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On Saturday, I wrote half a waltz.
I'd been thinking of writing something in Lydian*, but failed utterly, ending up with a terribly minor key including a sharp fourth, which doesn't fit into the standard modes at all (G dorian with an augmented fourth, basically). I was still happy, 'cause it's ages since I wrote anything.
Roughly three hours after I finished noting it down, my mom informs me that in the middle ages, the augmented fourth was banned by the Catholic church**, because the interval was so dissonant that it must have come from the devil.
Yup - this weekend, I wrote a Satanic Waltz!
*That's the midieval/modern mode, not the greek one. As far as I can tell, midieval musicians wrote out a list of Greek mode names and meanings, and then moved all the names one over. Or perhaps they wrote them on small slips of vellum, tossed them in the air, and reassembled them randomly. Regardless, the only thing I know about a given ancient greek mode is that it is NOT the same as the modern mode by the same name.
This becomes extra confusing when one discovers that classical musicians and theorists, who are not used to playing modal music, refer to the modes as the Greek modes.
**The internet can't agree whether this is true or apocryphal, but the term "The Devil's Interval" has been around since the middle ages, and the internet can't agree what it had for breakfast this morning.
I'd been thinking of writing something in Lydian*, but failed utterly, ending up with a terribly minor key including a sharp fourth, which doesn't fit into the standard modes at all (G dorian with an augmented fourth, basically). I was still happy, 'cause it's ages since I wrote anything.
Roughly three hours after I finished noting it down, my mom informs me that in the middle ages, the augmented fourth was banned by the Catholic church**, because the interval was so dissonant that it must have come from the devil.
Yup - this weekend, I wrote a Satanic Waltz!
*That's the midieval/modern mode, not the greek one. As far as I can tell, midieval musicians wrote out a list of Greek mode names and meanings, and then moved all the names one over. Or perhaps they wrote them on small slips of vellum, tossed them in the air, and reassembled them randomly. Regardless, the only thing I know about a given ancient greek mode is that it is NOT the same as the modern mode by the same name.
This becomes extra confusing when one discovers that classical musicians and theorists, who are not used to playing modal music, refer to the modes as the Greek modes.
**The internet can't agree whether this is true or apocryphal, but the term "The Devil's Interval" has been around since the middle ages, and the internet can't agree what it had for breakfast this morning.
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no subject
Date: 2008-06-18 09:29 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2008-06-19 05:51 am (UTC)From:Also, this XKCD comic (http://xkcd.com/167/) perfectly sums up the difference between the early and mature forms of Existentialism. This has nothing to do with your post, but when I got to it, it made me think of our last discussion on the topic, and I'm kinda just doing what the voices tell me right now.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-19 03:24 pm (UTC)From: