Augmentation (music)

Last updated

In Western music and music theory, augmentation (from Late Latin augmentare, to increase) is the lengthening of a note or the widening of an interval.

Contents

Augmentation is a compositional device where a melody, theme or motif is presented in longer note-values than were previously used. Augmentation is also the term for the proportional lengthening of the value of individual note-shapes in older notation by coloration, by use of a sign of proportion, or by a notational symbol such as the modern dot. A major or perfect interval that is widened by a chromatic semitone is an augmented interval, and the process may be called augmentation.

Augmentation in composition

A melody or series of notes is augmented if the lengths of the notes are prolonged; augmentation is thus the opposite of diminution, where note values are shortened. A melody originally consisting of four quavers (eighth notes) for example, is augmented if it later appears with four crotchets (quarter notes) instead. This technique is often used in contrapuntal music, as in the "canon by augmentation" ("per augmentationem"), in which the notes in the following voice or voices are longer than those in the leading voice, usually twice the original length. [1] The music of Johann Sebastian Bach provides examples of this application:

Bach, Vom Himmel Hoch canonic variations, BWV 769, Variation 5
Bach, Vom Himmel Hoch canonic variations, BWV 769, Variation 5 Bach, Vom Himmel Hoch canonic variations, BWV 769, Variation 6.png
Bach, Vom Himmel Hoch canonic variations, BWV 769, Variation 5

Other ratios of augmentation, such as 1:3 (tripled note values) and 1:4 (quadrupled note values), are also possible. [2] A motif is also augmented through expanding its duration. [3]

Augmentation may also be found in later, non-contrapuntal pieces, such as the Pastoral Symphony (Symphony No. 6) of Beethoven, where the melodic figure first heard in the second violins at the start of the "Storm" movement ("Die Sturm"): [4]

Beethoven Symphony No 6, fourth movement, bars 3-8
Beethoven Symphony No 6, fourth movement, bars 3-8 Beethoven Symphony No 6, fourth movement, bars 3-8.png
Beethoven Symphony No 6, fourth movement, bars 3–8

is heard again in an augmented and transposed version in the same movement’s closing ten bars:

Beethoven Symphony No 6, fourth movement, bars 146-155
Beethoven Symphony No 6, fourth movement, bars 146-155 Beethoven Symphony No 6, fourth movement, bars 146-155.png
Beethoven Symphony No 6, fourth movement, bars 146–155

Examples of augmentation may be found in the development sections of sonata form movements, particularly in the symphonies of Brahms and Bruckner [2] and in the protean leitmotifs in Wagner’s operas, which undergo all kinds of transformation as the characters change and develop through the unfolding drama. "Leitmotifs accumulate meaning, through expanding and fulfilling their musical potential." [5]

In “Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum”, the first movement of his Children’s Corner Suite, Debussy exploits augmentation in a humorous vein. It opens with a vigorous parody of a technical study by a pedagogical composer such as Clementi, [6] involving a seemingly perpetual stream of fast semiquavers:

Debussy, "Dr Gradus" from Children's Corner, bars 1-3
Debussy, "Dr Gradus" from Children's Corner, bars 1-3 Debussy, "Dr Gradus" from Childrens Corner, bars 1-3.png
Debussy, "Dr Gradus" from Children's Corner, bars 1–3

In bar 33, this energetic movement subsides, leading to a dreamy passage in the key of D flat, where the opening figures of the piece move at half speed:

Debussy, "Dr Gradus" from Children's Corner, bars 36-43
Debussy, "Dr Gradus" from Children's Corner, bars 36-43 Debussy, "Dr Gradus" from Childrens Corner, bars 36-43.png
Debussy, "Dr Gradus" from Children's Corner, bars 36–43

According to Frank Dawes, in this piece “An amusing picture of a child practising is conjured up, beginning with the best of intentions, growing weary and plainly yawning with boredom in the D flat section.” [6] Listen.

Augmentation in notation

Dotted notes and their equivalent durations. The curved lines, called ties, add the note values together. Dotted notes3.svg
Dotted notes and their equivalent durations. The curved lines, called ties, add the note values together.

