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microfilmed exactly as received 7 0 -6 7 8 6

GREEN, Burdette Lamar, 1928-

THE HARMONIC SERIES FROM MERSENNE TO
RAMEAU: AN HISTORICAL STUDY OF
CIRCUMSTANCES LEADING TO ITS
RECOGNITION AND APPLICATION TO MUSIC.

The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1969

Music

University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 NOTE TO USERS

Page(s) missing in number only; text follows. Microfilmed as

received.

375

IJMI
THE EARl^lDiaC SSRIES EROM MERSESÎE TO RAMMÜ: AN HISTORICM. STUDY
OP CIRCUMSTANCES LEADIIW TO ITS RECOGNITION

AND APPLICATION TO MUSIC

DISSERTATION

Presented in P a r tia l P u lfilln e n t o f the Requirements fo r

th e Degree Doctor o f Philosopl^ in the Graduate
School o f The Ohio S tate U niversity

By

B urdette Lamar Green, B,M.,M.A.

* * * * * * *

The Ohio S ta te U niversity

1969

Approved By

Adviser I
School of l-iusic
 PREFACE

The discovery of the harmonic s e rie s was one of the major events

in the h is to ry of musical thought. I t s recognition upset long revered

notions o f number mysticism and ushered i n a new e ra in which m usicians

became fascin ated with the a c o u stic a l aspects o f t h e i r a r t . From

Rameau to Hindemith, th e o r is ts have tr ie d to fin d a n a tu ra l b a sis fo r

music in the harmonic s e r ie s . Their works have received much commentary

and c ritic is m . However, the e a r l ie r h is to ry o f th e recognition o f the

harmonic s e rie s and the form ulation o f d e riv a tiv e m usical concepts has

been la rg e ly ignored and, i n gen eral, poorly understood by musicians

and aco u stician s a lik e . That e a r l i e r h isto ry i s reexamined in th is

d is s e rta tio n to c la r if y the conceptual changes th a t accompanied the

reco g nition o f the harmonic s e rie s , and p e rtin e n t statem ents by e a r lie r

w rite rs are assembled and tra n s la te d to o ffe r the modem reader easy

access to t h is h is to r ic a lly im portant conceptual development.

Recognition of the p rin c ip le underlying the various aco u stica l

phenomena th a t are now associated w ith the harmonic se rie s was slow in
coming. In te re s tin g ly enough, i t s reco g n itio n f i r s t came from the

discoveries o f physical s c ie n tis ts and philosophers ra th e r than from

the p ra c tic a l knowledge o f m usicians. Hot u n t i l th e experimental

in v e stig a tio n s o f seventeenth-century s c ie n tis ts were enough fa c to rs

ii
pieced to g eth er to form ulate a sin g le p rin c ip le , and only in the

follow ing century did musicians perceive in t h is physical p rin c ip le a

new b a sis f o r r e la tin g the composition o f music to n a tu re .

L ite ra ry sources p rio r to the seventeenth century do not r e f e r to

th e concept o f the harmonic s e r ie s . I t i s necessary, th e re fo re , to

tra c e the h isto ry o f the perception o f re la te d phenomena i n order to

estim ate the ex ten t o f e a r lie r knowledge about t h i s p rin c ip le . Before

th e invention of apparatus f o r analyzing and measuring the physical

a ttr ib u te s o f sound, man depended c h ie fly on m usical instrum ents fo r h is

knowledge o f a co u stic s. Musical instrum ents provided a means by which

th e audible aspects o f the harmonic s e rie s might be experienced in a

number o f ways. One could observe the s e rie s o f tones th a t are produced

by overblovriLng c e rta in wind instrum ents o r th e s e rie s o f "harmonics" th a t

a re obtained on strin g ed instrum ents by l ig h t l y stopping th e nodal p o in ts .

The in te rv a l re la tio n sh ip s o f s trin g s o r o th er sonorous v ib ra to rs

responding i n sympathetic resonance could also be n o ticed , and, i f conditions

were favorable, one could even d e te c t th e re la tio n sh ip s among the p a r tia l

tones o f b e lls o r intense-sounding organ p ip es, ^y tra c in g the h isto ry

o f each of these experiences i t i s p o ssib le to estim ate how much was

known before seventeenth-century s c ie n tis ts took an a c tiv e in te r e s t in

a c o u stic a l phenomena.

To achieve i t s o b je c tiv e , t h is d is s e r ta tio n i s n e c e ssa rily divided

in to two p a rts . The f i r s t seven Chapters a re concerned with the s ta te o f

knowledge about a c o u stic a l phenomena p rio r to Merseruae’s observations in the

iii
Harmonie tm iv c rse lle ( I 636) . The l a s t th re e Chapters tra c e the step s
from Hersenne to the rec o g n itio n of the p rin c ip le o f the harmonic s e rie s

i n the w ritings o f Sanvenr and i t s e a rly a p p lic a tio n in th e th e o rie s o f

Rameau. Ind iv id u al Chapters i n the f i r s t p a rt d iscu ss the h is to ry of

fla g e o le t tones, sympathetic resonance, the n a tu ra l tones o f the trum pet,

p e rtin e n t to n a l c h a ra c te r is tic s o f the organ, and the tuning o f c a rillo n

b e ll s . Chapters in the second p a r t are devoted to Mersenne's in v e s tig a tio n

o f overtones and re la te d phenomena, to the c o n trib u tio n s o f research ers

between Mersenne and Rameau, and f i n a l ly to Rameau's conscious a p p lic a tio n

o f the haim onic-series p rin c ip le to music.

IJhenever p o ssib le the o rig in a l authors have been allowed to speak

f o r them selves. The quotations o f primary sources preserve th e o rig in a l

sp e llin g s and o th er mechanical d e ta ils as much as p o ssib le . Brackets

e x clu siv ely in d ic a te in te rp o la tio n s by the p resen t w rite r. Many thanks

a re due Olga Buth o f the Ohio S ta te U niversity Music L ibrary fo r help

i n obtaining source m a te ria ls and also the s t a f f o f the New York Public

L ibrary f o r supplying ra re item s th a t were invaluable to t h is in v e s tig a tio n .

The members o f th e reading committee were Richard H. Hoppin,
Norman F. Phelps, and B. William Poland. I am pleased th a t they

examined th is d is s e r ta tio n from d if f e r e n t p o in ts o f view, and am indebted

to each o f them fo r h is d e ta ile d c ritic is m . I e sp ecially thank P rofessor

Hoppin fo r guidance de prem ier ordre i n lin g u is tic m a tte rs.

iv
 VITA

May 21, 1928 . . Bora - Baoyrus, Ohio

1950 .................... B.Mus., The Ohio S ta te U niversity, Columbus, Ohio

1 9 5 3 .................... M.A., The Ohio S ta te U niversity, Columbus, Ohio

1953-1954 . . . A ssista n t In s tru c to r of ¥oodid.nds. School o f Music,

The Ohio S ta te U niversity, Columbus, Ohio

1954^1969 . . . I n s tru c to r o f Music Theory and ¥ood\dnds. School

o f Music, The Ohio S ta te U niversity, Columbus, Ohio

FIELDS OF STUDY

Musicology: P rofessors Richard H. Hoppin and Herbert S. Livingston

H istory of I'&isic Theory: P rofessors Norman F. Phelps and

B, william Poland
 TABLE OF COUTMTS

PREFACE....................................................................................................... Ü

V I T A .................................................................................... V

LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................v i î i

LIST OF FIGURES................................................... ix

Chapter
I. THE HARl'IOEIG SERIES................................................................ 1

D efin itio n s
The R elation o f the Harmonic S eries to Ratio
and Harmonic Proportion
II. THE NATURAL SERIES OF FLAGEOLET TONES OBTAINED
ON STRINGED IKSTRUî-IENTS.................................................... 20

Physical Requirements f o r F lageolet Tones

The E arly H istory o f F lageolet Tones
The Trumpet llarine and F lageolet Tones
III. THE RELATION BETEiESîT THE NATURAL SERIES OF T01ÎES
AND SneATHETIG RESONANCE................................................ 98

Physical P rin c ip le s o f Sympathetic Resonance

Early Knowledge o f Sympathetic Resonance
Instrum ents w ith Sympathetic S trin g s
Commentaries on Sympathetic Resonance Preceding
Mersenne
IV. THE NATURAL SERIES OF TONES PRODUCED ON TRUIIPETS
AND RELATED INSTRUMENTS.................................................... 152

A coustical F actors A ffecting Overblown P a r tia ls

The P itc h S eries of E arly Horns and Trumpets
Western Europe: The Extension o f the N atural
S eries o f Tones
The N atural S eries i n the Baroque Period

vi
 Y. THE RELilTIOH OF THE IHiRKGNIC SERIES TO PITCH
0R(L\IJI2ATI0N IN MIXTURES OF ORGAN P IP E S .........................212

P itch R elationships in Pipe Combinations

The H istory of Combined Ranlcs w ith Regard to
the Harmonic Series
Third-Sounding Ranlcs
The Nomenclature of Organ Stops and i t s R elation
to the Harmonic S eries

VI. Tins OBSERVATION AND PLANIPULATION OF P.IRTIAL3 IN

THE TONES OF ORGAN P I P E S .................................................... 264
• The Development of Long Pipes
Pipe M odifications Designed to Produce Harmonics
V II. THE OBSERVATION AND MANIPULATION OF PARTIALS IN
THE COMPLEX SOUNDS OF BELLS................................................ 288

A coustical P ro p erties o f B ells

The H istory of B ells w ith Tuned P a r t ia l Tones

V III. THE DISCOVERIES OF 1-IERSENNE AND HIS CONTEI'IPORARIES . 312

The Perception of Overtones

Mersenne’s In v estig a tio n o f Overtones
Mersenne’s In v estig a tio n o f R elated Phenomena
C ollation of Mersenne’s Observations Concerning the
Harmonic Series
IX. THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE ACADSIICIAPIS DURING THE
PERIODFROM MERSENNETO Ri\I"IEAU............................................376

From the Discovery o f Nodes to the Proper Mathe­

m atical Statement of the Trumpet S eries
The A ffirm ation of the Harmonic S e ries P rin c ip le
Plusical Im plications o f the Sons harmoniques
X. RAI-ÎEAÜ AND THEPRINCIPE SONORE.............................................. 427

I n f lu e n tia l Ideas and Conditions

The Evolution o f the P rincipe Sonore

APPENDIX........................................................................................................485

BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................488

v ii
 LIST OF TiSLES

Table Page

1. Comparison o f Chinese and Pythagorean Cyclic Scales . . . 6?

2. Ifersenne; P ro p erties o f Metal S t r i n g s ............................119

3. Organ Stops - Comparison o f P itches and Harmonics . . . . 220

4. S p ec ifica tio n o f a Sharp I 4 i x t n r e ............................................... 222

5. Progression o f Pipe Scales based on the Fibonacci S eries 272

6. Mersenne: R atios of the H atural Tones o f the Trumpet . . 353

7. Mersenne: B isection o f the I'lonochord................................360

8. Sauveur’s Chart o f Sons Harmoniques . . . . . . . . . . . 409

v iii
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1. The harmonie s e r i e s ................................... 5

2. Awembiak fan fa re m elo d y ....................................................... 35

3. H ottentot m usical bow melody o f am plified harmonics . 35

A. Venda m usical bow melodies o f am plified harmonics

with the s trin g divided in to two segments . . . . . 36

5. Monochord d iv isio n o f Theon o f Sm yrna........................... 46

6. îfonochord d iv isio n o f Werckmeister, comparing (a) the

whole s trin g with the la r g e s t segment, (b) the two
segments, and (c) the whole s trin g w ith the sm allest
se g m en t................................................................................................ 48

7. The Chinese c h ' i n .............................................................. 51

8. Ch»in - Pre-Ming t u n i n g .................................................................... 53

9. Ch»in - P itches on the c - s t r i n g .................................................... 54

10. Tw elfth-century c h 'in accompaniment............................................ 56

11. Harmonics used in a tw elfth -cen tu ry c h 'in accompaniment . 60

12. Chinese pentatonic s c a l e ....................................... 63

13. Hui markings as a monochord d iv isio n s y s te m ............................ 63

14. Chinese z ith e r prelude of A.D. 1425 .................... .... . 65

15. Thread numbers o f the Ming I)ynasty c h ' i n ................................ 71

16. îJumbers o f the an cien t Chinese p itc h p i p e s .............................71

17. P ra e to riu s, Syntagma Musicum - I l lu s tr a ti o n o f Trumscheidt

(trumpet marine) and S c l o e i d t h o lt .............................................76

18. Mersenne, Harmonie u n iv e rse lle - I l lu s tr a ti o n s of

Trompette m a r i n e ................... 88

.ix
19. C astro, Sonata per l a trompa m a r i n a ................................................ 92

20. P rln î Range o f the trumpet m a r in e .................................................... 95

21. V itruvius; ^Resonating v e sse ls tuned according to the

Greek g re a te r and le s s e r p e rfe c t s y s te m s ........................... . 108

22. Mace, I ^ s ic k 's Monument - I l lu s tr a ti o n o f Dvphone . . . . . 129

23. V ibrational modes o f s trin g s and pipes ........................................ 156

24. Harmonics o f modem and baroque trum pets, (a) the fo u r-

fo o t trumpet and (b) the e ig h t-fo o t trumpet . . . . . . . 164

25. C la s s ific a tio n o f b rass instrum ent ranges ................................ 164

26. N atural tones o f South A frican ceremonial horns . . . . . . 169
27. South A frican ceremonial horn c a l l s ....................... 171

28. N atural tones of L u r e r .......................................................................... 173

29. Virdung, Musica g e tu tsc h t - I l lu s tr a ti o n s o f trumpets . . . 187

30. Monteverdi, Orfeo - C larino p a rt to in tro d u cto ry Toccata . . 190

31. Janequin, La B a ta ille - Im itatio n s o f m ilita ry c a lls . . . . 190

32. P ra e to riu s; N atural tones o f trum pets and trombones . . . . 195

33. P ra e to riu s, Smtagma Musicum - I l lu s t r a t i o n shovdng

trombone s lid e p o sitio n s . . . . . . . .................................... 197
34. Mersenne; N atural tones o f tr u m p e ts ...............................................200

35. C onjectural re c o n stru ctio n o f Mersenne’s s lid e d ire c tio n s

f o r the trombone ....................... 204
36. Speer: N atural tones o f th e trumpet . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

37. Speer; N atural tones o f tro m b o n es.................................................. 205

38. P a r tia ls used in eighteen th -cen tu ry c la r in p l a y i n g ...................209

39. Seventeenth-century organ s p e c ific a tio n s shoidng the

d is tr ib u tio n o f fundamental and fifth -so u n d in g ranks . . . 243

40. P ra e to riu s, Syntagma musicum - I l lu s tr a ti o n s o f organ

p i p e s ............................... 278
■I'-
)
X ’
41. P a r tia l tones o f b e lls a t T erling ............................... . . . . . 291

42. B ell p a r tia ls th a t are commonly t u n e d ............................................. 293

43. P a r tia ls of pealin g b e lls , (a) an American b e ll and (b) a

B ritis h b e l l .......................................................................................... 293

44. Jones: Ten p a r t i a l s o f tuned b e l l s .................................................. 296

45. V isser; Ten p a r tia ls o f tuned b e l l s ...................... 296

46. Shapes o f church b e lls : (a) h a lf eggshell, (b) beehive,
(d) Zuckerhut. and (d) t u l i p .......................................................... 303

47. P a r tia l tones o f an archaic b e l l .............................................. . 305

48. Pranz Hemony' s b e ll-tu n in g f o r m u l a ................................................. 310

49. P a r tia l tones o f the B ell of B rfu rt ............................................... 310

50. Mersenne*3 in terconnections o f harm onic-series phenomena . . 370

51. Roberts: Trumpet notes measured i n monochord numbers . . . . 384

52. North: The coincidence o f v ib ra tio n s between concordant

sounds .............................................................................................. 393
53. Diatonic scale systems: (a) the syntonous d ia to n ic o f
Ptolemy and (b) the d iato n ic of Didymus.......................................468

54. Rameau, Demonstration - D erivation of major and minor

tr ia d s from the "harmonic" and "arithm etic" proportions . . 473

55. Rameau, Generation - Key re la tio n s h ip s derived from

m u ltip le and su b n u ltip le geometric progressions . . . . . . 473

"%1
 CHAPTER I

THE HARMONIC SERIES

The term harmonic se rie s has been assigned so many meanings and so

many d iffe re n t degrees o f musical relevance th a t one can never he sure

what lim ita tio n s are intended when i t i s discussed. Attempts to c la r if y

the id ea have led w rite rs to coin some ra th e r odd expressions. On the

expansive side some r e f e r to "the chord o f natu re", while on the r e s t r i c ti v e

side others are s a tis f ie d only with "the harmonic s e rie s o f a co u stics,"

Many m usicians, influenced by n atu ral-law th e o rie s , simply equate the

harmonic s e rie s with the d iv isio n s of the monochord as another source fo r

the r a tio s o f consonance. Others, in re a c tio n a g ain st n atu ral-law th e o rie s ,

p re fe r to view i t as a phenomenon of a c o u stic a l sig n ifican ce only. The

opposing views are v iv id ly contrasted i n two discussions o f the re la tio n sh ip

between the harmonic se rie s and music. In Tone. A Study in tfusical

A coustics. Levarie and Levy consider the harmonic se rie s to have a

"psychological re a lity " in music:

¥e no tice an exact coincidence o f the overtone se rie s with

the r e s u lts o f our d iv isio n s on the monochord. This i s not
an accident but a symptom o f the tr u th th a t the norms o f
our psyche correspond with those o f the pl^'^sical world,
Man i s p a rt o f, and not o u tsid e, n a tu re . The p h y sic ist
u su a lly explains the overtone s e rie s as a n a tu ra l f a c t,
and he i s , o f course, c o rre ct in h is p oint of view, , , ,
The musician explains the overtone se rie s -a s a psychological
r e a l it y which e x is ts not only i n nature but which n e ce ssa rily
 agrees with a p a rtic u la r nom o f our so u l. . . , The over­
tone s e rie s i s a la v o f o b jectiv e nature as well as o f our,
subjective apperception. The two must not be in c o n flic t.

Llewelyn 3. Lloyd, in The Musical Ear, wished to r e s t r i c t the importance

o f the ham onic s e rie s to an in d ire c t influence on our estim ation of

whether tones are in tune. A strong opponent o f n a tu ral-law th e o rie s , he

saw no j u s t if i c a t io n fo r r e la tin g the ham onic s e rie s to the tones of

th e scale, or to hamony:

One begins to suspect any m usical theory which i s derived

so le ly from the physical fa c to rs i n music and takes no
account of any theory of hearing.
To nothing in musical theor^i" of the l a s t century does
th is observation apply more em phatically than to the
conjecture based on what are known as the notes o f the
ham onic s e rie s . These notes have been made the s ta r tin g -
p o in t of th e o rie s of hamonj’’ and of the scale which become
grotesque when c a rried to t h e ir lo g ic a l conclusions. . . .
The notes of the ham onic s e rie s fo m a purely aco u stica l
s e rie s ; and i f we wished to be very p re c ise , we should
describe the se rie s i t s e l f as an a rith m e tic a l s e rie s . To
r e la te the gote s o f the sc ale to th is se rie s d ir e c tly i s
mere fancy.

Regardless o f cu rren t views about the v a lid ity o f the ham onic s e rie s

as a musical id ea, i t i s a h is to r ic a l f a c t th a t many musicians and th e o r is

since the time o f Rameau have considered i t the f i r s t p rin c ip le of music.

As th is d is s e rta tio n i s p rim a rily intended to be not argumentative but

h is to r ic a l, we need not accept e ith e r o f these extreme views. The purpose

here i s to in v e stig a te and c la r if y the circumstances leading to the recog­

n itio n of the ham onic s e rie s and i t s e a rly a p p lica tio n to music. An

e s s e n tia l f i r s t ste p in th is in v e s tig a tio n must be the d e fin itio n o f ideas

^Siegmund Levarie and E rnst Levy, Tone. A Study in Musical Acoustics

(Kent S tate U niversity P re ss, 1968), pp. 47-8.

^Llewelyn S. Lloyd, The Musical Ear (London, 1940), p . 49.

 3

asso ciated with the terra harmonic s e rie s and a c la r if ic a tio n o f t h e i r

re la tio n to o ld er concepts derived from d iv isio n s o f the monochord.

Therefore, sectio n s o f t h is chapter a re devoted to defining terras and

to comparing the harmonic s e rie s as a "n a tu ra l monochord system" with

the r a tio s and proportions o f e a r l ie r th e o rie s o f music.

D efin itio n s

The terminology re la te d to the harmonic s e rie s has been a u th o rita tiv e ly

3
discussed by Nicholas B essaraboff. In h is study o f the h is to ry and

d e scrip tio n o f m usical instrum ents, Bessaraboff found i t necessary to

improve and supplement the d e fin itio n s given in the .American Standard

A coustical Terrainoloprv (1936) He thought i t u se fu l to make c a re fu l

d is tin c tio n s between a c o u stic a l terras concerned with frequencies and per­

ceptual terms concerned with to n es. For t h is more sp e c ific in v e s tig a tio n

o f the harmonic s e rie s , i t 'vri.ll be necessary to consider the numerical

re la tio n s as w ell, and thus to divide the terms i n th ree frames o f reference:

( l) the a co u stica l s e rie s o f freq u en cies, (2) the perceptual s e rie s of

to n es, and (3) the mathematical s e rie s o f numbers.

The A coustical S eries o f Frequencies

In the a c o u stic a l frame o f refe ren c e, the term harmonic se rie s

denotes a s e rie s of freq u en cies. Measuring devices show th a t the complex

N ic h o la s B essaraboff, Ancient European Musical Instrum ents (Cambridge,

M ass., 1941)> pp. 4-5; 41-4; 388; 423.
^American Standard A coustical Terminology. 224.1-1936 (Revised
e d .; Hew York, 1951), Section 6, pp. 24-6.
 u
wave forms em itted by most m usical instrum ents r e s u l t from a s e t o f
frequencies each component o f which i s an in te g ra l m u ltip le o f the

fundamental frequency. For example, i f the f i r s t component frequency o f

the s e t i s 100 cps, then the o th er component frequencies w ill be simple

m u ltip les o f i t in t h is s e r ie s ; 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, . . .

n X 100 cps. T h eo re tica lly , the s e rie s i s i n f i n i t e but fo r p ra c tic a l

purposes, the number i s u su a lly lim ite d to the f i r s t six te e n o f the component

frequencies (see Figure 1 ) . The fundamental frequency i s defined as the

5
low est component frequency o f a p erio d ic wave o r q u a n tity . Frequencies

th a t are not in te g ra l m u ltip le s o f the fundamental a re termed inharmonic

component freq u en cies. Since m usical instrum ents vary in th e ir means o f

v ib ra tio n , t h e i r complex waveforms d i f f e r in the r e la tiv e stren g th s o f the

I component freq u en cies. Because o f modifying in flu en ces o f m a teria l or

design, c e rta in harmonic frequencies are m issing e n tir e ly i n some complex

to n es. The term snectrum i s o fte n used to designate the exact s e t o f

frequencies a c tu a lly p resen t in a complex waveform.^ Mien a l l o f the

components are harmonic, the term harmonic spectrum o f frequencies i s

a p p ro p riate, but the more general term a co u stica l/ spectrum o f frequencies

i s u se fu l to denote m u ltip le , p e rio d ic waveforms th a t contain both harmonic

and inharmonic components.

The Perceptual S eries o f Tones

W ithin the percep tu al framework the harmonic s e rie s denotes two

sep arate experiences: ( l) a concurrent s e t o f simple tones p resent i n a

^Bessaraboff, Ancient European Musical Instrum ents, p . 41»

^Harry F. Olson, Ifiisic. Physics, and EnaAneering (2nd e d .);

New York, 196?), pp. 209; 219-20.
Note names; C c g C» e« g' b^‘ c” d" e" f# " g" a" b^« b" c'«

Notes ; :________________ r______________________i______ ** ç o

:— ¥ ^ ^ --------------------------------------------------------

Harmonics : 1 2 3 L ^ 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Ih 16

Frequencies: 196.2 327.0 L^7«8 ^88.7 719»^ 8^0.3 981.1

130.8 261.6 392.Ij $23.2 6 $ li.l 78k.9 91$.7 10li6.$

Frequencies in ^ _
eq u al temperament: 6$.k^ 19$.9 329.6 L66.1 $87.3 739.9 880.0 987.7
130.8 261.6 391.9 $23.2 6$9.2 783.9 932.3 101*6. $

Figure 1. The harmonic s e rie s

*0=6$.k06 cps.

vn.
complex tone, and (2) a successive se rie s o f complex tones th a t can be

produced from a sin g le fundamental on strin g ed instrum ents (fla g e o le t

tones) o r on wind instrum ents (overblown to n e s ). Since i t i s w ithin th is

framework th a t m usicians experience the harmonic s e rie s , i t w ill be

u se fu l i n th is in v e s tig a tio n to make some d is tin c tio n s in terminology

th a t are not customary in a co u stica l w ritin g s. According to Bessaraboff,

the terms fundamental, -p artia l, and harmonic should be reserved fo r the

component simple tones o f the concurrent s e t w hile, fundamental tone,

p a r t i a l to n e, and harmonic tone should be used to designate individual

7
tones o f the successive s e r ie s . Like the fundamental tones, fla g e o le t

tones and overblown p a r t i a l tones are r e la tiv e ly complex in themselves

and are not merely simple tones determined by a sin g le mode of v ib ra tio n ,

"With regard to the in te rn a l re la tio n sh ip s o f the harmonic s e r ie s , the terms

o f both the concurrent and successive aspects have the same meaning.

P a r tia l de sig n â te s-,.any component, whether harmonic o r inharmonic, of a

complex o f tonesj fundamental designates the p a r t i a l corresponding to the

prime frequency; harmonic re fe rs se le c tiv e ly to those p a r tia ls produced

by frequencies th a t are in te g ra l m u ltiples o f the fundamental frequency.

Some o f the terms in common u se, such as overtone and harmonic.
tend to be confusing. Overtone has entered the vocabulary despite

Alexander E l l i s ' objectio n in 1885 th a t i t i s not a c o rre c t tra n s la tio n

g
o f the term oberton (upper-tone) coined by Helmholtz, Although the term

overtone can cause confusion in the numbering system—th e f i r s t overtone

ri
B essaraboff. Ancient European Musical Instrum ents, p . 388.
g
See tr a n s la to r 's commentary in Hermann Helmholtz, On the Sensations
o f Tone as a P hvsiolocical Basis f o r the Theory o f Iktsic. tra n s , by
Alexander J , E llis (2nd e d ,; Hew York, 1954), p . 25 n.
 7
i s the second p a r t i a l o r harmonic—m usicians comprehend i t s meaning

more e a s ily than E l l i s ’ suggested "upper p a r t i a l ." More serious con­

fu sio n a ris e s from the way s trin g p lay ers use the term "harmonics," To

avoid th is confusion, th e p a r t i a l tones obtained by lig h tly touching

s trin g s a t nodal poin ts w ill be designated as fla g e o le t to n es. corres­

ponding to French and German usage. Brass players too sometimes speak

o f "harmonics," but overblow p a r t i a l tone, though n e ith e r g raceful nor

q u ite accurate in i t s d e sc rip tio n of the process involved, more adequately

designates an upper p a r t i a l tone produced on a trumpet or sim ila r •vriLnd

in strum ent.

The perception of in d iv id u al p a r tia ls in complex m usical tones i s

u su a lly im possible because the component frequencies fuse in to a com­

p o site im pression in te rp re te d as tim bre. Under c e rta in conditions, as in

the sounds o f b e lls or o f the Quintaden organ sto p , in d iv id u a l p a r tia ls

can be d is tin c tly discerned. In these cases, musicians have tr a d itio n a lly

described the component p itc h es according to t h e i r in te r v a llic r e la tio n

w ith the fundamental, e .g ., th e tw e lfth o r seventeenth. This tr a d itio n

should be respected unless the in te r v a llic names become confusing, as in

th e use o f th e terra tie r c e to designate th e f i f t h harmonic.

In the perceptual framework, the harmonic s e rie s i s not i n f i n i t e ,

being lim ite d by the range o f human hearing. This range could po ssib ly

encompass about ten octaves, which, as Sauveur calcu lated in 1702, would

extend the s e rie s of the lowest p e rc e p tib le fundamental to the 1024th

harmonic.^ From a p ra c tic a l standpoint, however, human experience of

Q '
Joseph Sauveur, "A pplication des sons harmoniques à l a composition
des jeux d ’orgues," Mànoires de l ’Académie Royale des Sciences. Annee
1702, p la te 2, facing p . 321.
 8

harm onic-series p a r t i a l s o r p a r t i a l tones i s much more r e s tr ic te d , because

o f the physical lim ita tio n s o f instrum ents and perform ers. The n a tu ra l

s e rie s o f p a r t i a l tones produced on the tinmipet seldom extends very f a r

in to th e f i f t h octave ( i . e . , beyond the six te e n th harmonic) and th e fla g e o le t

tones o f s trin g s become im p ractical even before th a t p o in t.

The Mathematical S eries o f lumbers

In the context o f a rith m e tic , th e harmonic s e rie s re f e rs to an

id e a liz e d sequence o f numbers from which r a tio s and proportions can be

deriv ed. I t i s an "id ealized " s e rie s because the number values are based

on the assumption th a t frequency i s the sole determ inant in p itc h per­

c ep tio n . Following the tr a d itio n of dem onstrating the r a tio s o f con­

sonances on th e monochord and the example of fla g e o le t tones produced

on th e trumpet m arine, th e o r is ts f i r s t conceived o f the harmonic s e rie s

in terms o f a liq u o t d iv isio n s o f the t o t a l s tr in g o r a i r column. This

procedure yielded a s e rie s o f f r a c tio n s ; l / l , l / 2 , l / 3 , 1 /4 , 1 /5 , . . .

l/n . A fter methods were devised to measure frequencies, i t was p o ssib le

to conceive the harmonic s e rie s i n terms o f inteprral m ultln les o f the

fundamental frequency. This gave a s e rie s o f in te g e rs : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, . . .

n. In e ith e r case, because the two s e rie s are re c ip ro c a l they provided

the same numerical re la tio n sh ip s th a t might th e o r e tic a lly apply to the

a r t o f composing music.

The mathematical s e rie s can be expressed in terms o f e ith e r c ard in al

o r o rd in al numbers. Cardinal numbers perm it the form ulation o f a b stra c tio n s

th a t use the components o f the s e t i n d if fe r e n t orders than i n the

 9

o rig in a l s e rie s ( e .g ., th e r a tio 5:3 o r the proportion 6 :4 :3 ). O rdinal

numbers imply a successive order o r progression th a t tends to e s ta b lis h

a hierarcliy o f im portance.

Viewed p urely as a s e t o f in te g e rs , th e numbers o f the mathematical

s e rie s form an a rith m etic pro g ressio n , not a p ro p o rtio n al s e r ie s . Each

successive value in creases by the a d d itio n o f a constant fa c to r but since

the constant fa c to r i s an in te g ra l m u ltip le o f u n ity , o r re c ip ro c a lly , an

a liq u o t d iv isio n o f the whole, t h is s e rie s forms a sp e c ific subclass of

arith m e tic progressions c a lle d the harmonic s e r ie s . In a pro p o rtio n al

s e r ie s , successive fa c to rs are derived according to previously e stab lish ed

ra tio s . S t r i c t l y spesJcing, r a tio s involve the comparison of two numbers,

while proportions involve the comparison o f r a t i o s . A coustical phenomena

can be described in two kinds o f r a tio s ex tracted from the harmonic s e rie s :

(l) the sub-m ultiplex r a t i o s ( i . e . , 1 :2 , 1 :2 , 1 :4 ), and (2) the sub­

su p e rp a rtic u la r r a tio s ( i . e . , 1 :2 , 2 :3 , 3:4)» T h eo re tica lly the harmonic

s e rie s o f numbers i s i n f i n i t e , in s p ite o f the f a c t th a t the aco u stica l

phenomena upon which i t i s based n e c e ssa rily have physical lim its . If

r a tio s o th er than the species involving u n ity o r su p e rp a rtic u la r r e la tio n s

are adm itted, i t i s then p o ssib le to derive a l l r a tio s used in music from

the harmonic s e r ie s , since i t comprises an arith m e tic progression o f an

i n f in i t e number o f in te g e rs . This admission, however, lack s a c o u stic a l

J u s tif ic a tio n , as the d iscu ssio n to follow w ill show.

 10

The R elatio n o f the Harmonic S eries to R atio

and Harmonic Proportion

The statem ent th a t only two species o f r a tio s —m ultiplex and

su p e rp a rtic u la r—are v a lid ly derived from th e harmonic se rie s presupposes

th a t the n a tu ra l sequence o f the terms i s an e s s e n tia l c h a ra c te ris tic as

im plied when the s e rie s i s expressed in c ard in al numbers. I t i s tru e

th a t n a tu ra l-law th e o r is ts o f the p a st have not lim ite d themselves to these

two kinds of r a tio s probably because they were conditioned by the w ell-

e stab lish ed theory o f monochord d iv is io n s . Since the id ea of the harmonic

s e rie s did not c ry s ta liz e quickly, th ere was a period during which the

e s s e n tia l d ifferen c e s between the two systems o f d iv isio n s were not

recognized. These d ifferen c e s are su b s ta n tia l enough to w arrant d e ta ile d

examination.

Comparison with the Monochord R atios

As Mersenne re a liz e d e a rly in h is m usical in v e s tig a tio n s , the

frequency of a v ib ra tin g s tr in g depends on th re e fa c to rs —i t s length,

mass, and t e n s i o n . I f mass and ten sio n are held co n stan t, length be­

comes an e a s ily observed v a ria b le " fo r explaining and measuring differen ces

in p itc h . The monochord provided a simple means o f c o n tro llin g these

fa c to rs because d iv id in g a sin g le s tr in g with a bridge e ffe c tiv e ly con­
v e rts i t in to two s trin g s with the same mass and te n sio n . This operation

perm its accurate r a tio comparisons between the two segments o r between

^^Marin Mersenne, La v é rité des sciences (P a ris, 162$), p . 6l6j

c ite d in C. T ru esd ell, The R ational Mechanics o f F lex ib le or E la stic
Bodies. 1638-1788 (Zurich, 196o), p . 28.
 11

th e whole length and any segment o f i t , Although the exact e ffe c ts of

mass and ten sio n were not known in a n tiq u ity , th e o r is ts found the

d iv isio n s o f the monochord s ig n ific a n t, because simple r a tio s of s trin g

lengths matched th e ir audible perception o f consonant in te rv a ls .

On the monochord, a l l r a tio s o f ra tio n a l numbers have equal v a lid ity

no m atter what the v alues, Ho system o f d iv isio n s i s s p e c ific to i t s

n atu re, o th er than a mathematical order from simple to complex re la tio n ­

sh ip s, T heorists have tr a d itio n a lly considered economy to be. the

p rin c ip a l c r ite r io n fo r a system o f d iv isio n s and have tr ie d to demonstrate

the r a tio s o f musical in te rv a ls with as few d iv isio n s o f the s trin g as

p o s s i b l e , I - I a n y th e o r is ts o f the Middle Ages, fo r example, derived the

e n tire gamut by using only measures o f two, th re e , and nine, in from

12
seven to twenty step s o r o p eratio n s. They were not obliged to follow a

s e t hierarchy o f d iv isio n s by halves, th ir d s , fo u rth s, f i f t h s , and so

f o r th , as i s im p lic it i n the harmonic s e r ie s .

Although the r a tio s used in music can be explained by the harmonic

s e r ie s , the v a lid ity o f some i s questionable. Because o f the sequential

n ature o f the s e r ie s , m anipulations not needed in monochord d iv isio n s

a re sometimes required to bring the r a tio s o f the harmonic se rie s in to

correspondence with the r a tio s o f musical in te rv a ls . In making these

m anipulations, problems a r is e . D iff ic u ltie s r e s u lt from r a tio s th a t involve

la rg e numbers, from r a tio s th a t compare nonadjacent numbers, and from

r a tio s and proportions th a t are re je c te d in music.

