Innovative harmony

Introduction

•In all forms of music, harmony has been one of the essential elements.

•However, since the mid 20th century, theoretical and aural approaches to harmony have developed in different ways, changing the way in which harmony is both used in compositions and heard by listeners.

•From about the 1950s onwards, composers and musical commentators no longer regarded harmony as a discrete musical category, independent of more general questions of pitch organisations, rather they have started to look at harmony in a new light.

•There was a shift from what had been previously accepted as musical harmony to include what John Cage termed ‘Illegal Harmonies.’ Other sounds such as, the ticking of a clock, fragments of conversation, a barking dog etc.

Background

•The composer who contributed most to the founding of what could be termed the new harmonic language was Debussy.

•In his music, clear-cut, tonic-dominant relations are no longer important and are in fact avoided and distinct major and minor keys were abandoned.

•EXAMPLE – Reintroduced medieval modes. As a result opened the possibilities beyond the tonic-dominant sphere.

•EXAMPLE – Use of whole tone scale to create augmented chords rather than just the simple tonic triad.

•Also introduced harmonic innovations such as a series of 7ths and 9ths chords – ambiguous sounds.

•EXAMPLE - As a result all notes are considered equal and not simply as additions.

debussy.tif

Example - Different Ways of Building Chords

•It was seen that in reaction to structured harmony and tonal organisation, composers began introducing chords that were generated by other intervals or combinations of intervals.

•These chords used intervals such as perfect fourths, perfect fifths, tritones and 7ths.

•EXAMPLE OF DIFFERENT CHORDS

different chords example.tif

•These types of chords began to be used occasionally through the late 19th century but became more prominent in 20th century music.

•However, it is rare to hear a whole composition based on this concept – It was found that when used consistently they restricted potential and allowed little felxibility in terms of style.

•ONE TYPE OF CHORDS – QUARTAL CHORD.

•Quartel chord – use of perfect 4ths. Used by many composers including Schoenberg.

•EXAMPLE – First Chamber Symphony – The perfect 4th is the foundation of the primary harmonic and melodic materials.

schoenberg.tif

Example – Previous Harmonic Taboos

•In 1970s onwards, the previous harmonic taboos, such as the avoidance of octaves and triadic formations, began to be abandoned and this saw the reintergration of consonance.

•Many composers reintroduced the materials of functional tonality in the context of non-functional syntaxes.

•EXAMPLE – The Use of triads, linked by conjunct motion between the voices = A combination of common tones and stepwise progression by tone or semitone.

•EXAMPLE – Seen in John Adam’s work ‘Phrygian Gates.’

•In this piece there are long, static harmonic planes created. They lack any functional context and are juxtaposed between the changes from Phrygian to Lydian Mode.

Example - Boulez and Multiplication

•Boulez was one composer of the 1950s that was convinced that there was an inadequacy and arbitrariness of the previous concepts of complementary harmony.

•As a result he developed a new technique of multiplication = Example of Symmetrical Harmony.

•Multiplication – Involved partitioning the series into unequal segments, each of which is then taken and in turn transposed onto each of the component pitch classes of another segment. (Grove Music)

•For example, if the segment F–G–B is multiplied by the interval C–Eb, the result is F(–Ab)–G(–Bb)–B(–D), i.e. F–G–Ab–B–Bb–D.

•Result of Multiplication – Depends on the intervallic constitution and the density of the harmonic objects in question. (Grove Music)

•Technique of multiplication that represents the true ‘diagonal’ between melody and harmony.

Departures from tradition in the area of harmony - References.

• Austin, W. (1966) Music in the 20th Century: From Debussy through Stravinsky Dent: London.
• Ford, A. (1997) Illegal Harmonies: Music in the Twenthieth Century Hale and Iremonger: Sydney.
• Hansen, P (1967) An Introduction into Twentieth Century Music Allyn and Bacon: Boston.
• Johnson, T. (1993). Harmonic Vocabulary in the Music of John Adams: A Hierarchical Approach. Journal of Music Theory 37:1, 117-56.**
• Otto, D. (1968)Exploring Twentieth Century Music Holt, Rhinehart and Winston: New York.
• Whitall, A. (2003) Exploring Twentieth Century Music: Tradition and Innovation, Cambridge University Press: New York.
• Grove article on late-twentieth-century harmony