempo increase, since the seven beats within four beats
would necessitate a faster surface speed. A protracted use of a polyrhythm that becomes
a new meter, with a new tempo, if it is of sufficient duration, then can be assigned its own
which then becomes an emotion, whereupon all extend through longer increments of
time. Therefore, a polyrhythmic motive (local) can grow to become a larger metrically
(regional) structured part of a composition, to its own tempo (global). Once a separate
tempo has been established, either implicitly written, or explicitly indicated by a tempo
marking, the part develops its own life, like a character in a novel, and has its own
trajectory and identity, while maintaining some relationship to the entire composition in
life to more independent parts beyond standard polyphony and its concomitant
Charles Ives is probably the original polytempo master of all time, employing
polytempo in works such as Central Park in the Dark, Unanswered Question, In Re Con
Moto, et al, Fourth Symphony, Theater Set, Putnam’s Camp, and Universe Symphony.
However, to save space, I will focus more on Ives and Polytempo in chapter 5, rather
than give thorough explanations here, even if I do write briefly about some of these
pieces.
99
multiplicity was a symptom of the movement of early twentieth century music, due to
culture and the current developments in technology.259 This is apropos for today, in what
Ives, in his 2nd Orchestral Set, has instrumental polyrhythmic divisions: trumpets
in triplets; flutes in four groupings; zither and viola in 11-note groupings; harp and bass
in half notes; and cellos in sextuplets. There are also antiphonal devices involving an off-
stage choir while first violins play in quintuplets in a 16th-note grid, an ostinato, while
second violins play in four note groupings. Chimes play in half notes and basses play in
groups of fives. All of this is set against the main orchestra, where the clarinets play in
seven note groupings, while trumpets play in 5, solo piano in 3, 4 and 7 simultaneous
groupings, cellos in 3, and violas play in sextuplets. Although these are surface rhythms,
they do carve different surface speeds out of a block of a sound mass that is still
temporally divided by the off-stage choir traveling at their own speed.260 All of these
techniques come to fruition in Ives’s Universe Symphony, but before 1915, he was
already thinking polytemporally about rhythm in his music. Putnam’s Camp, from Three
Places in New England, is famous for its polymetric/polytempic section, at mm. 74-82,261
where there is a 4:3 ratio, but again, at what point does the polymeter disambiguate from
the polytempo? Since the main orchestra is indicated at 100 beats per minute, and the
brass band is at 133 beats per minute, we can see that this is a short snippet of an example
259
Kramer, 1988. p. 166.
260
Ives, 1957, 2nd Orchestral Set.
261
Ives, 1935, Three Places in New England.
100
of polytempo. These earlier compositions of Ives’s, nevertheless, all lead to the Universe
Henry Cowell based a substantial amount of his theory of rhythm on the works of
Ives and he discussed it in his book New Musical Resources, which will be addressed in
chapter four. However, Cowell, via Ives, had influenced the polyrhythmic/metric/tempic
Conlon Nancarrow to such an extreme that Nancarrow literally took Cowell’s suggestion
rhythm was literally composed out in the piano rolls, where 3:2, a perfect fifth, became
three against two in rhythm.263 Ironically, even though Cowell had abandoned his
rhythmic ideas early on, his Quartet Romantic wound up being performed for the first
time in 1978 by use of head phones and individual click tracks,264 which shows that not
all ideas need be discarded: some are ahead of their time. In terms of lineage, it is clear
Nancarrow, like Cowell, took the hypothetical fundamental “C” tempo from
which to begin manipulations. If tempo 1 is at 120 BPM, and there is a 4:7 ratio, then the
other remaining tempo will be 210 BPM. Nancarrow began at the beginning of the
overtone series and worked his way up, from simple ratios to 12:15:20, a minor triad, for
example, G-B-E, in first inversion, just as Cowell had prescribed in his New Musical
Resources. Study No.s 32 and 36 are in the ratios 5:6:7:8, and 17:18:19:20, respectively,
spelling out E-G-Bb-C, (if C = fundamental) and Db-D-D#-E. Study No. 33 is about the
tritone, at 2 root 2, or 600 cents, in 12TET. The nearest simple ratio would be 7:5,
262
Gann, 1995. p. 1.
263
Ibid., p. 5.
264
Ibid.
101
yielding 582 cents.265 Nancarrow ultimately raised the bar to include irrational numbers
irrational transcendental numbers recall Ives in a way, due to Ives’s interest in the
Transcendental New England writers who were also concerned with boundlessness.266
Study No. 1 begins on a common downbeat, with just two tempi: 120 and 210, in
a 4:7 relationship. There are both polymeter, different simultaneous use of time
signatures, and polytempo, two different simultaneous tempos, present, but rhythmic
groupings within the meters are additive. Nancarrow is both additive and divisive,267
rather than choosing just one approach. It is as though we merged Messiaen with
Schoenberg, since the former was purely additive, while the latter was purely divisive in
his rhythmic structures. In a formula, one could say thusly: additive rhythms are n+1,
Study No. 5, for example, intersects both as 35 integrates both meters of 5/16 and
7/16, and isorhythmic patterns 14, 7, 14, 21, 7, 14 mapped to 15, 5, 10, 5, 10, 20, where
the 16th note grid acts as a unifier. Nancarrow curbed Cowell’s weakness of periodicity
the barline and used pure tempo markings, allowing each part of the composition to
“come alive” and become purely polytempic. Study No. 24 reveals “hypermeasures” of
265
Ibid., p.7.
266
Loc. Cit.
267
By divisive, this author contends that the whole note is divided into smaller equal segments, in
contradistinction to the additive rhythmic process, where rhythms are added, resulting in asymmetrical
structures.
268
Ibid.
102
order to achieve these polytempic features of his music. Study No. 24 also uses a tempo
system related to the harmonic series, of the type that Johnston used.269
and left alone for the player piano. Today’s version of the player piano is the computer
sequencer, except that there exists no lengthy piano roll on which to draw enormous
involved transcendental numbers, which are completely counter intuitive. Also, as human
Nancarrow circumvented this problem by introducing “jazz feel” and broken triplets into
his piano rolls.270 Nancarrow never intended for humans to play his music. The
acceleration studies, in which each voice changes tempo independently, are proof of that.
269
Ibid., p. 8.
270
Ibid., p. 9.
103
Ex 3.1 Study No. 9, Nancarrow’s first true polytempic work with explicit tempo
indications.271
271
Nancarrow, 1985. Studies No. 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, and 18 for Player Piano, Vol. 6.
104
Ex. 3.2 Page 2 of Study No. 11, Isorhythmic canon with 8 repetitions of a 15-note
ostinato.
105
Ex. 3.3 Page 11 of Study No. 11, Isorhythmic canon on a 120 note melody showing
clearly the different qualities of differently moving tempos and polymeter.
106
Ex. 3.4 Study No. 17, for player piano, Canon 12:15:20.
107
Examples 3.1 through 3.5 show Studies 9, 11, 16, and 17. Study No. 9, an ostinato
canon, can be considered Nancarrow’s first true polytempic work with rhythmic ratios of
108
5:4:3 in an eighth note setting.272 Study 9 is a clash of 3 ostinati, one per ratio part. Study
becoming more atonal. The 120 notes comprise eight repetitions of a fifteen-note
isorhythm which itself is divided into three segments of twenty 8th notes each: 5 5 6 4 5 5
3 4 3 5 4 3 3 3 2.273 Study No. 16, another isorhythmic canon, is based on four sets of
uses these rhythms in 2 cyclic blocks with a tempo modulation from 84 BPM to 140
BPM, ending in both played simultaneously.274 Study No. 17 is a canon in three tempi
with three different canonic subjects in a ratio of 12:15:20, where each subject is a 336
beat total of the same isorhythmic patterns of the type seen in Study 16.
while the isorhythmic studies also have a great deal of polymeter. Nancarrow made
tempo thematic, rather than his pitch materials, of which Boulez had complained due to
History also provides examples of this area of rhythm in the mensuration canons
of Josquin de Pres, at ratios of 2:1, during the Ars Nova and Renaissance. Mensuration
canons also had prolations of different lengths and proportions as well, such as the 3:2
hemiola in the Agnus Dei canon in Missa L’homme arme.276 Ockeghem’s Missa
for four different tempos of each rhythmic structure in canon, and covering progressively
272
Nancarrow, Studies No. 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, and 18 for Player Piano, Vol. 6, 1985.
273
Gann, p. 98.
274
Ibid., p.117.
275
Ibid. p. 10.
276
Ibid., pp. 111-114.
109
the unison to the octave in imitation.277 In fact, multiple time signatures had occurred as
with a simultaneous Italian Air in 6/8 and a French Air in stile antico, in cut time. Also,
Leichtentritt.278
where for example, a canon in the ratios 16:20:24:28 = 1680, as in the number of eighth
notes.279 For Nancarrow, the logic of his music centers around the theory of convergence
points, where a major chord is used in a quasi cadential fashion for relief from the
transcendental numbers such as pi and e in his tempo relationships was to allow non-
convergence, where two or more points of tempo never meet for a resolution. Gann
believes that Nancarrow’s transcendental pieces are more conceptual, rather than literal,
since only approximations can suffice for pi, or e. For instance, if e/pi is meted out into
real numbers, we get 2.717: 3.141, as a crude approximation. As the resultant is equal to
voice chromatic canon of 12 contiguous pitches,281 straight from the ideas of Cowell, and
serving as an example for Ben Johnston. This work also has no convergence points; if
one were to graph the tempos one would see a curve, in an arithmetic series, of each of
277
New Grove, Vol. 18, p. 318.
278
New Grove, Vol. 18. p. 153.
279
Ibid., p.114.
280
Ibid.
281
Nancarrow, 1982. Study No. 37 for Player Piano.
110
4/7, and 3 + 1/21 seconds apart. The tempi are as follows in BPM: 150, 160 5/4, 168 ¾,
180, 167 ½, 200, 210, 225, 240, 250, 262 ½, and 281 ¼.282
Ascending (1967),283 in which there are two fundamental tempos for two groups of
musicians. Group I is in 4/4 time at 94-100 BPM, while Group II is in ¾ time at 72-80
combining contrasting textures in music can be aided by the use of antiphony. The
polyphony and contrapuntal clarity. Antiphonal techniques also permit the simultaneity
of contrasting meters and tempos while being easily controlled by assistant conductors.285
exemplified in “Ives’s Unanswered Question are the basis for the more complicated
orchestras with three conductors, similar to his Carré, for four antiphonal orchestras.