^^Cecil D. Adkins, "The Theory and P ra ctice o f the Monochord"

(unpublished Ph.D. d is s e rta tio n , Iowa, 1963), p , 29.
^^See ib id , . p , 179.
 12

The sm aller in te rv a ls of J u s t in to n a tio n provide an example of the

f i r s t c la ss o f problems. The r a tio s o f the major whole tone (9 :8 ), the

minor whole tone (10:9), and the semitone (l6:15) are a l l su p e rp articu lar

and th ere fo re in tr in s ic to the harmonic s e r ie s . On the monochord these

r a tio s can be demonstrated in any s c a la r succession d e sired , as one would

fin g e r a v io lin . In the harmonic s e rie s , however, the f i r s t two o f these

in te rv a ls do not occur u n t il the fo u rth octave above the fundamental, and

to obtain the l a s t the f i f t h octave i s req u ired . F urther, i f one wishes

to demonstrate the syntonic comma (81:80), which in d ic a te s the differen ce

between the two whole tones, i t i s necessary to extend the se rie s in to

the seventh octave.

The r a tio s of c e rta in musical in te r v a ls , such as the major six th

(5 :3 ), compare nonadjacent in te g e rs . This p a rtic u la r r a t i o , .5:3, can be

explained in the harm onic-series system by discounting the importance o f

th e intervening fo u rth p a r t i a l according to the ru le of the id e n tity o f

octaves, o r by deriving i t from the s e rie s o f closed pipes ( i . e . , 1, 3, 5,

7, 9, . . . n ) . T heorists have proposed both arguments, but n e ith e r pro­

vides a comprehensive so lu tio n to th is c la ss o f problems. For example,

what can be said o f the minor s ix th (8:5) o r th e major seventh (15:8)?

A ll r a tio s o f th is c la ss are as v a lid as any o th e r according to the mono­

chord system. I t seems lo g ic a lly in c o n s is te n t, however, to pick and choose

r a tio s from an in f in i t e s e t simply because they conform to the monochord

system.
The s itu a tio n i s made even c le a re r by the c la ss o f r a tio s th a t are

a v aila b le in the harmonic se rie s but are re je c te d fo r use as musical in te r v a ls .

 13

The most obvious o f these are the r a tio s th a t involve the number seven.

I f the j u s t scale can be derived from the harmonic s e r ie s , i t i s curious

th a t the r a tio s 7:6 and 8:7 are re je c te d while 9 :8 , 1 0 :9 , and 16:15 are

accepted. In l ig h t o f th is l a s t r a tio (16:15), how can r a tio s involving

11, 13, and 14 be rejected ? A ll of them should be v a lid . The same

dilemma i s presented by the p ro p o rtio n s, o r s e ts o f r a t i o s , th a t are

a v aila b le in the s e r ie s . Taken in order: 1 :2 :3 , 2 :3 :4 , 3 :4 :5 , and 4 :5 :6

are accepted; 5 :6 :7 , 6 :7 :8 , and 7 :8 :9 are re je c te d ; 8:9:10 i s v i t a l to

th e j u s t sc a le , but a l l proportions th a t follow i t are re je c te d fo r m usical

purposes. As a r e s u lt o f these various d i f f i c u l t i e s , a complete ju s t scale

can be derived from the harm onic-series system only assuming more than

one fundamental and invoking the notion o f the id e n tity o f octaves.

As a source of the traditional ratios of musical intervals, the

harmonic series is considerably less fruitful than the divisions of the

monochord. On the other hand, the fact that a vibrating string actually

sounds simultaneously many of the intervals used in music, and that the
overblown partials of the trumpet provide the same intervals in series

continues to stimulate theoretical speculation.

Relation to the Harmonic Proportion

The evolution of the name harmonic series is difficult to trace. The

English ezgression harmonic series is common enough today to warrant a

separate listing in most musical dictionaries, but its use was unusual

before the twentieth century. The French expression série harmonique is

 u

apparently le s s popular than s u ite des harmoniques or s é rie d 'harmoniques. 13

The German term Obertonreihe^'^*' avoids e n tir e ly the problem o f whether the

s e rie s in i t s e l f i s "harmonic," o r i s simply a s e rie s o f "harmonic ton es,"

The l a t t e r meaning i s the o ld e r. The n e a re st Mersenne came to expressing

the idea o f a s e rie s of harmonics was in reference to the trum pet. He

sta te d th a t the skips o f th e tiam pet follow " l ’ordre n a tu re l des nombres,"

b u t he did not include th e number seven in t h is n a tu ra l o r d e r A l t h o u g h

Mersenne asso c iated the terra harmonic with th e exact r a tio s o f j u s t in ­

to n atio n ,^ ^ he did not a ttr ib u te t h i s harmonic q u a lity to the "ex trao rd in ary

sounds" (upper p a r t i a l s ) . R oberts, who gave the f i r s t accurate statem ent

o f the harmonic s e rie s in 1692, re fe rre d .o n ly to th e "trumpet n o tes.

Sauveur (1701) used the expression "harmonic sounds" b u t, cu rio u sly , gave
18
no la b e l to the s e r ie s . His review er. F ontanelle, grasped thhee idea

c le a rly , re fe rrin g i n 1702 to the " s e rie s o f harmonic sounds," 19

R iety, "Le vocabulaire d ’acoustique m usicale d ’après l a

form ation du langage m usical," in Acoustique I-msicale. ed, by François
Canac (P a ris, 1959), pp. 113-14-.
^APranz E ibner, "Die Obertonreihe a ls Erscheinung und a ls Idee,"
I-îusikerziehung. XI (March, 1958), 171-75,

^ % a rin Mersenne, Harmonie u n iv e rs e lle . "T ra ité des instrumens"

(P a ris, 1636), Bk, I , prop, x i i i , p . 37,

l ^ Ib ld . . Bk, I I , prop, i i i , p . 53,

^"^Francis R oberts, "A Discourse concerning the Musical Ilotes o f the

Trumpet," P hilosophical T ransactions. XVI (l692), 563,

^%oseph Sauveur, "Système général des in te r v a lle s des sons,"

Mémoires de l ’Académie Royale des Sciences. Année 1701, pp. 349-56,

^^Bernard de F ontanelle, "Sur 1 ’a p p lic a tio n des sons harmoniques

aux jeux d ’orgues," H isto ire de l ’Académie Royale des Sciences. Année
1702, pp, 90-1,
 15

Llewelyn S, Lloyd attem pted to e s ta b lis h a connection between the

expression harmonic s e rie s and the harmonic proportion o f Archytas

(428-347 B .C .). Through a s e rie s o f mathematica]. m anipulations he

showed th a t the harmonic pro p o rtio n 6 :4 :3 , which i n terms o f s trin g

lengths provides th e octave divided in to the f i f t h and fo u rth , can

account f o r the second, t h ir d , and fo u rth harmonics o f the s e r ie s . Thus

he concluded th a t the harmonic s e rie s i s merely an extension o f the

harmonic p ro p ortion. From a p urely mathematical view point, such an ex­

ten sio n i s lo g ic a lly sound, but h is to r ic a lly , the connection i s open to

q u estion. I t appears th a t mathematicians did not use th e expressions

harmonic nronression o r harmom.c s e rie s u n t il a f t e r the a c o u stic a l s e rie s

21
had been discovered. Furthermore, the "harmonic" aspect o f the

p roportion 6:4:3 does not apply to the s e rie s as a whole.

The e a rly Pythagoreans knew th a t th ree re la tio n sh ip s were involved in

th e r a tio s o f consonant in te r v a ls .
These were the a rith m etic ( e .g ., 4 :3 :2 ),
22
geometric ( e .g ., 4 :2 :1 ), and subcontrary re la tio n sh ip s ( e .g ., 6 :4 :3 ).

The new harmonic proportion may have been given to the subcontrary re la tio n -
23
ship by Hippasus (ca. 500 B .C .). P h ilo lau s (ca, 400 B.C.) demonstrated

the harmonic proportion w ith the fig u re o f a cube: twelve edges, e ig h t

v e rtic e s , and s ix faces (12:8:6 = 6 :4:3).^'^ In t h is proportion the la rg e r

^^Lloyd, The Musical E ar, pp. 49-51.

PI
See Tobias Dantzig, Kumber. The Langiia.cre o f Science (4th ed .j
Garden C ity, N. Y ,, 1956), p . 161.
^^Bdward A. Lippman, î-îusical Thought In Ancient Greece (ifew York,
1964) , p . 8.
Z^Ibld.
24lbid., p. 13 .
 16

r a tio 12:6 i s divided by the harmonie», mean (8 ), The r a tio s between the

mean and extremes are not p ro p o rtio n al with each other as in geometric

re la tio n s h ip s , nor i s the mean separated from the extremes by the same

d ifferen ce as in arith m etic re la tio n s h ip . Yet in terms o f s trin g

len g th s, a l l o f the r a tio s produce consonant in te rv a ls . This was con­

sidered the "harmonic" a sp ect. By adding the arithm etic mean (9 ), the

Heo-Pythagoreans obtained the "musical proportion" 12:9:8:6 which i s

frequenter seen in i ll u s t r a ti o n s o f s tr in g len g th s, pipe len g th s, the

25
weights o f hammers, and the proportions o f b e lls .

Although, in Greek number theory, th e harmonic proportion properly

re fe rre d to the d iv isio n o f th e octave in to the f i f t h and fo u rth , the

p rin c ip le was next applied to the d iv isio n o f the f i f t h in to major th ird

and minor th ir d (6 :5 :4 ), and o f the major th ir d in to the major vÆiole tone

and minor whole tone (1 0 :9 :8 ). I f these proportions are tra n s la te d from

s tr in g lengths in to frequency re la tio n s h ip s , i t can be seen th a t the

harmonic s e rie s provides each o f them. However, the s e rie s y ie ld s o th er,

equally v a lid proportions th a t have been re je c te d fo r m usical purposes.

I t appears th a t the p a r tia ls were c a lle d "harmonic sounds" because those

th a t were f i r s t recognized correspond ex actly to the re la tio n sh ip s o f the

j u s t sc a le .
One might conclude th a t the p roportional system of dividing the mono­

chord, in stea d o f suggesting the harmonic s e r ie s , was an o bstacle to i t s

reco g n itio n . According to Adkins, i n two thousand years o f monochord

2 5 lb id .. p . 17.
 17

theory, not one Western th e o ris t suggested dividing the s trin g

according to the succession o f nodal p o in ts to demonstrate the consonances

26
o f m usic. Even a f t e r p ra c tic a l musicians of the f if te e n th century

adopted the technique o f dividing the trumpet m arine’s s trin g in to a liq u o t

p a r ts , tvo more cen tu rie s passed before t h is technique uas recognized in

27
monochord theory.

Correspondence with the J u s t Scale

The correspondence between the r a tio s o f the ju s t sc a le , based on

d iv isio n s o f the monochord, and the r a tio s o f the harmonic s e rie s i s

im pressively c lo se. Twelve o f the f i r s t six teen p a r tia ls correspond

e x ac tly . Numbers 7, 11, 13, and 14 are the p a r tia ls th a t d i f f e r . The

ex ten t o f the deviations can be e a s ily appreciated when the in te rv a l

values are expressed in terms o f c e n ts. The system o f c en ts, developed

by Alexander J . E ll i s , i s a logarithm ic measurement of musical in te rv a ls

28
th a t assigns 100 u n its (cents) to the equal-tempered semitone. Measured

in t h is way, the in te rv a l from the fo u rth to seventh p a r t i a l has the

value of 969 c en ts, whereas the minor seventh of the ju s t scale has a

value o f 996 c en ts. Thus the seventh p a r t i a l i s 27 cen ts, or about one-
e i^ ith of a whole to n e, lower than the n e arest j u s t in te r v a l. The sane
d ev iatio n a p p lies to the fo u rteen th p a r t i a l an octave h igher. The in te rv a l

o f a fo u rth between the eighth and eleventh p a r tia ls (551 cents) is. 53

^^Adkins, "The Theory and P ra ctice of the Monochord," pp. 295-96,

Z ^Ibid.. p . 298.
28
See "Additions l y the T ran sla to r," in Helmholtz, On the Sensations
o f Tone, pp. 446-57.
 18

cents higher than the j u s t fo u rth (498 c e n ts), 39 cents lower than the

tr lto n e (590 c e n ts), and 59 cents lower than the diminished f i f t h (610

c e n ts ). S im ilarly , the in te r v a l o f a six th between the eighth and

th ir te e n th p a r tia ls (84I cents) i s 27 cents higher than the ju s t minor

s ix th (814 cents) and 43 cents lower than the ju s t major six th (884 c e n ts ).

The la r g e s t p itc h d ev iatio n i n a l l th ese in te rv a ls i s s lig h tly more than

a q u a rte r tone.

During the seventeenth century, savants and th e o r is ts began to piece

to g eth er b i ts o f a c o u stic a l inform ation i n support o f the notion th a t the

a r t o f music did indeed have a n a tu ra l b a sis in the v ib ra tio n o f sound

its e lf. The discovery o f the harmonic s e rie s in a l l the im portant sources

o f m usical sounds—s trin g s , p ip es, and the voice—must have been over­

whelming evidence fo r those who were looking fo r f i r s t p rin c ip le s . Even

29
today these fa c ts are im pressive enough to keep the issu e a liv e .

Although more rec en t a c o u stic a l, p l^ s io lo g ic a l, and psychological in ­

v e stig a tio n s have revealed th a t t h is phenomenon i s complex and su b ject to

many d eviations from the id e a liz e d m athematical statem ent, i t appears th a t

th e m usical sig n ifican ce o f the harmonic s e rie s r e s ts on philosophical

and a e s th e tic judgements ra th e r than on a co u stica l evidence.

^^Edith Ifeber (e d ,). La resonance:dans le s ech elles m usicales

(P a ris, 1963), 399 p.
 19

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The harmonic s e rie s i s an id e a liz e d s e t o f numerical re la tio n sh ip s

a b stracted from a c o u stic a l phenomena. Although the monochord r a tio s ,

which Zarlino c a lle d " sonorous numbers," are a lso derived from a co u stica l

phenomena, many d iff e re n t systems f o r d ividing the s trin g have been

proposed during a two-thousand-year span o f h is to ry . The harmonic s e rie s

provides r a tio s in a fix ed order th a t can be confirmed by concurrent

phenomena, by n a tu ra l successions o f to n es, and by the sy n th esis o f to n al

m ixtures. T h eo rists o f the eighteenth century, who were looking to the

p h y sical sciences fo r the foundations o f music, found a convincing and

a ttr a c tiv e b a sis i n t h is newly discovered phenomenon. The idea th a t the

s e rie s i s "harmonic" i n i t s e l f appears to be a rec en t view o f the

a rith m etic s e rie s o f the harmonic p a r t i a l s . Only in d ir e c tly can the

harmoniousness o f th e s e rie s be linked with an cien t theory.

As a source f o r the numerical r a tio s used in m usical in te r v a ls , the

harmonic s e rie s i s le s s s a tis fa c to ry than the tr a d itio n a l d iv isio n s o f the

monochord. I t does not e ffe c tiv e ly explain the scale systems o f ¥ e ste m
c u ltu re o r o f any o th e r c u ltu re . Yet, the f a c t th a t many of the r a tio s

used i n music can be found in the v ib ra tio n a l p a tte rn o f the musical

sounds continues to fa s c in a te th e o r is ts to the p resen t day.

 CHAPTER II

THE NATURAL SERIES OF FLAGEOLET TONES

OBTAINED ON STRINGED INSTRUMENTS

The knowledge of flageolet tones (string "harmonics") was an

Important key to the discovery of the harmonic series because this

special effect on stringed Instruments depends upon lightly touching a

string at the aliquot divisions defined by Its partial vibrations. The

rigidly fixed, division system of flageolet tones provided a provocative

set of clues, both visual and aural, for Investigators Interested In

this phenomenon. Although the Intervals produced at aliquot divisions

can be obtained by fully stopping the strings on a large variety of

Instruments Including the monochord, the harmonic series that results

has no obvious usefulness for determining scales and tunings. Thus, the

traditional monochord systems of Western culture did not Incorporate an

extensive series of aliquot divisions until well after folk musicians

had learned how to use flageolet tones on the trumpet marine. Even

though the connection between small number ratios of string lengths and

the perception of consonant intervals was obvious, nothing about the

divisions of the monochord suggested that a stretched string has more

than one mode of vibration. Flageolet tones, on the other hand, have

three attributes that suggest they are In some way determined by the

partial vibrations of a more complex mechanical system: (1) their sound

differs noticeably from the regular tones, (2) the same pitch can be

20
 21
obtained by touching the string at different nodal points (e.g., at 1/3

or 2/3), and (3) special care is required to avoid impeding the total

vibration of the string. Investigation of the peculiarities of flageolet

tones eventually led scientists to the discovery of nodes: a step

that vas essential for the explanation of the complex vibration of a

string or column of air.

The ability to obtain one or two flageolet tones was hardly sufficient

to suggest the idea of the harmonic series. A substantial sequence of

flageolet tones was necessary to indicate the distinctive nature of the

series, and instruments more sophisticated than the didactic monochord

were needed before such a sequence could be perceptible. In the West,

an instrument evolved that was uniquely suited for the exploitation of

flageolet tones. This was the trumpet marine, a stringed instrument of

unusual acoustical properties that caused it to imitate the timbre of the

trumpet. Evidence indicates that an extensive series of flageolet tones

was obtainable on this instrument by the latter part of the fifteenth

century. In China, one variety of the ancient zithers, the ch'in. was

suited for the production of flageolet tones. It is quite possible

that the Chinese knew of an extensive series of flageolet tones a thousand

years earlier than Western musicians. However, for cultural reasons

this special effect had little influence on the mainstream of Chinese

musical practice.

The investigation of the early knowledge of flageolet tones is

hampered by many difficulties arising from the decidedly secondary

importance of this device in the history of art music. Primary sources

of information are almost nonexistent. Very little literary evidence

 22

antedating Mersenne is available, and the only notational evidence comes

from Chinese sources, lAiich were probably unknown in the West. One is

forced to rely upon information that can be deduced from our imperfect

knowledge of early instruments. The speculative nature of the task is

someiAiat diminished hy the apparent acoustical limitations of many early

forms of stringed instruments. If one accepts the proposition that only

an extensive series of flageolet tones could have significantly in­

fluenced musical thou^t, the evaluation of early instruments is made

easier because of the stringent acoustical conditions necessary for such

a series. Accordingly, the first section of this chapter is concerned

with the physical requirements for producing an extensive series of

flageolet tones. Subsequent sections investigate primitive, ancient,

and medieval instruments and the scanty documentary evidence that is

relevant to the topic. Extensive sections are devoted to the two most

important instruments, the oh'in and the trumpet marine.

Physical Requirements for Flageolet Tones

A survey of published research on the acoustics of stretched strings

indicates that little attention has been paid to the phenomenon of

flageolet tones. This assertion is corroborated by the excellent reviews

1 2
of experimental research given ly Richardson and Taylor. The lack

of direct experimental evidence about flageolet tones makes the task of

assessing

^E. a . Richardson, Technical Aspects o f Sound. Vol. Is Sonic Range

and Airborne Sound (Amsterdam, 1953), pp. A53-72.
^C. A. Taylor, The Physics o f tfasic al Sounds (New York, 1965),
pp. 106-14; 156-60; 173-75.
 23
the capacities of past instruments all the more difficult. Nevertheless,

certain physical requirements can be described by drawing upon the more

general research on strings and the experience of musicians using modem

instruments. The following section is an attempt to clarify the

acoustical aspects of this phenomenon by assembling the evidence that

is currently available,

A flageolet tone can be induced from a vibrating string by lightly

touching it at a nodal point distinctive to the partial that serves as

the new fundamental pitch. For example, if one desires a flageolet tone

whose fundamental pitch is the fourth partial of a string, the string must

be touched at the one- or three-quarter point because the midpoint

distinctly selects only the second partial tone. All partials with loops

at the point touched are dampened; only those that have nodes at the

point of contact are free to sound. If the string is touched at the one-

quarter point, its first three partials are eliminated from the spectrum

and the string is forced to vibrate in four aliquot segments. Although

it is easy to demonstrate that flageolet tones can be produced when the

string is activated by plucking or striking, the most reliable results

3
are obtained hy bowing the string with light pressure. Flageolet tones
can also be induced by the bow action alone without touching the string

at a nodal point. This technique is used by certain African tribesmen

Ctnfra. p. 31 ), Little can be said of this method except that the bow

must excite the string at a loop of the desired partial because all

^See Franz Simandl, New Method for the Double Bass (New York, 1948),
Bk. II, p. 56,
 24
nodes that occur in the vicinity of the point of excitation are

eliminated by the action of the bow.^

ïJhen a string is lightly stopped at a nodal point, the segments that

produce the resultant flageolet tone are nominally free to yield the

same full spectrum of harmonics that an identical segment produces when

it is firmly stopped against the fingerboard. Yet, most observers agree

that flageolet tones are relatively simple sounds. Several explanations

have been offered for the apparent sir^lioity and quietness of these

tones including the suggestions that bow pressures tend to be lighter

and vibrato: cannot be used.^ These suggestions do not explain the

important fact that flageolet tones seem to lose force and reliability
as they involve increasingly shorter segments of the string. Two

additional influences deserve to be tested in this regard: (l) the effects

of using the fingertip to touch the nodal point, and (2) the relation

between the fixed thickness of the string and the changing lengths of the

segments that are free to vibrate. Touching the string with a fleshy

fingertip must dampen high partials with increasing effect as the

divisions of the string become smaller. The indecisiveness of using

the finger as a stopping device explains why frets are needed on plucked
7
instruments. Perhaps the conditions are somewhat analogous when a

bowed string is lightly stopped to produce flageolet tones. Regarding

^Richardson, Technical Aspects of Sound. I, 453-56.

^See IflLlmer T, Bartholomew, Acoustics of Music (New York, 19A2),

p. 99.
%aul Zukofsky, "On Violin Harmonics," Perspectives of New t&isic.
VI, No. 2 (Spring 1968), 174.

*^See Taylor, The Physics of Musical Sounds, p. 156.

 25
the second factor, it is obvious that the ratio between string thickness

and length increases drastically as the performer attempts to obtain

successively higher flageolet tones from the same string. This condition

causes an increase in the relative stiffness of the vibrator that must

also account for a loss of higher partials in the resultant sound.

The capacities of early instzniments to emit an extensive series of

flageolet tones must be judged on tvo acoustical characteristics: the

resonating system and the strings. The strings are the primary tone

generators, but they are not efficient sound producers and must be coupled

with a resonator to radiate the sound.^ Besonation can be provided by

a wooden soundboard or by a chest enclosing a body of air. Even the

most primitive of stringed instruments usually possess some such resonator.

However, the crux of the problem lies in estimating whether or not early

instruments provided the broad-range response necessary for making a series

of flageolet tones available. %ien coupled with strings under heavy

tension, the soundboard of the modem piano provides a broad-range

response^^ and its lower strings easily produce a five-octave range of

flageolet tones. The chests of the instruments in the violin family

also provide a broad-range response for strings under more moderate

tensions.^ This excellent response pattern is due not only to the

complex shape of the violin body but also to the careful design of the

Bartholomew, Acoustics of Music, p. 100.

^Harry F. Dlson, Music. Physics, and Engineering (2nd ed.; New York,
1967), p. 110.
lOcharles A. Culver, Musical Acoustics (4th ed.; New York, 1956), p. 166.

•^Ison, }fu8io. Physics, and Engineering, p. 216.

 26
12
bridge and the use of a critically positioned sound post. These

attributes of the violin and piano are, of course, rather recent

developments in the history of instrument design.

The importance of having "perfect" strings for producing the higher

13
flageolet tones is well appreciated by string players. Factors such

as density, elasticity, tension, uniformity, and length have a bearing

on the vibrational pattern of the string. In general, to approximate

an ideal vibrating system, a string should be as thin and flexible as

possible and stretched at the highest possible tension.^ Metal strings

have greater elasticity than gut strings and this attribute makes it
easier to indhce subdivision in their vibration.Thick strings tend

to be stiff and, as a result, less capable of producing the higher

harmonics, whereas thin strings can be induced to subdivide their vibration

more easilyGenerally speaking, longer strings produce a more extended

series of flageolet tones than shorter stringsthis easily observable

dimension provides a valuable clue for judging the capacities of early

instruments. Furthezmore, string flaws, such as nonuniformity of thick­

ness or variations in density, can be extremely detrimental to the

18
generation of a complete spectrum of harmonics. This matter of string

^Taylor, The Physics of Musical Sounds, pp. 157-59.

l^Simandl, Hew Method for the Double Bass. II, 65.
^Aârthur H. Benade, Horns, Strings, and Harmony (New York, I960),p. 113,

^^Culver, Musical Acoustics, pp. 147-48.

^^Bartholomew, Acoustics of Music, pp. 95; 99.

^^Olson, Music. Physics, and Engineering, pp. 216; 218-19.

l^Philip M. Morse, Vibration and Sound (New York, 1936), p. 75.

 27

imiformlty was an important factor in past history because longer

strings had to be fabricated from many fibers or sinews wrapped together

The quality of the flageolet tones obtained on modeim instruments,

such as the violin or harp, makes it easy to be misled about the

availability and effectiveness of these sounds in earlier times. In

modem violin technique, five flageolet tones, or "natural haimonics,"

20
are demanded of each string. The same is true of the viola and cello.

With the double bass it is possible to obtain at least six reliable

flageolet tones (i.e., up to the seventh harmonic) on the upper string,

21
but fewer on the lower strings because of their thickness. In modem

harp technique, "harmonics" are ordinarily limited to the octaves,

although the twelfth is also available.In contrast to the piano, the

23
resonance pattem of the harp quickly falls off in the higher range.

In spite of their effectiveness on modem instruments, the use of

flageolet tones is a surprisingly recent development in "Westem art

music. The earliest extensive use of flageolet tones as a practical

device in violin technique is found in a book of etudes. Les Sons harmoni-

2À
cues (ca. 1738), by the Parisian composer, J. J. C. de Mondonville.

^%arin Mersenne, Harmonie universelle. "Traite des instrumens,"

(Paris, 1636), Bk. I, prop, ii, pp. 3-4. Hereinafter referred to as
"Traité des Instrumens."

^^Zukofsky, "On Violin Harmonies," p. 174.

01
Simandl, New Method for the Double Bass. II, 65.

^^Roslyn Rensch, The Haro (New York, 1950), p. 101.

23ooiver, Musical Acoustics, p. 175. .

^David D. Boyden, The History of Violin Plavlng. from its Origins
to 1761 (London, 1965), p. 384.
 28

David Boyden expresses the opinion that only "natural harmonies" were

used before 1750 and that even these were used sparingly. He found no

references at all to "harmonics" in the violin music or treatises of the

seventeenth century. L'Abbé le fils included the use of both "natural"

26
and "artificial harmonics" in his Principes du violon (1761) and

another Parisian, Francois Philidor, used "harmonics" in his opera

pry
Tom Jones (1765). I n the early nineteenth centnry, Niccolo Paganini
exploited the effect, extending the upper range of the violin with both
28
"natural" and "artificial harmonics." He used especially thin strings

for this purpose. In 1825, Francois Boieldieu introduced the use of

2Q
harp "harmonics" in his opera La Dame blanche. ^ It appears that the

introduction of the use of flageolet tones in art music was an outgrowth

of a French taste for special effects that developed during the middle
30
of the eighteenth century. It may be that these sounds were less

audible and reliable on the quieter violins of the Baroque period, or

that they were simply ignored as being unmusical. Leopold Mozart

described the playing of "harmonics" as "trick-work" fit for mummers at

31
carnival time.

^^Ibid.. p. 252.

^^Ibid.. p. 360.

^^Cecil Forsyth, Orchestration (2nd ed.; New York, 19A7), p. 328 n.

26o, Rudge, "Paganini," Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

5th ed., VI, 493.

^^Rensch, The Harp, pp. 46-7.

^^Boyden, The History of Violin Playing, pp. 444-45.

^^Forsyth, Orchestration, p. 328 n.

 29

The Early History of Flageolet Tones

Despite its late introduction into Western art music, the technique
of producing flageolet tones on strings may he as ancient as stringed

instruments themselves. Clues in written documents or in musical remnants

are scarce. Speculation on this subject depends almost entirely on

pictorial representation and the remains of old instruments. Certain

characteristics are useful in determining the point in history when a

substantial series of partials must have been obtainable. These chara­

cteristics include: (1) the design of the instrument and its resonator,

(2) the material and length of the string, and (3) the method of exciting

the string. In this section, primitive and early instruments are con­

sidered for the purpose of tracing the early history of flageolet tones

prior to the development of the trumpet marine.

Primitive Instruments

Two primitive instruments that date from prehistoric times have a

bearing on the subject of flageolet tones. They are the musical bow and

the Jew’s harp. With these instruments it is possible to amplify

individual overtones in the spectrum of the fundamental sound. In the

case of the musical bow it is even possible to obtain a number of

flageolet tones. Both of these effects need to be examined and compared

in order to clarify the confusing descriptions that sometimes appear in

histories of musical instruments.

A cave painting in Southwestern France, dating from about

15,000 B.C., depicts a performance on what is believed to be a musical

 30
32
bow. Being generally shaped like a hunter's bow, the musical bow

requires some sort of resonator to make the sounds audible. In some types

of musical bow, a gourd is attached to resonate the frequency of the open

string. If the pitch is changed by stopping the string with the finger,

the gourd opening must be lifted away from the player's body so that

its resonance can be modified to correspond to the new frequency.^^ In

other types of bow the performer's mouth cavity serves as a resonator.

l&isical bows vary in length from about one and one-half to ten feet.

A great variety of instruments derived firom the hunter's bow have been

developed by primitive peoples in many parts of the globe

With some types of musical bow it is possible to obtain flageolet

35
tones hy lightly touching the string at nodal points. How long this

practice has been in use is difficult to estimate. It is doubtful that

an extensive series of flageolet tones could have been obtained with the

rudimentary equipment of early times. Yet it must be admitted that such

a statement is conjectural. Percival Kirby reported that an expert

performer of the South African Chwana people incorporated as many as four

flageolet tones in melodies he played on a musical bow strung with a

36
simple, twisted leather string. However, this achievement is tempered

to some extent by evidence that in the older practice of the Korana

^^Sibyl Marcuse, ^îusical Instruments. A Comprehensive Dictionary

(New York, 1964), p. 350.
^^Percival Kirby, The I'&isioal Instruments of the Native Races of
South Africa (Johannesburg, 1953), pp. 198-99. Hereinafter referred
to as Instruments of South Africa.

34Marcuse, I4usical Instruments, pp. 350-51.

35Kirby, Instruments of South Africa, p. 212; also see Plate 53.

p. 213.
 31
Hottentots, who are known to have passed the instrument on to the Chwana,

it appears that only the octave flageolet tone is used.3? It is note­

worthy that some primitive peoples have at least a limited knowledge of

where to touch a string in order to obtain flageolet tones.

Another technique used for eliciting "haimonics" from the musical

bow involves scraping the string at certain points with a friction bow.

Kirby judged this technique to be one of the more recent practices used

in South Africa, suggesting that it may have originated farther north.

In the cases he reported, all but one of the instruments bowed in this

manner were strung with thin wire strings. Wire strings can be induced to

subdivide more readily than gut strings because of their greater elasticity.
Of course, the use of wire strings also suggests that this method of

eliciting flageolet tones may be a recent development. In the remaining

case, in which the Bushmen used a string of twisted sinew, it is not clear

from Kirin’s discussion whether or not flageolet tones are obtained with
39
the friction bow. According to an account of the same instrument by

Dorothea F. Bleek, "the players produce a pleasant note or two, using a

finger on the string to regulate the sound,

Another question about the antiquity of the method of eliciting

"harmonics" with a friction bow is the matter of the age of the friction

bow itself. In an early study. Curt Sachs concluded that bowing preceded

^"^Ibid.. p. 212.

^%id.. pp. 214-16.

^%bid.. p. 219. — ---

^Dorothea F. Bleek, The Heron (Cambridge, 1928), p. 21, quoted

in Kirby, Instruments of South Africa, p. 219.
 32

plucking as a technique for playing stringed instruments, since, for

example, the primitive peoples of the remote parts of India are known to

prefer bowing.^ He considered this preference to be a retention of

very ancient customs in spite of the fact that there is no evidence of

the use of the friction bow in the civilized cultures of the Middle East

(or elsewhere) before the Middle Ages. Sachs seems to have modified

this conclusion in a more recent statement on the history of the bow.

His concise survey of this difficult subject merits direct quotation:

Who were the inventors of the fiddle bow? In the

last century, some scholars have ascribed it to Scan­
dinavia, some to India. Both were wrong.
Looking for the earliest evidences of the bow, we
find the first mention in Persia in the ninth century;
in China a bowed zither is spoken of in the ninth or
tenth century; in Europe, fiddles are depicted in the
tenth century. No fiddle bow is represented on the
detailed reliefs of the Hindu-Javanese temple at
Borobudur (c. 800 A.D.). Apparently, the fiddle bow
came to be known in the civilized world between 800
and 900 A.D.
The Chinese bowed zither is attributed to the Mongols,
and the usual fiddles of the Far East are said to have
come from "the barbarians in the West." A tradition in
the Islamic world indicates Kurdistan as the homeland
of certain Persian fiddles; the oldest European fiddles
are closely related to modem Turkestanic instruments,
and so are the fiddles of India. Thus all evidences
point to Inner Asia. (Italics mine.)^

In view of the evidence, it is reasonable to suspect that the technique

of agitating "harmonics" from a string with a bow may be a comparatively

modem procedure. In any case, this technique would not, in itself,

lead to the discovery of interval ratios or nodal points because the

^Curt Sachs, "Die Streichbogenfrage," Archiv ftir Musikwissenschaft.

I (1918), A-5; c f . Hortense Panum, The Stringed Instruments of the Middle
Ages (Princeton, n.d.), pp. 219-20.

^Ourt Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments (New York, 1940),

p . 216.
 33

bow must scrape the string at a loop rather than at a node if it is to

induce a subdivision of the vibration. No decisive visual clues would be

evident, as they are in the technique of lightly touching the string

with a finger. Further doubts about the antiquity of the use of

flageolet tones (by any method) are raised ly the fact that according

to Kirty's investigation of the techniques used in South Africa, both

the use of the friction bow and the method of light-stopping were
A3
exceptional practices.

One phenomenon related to flageolet tones is of special interest

at this point because it is a common characteristic of music for the

musical bow that is easily confused with flageolet tones. With the

mouth-resonated bow, it is possible to amplify individual harmonics of the

sounding string by changing the size of the oral cavity. \Mle the

fundamental tone is excited in any of a variety of ways— ly plucking the

string with the finger or a plectrum, or by striking or scraping it

with a stick— the amplified upper partials can provide an acconçanying

melodic line based on the intervals of the harmonic series.^ The same

phenomenon is possible with the Jew's harp, an instrument that has a

very long history in Southeast Asia.^^ (In the prim5.tive form of the

Jew's harp, the vibrating agent is a flexible lamella of bamboo.) These

amplified partials are very quiet and are best perceived by the performer

himself. Although this phenomenon is not the same as flageolet tones,

^Kirby, Instruments of South Africa, pp. 193-2A5.

%bid.. pp. 196; 220; 239.

^^Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments, p. 58.

 34

since the fundamental pitch of the string or lamella continues to.sound

while the resonator emphasizes a particular partial, it is possible,

nevertheless, to amplify a substantial series of harmonics by this

method, furthermore, there is musical evidence to suggest that this

experience is very old. For example, vocal melodies vAiose pitches follow

the natural series of harmonics have been linked with the use of the

musical bow among the Vusun aboriginals of Formosa.^ Such fanfare

melodies are also common among the primitive peoples of Central New

Guinea, who represent a pristine form of Nigrito culture. Laurence

Picken conjectures that the Jew's harp may have been the source of these

melodies.^ A typical example (transcribed from a recording) from the

Awembiak pigmies of New Guinea is shown in Figure 2. It is based entirely

on the series of harmonics from three to six, plus the eighth. Picken's

conjecture seems convincing when this example is compared with an actual

musical-bow melody transcribed by Kirby from a performance b7 a

Hottentot tribesman of South Africa (see Figure 3).

In a modified form of the musical bow, the string is divided into

two segments by a loop tied from the string to the bow near the midpoint.

This alteration provides two fundamental pitches and two series of partials

that can be amplified the mouth. Kirby transcribed two tunes for this

kind of divided bow that actually extend the series to the twelfth or

thirteenth harmonics (see Figure 4)« Since he specified that the string

used in this kind of bow is of twisted sinew or wire, it is not clear

^ ^ a u ren c e Picken, "The I&isic o f Far E astern A sia," i n New

Oxford H istory o f Music. I (London, 1957), 179.

^7ibid.. pp. 178-79.

 35

Harmonies % 6 s

i -r I 3 Lh %
6 S •h ° 6,

< J - ' i I j . . I r ,J ïI^

Figure 2. Awembiak fanfare melody

Source % New Oxford History of Music, I, 179.

Harmonics :
T ^ T - 3 *
^ 1» Y #- «— 1
(ÿ ^ L_ 1-4— I— Uj
fundamenta] di-one

Figure 3. Hottentot musical bow melody of amplified harmonics

Source* Kirby, The Musical Instruments of South Africa, p. 221.

 36

Harmonics x

fundamentals

Left series Right series

Harmonica % ^<«• Ë ^ f % 1
f ^ 3 12
IA —•«— "#" ' -• -A •’/*•
# m
b. i fundamentals
_
rr-rf]
Left serie Right series

4J s ^ .7 % 1" I» W 'J. <3 I

I
-^ 3 4 5 6 7 ? 1

Figure U* Vanda musical bow melodies of amplified harmonics

with the string divided into two segments

SourceX Kirby, The Musical Instruments of South Africa, pp 230-31.

 37

whether both materials can provide this extensive series, Kirby»s

account of similar instruments from various districts of South Africa

leads one to suspect that the use of the higher partials may be a
comparatively modem development.

An unfortunate aspect of the mouth amplification technique is that

the ratios of string lengths are not visually associated with the natural

series of tones. Since the visual comparison of string lengths is the

only means for grasping the notion of the proportions that exist in pitch

relationships, one may conclude that this kind of experience, by itself,

would be scarcely sufficient to lead to an understanding of the harmonic

series.

Ancient Harps and Lyres

Art works dating from about 3000 B,C,, such as the Bismaya vase,

indicate that sophisticated advances in the development of stringed

instruments occurred in both Mesopotamia and Egypt,^9 Considering the

substantial size of some of these instruments and the ample sound chests

that were developed about 2000 B,0,, it seems reasonable to assume that

at least some of them were capable of producing flageolet tones. The

problem is to determine whether or not flageolet tones were, in fact,

known and used, and if they were, how extensive the series was.

The stringed instruments of Mesopotamia and Egypt apparently were

never bowed, but were played by plucking the strings with the fingers

^Kirby, Instruments of South Africa, pp, 225-34»

4%arcuse, Musical Instruments, pp, 229-30j Sachs, The History

of Musical Instruments, pp, 78-80; Hew Oxford History of ^hisic. I, 243;
Panum, The Stringed Instruments of the Middle Ages, p, 57,
 38

or a plectrum.^® If flageolet tones were in use, it is more likely that

they were obtained on instruments that were plucked with the fingers

rather than with a plectrum, since fingers offer surer control of these

sounds. The design of the instruments and the materials used in them

indicate that string tensions were relatively light. The strings were

made of hemp or gut.^^ Among the great variety of instruments found in

these cultures, two basic families require consideration in the investi­

gation of flageolet tones— the harps and the lyres. Harps are distin­

guished by strings of different lengths, each of which has similar

thickness and tension. Each string produces a different pitch according

to its particular length. In contrast to the harps, the lyres have

strings that are identical in length, or nearly so. Each string produces

a distinctive pitch due to differences in tension and, perhaps in some

measure, to differences in thickness.

Although opinion is divided, many investigators believe that the

53
harp developed from the primitive musical bow. Two varieties of harp

evolved: one with the strings held horizontally so the player could use

a plectrum, and the other with the strings held vertically so the player

could use his fingers.Both types lacked the pillar support of the

modem harp. From this it can be concluded that string tensions were

SOpanum, The Stringed Instruments of the Middle Ages, pp. 219-20.

^^Ibid.. p. 24; Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments, p. 131.

52panum, The Stringed Instruments of the Middle Ages, p. 5.

^%arcuse. Musical Instruments, p. 229.

^^Ibld.. p. 230; Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments, pp. 79-80.

 39
55
low. Egyptian tomb paintings, dating from the New Kingdom

(ca. thirteenth century B.C.), depict the use of vertical harps nearly

six feet in h e i g h t . I n spite of some similarity in appearance and

size between these ancient harps and those of modem times, the marked

differences in design and string tension cast doubts on the availability

of flageolet tones on these early instruments. At best, the matter is

conjectural.

The ancient instruments of the lyre type were probably more capable

of producing flageolet tones than the harps* Considering their advanced

system of regulating pitch hy means of different string tensions, it is

surprising to find that lyres can be traced back to about 2800 B.C. in

early Sumerian art works.Pictorial evidence indicates that early lyres

were rather large and substantial in construction. Although the strings

were usually activated with a plectrum, they were sometimes strummed or

plucked with the fingers.^^

The most highly developed form of lyre found in antiquity, the

Greek kithara. achieved its typical squared-off shape and rugged pro­

portions about the seventh century B.C.^^ The kithara was a lyre equipped

with a flat resonating chest of ample size. Even the lyre arms were

55aenach, The Harp, p. U*

5%arcuse, Musical Instruments, p. 230, Panum, The Stringed Instruments

of the Middle Ages, p. 65; Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments, p. 93.

^TMarcuse, Musical Instruments, p. 321.

5^Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments, p. 79*

59panum, The Stringed Instruments of the Middle Ages, p. 36.

 40

hollowed out to increase the resonance.^ By classical times the kithara

had become the principal instrument of professional performers, and its

popularity continued through Roman times. Because the kithara appears

to be of Asiatic origin, what is known of its use may also apply, in

some measure, to the earlier lyres of Mesopotamia.^^

Although the kithara had no finger board, a stopping system was

62
devised to obtain more than one pitch from each string. Sachs recon­

structed the system on the basis of notational evidence. He discovered

that the position of the notational signs indicated ^Aether the string

was open or "stopped" h7 the fingers. However, this method is quite

different from the one used with fingerboard instruments, on which the

string is effectively shortened hy proportional lengths. By pressing

firmly near the bottom of a string and thereby increasing the tension,

it was possible to raise the pitch by a quarter-tone, a semitone, or a

whole-tone. Such a system implies that the gut strings of the kithara

were strung with only a moderate tension. The results may not have

been entirely satisfactory, for, in Roman times, the system was abandoned

in favor of mechanical devices that enabled the performer to alter the

string tensions.
The kithara was used both to accompany vocal melodies and as a solo

instrument. The exact nature of the solo playing (psile kitharisis)

^Anthony Baines, "Lyre," Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

5th ed., V, 45A.
6lMarcuse, Musical Instiruments. p. 271.

^Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments, p. 132.

6 3lbid.
 a

is not clarified enough in the literary sources (e.g., pseudo-Plutarch,

De musica) to dispel controversy among investigators. According to

Hortense Panum, it is not certain whether this solo style involved the

use of both the plectrum and the fingers, or only one or the other.

Sachs, on the other hand, maintained that only the bare fingers were used

in psile kitharisis and that this style of playing made use of octave

"harmonics" as well as natural n o t e s . T h e sturdy construction of the

kithara would seem to admit the possibility of heavy string tensions— a

factor that enhances the availability of flageolet tones— but the stopping

technique described by Sachs suggests that very moderate tensions were

actua,12y used.

The Examination of Greek Theoretical Sources

Even though Sachs* conclusion that octave "harmonics" were incor­

porated in the technique of psile kitharisis seems tenable, there is

apparently no literary evidence to support his conclusion, either in Greek

writings or in foreign sources. Unfortunately, no written sources on

the musical theory of Mesopotamia or Egypt survive.^ Numerous Greek

writings deal with music or, even more specifically, with acoustical

observations. But, in spite of the fact that many Greeks inquired into

^Apanum, The Stringed Instruments of the Middle Ages, p. 54-«

65sachs, The History of Musical Instruments, p. 134-»

^%enry G. Farmer, "The Music of Ancient Mesopotamia," in New

Oxford History of Music. I, 2A6.
 42
a wide range of acoustical matters, they do not seem to have discussed

the phenomenon of flageolet tones.

Certain passages in the pseudo-Aristotelian Problemata have been

construed to refer to a phenomenon related to flageolet tones, namely,

the emergence of an audible upper octave as a sounding string dies away.

Since the passages in question, Problemata xix. 11 and 42, do not clarify

whether the fundamental pitch and the octave sound together or the pitch

jumps from the fundamental to the octave, these passages are examined

here to show the uncertain state of Gredc knowledge in matters related

to flageolet tones. In the discussion of overtones in the Harmonie

universelle. Mersenne reported that according to Problemata xix. 11, the

low sound becomes higher in finishing.^ The original Greek source does

not seem to corroborate Mersenne's interpretation. It reads:

Why is the voice higher when it echoes backîrgls

it because it is smaller, having become weaker?
In a recent discussion of the same subject, Claude Palisca wrote:

He [Aristotle] notes that as the tone produced ly

a vibrating string becomes weaker, the higher octave
seems to sound. (Italics mine.)
While the wording of the passage cited by Palisca, Problemata xix. 42,

is admittedly vague, it seems to be concerned entirely with a mistaken

observation of sympathetic resonance:

G^See Morris Cohen and I. E. Drabkin, eds., A Source Book in Greek

Science (New York, 1948), pp. 286-310.
^•lersenne, "Traite des instrumens," Bk. IV, prop, ix, p. 208.

^%he Works of Aristotle, ed. W. D. Ross, Vol. VII: Problemata.

trans. by E. S. Forster (Oxford, 1927), xix. 918a. 11. Hereinafter
referred to as Forster, trans., Problemata xix.
70ciaude V. Palisca, "Scientific Empiricism in Musical Thought,"
in Seventeenth Century Science and the Arts, ed. by H. H. Rhys
(Princeton, 1961), p. 96.
 43
Why la it that, if one strikes nete [e'] and then stops
it down, hypate [e] seems to respond? Is it because nete.
as it ceases and dies down, becomes hypate? (This can be
illustrated by the fact that it is possible to sing nete
from hypate; for the similarity can be taken from hypate
as being a response to nete.) And since an echo is a
response to a note, and when nete ceases a sound is set
in motion which is the same as the note of hypate. it is
only natural owing to the similarity that nete should seem
to set hypate in motion. For we know that nete is not in
motion, because it is stopped down, and seeing that hypate
itself is not stopped down and hearing its note we think
that it is hypate which is giving forth a sound. (This
kind of illusion is quite common, where we cannot perceive
the exact truth either by reasoning or by the senses.)
Again, it would be nothing extraordinary if, after nete
is struck when it is very tightly stretched, the bridge
were set in motion; and it would not be strange if, when
the bridge moved, all the strings were set in motion with
it and made a sound. Now the sound of nete is alien to
the other notes both in its end and in its b e g i n n i n g , but
is the same as hypate in its end. This having been added
to the movement of hypate itself, it would not be strange
that the sound should seem to be entirely that of hypate:
and it will be louder than the combined sound of the
other notes, because the latter, being as it were impelled
by nete. give only a soft sound, whereas nete. being the
most violent of notes, sounds with its full force; and
so naturally its second sound would be louder than that
of the other, especially if only a slight movement has
taken place in them. (Italics mine.)71

Since the interpretation that the higher octave seems to sound as the

string dies down cannot be justified by the second sentence of the Problem,

it must be based on the latter part, beginning with the Italicised passage.

However, a comparison of the wording "but (nete) is the same as hypate

in its end" from this passage with another from Problemata xix:

Hypate happens to have the same conclusions to the periods

in its sounds as nete. for the second stroke which nete
makes upon the air is hypate.7%

71Porster, trans., Problemata xix. 921b. 42.

72%bid.. xix. 921a. 39.

 44

shows that it is an attempt to explain the sympathetic response suggested

by the initial question of the Problem. Observing the acoustical

impossibility of the proposition, P. A. Gevaert concluded, in his

commentary on this Problem, that it was probably suggested a fanciful

73
Pythagorean doctrine rather than by accurate observation of fact. The

relation of this Problem to sympathetic resonance is discussed further

in Chapter III.

TJhile it is conceivable that Greek theorists might have ignored

the possible use of octave harmonics in the technique of the kithara. it

seems very improbable that they would have failed to mention the use of a

successive series of harmonics. Lacking direct references to flageolet

tones, one should at least expect the writings on monochord division to

reflect some influence of the "harmonic" technique, if a substantial

series were known. It will be shown that no such influence is apparent.

The Greek theorists described two methods of dividing the monochord

to demonstrate the ratios of consonant intervals: (l) by comparing the

length of the \Aiole string with a segment of it, and (2) by dividing the

string with a bridge so that the lengths of two segments could be compared.

The first method was the older. It was ascribed to Pythagoras (sixth

century B.C.) by later writers, such as Gaudentius*^^ (second century, A.D.)

and Theon of Srayma*^^ (ca., A.D. 125). According to these writers, the

73?. A. Gevaert and J. C. VoUgraff, Les problèmes musicaux

d’Arlstote (Oient, 1903), p. 117.
74Gaudentius Philosophes, Ihtroduetlo harmonica. M., Bk. I, p. 14,
cited in Sigfrid Vantzloeben, Das Monochord (Halle. 1911). p. 3; Latin
trans. in Marcus Meibom, Antlguae musicae auctores sentem (Amsterdam,
1652), I.

75rheon of Snyma, Expositio rerum mathematicarum . . . cap. 12,

De musica. quoted in German in Wantzloeben, Das Monochord, p. 22.
 K5

Pythagoreans obtained the ratios of consonant intervals by dividing the

string in twelve units (e.g., 12:6, 12:8, 12:9). Carrying this system

to its logical conclusion, Theon derived the following set of tones:

A, d, e, a, e», a» (arbitrary pitches), by comparing the whole string of

twelve units with 3/4, 2/3, 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4 of its length.The

process is reconstructed in Figure 5. Theon‘s system of divisions re­

sembles the technique of stopping a violin. The comparisons of the whole

string with segments of 3/4 and 2/3 bear no relationship to the technique

of flageolet tones, which juxtaposes the pitch of the whole string with

the pitches of 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, and so forth.

The second system of divisions, comparing segments of the string,

bears even less resemblance to the technique of flageolet tones. In the

method set forth by Euclid (ca.300B.C.), all of the ratios of the Greater

Perfect System were provided by first dividing the \diole string into 2,

3, 4, and 8 parts and then similarly dividing segments obtained by these

divisions into further fractions.?? ptolemy (ça., second century, A.D.)

devised a similar method using divisions of 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 11 parts.?^

In systems of this sort, all similarity with a series of aliquot divisions

disappears after the first few steps.

?^See C ecil D. Adkins, "The Theory and P ra c tic e o f th e Monochord"

(unpublished Ph.D. d is s e r ta tio n , Iowa, 1963), p . 64. H erein after re fe rre d
to as "The Monochord."

??Euclid, Sectio canonis. 23ff., cited by Adkins, "The Monochord,"

p. 58J Latin trans. in Meibom, Antiouae musicae. I.

?^Ptolemy, Harmonlkâ. Bk. I, cited by Adkins, "The Monochord,"

pp. 51-52J German trans. in Ingemar Düring, Ptolemaios und Porphvrios
uber die Musik (Gdteborg, 1934), pp. 35-7.
 ü6

String lengths}7

12
fS ------------- Tv
Proslambanomenos

LLchanos hypaton

A----------
Hypate meson

Mese

A----------- TV
Nete diezengmenon

T \
Nete hyperbolaion

Figure Monochord division of Theon of Smyrna

Sources: Wantzloehen, Das Monochords p. 22; Adkins,
"The Theory and Practice of the Monochord," p. 6L.
 47
The basic approaches that the Greeks established for the division

of the monochord were continued throughout the history of Western monochord

theory. According to Cecil Adkins' comprehensive survey of this history,

the first theorist to set down an explicit statement of a series of

progressive aliquot divisions was Andreas Werckmeister.*^^ Even in the

late seventeenth century, Werckmeister merely presented the aliquot

divisions as one of three sets of ratios that result from the successive

division of a string into 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 parts.^ The pitches and

ratios that Werckmeister obtained are shown in Figure 6. It is apparent

from his manner of presentation that Werckmeister was unaware of the

acoustical significance of the ratios of aliquot divisions. The abbreviated

portion of the harmonic series that he gave was only a by-product of

the traditional divisions expressed in his first set of super-particular

ratios. The following observations from Adkins' dissertation neatly

summarize the inadequacy of traditional monochord theory for uncovering

the idea of the harmonic series:

It is curious, in view of the widespread use of the tromba

marina, that apparently no one discovered the principles
of its note production before the end of the seventeenth
century; and it is even more curious that there seems to
be no record of these principles having been discovered in
monochord experiments. ^

It should be added that Descartes, in his Compendium musicae (1618), had

already suggested dividing the monochord by a series of six aliquot

79idkins, "The Monochord," p. 298.

ëOAndreas Werckmeister, Musicae mathematicae Hodegus curiosus

(Frankfurt, 1687), p. 20.

^^Adkins, "The Monochord," pp. 295-96.

 i»8

a. 3:2 U:3 5:h 6:5

b. 2:1 3:1 U:1 5:1

s
o
i 4 =

1:2 1:3 1:U 1:5 1:6

A.... . " " —n

A ......... A A

f\ A —A

A" A ...A

A ...... . ’ A A

* A ■" T>

Figure 6. Monochord division of Werckmeister, comparing

(a) the whole string with the largest segment, (b) the two
segments, and (c) the whole string with the smallest segment.

Source; Musicae mathematicae Hodegus curiosus, p. 20; see

Adkins, "The Theory and Practice of the Monochord," p. 298.
 49

divisions, but his understanding of the acoustical implications of this

particular series was no better than Verclmeister's.

It may be concluded that no extensive series of harmonics was

known in T/estern antiquity, in spite of the fact that certain of the

stringed instruments probably were capable of producing flageolet tones.

This conclusion is based on two arguments. First, unlike the primitive

musical bow, these instruments had numerous strings so that an extensive

musical scale could be obtained without reliance upon the less secure

technique of flageolet tones. Second, the lack of literary documentation

causes serious doubts about the use of flageolet tones. The wide-

ranging Greek Inquiry about acoustical phenomena, such as found in the

Problemata.could hardly overlook flageolet tones if these sounds formed

an important part of musical practice. Furthermore, there was no lack

of opportunity to recognize aliquot divisions in monochord theory if

flageolet tones were considered significant.

The Chinese Ch'in

Perhaps the first concrete evidence in the early history of flageolet

tones is provided by a Chinese stringed instrument called the ch'in.

Although there was no such profusion of stringed instruments in ancient

China as in Mesopotamia, two types were known from early times— the ch'in

and the shê.^^ Both types were zithers: long board-shaped instruments

^^René Descartes, Compendium musicae. in Vol. X of Oeuvres de

Descartes, ed. by C. Adam and P. Tannery (Paris, 1908), pp. 97-8.
ë^Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments, pp. 18$-86.
 50

with strings of equal length. Since it had no moveable bridges, the

pitches of the ch'in were regulated by stopping its five or seven strings

with the fingers. All of the twenty-five strings of the she were played

open, but their pitches could be altered with moveable bridges. Of

these zithers, only the seven-stringed ch'in continued to be used into

modem times. The seven-stringed ch'in is important to this investigation

because it has long been associated with the musical use of flageolet

tones. The problem is to determine when this usage began and how extensive
a series of flageolet tones was known.

The ch'in is classed as a board zither. (SeeFigure 7.) Ithas a

hollow resonating cavity formed between a slightly arched soundboard and

a flat back board. Every attribute of the instrument has been assigned

a cosmological meaning. For example, the traditional length was set at

3.66 "feet" (about four English feet) to correspond to the maximum number

of days in the year.^^ The ch'in was fitted with strings made of silk

threads, the most elegant material for musical strings before theinvention

of wire. Strings of silk are strong, durable, andhave excellentelastic

properties. Their sound is clearer than gut strings.®^ The ch'in is

designed so that its strings can be stretched with considerable tension

and yet be stopped solidly against the soundboard. In performance the

instrument is placed on a table or across the lap of the player so that

the strings can be stopped with the left hand and plucked with the right
hand. The most unusual feature of the ch'in is the series of inlaid

^4peter Crossley-Holland, "Chinese tlusic," Grove's Dictionary

of Music and Musicians. 5th ed., II, 237.

^5sachs, The History of Musical Instruments, p. 185•

 $1

Ratios: 7/8 5/6 L/5 3/U 2/3 3/5 3/2 2/5 1/3 1/L 1/5 1/6 1/8
Hui numbers: 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 L 3 2 1
stringsa

left hand Right hand

'stops plucks

Performer

Figure 7. The Chinese ch'in

Based on a fifteenth century illustration (with inaccurately placed hui)

from Needham, Science and Civilization in China, IV, 1, p. 129.
a,The melody s tr in g i s th e one f a r th e s t from the perform er.
 52

markers adjacent to the lowest string. These thirteen quasi-frets, called

hui. are symmetrically arranged to mark aliquot divisions of the strings.

Figure 8 shows the pitches that are available when the pentatonically

tuned strings are stopped at these points. The characteristics of the

ch*in— its resonating cavity, long length, silk strings, and string

tension— make it well suited for the production of flageolet tones. 8y

lightly touching a string at hui marks seven through thirteen it is

theoretically possible to obtain flageolet tones up to the eighth harmonic.

The flageolet tones corresponding to each hui mark are shown in Figure 9 .

Traditionally the ch'in has been the special instrument of the

philosophers, its sound being too quiet and its technique too complicated

to elicit popular i n t e r e s t I n the hands of a skilled performer, it is

an instrument of subtle nuance that can yield delicate contrasts of pitch

and timbre. Since the use of the ch'in continued into the twentieth

century, the task of estimating the antiquity of those characteristics

and performance practices that concern flageolet tones is all the more

difficult. Two reference points are helpful. The period when flageolet

tones began to be mentioned in Chinese literature can, with reasonable

certainty, be fixed about the third century A.D. According to

Joseph Needham, recognition of the "harmonics", called fan yin (floating

sounds), was already well advanced in the time of the Taoist poet,
87
Hsi Khang (A.D. 223-262). An earlier Taoist pronouncement, by

% b id .. p. 188.

^Tjoseph Needham, et al. Science and Civilization in China. Vol. IV,

part 1: Physics (Cambridge, 1962), p. 132.
 ^3

S trin g Hui: 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 $ u 3 2 1

I G D E^ E F G A c e g c* e* g' c"

II D E F n G A B d f# a d» f#' a» d"

III E F# G G# A B c# e g# b e' gP b» e"

17 G A B^ B C d e g b d» g' b* d" g"

V A . B 0 c# d e f# a c//‘ e* a« c//" e" a"

VI c d eb e f g a c* e* g* c" e" g" c«

VII d e f f# g a b d» a* d" f#” a" d'«

Ratios: 1 7/8 ^/6 3/U 2/3 3/^ 1/2 2/^ 1/3 VU V5 1/6 V 8

Figure 8. Ch*in - Pre-Ming tuning^

Source: Kaufmann, Musical Notations of the Orient, p. 2?8

^Before A.D. 1368.

Ratios: Vj % ^
Hui: 13 i m io 4 8 7 6 5 V 3 & » Bridge
" - \

Stopped
pitches :

not used ±
^ ----------«--------- . .. 0
.... ^ 1

Harmonics :

Figure 9 , Ch'in - Pitches on the c-string

 55
Tao Te Chlng (ca,300 B.C.) that "the greatest music has the most tenuous
8S
notes" is intriguing but inconclusive. A second point of reference

can be fixed at about the twelfth century because an extant example of

zither tablature demonstrating the use of flageolet tones can be traced to

this period. Although such tablatures were rare before the fifteenth

century, Laurence Picken believes that a song with zither accompaniment,

including a solo interlude, ty the twelfth-century con^oser, Jiang Ewei,

survives in a contenporary tablature.^? Picken'a transcription of the

piece is shown in Figure Id

The early history of the ch'in is obscured in mythology. Early

references to the instrument are dated variously from about 3000 to 1100
90
B.C. Some perspective on the antiquity of the zithers can be gained

from the traditional classifications of the sources of sound. Silk (the

category for zithers) was notiamong the four earliest sources: stone,
91
metal, bamboo, and skin (leather). However, by about 700 B.C. references

to the customary eight sources of sound, which now included silk, began
92
to appear in the literature. It can be assumed that the ch'in and the
she were well established by that time.

The principal sources on the history of the ch'in are the ch'in-n'u

(zither books) that began to appear with some frequency from about the

SGibid.

®9picken, "The Music of Far Eastern Asia," p. 99.

^Crossley-Holland, "Chinese Music," p. 221; Sachs, The History of

Musical Instruments, p. 185.

9lNeedham, Science and Civilization in China. 17, 1, p. 151.

92ibid.. p. 145.
 $6

Harmonici

Normal notes:
»

«ter

i s ÜL n: tr "Et "Ei
Tuning of the
open strings:

8topped pitches '9‘'

on the f-string: cr

Figure 10. Twelfth-century ch'in accompaniment

Source: New Oxford History of Music, I, 110-11.

 57
go
twelfth century.These hooks indicate that the ch'in was played at

first with a plectrum and used as an ensemble instrument in the imperial

court and in Confucian rites (Confucius, 554-479 B.C.). It later

became a solo instrument played with the fingers, a development that

probably occurred long before the appearance of "The Refined Orchid

Book" of the T'ang period (A.D. 618-906). This manuscript (the oldest

one known dealing with ch'in playing) describes a highly formalized and

sophisticated style of solo performance.^^ One may assume that the

exploitation of flageolet "effects" arose with the soloistic use of the

instrument.

"While it is impossible to deny that the Chinese may have known how

to produce flageolet tones for a long time, it is important to the

investigation of the harmonic series to find the point in history when

they discovered the numerical relationships within a series of flageolet

tones. The best clues in this quest are the hui marks, the extant

tablatures that require flageolet tones, and the adoption of thin strings,

Three assumptions are commonly implied in descriptions of the ch'in;

(1) that the primary purpose of using inlaid markers was to aid in the

production of flageolet tones, (2) that the symmetrical disposition of

the hui marks was inspired by knowledge of the harmonic series, and (3)

that the presence of thirteen hui marks indicates that flageolet tones

up to the eighth harmonic were known and used (see Figure 9 ). These

^%alter Kaufmann, Musical Notations of the Orient (Bloomington,

1967), p. 272.

94%bid.. pp, 269-70J "William P. Malm, Music Cultures of the

Pacific, the Near East, and Asia (Englewood Cliffs, 1967), p. 119.
 58

assumptions must bo questioned. The first is the easiest to dispose of.

I'Jhile the adoption of inlaid markers is an admirable solution to the use

of both stopped notes and flageolet tones, raised frets are not actually

detrimental to the production of flageolet tones. On the other hand,

players sometimes stop a string between the hui marks, a procedure that

would be inliibited by raised frets. The other two assumptions require

a more detailed investigation.

lîuch confusion stems from a general lack of understanding of how

the ch'in is played. Being the esoteric instrument of the initiated

few, the historical zither books have often been purposely secretive

about matters of performance.^^ Even so recent an authoritative an account

as the one given by Sibyl llarcuse states that "six strings are played

as open strings, tuned in fourths and fifths, to provide accompaniment

to the single melody s t r i n g . T h i s statement would be more accurate

for the playing of other oriental zithers. Moreover, the same account

implies that harmonics are played only on the melody string. Studies

of ch'in tablature, by Picken^*^ and by Kaufmann,demonstrate clearly

that any of the strings may be stopped and that flageolet tones are

usually produced on the thinner strings. The so-called melody string,

^%aufmann. Musical Notations of the Orient, p. 273.

9^-Iarcuse, Musical Instruments, p. 94.

^"^fellesz, e d ., New Oxford H istory o f ^fusic. I, pp. 110-11 j

117-23.

^%auf!mann, Musical Notations of the O rien t, pp, 267-95.

 59

which is the lowest-pitched string, is situated farthest from the

performer. The hui marks are located beyond this string, the thickest

and therefore the least likely to be used for producing flageolet tones

(see Figure 7). Conclusive evidence of how flageolet tones were actually

performed is found in the photocopy of a twelfth-century tablature

provided l:y Picken.^9 In the interlude that it contains, every string

but the lowest one is used for flageolet tones. It also discloses that

only the third and fourth harmonics were used (i.e., divisions of the

strings into one-third or one-fourth). FigureII shows the reconstruction

of harmonics used in this interlude. (The reconstruction may be compared

with Picken's transcription given in Figure 10 .

It is possible to consider the symmetrical placement of the hui

markings as being unrelated to the use of "harmonics.” Viewed as an

aliquot monochord system, this placement provides a close correspondence

between the notes obtained by dividing the string and the notes of the

cyclic system that was the basis of Chinese music. Absurd as this

proposition might seem to Sachs, who was convinced that the placement

of the hui was'due to the harmonics,it is not unreasonable to

conjecture that an aliquot system of stopping the string might appeal

^^Picken, "The Music o f Far E astern A sia," P la te Vb, facin g p . 94.

lOOgaohs, The H istory o f Musical Instrum ents, p . 8Ô.

 60

Harmonics :
)Lfj : 3 4 3 4 •i •/ 4 a 4 % ‘i Ï
yr Q <? .
*'"/ "
Hui; J /«> /«> r/ ;ü /»> /-y JO (Û c.
V V V J»
Fundamentals :
Strings : z mm % 3X za zas. Z "zm
% 4 4 V 3 */ 4 4 4
. _r
/o to |j to It, ta y» to JO ; fully y
StopD Sd

---------- e— —-- 15-

2tZ SOl SS. m: 'SC. ZL rx. s . it 21 a

E, p;>: a n: -ss. zE
Tuning of the
open strings;
Harmonics of :â 1 ^ 4 3 a %
;z: = A ^ ci
string VII:
Hui: i3 II I* S *7

Figure 11, Harmonics used in a twelfth-century ch'in accompaniment

Transcribed from the tablature in Hew Oxford History of Music^ I,

Plate Vb, facing p. 9i|. '
 61

to these early believers in cosmological symbolism. The merit of

this notion could be better judged if the antiquity of the hui markings

could be established, but unfortunately the evidence on this matter is

inconclusive.

The hui marks are referred to in the earliest book on ch»in playing,

"The Refined Orchid Book" (T»ang period, A.D. 618-906).^^^ The diversity

of techniques required by the instructions in this book (no tablature

•was given) suggest that the use of hui was well established by the T»ang

period. It may be that the system of hui was unique to the Chinese and

that it evolved before the fretted lutes (ni-na) of the Middle East
102
appeared in China about the second century A.D. The earliest pictorial

e-vidence is, however, disappointing in this matter. Representatives

of both the five- and seven-stringed ch»in in the ”Wu Liang tomb-shrines
nAO
(ça. A.D. 1A7) fail to show the hui markings. Both instruments are

viewed directly from above, and, considering the clarity of detail in

these depictions, this feature could easily.have been included had the

artist so desired. The hui marks are also lacking in a depiction of the

ch»in in a fresco from a cave at Chhien-fo-tung (ça. A.D. 642); on the

other hand, the frets of the ni-ua (lute) are clearly shown.^^^ This

fresco is from the same period as "The Refined Orchid Book". It seems

103-Excerpt trans. in Kaufinann, Musical Notations of the Orient.

p. 270.

102iîeedham, Science and Civilization in China. 17, 1, p. 130.

103e . Chavannes, Mission archéologique d^s la Chine septentrionale.

2 vols, and portfolios of plates (Paris, 1909), Plates 117 and 122.

104-iieedham, Science and Civilization in China. 17, 1, Plate cx,

facing p. 164..
 62

likely that the htd marks were introduced well after the system for

dividing the strings in aliquot parts had been worked out. Perhaps the

markers were added as an adjunct to the development of the tablature.

The symmetrical pattern of the hui presents some interesting internal

evidence that this scheme was, indeed, an attempt to obtain the tones

of the pentatonic scale by means of a divisive system. First, the markers

are placed next to the string most frequently stopped but least frequently

used for flageolet tones. Second, the sixth and eighth hui (divisions of

2 /5 and 3/5) serve no useful purpose for flageolet tones but they do pro­

vide essential tones in the pentatonic scale (see Figure 12). Third,

there is no hui mark to indicate the seventh harmonic.

In Figure 13 the hui markings of the ch»in are interpreted as a system

of monochord divisions. Successive divisions of the string into halves,

thirds, fourths, fifths, and sixths yield new tones that fit in the

ancient cyclic scale (i.e., C D E G A, with two extra tones, F and E^,

sometimes used). Division at 7/Sths of the string provides the only

tone yet lacking (i.e., D). The resulting septimal second (8:7) is not

found in IJestem music, nor does it agree accurately with the Chinese

cyclic system; however, the corresponding division at l/8th of the

string provides the third octave of the fundamental. Is this virtue

sufficient compensation for the false tuning of the D? Neither of the

symmetrically related points at 3/8ths or 5/8ths of the string yield

tones of the pentatonic scale and there are no markers for them.

Two lesser arguments lend support to the notion that the hui marks

were intended primarily for stopped tones and only secondarily if at all,
 63

Pentatonic
scale:

Cycle of ^ ...
twelve lü:

îignre 12. Chinese pentatonic scale

Steps Divisions
■1 -r. 1/2

9 5 , 1/1
2 " — ....... ' -
A
^ — ----------------------- = -----
>0 --- ------ f ----- 4
1 , i/)i
J ^ ....... *’> •*' *»

---- : ± h O ---
1» II y 6 3 .-, 1/^
I4 ...... ’
A

rsr % V6
— I—

i3
"3T" 7-1 V8

Figure 13. Hui markings as a monochord division system

 64

for flageolet tones. First, the zither music that survives does not

seem to require all of the flageolet tones that are theoretically

available in the hui system. For example, none of the numerous transcrip­

tions provided by Picken (spanning a period of seven or eight centuries)

appear to require flageolet tones higher thanthe fourth harmonic.

His transcription of a zither prelude, dating from 1425, is given in

Figure 14-. Although the rhythmic requirements of this piece are more

difficult than those of thetwelfth-century example (see Figure 30), the

harmonics extend no higher. If the flageolettones were limited to the

first four harmonics, only five hui marks would be needed. The second

argument concerns the method of stopping the ch'ln. At least in the more

recent tablatures (e.g., an eighteenth-century example quoted by Kaufinann)^®^

the performer is often directed to stop the strings between hui marks. In

such cases the tablature refers to imaginary subdivisions between hui.

called fen. The fen provide ten additional reference points between each

hui for obtaining additional intervals. Kaufhan concluded that in actual

107
practice intervals smaller than a semitone were not used. Considering

the early adoption of inlaid markers instead of raised frets, this means

of "adjusting" the pitches indicated by the fixed points may have been

practiced for a long time. In other words, this argument suggests that

the use of fen affords a degree of flexibility to the system that would

make it more cong)atible with the cyclic system of Chinese music.

^^^Picken, "The I&isic of Far Eastern Asia," pp. 111-23.

^^^Kaufmann, Musical Notations of the Orient, p. 284-90.

J-Q^Ibid.. p. 279.
 65

All harmonics:^

I n u l i
é4 *1 4 w 41
-f ,V-

’ - « 4 4 q « * / " ^ J n W W ^
|.... ^ ,j ^ _j_ j \ p f -j>..
. ,- . ^ ;— : ,.4, 4znj :j^-r _.,
V* f“

Tuning of the ,..zE :. =JF- zz#

open strings:
-3 -o e-

■Figure 11*. Chinese zither prelude of A.D. 11*25

Transcribed by Picken in New Oxford History of Music, I, 118, 13l*.

^Conjectured harmonic numbers have been added.

 66

The assumption that the hui marks resulted from a desire to find

a divisive system compatible with Chinese cyclic theory requires a closer

investigation of Chinese musical theories. These markings represent

TOft
the only concrete evidence of a divisive system in Chinese music,
109
All of the early theoretical works deal with the cyclic system. Even

the individual strings of the ch'in itself are tuned according to the

ratios of the cyclic pentatonic scale rather than to the just ratios

obtained by the division of the lowest s t r i n g . T h i s means that the only

stopped intervals that are in tune with the open strings are the fifths

and twelfths. An instrument that incorporates two opposing systems of

tuning its intervals is truly unusual in the history of music.

Traditional Chinese theory recognized only the cyclic system of twelve

1Û— a spiral of keynotes (not a chromatic scale) based on perfect fifths

(3:2) starting from a fixed pitch called the huang chung (i.e., F C G D

A E B F? C# G# D# A#) This system was. considered to have great

religious and political significance. Table i shows that while the

Chinese system is similar to the Pythagorean cycle, the twelve lü yield

fewer just ratios because no provision is included for the "comma"

adjustment to provide the just octave. According to Needham, twelfth-

century scholars mistrusted the pronouncement of Tshai Yuan-Ting (A.D.

1135-1198) that the ratio of the octave is 2:1 because this simple ratio

^^^Crossley-HoUand, "Chinese Music," p. 228.

109ffeedham, Science and Civilization in China. IV, 1, pp. 171-76.

Music Cultures of the Pacific, the Near East, and Asia.
p. 112.

^^Grossley-HoUand, "Chinese Music," p. 226.

 67

TABLE 1

COMPARISON OF CHINESE AND PYTHAGOREAN CYCLIC SCALES

Pitch Chinese Scale Pythagorean Scale Cents

C 1 1 0

c# 201:8/2187 - lUi
D 8/9 8/9 201:

D# 16381j/19683 - 317
E 6ii/8l 6V81 li09
F 131072/177117 222

1:98

F# 212/729 612

G 2/3 2/3 702

G# U096/6261 - 816

A 16/27 16/27 906

A# 32768/2901:9 - 1019

B 128/21:3 128/21:3 1109

0 262Hil:/231i»bl 1228

V2 1200

Source: Needham, Science and Civilization in China, IV, 1, 175*

 68
112
does not conform to orthodox cyclic theory."^ Surely these arguments

vere entirely pedantic. It is difficult to believe, for example,

that the octave-sounding strings of the seven-stringed ch'in were not

in actual practice tuned to just octaves.

The discrepancies between the divisive system of the ch'in and

traditional cyclic theory were observed by the renowned theorist Chu

Tsai-Yu in his A Hew Account of the Science of the Pitch-pipes published

in 1584:

I have made an attempt with the theory of the Sung

(scholar) Chu Hsi, based on the ancient up and down
principle, and using this tried to get the positions for
the standard pitches on the zither. But I noticed that
the (normal) notes of the zither were not in consonance
with (those produced from) the positions of the standard
pitches, and suspicions therefore arose in my mind.
Wight and day I searched for a solution and studied
exhaustively this pattem-principle. Suddenly early one
morning I reached a perfect understanding of it and
realised for the first time that the four ancient sorts
of standard pitches all gave mere approximations to the
notes. This moreover was something which pitch-pipe
exponents had not been conscious of for a period of two
thousand years.
Only the makers of the zither (chhin) in their method
of placing the markers at three-quarters or two-thirds
(etc, of the length of the strings) had as common
artisans transmitted by word of mouth (the way of making
the instrument) from an unlcnown source. I think that
probably the men of old handed down the system in this
way, only it is not recorded in literary works.

Using this inconsistency in tradition as justification, Chu Tsai-Yu

then presented the first accurate method for achieving equal temperament.

•^Weedham, Science and Civilization in China. IV, 1, p. 214.

^•^Lù* Hsueh Hsin Shuo. Ch. I, p. 5a; trans. of this excerpt in

Weedham, Science and Civilization in China. IV, I, p. 221.
 69

The "iinknoim source" of the system, mentioned in the quotation,

may have been either the Buddhists, who influenced Chinese musical thought

after A.D, 62, or even earlier, the Babylonians, whose system of pro­

portions apparently reached China about the fourth century B.C. Between

A.D. 200 and 600 Buddhism was a vital movement in C h i n a . T h e monks

adopted the ch'in and brought to it the elusive, ornamental techniques

of Indian music. Thus, many of the ornamental effects characteristic of

Chinese zither music— glissandos, vibratos, and perhaps even the use of

flageolet tones— can be traced to the influence of Indian melodic ornaments

(gamakas). Peter Crossley-Holland suggests that this Buddhist influence

from India may also be the source of the divisive system used on the c h 'in .

The extent of the earlier Babylonian influence on Chinese astronomy and

number theory is largely conjectural. Many scholars believe that the pro­

portions of consonances were discovered in Babylon and spread from there

eastward to China, south'vrard to India, and westward to the Mediterranean

/
(the Pythagoreans). Needham finds support for this theory in an

Artificers' Record from the Records of the Institutions of the Chou Dynasty
117
(Chou Li), which he believes can be dated no later than 300 B.C.

In this very early account of bronze-founding, the copper content of the

H^peter Crossley-Holland, "Hon-llestem Music," in The Pelican

History of Music. I (Baltimore, I960), 4^-9.
ll^ibid.. p. 49.

ll^See Needham, Science and Civilization in China. IV, 1, pp. 176-83.

117lbid.. p. 180.
 70

alloys follows the ratios of consonant intervals, namely 5:6, 4:5, 3:4,

2:3, 3:5, and 1:2. Iflaile it must be admitted that the relationship may

be coincidental, this same set of ratios very nearly accounts for the

arrangement of the hui marks on the ch'in (see Figure 9 ),

One final clue concerning the use of flageolet tones and the extent

of the series that could have been known in early times is to be found
in the nature of silk strings. The silk thread obtained from cocoons is

very fine, but quite strong and elastic, and is available in long lengths,

^y twisting many threads together, the Chinese were able to make excellent

musical strings of uniform quality. They could be made in any desired

length and thickness, but the number of threads in a string was not left

to chance. For example, the strings of the shè traditionally contained

243 threads (i.e., 3®) just as the maximum length of the chest was fixed

at 81 "inches" (i.e., 3^).^^^ Since the strings of the seven-stringed

ch'in each produced a different pitch, they were graded in thickness

according to the following numbers of threads; 108, 96, 81, 72, 64, 54,

and 48.^^^ These numbers stand in the ratios of the cyclic scale (see

Figure 15 ). Although this particular gradation is acoustically inaccurate

because the pitch change of an octave should require the higher string

to contain the square root of the number of threads of the lower, it

does show an awareness of the relationship between string mass and pitch.

A portion of this series of numbers, i.e., 81, 72, 64, 54, 48, was the

H^Crossley-HoUand, "Chinese Music," p. 238.

119Sachs, Thfi History of Musical Instruments, p. 187.

 71

String number: I II III 17 ? VI VII

Pitches : ■f v . - _ e-- ■■■=•■■ , —

Ratios of
pitches: 9/8 32/27 9/8 9/8 32/27 9/8

Number of
threads : 108 96 81 72 6U ^8

Ratios of
thread numbers: 9/8 32/27 9/8 9/8 32/27 9/8

Figure 1^. Thread numbers of the Ming Dynasty ch'in

Source: Sachs, History of Musical Instruments, 187.

81 72 6k gii lt8

97B 9/8 32/27 9/8

81 72 UQ 6h

3/2 3Â 3/2 J /h

Figure 16. Numbers of the ancient Chinese pitch pipes

Source: Needham, Science and Civilization in China, TV, 1, pp. 173-79.

 72
basis for determining the lengths of pitch-pipes in tenths of an "inch."

The oldest mention of these actual number values is in the Historical

Records (Shih Chi) of Ssuma Chhien (ça, 90

It is doubtful, however, that these cyclic ratios were also applied

to string thicknesses at this early date. There are several reasons to

suspect that this refinement came considerably later. For one thing,

the scale given l?y the series 108,96, 81, 72, 64, 54* 48 is not the

ancient pentatonic scale but rather the pentatonicscale adopted during

the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644) (see Figure 16). Firthennore, the
thread numbers attributed to the ancient five-stringed ch'in by the

"zither books" are 240, 206, 206, 172, and 172.'^ Although this shows a

gradation, it does not follow the cyclic ratios. Concrete evidence of

a cyclic gradation is found earlier in the writings of tenth-century Arab

theorists.They applied a similar series, i.e., 64, 48, 36 (=^ 72),

27 (*^ 54), for numbering the silk (?) threads in the four pairs of strings
of the lute ('cd).

An interesting by-product of these thread numbers is that they

seem to indicate that the ancient zithers were strung with much thicker
strings than the refined instrument of the Ming Dyiiasty. This fact

becomes clear if one compares the thinnest string of the more recent

seven-stringed ch'in (48 threads) with the thinnest of the five-stringed

120ueedham, Science and Civilization in China. IV, 1, p. 173.

^^Kaufmann, tîusical Notations of the Orient, p. 276.

122ibid.. p. 275.

123Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments, pp. 187; 254.

 73

ch'in (172 threads) and the she (243 threads). Even the thickest string

of the seven-stringed ch'in (108 threads) is significantly thinner than

the strings of the ancient zithers. The adoption of thinner strings may

well have been inspired by the desire for an increased range of flageolet

tones. This development, coupled with the lack of references to the

"floating sounds" before the third century, leads to the conclusion that

the extensive use of flageolet tones in the technique of the ch'in resulted

after the Buddhist influence.

There is little doubt that, even before the fall of Rome, the Chinese

had a knowledge of flageolet tones and their numericalrelationships that

far exceeded any such knowledge in theWestern world. However, the Chinese

were interested in flageolet tones from the standpoint of alternative,

contrasting timbres and were not seeking to develop a pitch system from

this acoustical foundation. This may explain why no presentation of the

divisive system appears in Chinese literature.

Due to the esoteric nature of thech'in. the useof flageolet tones

remained an isolated technique having no influence on other musical

practices. Other oriental zithers were played in a much more conventional

manner. Even the direct descendants of the ch'in. such as the Korean

komumko^^ and the Japanese koto.^^^ were played with a plectrum and tuned

with moveable bridges. This difference in practice demonstrates that

characteristics favorable to the production of flageolet tones do not

guarantee that the effect will be exploited.

^^Kaufinann, ^Sisical Notations of the Orient, pp. 301-03.

125prancis T. Piggott, "Japanese ^iusic," Grove's Dictionary of

Music and Ifesicians. 5th ed., IV, 589-90.
 74

Flageolet Tones in the Middle Ages

The proliferation of stringed instruments that took place in the

"West from about the ninth to the thirteenth centuries makes the task of

investigating flageolet tones exceedingly complex. Three developments

dating from this period were acoustically significant to the investigation:

(1) the adoption of the friction bow, (2) the development of wire strings,

and (3) advancements in the design of resonating chests. The introduction

of bowing was especially important and eventually led to the use of

flageolet tones on the trumpet marine. Surprisingly, there is no direct

evidence that the other two factors can be related to flageolet tones

before their use in modem violin and harp technique. These factors will

be investigated more fully in conjunction with sympathetic resonance

in Chapter III.

There is no evidence to suggest that an extensive series of flageolet

tones was obtained from any of the instruments of this period. It is

possible that certain East Europeein folk instruments were stopped in such

a way as to produce octave "harmonics." Bowed instruments that have no

fingerboard can be stopped by touching the strings laterally with the

fingernails, using the nails as temporary bridges like the tangents on

126
clavichords. Instruments stopped in this manner include: the Finnish

bow-harp, the Polish gesle. the Slavic gusle and guslice. and the Greek

lira. According to Sachs, the lira, a three-stringed instrument about the

127
size of a violin, is played "in harmonics only", using the nail technique.

126jjicholas Bessaraboff, Ancient European I-hisical Instruments

(Cambridge, I4ass., 1941), p. 251.

^^Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments, p. 275.

 75

The three gut strings are tuned in fifths and fourths (e.g., d' g o').

While the bow touches all the strings at once, the performer stops the

outer strings with his fingernails, leaving the center string to act as

a drone. Sachs has convincingly traced this folk instrument to the

medieval "Byzantine fiddle" that is mentioned in sources as early as the

ninth century. The credibility of his assertion about "harmonics" must

be questioned. Accounts Bessaraboff^^^ and Marcuse^^ indicate that

the fingernail technique is a means of fully stopping the string. Further­

more, the small size and rudimentary design of the lira belie the

practicality of such a limitation as flageolet tones.

The Trumpet Marine and Flageolet Tones

The more recent history of flageolet tones can be traced in the

evolution of the trumpet marine, a curious folk instrument played in

flageolet tones exclusively. In its typical form, the trumpet marine had

a single gut string that ran the length of a long, three- or four-sided

resonating chamber. The slightly tapered resonator was open at the

larger, base end and looked rather like a wooden organ pipe. Not far

from the base, the string passed over a trembling bridge so balanced that
the vibrating string caused one leg to drum against the sound board (see

Figure 17). With the resonance of the string and air cavity properly

coordinated, the trembling bridge caused the sounds of the flageolet

^^^Bessaraboff, Ancient European Musical Instruments, p. 251.

12%Qj.QTjge^ Musical Instruments, pp. 223; 3105 also see Otto
Anderssen, The Bowed-Ham (London. 1930;, p. 139.
 76

!• i . JÎvIcfiK ^)ofcl3cri / ©cigcn cm Octav . 3. D lk au t-G ctg cm Q uarr ()o^cr.

Qu’cljrcDifcaiit-^cf^. j , Tcnor-C5cfi|, d B as-C c/^dcbracio, 7, ^vwmfd)ciDf.
8. 6cl}cii)fI;£>Irt, .
'.-T :... y:;v . .. \ <s . f# -

Figure 17. Praatorius, Syntagma Musicum - Illustration

of Trumscheidt (trumpet marine) and Scheidtholt
 77

tones to be greatly amplified. The trumpet marine -was played in a way

that was unique for a stringed instrument: the left thumb touched the

string lightly at one of the nodal points, while the right hand bowed the

string above (i.e., between.the thumb and the nut) instead of below the

stopping point. This is the optimal method for obtaining flageolet tones

with a bow, because the bow is always activating the string at a loop

and the longer segment of the string is free to subdivide its vibrational

pattern. The peculiarities of this method make it easy to determine

whether flageolet tones were being played in early pictures. When the

trembling bridge was behaving properly, the instrument resembled a trunçet

in two ways: it could produce only the partial tones of the harmonic

series, and it emitted tones of a similar timbre. Bessaraboff tested a

seventeenth-century trumpet marine in the Boston îûiseum and found that it

produced a timbre amazingly like that of a contemporary natural trumpet.

The trumpet marine is, in reality, a string-activated, wooden tube.

The importance of this peculiar instrument to the history of the

harmonic series can hardly be overestimated. The trumpet marine provided

auditory experiences that no other stringed instrument could. The unique

characteristics of its resonance system— a coupled system of string and

column of air— offered a wider range of flageolet tones than any previous

instrument and amplified the flageolet tones so they could be clearly

heard. The timbre and tonal series of the trumpet marine drew the attention

of musicians and scientists to the similarities between the flageolet tones

of strings and the overblown partiale of trumpets. These similarities

130Bessaraboff, Ancient European Musical Instruments, p. 319.

 78
greatly stimulated the curiosity of those vho were interested in

acoustical phenomena. With this strange device it was possible to

visualize how the vibration of the string is segmented and from this to

postulate about the vibrations of air columns, finally, the origins and

evolution of the trumpet marine reveal much about the history of flageolet

tones in Europe and must, therefore, be investigated in some detail.

The Origins of the Trumpet Marine

Being a folk instrument of little initial interest to learned

musicians, the early development of the trumpet marine was not recorded

in literary sources. Pictorial evidence is the chief aid, although some

information may be obtained from the etymology of the various names

associated with the instrument.

There are two principal theories about where the trumpet marine

(tromba marina) originated and how it evolved. The theory suggested by

Sachs is that the origins of the instrument were probably Slavic.

131 He

based this conjecture on several arguments: (l) the use of a triangular­

shaped sound chest occurs also in the Russian Balalaika and in certain

Tartar Tanburs (lutes), (2) the association with flageolet tones, which

he considered an East European characteristic, and (3) the designation

marina, which he believed to be Polish in derivation. His first point is

not very convincing, because the tube resonator of the trumpet marine

is generically different from the lute-chest resonators of East European

instruments. His second point is disputable because, for one thing,

131sachs, The History of Musical Instruments, pp. 160-62.

 79

there is evidence that the tnaapet marine was not originally used for
flageolet tones.

These points are dealt with satisfactorily by the other theory that

the tromba marina is a descendant of the monochord, but apparently no one

has arrived at a conclusive explanation for the appellative marina. It

was once thought that the Italians affixed the name marina because the

shape of the instrument resembled a speaking horn used aboard ships

133
Mersenne thought the trumpet marine was possibly invented by mariners.

Because of its use in German nunneries, others have linked the name to

Marientromnet. which along with Nonnengeige was a variant name for the
13Z.
instrument. Sachs found no evidence that the name tromba marina was

used before I6OO and concluded that it might be derived from the Polish
13*5
Tub maryna. Ilarvna still retains the meaning "bass-fiddle”. Czeslaw

Halski, however, suggests that the derivation went the other way. Re­

garding a variety of bass viol, he states;

The name maryna was derived from an earlier instrument called

"tuba marina". The latter was widely popular amoung raftsmen;
equipped with two strings it was used by them as a kind of
sound-signal.

^^^jFrancis W. Galpin, Old English Instruments of Music (4th ed.;

London, 1965), p. 73.
133î,iersenne, "Traité des instrumens," Bk. 17, prop, xii, p. 217.

134-Francis W. Galpin, A Textbook of European Musical Instruments

(London, 1937), p. 144.
135ourt Sachs, Handbuch der Musikinstrumentenkunde (Leipzig, 1920),
pp. I6I-62.

^^^Czeslaw Halski, "Folk ^lusic: Polish," Grove's Dictionary of

Music and Musicians. 5th ed.. Ill, 337.
 80

That Paulus Paulirinus, vho taught at Cracow about I46O, designated the

instrument Tubalcana^^*^ (trumpet sound) suggests that the names tuba

maryna or marina had no long history in Poland,

The second theory, outlined by Panum, traces the origins of the

trumpet marine to the didactic monochord,Literary allusions and

pictorial illustrations indicate that several secular instruments evolved

from the didactic monochord. Two of these can be classed as "log" mono­

chords: the Trumscheidt (drum-log) and the Scheidtholt (wood-log). The

two are shown side hy aide in the Syntagma Musicum (see Figure 1"), The

sixteenth-century German names refer to two similarly shaped but

acoustically different instruments. The Trumscheidt is the trumpet marine.

It was like a hewn, hollow log, open at one end to make a pipe. The

Scheidtholt was also like a hewn, hollow log, but it was always four-sided

BO it could be partially or entirely open at the back,^^ It was shorter

than the trumpet marine and fretted. There is no evidence that the

Scheidtholt was used to produce flageolet tones.

Pictorial illustrations from the Middle Ages, surveyed extensively by

Panum and by Adkins,reveal several stages in the development of the

trumpet marine. Early French depictions of the jongleur's monochord from

the twelfth and fourteenth centuries suggest that in the first stage, the

137pauius Paulirinus, "Tractatus de musica: Musica instrumentalis"j

this section of the original manuscript is printed in Josef W, Reiss,
Pauli Paulirini de Praga Tractatus de musica," Zeitscbrift fur Muslk-
wissenschaft. VII (1925), 262-64,

^3Spanum, The Stringed Instruments of the Middle Ages, pp. 251-63,

Ijusical Instruments, p, 462,

■^Adkins, "The Monochord," pp. 389-406,

 81

instrument vas plucked rather than boved.^^^ The twelfth-century example

shows clearly the open end and the triangular shape, but no vibrating

bridge. It is being played in a downward position and stopped in normal

(non-harmonic) fashion. Illustrations from the early fifteenth century

show similar monochords and dichords held in a downward position, but

played with a bow. There is still no evidence of the vibrating bridge.

A woodcarving in Basel Cathedral (1432) depicts a dichord being bowed

and fingered in normal viol fashion, but a similar instrument in a chapel

painting in Barcelona (ça.1400) shows the bow placed above the stopping

hand.^^ This latter method is also seen in a manuscript illumination of

a large minstrel's dichord, which implies that the use of flageolet tones

may have preceded the adoption of the trembling bridge.

A fully developed trumpet marine is beautifully depicted in the Najera

Alterpiece hy Hans Memling (ca.lASO) It is played in a new way with

the open end held upward like a trumpet. The instrument has two strings,

one twice the length of the other, and the longer appears to be fitted

with the trembling bridge. Furthermore it is being bowed between the

stopping hand and the nut, strongly suggesting the production of flageolet

tones. Although the instrument appears to have frets at the upper end

of the fingerboard, these may be marks to indicate the aliquot divisions.

If so, they are inaccurately placed. Mersenne discussed the use of such

^^Panum, The Stringed Instruments of the Middle Ages, p. 253.

^^Adkins, "The Monochord," pp. 392; 389.

•^Panum, The Stringed Instruments of the Middle Ages, p. 255.

^^Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments. Plate X7III, facing p.

304.
 82

marks with reference to a similar illustration of the trumpet marine

in his Harmonicorum Llbri.^^^ A macabre print by Holbein (ca.l525)

shows a tromba marina being played in the upward manner by a skeleton,^^

Adkins suggests that this association may have been inspired by the
"percussive rattle of the bridge."^4?

By the early sixteenth century, illustrations and commentary on the

Trumscheidt began to appear in German theoretical works, namely, Sebastian

Virdung*s, Lftislca getutscht (l5H)j llartin Agricola's, l-hisica instrumentalis

deudsch (1528); Ottomar Luscinius', ^Msurgla (1536)— a Latin translation

of Virdung's treatise; and Heinrich Glareanus', Dodecachordon (154-7). The

confusion shovm by these writers demonstrates rather clearly how little

was really known about flageolet tones at this point in history. Agricola,
following Virdung, dismissed the Trumscheidt as a useless instrument

because it lacked the frets that would enable it to be played "according

to the rules of art” (secumdum artem). No reference was made to the

mechanism or sound of the instrument before Glareanus, except for the

descriptive name Trumscheidt (drum-log) or in Paulirinus' case (ça.1460)

Tubalcana (trumpet sound).

^^^Harmonicorum Libri XII; Tone II, De "Intrumentis Harmonicis"

(2nd ed,; Paris, 1648), Bk. I,prop, xxxvii, p. 56.

^^Adkins, "The Monochord," p. 396.

U7ibid.. p. 39A.
^^Martin Agricola, Musica Instrumentalis deudsch (4-th ed.;
"Wittenberg, 154-5), p. xiii.
 83

Glarean’s Dodecachordon (1547) contains the first useful description

of the trumpet marine and how it was played:

In these times the Germans and French dwelling near the Rhine
make use of instruments very similar to this form [monochord],
instruments made from three small laths glued together in the
manner of a triangular pyramid, and gradually drawn toward a
pointQ They call the instrument Tympani Schlza [trumscheitjj
above its surface a string is stretched between bridges, which
string is struck or rather scraped by the rosined horsehair
bow which at present is used to strike, or rather scrape, the
strings of a lyra. To this string some add a second one half
as long, so that in endings the latter may sound the octave
more strongly, . . .
Players go about through the streets with the instrument's
point fixed at the breast; at this point are the pegs to which
the strings are drawn; the opposite end where the hollow and
triangular base lies, is borne outward. They hold the instru­
ment with the left hand, lightly touching the string with the
thumb in points of division (for they also have these, but in
fourths and fifths. and sometimes in thirds); the bow is draim
by the right hand. One end of the string begins at the base
and extends to the point which is placed at the breast. The
left hand is extended with a finger, mostly the thumb, frequently
touching the string. The right hand keeps the bow within the
limits of this touching [i.e., between the left hand and the
instrument's point], so that a constantly smaller contactual
part of the string will sound. The instrument produces a more
nearly agreeable tone at a distance than it does close at hand.
Its players use it most suitably in only two modes, the Ionian
and the Hypoionian, but not in the others; the same is true
of the trumpet. . . .
As we have already stated, those who play it divide the
octave through a fourth and a fifth. They find semitones
and whole tones vAth difficulty, since they are ignorant of
the art of music. At first they tried to convince me that
these tones could not be found on this instrument, and because
I was greatly astonished by this and wished to investigate it
thoroughly by experiment, I accepted an instrument of this
sort from someone and attacked the problem by myself; at length
I found that they had difficulty partly because of inexperience
in musical matters, since they do not known how to divide the
spaces other than with a thick finger, partly because the
longer string on this instrument produces a certain rattling
sound, assuredly not at every division of the string, but
mostly in fifths and thirds, not in seconds. that is, in a
whole tone or a semitone; in this I found that they had
spoken the truth. They have created the rattling sound by means
of a certain curved bridge, whose one wider and thicker foot
 84

supports the string at the triangular hase, and whose other

shortened foot, to which they have affixed a solid substance
made of ebony or another hard and shining material, causes
this vibrating sound. I had to laugh at this device of men.
Nevertheless, I am still investigating the real reason why
not all the divisions of the string result in the rattling
sound. Sometimes they drive a very thin nail into the heel
of this extended foot so that the vibrating may ring more
strongly on the solid surface, just as the strings on a
cithara clang by striking the lower nail where they are con­
nected to the body of the cithara, and from which they
proceed; common people call it "citharizing” the string.
At the present time the length of these triangular monochords
is almost five feet, the width of each of the three laths
is three and one-half inches at the base, and one and one-half
Inches at the apex.
We have said so much beyond our custom about this Instrument
because we consider it most closely related to the ancient
monochord, if indeed there has been any use of it by the people,
and not rather by the learned only. (Italics mine.)149

There is absolutely nothing in this commentary to indicate that ŒLarean

had any knowledge of flageolet tones and their method of production, nor

is there any indication that he knew of an aliquot system for dividing

the monochord, such as the Chinese had developed. This passage illustrates

very nicely how thinking along the lines of traditional monochord theory

obstructed the discovery of the relationships involved in the harmonic

series.
What is even more interesting in the history of flageolet tones

and the harmonic series is that Praetorius (1619) added nothing to

the explanation of how the trumpet marine functions. His account of

the instiTument consisted of a rather free German translation of

Glarean’s description and a brief addition of his own. The way he

149Heinrich ŒLarean, Dodecachordon. trans. ly Clement A. Miller

(American Institute of tîusicology, 196$), I, 87-8.
 85

translated one passage from the Dodecachordon suggests at first that

perhaps the range of flageolet tones had been extended somewhat during
the intervening period:

Vnnd ob zwar die jenige / so der
Muaic vnerfahren / allein bey den
Tertien. Quarten. Qulnten vnd
Octaven bleibon miissen / die Tonos
aber vnd Semitonia nicht wol finden
konnen: So kan man sie doch / wer
sich dessen / etwas fleissiger
angelegen seyn lest / auch zu wege
bringenj Wiewol wegen dessen /
dass die lange Saite ein kirrenden
und schnarrenden Sonum von sich
gibt / die Semitonia nicht wol
observirt warden konneni^O
And though those who are un-
skilled in music must stick with
thirds, fourths, fifths, and
octaves, being unable to find the
tones and further the semitones,
nevertheless, one who applies
himself somewhat more diligently
can accomplish these also, even
though the semitones cannot be
clearly observed because of the
fact that the long string produces
a clucking and rattling sound.

However, Praetorius is not referring here to the Intervals of the harmonic

151
seid.es (as Blumenfeld states in a footnote to his translation), but

to the semitones obtained by the traditional monochord divisions. Semi­

tones in the harmonic series would involve the eleventh or fourteenth

partiels. The availability of these on the instrument Praetorius depicted

would be questionable. Experiments conducted by Bessaraboff with a late

seventeenth-century instrument of more advanced design showed that the

tones above the eighth harmonic were difficult to obtain and quickly lost

force. 152 clucking and rattling that Praetorius described is the

result of trying to get tones at points other than nodes.

150Michael Praetorius, Syntagma tiusicum. Bk. II: De Organograohia

(Wolfenbiittel, 1619), p. 58.
l^^The Synataema Ifasicum of Michael Praetorius: Vol. II: De
Organographia. First and Second Parts, trans. by Harold Blumenfeld
(New York, 1962), Notes, p. 2.
l^^Bessaraboff, Ancient European Musical Instruments, p. 317.
 86

As his personal comment reveals, Praetorius had examined a larger

Trumscheidt than Glarean, but one fitted with drone strings, a feature

reminiscent of the earlier dichords and trichords:

Dieses Truramscheit / wie ich es This trumpet marine, as I have

gesehen / vnd selbsten eins habe /
1st 7. Schuch 3, Zoll lang / vnd im
Triangel vnten ein jedes Bretlein 7.
Zoll / oben aber kaum 2. Zoll breit;
mit A. Sâiten bezogen / also / dass
die rechte Principal vnd langste
Saite ins G, die ander ins c / die
dritte ins g / vnd die vierdte ins
c gestimmet; Vnd bleiden die ober-
sten drey allezeit in einem Laut
vnd Tono, wie sie ins c g c gestimmet
seyn; Vff der grobsten Saite aber /
wird mit dera anruhren des Daumens /
die rechte Melodey / gleich wie ein
rechter Clarien vff einer Trummet
zuwegebracht / also / dass wenn es
von fernen geboret wird / nicht
anders lautet / als wenn vier
Trumten mit einander bliesen vnd
lieblich einstimmeten; Sonsten ist
es in alien dingen durch vnd durch
also beschaffen / wie hievom aussm
Glareano verdeutschet / vnd
angezeiget worden.^53
seen it (and I myself have one), is
seven feet, three inches long and
each panel of the triangular chest
is seven inches wide below, but
scarcely two inches wide above.
[It is] strung with four strings
so that the proper principal and
longest string is tuned in 0, the
second in c, the third in g , and
the fourth in c*. The upper three
[strings] always play in one sound
and tone, just as they are tuned
in c, 2 , and c», However, the
touch of the thumb, the melody is
carried on the lowest string, the
same as a proper Clarion [part] on
a trumpet, such that when it is
played at a distance it sounds just
as if four trumpets were sounding
together and harmonizing pleasingly.
Otherwise, it is constituted in
every respect exactly as it has
been translated and reported from
Glarean hereinabove.

Mersenne on the Trumpet I4arine

Although Mersenne had not seen the Syntagma Musicum before he finished

the Harmonie universelle ( 1 6 3 6 ) he was aware of at least two earlier

accounts of the trumpet marine. Mersenne cited Luscinius in the

Quaestiones celeberrimae in Geneslm (l623) and Glarean in the Harmonicorum

Llbri (1635). Mersenne became interested in the details of the trumpet

^^^Praetorius, Syntagma I-tisicum. II, 59.

IS^Marin Mersenne, "Nouvelles observations physiques & mathématiques,"

an appendix to the Harmonie universelle (Paris, 1636), p. 27.
 87

marine in 1634. His correspondence indicates that Christophe de Villiers,

a medical doctor at Sens, may have actually turned his attention to the

trumpet marine and its unusual p r o p e r t i e s I n letters of March 3,

August 17, and October 20, 1634, Villiers sent Mersenne information about

the instrument, including a detailed description of its measurements

There is also a letter about the trumpet marine from Descartes, probably

dating from September 15, 1634, in uhich he attempted to explain the

trembling bridge and the division of the string.^^7 it vas from these

letters and his ovn experiments that Mersenne developed his account of the

instrument in the Harmonie universelle.

Mersenne’s account is a mixture of practical description and specu-

lation. The Harmonie universelle contains illustrations of two models

that enable him to present alternative ideas about the construction of the

instrument (see Figure 18), Mersenne observed that the model with the

single string was newer in design and the more resonant of the two. It

had a larger, more "conical" chest cavity. The other model had two strings,

both of them fitted with trembling bridges. This feature appears to be

unique to Mersenne's treatises and may be a speculative addition on his

part. Fitted with a trembling bridge, the shorter string could hot

practically serve its normal function as a drone. Mersenne suggested that

it be tuned a fifth higher than the longer string to give a greater number

155cf., annotation of Comolis de Waard in Mersenne, Correspondance.

IV, 322 n.
156gee Letters 318, 371, and 387, in Mersenne, Correspondance. IV.

157lbid.. p. 360.

158jfersenne, "Traite des instrumens" Bk. IV, prop, xii-xiii, pp.

217-22.
 88

.-Ij
.-<1

— -Ï

sv^r-

ligure 18. Mersenne, Harmonie u n iv e rse lle - Illustrations

of Trompette marine
 89

of available pitches to this "trmq)8t". Another suggestion along these

lines was that, since the instrument has three sides, each could be fitted

with strings of different lengths so that by revolving the sound chest

it could imitate "the sound of the Clarion and all sorts of trumpets"

He did offer one practical idea: an adjustable mechanism fastened below

the trembling bridge to improve its performance. This may have been a

worthy addition, for he observed that it often takes several hours to

achieve the critical placement of the trembling bridge so that it will

produce the sound of the trumpet.

In order to demonstrate the possibility of using the trumpet marine as

a didactic monochord, Mersenne assigned the pitch Gamma to the long string

to correspond with the gamut of Guido. This means that his discussion of

the "trumpet notes" available through the division of the string is related

to the theoretical fundamental of G rather than to C or D, the actual

tunings of the trumpet marine. Mersenne had no special tezm for flageolet

tones, but he designated the tones that rang clearly as the ones that

imitate the sounds of the trumpet. The range that he reported corresponds

to the series of partiale from three to thirteen, omitting seven.^^ This

was the typical range of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century trumpets

marine. He stated that the octave g (i.e., second partial) was also avail­

able but implied that it is out of reach when the instrument is in normal

playing position. Curiously, he observed üiat is is because of convenience

that the string is bowed above the stopping hand, tihether he tried other

159lbid.. prop, xii, p. 218: "..., afin qu'elle face le son des
Clerons, & de toutes sortes de Tros^ettes."

I6 0 ib ld .. p. 219.
 90

bowing positions is now known. Morsenne’s discussion implies, however,

that he had discovered the fact that trumpet notes could be obtained b y

touching the string at the points of division below the middle as well

as above it. This was a step toward the discovery of nodes.

Once it was discovered that the trumpet marine could effectively

imitate the sound of the trumpet, steps were taken to improve that

feature of the instrument. These included placing ebony under the trembling

bridge, increasing the length and size of the resonating tube, and in­

creasing the length and tension of the string. Mersenne commented on some

of these factors and offered a means of extending the range of flageolet

tones that is easily overlooked. He asserted;

OÙ il faut remarquer que la chorde It must be observed that the string

imite d’autant plus parfaitement le imitates the sound of the military
son de la Trompette militaire qu’elle trumpet more perfectly as it is
est plus tendue, & qu’elle ne doit more taut, and it must be neither
estre ny trop grosse ny trop deliée: too thick nor too slender: the
les plus grosses chordes de raquette, thickest racquet strings, that is
c'est à dire celles qui sont faites to.say those that are made of a
de douze boyaux de mouton, sont de dozen sheep guts are of good
bonne g r o s s e u r . thickness.
By using the thicker string that Mersenne recommended, the tension of the

string could be increased and the range of useful flageolet tones could be

extended. Mersenne's explanation of the flageolet tones of the trumpet

marine is discussed in detail in Chapter VIII.

The Trumpet Marine during the Late Baroque

In the latter half of the seventeenth century, the trumpet marine

enjoyed an increase in prestige that took it from the street to the concert

l ^ I b i d .. p . 220.
 91

hall. Lully used it in the opera Xerxea (l660) as a melody instrument

in an interlude Pour les matelots. In the opera Mitradate Eupatore (1707) ,

Alessandro Scarlatti included a passage in lAich two trumpets marine echoed

two muted trumpets.Figure 19 contains an excerpt from a seventeenth-

century solo sonata for tromba marina by Dom Lorenzo de Castro. It reveals

the effective range of the instrument and the considerable skill demanded

of performers. The trumpet marine first reached England during the seven­

teenth century and was held to be something of a curiosity. According to

the diarist Samuel Pepys, writing on October 24, 1667, he heard "one

Monsieur Prin play on the trump-marine, which he did to beyond belief

Hax&ins quoted the London Gazette for February 4» 1674 as announcing "a

rare concert of four Trumpets Marine, never heard of before in England.

Ey the end of the century the instrument was sufficiently well known to

attract the attention of academicians. In 1692, articles on the trumpet

marine by Francis Roberts and Philippe de la Hire appeared in scientific

Journals. These articles are discussed in Chapter IX.

Credit for modifications of the trumpet marine. Including the add­

ition of a large number of sympathetic strings, was claimed by the virtuoso

performer, Jean-Baptiste Prin (1650-1742?) of Lyons. In 1742, he wrote

l62Qalpin, A Textbook of European Musical Instruments, pp. 144-45.

l63|i«llippo Bonanni, The Showcase of Musical Instruments, with

introduction and captions by Frank LI. Harrison and Joan Rimmer (New
York, 1964) , caption to Plate 62.

l64prancis W. Galpin, "Monsieur Prin and his Trumpet Marine,"

Music and Letters. XIV (1933), 16.
^^5John Hawkins, A General History of the Science and Practice
of Music (Reprint ed.; New York, 1963), II, 763.
 92

Allegro
IS

lO

Minuetto
? 6
k

lo II i~ Il l'- ‘I n lo
o t) O -/»-

l’- l>
I— ^=£==::r-^a - - - - - -

o û 10 H 3 q '* 9
:$=

Figure 19. C astro, Sonata per la trompa marina^

Source: Grove's D ictionary of Music and Musicians, 5 th e d ., V III, 576,

^Harmonic numbers have been added.

