source file: mills2.txt Date: Sun, 16 Mar 1997 08:21:04 -0800 Subject: Re: Milne/Wolf 4-5-6-7-8 and Gr Aug6th/Fr Aug6th chords From: Andrew Milne Richard E Barber wrote: > What is the acoustical basis for this chord / unique sonority? What is > the tuning implications of using a non-tertian sonority as a dominant or > penultimate or half-cadence function? The chord should be tuned as it is written. It is easiest relate this chord to the root of its tonic (or resolution chord), so C E F# A# should be analysed relative to B. In any meantone system, therefore, C should be tuned as the minor second above the tonic (in J.I. that is 16/15), the E as the perfect fourth above the tonic (in J.I. that is 4/3), the F# as the perfect fifth above the tonic (in J.I. that is 3/2) and the A# as the major seventh above the tonic (in J.I. that is 15/8). I have expressed elsewhere why I think it is inappropriate, in such a context, to view any of these intervals as 7-limit ratios (despite their similarity). The origin of this chord is as a chromatic alteration of the second inversion of F# dominant 7th. It should not be treated as a strange xenharmonic consonant entity introduced entirely out of context with the rest of the tonality. Andrew Milne Islington London Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Sun, 16 Mar 1997 17:30 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA30143; Sun, 16 Mar 1997 17:29:59 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA30144 Received: from by ella.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) id IAA23093; Sun, 16 Mar 1997 08:28:15 -0800 Date: Sun, 16 Mar 1997 08:28:15 -0800 Message-Id: <332BECB4.5EC4@dial.pipex.com> Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@ella.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@ella.mills.edu