Gruppen begins uniformly in 6/4 at 120 BPM, but at p. 7, there is a tempo indication of
tempi indicates that there is a possibility of this technique, even though there are more
282
Ibid., p. 103-108.
283
Brant, 1969.
284
Schwartz, 1998, p. 221-242.
285
Ibid., p. 234.
286
Ibid., p. 236.
111
than 12 tempi written in the score. Stockhausen was aware of the overtone series with
respect to his other works, for example Stimmung, which is based entirely on overtone
principles.
The first large scale tempo breakdown occurs at score number 28, where there is
also a metrical split, into 5/4 and 2/4 at tempos 113.5 against 90.287 The texture is
polyphonic and multi-stratified as three orchestras are now involved with the polytempo
structure, pitting the third orchestra at 90 BPM against the first two, at 113.5 BPM.
Although the tempos are serialized, there is a possibility they are related to overtone
series procedures, since a fractional tempo indicates the product of two multiplied
numbers.
Example numbers 3.7-3.9 show rehearsal numbers 12, 36, and 51, where different
configurations of tempos are grouped together between the three orchestras, where no
singular orchestra dominates, but all compete for the listeners attention by their tempo
fluctuations. Stockhausen is very conscious with respect to texture not to overload the
listener with too much information. There are many cases where only one orchestra plays
287
Stockhausen, 1958. Gruppen.
112
Ex. 3.7 Stockhausen--Gruppen, at score marking 12, where the tempo splits into 90 and
67 BPM.
113
Ex. 3.8 Stockhausen--Gruppen, at marking 36, showing three tempi for each of the three
orchestras.
114
Luciano Berio’s Tempi Concertati, (1962), is also antiphonal, and in score pages
47-54 there is an ametrical section in open form, where all individual instruments have
notated and visual starting and stopping points.288 This piece, however, is conductorless,
and is comprised of 4 groups, plus solo flute, where the groups are mixed ensembles. The
space, without indications or markings.289 Does this mean the work is not polytempo?
No, because in this case the listener qualifies the textural disparity by noticing the lack of
uniform forward motion. Whether or not the tempos are different by way of accident or
design is irrelevant.
meters of 5/8, 3/8, and 2/4 (4/8), with the following tempi: 190, 152, and 114. Group one
consists of flute, trumpet, and harp; group two has 2 clarinets and a bassoon, and group
three consists of viola, cello and bass. The section is short and is only found at the
Brian Ferneyhough’s Agnus Dei (1969) splits the chorus into three divisions
where each division has its own tempo: tempo I is at 56 BPM, tempo II, at 60, and tempo
III, at 50 BPM. The formal scheme is open form where the divisions are notated in boxes,
from which the vocalists refer for performance. The tempi converge at score mark 10, at
60 BPM.291
288
Berio, 1962, Tempi Concertati. pp. 47-54.
289
Ibid.
290
Arrigo, 1961. Fluxus.
291
Ferneyhough, 1969. Agnes Dei.
116
features polytempo during the section called the Sea, where at the beginning of the
section, the piano is in 6/4 meter, at 59 BPM, the bass clarinet is in 5/8, at 56.2 BPM, and
the cello is in 6/8, at 52.8 BPM. All four instruments are in four different tempi and
meter, by the 6 minute mark: piano at 89.9, bass clarinet at 71.5, cello at 88.3, and
percussion at 60.4 BPM.292 Each part of the quartet seems to swell and surge, just like a
body of water, showing Lindberg’s talent for auditory metaphors. The meter changes
within the individual parts reveal that each instrument’s tempo and “life” is fully
292
Lindberg, 1982. Action-Situation-Signification.
117
Elliott Carter (born 1908) is more known for metric modulation than for
polytempo. Eve Poudrier, however, has shown that Carter uses simultaneous pulse stream
speeds, if not tempos, subdivided from a tempo grid, in two or more parts, in much of his
music.293 Carter calls these different strata “character patterns,” where metronomic
speeds, rhythmic groupings, and tuplets are used to dramatize the musical personalities of
structural levels. If the sixteenth note is taken as a grid, there are three types of rhythmic
patterns that form a chord pulse, the 90+ pulse, and the “rogue” pulse, that when all put
together create polytempo, where the explicit tempo of the 90+ pulse is staccato and
stands out.295 In short, there are three groupings of rhythms: 16 eighth note triplets, chord
intervals. When all of these are factored into 96 BPM X 60 minutes and divided by these
Carter makes each “character” perceptible to the ear by way of his personal
vocabulary of intervals and tonal materials, such as the “all-interval” sets, (0137) and
(0146). Underlying logic and continuity leads Carter to make deep structural and global
polyrhythms that can extend up to ratios such as 75:56, for solo guitar in Changes,
polyrhythm (like Nancarrow and his piano rolls) before composition. The constructed
293
Poudrier, 2009, p. 205.
294
Ibid.
295
Ibid., 206.
296
Ibid.
297
Ibid., p. 207.
120
time line engenders organicism, with its own inherent patterns of tension and release and
reduced textures, the clarity of which reveals Carter’s neo-classical ideals. Carter
maintains that the overlap and interchange versus divergence is the dialectic of materials
that create organicism in music. The interaction between foreground polyrhythms and
pulse streams, hidden structurally, create tension for the listener, who wants something to
grasp in order to hear it unfold.298 Polymeter and polytempo are most noticeable when
other musical elements, such as register, articulations, dynamics, intervals, and tunings
are used to reinforce the independence of layers of rhythmic strata. Due to this textural
systems to help create distinct identities between different polytempic parts, all
In Carter’s other works, such as String Quartet No. 2 (1959), metric modulation
appears while the first violin plays quintuplets against the second violin’s triplets over the
general pulse of eighth note values. There is a compound ratio of 5:3/2, over held tones at
variable durations.299 String Quartet No. 3 (1971) features a split quartet into two meters
with two tempos: 6/4 at 105 BPM, and 12/8 at 70 BPM, essentially a hemiolic 3:2, and a
favorite ratio of Ives. Since the quartet is split into two duos—second violin and viola
versus first violin and cello—rhythmic tension is created within each duet, where the first
punctuates at 16th note rhythms against the second duet’s 5:6 ratio. The structural levels
rhythms within the competing tempi of 105 BPM and 70 BPM. The surface polyrhythms
298
Ibid., p. 209.
299
Carter, 1961. String Quartet No. 2.
121
invert, like rhythmic counterpoint, as meters change via metric modulation.300 (Please see
300
Carter, 1971.String Quartet No. 3.
122
Ex. 3.13 Polytempo, metric modulation, and polyrhythm, multilayered rhythmic strata.
124
Carter’s String Quartet No. 5 (1993) is in the ratio 10:7:8:9, with 12 movements
and 5 interludes; however, the surface rhythms vary so much that there is no detectable
underlying pattern. 327 measures in length, the piece has considerable metric
modulations; the thickest part of the work where the textural density is at its
polyrhythmic maximum occurs between mm. 149 and 160. Carter’s work with regard to
Lejaren Hiller’s String Quartet No. 5 (1962) displays polytempo in its variation 12,
where the first violin, in 4/4 time, is played at 120 BPM, second violin, in 11/8 meter at
110 BPM, viola, in 5/8 meter at 50 BPM, and cello in ¾ meter at 90 BPM.301 The
Champaign has produced some adventurous composers with respect to this inquiry.
301
Hiller, 1968. String Quartet No. 5.
125
This chapter intended to focus on twentieth century works, but the Renaissance
crept in anyway through the mentioning of Josquin and Ockeghem. Ockeghem framed
the canons of his Missa Prolationum in four different mensural signatures to create as
much attention to his voices as possible, and for the art of rhythmic differentiation by
organizing canonic pairs that included renderings of the same melody in both duple and
triple meter simultaneously. In some respects the composers of the late Middle ages and
early Renaissance were more adventurous than today’s composers. It was a period of
experimentation before any rigorous standard for meter had been set by a “common
practice.” This author feels that the music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries
demonstrates the same predicament, except for existing on the other side of the common
practice period. Periods like this that are open are very similar to the Middle ages and
early Renaissance. New perspectives in art arose, as in the 4-dimensional art of the
Cubists. Today’s computer art programs allow for myriad manipulations that go beyond
the Cubists, into an other-dimensional territory. These developments have also affected
music.
Music tempos began to split apart and run in concurrent streams in the early
twentieth century. The resurgence of early music practices, such as isorhythms, and
antiphony, allowed composers to experiment with musical time. The classical period and
its static rhythms from the eighteenth century proved too constricting.
Polytempic music had surfaced in the early part of the century, but went
underground and did not resurface again until Carter, Nancarrow and Stockhausen had
126
brought it into their music. The polytempo segments of composers like Lindberg, and
Ferneyhough tell us that this aspect of musical rhythm is still in its infancy, and needs to
be explored further.
127
CHAPTER 4:
PITCH + RHYTHM:
LITERATURE AND COMPOSITIONS SUGGESTING RELATIONSHIPS
BETWEEN MICROTONAL PITCH AND RHYTHM, IN TERMS OF TEMPO,
LEADING TO THE UNION OF POLYMICROTONALITY AND POLYTEMPO;
Henry Cowell, Ivan Wyschnegradsky and Ben Johnston
4.1 Historical Methods and Thought Concerning Connections of Pitch and Rhythm by the
Overtone Series
Moritz Hauptmann, 1792-1868, in his Die Natur der Harmonik und Metrik, is the
only music theorist prior to the twentieth century who tried to explain all harmonic and
metric phenomena on the basis of a sole universal principle, called “One Law.”302 Based
on Hegelian dialectics, thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, Hauptmann saw this as the
Hauptmann was the first theorist to raise the level of rhythmic theory to the same
level as harmony. Hauptmann proclaimed that temporal and tonal phenomena came to be
by the same dialectical laws. Since harmony involved chords and tones of resolution, two
leading tones, and suspensions, and those in “indeterminate” locations, such as resolved
triads.303
Hauptmann established the concept of “Unity,” as expressed in the octave and 2/4
meter, where a fifth and triple meter represent “Opposition;” his ideas seem to come from
302
Caplin, 1981, Theories of Harmonic-Metric Relationships from Rameau to Riemann.p. 235
303
Ibid, p. 238.
128
the discovery of the overtone series, occuring between the time of Descartes and Rameau,
The Unity, a 2/4 meter, is equated with the octave, and the ¾ meter is equated
with the perfect fifth, thus revealing the direct influence of the overtone series.305 The
major third, however, is not included Hauptmann’s Hegelian dialectic since a 5/4 meter
was too abstruse for the time, even though they did know about the fifth overtone and its
relationship as the Just major third. Hauptmann’s system of positive and negative meters
based on harmonic logic is a prescient and early indicator for the future of music theory.