 93

"Une Mémoire sur la Trompette Marine" in vMch he outlined the playing

technique of the instrument and detailed the improvements he had intro-

166
duced. His favorite instrument, built in 1715, had a seven-sided

resonator that contained within it from twenty-one to twenty-four sympa­

thetic strings, all tuned in unison with the melody string. Prin added a

regulator (guidon) of the trembling bridge that enabled him to vary the

adjustment of the bridge for each harmonic, thereby improving the trumpet

q u a l i t y T h i s compensator, attached just below the trembling bridge,

was controlled by means of a string running to a second peg at the top of

the instrument. According to Bessaraboff, such a mechanism had already

been applied to the hurdy-gurdy.^^ This device probably helped to extend

the upper range of the trumpet marine.

An instrument older than the one described by Prin is found in the

Galpin Collection of the Boston Museum of line Arts.^^^ It has five sides

and contains fifty sympathetic strings tuned in unison with the great

string. The main string is 150cm long. According to the findings of

Bessaraboff, it gives an effective trumpet quality up to the eighth partial

when it is tuned to C. This instrument lacks the guidon that Prin

recommended. The string of Prin» a instrument had a length of 173cm. This

additional length and the use of the guidon apparently enabled him to

maintain useful control of the series up to the sixteenth partial, for

l66gjjcerpts trans. in Galpin, "Monsieur Prin and his Trumpet

Marine," pp. 18-29»

I67ibid.. pp. 26-7.

^^Bessaraboff, Ancient European Musical Instruments, p. 441»

^^^Ibid., pp. 317-18.

 94

this is the usable range that he claimed for the instrument (see Figure 20),

P. W, Galpin concluded that the typical range was from the fifth to the

thirteenth harmonic.This judgement seems to be bom out by the

Castro Sonata and is substantiated by the division marks on an extant French

instrument of the late seventeenth century. A photograph of the instru­

ment shows that the marks on its fingerboard divide the string at these

points; 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/8, 1/9, l/lO, l/ll, and 1/12 (i.e., harmonics

4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12). Since there was no way of altering the

pitches of the natural series, the seventh and fourteenth partiale were

avoided. In this connection, it is interesting that Prin used the term

"harmonic" in his "Mémoire" in the same way that modem string players

use it. He stated that the fundamental note and the first and sixth
172
"harmonics" are not used (i.e., first, second, and seventh partials).

The trumpet marine played a very important role in the discovery of

the harmonic series because it was a unique acoustical apparatus, different

in principle from any other instrument. Progress toward this discovery

is shown by two developments in the history of the trunçet marine. It

first tumod the attention of folk musicians to the extensive use of

flageolet tones because of its ability to amplify them and make them usefhl.

Later, it attracted the attention of theorists and scientists because its

sound and natural series were similar to the trumpet. The pitch limitation

^"^^"Trun^et Marine," Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

5th ed., VII, 575.
ITlibid.. Vol. VIII, Plate 66, facing p. 146.

172Galpin, "Monsieur Prin and his Trunqpet Marine," p. 26.

 9^

11 'S '6
S ^ — 6 5 tj

-0-

Figure 20, Prin: Range of the trumpet marine*

Source: Galpin, "Monsieur Prin and his Trumpet Marine,"

Music and Letters, XIV (January, 1933), 26.

^Harmonic numbers have been added.

 96

of the natiiral trumpet was one of the most vexing problems confronting

seventeenth-century theorists. Their attempts to understand the

principles of the trumpet marine contributed to the discovery of nodes,

the first major step toward unraveling the mystery of the harmonic series.

*************************************

The phenomenon of flageolet tones is important to the history of

the harmonic series because it is one of the experiences that helped

explain how a sounding string vibrates. Once the vibration of the

string was understood, the nature of the harmonic series became apparent.

No other kind of vibrator was as easy to investigate as the stretched

string. Monochord divisions could be seen as well as heard. Even without

sophisticated measuring devices, such factors as string length, thickness,

and tension could be measured with fair accuracy. Thus, the explanation
of the vibrating string was primary. The specific enlightenment gained

from flageolet tones exceeded the cues obtainable from traditional

monochord divisions. The phenomenon of flageolet tones not only pointed

up certain divisions of the string but also a natural succession of these

divisions. The knowledge of this natural succession contributed

significantly to the discovery of nodes (see Chapter IX).

The history of flageolet tones explains, at least in part, v b y the

realization of the harmonic series did not come about until the seventeenth

century. The first fact it discloses is that knowledge of a substantial

series of flageolet tones had not been available to the right people

at the right time. Only a few instruments in the history of music have
 97

been suited to the production of an extended series of flageolet tones,

most notably the ch'in and the trumpet marine. The trumpet marine,

with its obvious similarity to the trumpet and its amplification of the

flageolet tones, attracted extensive interest in its pitch organization.

The second fact that is disclosed is that traditional theories of pitch

organization were not influenced by flageolet tones. Until a substantial

series was accessible, flageolet tones presented nothing essentially

different from ordinary monochord divisions. However, by the time a

substantial series had become available, oirbhodox theories were so

entrenched that it took something spectacular like the trumpet marine

to raise questions. The fact that Glarean and Praetorius were not able

to gain a satisfactory understanding of the acoustical implications

raised by the trumpet marine demonstrates conclusively that they had

no notion of the harmonie series.

Of the five kinds of phenomena that enable man to experience the

harmonic series (i,o,, the natural series of flageolet tones; the natural
series of overblown partials; the observation of individual partials in

a complex tone; the synthesis of tonal mixtures; and sympathetic

resonance) perhaps the most important to the realization of the harmonic

series was the natural series of flageolet tones. This experience

contributed to the discovery of nodes. The next chapter is concerned

with the other factor that led to this discovery; sympathetic resonance.
 CHAPTER III

THE RELATION BETWEEN THE NATURAL SERIES

OP TONES AND SYMPATHETIC RESONANCE

Knowledge of sympathetic resonance, sometimes called sympathetic

vibration, can be traced to antiquity. Like the magnetic attraction of

iron shavings to a lodestone, the sympathetic response of one sonorous

vibrator to the sound of another was a nystery of nature that defied

easy explanation. Though experience with sympathetic resonance stirred

philosophical interest, the limited manifestations of the phenomenon

available to ancient observers were not likely to disclose the nature of

the harmonic series. Simple resonance of unison frequencies offers no

insight into harmonic relationships. Such an insight could be expected

only when observers might perceive and compare a number of harmonic pitches

responding to a single fundamental. Although the sympathetic resonance

of harmonic frequencies proved to be the key to the discovery of nodes and

partial vibrations in the seventeenth century, a substantial series of

flageolet tones and overblown partials on trus^ets was already known before

resonances other than at the unison and octave were perceived and investi­

gated. Sîympathetic resonance acted as a contributing factor in the dis­

covery of the harmonic series only after other experiences had pointed

the way.

Early accounts of sympathetic resonance are vague and perplexing

because the writers of antiquity had to describe their experiences

without the benefit of certain essential conceptions about the nature of

98
 99

sound. The relations between pitch, frequency, and speed of propagation

were not adequately understood until the time of Galileo. Early

descriptions do, however, give a rather clear indication that experience

with sympathetic resonance was limited to unison and octave relationships.

This indication is corroborated by information that can be deduced from

our knowledge of early instruments. The acoustical conditions necessary

to produce the resonance of harmonic frequencies are about as stringent

as those required for an extensive series of flageolet tones. The first

section of this chapter is concerned, therefore, with the physical

properties required of an instrument to produce the resonance of harmonic

frequencies. Subsequent sections review pertinent written accounts, in­

cluding both those that survive from Late Antiquity and the more detailed

accounts from the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, lAlch clarify

\diat was known prior to Mersenne>s investigations. Because there are no

written sources to document the period between antiquity and the

Renaissance, the state of knowledge during that time can only be surmised

from the history of instruments fitted with sympathetic strings.

Physical Principles of Sympathetic Resonance

Resonance pertains to the coupling of acoustical systems so that

the sound transmitted may be increased in loudness and more effectively

radiated into the air.^ The principles of resonance are demonstrated in

all musical instruments since, in order to be effective, their initial

vibrators are coupled with some kind of resonant vibrator to reinforce

^See G. A. Taylor, The Physics of Musical Sounds (New York, 1965),

pp. 68-86.
 100

and modify the timbre of the sound. The sound of the initial vibrator

is usually quite feeble by itself. For example, the sounds of vibrating

strings or the edge tones of flutes are musically useless if they are
not reinforced by resonators.

In coupled systems one member has a dominant influence on the

vibrational patterns, but that member is not necessarily the initial

vibrator. In the case of vind instruments, the resonating air column forces

its modes of vibration upon the activating vibrator, which may be an edge

tone, a reed, or the lips. The mode of vibration can be modified h y the

process of overblowing or by changing the effective length of the tube.

In the case of stringed instruments, the mode of vibration of the acti­

vating string dominates the vibration of the resonator. The soundboards of

zithers and the chests of violins are broad-band amplifiers, having a

2
complex set of resonant frequencies. They respond to the frequencies of

the string by what is called forced or imposed vibration. Regardless of

which member is dominant, it is primarily the sound of the resonator that

3
the listener perceives as the voice of the instrument.

The Special Characteristics of Sympathetic Resonance

A special type of resonance in which free sound waves, travelling

in the air, transmit energy from one vibrator to another is called

n
Ibid.. pp. 159-60; 173; also see W. Lottermoser, "I'examen
acoustique des violons," in Acoustique musicale, ed. by François Canac
(Paris, 1959), pp. 185-91.
%ilmer T. Bartholomew, Acoustics of léisic (New York, 1952), p. 37.
 101
sympathetic resonance.^ In coupled systems, the transfer of energy is

accomplished by the direct physical connection of the two vibrators.

Sympathetic resonance can occur between tuning forks mounted on separate

resonator boxes, between the strings of different instruments, or even

between strings on the same instrument. Frequency is a limiting condition

of sympathetic resonance. The natural periods of the vibrators must be

of the same frequency or of frequencies in the same harmonic series.

Three illustrations of this condition can be demonstrated with pianos:

(1) the string c> of one instrument can elicit the sympathetic response

of the string o' on the other, (2) the string o' can cause the second

partial of the string c to respond, and (3) the second partial of the

string o can elicit the fundamental frequency of the string o'. Since the

energy carried sound waves is very small, the phenomenon of

sympathetic resonance depends not only on the condition that the natural

periods of the two vibrators are harmonically related but also on the
5
fact that vibrations are isochronous, or equal in duration. The motion

of a pendulum, whose natural period of the vibration remains constant

regardless of the amplitude or amount of energy involved, is an

illustration of isochronous oscillation. The second vibrator responds

because its isochronous, natural period is excited at exactly the right

intervals of time by the sound waves from the first vibrator.

^Charles A. Culver, Musical Acoustics (Ath ed.; Hew York, 1956),

pp. 76-7.
^Taylor, The Physics of Musical Sounds, p. 11.
 102

Although sympathetic resonance is possible even when the vibrators

are separated by a considerable distance, conditions must be ideal if

the responding vibrator is to produce a clearly audible sound. Both

vibrators must be coupled systems. For example, two tuning forks will not

produce sympathetic response unless both are attached to resonating boxes.

The energy that excites the second fork into responding emanates not from

the first fork but from its resonator. Likewise, the vibration of the

second fork will not be audible if it is not reinforced by a resonator.

1'Jhile a coupled system has the advantage of reinforcing the output of sound,
it has the disadvantage of expending the energy of the initial vibrator

at a faster rate.^ Because of this, systems that maintain a steady-state

sound are the most effective producers of sympathetic resonance. An

electrically driven tuning fork is a more effective initial source than

one that is simply struck. Musical instruments lAose sounds are sustained

ly bowing or blowing are ideal for producing sympathetic resonance in

other sound sources.

Sympathetic Resonance in Stringed Instruments

Of all the sources of sympathetic resonance, strings have the most

significance in the history of the harmonic series for several reasons.

Stringed instruments were the first to meet the requirements for producing

the sympathetic resonance of harmonic frequencies (i.e., frequencies above

the fundamental). This experience led to the discovery of nodes by

^bid.. pp. 68-9.

 103

seventeenth-century academicians because it was possible for them to

observe a string's vibration and measure segments of its length. In

no ol.'; sound source are such clues available to the naked eye. More­

over, the use of sympathetic strings was the first practical application

of sympathetic resonance for purely musical purposes. The history of

stringed instruments is, therefore, a good indicator of the state of

past knowledge about resonance. It is unfortunate, ftom the standpoint

of theoretical knowledge, that sympathetic strings were only tuned to

resonate in.unison with the principal strings.

The same physical attributes that are conducive to the production of

flageolet tones are required of stringed instruments for the sympathetic

resonance of harmonic frequencies. As outlined in Chapter II these

attributes include: (1) a well-designed resonator of ample proportions,

(2) thin, elastic strings of good quality, (3) strings of sufficient

length and tension, and, preferably, (4) the steady-state vibration pro­

vided by bowing. The characteristics of the responding string are

extremely critical because of the low level of energy carried by the

exciting sound waves. It has been found that the most responsive
7
sympathetic strings are those made of thinly drawn, cast steel wire.

Early Knowledge of Sympathetic Resonance

The investigation of the early knowledge of sympathetic resonance

is not as dependent on the history of instruments and apparatus as in the

^Nicholas Bessaraboff, Ancient Euronean Musical Instruments

(Cambridge, Mass., 19A1), p* 284.
 104
case of flageolet tones. Sympathetic resonance had an element of

mystery that attracted the attention of early writers. The extent of

their experience can be judged much more clearly by their comments than

by deductions based on the conjectured attributes of early instruments.

Yet, it is somewhat easier, in this case, to speculate about the limitations

of early instruments. The special conditions necessary for the production

of sympathetic resonance, especially if the resonance of harmonic

frequencies is involved are not easily met. One can deduce from the

characteristics of prehistoric instruments that the occurrence of

sympathetic resonance would have been unlikely. However, the eventual

development of high-energy vibrators, such as tuned bells, pneumatic

organs, and bowed, stringed instruments, greatly increased the likelihood

of this phenomenon. Tftiile the history of instruments seems to suggest

that sympathetic resonance was an experience common to all the major

civilizations of antiquity, surviving literary references to this

subject are sparse and apparently limited to Chinese and Grego-Boman sources.

Chinese Accounts

Several aspects of early Chinese musical development contributed to

an extensive experience with sympathetic resonance. Not only did the

Chinese construct the well-designed zithers already discussed in connection

with flageolet tones, but they also developed sets of tuned stone chimes
and tuned bronze bells capable of eliciting sympathetic resonance from

one another. Beginning about the fourth century B.C. or possibly earlier,

the Chinese made a point of establishing a fixed pitch as the standard

 105
rt
for tuning chimes and bells. Although this standard changed from one

dynasty to another, the attempt to achieve uniformity in tuning greatly

increased chances for sympathetic responses between sonorous vibrators.

Accounts of sympathetic resonance are common in ancient Chinese

literature. The experience of resonance was held to be of great

philosophical significance because it demonstrated one of the mutual in­

fluences between the things of the universe.^ One of several early

accounts of sympathetic resonance between strings was given by the

philosopher, Tung Ghxmg-Shu (second century B.C.):

Try tuning musical instruments such as the chhin or the

se. The kung note or the shang note struck upon one lute
[zither] will be answered by the kung or the shang notes
from other stringed instruments. They sound by themselves.
This is nothing miraculous, but the Five Notes [pentatonic
scale] being in relation; they are what they are according
to the Numbers (whereby the world is constructed).^®

Another account, attributed to the scholar Hsun Hsu (d. A.D. 289),

described sympathetic resonance between bells and pitch-pipes. According

to the story, some ancient bells (ça. first century B.C.) and Jade

measures (ça. third century B.C.) were discovered in a provincial

treasury. Pitch pipes were made to the dimensions of the measures in an

effort to rediscover the ancient rules of tuning;

^Joseph Needham, et al. Science and Civilization in China. Vol. IV,

part 1: Physics (Cambridge, 1962), p. l60.

^Ibid.. p. 31.
^®CMiun Chhiu Fan Lu (String of Pearls on the Spring and Autumn
Annuals), chap. 57 trans. in Needham, Science and Civilization in
China. IV, 1, p. 130.
 106

Using the standard pitches they gave them their summons,

and all (the bells) responded though they had not been struck.
The notes and the sympathetic tones (rhymes) agreed and be­
came one.^^

Apparently not everyone vas avare of resonance, for in the Miscellanea

of the Thane Dynasty (A.D, 618-906), collected about A.D. 1107, there is

the story of a superstitious monk vho had in his room a sonorous stone
12
that seemed to sound spontaneously. An e:q)ert "acoustician”, Tshao

Shao-Khuei, discovered that the source of the trouble vas a nearby bell,
and, by filing off a portion of the bell, he altered its pitch sufficiently

to eliminate the sympathetic resonance. These accounts verify the fact

that the Chinese knew of resonance between a variety of sound sources, but

they also reveal that the experience of the Chinese vas probably limited

to the resonance of unison frequencies.

(hreek and Roman Accounts

Lacking a standard pitch for tuning all instruments, the Greeks

and Romans may have had less frequent opportunities to experience

sympathetic resonance than the Chinese. “While they did not have such

willing resonators as the large bells and "sonorous stones" of the

Chinese, the Greeks and Romans did develop two instruments that were
veil suited to elicit sympathetic response: the kithara and the

hvdraulls. Compared to the Chinese, the Greeks and Romans took a more

^^Shih Shuo Hsin Til (Hew Discoveries on the Talk of the Times),
chap. 20, p. 29b, trans. in Needham, Science and Civilization in China.
IT, 1, pp. 185-86.
•^•^Thang Yu Lin, cited in Needham, Science and Civilization in
China. IT, 1, p. 186.
 107

scientific interest in resonance. Their accounts were concerned with

the explanation of sound and the phenomena related to it, whereas, the

Chinese were primarily interested in the correlation and meaning of

phenomena.13
^

Clear evidence that the Greeks and Romans understood sympathetic

resonance is found in the writings of the Roman architect, Vitruvius

(first century A.D,). He prescribed the use of bronze resonating vessels

to improve the acoustical properties of stone and masonry amphitheaters.

The vessels were to be equally distributed in a horizontal range midway

up the seating area. Placed upside down in hollow niches, they were to

be tilted by means of wedges so that the openings faced the stage. Con­
cerning the tuning of the vessels, Vitruvius said:

Let bronze vessels be made (on mathematical principles), pro­

portionate to the size of the theatre, and let them be so
fashioned that, when touched, they may produce with one another
the notes of the fourth, the fifth, and so on up to the double
octave.

The precise arrangement of the vessels according to pitch is shown in

Figure 21. As it turned out, the vessels were tuned to the fixed notes

of the greater and lesser perfect systems. Vitruvius explained the

desired result of these resonators:

^%eedham. Science and Civilization in China. IV, 1, pp. 128-30j

also see Benjamin Farrington. Greek Science (2nd ed.: Baltimore, 1961),
pp. 134"4S.

l^Vitruvius Pollio, De architectura. V. 5, trans. by M. H. Morgan

in Morris Cohen and I. E. Drabkin, eds., A Source Book in Greek Science
(Hew York, 194S), p. 308.
 108

Resonating vessels

=é’

The Greater Perfect System

1____ m :.______________
i
r

The Lesser Perfect System

Figure 21. Vitruvius: Resonating vessels tuned according to

the Greek greater and lesser perfect systems

Source: Cohen and Drabkin, A Source Book in Greek Science. 309.

 109

On this principle of arrangement, the voice, uttered

from the stage as from a centre, and spreading and striking
against the cavities of the different vessels, as it comes
in contact with them, will be increased in clearness of
sound, and will wake an harmonious note jja unison with
itself. (Italics mine.)

It is clear from the account that this scheme was not new with Vitruvius

but reflected the practice of "the ancient architects." For the doubters,

he said:

If, however, it is asked in what theatre these vessels

have been employed, we cannot point to any in Rome itself,
but only to those in the districts of Italy and in a good
many Greek states. ¥e have also the evidence of Lucius
ïîummius, who, after destroying the theatre in Corinth
[146 B.C.], brought its bronze vessels to Rome, and made
a dedicatory offering at the temple of Luna with the money
obtained from the sale of them. Besides, many skillful
architects, in constructing theatres in small towns, have,
for lack of means, taken large jars made of clay, but
similarly resonant, and have produced very advantageous
results ■ty arranging them on the principles described.

According to Cohen and Drabkin, earthenware vessels presumably used as

17
acoustical resonators have been found. Vitruvius explained that the

reason such vessels were not needed in Rome was that:

All our public theatres made of wood contain a great deal

of boarding, which must be resonant. This may be observed
from the behaviour of those who sing to the lyre, who, lAen
they wish to sing a higher key, turn towards the folding
doors on the stage, and thus by their aid are reinforced
with a sound in harmony with the voice

ISlbid.. pp. 308-309.

I6ibld.. p. 309.
IVlbld.
 no
The pseudo-Aristotelian Problemata. a Peripatetic compilation
19
probably written about the first or second century B.C., contains

a question about sympathetic resonance: "Viby is it that, if one strikes

note [e*] and then stops it down, hypate [e] seems to respond?'*^^
The passage containing this question has already been quoted in the dis­

cussion of flageolet tones (supra, p. 43). The question, if taken

literally, poses a dilemma because the phenomenon it suggests is contrary

to experience. The discussion in Problemata xix, Ifi. explicitly states

that it is "the note of hvpate" that responds, which is acoustically Im­

possible, for, according to the principles of resonance, the second

partial of hypate would respond to nete. However, the literal statement

seems to be the writer's intention because the same question appears in

a more fragmentary passage (Problemata xix. 24) :

Why if one strikes nete and then stops it down, does

hypate alone seem to resound? Is it because the vibration
produced from hypate is very much of the same nature as
the sound of nete. because it is in accord with it? Mxen
it is increased by the addition of its like, it alone is
audible, the other sounds being imperceptible owing to
their smallness.^

It is difficult to make sense of this brief passage without referring to

Problemata xix. 42, where the writer concluded that the sound seems "to be

entirely that of hypate" because the even-numbered strokes of nete are

transmitted to hypate through the vibration of the bridge of the lyre.

^^Ibid.. p. 300 n: Edward A. Llppman, Musical Thought in Ancient

Greece (llew York. 1964;, p. 143.
^^The Works of Aristotle, ed. by ¥. D. Ross, Voli VII: Problemata.
trans. ly E. S. Forster (Oxford, 1927), xix. 921b. 42. Hereinafter
referred to as Forster, trans., Problemata xix.
^ I b id .. x ix . 919b. 24.
 Ill
The suggestion that resonance is caused by the coincidence of

vibrations shows that the Greeks had progressed beyond Pythagorean

number theories in their observation of acoustical phenomena. In a

general way, speed of "motion" was associated with pitch as early as

Archytas of Tarentum (ca. 400 B.C.). After observing that sounds are

caused by blows and that some cannot be perceived because the blows are
too feeble or too intense, Archytas stated:

Of the sounds we do perceive, those that reach us swiftly and

violently from the blow seem high pitched, those that reach
us slowly and weakly seem to be low pitched. . . . And in the
case of pipes, air blown from the mouth into holes near the
mouth produces a sharper note because of the strong pressure.
But if the air passes through the holes further from the mouth,
the note is lower. Clearly, then, swift motion produces a
high-pitched sound and slow motion a low-pitched sound,

Similar observations were given by Euclid (ca. 300 B.C.):

Now all sounds result from some blow, and a blow cannot take place
without a previous motion. Again some motions are more frequent,
others are rarer, and the more frequent produce the higher
X pitched sounds while the rarer produce the lower pitched. Prom
this it follows necessarily that some.sounds are higher pitched,
being composed of more frequent and more numerous motion,
while others are lower pitched, being composed of rarer and
less numerous motions. Hence sounds higher pitched than what
is required reach the required pitch by a process of slackening,
that is, by a lowering of the amount of motion; while sounds
lower pitched than what is required reach the required pitch
by a process of tightening, that is, by an increase in the
amount of motion.23

Euclid was apparently influenced by the visual cues of vibrating strings.

A similar comment by Boethius (ca. A.D. 480-524) is explicitly related

to vibrating strings:

^^Archytas, Prag. 1 (Diels), trans. in Cohen and Drabkin, A Source

Book in Greek Science, p. 287.

^^Euclid, Seetio canonis. Introduction, in Opera omnia. Vol. VIII,

ed. by I. L. Heiberg and H. Menge (Leipzig, 1916); trans. in Cohen
and Drabkin, A Source Book in Greek Science, p. 291.
 112

Now if a motion is slow and of lower frequency (rarior), low

pitched sounds are of necessity produced by reason of the slow­
ness and low frequency (rarltate) of the d r i v i n g force. But if
the motions are swift and dense, high pitched sounds are
necessarily produced.
For this reason the same string if tightened gives a high
pitched sound, if loosened a low pitched sound. For when it
is tauter it delivers a swifter blow and returns more swiftly
and strikes the air more frequently and at shorter intervals
(frequentius ac splsslus). But the looser string delivers
weak and slow blows of low frequency (raros) by reason of its
very weakness in striking, and does not vibrate for a longer
time.24.

■While these writers seem to be aware of the connection of sound with

"motion" and pitch with frequency, the details of the relationship were

not clearly understood. The limitations of Greco-Roman acoustical

theories were these: (1) no clear separation was drawn between the

effects of frequency and amplitude because the wave propagation of

sound was not understood; (2) the distinction between speed of vibration

and speed of propagation was not understood, and (3) there was no

realization of the isochronous nature of spnorous vibrators (i.e., that

sonorous vibrators have a constant, natural period independent of the

effects of amplitude)Since these concepts are essential to the

eacplanatlon of sympathetic resonance, it is not surprising that dis­

cussions of resonance in the Problemata are confusing. It can be

stated categorically that no understanding of the harmonic series could

be possible without these concepts. Furthermore, the very absence of

^4-Boethius, De institutione musica. 3, ed. by G. Friedlein

(Leipzig, 1867); trans. in Cohen and Drabkin, A Source Book in Greek
Science, p. 292.
26
See G. Truesdell, The Rational Mechanics of Flexible or Elastic
Bodies. 1638-1788 (Zurich, I960), pp. 15-6; also see commentary in
Cohen and Drabkin, A Source Book in Greek Science, pp. 286-87, n. 2;
p. 293) n. 3 .
 113
these concepts in Greco-Roman thought may be due to a lack of experience

with many of the phenomena related to the harmonic series.

A few brief comments on sympathetic resonance by writers of Late

Antiquity indicate a less scientific attitude, but perhaps a broader

experience, than is reflected in the Problemata. According to an account

by Theon of Smyrna, Adrastus, a Peripatetic philosopher of the early

second century A.D., reportedly drew a connection between consonance and

sympathetic resonance. Adrastus stated that;

Deux sons appartiennent à la Two sounds belong to the category

catégorie des consonants lorsque,
I'un d'eux étant joué sur un
instrument à cordes, l’autre
se met a résonner en vertu d’une.
certaine affinité et sympathie.
of consonants when, one of them
being played on a stringed instru-
ment, the other begins to resound
by virtue of a certain affinity
or sympathy.

The same idea was expressed by Bacchius the Elder (fourth century A.D.);

La raison étymologique qui nous The etymological reason for calling

fait appeler consonants certains
accords, c’est que, si l’on fait
résonner l’une de leurs notes
sur un instrument à cordes,
l’autre son y reoond sans qu’il
sdt été touché. '
certain intervals consonant is be-
cause, if one of their notes is
caused to resound on a stringed
instrument, the other sound responds
to it without having been touched,

It is apparent that these writers were not fully aware of the implications

of their statements. Their experience was probably limited to sympathetic

resonance at the unison and the octave. It is possible, though doubtful,

that they could have ’’tested” the twelfth and double octave in this

manner, but no response is possible at the fourth or fifth. The simple

2%. Hiller, ed., Theonis Smymaei Philosoohl Platonici Exoositio . . .

(Leipzig, 1878), pp. $0-1— a Greek edition; French trans. in F. A. Gevaert
and J. C. Vollgraff, Les problèmes musicaux d’Aristote (Ghent 1903),
p. 116 n.
^"^Friedrich Bellermann, ed., Anonymi Scrintio de Musica; Bacchi
senioris introductio artis musicae (Berlin, 18/1). prop, xxi. p. lOA;
French trans. in Gevaert and VoUgraph, Les problèmes musicaux
d’Aristote. p. 116 n.
 114

comment of the Byzantine writer, Agathias (fifth century A.D.), was,

at least, an accurate observation of fact:

Lorsque je toucherai du plectre Aien I touch the plectrum to hypate

1*hypate à ma droite, à gauche ,e] on my right, to the left nete
la nète résonnera de son propre e’] will resound by its own
mouvement. movement.

This statement clearly indicates that resonance at the octave (i.e.,

the second harmonic) was known.

Instruments with Sympathetic Strings

The theoretical knowledge to be gained from instruments with

sympathetic strings is limited by the fact that resonating and principal

strings were tuned in unison. As a practical application of sympathetic

resonance, the added strings not only had to respond noticeably but

they had to respond effectively. Maximum effectiveness required:

(l) tuning the sympathetic string to the same frequency as the exciting

string, (2) the use of thin, metal strings, preferably made of high
grade steel, and (3) the steady-state vibration produced by bowing.

Of course, unison tuning did not rule out the possibility of the

resonance of harmonic frequencies if the accordatura of the principal

strings contained octaves and twelfths. Instruments with sympathetic

strings cannot be overlooked, however, because their history does pro­

vide some idea of the state of knowledge of resonance between antiquity

^^Alexandre J. H. Vincent, Notice sur divers manuscrits grecs

relatifs à la musique, in Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la
bibliothèque du roi (Paris. 1847). Vol. XVI. Part 2. p. 288; French
trans. in Gevaert and Vollgraff, Les problèmes musicaux d’Aristote.
p. 117 n.
 115

and the Renaissance, a period that contributed no written literature

about the subject. Moreover, the practical use of sympathetic strings

stimulated investigation of the phenomenon of resonance by scientists

of the seventeenth century.

Instruments with sympathetic strings were developed in two parts

of the world— in Western Europe and throughout the Islamic lands. The
introduction of sympathetic strings on European instruments can be
29
traced, rather conclusively, to the end of the sixteenth century. In

Islam, sympathetic strings have a longer history. While it is possible

that the introduction of the device may have been an independent develop­

ment in Europe, there is reason to suspect that it was inspired by the

Islamic instruments of North India (infra. p.l21 ). The most difficult

problem is to determine when sympathetic strings began to be used in

Islamic countries. Two factors are helpful: the history of the bowing

method and the history of metal strings.

In the West, sympathetic strings were used only with bowed instruments,

but in the Near East they were applied to plucked instruments as well.
Were it not for this fact, the earliest time for the use of resonating

strings could without further investigation be set at about the tenth

century A.D. (supra, p. 32). Metal has always been preferred to gut,

silk, or hair as the material for resonating strings. Praetorius (l6l9)

remarked on the superiority of metal for sympathetic resonance:

^^Bessaraboff, Ancient European Musical Instruments, p. 284.


Vnd empfinden aolche schneidende
Harmonlj die Messings vnd Stalono
SEiten viel eher vnd mehr / als die
dermern / also / dass sie sich nit [?]
allein bewegen / sondem auch
zugleich mitresonlren, vn ein sonu
von sich geben.^^
116
Brass and steel strings are
sensible of such sharp concords
much sooner and stronger than
gut strings. Consequently, they
not only vibrate by themselves,
but also resound together and
emit a sound by themselves.

He did not comment on the effects of string thickness, so it must be assumed

that his observations were based on the strings normally used. Unless gut

strings are very thin they have little practical advantage as sympathetic

strings, and then only if the instrument is bo wed,From this it can be

concluded that the effectiveness of sympathetic strings depends very much

on the use of metal wire, especially in the case of instruments that are

plucked rather than bowed. The history of metal strings, therefore, is

perhaps the best source available for determining the antiquity of

sympathetic strings.

Metal Strings

Although the technology of wire-making can be traced in Egypt and

Mesopotamia to about 2000 B.C., early use was limited primarily to the
32
manufacture of gold jewelry and ornaments. Perhaps the first wire

suitable for musicsQ. instruments was developed by the Romans. Fifteen-

foot cables, made of fine bronze wire, have been discovered at Pompeii

(A.D. 79). There is, however, no evidence that wire strings were

^%ichael Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum. Hk. II; De Organogranhia

(Volfenbuttel, 1619), p. AB,

^^See Curt Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments (New York,

1940)r p. 350.
32See commentary in On Divers Arts. The treatise of Theonhilus.
trans. by J. G. Hawthorne and C. S. Smith (Chicago, 1963), pp. 87-9, n. 2.
^^Leslie Altchison, A History of Metals (New York, I960), I, 213-14»
 117
used on musical instruments in antiquity.The art of metallurgy
declined badly in Europe between the fourth and eleventh centuries.^5

The writings of Theophilus Presbyter (early twelfth century) reveal that

by the eleventh century the process of wire drawing had been developed

in Germany.^^ Theophilus was probably the pseudonym of the celebrated

37
Romanesque metalworker, Roger of Helmarshausen. This historic crafts­

man gave a detailed and comprehensive report of the technical processes

used in metalwork, including the casting of bells and the fabrication of

organ pipes. His failure to mention the use of wire for musical strings ■.

certainly raises doubts about its use for that purpose in his time. By

the fourteenth century, water power was utilized for hammering and drawing

metal in wire mills, and technical advances made it possible to draw steel

(carbonized iron) wire in addition to wire of brass and other softer

m e t a ls .Th e quality of the wire of this period is difficult to

ascertain, however, Leonardo da Vinci (14-52-1519) proposed the first known

project for testing the breaking strengths of wires.

34See Sibyl iMarcuse, Musical Instruments, A Comprehensive Dictionary

(Hew York, 1964), p. 495; Hortense Panum, The Stringed Instruments of
the Middle Ages (Princeton, n.d.), p. 25; A. J. Hipkins, "String,"
Grove's Dictionary of Music and tfasicians. 5th ed., VIII, 147.

^^Aitchison, A History of Metals. I, 156; l63; II, 320.

^^Theophilus, De Diversis Artibus. trans. by C, R. Dodwell (London,
1961), Bk. Ill, prop, viii, p. 68.

^*^See ibid.. introduction by G. R, Dodwell, pp. xx±Lii-xliv.

3^A. C. Crombie, Medieval and Early Modem Science (Garden City,

N.T., 1959), I, 213-16.
^^Truesdell, The Rational Mechanics, p. 19.
 118

Mersenne was among the first to describe the manufacture and test
the characteristics of wire used for musical strings. ^0 According to

Mersenne, the process of drawing wire was laborious and slow. He

observed that it took from thirty to sixty passes through successively

smaller holes in the drawplate to obtain the desired thinness.

Mersenne also tested strings of various metals to determine their

properties. His findings concerning the stretching capacity and

breaking strength of wires of the same thickness are shown in Table 2.

The similarity in performance of iron, copper, and brass strings is

enlightening. The "steel" wire of Mersenne*s time had neither the

elasticity nor the strength of the high-grade steel VLre developed in the
nineteenth century for piano strings.^

The use of metal strings on certain European instruments can be

traced to about the fourteenth century.^ Sturdy-framed instruments, such

as the dulcimer, clavichord, harpsichord, and harp were the first to be

fitted with metal strings. Paulus Paulirinus (ça. 14.60) mentioned the
use of cordas metallinas on the virginal and the ala (psaltery)

Of. Claude V. Palisca, "Scientific Empiricism in Musical Thought,"

in Seventeenth Century Science and the Arts, ed. by H. H. Rhys (Prince-
ton, 1961), p. 129— concerning experimentsby Vincenzo Galilei.

^Marin Mersenne, Harmonie universelle. "Traité des instrumens,"

(Paris, 1636), Bk. I, prop, ii, p. 5. Hereinafter referred to as
"Traité des instrumens."

^Ibld.. Bk. I, prop, xvi, pp. 42-3; Bk. III, prop, xix, pp. 151-53.
^Hipkins, "String," Grove's Dictionary of î-îusic and Musicians.
5th éd., VIII, 14.
7.

^See Marcuse, Musical Instruments, p. 4-95.

