Microtone
A microtone is a musical interval smaller than a Demi-ton. It is thus (to the full extent) about a note which is not reproduced on the keyboard of a traditional Piano whose agreement is known as of equal temperament.
The microtones existed well before the advent of the music known as traditional or contemporary, but some Compositeur S redécouvrirent them at the end of the 19th century, when the music started to reach a state of chromatic saturation . At the 20th century, the microtones invest almost all the partitions of music. But their employment is extremely different according to the type-setters. Some seek to find a temperament lost of the ancient Greece or borrow from the non-European musics, others seek a perfect symbiosis with natural resonance…
In 1895, the Mexican Julián Carrillo (1875-1965), wrote a String quartet using quarters of tons. Between 1903 and 1914, Charles Ives wrote a choral in quarters of tons for cords. In 1907, Ferruccio Busoni considered the use of the Tiers of tone S. Ives used the quarter tone in at least two other works: Pièces in quarters of let us tons for two pianos and its fourth symphony. Similar experiments were carried out in first half of the 20th century by Hans Bach ( Concerto for piano with quarters of let us tons and cords , 1930), Ivan Wyschnegradsky (1893-1979) ( Dithyrambe , 1926; Prelude and Fugue , 1929) and Qualities Hába (1893-1973), whose vast catalog includes works in quarters and in sixth of tons. Maurice Ohana (1914-1992) also undertook research on the quarters of tons and the thirds of let us tons ( Tombeau of Debussy , 1962). The American type-setter Harry Partch ( Two studies one Ancient Greek Scales , 1946) divides the octave into forty three unequal degrees; like him, several Dutch type-setters (Henk Badings, Hans Kox, Peter Schat, etc) estimating that the later subdivision of the scale of the 12 also moderate notes put up simply with its inherent harmonic errors, wrote parts using the scale of 31 notes suggested by Christiaan Huygens (see temperament of Huyghens) at the end of the 17th century, and at the 20th century by the Dutch physicist Adriaan Fokker.
Recently, much of stimulated authors, at least partly, by the Electronic music, gave to the use of the microtones a considerable importance: Dean Drummond ( Colombus , 1980, for three zoomoozophones), Warren Burt ( Studies , 1993, for synthetizer), Pascale Criton ( the Old story and the gallop , 1993, for guitar in 1/16 your, Laurent Martin ( Tranquillo barbaro , 1993, for 10 instruments), Alain Bancquart ( To live amber , 2001, for piano in 1/16e of tone and band). The access to these works remains difficult both for the instrumentalists the listeners. Type-setters however write parts for initiation with the microtones: max Méreaux ( Three magic songs , 1989, for 1,2 and 3 recorders sopranos; Three crowned dances , 1992, for 1,2 and 3 recorders violas; Assets , 1996, for 1,2,3 and 4 recorders sopranos and violas; Elegy , 2004, for recorder viola; Oracles , 2005, for recorder soprano; Isthmus , 2006, for recorder tenor and guitar; Three prayers with the moon , 2007, for recorder viola).
Finally certain type-setters give up Lutherie S traditional or renewed and turn to the Ordinateur. It is the case of the American type-setter Carter Scholz which built a part on the first 128 harmonics, each sound being accelerated or being slowed down according to a preset curve.
See too
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