Riemann had initially carried on Hauptmann’s work equating rhythm to pitch, but
Riemann abandoned the primacy of rhythm and relegated it to an inferior and dependent
status, even though he had established even further the Dialectical process of moving
away from tonic as antithesis, and moving toward tonic, as thesis. 306
Meter, rhythm, and tempo were second class as a permanent basis until Leonard
Meyer broached the matter by way of prosody, the study of meter in poetry.307
Further methodologies in the inclusion and connection of rhythm and tempo into
microtonal works rest on Ivan Wyschnegradsky, Ben Johnston, and Iannis Xenakis,
304
Farrar, 1956. The harmonic series, where the first 5 overtones are considered the foundation of
Occidental Harmony: the fundamental, the fifth, the fourth, and the third.
305
Caplin, p. 239.
306
Ibid, p. 289
307
Meyer, G. C. (1960). The Rhythmic Structure of Music. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
129
Jeff Pressing has formulated a theory of pitch and rhythm that bind together by
isomorphic structures. If the number 2 equals a whole tone and 1 equals a semitone, this
pattern then is equivalent to our major scale. If the number 2 is set to a quarter note and
the number 1 is set to an eighth note, then this structure forms the bell pattern of Ewe
simultaneity of this mathematical structure in two different cultures, there is a method for
see both a figure and its complement, such as in visual ink blot Rohrschach tests,
suggesting that perhaps the same condition applies to sound and rhythmic patterns.309 The
issue is about negative space and its presence in human perception. Pressing also points
out that Schoenberg used the idea of complementation in his ideas of his 12-tone music
and combinatoriality. Similarly, this author argues for the possibility of negative space
inherent between the semitones at 100 cents, such that at least 100 further divisions are
regarding the nature of the mathematical structures inherent in world musics. The reason
for this paradigm behind both the African and European mathematical structures of pitch
and rhythm is, perhaps, the Fibonacci series. There is a 2-group separated from a 3-group.
308
Pressing, 1983. pp. 38-39.
309
Ibid., p. 42.
130
Fibonacci number. If the series were to continue, it would possibly be 5, then 8, and then
13. This series seems to be embedded in human consciousness and surfaces around the
Therefore, between the senarius, or even the septenarius, or the first six or seven
overtones for pitch, and the lower level Fibonacci series numbers 2 and 3, all human
music might be contained, structured and repeated, from culture to culture. This therefore
can work as a singular method for combining pitch and rhythm: mathematical
isomorphism.
Henry Cowell (1897-1965) is among the few who have had rhythmic insight into
the harmonic series allowing him to logically extract pure rhythmic structures from the
overtone ratios themselves. In doing this, the arithmetic nature of the overtone series
becomes a model of subdividing the whole note into equal durations, just as the
pitch is multiplied, rhythm divides the whole note. Cowell, not a microtonalist, did not
see the far-reaching effects of his work with respect to polymicrotonality, although he did
see the connections with standard tuning by 12TET. Ex. 4.1 shows Cowell’s thought
succeeding overtone will have a concomitant rhythmic value: the octave at 2:1 will be a
C higher, and 2 beats in rhythmic value; a perfect fifth, at 3:2, will have three beats and
The problem with this system is that it begins to automatically write itself
algorithmically. This is more or less the same problem the integral serialists faced with
respect to systematizing all parameters of music: akin to connecting the dots, the system
becomes self-generative. Since all notes are determined by their overtone series position
and number, all rhythms become pre-assigned, and the issue of choice becomes obsolete,
as it did with the serialists, since all compositional parameters are predetermined, like
Calvinism.312
Facing this problem, Cowell cheated his own system by not finishing the
algorithmically assigned length of each of the series positions durations. Cowell, also,
used free will and choice in determining pitch positions for a grouping of quintuplets,
which would correspond to the fifth overtone, (or the Major third, E above C), for
example, where five E’s would have to be grouped in accordance with this system. One
could say that Cowell compromised, but the composer would say happily that choice
saved the day.313 For further clarification, please see example 4.3.
produced failed results, since his methods of fractional meters resulting from his peculiar
310
Cowell, 1969, New Musical Resources, p. 47.
311
Ibid.
312
Nicholls, 1990, p. 148.
313
Ibid, p. 149.
132
meter of 5 and ¾, or 3 and 3/8 beats in length. Again, I stress, for his day, and this was
1920, Cowell did not have the resources of musicians to overcome these metrical
problems, that would eventually become playable later in the century. Cowell, however,
did succeed in his ideas for tempo, where tempi based on overtone series positions do
make a good deal of sense. Ben Johnston, a student of Harry Partch, who in turn was a
student of Henry Cowell, made use of fractional tempi based solely on the overtone
series, or Just ratio numbers. Nevertheless, after the Rhythm Harmony Quartets, Fabric,
and Rhythmicana, Cowell abandoned this system completely and eschewed any further
rhythmic complexity.314
314
Ibid, p. 150.
133
In example 4.2, if we set C to 60 beats per minute, and use it as the foundation for
the tempo structure, we can derive the series indicated above. (For example, the “semi-
315
Ibid. p. 107.
134
316
316
Cowell, 1964, Quartet Romantic, and Quartet Euphometric.
135
Cowell’s Quartet Romantic for string quartet, and Quartet Euphometric, for
mixed quartet are both pure examples of Cowell’s rhythmic overtone positioning system.
From examples 4.3 and 4.4, it is easy to see that Cowell’s ideas, though revolutionary for
his time, were also unperformable due to the awkwardness of his system. Quartet
powerfully influential. Both these quartets influenced most of Conlon Nancarrow’s works
Cowells day, who were unwilling to play these rhythms) mixed fractions of Cowell that
rhythmic geometric noteheads and non-tuplet third, fifth, sixth, and seventh notes
(divisions of the whole note) also apply to time signatures where a measure in 4/6
a simple low frequency pitch, such as 16 cps, Cowell’s foundational vibration of choice.
Cowell uses these multiplied values rather than explicit ratios from the overtone series.318
Another popular idea Cowell helped propogate was the notion of undertones, which have
since turned out to be am acoustical falsehood, even if they are mathematically and
theoretically valid. Unfortunately Harry Partch had adopted this idea as the basis of his
physcial phenomena that accompanies the overtone series, but human hearing cannot
317
Personal Correspondence with Brian Ferneyhough, 2002.
318
Cowell, New Musical Resources, 1969, pp.3-9.
137
dominants, where, for example, the third partial, or the perfect fifth, has overtones of its
own. This is also false, but has been a boon in the mixed fractional reductions of
Aside from these errors, one cannot discount the importance and revolutionary
ideas that Henry Cowell, extending those of Charles Ives, helped elucidate. Time as
duration, and tempo as a rate of speed, and their relationships to the overtone series
cannot be underestimated. Tempo canons based on Cowell’s ideas are now in use, due to
the innovations of Nancarrow and Johnston, who both directly linked their tempo
Cowell also suggested rejecting the simpler ratios of the overtone series in favor
of those larger, higher in the series, that produce microtones, as in the classic quartertone,
at 33/32, or the eighth tone, at 68/67. Keep in mind that although Cowell was not a
microtonalist, he did advocate their use, even if he himself did not use them. In fact,
Cowell thought the next step up the series after Schoenberg’s chromaticism would
tight grip on his ideas produced a symbolic notion of division, in dividing the octave, and
in dividing the whole note, an approach that characterized the Second Viennese school,
as opposed to the additive approach of Messiaen and Bartók. Bartok is also known for
319
Undertones, or Riemann’s Dualism, was an accepted premise well into the twentieth century in German
music theory, as well as the rest of the continent. (Rehding, p. 17) The tones one hears are in actuality, sum
and difference tones which can be detected one octave below the sounding pitch, but these are not
undertones, since undertones are an acoustic impossibility. Karl von Schafthäutl, in Allgemeine
Musikalische Zeitung, 1878, declared that the laws of mechanics preclude the possibility of undertones,
thus disproving Riemann, and for that matter, Aristotle, who was the progenitor of the undertone/overtone
dualistic conept.
320
Cowell, 1969. New Musical Resources. p. 17.
138
equal divisions of the octave within the 12TET medium. Example 5.9 shows Cowell’s
Fabric for piano, from 1922, and demonstrates the use of his overtone series derived
rhythms and pitch materials. But the static nature of pitch repetition, if his system is
perfectly adhered to, is missing, in favor of his musical ear. In Fabric, Cowell is arguing
for equal and odd divisions of the whole note, much like modern day microtonalists argue
for equal and odd divisions of the octave. In Fabric, Cowell also explores his rhythmic
ratio theory with his amended noteheads, and he also makes the connection between
overtone ratios and tempo relationships, a model both Johnston and Nancarrow carried
out in their works. Cowell’s system was extensive and included whole note divisions up
to 15th notes.
139
Ex. 4.5 Cowell’s Fabric, with geometric noteheads and their rhythmic meanings.321
321
Cowell, 1922. Fabric for Piano.
140
Cowell abandoned this system due to the difficulty in carrying out cross rhythms
and accounting for subdivisions of odd groupings, which would result in fractional
rhythms, an issue that today’s computer music composers can cope with easily. Cowell
wrote: “…these rhythms could be cut on a piano roll for player pianos,” to which
Nancarrow agreed.322
In addition to new meters, such as 2/3, or 3/5, based on third notes and fifth notes,
Cowell began the notion of “Tempo Scales.” Metric harmonies, and metric ratios, all
based on the quarter note, led Cowell to the formulation of a correspondence between
pitch and rhythm.323 “Meter and Time combinations,” otherwise known as polytempo,
Tempo itself, an exact rate of speed relative to one minute as in BPM, can
therefore invented the tempo scale by systematizing the relationships in terms of ratios
324
322
Cowell, 1960, p. 65.
323
Ibid. p. 67-70.
324
Ibid, p. 105.