“^5Josef W. Reiss, "Pauli Paulirini de Praga Tractatus de musica,"
Zeitschrift fur Musikwissenschaft. VII (1925), 263-64-.
 119

TABLE 2

ÎJERSENNE: PROPERTIES OP METAL STRINGS®

Material Stretching Capacity Breaking Strength

according to the in terms of weight
range of pitch change required to snap

Pure Gold Eleventh 23 lbs.

Mxed Gold Eleventh 23 lbs.

Silver Tenth 23 lbs.

Iron Nineteenth 19 lbs.

Bronze Eighteenth l%g lbs.

(Yellow Copper
or Brass)

Red Copper Seventeenth 1 % lbs.

®A11 with diameters of V6th of a "line."

 120

In 1511 Virdnng referred to the use of brass and "steel" (iron) strings

on the clavichord. The clavichord of that period had strings of equal

length but tuned to different pitches. Brass strings were used for

the lower pitches and "steel" for the higher. Virdung offered this
explanation;

Dan der messing laut vo natur grob
vnd der stahel cleyn / vn so ma nun
so vil als fier octauen / vnd noch
mer daruff macht zu haben / so
bezeucht man dye vndern kore mit
den messenen / vnnd dye oberem
mit den steyelin saiten.^®
Since by nature brass sounds
heavy and steel light, and one
must now consider as much as
four octaves and even mote,
one therefore strings the
lower range with brass strings
and the upper with steel.

The real reason for mixing the strings can be deduced from Mersenne»s

discussion of string sizes: by using three standard thicknesses of

brass strings and three more of steel, the desired pitches could be
A7
obtained without excessive variation in tension.

The only kind of harp traditionally fitted with metal strings was

the Irish harp, which Praetorius described it having thick, brass strings.^
Other harps of the British Isles were strung with gut or horsehair.

In the early fourteenth century, the poet Dante distinguished the Irish
harp from the Italian harp by its larger size and its possession of

brass and steel strings.IJhether this development was much earlier than

the fourteenth century has not clearly been established.^^

^^Sebastian Virdung, Musica getutscht . . . (Basel, 15H)> n.p, (p. 40)

^%ersenne, "Traite des instrumens," Bk. Ill, prop, xx, p. 158.

^Praetorius, Syntagma ^îusicum. II, 56.

^^anum. The Stringed Instruments of the Mddle Ages, pp. 137-39•

^%oslyn Rensch, The Harp (New York, 1950), p. 20.

51See Marcuse, Musical Instruments, pp. 230; 260.

 121

V/hile the adoption of metal strings may have been indigenous to

Europe, it is possible that they were introduced on the zithers of Eastern

52
origin that appeared between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries.

Near Eastern Instruments with Sympathetic Strings

The first European instruments to use sympathetic strings, the English

viols, were probably influenced by the instruments of northern India.

As Sachs pointed out, the English East India Company was chartered in

1600, shortly before sympathetic strings were "invented" in England.

The use of sympathetic strings was commonplace in Islamic lands,

especially in the regions of Persia, Turkestan, and northern India. The

device was applied to spike fiddles (e.g., Persian-Turkoman ghizhak and

North Indian saz). to short fiddles (e.g.. North Indian sarangi. and to
lutes (e.g., Persian shashtar and North Indian s i t a r ) Since

sympathetic strings are not an integral part of these instruments, there

is no certainty about where or when this device first developed, but the

instruments themselves appear to be primarily of Persian origin.^5

^^Sachs, The History of >&isical Instruments, p. 258.

^^Ourt Sachs, Die Musikinstrumente Indiens und Indonesians

(Berlin, 1923), p. 110.

^^'larcuse. Musical Instruments, pp. 207; 4-56; 46I; 471; also see
Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments, p. 226.

55see Henry G. Parmer, "Persian LSisic," Grove's Dictionary of Music

and I^îusicians. 5th ed., VI, 677-80; Sachs, The History of >îu3ical
Instruments, pp. 255-57; Henry G. Farmer, "The Music of Islam," in
New Oxford History of Music. I (London, 1947), 444-47; 464»
 122

The Indian instruments can be traced back to the period of Islamic

influence (A.D. IOOO-I6O O ) A Persian source, reported b y H. G. Farmer,

indicated that both the bowed, spike fiddle (ghichak) and the plucked lute

(shashtar) were sometimes fitted with sympathetic strings in the fifteenth

57
century. These strings were likely of wire, for another Persian manu­
script of the fourteenth century reported the use of copper strings on

the trapezoidal zither (g u a n u n ) Details in the description of the

use of wire strings tuned trichordally, suggest that this was the Persian

dulcimer (santir). which was sometimes called qanun^the name later re­

served for the psaltery. In the early fifteenth century, Ibn Ghaid

described a similar instrument with 105 copper strings.^ The widespread

use of sympathetic strings in the Near East suggests that metal strings

may have a longer history there than in Europe. On the other hand, the

Persian dulcimer (santir), an instrument whose effect depends on metal

strings because it is played with curved beaters, cannot be traced with

61
certainty before the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries.
Although the priority for the use of metal strings remains unsolved,

it is probable that the Near East preceded Europe in the use of sympathetic

strings several centuries. The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries

5%achs, The History of iîusical Instruments, pp. 221j 224-27.

^"^Farmer, "The llusic of Islam," pp. 445-46.

445.
^%enry G. Farmer, The Sources of Arabian Music (Bearsden, Scotland,
1943), p. 59.
^ ‘larcuse, >&isical Instruments, p. 427•

^^Ibid. . 455; c f . Sachs, The H istory o f Musical Instruments, p . 258.

 123

saw the development of hichord and trichord stringing in Hear Eastern

instruments. The addition of sympathetic strings may have been an

outgrowth of this search for increased resonance. Yet, if the device

had been widely used before the fifteenth century, a much earlier

introduction into Europe might have been expected.

European Instruments with Sympathetic Strings

The history of sympathetic strings in European instruments has been

investigated by a number of scholars. It is generally conceded that

sympathetic strings were first introduced in England. Shortly after I6OO

a viol-player, Daniel Farrant designed a l:rra viol fitted with a course

63
of sympathetic strings. According to John Playford's first edition

of Muslk's Recreation on the Lyra Viol (1656), Farrant invented a Ivra

viol that was:

to be strung with Lute Strings and Wire Strings, the one above
the other; the Wire Strings were conveyed through a hollow
passage made in the Heck of the Viol, and so brought to.the
Tail thereof, and raised a little above the Belly of the Viol,
by a Bridge of about an inch: These were so laid that they
were Equivalent to those above, and were Tun'd Unisons to,
those above. so that by the striking of those Strings above
with the Bow, a Sound was drawn from those of Wire underneath,
which made it very Harmonious. Of this sort of Viols, I have ,,
seen many, but Time and Disuse has set them aside. (Italics mine.)

This description was not even included in Playford's second edition of

1682. Francis Bacon, in the Sylva Sylvarum or a Naturall Historic. (1627),

described the same instrument:

^%fercuse, I^sical Instruments, p. 427; Farmer, "The J^hisic of

Islam," p. 445.
^^Francis W. Galpin, Old English Instruments of Music (4th ed.;
London, 1965), pp. 68-9.

^^Quoted in Sachs, The H isto ir o f Musical Instruments, p. 349.

 12A

It was devised, that a viol should have a lay of wire-

strings below, as close to the belly as a lute; and then
the strings of guts mounted upon a bridge, as in ordinary
viols; to the end that by this means the upper strings
strucken should make the lower resound by sympathy, and so
make the music the better; which, if it be to purpose, then
Sympathy worketh as well report of sound, as by motion.

Although the use of this instrument was apparently confined to England,

where its popularity lasted scarcely a half century, it did come to the
attention of Praetorius:

Jetzo ist in Engelland noch etwas Presently in England, some­

sonderbaros darzu erfunden / dass
vnter don rechten gemeinen sechs
Saitten / noch acht andero Stalene
vnd gedrehete Messings-Saitten / vff
elm Messingen Steige (gleich die
vff den Pandorren gebraucht werden)
liegen / welche mit den Obersten
gleich vnd gar rein eingestlmmet
werden mussen. ¥enn nun der
obersten. dermem Saitten eine mit
dem Finger oder Bogen geruhret
wird / so resonirt die vnterste
Messings- oder Stalene Saitten
•per conacnsum zugleich mit zittom
vnd tremuliren. also / dass die
Liebligkeit der Harmony hierdurch
gleichsam vermehret vnd erweitert
wird.^°
thing strange has been invented
for it [the viola bastarda]:
below the six regular strings,
eight additional steel and spun
brass strings (like those used
on Pandorasy rest on a brass
mounting, [and] these must be
tuned equally and precisely with
the principal strings. Now
when one of the principal gut
strings is set in motion with
the finger or bow, it causes the
lower brass or steel strings to
resound "through agreement"
(together with trembling and
shaking), in such a way that the
pleasantness of the harmony is
thereby increased and expanded.

No mention of this instrument was made in Mersenne*s Harmonie universelle.

However, in his discussion of the metal-stringed Pandore. Mersenne

suggested that a course of sympathetic strings could be added beneath

the regular strings of the lute or similar instruments

During the second half of the seventeenth century, sympathetic strings

were added to the trumpet marine, perhaps by Jean-Baptiste Prin. Nhen

^^Francis Bacon, Works. ed. by J. Spedding, R. L. Ellis, and D. D.

Heath (New York, 1869), IV, Century iii, no.280,pp. 294-95.
^^Praetorius, Syntagma >îiisicum. II, 47.

^^Mersenne,'Traité des instrumens," Bk.II, prop, ii, p. 52.

 125
Pepys heard Prin perform in 1667 he was puzzled because he noticed

the instilment produced multiple sounds:

It [the trump-marine] is most admirable and at first was a

mystery to me that I should hear a whole concert of chords to­
gether at the end of a pause; but he [Prin] showed me that it
was only when the last notes were 5ths or 3rds, one to another,
and then all together. The instrument is open at the end I
discovered; but he would not let me look into it; but I was
mightily pleased with it and he did take great pains to show
me all he could do with it, • .

The problem is explained by an English manuscript of the latter part of the

century.^9 it contains a detailed description of the trumpet marine with

the observation that four sympathetic strings, tuned in unison to the

great string, were added inside the sound box. "The wiers give an echo to

the great string, when it is played on, to admiration." According to his

Méfloire. Prin increased the number of brass sympathetic strings to as many

70
as twenty-four by the year 1715« All of them were tuned in unison to the

great string. He gave the new version of the instrument the name trompette
marine organisée. It is interesting that the late seventeenth-century

instrument examined by Bessaraboff has fifty sympathetic wires inside the

71
chest, all tuned in unison with the great string. The trompette marine

organisée was the first instrument in history capable of producing an ex­

tensive series of partials by means of sympathetic resonance because any

of its "trumpet notes" would excite the corresponding partials of the

^Francis ¥. Galpin, "Monsieur Prin and his Trumpet Marine," Music

and Letters. XIV (1933), p. 18.
^%ritish Museum, Harleian MS, 2034, quoted in Galpin, Old English
Instruments of Music, p. 72.

"^^Galpin, "Monsieur Prin and his Trumpet Marine," p. 24.

’^B essaraboff, Ancient European I^ sic a l Instruments, p . 317.
 126

synç)athetlc strings. It was thus the first Instrument that could

demonstrate both the successive and concurrent aspects of the harmonic

series through flageolet tones and resonance, respectively.

In the latter part of the seventeenth century, viola with sympathetic

strings began to appear in Germany, Sympathetic strings were apparently

added to the viola d'amore about 1670,*^^ This viol was smaller than the

lyra viol and had six or seven gut strings with as many wire strings set
73
below them. The barytoq was similar in size to a bass viola ^ gamba.

It had six gut strings set above and from sixteen to forty thin, wire

strings set close to the belly. Some of the wire strings were to be

plucked, but most of them were purely sympathetic, % e tuning of the

sympathetic strings on these instruments presented a problem. Unlike

the trompette marine organisée whose tonal system was based entirely on

a single harmonic series, the sympathetic resonance, on these viols could

be haphazard in result if the wire strings were tuned only to the open

pitches of the melody strings. No set formula was established for the
viola d'amore. but the sympathetic strings of the baryton were tuned

chromatically from G to In Europe, instruments with sympathetic

strings fell into disuse after the eighteenth century. The baryton is
the best known, historically, because Haydn composed more than 170
sonatas for the instrument

72ibid,. p, 286,

7%Iarcuse, léisical Instruments, p, 38; The History of Musical

Instruments, p, 368,

'^^darcuse, Musical Instruments, pp. 38; 571,

"^^Anthony C, Baines, ed,, ^îusical Instruments through the Ages

(Baltimore, 1961), pp. 145-46,
 127

Qympathetio Resonance between Principal Strings

Following his discussion of the viola bastarda. Praetorius observed:

So geschichts auch oft vff der Mso, for that reason, it often
grossen Bassvlol de Gamba,wenn das happens on the large, bass viol
gar grosse GG vff der vntersten da gamba that when the very low
Saiten mit dem Bogen scharff G on the lowest string is strongly
intonlrt wirt / dass oben die sounded with the bow, the higher
Saite / welche just in der Octaven string that is tuned precisely at
mit dem G einstimraet / zugleich », the octave (to g) moves simulta-
sich bewget vnd mit resonlrenthut. neously and resounds with it.
Resonance at the octave was probably more noticeable on the bass viola da

gamba than any other instrument of the period, except those with sympa­

thetic strings, because of the length of its strings and their unusual

thinness. Two classes of viols were distinguishable by the sixteenth

century and among the differentiating characteristics was the thickness of

77
their strings. Thin strings wereused on the viola da gamba and thick

ones on the viola da braoclo. Marcuse suggests that Playford’s hamway

tunings (e.g., D G d g b d * ) were designed to promote maximum sympathetic

resonance between the strings of the Ivra viol, a small, bass viola da

gamba. S a c h s believed that the accordatura of a many-stringed hybrid, the

lira da gamba. was determined by the same consideration. According to

Sachs, the effect of the lira da gamba was:

increased by sympathetic vibrations, as all notes played had

partials coinciding with some open strings. Unknown in modem
instruments, sympathetic vibrations were possible because the
strings were extremely thin, so thin that the highest of them
could be tuned an octave above the highest string of the modem
violoncello in spite of its equal length.

^^raetorius. Syntagma Musicum. II, AS.

77sachs, The History of Ifuslcal Instruments, p. 347.

*^^4arcuse. Musical Instruments, pp. 320-21.

*^9sachs. The History of Musical Instruments, p. 350.

 128

Uhether or not aocordaturas were influenced by sympathetic resonance

between the principal strings, it is certain that the phenomenon was

well known among musicians. In 1672, Thomas Mace had a double lute
80
constructed that was designed to exploit this effect. The dyphone.

as Mace called it, had an oblong chest with a neck and complete string

system attached at each end. It was rather like two lutes grafted to­

gether so that, in all, there were fifty strings (see Figure 22). The

instrument could be played from either end. The purpose of the arrange­

ment was to increase the sonority of the French lute on one end and the
English lute on the other. Mace described the principles involved:

You may well conceive. It may have a Fuller. Plumper,

and Lustier Sound, than any Other; because the Concave
is almost as Long again, as most Ordinary Lutes; for 'tis
clearly Hollow, from Heck to Heck, rithout any the Least
Interruption; so that when you Play the One, you may have
the Advantage of the Other, at the same time. Turn which
you will: This is One Augmentation of Sound: There is
yet Another; which is from the Strange, and Wonderful
Secret, which lies in the Nature of Sympathy, in
Unities; or the Uniting of Hanaonical Sounds; the One
always Augmenting the Other; For let 2 Several Instruments
lie asunder, (atany Reasonable Distance) whenyou Play
upon One, the Other shall Sound; provided They be both
Exactly Tuned in Unisons, to Each Other: otherwise not.
This is known to All Curious Inspectors into Such Mysteries.
If This therefore be True. It must needs be Granted.
That when the Strings of These Two Twynns (Accordingly)
put on. and Tun'd in Unities, and set U2 to a Stiff Lusty
Plch. They cannot but much more Augment, and Advantage
One the Other.^-^

Mace had a special reason for designing the dyphone because he was
82
suffering a hearing loss.

^^Thomas Mace, I^sick's Monument (London, 1676), p. 203.

% b i d .. pp. 203-04.

GZlbld.. p. 203.
 o
;\-'^vrw.Vw w

g;^oo>
.Pt/
0 f#g,_

(p G ) ')'^

Concorn,iT^ i h u Ç iuV futncnu IL ca d c jP^; 2/Og^ ,

’
V/.J^cilhomtJeC'.

ï^gure 22, Mace, M usick's Monument - I l lu s t r a t i o n o f Dyphone

K
vo
 130

Commentaries on Sympathetic Resonance Preceding Mersenne

The supposition that sympathetic strings were not introduced in

Europe before 1600 is supported by a marked increase in the discussion of

sympathetic resonance after that time. Comments are fairly plentiful

after I6OO and generally included references to resonance at the octave

and twelfth, as well as the unison. Earlier references are infrequent

and entirely limited to the Renaissance.

Accounts Prior to the Seventeenth Century

The period between antiquity and the Renaissance evidenced a decline

in the investigation of acoustics. Following (hreek thought, medieval

physicists held the view that nature is ultimately explained by mathematics.

Their chief attention centered on opticsHowever, a few advances in

acoustical thought can be credited to the Middle Ages. For example,

Robert Grosseteste (ça. 1170-1253) contributed to the understanding of

the propagation of sound:

Hence, when the sounding both is struck and vibrating, a similar

vibration and similar motion must take place in the surrounding
contiguous air, and this generation progresses in every direction
in straight lines. %

He observed that the speed of sound propagation is much slower than

that of light, and implied a distinction between speed of propagation

and speed of vibration that was unclear in Greek theories His

^^Crombie, Medieval and Early Modem Science. II, 118.

84ibld.. I, 103.

^5lbid.. I, 104.
 131
description seems close to the idea of the wave propagation of sound. The
mechanics for the vibrations of plucked strings and oscillating pendulums

were investigated by Jean Buridan (fl. 1328) He proposed a theory of

impetus that anticipated, in some respects, the principles of inertia and

momentum. According to a survey of Arabic sources by Truesdell and Hunt,

the only advance beyond the Greeks in Arabic acoustical writings was an

observation ty Safi Al-Din (d.l294) that the thinner string has the
higher pitch,^

In spite of the fact that the development of high-energy vibrators

such as organs and bells was well advanced by the early fifteenth century,

commentaries on sympathetic resonance do not appear before the end of

the century. Italian writers, apparently stimulated by sympathetic

resonance in bells, harpsichords and lutes, were the first to show an

interest in the phenomenon. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) suggested how

the sympathetic vibration of a string could be made visible. He wrote;

The blow given in the bell makes another, like bell answer
and move a little, and the sounded string of a lute makes
another, like string of like voice [i.e. pitch] in another
lute answer and move a little, and this you will perceive gg
by placing a straw upon the string like to the one sounded.
Placing a bent straw on the sympathetic string must have become a
favorite demonstration. The same technique was recommended by

Praetorius^^ and Francis B a c o n . D a Vinci's observation seems to be

%bid.. II, 71-3.

^^Truesdell, The Rational Mechanics, p. 18.

GGlbid.. p. 19,

^9praetorlus, Syntagma tfuslcum. II, 48.

^Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum. Century iii, no. 279, in Works.

IV, 294.
 132

limited to resonance between similar vibrators pitched in unison.

In 154^, Girolamo Fracastoro published a philosophical treatise

entitled De svnroathla et antlnathia rerum that included a detailed

analysis of sympathetic resonance.Fracastoro is generally credited

with the explanation to the phenomenon although another work,

Keditatlunculae by Guidobaldi del Monte, also dealt with the subject at

about the same time.^^ According to Fracastoro:

One unison promotes another, since when two strings are

equally taut, they are fitted to make and receive like
undulations of the air. Those that are diversely taut are
not in [aj 'case to be moved by the same circulations. but
one circulation hinders another. The beat of the string,
the motion, is composed of two motions, by one of which the
string is driven forward, that is, toward the circulations
of the air; by the other, backward, the string thus restoring
itself to its proper location. Therefore, if one moved
string is to be moved by another, in the second there must
be such a •proportion that the undulations and circulations
of the air which impel and malce the forward motion do not
hinder the backward motion of the string. Such a proportion
is had only by those strings that have a like tension. On
the contrary, strings of random tension do not set each other
in motion, because when the second motion happens, that is,
the return of the string backward, the second string hinders
it, and they get in each other's way. "Whence there occurs
no motion except the first impulsion, which is insensible.
I myself have seen in a certain church where many wax statues
stood high up around a chapel, at a certain tinkling only one
of the statues moved. . . The cause was nothing else than
the fact that only one was in unison. (Italics mine,)93

In this passage, Fracastoro made some distinctions that were as

essential to the understanding of the harmonic series as of sympathetic

91ldb. I, cap. xi; in Hieronymi Fracastori Yeronensis Opera Omnia

(Venice, 1555).
92sge annotation of Cornells de Waard in Correspondance du P.
Marin Mersenne (Paris, 194-5-), I, 193.
93Trans. in Truesdell, The Rational Mechanics, p. 22.
 133

resonance. His use of the terms undulations and circulations clearly

differentiates between frequency of vibration and wave propagation of

sound in air. He seemed to assume that the undulations had a definite

frequency when he described a string as "fitted to make and receive

like undulations". The expression fitted comes close to the notion that

sonorous vibrators have a natural period. %hile the correlation between

pitch and frequency was not stated, it was inplled by the references

to "such a proportion" and "in unison". Fracastoro’s explanation had

a direct influence on the later work of Galileo,and according to

De ¥aard, Kepler directly lifted Fracastoro's explanation in the

Harmonica mundi Libri III (1619)> claiming credit for himself

The isochronous nature of sonorous vibrators was not fully grasped

in Fracastoro»s explanation. His implication that different undulations

may have the same frequency does not necessarily carry with it the notion

of constancy. The concept of isochronous vibrations was approached more

closely by the physicist Giovanni Battista Benedetti. In a letter to

Cipriano de Rore, which Palisca dates about 1563,^^ Benedetti discussed

musical intervals;

Let a monochord be imagined. . .; when it is divided into two

equal parts by the bridge, each part will make the same sound...;
because the one makes as many strikings in the air as does the
other, so that the waves of air go out in the same way and
agree equally, without any intersection or breaking of each
other.

94-ibid.. p. 34.

95Annotation in Mersenne, Correspondance. I, 193.

96paiisca, "Scientific ïkpiricism in Musical Thought," p. 105.

 134
If the bridge divides the string in thirds, so that one part
is twice as long as the other . . . , then the greater part . . .
will sound an octave below, for the strikings of its ends will
bear such a proportion to each other that in every second
striking of the lessor string, the greater will strike and
agree at the same instant, since there is no one ignorant that
by so much the longer is a string, by so much the slower it moves,
Wherefore, since the longer is twice the shorter, and both
are equally taut, ^ the same time that the longer completes one
interval of trembling, the shorter will complete two intervals.
(Italics mine.)9Y

Later he gave the general formula:

The number of intervals [of trembling] of the lesser portion

will stand in the same ratio to the number of the greater as
does the length of the greater to the length of the lesser...'98

Although the phraseology that Benedetti employed is strongly

reminiscent of the Greeks, his analysis of the nature of sound was

much more precise. His phrase "interval of trembling" approximates

frequency of -vibration more clearly than anything expressed, before.

The clarity of Benedetti's analysis can be better judged by comparing

it with a similar discussion in Problemata xix, 39s

Hvpate [e] happens to have the same conclusions to the periods

in its sounds as nete [e'j, for the second stroke which nete
makes upon the air is hvnate. As, then, these notes, though
they do not do the same thing, terminate together, the result
is that they carry out one common task,, like those who are
playing a stringed accompaniment to a song; for these, though
they do not play the same other notes as the singer, yet, if
they finish on the same note, give more pleasure by their con­
clusion than they give pain by the differences which occur
earlier in the piece, because after diversity the unity due
to the accord in the octave is very pleasing.99

97published as "De intervallis musicis," in Diversarum sceculationum

mathematicarum et phvsicarum liber (Turin, 1585), pp. 277-83; reprinted
in Josef W. Reiss, "Jo, Bapt. Benedictus, De intervallis musicis,"
Zeitschrift fur I-îusikwissenschaft, Vol. "ni (192A/5), pp. 13-20; excerpts
trans. in Truesdell. The National Mechanics, p. 23.

98Trans. in Truesdell, The Rational Mechanics, p. 23.

99Forster, trans., Problemata xix. 921a. 39.
 135

Benedetti*s formula, that the ratio of the "intervals of trembling"

(i.e., frequency) is inversely proportional to the ratio of the string

lengths, is a major advance over the comparable statement in

Problemata xix.35a:

l-Jhy is the accord in the octave the most beautiful of all?

Is it because its ratios are contained within integral terms,
vdiile those of the others are not so contained? For since
nete [e'] is double hypate [e], as nete is two, so hvpate is
one; and as hvpate is two, nete is four; and so on.IOü

The assumption that the numbers in this Problem refer to frequency

relationship, as suggested by Cohen and Drabkin, cannot be justified

in this c o n t e x t . T h e problem is concerned entirely with number

theory. The only statement in the Problemata that approaches the

clarity of Benedetti*s formula is the brief reference to the co-

termination of strokes in the passage quoted earlier.

Although Benedetti made no connection between sympathetic resonance

and consonance, his observations about the frequency ratios of

vibrating strings were extremely important to the thories of consonance

that soon followed. One of Vincenzo Galilei's arguments against the

theories of Zarlino was that ratios of string lengths are not a unique

and reliable basis for the determination of concords. It could be

demonstrated that factors other than length, such as tension and material,
T02
determine the pitch of strings. Since the ratios of intervals obtained

by means of these variables differ greatly from those obtained from

^OOlbid.. xix. 920a. 35a.

^®^Gohen and Drabkin, A Source Book in Greek Science, p. 301.

^®%alisca, "Scientific Bnpiricism in thisical Thought," pp. 127-30.

 136

string lengths, Galilei concluded that the senarlus has no real

significance for music. Benedetti’s assertion that frequency ratios

determine intervals provided a new basis for explaining how the

traditional "harmonic numbers" were related to consonance. However,

Benedetti himself did not attribute consonance directly to small-

number ratios of frequencies. Instead, he developed an order based

on the products of the ratio terms— the smaller the product the more
103
consonant the interval. Çy this scheme Benedetti determined that

the fifth ( 3 x 2 =6) is more consonant than the fourth (4. x 3 = 12).

His system anticipated the method of classification used two centuries

later ty Robert Smlth.^^^

^Q% bld. . p. 109.

^^4&obert Smith, Harmonics, or the Philosophy of Musical Sounds
(Cambridge, 1749), p. 22.
 137
Statements ty Early Seventeenth-Centnry Writers

Early seventeenth-century writers discussed three points that

had not been e:ig)licit]y considered before: (l) by analogy v i t h the

isochronous oscillations of pendulums, they explained the mechanics of

resonance, (2) they observed the sympathetic resonance of pitches a

twelfth and a seventeenth above the initial source, and (3) they asserted

that the phenomenon of resonance provides a physical basis for musical

consonance. The comments of Beeckman, Galileo, Praetorius, and Descartes

give a representative view of the contemporary opinion, but of the four

writers, only Beeckman and Descartes directly Influenced Mersenne’s

observations in the Harmonie universelle. The discussion of Mersenne’s

comments on sympathetic resonance is included in the investigation of his

conception of the harmonic series in Chapter VIII.

Perhaps the first person to discuss the mechanics of the resonance

of harmonic frequencies was Isaac Beeckman (1588-1637), a little-known,

Dutch philosopher. Beeckman*s ideas significantly influenced the youthful

Descartes and their acquaintance in I6l8 inspired Descartes to write the

Compendium musicae.^^^ Beeckman* s correspondence with Hersenne, beginning

in 1629, was also extensive and influential. Had Beeckman published his

researches on the natural sciences, his reputation might have been more
extensive. Instead, he chose to record his ideas in a "journal,** a

portion of which was published posthumously in 1644.

^^%ee Truesdell, The Rational Mechanics, p. 24, n.3.

 13Ô

Although Galileo is usually credited with being first to explain

the isochronous movement of pendulums and stretched strings, it appears

that Beeckman anticipated him by some twenty-years. In 1618 Beeckman

gave this clear statement of the isochronism of sonorous strings;

Ebdstimandum est, cum chorda mota Since a moving string ceases at

tandem quiescit, spacium, per quod
moyetur secundo ictu, brevius esse
quàm (illud) per quod ictu primo
movebatur; atque hoc pacto ictùs
spacia decrescerej Attamen, cum
auribus soni omnes similes
appareant usque ad finem, necesse
est ut omnes ictus aequali semper
intervalle temporis à se invicem
distent.10°
By linking frequency of vibration with "equal intervals of time,"
last, it must be judged that the
space through which it is moved
by the second stroke is shorter
than [that] through which is was
moved by the firstj and thus the
space negotiated by the strokes
decreases. But, since to the ears
all sounds appear alike all the way
to the end, it is inevitable that
all strokes are distant from each
other by an always equal interval
of time.

Beeckman clarified an assumption left undiscussed in the writings of

107
Pracastoro and Benedetti. The understanding of isochronous motion

not only enabled Beeckman to Improve upon the mechanical description of

resonance at unison frequencies, but it also encouraged him to speculate

T08
about resonance at the octave and the twelfth. He judged that the

air, set in motion by the first string, transmits the movement to the

second string by impinging on it at intervals of "agreement" if both are

tuned in unison; and by intervals of "alteimate agreement" if the

frequency of the second is two or three times that of the first.

^^%oumal tenu oar Isaac Beeckman de 1604. à 163A. ed. Cornells

de ¥aard. Vol. I (The Hague, 1939), fol. 102r, Hereinafter referred
to as Beeckman, Journal.

10%8ee Truesdell, The Rational Mechanics, p. 23.

lO^Beeckman, Journal, fols. 54r-54vj 105r.

^(^^Truesdell, The Rational Mechanics, p. 27.

 139

Although he may not have realized that sympathetic resonance occurs

at intervals other than the unison or octave before he met Descartes,

Beeckman had previously developed a theory of consonance based on the

ratios of coincidence between vibrating strings. In I6I4 he advocated

these ratios of coincidence as a basis for ranking intervals in the

following order of consonance: octave (1:2), double octave (1:4),

fifth (2:3), fourth (3:4)> major third (4:5), and minor third (5:6)

According to Beeckman* s scheme, the octave is the first consonance because

there is a coincidence between the strings at every vibration of the

lower string. The fifth is less perfect because two strokes of the lower

string are required before a coincidence is achieved between the two

strings, and so forth with the others. His discussion did not include

sixths, but at a later date he placed the major sixth (3:5) between the

thirds, Beeckman*s proposal of a natural order of consonance does not

clearly indicate whether he considered the minor sixth (5:8) to be

consonant or dissonant:

Hac via ratio consonantiarum By this method, consonant re-

redditur naturalis, quae reddi non
potest, si consonantias aliis numeris
explicemus. Quo enim soni serius
coeunt, eo deterior est consonantia,
unde fit ut 8 ad 5 pessima audiat,ll3
lationship will be rendered natural,
which is not possible if we explain
consonances by other numbers, In-
deed, as sounds are combined further,
the lower ratio is the more con­
sonant, whence it is that 8 to 5
may sound poorest*

llOSee Beeckman, Journal, fol, lOOr.

mibid,. fol, 23v,

ll^lbid,, fols, 363r-363vj see the annotations of De Vaard in
Kersenne. Correspondance. II, 524-25, and III, 220-21,

113Beeckman, Journal, fol, 23v,

 140

Beeckman ims not a musician, and perhaps this was the reason he did not

comment on the potential relation between his coincidence theory of

consonances and the observations he later made about sympathetic

resonance at the octave and the twelfth, llost importantly, however, this

statement did present a new formula for ordering intervals according to

consonance.

Galileo Galilei did not publish his celebrated observations about

the oscillations of pendulums and stretched strings until 1638 in his

Dlscorsi 6 dimostrazioni matematiche intomo a due nuove scienze. a

treatise dealing with motion and mechanics. Despite the date of publi­

cation, Galileo's experiments on resonance were probably conducted about

1630, or earlier, and certainly before Mersenne published the Harmonie

universelle TJhile no evidence indicates that Galileo knew of

Beeckman*s theories, many of the acoustical observations in the Dlscorsi

were considerably indebted to Eracastoro, Benedetti, and to his own

father, Vincenzo.

After he developed the concepts that pendulums "form their

vibrations all in exactly the same time" and each has a "time of vibration

or period that nature has given it,"^^ Galileo proceeded to explain the

sympathetic vibration of the strings on a cittern or spinet:

^4rruesdell, The Rational Mechanics, p. 34 nj cf. Palisca,

"Scientific Bnpiricism in Musical Thought," pp. 132-33.

ll^Galileo Galilei, Dialogues concerning Two New Sciences, trans.

by H. Grew and A. de Salvio (New York, 1914), First Day, pp. 95j 97.
 141

A vibrating string will set another string in motion and cause

it to sound not only when the latter is in unison but even
when it differs from the former by an octave or a fifth. A
string which has been struck begins to vibrate and continues
the motion as long as one hears the sound frisonanzal; these
vibrations cause the immediately surrounding air to vibrate
and quiver; then these ripples in the air expand far into
space and strike not only all the strings of the same instru­
ment but even those of neighboring instruments. Since that
string which is tuned to unison with the one plucked is
capable of vibrating with the same frequency, it acquires,
at the first impulse, a slight oscillation; after receiving
two, three, tirenty, or more impulses, delivered at proper
intervals, it finally accumulates a vibratory motion equal
to that of the plucked string, as is clearly shown by
equality of amplitude in their vibrations. This undulation
expands through the air and sets into vibration not only
strings, but also any other body which happens to have the
same period as that of the plucked string.

Galileo’s description of sympathetic resonance was concerned entirely

with the resonance of unison frequencies. It seems quite likely that he

was aware of resonance at the octave and other harmonic frequencies, but

he made no mention of them in his acoustical discussions.

In his discussion of musical consonance, Galileo presented, without

credit, a summary of his father's reservations about the validity of

117
monochord numbers. Moreover, his subsequent observations tended to

negate Vincenzo's arguments by demonstrating that interval ratios are

valid but that they depend on temporal units, i.e., frequencies of

vibration instead of on physical attributes of strings, such as length,

tension, and mass. By means of two clever demonstrations, Galileo was

able to prove that the frequencies of consonant intervals do in fact

agree with the small-number ratios of the old string-length theories.

l% b id .. pp. 98-9.
^*^Ibid.. pp. 99-101; see Palisca, «ScientificEâpiricism in Musical
Thought," pp. 133-35.
 142

First, he showed that when the sound caused by running the finger

around the rim of a glass appears to jump an octave, the waves on the
■1 1 r t
water move twice as fast and become half as long. Second, he reported

that the frequency relationship of intervals can be demonstrated by

counting the marks left on a brass plate when an iron chisel is scraped

across its surface at different rates of speed. With the aid of a spinet

he identified the pitches of the scraping sounds and discovered that

sounds a fifth apart left 4-5 and 30 marks respectively.^^ From this

evidence Galileo concluded:

Agreeable consonances are pairs of tones which strike the

ear with a certain regularity; this regularity consists in
the fact that the pulses delivered by the two tones, in the
same interval of time, shall be commensurable in number, so
as not to keep the ear drum in perpetual torment, bending
in two different directions in order to yield to the ever-
discordant I m p u l s e s . 120

Galileo’s analysis gained wide acceptance in the seventeenth century, but

it does not account for the "torment" that might be caused by a lack of

phase synchronization between the "pulses." Galileo evidently assumed

that if two sounds are "commensurable," having a common measure between

their vibrations, they are automatically heard "in phase."

In sum, Galileo’s acoustical observations were much the same as

Beeckman’s. He recognized the isochronous nature of the vibrations pro­

duced by a string, and used that principle to explain sympathetic resonance.

ll^Galileo, Dialogues concerning Two Hew Sciences, pp. 99; 101.

H9ibid.. pp. 101-02.

l^Qjbld.. p. 104.
 143
Unlike Beeckman, however, Galileo published his findings, presenting

his ideas in easily understood arguments supported by experimental

evidence.

Neither Beeckman nor Galileo directly related the theory of con­

sonance to sympathetic resonance. Perhaps their experience with

resonance was too limited to indicate a systematic relationship. It

was inevitable, however, that popular interest in this phenomenon should

lead someone to reassert the connection suggested a thousand years earlier

by Bacchius the Elder (supra, p.113). Within a years time, and quite

independently, Praetorius and Descartes did call attention to this

relationship.

