Hi folks!!:
Finally this book arrived and I'm delighted with it, however there's a statement there that needs some clarification from you: According to Fux the interval of fourth is a dissonant (followed by Beethoven and Mozart).
Why did he consider this interval a dissonant instead of a perfect consonant one?
Thanks a lot!
Because times change :)
Fux wrote his book by studying the music of Palestrina, an Italian Rennaisance composer of about 150 years earlier. By the end of the 1600s, shortly after Palestrina's death, fourths were no longer considered disonant.
As you move through time, other intervals that were considered dissonant by Palestrina/Fux became consonant to our ears, like the major third, and sixth.
Today we've got even fewer dissonances. I've even heard some academics argue that we can't fully understand early music, because our ears are so attuned to modern sounds.
Work through Fux with the rules he gave, and realize you're doing things the way they would have been done 300 years ago. After you're done with it, you'll be much better prepared to take on Piston, Kennan, or others who have written about counterpoint since Fux' day - but always more confusingly than Fux did - that book really is a masterpiece :)
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Thanks again Tom!
You save me tons of hours trying to know an appropiate answer :))
And yes, it's a really enjoyable book, highly recommended (and I have to thank you again for tell me about its existence) !!
cheers,
Roberto
I've heard it argued that the only truly dissonant intervals to modern ears are micro-tonal.
I think there's some truth to that.
And I agree, Note . . . Fux's work is really the best read of the lot. It really is a shame that it is so out of date from a practice stand-point . . .
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
I've heard it argued that the only truly dissonant intervals to modern ears are micro-tonal.
I think there's some truth to that.
I think the person who said it must have been speaking personally. I don't see how anyone can know what my ears perceive as truly dissonant, apart from me.
I've heard it argued that the only truly dissonant intervals to modern ears are micro-tonal.
I think there's some truth to that.
I think the person who said it must have been speaking personally. I don't see how anyone can know what my ears perceive as truly dissonant, apart from me.
Actually she was speaking in terms of overall modern audience, not in terms of specific listeners.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
I've heard it argued that the only truly dissonant intervals to modern ears are micro-tonal.
I think there's some truth to that.
I think the person who said it must have been speaking personally. I don't see how anyone can know what my ears perceive as truly dissonant, apart from me.
Actually she was speaking in terms of overall modern audience, not in terms of specific listeners.
Sorry KP - Just me being facetious. Yes, she has a point, doesn't she? Even the Devil's interval, the tritone, has probably been abandoned by him as being too wholesome. :lol:
haha the tritone rocks so hard! You can get away with so much when the tritone is intact.
"And above all, respond to all questions regarding a given song's tonal orientation in the following manner: Hell, it don't matter just kick it off!"
-Chris Thile
