History & Modern practice of the Enharmonic Genus. Part 2.

In the first part of this series of articles we established a historical background and a theoretical basis for a modern enharmonic approach for the electric guitar. The search was inspired by Jean-Philippe Rameau’s (1971) comment;

“In the use of melody, it seems that the Ancients surpassed us, if we may believe what they say. Of this one it is claimed that his melody made Ulysses weep; that one obliged Alexander to take up arms; another made a furious youth soft and human.”

I suggested that the enharmonic genus is an element of melody that differentiates the ancients from Rameau and even more so from the modern age. Using a range of historical sources I established that the spelling of the ancient enharmonic Dorian and Phrygian are (quarter-tones indicated by +):

Dorian = A A+ Bb D E E+ F (A)

Phrygian = A B B+ C E F# F#+ G (A)

Damian Giambazi.

Berlin, 2022.

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REFERENCES

Helmholtz, Hermann. On the Sensations of Tone.  Dover Publications. 1954.

Levin, Flora R. “The Hendecachord of Ion of Chios”. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 92 (1961), pp. 295-307. The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Plato. Plato’s The Republic. New York Books, Inc., 1943.

Rameau, Jean-Philippe. Treatise On Harmony. Dover Publications, 1971.

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