Praetorius' comment on this matter was quite brief, but since he

wrote as a practicing musician, not as a philosopher interested in

mechanics, his statement is all the more illuminating. As an adjunct to

his remarks about adding sympathetic strings to the viola bastarda, he

wrote:

Daher Augenscheinlich vnd Thus, there is visible and

handgreifflich zu befinden / dass
die Harmony der Consonantiarum ganz
in die Natur gepflantzet sey. Dann
Venn in einer Stuben / Gammer / oder
sonsten eine Saite vff der Viol
intoniret wird / vnnd eine Laute
Oder Cyther vffia Tische lieget /
Oder an der Wand hënget / so reget
vnd beweget sioh vff derselben
Lauten oder Cÿther / die Saite /
welche vnter denselben gar rein /
vnd eben mit deren / so vff der
Viol mit dem Bogen gestrichen
wird / gleich-lauts einstimmet:
Welches man vmb so viel gewisser
vnnd eigendliclier / wenn ein
Strohelmlin vff dieselbige Lauten-
oder Cythersaiten gelegt wird /
observiren vnd erfahren kan.121
palpable evidence that the harmony
of consonances is entirely rooted
in Nature. For when a viol string
is sounded in a room or chamber
where a lute or zither lies on a
table or hangs on the wall, any of
their strings that are exactly
and precisely tuned to the same
pitch as the one bowed on the viol
vdll stir and vibrate. This can
be observed and experienced all
the more certainly if a small straw
is placed on these same lute or
zither strings.

121praetorius, Syntagma Kusicum. II, 47-S.

 144

To illuatrate the point that strings and pipes ^dll also vibrate

sympathetically vhen they are pitched in octaves, Praetorius spoke of

an interesting use that organ builders made of this effect:
Ja dass noch mehr ist / so bezeugt
die Erfahrung / dass / wenn ein
Orgelmacher in vffsetzung vnnd
zusammenfugung einer Newen Orgel /
oben vffra Gerüste eine Pfeiffe
nach der andern einsetzen vnd
stimmen / vnd in der eyl wissen
wil / wo er vnter alien Pfeiffen /
so vffia Gerüste nach einander
liegen / die Pfeiffen so er haben
muss / finden konne: So lest er
in der Orgel nur die Octav von
derselben Pfeiffe intoniren.
alsbald kan er vnter denen vffia
Gerüste / wenn er eine nach der
ander anrühret / am zittem die
Octava finden: Denn sich dieselbtge
Pfeiffe von dem Klang vnd Then der
andem in der Orgel also zittemd
beweget / dass man es greiffen
vnd fuhlen kan,122
Indeed, that [resonance at the
octave] is demonstrated even more
by practical experience in erecting
and assembling a new organ, IJhea
an organmaker, fitting and tuning
one pipe after another high on the
scaffold, wants to know quickly
which pipe he must have among all
those resting side by side on the
scaffold, he can find it if he
will have the octave of this pipe
sounded on the organ, Qy means
of the vibrating of the octave
he can immediately locate the pipe
among those on the scaffold if
he touches one after the other
because this pipe quivers from
the sound and tone of the other
on the organ— to the extent that
■one can touch and feel it.

Unfortunately, Praetorius did not elaborate further on the relation

between resonance and consonance.

In l6l8 Descartes called attention to the phenomenon of resonance

in his Gomnendlum musicae. Although the Compendium was not published

until after Descartes' death in 1650, it is likely that a number of manu­

script copies were circulated earlier, Mersenne probably saw the copy

in Beeckman's possession during his visit to Dordrecht in 1630. The

correspondence between Mersenne and Descartes in the same year shows

124
that sympathetic resonance was among the topics discussed at that time.

^%bid.. II, 48.

123see annotation of De "Waard in Mersenne, Correspondance. II, 548-49.

^•24see Letters 170 and 181, in Mersenne, Correspondance. II.

 145
A French translation entitled Abrégé de la musique> first published in

1653, was widely read because of the great prestige of the author.

Descartes* knowledge of consonance was based primarily on the

traditional theories he had learned at the Jesuit College at La Fleche,

but in the Compendium he incorporated some new ideas derived from his

personal experience as an amateur lutenist. The following observation

marked a new stage in the evolution of consonance theories and is one

of the statements in the Compendium that strongly impressed Rameau a

century later:

Neque quis putet imaginarium Let no one consider it to be

illud quod diciraus, proprie tantum
ex divisions octavae quintam generaid
& ditonum, easterns per accidens.
Id enim etiam experiontia compertum
habeo, in nervis testudinis vel
alterius cuiuslibet instrumenti:
quorum vnus si pulsetur, vis
ipsius soni concutiet omnes nervos
qui aliquo genere quintae vel
ditoni erunt acutioresj in ijs
autem qui quarta vel aliè conson-
antiâ distabunt, id non fiet.
Quae certe vis consonantiarum
non nisi ex illarum perfections
potest oriri vel imperfectione,
quae scilicet primae per se
consonantias sint, aliae autem
per accidens, quia ex alijs
necessario fluunt,^^
In this statement, Descartes used a physical phenomenon to reinforce
imaginary when we say that,
properly speaking, only the fifth
and major third are generated by
the division of the octave and the
others incidentally. Indeed, I
have even proved this by experi­
menting with the strings of a
lute or any other instrument you
please: if one of the strings
is plucked, the force of its sound
will vibrate all strings that are
higher by some class of fifth or
major third. However, this will
not occur in those strings that
are distant by a fourth or some
other consonant. This sure power
of consonances can arise only from
their perfection or imperfection,
which is to say, the principal
ones are consonances per se. and
the others only incidentally be­
cause they necessarily result from
the principals.

his mathematical assertions about the ratios of consonant intervals. It

would be easy to overemphasize his commitment to acoustical proofs.

^25Rene Descartes, Compendium musicae. in Oeuvres de Descartes.

ed. by C. Adams and P. Tannery, X (Paris, 1908), 102-03.
 146
but at least it can be said that his statement involves a fresh approach.

Taken in context, Descartes’ discussion of geometrical and mathematical

considerations suggests that he was closer to the thought of

than might be expected.

Descartes was still concerned with the idea of "sonorous numbers,"

but for the sake of mathematical rigor, he chose to reduce the senarius
to three prime numbers:

In ilia enim advertendum est, Indeed, in that [geometric

très esse duntaxat numéros sonoros,
2, 3 & 5; numerus enim 4 & numerus
6 ex illis componuntur, atque ideo
tantum per accidens numeri sunt
sonori: vt ibi etiam patet, vbi
in recto ordine & recta linea non
générant novas consonantias, sed
duntaxat illas quae ex prioribus
componuntur.^7
He concluded his long discussion of intervals with a similar statement:
Omnem sonorum varietatem, circa
acutum & grave, oriri in Musict
ex his tantum numeris, 2, 3 & 5;
omnes omnino numéros quitus tarn
gradus quàm dissonantiae ex-
plicantur, ex illis tribus componi,
& divisions factâ per illos tandum
ad vnitatem vsque resolvi.^^®
figure] we ought to observe that
there are exactly three sonorous
numbers: 2, 3, and 5. Numbers
4 and 6 are composed of these
[primes], and for that reason,
they are sonorous numbers only
incidentally. It may also be
seen that they do not generate
new consonances directly and in a
proper series, but only those that
are compounded from the first con­
sonances .
All the differences of sound in
music, with regard to high and
low, originate from only these
three numbers, 2, 3, and 5* All
other numbers used to explain the
steps as well as the dissonances
are compounded from these three,
and all divisions by them finally
end at unity.

A further comment about resonance reveals Descartes' preoccupation with

the traditional proportions:

^^^See Matthew Shirlaw, The Theory of Harmony (2nd ed.; DeKalb,

Illinois, 1955), pp. 60-2.

l^Vpescartes, Comuendlum musicae. p. 105.

IZSibid.. p. 131.
 147

Hic autem explicandum est, Here, however, we ought to ex­

quare tertium genus ditoni sit
perfectissimum, atque in nervis
testudinis tremulationem efficiat
visu perceptibilera, potiùs quàm
primum aut secundum. Quod oriri
existimo, imô affero, ex eo quôd
in multiplici proportione consistât,
alia in superparticulari, vel
multiplici & superparticulari
sinul.129
plain why the third class of major
thirds [the seventeenth, 1:5] is the
most perfect, and also why it, more
than the first or second [class],
causes visible vibrations in the
strings of the lute. Now I judge,
or rather I assert, this to arise
from the fact that it [the third
class] consists in a multiplex pro­
portion [1:5], while the others con­
sist in superparticular [the third,
4:5] or compound multiplex super­
particular [the tenth, 2:5]
proportions.

It is tempting to assume that Descartes chose 5 to 1 over the other

ratios because he clearly understood the mechanical operation of the

resonance of harmonic frequencies. Indeed, he may have understood it;

however, only once in the Comoendium is there any reference to the

essential knowledge that interval ratios depend on the coincidence of

frequencies. It appears briefly as an explanation of the above

statement, and only after Descartes had offered a geometrical proof

using the following diagram.

A B

£ H

He then stated:

1 2 9 ib id .. p . 109.

Eodem pacto illud concipietur,
si quis dixerit sonum aures ferire
raultis ictibus, idque eo celerius quo
sonus acutior est. Tunc enim, vt
sonus A B perveniat ad vniformitatem
cum sono C D, debet tantum aures
ferire quinque ictibus, dum C D
semel feriet. Sonus autem G F non
tarn cito redibit ad vnisonantiam;
non enim id fiet, nisi post
secumdum ictum soni G D, vt patet
ex demonstrations superiori.
Idemque expllcabitur, quocumque
modo sonum audiri concipietur.^^
148
In the same way, this [primacy
of multiplex proportions] will be
conceived if we say that sound makes
many strokes on the ears, and that
the quicker the strokes the higher
the sound. For instance, in order
for the sound A B to arrive at
uniformity with the sound C D, it
has only to make five strokes on
the ears while C D makes one. The
sound of C F, on the other hand,
does not return to unity so quickly;
indeed, that happens only after the
second stroke of the sound C D, as
is revealed from the demonstration
above. The same thing is explained
no matter which way sound is con­
ceived to be heard.

Another remark by Descartes, written in 1619, suggests that Beeckman

was the source of this alternate solution:
Idem suspicatur nervos in The same person [Beeckman]
testudine ed celerius moveri quo conjectures that the strings on the
acutiores sunt, ita vt duos motus lute move more s'^ftly as they are
edat octava acutior, dum vnum higher [in pitch], so that the
graviorj^item quinta acutior higher octave produces two move­
Ifc te.131 ^ ments during the time the lower
string produces one; in the same
manner, the higher fifth produces
!§- movements, etc.

One must assume that the coincidence theory of consonance was new to

Descartes and still somewhat undeveloped at the time the Compendium

was written.^^

In the early seventeenth century the phenomenon of sympathetic

resonance continued to be viewed as a manifestation of occult "influences.”

120lbid.. p. no.
^^%ené Descartes, Gogitationes privatae. in Oeuvres de Descartes.
X, 224.

132see André Pirro, Descartes et la musique (Paris, 1907), pp. lO-H.

 149

How Descartes regarded this matter in I6l3 is not entirely clear, for,

in the opening section of the Comnendlnm he evidently felt obliged to

repeat some of ths superstitions about "sympathy" to be found in the

works of Fracastoro, Mbroise Pare,^^ and other writers of the previous

century:

Id tantum videtur vocem humanam Therefore, the voice of a human

nobis gratisslmam reddere, quia
omnium maxime conformls est nostris
spiritibus. Ita forte etiam
amicissimi gratior est, quàm
inimici, ex sympathiâ & dispathia
affectuum: eadem rations qtia
aiunt ovis pellem tensam in tympano
obmutessere, si feriatur, lupinâ
in alio tympano résonante.^4
being seems to give us so much grati­
fication because in all respects it
conforms in the highest degree with
our spirits. And also, perhaps
for the same reason, the voice of
a good friend is more pleasing than
that of an adversary because of the
influences of sympathies and anti­
pathies. For the same reason, as
the saying goes, a sheep's hide
stretched on a drum remains silent
when it is struck, if a wolf's
hide on another dnm is sounding.

Confusing elements in Descartes' presentation do not discredit his

accomplishment of introducing a new concept into the consideration of

consonance. To this limited extent, Descartes was probably the first

writer on music to sense a possible relation between the perception of

consonance and an underlying acoustical series 135

*************************************

The importance of sympathetic resonance in the history of the

harmonic series must be judged according to two considerations: (1)

^^^See commentary of C. Adams and P. Tannery in Oeuvres de

Descartes. X, 224.

^34Descartes, Compendium musicae. p. 90.

commentary of Charles Kent in René Descartes, Compendium

of Music, trans. by ¥. Robert (American Institute of lîusicalogy, 1961),
pp. 8-9.
 150

as a means of directly experiencing the natural series of tones, and

(2) as a factor in the acoustical explanation and understanding of the

harmonic series. Siympathetic resonance was one of the mysteries of

nature that attracted attention in ancient times, however, both the

written accounts and the history of musical instruments suggest that

e3q)erience with this phenomenon was limited to resonance.at the unison

or octave. The acoustical conditions necessary for the sympathetic

resonance of harmonie frequencies are difficult to provide. In retrospect,

bowed instruments with metal strings were the most likely sources for

such a demonstration. Instruments fitted with sympathetic strings were

not introduced into Europe until about I6OO, and the instrument best

suited to demonstrate the connection between resonance and flageolet

tones, the trompette marine organisée, was not developed until the

latter half of the seventeenth century. Viewed as a whole, the evidence

indicates that the connection between the order of resonating frequencies

and the natural sexles of tones did not become apparent until well

after I6OO.
Investigations of sympathetic resonance by the Greeks and Romans in

antiquity and the Italians in the Renaissance contributed to the under­

standing of sound and laid the foundation for the mechanical explanation

of the harmonic series. Ey the Renaissance, it was evident that speed

of vibration is independent of speed of propagation, and the idea that

sonorous vibrators have natural periods had begun to crystalize. These

points were clearly defined and experimentally demonstrated in the early

seventeenth century. Because the seventeenth-century investigations

 151

of the resonance of harmonie frequencies were intimately connected

with Mersenne's inquiries about the overtones of complex sounds, these

matters are discussed together in Chapter VIII.

 CHAPTER IV

THE NATURAL SERIES OF TONES PRODUCED ON TRUMPETS

AND RELATED INSTRUMENTS

The natural series of tones emitted by trumpets and other lip-

vibrated wind instruments is governed by the principle of the harmonic

series. Through a process of adjusting wind pressure and lip tension,

the performer can obtain a sequence of partial tones from a single length

of tubing. This process is appropriately called mode-changing because the

sonorous column of air within the tube is induced to change its mode of

vibration from the whole to an aliquot segment of its length.^ Before the

invention of valves, musicians designated these natural partial tones as

trumpet notes, but now performers oall them open notes or simply "harmonics."

For the sake of consistency the terms overblowing and overblown partial
2
tones can be applied to lip-vibrated instruments as they are to other

wind instruments and organ pipes, if this usage is distinguished from the

forced tonal effect known as cuivre (brassy).

Overblown partial tones are the counterpart of flageolet tones since

both phenomena present the direct experience of the harmonic series in its

successive aspect. However, unlike flageolet tones, there is no obvious

^G. A. Taylor, The Physics of ttisical Sounds (New York, 1965),

pp. 165-67.
^Cf. Nicholas Bessaraboff, Ancient European Musical Instruments
(Cambridge, Mass., 19Al)i pp. 43J 388.

152
 153

difference in timbre between the overblown partiale and the fundamental,

nor are there visual clues to suggest that the air column vibrates in

segments. Nevertheless, theorists in times past could have reckoned

the pitch ratios of this natural series with the aid of a monochord if

the trumpeters of their day had been able to produce a substantial number

of partial tones. It is the purpose of this chapter to determine when

such an extensive range of overblown partials might have been known.

Sections of the chapter consider the state of primitive and ancient

trumpets, the evolution of modem brasses during the Middle Ages and

Renaissance, and the clarin style of trumpet playing during the Baroque

period.

Judgements about the capacities of ancient trumpets and horns to

produce harmonic partials must be made with caution, even when surviving

instruments are'^tested by modem performers. Estimates of the timbre,

range, and relative intonation of the tones are much less reliable for

brass instruments than for strings. It can be assumed that gut or silk

strings had exactly the same harmonic properties in ancient times as now

and that flageolet tones produced on the ancient ch'in. for example, had

the same pitch relationships as those produced on twentieth-century instru­

ments. Similar assumptions are not necessarily valid for lip-vibrated,

wind instruments. A number of factors can introduce distortion in the

harmonic relationships of the overblown partials. These factors must be

taken into account before making any judgements about the tonal properties

of historical Instruments.
 154

Acoustical Factors Affecting Overblown Partials

Like all other musical instruments, lip-vibrated wind instruments

are coupled acoustical systems consisting of a generator and resonator.

Specifically, the pulsations caused by the lips vibrating in the mouth­

piece act as the generator, and the body of confined air vibrating within
3
the tube acts as the resonator. In stringed instruments the dominant

member of the coupled system is the generator, the string and the resonator

is forced to adopt the vibrational pattern characteristic of the string.

In contrast, the vibrational pattern of wind instruments is dominated ly

the resonator, the column of air, and the resultant pattern is therefore

less predictable.^ There are two reasons for this greater variability;

(1) it is possible to subject a column of air to move modifications in

shape than a stretched string, and (2) a generator, even \dien it is not

the dominant member, can exert a considerable influence on the vibrational

pattern of the system. The performer*s margin of influence over the air

column is even greater for lip-vibrated winds than for reeds or flutes.^

For this reason the brass performer can modify timbre and tuning more ex­

tensively than players of woodwind instruments.

^Harry F. Olson, Itisic. Physics. and Engineering (2nd ed.; New York,
1967), pp. 161-62.
^Philip Bate, The Trumpet and Trombone (New York, 1966), p. 2.

^Ibid.. p. 3; also see J. G. Woodward, "Resonance Characteristics

of a Comet," Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. XIII
(October, 1941), 158-59.
 155

The Resonator

In pipe organs a great variety of shapes can be given tubes enclosing

sonorous air columns but for vibrations generated hy the lips, narrow

tubes that are cylindrical, conical, or a congruous mixture of the two

provide the best response. I&ile all modem brass instruments have a
mixed taper, they tend to be mostly cylindrical or mostly conical. This

distinction furnishes the basis for classifying brass instruments into

families of cylindrical trumpets and conical horns. Both classes have

natural prototypes; tubes of cane or reed provide the cylindrical shape

and animal horns or tusks, the conical.^

Although the vibration of an air column confined in a cylindrical

tube differs in kind from the transverse motion of a stretched string, the
7
two systems are somewhat analogous. Instead of having a transverse

vibration with points of no mechanical movement (nodes) and points of

maximum extension (loops), the air particles move backward and forward in

a series of periodic compressions and rarefactions. A cylindrical tube that

is open at both ends, called simply an open pipe, permits the formation

of pressing antinodes at each opening. Even though a stretched string

presents the reverse displacement pattern, with nodes at the fixed ends,

both vibrators theoretically produce a complete series of harmonic partials

(see Figure 23). If the cylindrical tube is closed at one end (i.e., a
closed pipe), a node must form at the closed end and an antinode at the

^Ourt Sachs, The History of I-ftisical Instruments (New York, 1940),

p. 457.
^Taylor, The Physics o f Musical Sounds, p . 22.
 Fundamental 156
a
Stretched string:

2nd harmonic

3rd harmonic
^ L. ^ -u... tJ

Fundamental

Open pipe:

2nd harmonic

•Pr N

3rd harmonic

I
N N

Fundamental
Closed pipe:

3rd harmonic '

Pc-

Figure 23. Vibrational modes of strings and pipes

^N=node, L“loop, and A«antinode.

 157
g
open end. As a result a node cannot form at the middle point and only

the odd-numbered harmonics sound.

In conical tubes the vave fronts are spherical, vhereas those in

cylindrical tubes stand in a plane perpendicular to the side walls.

Despite this difference, the air enclosed in a conical tube produces the

same harmonic spectrum as an open cylindrical pipe of similar length and

9
diameter, provided, of course, that the cone is open at the large end.

A node forms near the middle point and an antinode at the open end.

Mathematically it can be demonstrated that an antinode also forms at the

vortex whether it is open or closed.Confusion exists in acoustical

literature concerning the open or closed status of the mouthpiece end, but

one caa.,assert that, at least normally, all lip-vibrated instruments pro­

duce a complete harmonic spectrum.^

Not every cylindrical or conical tube will yield a sonorous sound

or produce a harmonic series of overblown partials. A tube can be so

wide or so narrow that it will emit no sound at all because tube dimensions

must remain within certain limits to preserve the equilibrium of the

12
vibrating system. Instrument makers refer to the relationship between

g
Charles A. Culver, Musical Acoustics (4th ed.; New York, 1956),
pp. 179—80.
%aylor. The Physics of Musical Sounds, pp. 26-9»

^Qlbld.. 28.
^Olson, Music. Physics, and Engineering, pp. 167; 225-26.

^^Bate, The Trumpet and Trombone, p. 6; also see E. G, Richardson,

Technical Aspects of Sound. Vol I: Sonic Range and Airborne Sound
(Amsterdam, 1953), pp. 512-13.
 158
the length and width of a tube as its scale or measure. Since the

original method of making organ pipes was to cut flat sheets, roll them

up, and solder the seam, ..instrument makers determined the formula of

scale as the ratio between the circumference and length of the tube. In

this way, an Instrument fashioned from an anlmaT horn is said to have a

wider scale than one made from a similar length of bamboo cane.

¥ithin the practicable range of tube dimensions it is difficult to

design an instrument that will yield an extensive series of partials.

Narrow-scale tubes favor the higher partials but do not respond well in

the lower range, while wide-scale tubes yield the fundamental easily but
13
do not favor the higher partials. Some of these tonal limitations are

explained by an effect called end correction. Because the terminal anti­

node at the bell of a trumpet or horn occurs beyond the end of the tubing,

the effective length of "speaking length" of the air column is somewhat

greater than the actual length of the tube i t s e l f T h e generally accepted

value for this corrective factor is approximately six-tenths of the radius

of the tube.^^ Thus, the effective length of a tube is equal to the actual

length plus 0.6 radius (L'= L+0.6r). If the mouth of the tube is flared,

the corrective factor is increased and according to Olsen, it takes the

value of 0.82 r a d i u s T h e exact values of end correction are among many

^^Bate, The Trumpet and Trombone, p. 6.

^^Richardson, Technical Aspects of Sound. I, 493.

^%bid.. 494.
^^Isen, Music. Physics, and Engineering, p. 84*

^^See Richardson, Technical Aspects of Sound. I, 494-96.

 159

aspects of vibrating air columns that need further investigation.^^

Stephen and Bate found, for example, that the end correction for an

organ flute pipe may amount to as much as three times the radius of the
18
pipe. It is important to observe that end correction increases with

the scale of the tube, becoming a considerable value for wide-scale

instruments. Furthermore, if a flared end is added to an instrument to

help disperse the sound, the end correction is thereby increased.

End correction would be a matter of little consequence to the pro­

duction of overblown partials were it not that the corrective factor is

different for each partial of the tonal spectrum of the tube. The

implications of this difficult point have been neatly summarized hy

Bartholomew with regard to organ pipes:

The end correction might be thought to have no effect

on the tone except in lowering the fundamental pitch.
However, it also has an important effect on the tone quality.
In fact, it gives an explanation of the great influence that
the "scale" of a pipe has on its overtone content. The
reason for this is that the end correction varies with the
frequency. Thus, for example, if the fundamental of a
pipe is 100. its second partial produced by overblowing,
might be 201 since the end correction is different. The
third partial might be 303, the fourth 4 0 6 , and the fifth
510, perhaps. The effect is to distort the harmonic series.
And yet the pipe, \dien steadily blown at fundamental frequency,
will attempt to vibrate in a steady state condition only
possible with harmonic overtones. Naturally the result of
this is a compromise. 'When blown at normal pressure the air
column does vibrate in a steady state, with truly harmonic
overtones, but these are weakened in the complex tone in
proportion as they depart from the true harmonic points
vdien produced separately by overblowing. Resonance

l?8ee Richardson, Technical Aspects of Sound. I, 494-96.

Td. B. Stephens and A. E. Bate, Acoustics and Vibrational
Physics (London, 1966), p. 252.
 160

decreases the farther away the frequencies are from true

harmonic points. The influence of the pipe, which draws
tlie fundamental edge tone into strong resonance with itself,
will draw the octave into some resonance, the third partial
into less, the fourth into still less, and so on. The wider
the pipe in relation to its length, the more distorted and
difficult of production is the overblown "harmonic" series
(which of course is no longer harmonic), and consequently
the truly harmonic overtones become rapidly weaker in the
complex quality produced when blown normally.19

This passage not only explains why an animal horn will not yield an

extensive series of partiale but it also points to an Important difference

between the partial series of air columns and stretched strings. The

partials in steady-state sounds, whether from bowed strings or blown

20
pipes, are harmonic with the fundamental. Likewise, the series of

flageolet tones obtained from a string is harmonic with the fundamental.

However, overblown partial tones obtained from a tube tend to deviate

from true harmonic frequencies because of end correction. Fortunately

this deviation is minimized to some extent h7 the narrow scales of most

brass instruments.

The characteristics of the pipe walls are another factor that

affects the vibrational pattern of the air column. The density of the.

material has little importance for the history of the harmonic series

because the most suitable materials, brass and copper, were already

preferred In ancient times. With regard to thickness, it can be assumed

that heavy side walls were always rejected because they make the tube

^%ilmer T. Bartholomew, Acoustics of >hisic (New York, 1952), p. 122,

^^Olson, lÆuslc. Physics, and Engineering, p. 2^.
 161

difficult to blow. Thin walls improve the timbre and the capacity to
emit partial tones, but at the expense of loudness if they become too
21
thin. Irregularities in the tubing can cause deviations in the tuning

of individual partial tones. A bulge in the bore near an antinode of a

sounding partial tone will raise its pitch, or if near a node will lower
22
its pitch. Since one irregularity can affect several partials in

different ways, the production of a well-regulated series requires a tube

of carefully controlled uniformity. Even the merger of cylindrical and

23
conical sections can influence the spectrum of frequencies, and, for

this reason, the fourth harmonic on most modem trumpets is sharp, while

the fifth may be flat.^^ The technical difficulties of making brass

instrument practically ruled out the possibility of obtaining tuned series

of overblown partials before the development, of precision machinery.

The Generator

The sound of a trunqjet or horn is generated by the combined action of

the air pressure and lip vibration supplied by the performer. The

vibrating lips interrupt the stream of air directed into the tube, setting

up steady pulsations that in turn induce resonance in the enclosed air

21
See commentary of Godtfred 8kjerne in H. G. Broholm, Tfa. P. Larsen,
and G. 8kjerne, The Lures of the Bronze Age (Copenhagen, 1949), p. 93.

^Bate, The Trumpet and Trombone, pp. 21-2.

22lbld.. pp. 35-6.

^Ainthony Baines, "Trumpet," Grove’s Dictionary of ^kislc and ^hisicians.
5th ed., VIII, 562; cf. Earle L. Kent, The Inside Story of Brass
Instruments (Elkhart, Indiana, 1956), p. 4-«
 162
25
ooliunn. Modem mouthpieces are designed to add an additional resonance
factor to the tonal system, but their original function was merely to
26
serve as an adapter or connector. If the bore of a primitive horn was

large enough to accommodate the lips, no mouthpiece at all was used, but

if the bore was too small, a funnel was needed to connect the bore of the

tube with a rim large enough for the lips. Modem French hom mouthpieces

still retain this funnel characteristic. Shape of mouthpiece affects

both timbre and ease in producing partials. A cup-shaped mouthpiece tends

to increase the brilliance of tone, an effect that E. G. Richardson

believes is the result of an edge tone formed at the sharp junction of the
27
cup and the bore. In any case, a shallow cup facilitates the production
2S
of high partials, and a deep cup is favorable to low partials.

The shape of the mouthpiece is not the only means by which the

generator can alter the vibrational pattern of the resonator. The style
29
of embouchure technique also has a marked influence on the sound. A

loose-lipped technique produces maximum loudness at the expense of quality

and range. On the other hand, a tense-lipped technique produces less

volume but a greater degree of control over the upper partials. The factor

of control suggests that if a player of the Roman cornu were confronted

^^oison, bîuslc. Physics, and Engineering, up. I6I-62.

2&See Bate, The Trumpet and Trombone, pp. 16;

2?E. G. Richardson, "L*acoustique des cors et des trompes,”in

Acoustique musicale, ed. by François Canac (Paris, 1959), pp.2A7-48.
^Kent, The Inside Story of Brass Instruments, pp. 7-8.

^^Bate, The Trumpet and Trombone, pp. 13; 96.

 163

with a modern French h o m (an instrument of similar length) he might be

able to obtain only a few partial tones from it, due to his loose-lipped

embouchure t e c h n i q ue S im il ar ly , m o d e m performers, trained to meet

the musical requirements of the present, are often able to produce a

greater number of partial tones on surviving relics or replicas than it

is reasonable to expect were originally known.

The Compass of Overblown Partial Tones

Among the factors so far. considered, those that contribute to an ex­

tensive series of partial tones include narrow pipe scale, thin side

walls, shallow cupped mouthpiece, and tense embouchure. These are pre­

cisely the characteristics adopted by the celebrated clarin trumpeters of

31
the Baroque period. In addition, they used instruments twice the

length of m o d e m trumpets, because they realized that, if other conditions

are favorable, a long tube will produce a greater compass of partial tones
32
than a short one. A comparison of the m o d e m four-foot trumpet with

the eight-foot natural trumpet of the Baroque will illustrate this effect

of tube length (see Figure 24). The fundamental of the baroque natural

trumpet in C was an octave below that of the m o d e m 0 trumpet, and the

clarinlst could obtain c"', his sixteenth partial, with as much ease as a

m o d e m performer can obtain the same pitch, using the eighth partial.

Certainly he could obtain c"» with much less effort than it takes to play

^®See ibid.. p. 96.

^^Ibld.. pp. 20-1.

32Baines, "Trumpet," p. 565.

 16U

I -o.'

16
It
b.

Figure 2L. Harmonics of modem and baroque trumpets, (a) the four-foot
trumpet and (b) the eight-foot trumpet

A
-s>-

Tito octave
instruments

Three octave
instruments
Four octave
instruments

Figure 25. Classification of brass instrument ranges

Source: Bessaraboff, Ancient European Musical instruments» 139.

 165
OO
the sixteenth partial (d*") on the modem trumpet. The control of the

clarin range was aided not only by the long tube-length but also by the

narrow pipe-scale. The long, narrow tube enabled the clarinlst to piroduce

high notes with a more pleasing and lyrical timbre than is possible with

a modern trumpet. Indeed, baroque trumpet parts present problems of timbre

and balance in ensemble playing that are even more bothersome to modem

performers than the problem of range. The shorter, modem trumpet has the

advantage of a better lower range and reducing the tuning difficulties

caused by the addition of valves, lAiose inherent tuning defects are

magnified by the longer tube lengths.

Modem instrumentalists seldom use the high harmonics demanded by

eighteenth-century trumpet and hom parts. The range of the modem trumpet

does not usually exceed the ninth harmonic, the trombone the tenth, or

the hom the sixteenth. In reality however, modem performers have to

account for a wider compass of partials than performers in the past, since

the clarinists specialized in playing within a range of about an octave

and a half. Classification systems, such as the one used by Bessaraboff,

that divide lip-vibrated instruments into two-, three-, and four-octave

classes are somewhat misleading because they imply a range that is seldom

obtainable (see Figure 2^. For example, instruments that extend to the

fourth octave rarely emit a fundamental at all. "Three-octave" instruments

seldom emit a satisfactory fundamental, and "two-octave" instruments do not

necessarily yield the lowest partials of the series. Even the well-designed

^^Cf. R, Morley Pegge, "Hom," Grove's Dictionary of Music and

}&i8lcians. 5th ed., IV, 357.
^ASate, The Trumpet and Trombone, pp. 12; 34*
 166

brass instruments of the twentieth century are limited to a "working range"

of about two and a half octaves, beginning with the fundamental in wide-

scale instruments, and with the second harmonic in narrow-scale Instruments.

These acoustical limitations of lip-vibrated wind instruments

establish guide lines for the evaluation of historical trumpets and horns.

From the start it is obvious that there was little likelihood of obtaining

an extensive, harmonic series of overblown partials on primitive forms

of these instruments.

The Pitch Series of Early Horns and Trumpets

The task of trying to establish the harmonic properties of ancient

horns and trumpets is complicated, on the one hand, by the great variety

of such instruments, and on the other, by the lack of information con­

cerning the way they were played and used. Fortunately, instruments of

this type were often fashioned from durable materials, such as metal or

ivory, and many examples survive from antiquity. With the aid of pictorial

evidence, literary references of the past, and knowledge of similar instru­

ments in primitive societies today, it is possible to assess the acoustical

limitations of ancient horns and trumpets with some degree of confidence.

However, natural series instruments present a unique problem for the

historian, because, even if acoustical limita can be reasonably delineated,
35
there is still no certainty about which notes were actually used.

j, E. Scott, "Roman Music," in New Oxford History of Ifiisic.

I (London, 1947), 406.
 167
Primitive Instruments

The prototypes of horns and trumpets were animal horns with an

36
aperture bored in the closed end, or tubes of cane, such as bamboo.

Animal horns, being conical, short, and rather wide in scale are suited for

producing two or three partial tones at best. Trunçets fashioned from

cane are narrow in scale and can be long in length. They, therefore, had

characteristics favorable to the higher partials but not to the fundamental.

The sound dispersal of cane trumpets can be improved by fitting an ox-

hom on the end to serve as a bell. Hhen instruments were eventually made

of metal, they closely adhered to the basic shapes of their natural

37
prototypes, thereby revealing their ancestry. For this reason, most

trumpets and horns of ancient civilizations probably retained the acoustical

limitations of primitive natural instruments.

Some knowledge of ancient horns is preserved by Hebrew tradition. The

shofar. made of ram's hom, survives today in its original form.^^ Both

the method of fabrication and the use of this ritual hom have been set

by tradition. The shofar emits two rough notes, the second and third

partial tones, standing approximately at the interval of a fifth. Sachs

listed the four traditional blasts:

tola ('blast'), an apoggiatura on the tonic prefixed to a long
blow on the fifth;
svai&i ('breaks'), a rapid alternation between tonic and fifth;

^^Sibyl Marcuse, Musical Instruments. A Comprehensive Dictionary

(New York, 1964), p. 538.
^^See Bate, The Trumpet and Trombone, p. 95.
3%arcuse, Musical Instruments, p. 245.
 168

trüâ ('din')» a quavering blow on the tonic, ending on the fifth;

tolâ Rdolâ ('great blast'), ]&th a longer sostenuto on the fifth,
always played at the end.^°

According to the Rosh-hashana IV, the duration of the trua is triple the

svarfa, and toia is triple the trua.^ In view of the lack of similar

evidence from antiquity, this information is particularly enlightening,

although it cannot be assumed that horns were sounded in exactly this

manner in all cultures. The Hebrews also had straight "trumpets", called

hazozrah. that were made of silver. Lil:e Egyptian trumpets, these conical

instruments were about three feet long and were always played in pairs.^

The Rosh-hashana III indicates that at the New Year the shofar was allotted

a long note and the trumpets a short note; on days of fasting the shofar
Z2
was allotted a short note and the trumpets a long one. According to

Sachs, these references can date no later than the first or second century

B.C. and probably indicate much earlier practice.

Pitch deviations typical of instruments fashioned from animal horns

are illustrated by the horns of South African tribes. Kirty's review of

these instruments reveals two important points: (l) the pitches seldom

conform exactly with harmonic frequencies, and (2) available notes are

sometimes ignored."^ îlgure 26 gives the approximate pitches of some South

African horns. The typical calls that Kirby recorded provide an interesting

^^Ourt Sachs, The History of }fusical Instruments, p. 110.

^ Ibid.

^ilarcuse, ISisical Instruments, pp. 238; 539.

^Sachs, The History of Kusical Instruments, pp. 110-11.

