This page is created to serve as a "Sandbox" for the revision of the article "Tonality", starting from 30 April 2015. It possesses its own talk page, which may be used for comments, leaving this page to grow and eventually form the revised article.
Tonality, in music theory, is a term with multiple meanings. In its most general sense, it describes a systematic organization of pitches in a composition, often with one tone acting as a referential centre: "tonal centricity" often is an essential aspect of tonality. In a more restricted meaning, "tonality" describes the major/minor organization of common practice music. Other recent styles that could be described as "atonal" may have a "tonality" of some sort, determined by internal symmetries instead of centricity.
The term itself was defined in the early 19th century to describe a characteristic of music of the common practice period, but it replaced related terms with more or less similar meanings. "Tonality", in the strict sense of the term, appears linked with harmony but, in a wider sense, it may be applied to melody ("melodic tonality") and to musical styles outside common practice. In a more restricted sense, it is synonymous with " key", denoting the particular category of a musical work within the general system of tonality. It is in this sense that J. S. Bach's Well tempered clavier is a collection of Preludes and Fugues in each of the 24 keys (or tonalities) forming the common-practice system of tonality.
The French term tonalité appears for the first time in Alexandre-Étienne Choron’s Sommaire de l’histoire de la musique of 1810, in a variety of meanings including tonalité des Grecs (ancient Greek modes); tonalité ecclésiastique (plainchant); and "ours, which includes only two modes, namely the major and the minor […], utterly modern and one may assure that there is no more than a hundred to a hundred and fifty years that this system prevailed entirely" ( Choron 1810, xxxvj-xxxviij).
Castil-Blaze’s Dictionnaire de musique moderne devotes an entry to the concept, which he defines as a "property of the musical mode that consists in the usage of its essential notes." He explains that the essential notes are the prime, fourth and fifth of the mode, and that for this reason only the major and minor modes have been retained ( Castil-Blaze 1821, 2:329–30).
The word is given as "tonality" in Sainsbury’s translation of Choron (1810), in 1824; as tonalità in ( Lichtenthal 1826, 2:250-51]); and as Tonalität in the German translation of ( Jelensperger 1830), in 1833.
It is only with François-Joseph Fétis that tonalité gains its full significance. Fétis defines it as "the regulating principle of the relation between sounds, in the order of succession and of simultaneity" ( Fétis 1844, vij). In Musikalische Syntaxis of 1877, Riemann writes: "Since Fétis, the relation of an harmonic structure to a principal chord is called Tonalität" ( Riemann 1877, 14).
The term replaces other, more ancient expressions such as mode, key, tone, octave, modulation, etc., which at times denote tonality, particularly when they refer to the major/minor system (as in Masson 1694, Keller 1707 , Mattheson 1713 , Sulzer 1774 ), to the plurality of keys (as in Bemetzrieder 1771 , Sulzer 1774 ), or to tonal centricity ( Adelung 1801) .
Further details on the history of the term can be found in Michael Beiche, "Tonalität", in the Handwörterbuch der musikalischen Terminologie.
Dahlhaus 1980 discussed seven meanings of the term:
Hyer 2001 revised this list as follows:
Hyer concludes that
According to Hyer 2002,
[To be continued, I am called elsewhere.]
See also Bitonality, Polytonality, neotonality, atonality.
Dmitri Tymoczko considers and discusses "three theories that have been used to explain tonal harmony: root-motion theories, which emphasize the intervallic distance between successive chord-roots; scale-degree theories, which assert that the triads on each scale degree tend to move in characteristic ways; and function theories, which group chords into larger ('functional') categories" ( Tymoczko 2003, 1). These three theories will be examined here in a putative chronological order. As Tymoczko stressed, the distinction between them may not be sharp. "Rameau in particular is an important progenitor of all of the theories considered" ( Tymoczko 2003, 2). But the purpose here, as in his paper, is "to see how well we can explain the most elementary features of tonal harmony on the basis of a few simple principles. In doing so, we will hopefully come to appreciate how these various principles can be combined" ( Tymoczko 2003, 3).
[These look like being all topics involving some dispute. It should make interesting reading, but will require attention to questions of balance.]
One area of disagreement going back to the origin of the term tonality is whether tonality is natural or inherent in acoustical phenomena, whether it is inherent in the human nervous system or a psychological construct, whether it is inborn or learned, and to what degree it is all these things ( Meyer 1967, 236).
