Jun-Ting Wei

MHL602
Topic-unit 5
May 11, 2021

The Background and the Elements of Music: Pentatonic Scales and Czardas

Pentatonic scale and czardas are two important and famous elements which are used

commonly in many repertoire, and it is very interesting to discover their definition, background and

the way of usage in repertoire.

Pentatonic scale, also called the "Chinese scale" or the "Scotch scale", has five different

pitches in each scale. The reason why only five notes in the scale is because some notes are taken

out to avoid the appearance of minor second intervals in the scale, so the scale is combined by

major second and minor third intervals. Besides, pentatonic scales have different name for each

scale in Chinese, such as Gong, Shang, Jue, Zhi and Yu, which is named depending on the order and

the arrangement of the intervals. For instance, C-D-E-G-A is the Gong pentatonic scale because the

order of Gong's intervals is major 2nd - major 2nd - minor 3rd - Major 2nd. Besides, pentatonic

scales also be freaquently used in western music in the 20th century. For example, Debussy's

Nocturnes (ex. 1) have included the pentatonic scale in the key of F sharp, so the pentatonic scale he

uses is like F-sharp - G-sharp - A-sharp - C-sharp and D-sharp, and this scale also provides an

exotic atmosphere, inherent tonal and attractive sound in the piece.1

Ex. 1 Debussy's Nocturnes

1 Jeremy Day-O’ Connell, “Pentatonic,” Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press,
accessed May 10, 2021, https://www-oxfordmusiconline-com.sfcm.idm.oclc.org/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/
9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000021263.
 Jun-Ting Wei
MHL602
Topic-unit 5
May 11, 2021

Czardas, a Hungarian dance, was came from Venbunkos, but it became the Hungarian

national dance eventually. czardas was performed in salon, ballet and other social places, which

makes this dance become more social and ceremonial than Venbunkos. Talking about

characteristics, czardas has slow and fast section. The slow section is in heavy 4/4 metre, which also

includes the atmosphere of dignity, pride and sad. The other section could reach to extremely fast

tempo and danced with wildness, excitement and passion. Thus, lots of composers used this

elements to write music because it's emotions has some kind of inspiration and motivation to them.2

There are two famous examples. One is Vittorio Monti's Czardas for Violin and Piano was one of

famous representations for this dance. This piece starts with slow, pride and sexy atmosphere, and

then gradually turns into extreme fast and excited music in next section, which is a typical czardas

style. The other example is Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen, which was composed for violin solo, but the

music was originally derived from Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 13, which was also in czardas

style. Thus, the slow section is extremely slow, upset, heavy and also pride, but the next section is

also very excited and extreme fast.

Different genres have different usage and characteristics. Pentatonic scales could provide

different a tonal sound, atmosphere and style in a western composer's music, and czardas have

different tempos, various emotions and contrasting between two sections, which brings up a huge

energy and expectation for audience to enjoy the music.

2 Jonathan Bellman, “Csárdás (from Hung. csárda: ‘country inn’),” Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online.
Oxford University Press, accessed May 10, 2021,
https://www-oxfordmusiconline-com.sfcm.idm.oclc.org/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/
omo-9781561592630-e-0000006918.