Augmentation of intervals

Augmented octave on C. Play Augmented octave on C.png
Augmented octave on C. Play

An augmented interval is an interval obtained from a major interval or perfect interval by widening it by a chromatic semitone, meaning that the interval is widened by a semitone, but the staff positions are not changed (only an accidental is changed). For example, an augmented third is a chromatic semitone wider than the major third: starting with the interval from A♭ to C, which is a major third, four semitones wide, the interval from A♭ to C♯ is an augmented third, spanning five semitones, but the same staff lines. By contrast, the interval from A♭ to D♭ is not an augmented third (it is a perfect fourth): even though it is four semitones wide, it spans four staff positions, and is thus a fourth, not a third; it is a diatonic semitone wider than a major third. The augmented fourth (A4) is the only augmented interval that appears in diatonic scales (in D♭ major it occurs between G♭ and C). The standard abbreviations for augmented intervals are AX, such that an augmented third = A3. [7]

Augmented intervals on C
Augmented unison Augmented second Augmented third Augmented fourth Augmented fifth Augmented sixth Augmented seventh
Augmented unison on C.png Augmented second on C.png Augmented third on C.png Augmented fourth on C.png Augmented fifth on C.png Augmented sixth on C.png Augmented seventh on C.png
Play ⓘ Play ⓘ Play ⓘ Play ⓘ Play ⓘ Play ⓘ Play ⓘ

A good example of this can be seen in the left hand part of Chopin's famous E minor prelude Op. 28, No. 4.[ citation needed ] Many of the chord sequences change with the top or bottom note augmenting or diminishing the next chord as the music progresses.

Augmented triad on C.png
Augmented triad on C
play ⓘ
Augmented dominant seventh chord.png
Augmented dominant seventh
chord on C Play ⓘ
Whole tone scale on C Play. Whole tone scale on C.png
Whole tone scale on C Play .

An augmented chord is one which contains an augmented interval, almost invariably the 5th of the chord. An augmented triad is a major triad whose fifth has been raised by a chromatic semitone; it is the principal harmony of the whole tone scale. For example, the D♭ augmented triad contains the notes D♭—F—A.

See also

Related Research Articles

In music theory, an interval is a difference in pitch between two sounds. An interval may be described as horizontal, linear, or melodic if it refers to successively sounding tones, such as two adjacent pitches in a melody, and vertical or harmonic if it pertains to simultaneously sounding tones, such as in a chord.

In music theory, the tritone is defined as a musical interval spanning three adjacent whole tones. For instance, the interval from F up to the B above it is a tritone as it can be decomposed into the three adjacent whole tones F–G, G–A, and A–B.

In music, a whole-tone scale is a scale in which each note is separated from its neighbors by the interval of a whole tone. In twelve-tone equal temperament, there are only two complementary whole-tone scales, both six-note or hexatonic scales. A single whole-tone scale can also be thought of as a "six-tone equal temperament".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perfect fifth</span> Musical interval

In music theory, a perfect fifth is the musical interval corresponding to a pair of pitches with a frequency ratio of 3:2, or very nearly so.

An octatonic scale is any eight-note musical scale. However, the term most often refers to the ancohemitonic symmetric scale composed of alternating whole and half steps, as shown at right. In classical theory, this symmetrical scale is commonly called the octatonic scale, although there are a total of 43 enharmonically inequivalent, transpositionally inequivalent eight-note sets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chord (music)</span> Harmonic set of two or more notes

In music, a chord is a group of two or more notes played simultaneously, typically consisting of a root note, a third, and a fifth. Chords are the building blocks of harmony and form the harmonic foundation of a piece of music. They can be major, minor, diminished, augmented, or extended, depending on the intervals between the notes and their arrangement. Chords provide the harmonic support and coloration that accompany melodies and contribute to the overall sound and mood of a musical composition. For many practical and theoretical purposes, arpeggios and other types of broken chords may also be considered as chords in the right musical context.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Semitone</span> Musical interval

A semitone, also called a minor second, half step, or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between two adjacent notes in a 12-tone scale, visually seen on a keyboard as the distance between two keys that are adjacent to each other. For example, C is adjacent to C♯; the interval between them is a semitone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diminution</span>

In Western music and music theory, diminution has four distinct meanings. Diminution may be a form of embellishment in which a long note is divided into a series of shorter, usually melodic, values. Diminution may also be the compositional device where a melody, theme or motif is presented in shorter note-values than were previously used. Diminution is also the term for the proportional shortening of the value of individual note-shapes in mensural notation, either by coloration or by a sign of proportion. A minor or perfect interval that is narrowed by a chromatic semitone is a diminished interval, and the process may be referred to as diminution.

An augmented triad is a chord, made up of two major thirds. The term augmented triad arises from an augmented triad being considered a major chord whose top note (fifth) is raised. When using popular-music symbols, it is indicated by the symbol "+" or "aug". For example, the augmented triad built on A♭, written as A♭+, has pitches A♭-C-E:

In music theory, an augmented sixth chord contains the interval of an augmented sixth, usually above its bass tone. This chord has its origins in the Renaissance, was further developed in the Baroque, and became a distinctive part of the musical style of the Classical and Romantic periods.