141
from the overtone series. Large scale rhythmic structures, such as tempo, therefore work
In Ex. 4.6, Cowell is using the chromatic scale to adjust measure lengths. If C is
set to one measure of 2/4, then all the ratios represented by the chromatic interval become
a multiplier for the multiplicand 2/4 single measure. Also, the multiplier will be reflected
exemplifies the relationship between tempo and pitch, even using extended Pythagorean
Wyschnegradsky’s music also found its way into tying together a microtonal system with
a logical extension into rhythm, still under the influence of Henry Cowell and Ives. 327
back into the hands of tuning and temperament as the logical extension to what Wagner,
Strauss, and Lizst had started in the area of total chromaticism.328 In other words,
Schoenberg’s liberation of the twelve tones can be seen as the re-clothing of the common
practice tuning as the first legitimate 12 equally divided octave, from the perspective of a
325
Lucy, C. E. (2001). Lucy Tuning. Retrieved 2011, from Lucytune.com:
http://www.lucytune.com/midi_and_keyboard/tempo.html.
326
Barthelmes, 1995, p. 49.
327
Barthelmes, 1995. p. 105-06.
328
Ibid, p. 34.
142
metaphysics and their representation in sound found its legitimacy in not only
polymicrotonality and rhythmic structures, I will divide his work into pitch in this
temperament, divided into subcategories: third tones, quartertones, sixth tones, and eighth
tones, from a broad spectrum template of twelfth tones. Some may argue that the 72TET
palette subsumes the smaller contingents, and therefore denies the polymicrotonal intent.
This author disagrees with this stance for the following. Since quartertones, used in the
Arabic maqam and in Greek genera, constitute their own identity as a microtonal system,
I argue in favor of the viability of 24TET still remaining intact as a distinct and
identifiable system even with respect to a larger system behind it. Just as Reinhard
identifies both quartertones and eighth tones in Ives’s Universe Symphony, without
recourse to critics scolding him for the possible subsumption of quartertones by eighth
tones, then I have at least one ally in this regard. In any case two systems, 12TET and
24TET, are not mutually interchangeable. Yes, one can find the 12TET within the 24TET
system, but the converse is impossible. If a piece is written in both 12TET, obeying the
laws of the common practice, and quartertones, perhaps adding inflections and extensions
to the common practice chords and voice leading, then the compositional intent includes
both temperaments into one system. But if the quartertones, 24TET, are composed in a
different manner in contradistinction to the common practice behavior, then the tunings
143
seem to occupy two different sound fields simultaneously. This case can be argued with
respect to polytonality, as well, with the exception that as the temperament remains the
same, the intent is different and the outcome sounds differently. Additionally,
quartertones do not sound the same as eighth tones, which do not sound like twelfth
tones. If the composer chooses to exclude pitches that overlap, then the integrity of each
system remains. If one takes the alphabet and writes in Latin and in English, we still have
two different languages. How does subsumption, then, make any difference? This author
polymicrotonal work in five microtonal tunings: third tones, quartertones, sixth tones, and
eighth tones, plus a piano in standard 12tet. The other tunings were also performed by
with him as a fellow Russian.330 In addition to the metaphysics of the early twentieth
century, theosophy was also en vogue and much of Wyschnegradsky’s ideas were in
league with that school of thought, especially with regard to his color theory as related to
pitch, again, also in step with Skryabyn. Wyschnegradsky also made use of Cowell’s
cluster technique (from Ives), establishing the link between himself and Cowell.
adept at isolating microtonal systems one at a time, either using quartertones or third
329
Ibid, p. 35.
330
Ibid, p. 211.
331
Ibid, p. 37.
144
The philosophy of the system Wyschnegradsky used entailed terms like volume,
for microtonal density, and type, for the size of the microtonal step, with respect to his
polymicrotonal hierarchy, to which he would use color theory to mix pitches: “das
Volumen und die Dichte einer Klangaggregationen.”332 Dichte, or type, would involve
twelfth tones, sixth tones, or quartertones. The pansonority wheel (shown in Ex. 4.7)
depicts his 505 gamut intervals, stretching over 7 octaves in a resolution of twelfth tones.
332
Ibid, p. 38-39.
145
333
Ibid. p. 500.
146
334
Ibid. p. 501.
147
Ex. 4.8 and 4.9 shows the multitudes of microtonal symbols capable of cluttering
up a musical line. This is one reason for this author’s fattened staves (Section 5.3) as a
solution to monstrosities like the 1/12th tone microtonal symbol. Marie notes that
335
Marie, 1976. L’homme musical, p. 49.
148
Ex. 4.10 Arc en ciel, Op. 37, polymicrotonal piano piece for 6 pianos, where clusters of
microchromatic chords engage in a process of cellular contraction and expansion.
149
pianos tuned in twelfth tones, all utilizing a subgrouping, or Dichte, of the gamut.
Colored notation visually tells the performers what happens within the work: red for half
tones, orange for twelfth tones, yellow for sixth tones, green for quartertones, and blue
for third tones.336 As far as I know I have not been able to locate a recording for this
piece. The Zykeln, or cirlces, are analogous to the circular 12-tone system. In addition to
similar to pelog and slendro Gamelan pitches. He also built scales based on 2/3 tones, 66
continuation of chromatic harmony, for which he is most known, rather than the
polymicrotonal works he actually produced. Nevertheless, even Marie has noted the
influence of the overtone series in the ideas of Wyschnegradsky, as upper partials were
rounded off to the nearest quarter, sixth, and twelfth tones. For Wyschnegradsky,
ultrachromaticism was based on acoustics and resonance.338 Marie notes that there was an
epic battle between just acoustic resonance, and intuitive ultrachromaticism, where
Ivan Wyschnegradsky is not only useful to this inquiry due to pitch alone; he also
overtone positions, just like Cowell. One must induce this as Cowell’s influence, since
336
Ibid, p. 38-39.
337
Ibid, p. 43-48.
338
Marie, 1976. L’homme musical, p. 50.
339
Ibid.
150
the idea had only been addressed once before, by Cowell himself in his New Musical
waxing and waning of the texture and intervallic compression and expansion. A 5/12 tone
interval grows to a half step, and then from a third tone, down to a quartertone, all in tight
concernced about the imprecise nature of musical directions for tempo and came upon a
type of metric modulation similar to Carter’s, in order to gain more control over time and
uniform system as equal divisions of the octave[s], he also thought of equal divisions of
the whole note, harkening back to Cowell. This would be a type of rhythmic
temperament.341
categories : I applying 3:2, II applying 2:3, III applying 6:7, and IV applying 7:6 to
340
Barthelmes, 1995. Raum und Klang: das musikalishce und theoretische schaffen Ivan Wyschnegradsy.
p. 65-69.
341
Ibid.
151
different ratios in a system of inversion and retrograde techniques.342 The system is quite
remarkable in that it is a system based on limits (please see examples 4.7 and 4.11), and
appears alongside the rhythms of the rows. If the fraction is less than 1, it slows down. If
342
Ibid., pp. 86-87.
152
Ex. 4.11 Wyschnegradsky’s rhythmic system in four categories, P, I, R, and RI. 343
343
Ibid. p. 74.
153
Ex. 4.12 Wyschnegradsky’s rhythmically derived system from his pitch system.344
344
Ibid. p. 74.
154
Ex. 4.13 Marie’s admiration for Wyschnegradsky’s system of combining pitch and
rhythm as a solution to an age old problem.345
In Ex. 4.13, Wyschnegradsky has paired the functionality of the ratio of pitch to
the ratio of rhythmic value. The 5/4, for example, is shown as a 5 in the space of 4 tuplet,
345
Marie, p. 52.
155
The 5/4 ratio is the just major third at 386 cents. So the realm of microintervallic ratios
duplications, there remained 115 different values he applied as rates of duration and
overtone positions. For example, if Eb is the octave at 2/1, then the numbers 27-45-75-
125 correspond to C, A, F#, and D#/Eb, when broken down into their factors with respect
to the overtone series for Eb. Similarly, the number 125, 5*5*5, is three consecutive
major thirds away from Eb, which is, again, Eb, or D#; but when assigned as rhythm, the
prime factors of the numbers become rhythmic values, such as 27th notes, as 3*9,
correspond to triplets, and 45, 5*9, corresponds to prime numbers five and three, and 125
coefficients represent rhythmic values, such as an arithmetic series ½, 2/3, ¾, 4/5, etc.
When put into rows, each row can then represent divisions of the octave. (please see Ex.
4.14)
Table 4.14 Wyshnegradsky’s pitch to rhythm system based on the overtone series.
346
Ibid., p. 73-75.
156
The four categories can then be generalized as follows: category I, the “ground”
row, slower; category II, inverted row, a little faster; category III, retrograde, still faster;
and category IV, retrograde inversion, fastest. The influence of the Second Viennese is
obvious, as well as the influence of Cowell. Wyschnegradsky was unique in bridging the
most unique schools of both Europe and America. In addition to the above,
Wyschnegradsky chose “C” as the ground note to base his system on, again, just as
Cowell did, but it is probably a universally convenient starting point. Larger fractions in
Wyschnegradsky’s system are used for larger rhythmic constructions, not for
rarely mentioned in any graduate textbooks on music. I found out about Wyschnegradsky
in year 2000 while trying to inquire into a quartertone theory of harmony and finding his
extended just intoned, singlularly microtonal composer who uses up to 53 pitches per
octave. He has also engaged in the use of Cowell’s tempo scales, and to some degree,
In the area of tying pitch relationships to rhythm, Johnston brought the two
together elegantly in his Knocking Piece, 1978, a percussive piece derived from the just
157
intoned chords from his A Sea Dirge.347 Knocking Piece features a good deal of metric
modulation, like Carter, and tempo and just intonation are related by just ratios.348
realtionships via ratios from his just intonation scales. This is the keystone, or the master
stroke of Johnston’s system, which ties everything together: pitch and tempo are related
Piano, 1962-67.349 Johnston is serial in this piece, where there is a tuned piano spanning
347
Von Gunden, 1986. The Music of Ben Johnston. p. 140.
348
Gibbens, 1985, p. 1-12.
349
Ibid.
350
Ibid.
158
extended Pythagorean tuning coexist.352 In this elaborate pitch scheme, even the
351
Ibid. p. 73.
352
Ibid, p. 27.
353
Ibid. p. 38.
159
Ex. 4.16 Ben Johnston’s tempo scale from Sonata for Microtonal Piano.354
Johnston, like Nancarrow, was influenced by both Ives and Cowell (via Harry
Partch), and used ratios from his tuning table to apply to note durations and eventually
tempi. The 2-dimensional lattice Johnston uses for Sonata for Microtonal Piano consists
of two arrays: one Pythagorean, based on the Major triad 4:5:6, represented as x, and y is
5 limit Just intonation. For future purposes, Johnston added a new dimension per newly
introduced prime number, with respect to Just tuning, for example, adding 7 would result
in a 3 dimensional lattice, 11, a four dimensional lattice, and so on. Thus, this particular
pitches, it is still relying on prime numbers 2, 3, and 5, meaning that there really are two
354
Ibid. p. 35.