A viewpoint held by many theorists since the third quarter of the nineteenth century, following the publication in 1862 of the first edition of Hermann Helmholtz's On the Sensations of Tone ( Helmholtz 1877), holds that diatonic scales and tonality arise from natural overtones ( Riemann 1872; Riemann 1875; Riemann 1882; Riemann 1893 ; Riemann 1905; Riemann 1914–15; Schenker 1906–35; Hindemith 1937–70).
["Third quarter of the nineteenth century" could use some rethinking. Rameau and possibly even Mersenne need to be brought into the discussion as at least early precursors of the overtone hypothesis.]
[Needed: documentation of criticism of the theory of the chord of nature: difficulties posed by the minor mode, the importance of the subdominant scale degree, and the major-seventh leading tone. Counterproposal of an "undertone series" ( Riemann 1875); criticism of this as contrary to nature.]
The terms "tonality" and "tonal" are widely applied also in studies of non-Western traditional music ( Arabic maqam, Indian raga, Indonesian slendro etc.), with reference to the "systematic arrangements of pitch phenomena and relations between them" ( Hyer 2001; Hyer 2002). Felix Wörner, Ullrich Scheideler, and Philip Rupprecht in the introduction to a collection of essays dedicated to the concept and practice of tonality between 1900 and 1950 describe it generally as "the awareness of key in music" ( Wörner, Scheideler, and Rupprecht 2012, 11).
[Church modes and such goes here. Should the historical use of "tone"="mode" be mentioned, as well as the use of "tonality" by modern theorists like Powers?]
"Tonality" is also used to describe systems of harmonic arrangement that differ significantly from those of the common practice, but may nevertheless be explained by analogous structures. For example, "Flamenco tonality", in which dominant (V–I) function is largely replaced by subtonic (VII–I) function ( Manuel 2006, [ page needed]).
[This could get complicated, but is probably the best place to put the discussion of pop, jazz, and rock "tonalities" = "modal" melodic/harmonic structures, alongside similar practices in the music of composers such as Stravinsky and Bartók.]
This page is created to serve as a "Sandbox" for the revision of the article "Tonality", starting from 30 April 2015. It possesses its own talk page, which may be used for comments, leaving this page to grow and eventually form the revised article.
Tonality, in music theory, is a term with multiple meanings. In its most general sense, it describes a systematic organization of pitches in a composition, often with one tone acting as a referential centre: "tonal centricity" often is an essential aspect of tonality. In a more restricted meaning, "tonality" describes the major/minor organization of common practice music. Other recent styles that could be described as "atonal" may have a "tonality" of some sort, determined by internal symmetries instead of centricity.
The term itself was defined in the early 19th century to describe a characteristic of music of the common practice period, but it replaced related terms with more or less similar meanings. "Tonality", in the strict sense of the term, appears linked with harmony but, in a wider sense, it may be applied to melody ("melodic tonality") and to musical styles outside common practice. In a more restricted sense, it is synonymous with " key", denoting the particular category of a musical work within the general system of tonality. It is in this sense that J. S. Bach's Well tempered clavier is a collection of Preludes and Fugues in each of the 24 keys (or tonalities) forming the common-practice system of tonality.
The French term tonalité appears for the first time in Alexandre-Étienne Choron’s Sommaire de l’histoire de la musique of 1810, in a variety of meanings including tonalité des Grecs (ancient Greek modes); tonalité ecclésiastique (plainchant); and "ours, which includes only two modes, namely the major and the minor […], utterly modern and one may assure that there is no more than a hundred to a hundred and fifty years that this system prevailed entirely" ( Choron 1810, xxxvj-xxxviij).
Castil-Blaze’s Dictionnaire de musique moderne devotes an entry to the concept, which he defines as a "property of the musical mode that consists in the usage of its essential notes." He explains that the essential notes are the prime, fourth and fifth of the mode, and that for this reason only the major and minor modes have been retained ( Castil-Blaze 1821, 2:329–30).
The word is given as "tonality" in Sainsbury’s translation of Choron (1810), in 1824; as tonalità in ( Lichtenthal 1826, 2:250-51]); and as Tonalität in the German translation of ( Jelensperger 1830), in 1833.