In music, a triad is a set of three notes that can be stacked vertically in thirds. Triads are the most common chords in Western music.

Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic pitches and chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale. In simple terms, within each octave, diatonic music uses only seven different notes, rather than the twelve available on a standard piano keyboard. Music is chromatic when it uses more than just these seven notes.

Modes of limited transposition are musical modes or scales that fulfill specific criteria relating to their symmetry and the repetition of their interval groups. These scales may be transposed to all twelve notes of the chromatic scale, but at least two of these transpositions must result in the same pitch classes, thus their transpositions are "limited". They were compiled by the French composer Olivier Messiaen, and published in his book La technique de mon langage musical.

In music and music theory, a hexatonic scale is a scale with six pitches or notes per octave. Famous examples include the whole-tone scale, C D E F♯ G♯ A♯ C; the augmented scale, C D♯ E G A♭ B C; the Prometheus scale, C D E F♯ A B♭ C; and the blues scale, C E♭ F G♭ G B♭ C. A hexatonic scale can also be formed by stacking perfect fifths. This results in a diatonic scale with one note removed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harmonic major scale</span> Musical scale

In music theory, the harmonic major scale is a musical scale found in some music from the common practice era and now used occasionally, most often in jazz. It corresponds to the Raga Sarasangi in Indian Carnatic music, or Raag Nat Bhairav in Hindustani music.

Quarter-comma meantone, or ⁠ 1 / 4 ⁠-comma meantone, was the most common meantone temperament in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and was sometimes used later. In this system the perfect fifth is flattened by one quarter of a syntonic comma ( 81 : 80 ), with respect to its just intonation used in Pythagorean tuning ; the result is ⁠ 3 / 2 ⁠ × [⁠ 80 / 81 ⁠] 1 / 4 = 4√5 ≈ 1.49535, or a fifth of 696.578 cents. This fifth is then iterated to generate the diatonic scale and other notes of the temperament. The purpose is to obtain justly intoned major thirds. It was described by Pietro Aron in his Toscanello de la Musica of 1523, by saying the major thirds should be tuned to be "sonorous and just, as united as possible." Later theorists Gioseffo Zarlino and Francisco de Salinas described the tuning with mathematical exactitude.

In music theory, the half-diminished seventh chord is a seventh chord composed of a root note, together with a minor third, a diminished fifth, and a minor seventh. For example, the half-diminished seventh chord built on B, commonly written as Bm7(♭5), or Bø7, has pitches B-D-F-A:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diminished third</span> Musical interval

In classical music from Western culture, a diminished third is the musical interval produced by narrowing a minor third by a chromatic semitone. For instance, the interval from A to C is a minor third, three semitones wide, and both the intervals from A♯ to C, and from A to C♭ are diminished thirds, two semitones wide. Being diminished, it is considered a dissonant interval.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diatonic and chromatic</span> Terms in music theory to characterize scales

Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are used to characterize scales. The terms are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, especially when applied to contrasting features of the common practice music of the period 1600–1900.

In music theory, an inversion is a rearrangement of the top-to-bottom elements in an interval, a chord, a melody, or a group of contrapuntal lines of music. In each of these cases, "inversion" has a distinct but related meaning. The concept of inversion also plays an important role in musical set theory.

References

  1. ↑ Jeppesen, Knud. Counterpoint: The Polyphonic Vocal Style of the Sixteenth Century. trans. Glen Haydon. New York: Dover Publications. 1992. ISBN   978-0-486-27036-4. p. 235
  2. 1 2 "Augmentation and diminution" in the Harvard Dictionary of Music, 2nd ed. rev. and enlarged (1969). Willi Apel, ed. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
  3. ↑ Forte, Allen (1979/1962). Tonal Harmony in Concept & Practice, p.391. Third edition. ISBN   0-03-020756-8.
  4. ↑ Bullivant, Roger. "Augmentation (ii)". Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Retrieved 21 August 2011. (subscription needed)
  5. ↑ Scruton, R. (2016, p.204) the Ring of Truth: The Wisdom of Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung." London, Allen Lane.
  6. 1 2 Dawes, F. (1969, p34) Debussy Piano Music. London, BBC publications.
  7. ↑ Benward & Saker (2003). Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I, p.54. ISBN   978-0-07-294262-0.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.