160
systems at work: 5-limit just and Pythagorean tuning. Ex. 4.15 and 4.16 are both
triads from Fokker and Euler via Pythagorean extensions.356 Johnston’s lattices similarly
helped extend the range of consonance.357 In league with Euler, Johnston throws out
octave equivalences and replaces it with other areas of consonance, such as fifths and
thirds. Ultimately, Johnston is triadic, and tonal, even if hyper microtonal, even using an
interval 2 cents wide, known as the schisma. Within Johnston’s tonality, there are also
serial procedures, quotes, and Elliott Carter’s metric modulations, as seen in his Knocking
Piece. Like Ives, Johnston sees microtones as teasing the listener with a type of “out of
tuneness.”
For Johnston, laws of harmony and tempo come from ratios of overtones and
unity between pitch organization and rhythmic structure by using a tuning scheme in
ratios and then applying those particular ratios as multipliers to a general base tempo,
355
Johnston, 2006. Maximum Clarity and other Writings on Music, p. 13
356
Euler Fokker genera are based on prime numbers. Euler genera are generated from the prime factors 3
and 5, whereas an Euler–Fokker genus can have factors of 7 or any higher prime number. The degree is the
number of intervals which generate a genus. However, not all genera of the same degree have the same
number of tones since [XXXYYY] may also be notated [X xYy], "the degree is thus the sum of the
exponents," and the number of pitches is obtained adding one to each exponent and then multiplying those
((X+1)×(Y+1)=Z), according to HuygensFokker.org.
357
Johnston, Maximum Clarity, p. 34.
161
creating a tempo scale, through which he used metric modulation from tempo to tempo.
Amazing Grace, String Quartet No. 4, is also polymicrotonal since it uses both
Pythagorean and Just tuning. Johnston uses limits of Just intonation to create a family of
tuning lattices, which reflect each piece’s tuning. Johnston has gone well beyond 7-limit
to include 11-limit Just intonation, creating “gestalts,” or triadic gestalts for the
comparison and inclusion of new tunings.359 The symbol denoted for the seventh from the
358
This is a tuning legend leaflet in all of Johnston’s String Quartets.
162
above tuning legend from String Quartet No. 5 is borrowed from Adriaan Fokker’s
adoption of Tartini’s flat diesis symbol from geometry; Johnston uses it as a number 7
similarly is also the organization of rate of speed by ratio. Johnston also thinks that pitch
is tempo, or rather that tonality is merely a system of proportional tempi, where meter is
tempi, where the pitches themselves are hyper-rhythms, or tempi, beating so fast that they
become tones in themselves. It is basic acoustics, if we think about it, but we rarely do,
and it comes as a sudden shock when we realize that tempo equals pitch: polytempo
phenomenon, but only at different relative speeds. Since pitch is rhythm, then does
three states of matter: water, ice, vapor. All is water, yet we are trying to find a way to
relate one state to the next, as though we were ignorant of the fact that they are the same
thing.
of view. He maintains that pitch and rhythm may be related, but are perceived differently
by listeners. Pitch and rhythm may be the same phenomenon, but are seen initially
differently due to their disparate natures. Pitch and rhythm are seen as polar opposites in
the psyche in terms of human perception. In fact, they are polar opposites because rhythm
359
Ibid, p. 62-68.
360
Fokker D. A., 1949. Just Intonation. p.18. Also this is the Tartini sign for indicating the flat seventh
partial.
361
Johnston, 2006. Maximum Clarity. p. 99.
163
is pitch slowed down to 20 cycles per second, or less, which are perceived as beats, or
rhythm. 21 cycles or more fall within the domain of pitch, since the jnd (just noticeable
difference) of the periodicity is blurred. Sethares maintains that perception research and
psychology have proven that there is a limit to the discreteness of beats blurring into
pitch, and that is fundamentally based on human limitations. Similarly, humans cannot
hear beyond 20,000 cycles per second, as that is too far out of our ciliac nerve range in
and harmonic thinking imply microtonal pitch distinctions, and it is due to the
sumpremacy of the ear—Ives, Aristoxenus,Varèse, and Xenakis all agree. Ben Johnston,
for instance, is an example of a just intonation composer who translates his ratios of pitch
intervals into tempo relationships, but only in terms of tempo modulations, and not
polytempo. Just intonation is also not polymicrotonal, since it is a singular system. Just
can, however, be divided into subsets of competing limits, e.g. 5-limit vs. 7-limit, just as
just intonation lattices of Euler-Fokker elucidate. Nevertheless, these are only extensions
abound. String Quartet No. 2 features a 3:2 rhythm congruent with the literal perfect
fifth, while the 5:4 Major third equates to a 5:4 rhythm, as well as tempos following the
same ratio patterns. In order to make logic this strict for each piece, Johnston spends a
great deal of time composing them: “I work very slowly, with much care and
362
Sethares. 1998. Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale. Forward, and p. 11.
363
Johnston, Maximum Clarity, p. 97-100.
164
computation.”364 Johnston also believes that “any interval is possible,”365 which increases
In String Quartet No. 5, 1979, Johnston uses the following ratios: 3:2, 4:3, 5:4,
and 6:4 both in intervallic and rhythmic acuity. There is polytempo, beginning on page
15, in the last measure and continuing for 6 measures with the following scheme: violin I,
at 160 BPM, in 4/4, violin II at 135 BPM, in 9/8, viola at 150 BPM, in 5/4, and the cello
at 120 BPM, in 4/4. All derive structurally from the following chord: tonic doubled, Just
major third, and a Pythagorean major second (Please see Ex. 4.18). Example 4.15 shows
explicit polytempo, both in written instructions and in time signatures. The tempos are a
result of multiplying the fundamental tempo, by the just ratio tunings, 160, 135, 150, and
120 beats per minute. This author’s written notes indicate the characteristic intervals of
the pitch content of the measure, 16/15, and 9/8, which translate to notes B and D.
364
Ibid. p. 199.
365
Von Gunden, 1986, p. 60.
165
CHAPTER 5:
THE PROGENITOR
CHARLES IVES’S UNIVERSE SYMPHONY AND ITS LEGACY: POLYTEMPIC
POLYMICROTONAL ART MUSIC
Larry Austin technically was the first person to put together Ives’s Universe
Symphony, from 1974 to 1993. Austin’s realization was premiered by conductor Gerhard
Samuel and the Cincinnati Philharmonica, combined with the Cincinnati Conservatory’s
Austin maintains that the Universe Symphony was Ives’s largest and most
compelling and visionary work. That opinion seems to be held by many, including
Johnny Reinhard, who also realized Ives’s Universe Symphony a few years later.
Austin divided the Universe Symphony into four parts: the Life Pulse Prelude
orchestra, the Heavens orchestra (itself in four parts), Rock Formation orchestra, and the
Earth orchestra. All orchestras follow essentially one tempo, as indicated in Ex. 5.1.
366
Lambert, 1997. Ives Studies. p. 179.
167
Although Austin does a fantastic job with respect to the LPP, or Life Pulse
Prelude, Ives’s “Basic Unit” percussion orchestra, with all of its ratios in the percussion,
Austin did not pick up on the extended Pythagorean tuning indicated in Ives’s score by
deliberate enharmonic notation, where D#, for example, does not equal Eb (please see
below). Nor does Austin incorporate eighth tones, also implied in Ives’s score (please see
below). Austin does incorporate a “perfectly tuned overtone machine”368 in his section B.
367
Ibid. p. 211.
368
Ibid. p. 206.
168
scale, “equal tempered” tunings (unspecified), and the just/overtone tuned machine.369
This author’s reason for preferring Reinhard’s realization, is that the arrangements of his
Heavens and Earth orchestras feature the various tunings much more clearly. Reinhard
also discusses in much more detail the nature of the polymicrotonality, and the specifics
in terms of cent values. Another reason I personally prefer Reinhard’s realization is the
polytempo nature of his particular realization, where three, rather than four, orchestras
For this author’s intents and purposes of this paper, it was more logical for me to
choose Reinhard’s version over Austin’s without any bias towards either gentleman’s
aesthetic, but only for helping me to establish this author’s aesthetic of combining both
polytempo with polymicrotonality, which is much more explicit in the Reinhard version.
effectively America’s first potential microtonalist. A naturalist, obsessed with bells and
natural sonorities and figuring out pitches and chords found in the real world. George
opened up Charles’s mind to allow him in becoming the great pioneer he was.371
George Ives gave Charles several ideas: small intervals on slide cornet, water
filled glasses for eighth tones (commas), an overtone piano, non-octave scales, and
makeshift monochords with weights, for tuning in just intonation—a contraption made
369
Ibid.
370
Reinhard, The Ives Universe: a symphonic odyssey, 2004, p. 99.
371
Burkholder, 1983. The Evolution of Charles Ives’s Music.
169
from a clothes press and violin strings.372 Ives later employed these experiments in his
Universe Symphony, the score of which includes a just intonation machine and a justly
tuned harp as well. “Why can’t the ear learn 100 other intervals if it wants to try?” was a
tone tuning, not to mention standard quartertones. Ives also possessed a keen interest in
inharmonic timbres including non-tuned percussion and metallic sounds such as anvils
and brake pads. These sounds represent his adopted family interest in representing the
natural world and its infinite continuum in music. Ives’s open-minded approach is again
summarized by his whimsical, yet vitriolic, personal expressions: “Why tonality should
be thrown out? I can’t see. Why tonality should be kept? I can’t see. It depends as clothes
Ives agreed with John Cornelius Griggs: “The tempered system is not conducive
to correct and vigorous musical thinking, as has been the violin and voice training of
earlier centuries.”375
It was also through his father that Charles came into possession of Helmholtz’s
On the Sensations of Tones, which argues for the case of extended Pythagorean tuning.
Helmholtz had, in fact, devised his own notation, which Ives borrowed (or rather co-
opted). Alexander Ellis, through his attitude of questioning, had opened the door for
young Charles about the speculation of notation and the possible alternatives of tuning.376
372
Ibid.
373
Ibid., p. 102.
374
Taruskin, 2000, p. 292.
375
Op. cit. p. 103.
376
Ibid.
