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The Evolution of 20th Century Harmony
The Evolution of 20th Century Harmony
The Evolution of 20th Century Harmony
THE
its
Not
all creative
New and
the less a new creation in his own day, and remained new through
10
on every
work, in being a succession of preludes and fugues
no mode
used
has
Like Bach, Hindemith
possible tonal centre.
of expression that was not already in contemporary use, but he
has added to the sum of creative musical thought. He has
done so through a technical medium which has become more
or
less familiar.
is
they
it
is
still
development of
twentieth-century technique.
Why has there been such a startling change in the character
of music that it has become, for the general listener, a foreign
and incomprehensible tongue? Languages are expected to
but not so
preserve a recognizable continuity: changes occur,
is easy to record
It
stock.
the
obscure
as
to
parent
suddenly
technical innovations
6
details
sounds
Now
set in relationships
mind
the listener's
emotional
him
as
INTRODUCTION
II
by the
of external representation to the capturing of sense-impressions, and to the development of the medium of paint itself in
solving problems of light. It was in the same way that Debussy,
with an instinctive aversion from established convention in
links in
self
terms of its
What
case
it
own medium.
mean
does this
expressed
itself in
harmony, broadened
in technical terms?
new
to include
In Debussy's
will
12
developments take
after
Wagner?
Would they
involve
still
own
curiosity
about the
intrinsic interest
of
its
habits of progression
and
p. 179.)
INTRODUCTION
13
is
therefore evolutionary,
and the
starting-point will be the classical system of harmony. Reference to the classical system, throughout this study, should be
understood in a
It will not be
specifically technical sense.
used to refer only to the style, forms, and musical thought of
Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, but to describe the harmonic
system which took shape in the seventeenth century, which
and they will be seen partly as logical developments of the old system, and partly as manifestations of the new
urge to experiment in sound. The second part of the study will
then be concerned with the various problems of organizing
sounds on the considerably wider basis made available since
historical sense),
word
modern.
It
is
twentieth-century.
modal
principles
follow
when
14
to reveal