It is only with François-Joseph Fétis that tonalité gains its full significance. Fétis defines it as "the regulating principle of the relation between sounds, in the order of succession and of simultaneity" ( Fétis 1844, vij). In Musikalische Syntaxis of 1877, Riemann writes: "Since Fétis, the relation of an harmonic structure to a principal chord is called Tonalität" ( Riemann 1877, 14).
The term replaces other, more ancient expressions such as mode, key, tone, octave, modulation, etc., which at times denote tonality, particularly when they refer to the major/minor system (as in Masson 1694, Keller 1707 , Mattheson 1713 , Sulzer 1774 ), to the plurality of keys (as in Bemetzrieder 1771 , Sulzer 1774 ), or to tonal centricity ( Adelung 1801) .
Further details on the history of the term can be found in Michael Beiche, "Tonalität", in the Handwörterbuch der musikalischen Terminologie.
Dahlhaus 1980 discussed seven meanings of the term:
Hyer 2001 revised this list as follows:
Hyer concludes that
According to Hyer 2002,
[To be continued, I am called elsewhere.]
See also Bitonality, Polytonality, neotonality, atonality.
Dmitri Tymoczko considers and discusses "three theories that have been used to explain tonal harmony: root-motion theories, which emphasize the intervallic distance between successive chord-roots; scale-degree theories, which assert that the triads on each scale degree tend to move in characteristic ways; and function theories, which group chords into larger ('functional') categories" ( Tymoczko 2003, 1). These three theories will be examined here in a putative chronological order. As Tymoczko stressed, the distinction between them may not be sharp. "Rameau in particular is an important progenitor of all of the theories considered" ( Tymoczko 2003, 2). But the purpose here, as in his paper, is "to see how well we can explain the most elementary features of tonal harmony on the basis of a few simple principles. In doing so, we will hopefully come to appreciate how these various principles can be combined" ( Tymoczko 2003, 3).
[These look like being all topics involving some dispute. It should make interesting reading, but will require attention to questions of balance.]
One area of disagreement going back to the origin of the term tonality is whether tonality is natural or inherent in acoustical phenomena, whether it is inherent in the human nervous system or a psychological construct, whether it is inborn or learned, and to what degree it is all these things ( Meyer 1967, 236).
A viewpoint held by many theorists since the third quarter of the nineteenth century, following the publication in 1862 of the first edition of Hermann Helmholtz's On the Sensations of Tone ( Helmholtz 1877), holds that diatonic scales and tonality arise from natural overtones ( Riemann 1872; Riemann 1875; Riemann 1882; Riemann 1893 ; Riemann 1905; Riemann 1914–15; Schenker 1906–35; Hindemith 1937–70).
["Third quarter of the nineteenth century" could use some rethinking. Rameau and possibly even Mersenne need to be brought into the discussion as at least early precursors of the overtone hypothesis.]
[Needed: documentation of criticism of the theory of the chord of nature: difficulties posed by the minor mode, the importance of the subdominant scale degree, and the major-seventh leading tone. Counterproposal of an "undertone series" ( Riemann 1875); criticism of this as contrary to nature.]
The terms "tonality" and "tonal" are widely applied also in studies of non-Western traditional music ( Arabic maqam, Indian raga, Indonesian slendro etc.), with reference to the "systematic arrangements of pitch phenomena and relations between them" ( Hyer 2001; Hyer 2002). Felix Wörner, Ullrich Scheideler, and Philip Rupprecht in the introduction to a collection of essays dedicated to the concept and practice of tonality between 1900 and 1950 describe it generally as "the awareness of key in music" ( Wörner, Scheideler, and Rupprecht 2012, 11).
[Church modes and such goes here. Should the historical use of "tone"="mode" be mentioned, as well as the use of "tonality" by modern theorists like Powers?]
"Tonality" is also used to describe systems of harmonic arrangement that differ significantly from those of the common practice, but may nevertheless be explained by analogous structures. For example, "Flamenco tonality", in which dominant (V–I) function is largely replaced by subtonic (VII–I) function ( Manuel 2006, [ page needed]).
[This could get complicated, but is probably the best place to put the discussion of pop, jazz, and rock "tonalities" = "modal" melodic/harmonic structures, alongside similar practices in the music of composers such as Stravinsky and Bartók.]