170
Just as Helmholtz scaled the Pythagorean spiral of fifths to 26, thus avoiding
enharmonic tones, Ives used extended Pythagorean tuning to 21 pitches in the Universe
did not favor small super-particular ratio consonances, and liked harsher dissonances
from equal divisions of the octave and larger ratios—“if they hear anything but do-mi-
sol, or a near cousin, they have to be carried out on a stretcher.” 378 (Please see Ex. 5)
Ives’s acoustical plan is based on fifths and octaves, and reinstates the Pythagorean major
third at 408 cents. Ives liked to poke fun at the temperament limitations of the piano (and
In the Universe Symphony, at measure 78, there is a D flat and F# in the cellos,
and a B in the double bass. This chord is spelled purposefully, as it otherwise would have
been re-spelled with C#, or perhaps, G flat. The B-D flat interval is 180 cents (two
limmas, if we are talking Pythagorean terminology) and the D flat to F# is 522 cents, a bit
larger than a perfect fourth, showing Ives’s penchant for dissonance. The F flat and E
together in the Orchestra Unite, measure 112, shows an intervallic difference of a comma,
Charles Boatwright once said that in the last analysis, “finer distinctions between
pitches rests on Charles’s ear,” (reminiscent of Aristoxenus) “in fact, on the judgment of
377
Reinhard, p.103.
378
Ibid, p. 104.
379
Ibid, p. 105.
171
his ear, and in his case ‘a very sharp’ ear.” 380 Intonation is fully tied in with Ives’s higher
level of thought, where the Universe Symphony represents Ives’s physical manifestations
380
Ibid, p. 110.
172
In Prelude 3 of the Universe Symphony, there are 24 quartertone chords, but the
tonality is also modulated to quartertone tonality, a brief respite from the overall extended
Pythagorean tonality underlying the work. The Wusta Zal-Zal, named for a dark ages
Middle Eastern music theorist, comes to mind, at 350 cents, representing the influence of
quartertones in early Arabic maqam, and that quartertone tonality has existed
independently from 12TET, Pythagorean, just, and meantone. The Wusta Zal-Zal is the
neutral third that exists as the midpoint between the classic tunings of the just major and
minor third, between 316 to 386 cents, used by Persian and Arabic musicians. 381
Ives tuned the harp to Just intonation, which improvises, alongside the Just
intonation machine (Ex. 5.2), and the trumpets are tuned to eighth tones, reminiscent of
George’s influence on his slide cornet. According to Joe Monzo, Ives created a non-
octave “stretched” scale in eighth tones, of seven pitches: C-G♭-E 1/8th♭ -B 1/8th ♭-E
1/8th ♭-D- and A 1/8th♭, which perform a free cadenza for the percussion entrance at
measure 131. (Ex. 5.2)382 In fact, the very first measure of the Universe Symphony
features an E-A#- E♭ chord, where the E-A# tritone is 25 cents larger, an eighth tone,
and the A#-E♭ is 25 cents smaller, also an eighth tone. The polymicrotonal intent is
In terms of tempo, the Universe Symphony is divided into three strata: the Basic
30BPM, and the “Earth Orchestra,” and the “Heavens Unit,” at 45 beats per minute. The
381
Wright, 1978, p. 41.
382
Ives, 1911-1926. Universe Symphony: realized by Johnny Reinhard, 1993-1996.
175
three divisions of the orchestra represent possibly the trinity, but more concretely, the
Harmonic Series, where the bottom strata, the Basic Unit, is composed entirely of
percussion and inharmonics and is itself divided into 25 layers of polyrhythms, from
prime numbers up to 43 (Please see Ex. 5.1.3). The three tempi coincide at measure 27,
Ex. 5.1.4, showing Ives’s masterstroke and his innovation in terms of vision and concrete
composition.
percussion to play on a marble surface, along with the Just intonation machine. Since Ives
is already exploring the limits of tuning, it also appears that he was also exploring tuning
played in the brass while the orchestra plays in Pythagorean tuning. It is not the case that
layer of tuning: there are mixtures of tunings and there is a deliberate pairing of tunings
influence of the work as the last chord is spaced on fifths, C-D-A-E-B. As mentioned
earlier, this paper is not an analysis of form or harmony, but the tonal plan behind the
relationships, the just intonation machine and harp focus on improvisation, the eighth
tones are featured linearly in the trumpets, in particular, and the quartertones are chordal,
in texture, and in harmony. There is a conflation and melding of harmonic purpose within
176
each tuning that is sculpted out of the density with rhythmically identifiable motives and
register.
The Heavens Orchestra, the highest of the three divisions, features nine flutes,
glockenspiel, and other high-frequency timbres, revealing further the overall overtone
179
series plan in Ives’s conception. The fixed register of frequency is counterbalanced by the
one can see sets of intervallic cells based on (01). The orchestra itself is sub-grouped into
chamber ensembles for the convenience of the hemiola (3:2) tempo relationship. The
Basic Unit, composed of percussion, expands and contracts, much like modern theories
The Heavens Orchestra, the highest registrally and timbrally, as well as the fastest
moving tempo at 45 beats per minute, has five groups of rhythmic subdivisions, all in
turn subdivided into small chamber ensembles: group one moves in half-note triplets and
has 3 flutes, 3 violins and a viola; group two moves in common time and is composed of
2 violins, 2 violas, and one flute; group three moves in quintuplet rhythmic subdivisions
and has 3 flutes and 2 violins; group four is a general movement of septuplets by any
instrument, and group five is composed of the glockenspiel and celeste. All these timbres
represent the highest overtones possible as they reach into “Heaven.” Ives called these
cloud shapes, where each group is a particular code that represents a chordal
counterpoint.383
In other words, if we find triplets, are they related to the perfect fifth, as the 3:2 ratio
relates to the fifth in the harmonic series, or is there, per chance, an elaborate system for
pairing pitch to rhythm, or tempo, in Ives’s Universe Symphony? No, there is not;
however, the tempo relationships are differentiated more by texture and timbre than by
383
Reinhard, 2004. The Ives Universe: a symphonic odyssey. p 38.
180
pitch, whereby there is similarly no system at work. There are only a few generalizations
based on circumspect analysis: the Basic Unit consists of percussion, mostly non-pitched
and metallic sounds, but does have a hierarchical rhythmic structure within itself; the
Earth Orchestra, the middle level tempo moving at 30 BPM., has mid-ranged and low
frequency instruments; and the Heavens Orchestra, the highest ranged frequency division,
has the faster moving elements composed of five subgroups, as discussed previously.
There is no correlation between polymicrotonality and polytempo, even though they both
coexist within this one work, albeit separately. Ives appeared to be working more in the
Example 5.1.6 shows the minutiae of the divisions of pulse time by Ives’s Basic
Unit of 16 seconds, with rhythmic divisions from 1 through 19, 21, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41,
and 43, mostly prime numbers, totaling 25 divisions of the 8/4 double whole note.
There are ten cycles of the expansion and contraction of this ensemble,
representing the pulse of the cosmos. It is also the articulated surface of the Universe
Symphony under which there still operate three divisions of structural tempo, from 45, 30,
to 15 BPM, showing both 2:1 and 3:2 ratios, which happen to be the two intervallically
There is a recording of the Universe Symphony, on The Stereo Society’s label, from
2005, recorded by James Rosenthal and Mike Thorne. Conducted by Johnny Reinhard,
and performed by the American Festival of Microtonal Music Orchestra, it spans an hour
Please note Ex. 5.1.7, an original page from Ives’s own hand-writing, showing the
precarious nature both Reinhard and Austin were placed in. Ives is known for his bad
384
Universe Symphony, 2005, CD liner notes.
181
hand-writing. The challenge to pick up his work where he left off, was steep; in addition
to the complexity of Ives’s musical architecture, there was the difficulty in deciphering
Ex. 5.1.6 This author’s notes on the exact percussion and rhythmic subdivisions in the
Basic Unit.
183
385
Austin, p. 226.
184
music in the examples provided in this paper. This author inquired about music in
different tunings from several composers and musicians who thought the idea absurd.
After researching the internet for dissertations, theses, and other research papers on the
subject, Johnny Reinhard, a fierce polymicrotonal warrior in New York, appeared on the
internet, through whom he discovered Ives’s Universe Symphony. An open and unbiased
mind capable of connecting ideas in new ways is helpful when considering something
this far outside the box of the status quo. Polytempo is not new anymore, but
polymicrotonality is still an outlandish concept, and when coupled with a one to one
After discussing various theories and methods of combining pitch and rhythm
through the ages, the immensity of the infinite possibilities of music, when all is said and
done, is staggering. There is a similarity that occurs in art and culture that also occurs in
the individual: growth. There are times in history where different ideas of tuning have
overlapped, competing for supremacy, at a point in time where one tuning system was
thought to be the way music ought to be, in direct violation of the thoughts of the Greeks
and of Anaximander. This same thing occurs in humans unconsciously, when opposing
aspects of the personality compete for dominance, when ultimately one or the other wins
out. This author’s point is that when Ives deliberately put together four different tuning
seen, particularly in the middle ages and Renaissance, and even the Baroque. Yet, all
along, composers were becoming more aware of tuning differences as aesthetical and that
This is akin to an individual, over time, accepting and coming to terms consciously with
their inner aspects that once were so secret and hidden, but through constant reworking,
came to light and became consciously integrated with the personality. This is the same as
art music in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries coming consciously to the point
where tuning is not so dark and mysterious, but can be integrated, amalgamated, and used
in a deliberate, conscious, and artistic way. This is essentially what this author is arguing
for. He believes that setting each part in a different tuning in a separate tempo is a similar
process of using relief in art, by elevating a theme off and above the canvas and framing
This author has had ideas with respect to notating multiple systems of tuning and
temperament by fattening the staff and allowing a visual representation of the microtonal
become smaller, and more varied, the need for accidentals increases, forcing the
performer to learn whole sets of symbols for each piece. This is burdensome and can
easily deter performers from even considering microtonal works. But perhaps a new staff
can offer a solution, rather than additional microtonal symbols, which also inadvertently
lengthen the measure, particularly when there are complex rhythms at the 32nd-note level,
which can draw a measure out to a full page. A visually based fattened staff approach,
eliminating all microtonal symbols, could be a solution to this problem and provide more
visual continuity with respect to score reading (Please see Ex. 5.3.3, 5.3.4, and 5.3.5).
One can argue that learning a new staff is also asking the performer to learn new
nomenclature, too, but far less when dealing with polymicrotonal systems and their huge
As a futher demonstration of this new proposal, this author’s piece Jove Defeats
Saturn, for polymicrotonal saxophone solo (Ex. 5.3.2-5.3.5), was written using this new
staff method. Nathan Mandel, the saxophonist, was the first person to try out this author’s
new system. He had some corrections for me and helped me by redrawing the staff larger
and with greater clarity. There was to be no confusion to identifying any pitch laying
anywhere in the staff, even without the accidentals. The lines flowed visually. Nathan is
now willing to use this system and has helped me to edit and improve the system.
187
Another more practical way for polymicrotonal notation is to simply use what
symbols we have, the quartertone symbol, but to also combine them with cent numbers
above the note in question. Therefore numbering from 0-49 cents, since 50 cents is the
quartertone, would allow perfect precision. This technique is used by Johnny Reinhard
and has proven to work for him and the AFMM for a number of years.
Either method cuts down on the plethora of microtonal symbols, which have
composer, this author wants people to want to play his music, where fancy and extensive
microtonal symbols seem a bit contrived and elitist, not to mention difficult to memorize.
Fattening the staff, an idea this author picked up from artist Agnes Martin’s artwork,
seems the most beneficial in the long run, but there are problems to work out, such as
accurately identifying the pitch at first sight by definitively allocating the spaces, lines,
dashed lines and borders to gradations of pitch. As mentioned earlier, this author
currently has a piece for polymicrotonal solo saxophone, Jove Defeats Saturn, in 12, 19,
31, and 53TET, utilizing fattened staves in different colors, for the enhancement of visual
acuity, which thus far has proved better than “51% advocacy,” which means in its test run
it can be useful after making edits and adjustments. One of the ways Nathan Mandel
improved this author’s Poly staff, was to actually draw it larger, with more clearly
defined edges to the colors and dashed lines in the center of the spaces for the natural
pitch. The staff remains the standard EGBDF, but expanded for visual acuity.
Ex. 5.3.1 An example of artist Agnes Martin’s work that inspired me to incorporate larger
staff systems that help reduce linear space cluttered up by unlimited microtonal
symbols.386
386
Agnes Martin, Canadian artist, b. 1912, http://www.abstract-
art.com/abstraction/l3_more_artists/ma57a_agnes_martin.html.
189
Ex. 5.3.2 Jove Defeats Saturn legend with color scheme for different tunings.
In Ex. 5.3.2, the staves are changed, rather than the inclusion of excessive
microtonal symbols that will ultimately conflict with each other for the performer, so I
chose to by-pass microtonal symbols and fatten the staff, instead. Color codes drape the
Ex. 5.3.3 Section B of the rondo form Jove Defeats Saturn in 19TET.
Ex. 5.3.3 is the B section of Jove and is color coded in pink highlight to designate
the tuning system of 19TET. The colors do not indicate synesthesia, but are randomly
chosen from any pack of highlighters for study purposes. The legend, Ex. 5.3.2, shows
clearly which shade of pitch from each system lies in its delineated area of the staff. The
staff is kept at the common practice EGBDF, so the basic shape remains the same for
familiarity.
191
Ex. 5.3.4 is color coded blue for 31TET and its shades of pitches are also found in
the legend. This fattening of the staves will accommodate a full 31-note vertical chord,
but not much more, depending on how thick the staves are drawn. The linear flow is kept
microtonal accidentals. As a very rhythmic composer, I find that the visual impact of the
line maintains its integrity, instead of being haplessly pulled across the page by the clutter
of accidentals.
192
Ex. 5.3.5 Section D of Jove, in 53TET, but in a restricted pitch set spanning a perfect
fourth tetrachord.
Ex. 5.3.5 is color coded in orange, for 53TET, which is not fully employed. Only
a small set is used form the gamut of pitches in 53, encompassing a set of 21 pitches.
Again, the horizontal space is saved and the rhythmic linearity and continuity is kept
numerical cents above the note and a written out legend showing the pitch to cents
relationship (Please see Ex. 5.5.1-5.5.2). I chose to use both systems of polymicrotonal
One drawback to the fat staff technique is that it must be composed free-hand,
since a professional notation software program will not be able to duplicate it. On the
other hand, composers now-a-days are falling into the habit of composing for the notation
program, and not for themselves. In other words, the limitations of Finale and Sibelius
are beginning to restrict composers and dictate their terms and limitations onto the
creative process. Free hand composition is probably something that needs to return.
193
The open-source free ware MuseScore is probably the only graphical notation
program in existence that can allow any tuning system by way of plug-ins, aside from
the score itself. Both Nancarrow and Ives provide examples of this. Nevertheless, there is
the whole notion of what polytempo really means, in the deeper sense, with respect to
composition.
For this author, polytempo is the furtherance of part identity coming alive within
the scope of a musical work. By coming alive, the part develops its own identity, as in
Carter’s polyrhythmic structures that are also polytempic (Third String Quartet), but it
can also develop its own tempo, or life, independent and intrinsically related to the piece
from which it grows. Polytempo is akin to the techniques of high relief in densely textural
artwork, such as Rembrandt’s impasto technique, which is stratified above the two-
time signatures with a common downbeat which then, over time, develop their own
intrinsic tempi which then begin to “give life” to the musical voice in question, where it
can then do whatever it wants to do, as it has established its own identity.
The error Cowell encountered in the clumsy recurrent downbeat alignments of his
polymeter ideas can be overcome by skillful part writing (which is among the primary
values in the art of composition). Does not 4/4 time, similarly, have downbeat
convergence points every four beats, and haven’t composers adapted to writing
“downbeatless” music that perpetuates momentum and avoids the banal nature of the
absence of surprise? Then how is this any different, unless one is expecting the differing
time signatures to compose in lieu of them, instead of the composer creating within and
“without” them? Of course it is always possible for music in 4/4 to be free as well, and
there are many examples of it. Free Jazz, for example, is an excellent illustration of that.
The point is to not allow boredom to manifest. Nevertheless, it is the will and artifice of
the composer that makes the difference, which when applying polytempo, can push the
art of polyphony even further and by developing truly independent “characters” in the
Again, notation programs preclude the use of competing tempi and meter, so it is
an arduous task to overcome via commercial notation programs. One must go into the
staff and discontinue meter signatures and “write” them in by special time consuming
procedures within the program, as in Finale, for example. Today’s reality is that scores
must be printed, and unless one has fantastic drawing skills, scores must be processed and
195
printed by computer, as most of us act as our own publishers and editors in this day and
age.
alluding to the overtone series with tempo ratios equating to the overtone series, as has
Conlon Nancarrow. Tempo canons, based on the pitch structure, can provide cohesion
and logic to the piece overall. One can invent a series of different tunings to which,
numerically, tempi can be ascribed, such as a four-voice quartet, which can be set in the
equal temperaments of 12, 19, 31, and 53 tones per octave with corresponding tempi at
either exact numerical values, or their multiples, such as 144, 57, 93, and 53 BPM,
does that negate the value of the work, particularly if the uncertainty is drastically
There can also be perfectly exact relationships between pitch and rhythm, as
described earlier in this paper, where rhythms multiplied by certain constants will yield
the pitch content, showing the very same acoustical phenomenon, yet, this will lead to the
intuition, choice, and thought. Since 1950, choice has been equated with a lack of logical
rigor; in other words, having aesthetic druthers is a bad thing. Nevertheless, even Xenakis
would interrupt his own processes of stochastic music and interject his own musical
Both Nancarrow and Carter would draw out their large scale tempos onto either
piano rolls, or graph paper, in order to give a physical perspective on the scale of the
196
construction of new genera by using the CI, the characteristic interval, which can vary
from 13/10, at 454 cents, to 10/9, at 182 cents, yielding approximately 73 different
classes of CIs.388 Also, as the Greeks employed katapyknosis, which is the procedure of
linear division, composers can further produce intervals of ever diminishing size, in the
spirit of Aristoxenus.
David Doty, similarly, has suggested using tetrachords spanning the perfect
fourth, as the Greeks did, as a method of organization for microtonal pitches. Ben
Johnston has used Alexander Ellis’s duodenal method of dimensional grids for each
prime number in constructing just intoned systems, leading to vast architectural lattices,
Enrique Moreno and Easley Blackwood have used the process of equally dividing
the whole tone into a continuum of equal tempered infinitude, akin to what Aristoxenus
may have thought had he lived today. Also, the division of pitch materials into octave and
non-octave equivalents can be another area of pitch polarity. Xenakis used sieves and
388
Chalmers, 1993. p. 25.
389
Doty, 1993, p. 30.
197
each tuning system and make a diagram about near unities between pitches within 10
cents, for modulation purposes. For large systems, cutting down the materials into
manageable sets, or cells, seems only common sense. Josef Straus’s book on atonal
theory is an excellent resource for investigating music created by way of pitch sets, which
boundaries of a particular interval within which to work is a good start. One of the
reasons this paper dwells a good deal on previous historical theory, such as the Greek
genera, is that that information can serve as case histories, providing much needed
Just as in Greek tetrachords, the bounded or fixed intervals can serve as “tonic” or
tuning, or temperament, in a polymicrotonal work can have its own “tonic,” or tonus. One
could even use chance operations to choose notes randomly from many different tuning
systems, to employ in tetrachords, pentachords, or any interval, or set number one wishes.
Below, in Ex. 5.5.1 and 5.5.2, one can utilize boundaries and tempo
Ex. 5.5.1 Legend from this author’s polytempic polymicrotonal string quartet Hypercube.
199
In Ex. 5.5.1, there are four temperaments. They are temperaments, and not
tunings, due to the fact that the fifths are tempered down by a few cents, so they are not
allowing the 12TET first violin to serve as the lead instrument using the foundation
tempo, set to 96 beats per minute. Each part of the string quartet has its own tuning,
tempo, and behavior, so that when the texture is at its thickest and most dense, the parts
Ex. 5.5.2 First page from Hypercube,in four temperaments and four tempos.
201
We live in the computer age; all things seem possible with respect to tricky
performance issues, such as tuning and rhythm. Some of us are not computer savvy, with
respect to pure computer programming, yet there is software that can help with the
production and notation of polymicrotonality. As far as polytempo, there are really not
many programs that can do this, in terms of sequencing due to the availability of only a
singular global tempo. Due to this limitation in the software, composers would have to
map out the tempo relationships vis-à-vis a global tempo separately on scratch paper. In a
way this limitation defeats the whole purpose. The ultimate timeline, of course, is time
downloadable plugins that can work with the minutiae of microtonal pitches. There is
also a playback function for auditioning the sound, which is very important. Open-source
software is Scala, from the Huygens-Fokker organization.390 Scala has a bank of literally
hundreds of tunings that can be imported to any program, for midi tuning playback, and
is perfect for polymicrotonal usage. One can store, edit, compare, build, analyze, and
synthesizers, for example, feature five built-in tunings, 12TET, Just, Pelog/Slendro,
Valotti, and 19-tone meantone temperament. Each channel, 1-16, can be programmed to
390
Scala, 2011.
391
Ibid.
202
have its own individual tuning, not to mention the user tuning, which can be saved to
RAM.392
This author’s intent, though, for polytempic polymicrotonal music, is for acoustic
technical means by learning to produce microtones of a great many shades. This author’s
piece Saturn Defeats Jove features 12, 19, 31, and 53TET for the saxophone family, for
solo performer. Nathan Mandel, who premiered the work, agreed to work with me in the
development of new fingerings to achieve the tunings. As a composer, one must be more
than willing to admit faults and learn to overcome obstacles to this new music by learning
from the players and their instruments, since they are the true source of all knowledge
concerning orchestration. The composer must have humility, and be willing to make
and II, 1994, is a magnificent compendium of scales, tunings, and documentation for
and tools from around the world, including Javanese Gamelan, and the Indian Shruti
system, for composers to discover, in cents, the exact nature of these exotic tunings.393
O. Wright’s treatise The Modal System of Arab and Persian Music, A.D. 1250-
392
E-mu Corporation, Scotts Valley, CA, 1991.
393
Ayers, Exploring Microtonal Tunings: a kaleidoscope of extended just tunings and their compositional
applications, Vol. I, 1994.
203
394
Wright, 1978.
204
CHAPTER 6:
CONCLUSION
Much material has been covered in this thesis. The reason for this is because this
author wanted to show that microtonality, and possibly polymicrotonality has been a
normal state of affairs since ancient Greek music. The tetrachords made their way into
Europe during the dark ages, and into the middle ages. The Greek humanist revival in the
Renaissance brought back the Greek genera again, where composers such as Vicentino,
Gesualdo, and even Claude le Jeune,395 engaged in Greek humanism, and the three
Werckmeister and Bach and the Thuringians, who preferred their unequal tunings,
lived in a time when there were approximately 150 differing meantone tempered tunings,
where there was probably some overlap, or mixing. This mixing could have resulted in
The twentieth century had its own Greek revivalism, from the work of John
Chalmers, and Kathleen Schlesinger, to David Doty, all incorporating aspects of Greek
tuning theories in the Greek revivalism of the current times. Ives, too, by his discovery of
Ives’s Universe Symphony, and its mix of tunings and temperaments, as shown by
Reinhard, and Austin, have led this author into a potentially new paradigm. A paradigm
that is ready to be accepted because musical consciousness has risen to it. It has pointed
395
The New Grove, 2000. Vol. 14. p. 532.
205
modes, or sub-sets, of a gamut, or a palette of pitches, which are scales extracted from the
tuning system. There are five constraints that must be adhered to with respect to scalar
structure: pitch sets of a fixed number, the repetition factor (such as the octave), intervals,
hierarchy, and key, or centricity.396 Some tunings have stretched octaves with no octave
equivalence, such as Gamelan tuning. Some will say that a tuning is only that which is
pure as it is derived either by an a priori mathematical law, or from the overtone series of
nature. These two conditions yield both Pythagorean tuning and unlimited ratio overtone
integrity so as to fit into the mold of the aforementioned scale definition of octave
equivalence, for identity. Cultural considerations have also determined tuning around the
to the pitch gamut, by incorporating all systems. Polymicrotonality has the potential to be
author’s key points. Being out of tune by way of error is absolutely not the same as
polymicrotonality and can never be construed as such. One must be able to deliberately
play and hear pitches to the nearest 10 cents or better. The schisma is 2 cents wide, and
Ben Johnston allowed this narrow interval into his music. This false notion of
polymicrotonality precludes high school bands and orchestral warm-ups, or any other
396
Polansky, 2009. “A Mathematical Model for Tuning Systems.” Perspectives of New Music. p. 71.
206
represents a most serious attempt at the ultimate control over intonation and inner
hearing.
To expand the role of the expressive was a late Romantic goal, but is it any less
relevant today? Ferrucio Busoni, in his Sketch for a New Aesthetic(1919) had divided the
octave into third tones in Italy, while Julian Carrillo was dividing the octave into 96 parts
in Mexico. Hába and Wyschnegradsky were dividing up the octave into quartertones and
beyond in Czechoslovakia and Russia. Ives would have said that this was the atmosphere
England writers and philosophers. There seemed to be a new consensus between the
composer and the listener, but somewhere between the early twentieth century and the
early twenty-first century, Rock’n’Roll and the big record companies happened. They re-
affirmed 12TET and put it squarely back on the public, reinforcing the tyranny of the
piano, once again, for the sake of profits and selling “ear-worms.”
Then, the personal computer came along in the 1980’s and shifted control over
tuning away from the piano, making possible a panoply of tunings immediately
accessible to the public for the first time in human history. When the internet boom
occurred in the late 1990’s, compressed digital audio files became small enough to send
via email and post on the internet. An already growing number of microtonalists around
the world suddenly had access to one another via computers and the proliferation of
microtonal art music once again began to skyrocket. There are numerous online
microtonal musicians, composers, and sound artists all sharing their works and many are
exploring tunings on midi synthesizers and computer music programs. The world seems
ready, finally, to accept what Ives and Carrillo tried to do. The thrust of this movement
207
has taken place outside of academia, in small communities from Ivor Darreg’s San Diego
microtonal community to AFMM in New York, to the New England area. The outsider
composers are divested from academia and its status quo, where according to Kyle Gann,
Like the polytextual composers of the Ars Nova, this author seeks to combine
various tunings (like combining different languages) framing them in different tempos for
distinguishable way. Also, like the relief painters of the Renaissance, he wants to create a
Stockhausen, Ferneyhough, and many others, he has taken the most appropriate qualities
considers the Middle Eastern maqam, with very small intervals, sung by Arabs every day
in the Azan for their call to prayer at daybreak, and sung for centuries, one cannot ask this
question. In Turkey, the octave is divided into 6 whole tones, each of which is divided
further into 9 commas. Each comma has a name. How does that occur if they cannot be
heard? Llewelyn Lloyd also stated that the ear, though it cannot process pitch at 1/100 of
208
a second, can, given a longer compositional duration, hear any interval.397 Hugh Johnson,
Jr. proved in his thesis Tuning Preferences of a Select Group of Singers with Reference to
Just, Pythagorean, and Equal Temperament (1963) that singers prefer sharper thirds398,
on the order of a comma, which they all can hear, where a comma is circa 25 cents, or an
1/8th tone. The singers seemed to prefer the 408 cent Pythagorean third, contrary to what
Ellis and Helmholtz had written. Alexander Ellis and Helmholtz, initially, had proved in
On the Sensations of Tone that singers sang in just intonation, but that was in the late
Also, David Whaley’s The Microtonal Capability of the Horn (1975) provides a
rich source of microtonal perception surveys by all ranges and levels of horn players,
where the just noticeable difference index for a microtonal change was consistently found
vocalists due to the subtle variations of which singers are capable.400 Nevertheless,
Helmholtz held steadfastly to the notion that singers sang in just intonation, and in a
meantone, and brass, naturally used the overtone series to the 19th limit. Although these
are generalities, performers are not always conscious of this. This still does not qualify as
bona fide polymicrotonality, because intent is lacking. Lack of skill, also does not qualify
as polymicrotonality. There are many ways that human effort can be completely
misconstrued and misinterpreted. Mistakes are still mistakes. But systematic practice of a
397
Lloyd, 1963, 1978, Intervals, Scales, and Temperaments. p. 151.
398
Hugh Johnson, 1963, Tuning Preferences of a Select Group of Singers with References to Pythagorean,
Just, and Equal Temperaments. p. 56.
399
David Whaley, 1975. The Microtonal Capability of the Horn. p. 9.
400
Ellis-Helmholtz, 1954. p. 426.
209
system of tunings will ultimately lead to fewer mistakes, and move towards more control
over intonation. Hearing down to the cent, thus making the 1200 cent master grid our
ultimate gamut, is a noble goal. When one hears the cent, one hears a phase discrepancy
between the pitches such that the entire harmonic series will pass by, audibly, in a very
complete cycle, lasting several seconds. That is your “beat.” Those beatings one hears in
sharp dissonances are actually the overtone series of that particular timbre playing that
particular interval.401
much more to explore. This document is a decent foundation, but it is only a start. All
who are interested in this aesthetic can jump in at any time and continue onward.
There are areas of pure microtonal theory and voice leading to consider. Chords in
various tunings and how these sound complexes work together, will be another area of
consideration. One can use his or her ears, or use an FFT, or some other computational
method to measure dissonances, like Sethares’s dissonance curves. One ought not be
overly dismissive towards harsh dissonances, even though many composers are very
concerned about purity and sweetness of tone. There will be many arguments against this
polymicrotonal approach, but with a new footing in polymicrotonal theory (this author’s
401
I created a polymicrotonal synthesizer in MaxMSP, where I discovered that at a one cent interval, I
could hear very clearly the overtone series between these two pitches. I realized that this is what a “beat” is
in slow motion.
210
absolutely nothing wrong with allowing our ears to pave the way: first the music, and
One area of research could possibly be to link rhythm, to pitch, and then to color.
Synesthesia is a condition many composers have had, except all the individual color
schemes fail to match. Rimsky-Korsakov’s did not match Skryabin’s, etc. Nevertheless,
all these phenomena are related by wave frequency. Charles Lucy has used multiplication
and a “modulus 12” approach to map directly pitch to color.402 Lucy had to convert
Angstroms into Hertz, but also, these are still apples and oranges, since one form of
energy is mechanical, while the other is electro-magnetic; one deals with hearing, while
the other deals with sight. People become confused by this. This is not to say, however
that pitch and rhythm are completely unrelated, even though they are. They are,
nevertheless, perceived differently. Can one truly hear a pitch tuning of 22TET and its
relationship to a multiple of 22, e.g. 88BPM? No, but there is still logic inherent in this
design. This concerns teleology and intent of the composer. Perhaps it is conceptual to
impossibilities” also was not audible, but even the concept added logic and continuity to
polytemporality, and its stratification, both in music and how it relates to human
existence, being, and consciousness. Time, temporality, and its meaning in human
consciousness is a rarely covered topic, but has had some discussion, from Jonathon
Kramer. Philosophers from Kant to Heidegger have explored the phenomenon of time,
utilizing some of the phenomenological ideas from Kant to Heidegger; areas could
involve the subject/object split, whether or not time as a construct is completely a priori,
and how human consciousness reconciles time as existence, through being, versus
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