^See Percival Kirby, The >^sical Instruments of the Native Races of

South Africa (Johannesburg, 1953), pp. 73-87.
 169

Koodoo 39" antelope horn

4-
I
Venda tribe

Kwatha 18" gemsbok hom - i|6" wooden hom

I *J-

Venda tribe

Phalaphala 18" sable antelope horns

■J !! I J !!- —I " fj-
ê
W

Pedi tribe - Bakalta - Venda - Pedi

Shipalapala. iiO" koodoo horn

I

Thonga tribe

Icilongo 1*8" bamboo tube with oxhom bell

-- ^ ", =

Zulu tribe

Figure 26. Natural tones of South African ceremonial horns

Source: Kirby, Musical Instruments of South Africa, 73-87.

%otes in parentheses are not used.

Second partial is unobtainable

 170
comparison with the Hebrew blasts (see Figure 27). Photographs of

South African horns suggest that some of them are acoustically superior

to the shofar. ^ In the case of the Zulu icilongo...a bamboo trumpet of

two- to four-foot length with an ox-hom bell affixed, the primitive fore­
runner of the Roman hooked trumpet (lltuus) can be seen.^^

The primitive horns that have stirred the most controversy about

their tonal compass are the lurer of the Nordic Bronze Age (ça. 1100-

500 B.C.). Since 1797 several dozen specimens have been unearthed in

Denmark and nearby countries.These impressively long horns (five to

eight feet), made in matched pairs, stimulated elaborate speculation

about the possible advanced state of harmonic knowledge attained by

jn
Germanic antiquity.^ Several factors supported the notion that an ex­

tensive series of partial tones must have been known to these people.

The lurer were cast in bronze with such skill that they achieved dimensions

acoustically superior to animal horns. Indeed, they approached the

dimensions of modem brasses in length and narrow-scale taper. Moreover,

the nondetachable mouthpieces were similar in shape and size to modem

funnel- and cup-shaped mouthpieces. Nineteenth-century trombonists found

that they could obtain from eight to ten partials on some of these relics.^

^%bid.. Plates 26-30 in Appendix.

^^Sachs, The History of I^sical Instruments, p. 14.6.

^^roholm, Larsen, and Skjeme, The Lures of the Bronze Age.

pp. 11-34..
^^Ibld.. pp. 124.-25.

^Ibld.. pp. 83; 105.

 171

Thonga shipalapala call for sunanoning the people

i
f

Zulu icilongo - typical call

Figure 27. South African ceremonial horn calls

Source; Kirby, Musical IDistruments of South Africa, 78j 81.

 172

Extensive archeological investigations indicate that lurer were

cult instruments rather than melody instruments and were probably used

in religious ceremonies that included the sacrifice of humans as well as

a n i m a l s T h e i r association in matched pairs seems to be the result of

their derivation from mammoth tusks or buffalo horns.Indeed, all

surviving specimens have a twisted 8-shape, and the matched pairs wind

in opposite directions like a set of giant tusks or horns.

'While there is no reason to believe that the paired instruments imply

polyphonic performance, it is likely that they were played together in

ceremonial calls, possibly using several of the available partials. Con­

trolled tests, conducted in 194-7, showed that, even when the lurer were

played in a manner to permit each partial to seek its own pitch level, the

relationships were fairly harmonious and the two instruments of a pair were
51
amazingly similar. Twelve of the best preserved instruments were tested;

figure 28 shows the partials obtained on the left-wound instruments.

Lu t no.22 is interesting because it emits two usable non-series tones: a

low fifth between the first and second harmonics and a tone between the

sixth and seventh harmonics. Factitious tones below the fundamental are

also available. Godtfred Skjeme attributed the extra notes to apparent

52
imperfections in shape inside the castings. 8kjerne's comments serve as a

corrective to the rather misleading impression given by the notation of

the partial tones:

^%bid.. pp. 66-70.

%bid.. p. 115.

51lbid.. pp. 85-9.

%bid.. p. 87.
 173

Ltir
number
1 Î. ^ 4 4 ---^ e ?
2 -=i-ÆJ-^ 1 ^ "1 :
j Ih
(-y j 1 t .± L - a..— 4 g 1
6 --h-ZT. 1
-
li -t," — -
t7-e>- ' '
4 •7 2
( — =-e>— Ù-- 4 5 ^ (-iio
18 --- w-
1 ^ A % 4 5 6 7 /+ => \
25 J" ■.. ... ----------------% .. .. ..... .. :
----4
-a-) ^ .. , 7 - ^ '
I#, o h u s & 1 S (t■
-!•■o 4r-^4-----
29
OT* .<>■ 3 --©-- —
•V L . 5 6
^1 '1 Î 4
32 / 4 o-rP—
■■■ „ - - 0 -1,.. ^ i ---- -
1 =It «> ' j 4»-^
(4^

Figure 28. Natural tones of :Eurer

Source; Broholm, Larsen, and Skjeme, The Lures of the Bronze Age, 87-9.
 174
In principle the lure must be characterised as a conical tone
tube but It Is often— because of difficulties of casting and
decoration— so irregularly and casually fashioned that the
musical qualities of the Instrment as pertaining to purity
and tuning are of scant value.”

Galpln held the opinion that because of the blatant sounds of the lur

the original players probably used only one or two partial tones, perhaps

the second and third, to produce a terrifying effect.Tibetan ceremonial

trumpets, similar to the lurer In dimensions, are played in the manner

Galpln suggests. Their sounds have been characterized as "hlppopotamus-

55
like" and compared to the noise of factory sirens. The total lack of

lurer or similar Instruments In Northern Europe after about 500 B.C.

suggests that their disappearance may have been linked to a cult change im­

posed by migrating conquerors.In Skjerne's view, the lurer would have

survived In some form If they were truly melodic Instruments and not Just
57
ritual horns. The shorter, war tnmqpets that did survive the Bronze Age

served a rather unmusical function. According to the Greek historian,

Polybius (d. 122 B.C.):

The parade and tumult of the army of the Celts terrified

the Romans, for there was amongst them an Infinite number of
horns and trumpets which, with shouts of the whole army in
concert made a clamour so terrible and loud that every sur­
rounding echo was awakened, and all the adjacent country
seamed to Join in the horrible dln.^°

^3ibld.. p. 92.
^4prancls I'hi. Galpln, "Lur," Grove's Dictionary of îîuslc and Iftislclans.
5th ed., V, 431.
^^Sachs, The History of I-îuslcal Instruments, p. 148.
5^See commentary of Broholm in Broholm, Larsen, and Skjeme, The
Lures of the Bronze Age, pp. 67-70.
^7lbld.. p. 80.
^^Polybius History 11; excerpt trans. in Erancis %a. Galpln, Old
English Instruments of I'hislc (4th ed.; London, 1965), p. 135.
 175
Roman Instruments

Trumpets and horns similar to the Hebrew shofarim and hatzozroth

were known in Egypt and Mesopotamia, and the Greeks had a trumpet called

the salpinx, but these instruments were rather primitive compared to the

lip-vibrated instruments of the Romans, The Roman Interest in horns and

trumpets was probably stimulated by the Etruscan tradition of finely-

crafted bronze work, including bronze horns, and by the usefulness of these
instruments for military signals.The Roman counterpart of the saJntrnc

was the straight, infantry trumpet called the tuba. The tonal compass of

the tuba is difficult to estimate. Although primarily a military signal

instrument, the tuba also became a popular solo instrument and is often
60
pictured with other instruments at outdoor functions. The tuba received
some unfavorable reviews from contemporary critics. Cicero, for example,

characterized its sound as "terrible,But, because the tuba sometimes

attained a length of about four feet, Scott supposes that perhaps eleven

partials could be obtained from it.

The Roman cavalry used a J-shaped trumpet called the lituus. Its

prototype was the cane-tube trumpet with ox-hom attached. Having a

narrower scale than the tuba, the lltuus probably emitted higher partials.

Aero (second century A.D.) remarked that though longer than the tuba, the

^%cott, "Roman Music," pp. 406-07.

%bid.. p. 413.

^^Cicero Grationes in Catilinam 2. 6, 13.

^^Scott, "Roman l&isic," p. 406.

 176
lltuus was acutus in sound while the tuba was ptravls. which suggests that
63
the lltuus did not yield its fundamental. Horatius» (d. 8 B.C.)

descriptive terms stridor for the sound of the lltuus and clancor for the

sound of the tuba also seem to indicate the lituus produced the higher
pitches.64

The most acoustically advanced of the Roman trumpets was the infantry

cornu. Its narrow-scale, conical tubing, which sometimes reached eleven

feet in length, was curved in the shape of the capital letter G. Eb^eri-

ments with facsimiles, using modem mouthpieces, have obtained sixteen

partial tones— an impressive testimony to its excellent design.Since

the cornu was the preferred trumpet for important ceremonies, it may be

that its tonal capacity exceeded the others. However, as Philip Bate

emphasized, judgements about the compass of these Roman trumpets must be

weighed carefully, for there is considerable evidence that Roman trumpeters

used a loose-embouchure technique;

Indeed, it seems unlilcely that they [the Romans] were even
aware of the harmonic possibilities of a lip-voiced tube beyond
the first two or three natural sounds. IJe know it was the
habit of Roman trumpeters to blow their instruments with great
force and with cheeks inflated. Sometimes they even supported
their cheeks with the canistrum. a leather head-band similar to
the -phorbeia used by Greek players of the double aulos. In such
conditions the lips can, of course, do little to select upper
partials or to control tone quality.

^^Anthony Baines, "Lituus,*' Grove* a Dictionary of Ihisic and lîuslcians.

5th ed., 7, 773.

^4) Horatius îlaccus Garmina 1. 1, 23.

^^Bate, The Trumpet and Trombone, pp. 95-6.

^%Md,, p. 96; also see Scott, "Roman Music," p. 406.

 177

The unfortunately surviving information about Roman military signals

leaves questions of range unsolved.Since the Greeks used drum signals,

it may be that the Roman calls vere also mostly rhythmic in character.^

The onomatopoeic term taratantara used by Quintus Ennius (239-169 B.C.) to

describe the sound of the tuba suggests that the calls did indeed contain

repeated-note figures.According to the commentary of Ammianus Maroellinus

(fifth century A.D.?), the calls used in the latter days of the Entire
must have been quite simple;

Since the days of Honorius [A.D. 38A-423] the ancient tuba

signals have been forgotten. The blowers know but one signal,
and in order to prevent confusion the commander must let the
signal to attack and the signal to retreat be blown on
different kinds of horns.

As in the case of flageolet tones, the investigation of overblown

partials in antiquity encounters the dilemma that, while it appears the

instruments themselves were capable of emitting partial tones, there is

no solid evidence that such effects were exploited. It seemsLlikely that

the sounds desired from trumpets in those days were quite different from

■«.. expected .today and that there was a greater preference for loudness

than for clarity of tone. Sachs seemed convinced of this viei^int

because he found that the sounds of Asiatic tzumpets match the descriptions
of Roman trumpets given by ancient writers:

^^Scott, "Roman IJusic," p. All-12.

^%enry G. Farmer, "tiLlitary Calls," Grove's Dictionary of Ihisic and

Musicians. 5th ed., V, 773.

^^Scott, "Roman Music," p. AH* n.8.

^OSroholm, Larsen, and Skjem e, The Lures o f the Bronze Age, p . 122.
 178
Remcmboring that a Greek author compared the sound of Egyptian
trumpets with the bray of an ass, and that Roman writers spoke
of the "horrible," "rauque" and "shrieking" tone of their
trumpets, it must be admitted that not one evidence of ancient
and oriental trumpet sounds points to anything related to the
noble tones of modern trumpets."^^

This judgement of Roman trumpets seems a bit harsh when one views the

representations of circus musicians playing various kinds of trumpets in

72
ensemble with the hydraulia. On the other hand, when one considers

the laborious stages in the evolution of lip-vibrated instruments in the

Middle Ages— the experiments with cup-shaped mouthpieces, slides, and

finger holes— before the clarin style was achieved, it appears absurd to

suppose that the Romans could have approached this achievement with

instruments that show no signs of such refinements.

Western Europe:
The Extension of the Natural Series of Tones

The key to the use of the upper partial tones is found in the efforts

to make lip-vibrated instruments suitable, for musical purposes. Even

though the period between the fall of Rome and the sixteenth century pro­

vided little more than pictorial evidence, the steps toward a musical

style of brass playing can be traced. Apparently the most piromising

instruments of antiquity, the long tubed lur and the cornu, had no direct
73
descendants in Europe. Long trumpets re-entered Europe during the

period of the Crusades when the Saracen naflr became known.*^^ The naflr

^Sachs, The History of I-Iusical Instruments, p. 148.

^^See Scott, "Roman î^îusic," Plate Xlb, facing p. 406.

^%ate. The Trumnet and Trombone, p. 100.

7^Ibid.. p. 100-01.
 179

was a cylindrical, straight trumpet of metal, very similar to ancient

Egyptian trumpets. There is little reason to suspect that this Moslem

military instrument was played in an advanced way. The naflr still exists

in Moroco in its original form, where, despite its length of nearly five
75
feet, it yields but one note. The Crusaders knew the naflr as the cors

sarrazinois. In thirteenth-century Spain it was called the tromneta

morisca and in France the buisine.^^ Buislnes were originally played

in pairs, but by the early fourteenth century the family was expanded to

include a shorter trumpet that the French called the clairon. According
to Jean Nicot (1606): "

Le clairon anciennement, ainsi In former times the clairon served,

qu'en vsent encores les Moresques
& les Portugois, qui le tiennent
d'eux, seruoit comme d'vn dessus
à plusieurs trompetes sonnans en
taille ou basscontre, ...
as it still does among the Moors
and the Portuguese who got it from
them, as a treble to several trumpets
sounding in the tenor or bass, . . .

Fra Angelico's early fifteenth-century depiction of Angels with bulsines

and a clairon (?) shows them playing with cheeks inflated.^^ Bate con­

cluded that these instruments were still in the class of heraldic trumpets

and that the method of playing indicates the full compass of partials

was not yet fully exploited. Bessaraboff found that a German buvsine.

75Marcuse, lîusical Instruments, p. 357.

7&Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments, p. 280.

*^*^Marcu3e, ^fusical Instruments, pp. 15j 71.

'^%ean Nicot, Thresor de la langve francoise (2nd ed.; Paris, 1621),
p. 126.
Christ Glorified," shown in Bate, The Trumpet and Trombone. Plate Xa.

^^Ibld.. p. 102; also see Alfred Berner, "Trompeteninstrumente,"

Die }tisik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. XIII, cols. 777-80.
 180

dated 1460, which is almost four feet long, emits the tones: D [d?]
I V, •' " I" gn
â â d ^ a and d with a sound that is clear and loud. The

unexpected A flats are not in tune with each other. He attributed the

discrepancies in the series to irregularities in the bore.

A parallel development in the Mddle Ages may have indirectly in­

fluenced the playing of upper partial tones. The short, conical comett.

a lip-vibrated instrument with fingerholes, appeared in Birope about the

eleventh century. The first evidence Sachs found of such an Instrument

83
was on a Persian silver engraving, dating from 700 A.D. ^ The comett

had neither the heraldic nor the military heritage of the trumpets— its

function was strictly musical. The classical, octagonal exterior of the

tube was already established by the twelfth century and by the end of the

fifteenth century a family of cornetts in various sizes was available.^

The provision of finger holes in a lip-vibrated instrument taxes the

performer's embouchure endurance and that may account for the eventual

disuse of the comett.^^ but in its heyday the soft sound of the comett

was much admired for its ability to combine with voices.^5 I'Jhile the

comett did not require the tense embouchure suited to mode-changing, it

seems hardly possible that the softer; style of playing characteristic of

the comett could have failed to influence the playing of natural trumpets,

^^Bessaraboff, Ancient European lîusical Instruments, p. 188.

^%achs. The History of Kusical Instruments, p. 323.

^^•larcuse. Musical Instruments, p. 128.

®4sachs. The History of Musical Instruments, p. 324.

^^Cf. Marin Mersenne, Harmonie universelle. "Traité des instrumens"

(Paris, 1636), Bk. V, prop, xxii, p. 274.
 181

The Invention of Slides

The development of the natural trumpet into a musical instrument can

be traced through a series of improvements begun in the fourteenth century.

Folding the buislne into an elongated 8-shape made it easier to handle the

long tube.^^ If the upper range of partials had already been in use at

that time, no further alterations in shape were really essential, because,

the natural trumpet of the eighteenth century had essentially the same

8-shape twisted around to form an elongated hoop. By the eighteenth

century, however, performers had learned to use the fourth octave of the

natural series (the clarin range) to provide a musically useful diatonic

scale. There is no evidence that performers used these higher partials in

the fourteenth century,^"^ In fact, the improvements of the following century

were aimed at using the lower partials more effectively byfilling in th

gaps of the natural series. At the beginning of the fifteenth century the

Burgundians used a bass buislne with an elbow slide added to the first bend

of the 8-shape, The elbow slide was well suited to the longer buislne

(making it a trombone) because, being double, it could effectively add the

long lengths of tubing required on a bass instrument. The straight tube

slide was also known in the fifteenth century, but it was applied to a
89
shorter 8-trumpet, The shank of the mouthpiece formed a telescopic slide

^^Baines, “Trumpet,” p, 565,

^"^Bemer, "Trompeteninstrumente,” col, 780,

^%einrich Besseler, "Die Entstehung der Posaune," Acta I'luslcoloalca.

Xni (January, 1950), 24-34.

%bid,. pp, 15-24,

 182

inside the neckpipe. Holding the mouthpiece against the lips with his

left hand, the performer drew the trumpet back and forth with his right

hand, hence the names Zugtromnete and tromba da tlrarsi. An extant

instrument, dated 1651, has a mouthpiece pipe 22 inches long, permitting

the original pitches to be lowered by as much as a minor third.^ Sachs

assembled ample pictorial evidence from the fifteenth century to prove

that use of the draw-trumpet was wide s p r e a d , H e discovered that the

slide positions depicted clearly in a Triptych carving of 1481 show that

it was possible to obtain an almost complete chromatic scale. The draw-

trumpet must have been somewhat unwieldy, but it had the advantage of
92
adjustable tuning and its use continued until the time of Bach.

The invention of slide instruments proves conclusively that the

technique of playing brasses included the control of mode-changing. Designed

to fill the gaps in the lower range, the addition.of slides suggests that

the fourth-octave, clarin range was not readily available. Exactly when

control of the clarin range was achieved is difficult to determine. Bate

concluded that the change from the loose embouchure to the tense technique
used by the clarinists must have begun about the end of the fifteenth

century. After reviewing the pictorial evidence. Bate remarked;

It appears certain that the early European trumpeters commonly
used a loose-lipped embouchure with the cheeks more or less
inflated. In consequence they were denied any considerable ex­
cursion into the upper part of the harmonic series, and this

^^Bate, The Trumnet and Trombone, p . 112.

^^Ourt Sachs, "Chromatic Trumpets in the Renaissance," I-îuslcal
Quarterly. XXXVI (January, 1950), 62-5.
^^Curt Sachs, "Bachs 'Tromba da tirarsi*," Bach-Jahrbuch. V (1908),
141-43.
 183

state of affairs seems to have persisted at least Tintil the

latter part of the 15th century. This fact, however, must
not lead us to assume that many players did not feel the need
to enlarge the scope of the trumpet long before this time,
either by extending its compass or by filling in the natural
gaps in the middle octaves. Progress upward, we know, could
only come after the adoption of a tense embouchure with
controlled wind pressure, a technique foreshadowed, or
perhaps already implied, in the woodcuts in Vij^ung and the '>
so-called ’Leckingfelde Proverbs' of c. 1500.°^
The verse from the Proverbs is;

Immoderate wyndes in a clarion causithe it to rage

Soft wynde and moderate makithe the sounde to usswage.
Therefore he whiche in that instrument wolde have sweete
modulacion, ç.
Bustius wyndes must leue and vse moderacion.

Even if Bate's estimate is late, the transition was apparently not

immediate. The trompeta bastarda. a coiled trunçet of the Latin countries

that had more tube length than the trumpets of the North, was, despite

its length, blown in the rough manner typical of tower trumpets In

1586, a Portuguese traveler, Er. Joao dos Santos, drew an interesting

comparison between the trompeta'bastarda and African horns:

These Kaffirs have many other instruments which they call

musical, but which I call ear-splitting. Such are the large
horns of certain wild animals which they call paraparas. and
therefore these horns are called parapandas. and they have a_,
terrible and frightful sound like that of a bastard trumpet."

93
Bate, The Trumpet and Trombone, pp. 108-09.

^^illiam Peeris, The I'hisicall Prouerbls . . . of Lekingfelde.

ed. by Philip Wilson (London, 1924) > verse 17J

95Marcuse, ^^hisical Instruments, p. 536.

96
Trans, in Kirby, The lîu sica l Instruments o f South A frica, p . 73.
 184
Alphorns and "Alphom fa"

An unusual problem in the investigation of overblown partial tones

is posed by the possible link between Swiss folk music, yodeling, and

alphom calls. It is generally believed that the preference for .the-

raised fourth scale-step, a pitch between F and called "alphom fa."

in Swiss yodels and folk songs is due to the influence of the eleventh
97
partial of the natural wooden horn. Since such wooden horns apparently
98
entered Europe from Central Asia, the question of how ancient is

"alphom fa" might provide a clue to the origin of the clarln technique.

Rudolph Quioka claims that the alphom was known to the Romans, because

Tacitus (ça. A.D. 55-120) referred to the comu alpinus.^^ According to

Swiss tradition, the alphom was used as a village signal instrument in

the fourteenth century, but the size of the instruments at that time is not

k n o w n M o d e m wooden horns, about six feet long, from Roumania and

Poland emit a fairly limited series of tones. For example, the Polish

bazuna yields the partiels from four to eight.Apparently the Swiss

were interested in longer forms. By the sixteenth century they had built

07
Antoine-Elie Cherbuliez, "Folk Music: Swiss," Grove's Dictionary
of Music and Musicians. 5th ed.. Ill, 382; cf. Marcuse, I-îusical
Instruments. p. 11.

9^Ualter %ora, "Alpenrausik," Die l/kislk in Qeschlchte und Gegenwart.

I, cols. 360; 363.

^%udolf Quoika, Altostrerreichische Homwerke (Berlin, 1959)» p. 16.

^OPMarcuse, Musical Instruments, p. 11.

^^^Ozeslaw Halski, "Folk Music; Polish," Grove's Dictionary of ^tusic

and Ifusicians. 5th ed.. Ill, 334.
 185
102
alphorna eleven feet long, a length eufflcient to produce "alphom fa".

Modem thlrteen-foot instruments can, with difficulty, extend to the six­

teenth partial, but the normal compass is from three to twelve in the
series

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the alphom was popu­

larized as a melody instrument, but its earlier musical use is uncertedn.

The most probable influence of alphom calls on music occurs in the tunes
called Kuhreihen or ranz des vaches, since, for superstitious reasons, the

wooden horn was traditionally used to summon c a t t l e . T h e middle

sections of these tunes are based on natural series tones. Eighteenth-

century examples of ranz des vaches extend to the twelfth or thirteenth

partials of the alphom compass, vMch is not unusual Considering the

range of art instruments of the time.^®^ Most of these tunes dates from

the eighteenth century but some can be traced as far back as the Bicinia

(154.5) of Georg Ehaw.^^^ %iile it appears probable that the folk

technique followed that of the artistic trumpeters, the question remains

unresolved.

^^^Marcuse, I^sical Instruments, p. 11.

^^^Karl M, KLier, Vollcstümliche Musikinstrumente in den Alnen

(Kassel, 1956), p. 23.

^O^Carl-Allan Moberg, "Folk Music: Swedish," Grove's Dictionary of

Music and I'Sisicians. 5th ed.. Ill, 373.

^^^See Cherbuliez, "Folk Music: Swiss," pp. 383-84; and also

Carl Engel, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Musical Instruments in the
S. Kenslnabon Musium (London. 1874). u. 218.

^^^enry G. Farmer, "Alphom," Grove's Dictionary of Music and

I-ftisicians. 5th ed.. I, 124.
 186

The Compass of Tones in the Sixteenth Century

Evidence about the use of lip-vibrated instruments in the sixteenth

century is more plentiful than for previous periods. Not only do literary

and pictorial references increase, but we also have treatises on

instruments by Virdung and Agricola and a few instruments that survive

in fair condition. The long tradition of fine trumpet and trombone

making in Nuremberg had already begun early in the century, and the

first known maker, Hans Neuschel (d. 1533) gained such an extensive

reputation that he was commissioned by Pope Leo X to make several silver

107
trumpets. The prestigious trumpet fraternities and privileged guilds

were not yet established, but brass players enjoyed positions of status
108
in minor courts and as Stadtpfeifer. The tradition of tower music,

as distinct from the blomng of tower signals, can be traced in East

109
Germany to 15&4.
Indications that trumpeters were utilizing the fourth octave of

the natural series are found in Virdung’s lîusica %etutscht (1511). Virdung
illustrated three different folded trumpets, the Felttrumet. Clareta.

and Thumer Horn, all of which appear to have a considerable tube length

(see Figure 29 ). The Thumer Horn has the 8-shape typical of fifteenth-

century trumpets; the Clareta folds in like a draw-trumpet; and the

^^^Fritz Jan, "Die îîürnberger Trompeten und Posaunenmacher im 16

Jahrhundert," Archlv fur lîusilcwissenschaft. VII (1925), 26.

^^^Bate, The Trumpet and Trombone, pp. 225-29.

1 0 9 "Die Nurnberger Trompeten und Posaunenmacher," p. A3.
 187

*w»mg#aMaw

€ M ïlg

#w am % 03#
SSE ï T S ï 2 3 S î S i . * » T i i - ï K ï x ^ < r t .5 K x v m K » 6 2 r : T c r ; c

f» X *f*/??**#_!

ÏKÎÎS*

Figure 29. Virdung, Musica getutscht - Illustrations of trumpets

 188

Felttrumet has a bugle shape. Bate attached significance to the >

difference in pipe scale between the Clareta and Felttrumet. He

suggested that the frail, narrow-scale Clareta was designed to extend

its range to the higher partials for musical use, whereas the wider-

scaled Felttrumet was designed to facilitate playing its low range for

military use,^^® Unfortuimtely, Bate seems to ignore the fact that the
Thumer Horn, which he considered to be an outmoded form, has the same

narrow scale as the Clareta. However, his contention finds support in

the commentary of an early seventeenth-century lexicographer, Jean ITicot

111
(1606) who stated: “the clairon is the trumpet with the narrower tube."

Agricola (1528) added little more information about lip-vibrated instruments

than Virdung, except to say:

Some have no holes at all, I trow

Save one on top and one below:
Clareta, trumpets, and trombones
By breath and sliding yield their tones.

Although Sachs believed that Agricola’s description implied a slide

mechanism in all three instruments. Agricola merely remarked that he would

say nothing more of these instruments because he did not yet have a
113
proper understanding of them.

^^®Bate, The Trumnet and Trombone, p, 105,

■^^lîicot, Thresor de la lançrve francoise. p, 126: “Le clairon est

la trompette qui a le tuyau plus estroit, ,.,“

^^%Iartin Agricola, Musica instrumentalis deudsch (Ath éd.; Wittenberg,

1545), p. xvi, excerpt trans, in Sachs, “Chromatic Trumpets in the
Renaissance," p. 65,
^^Sachs, “Chromatic Trumpets in the Renaissance,” p, 65.
 189

The first clear statement about the range of the trumpet appeared

in Glarean* s Dodecachordon (1547)• As an incidental comment to his dis­

cussion of the Hypoionian Mode, Glarean said:

The tones of the trumpets (tubae) in these times fit the

range of this mode, xdth the fifth complete in all its
pitches, but with the fourth having chiefly the
outermost tones.^^4

Glarean*3 statement indicates a range of partials from six to twelve,

and perhaps thirteen. His comment "with the fourth having chiefly the

outermost tones" suggests that the seventh partial may have been used at

times.

It is unfortunate that the range implied Glarean*s statement cannot

be firmly verified from musical sources. Natural series trumpets

apparently had a limited artistic use before the seventeenth century,

since there is little surviving trumpet music before the fanfare in

Monteverdi*s Orfeo (l607),^^^ which, incidentiOIy, requires the twelfth

partial (see Figure 30). Dufay's £t in terra ad modum tubae was perhaps

intended for natural series instruments, since the notes of the two lower

parts fall within the third and sixth partials. The popularity of the

comett. trombone, and draw-trumpet suggests that Renaissance musicians

were not entirely satisfied with the limitations of the natural trumpet.

Military calls were common enough in the sixteenth century but their

^^4Heinrich Glarean, Dodecachordon. tra n s . by Clement A. M iller

(American I n s t i tu t e o f l-hisicology, 1965), I, 173.

115serner, "Trompeteninstrumente," col. 784*

H^Besseler, "Die Bntstehung der Posaune," p. 14.

 190

% 9 I* il
11. 1 |T.
jù 1
-.5- ■P - t
i.

Il \o ?
-O—n—^

Figure 30. Monteverdi, Orfeo - Glarino part to introductory Toccata

SwpeRÎuî A^'l — 6 ^

f F 4 5 S o

"7---
r.L.9- Il
uÛ____ H 6

£TC..

Figure 31. Janequin, la Bataille - Imitations of military calls

 191

range requirements can only be conjectured from imitative vocal and

117
keyboard works. Janequin’s descriptive chanson La Batai] 1A (154,5),

for example, contains obvious imitations of trunçet calls that seem to

demand no more than the sixth partial (see Figure 31). Two books of

trumpet calls from about I6OO, Hendrick Liibeck and tiagnus Thomsen,

contain pieces that require no more than the first eight partials omitting
118
the seventh. Since the calls Mersenne included in the Harmonie

universelle involve this same range of partials, it is doubtful the

Renaissance calls employed the clarin registerHowever, a piece for

two trumpets in Thomsen’s book requires the range of partials from eight
190
to twelve in the part designated ”clarin." It would appear, then, that

Glarean’s description referred to the clarion— the artistic member of

the natural trumpet family.

In summary, it can be said that by the sixteenth century and perhaps

even earlier, the series of partials from one to twelve was available

on brass instruments; and yet, as can be gathered from seventeenth-century

accounts, no one seemed to attach a theoretical significance to the

acoustical series. The series of overblown partial tones that was known

paralleled the knowledge of flageolet tones, and both Paulerinus and

Glarean recognized the similarity between the phenomena. In fact,

knowledge of "trumpet notes" must have been famirly common, since the

^"^Farmer, "Military Calls," pp. 773-74-.

^^^Bemer, "Trompeteninstrumente," col, 784.

^%Iersenne, "Traité des instruraens," Bk. V, prop, xix, pp. 264-65.

^20gQ2^er, "Trompeteninstrumente," col, 784.

 192
Jew'g-harp, a folk instrument that was introduced into Europe in the

fourteenth century, took the names Jew* s Trump and Maultrommel during the
121
sixteenth century. The metal Jew’s-harp that developed in Siiitzerland

was suitable for amplifying a series of harmonics from the fourth to the
ip;)
twelfth. Perhaps the ratio relationships of the higher overblown

partials of trumpets were disguised by the performer’s ability to adjust

the intonation irriLth his embouchurej or perhaps the firmly rooted

tradition of deriving intervals from the monochord kept musicians from

noticing the unique relationships of the trumpet’s natural tones.

The Natural Series in the Baroque Period

Nith the new Enpiricism of the Baroque period, savants turned to

the direct observation of nature and the comparison of physical

phenomena and the acoustical properties of the trumpet became a favorite

topic for investigation. An increasing competence enabled clarin players

to extend the compass of the trumpet into the fifth octave above the
fundamental (i.e., beyond the sixteenth partial) therety providing a

usable diatonic range for the instrument. Flageolet tones beyond the

twelfth or thirteenth partials were impractical even on the trumpet

marine and were commonly considered a device of folk musicians. In con­

trast, the increased use of the natural trumpet in the art music of the

Baroque period attracted attention to the instrument and the phenomenon

of "trumpet notes." The commentaries of Baroque writers reveal an interest

in the "natural series" and include attempts to explain it.

•^^Jlarcuse, I'kisical Instruments, pp. 26A-65j 334-«

122jjiier, Volkstumliche Ifusilcinstrumente in den Alnen. p. 74«

 193

Accounts in lîasical Treatises

Treatises by three seventeenth-century writers, Praetorius, Mersenne,

and Speer, deal with the ranges and uses of trumpets and trombones. The

Syntagma L-usicum (l6l9) is especially interesting because it was the

first German treatises to discuss clarin playing, an art that probably

originated in Germany. In the STOtagma. Praetorius spoke of performers

who, at that early date, had already mastered control of the high partial

tones. His comments suggest that some performers were able to obtain

the sixteenth partial on the trombone and the twenty-first on the trumpet
Praetorius mentioned three kinds of trumpets: the Trommet. a bugle-shaped
trumpet; the JBcer Trommet. a coiled instrument; and the HBltzem Trommet.

a straight alphom about six feet long, which he dismissed as a beggar’s

instrument The J&ger Trummot. not to be confused with the Jnger-hom.

was probably a German version of the trompeta bastarda. Praetorius’

remarks about this coiled trumpet were brief:

Etliche lassen die Trummenten /
gleich einem Posthom / oder ivie
eine Schlange zusammen gewunden /
fertigen : Die aber am Resonanz
den vorigen nicht gleich seyn.^^^
Some people have trumpets made
similar to a posthorn or coiled
together like a serpent, but these
are not equsil in resonance to the
former [the regular trommet1.

Some coiled trumpets must have been quite adequate since this was the

kind used by the famous Italian trumpeter, Pantini, in the early seven-
X26
teenth century,land by Reiche, Bach’s trumpeter at Leipzig.

IZ^Michael Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum. Bk. II: De Organogranhia

(¥olfenbiittel, 1619), p. 31.

pp. 32-3.
125ibid.. p. 33,

l^^Bate, The Trumpet and Trombone, pp. 109-11»

 194
According to the Tabella Urd-versalis. a general range chart for all

instruments, Praetorius considered the best range of the Trommet to ex­

tend from £ (the second partial) to c« (the eighth partial) or, in the

hands of an exceptionally good player, to £" (the twelfth partial)

He indicated further extremes, for excellent performers, that included

low C (the fundamental) and c"‘or f‘" (the sixteenth and twenty-first

partials) above. Praetorius did not show that notes are missing in the

lower range, but a statement in the text testifies to his knowledge of

the trumpet skips:

Vnd ist gleich zu verwundem / Equally wondrous is the fact

dass man ohne einige Züge /
(darrait sonsten die Fosaunen
regierot werden) auff diesem
Instrument in der hohe fast
alle Tonos nacheinander / auch
etliche Semitonla haben / vnd
allerley melodeien zu wege
bringen kan.^^S
that, without any slides (by
which trombones are additionally
regulated), one can obtain in
the high register of this instru-
ment almost all the successive
tones and also some semitones and
can play all kinds of melodies,

A conjectural reconstruction of Praetorius* natural series for the

trumpet is shown in Figure 32, The semitones he referred to are probably

c#' y ^ i 9 and ^ , which, in the art of clarin playing, were obtained

lip control. Although Praetorius made no specific reference to the

use of lip control on the trumpet, he recognized its use on the trombone:

Es ist aber sonderlich dieses Before all other wind instru-

Instrumentum Musicum. (Posaun) vor
andem blasenden Instrumenten
vberall / in allerley Gonsorten vnd
Concerten wol zugebrauchen /
Sintemal es nach allerley Tonen.
vmb etwas hoher vnd niedriger j
ments, this musical instrument (the
trombone) is especially good to use
in all kinds of consorts and ensembles
since a skillful and experienced
artist at his pleasure can compel it
to produce, every pitch a little
higher or lower.

^^"^Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum. II, 20.

^ % b id .. p . 32.
 195

Trumpet in C

Trombone in D a. 3 4 s .& (O IT.

-7-r:--------------- TT-=--- --- 4-
1st position:
o J
3rd p o s i t i o n ?-- 4 ■■ ^- J — A ? ...
-Q ' ' "
*o

Figure 32. Praetorius; Natural tones of trumpets and trombones

 196

nicht allein durch auffsteclcung [This is accomplished] not only

vnd abaehmung der Krum-Bugel /
(Promette) vnd andern auffsteckeltz
Stiickea / (Polette genand) sondera
auch mit dem Ilund vnnd Tvlnde / ohne
auffsteckung der Krum-Bogen / allein
durch den Ansatz vnd Mundt-Stück /
von einem geubtcn vnd erfahmen
Künstler / nach seinem gefalien /
•per tonos & semitonia gezvningen
vnd gobraucht werden kan : Welches
sich auff andem Instrumenten. deren
Lbcher mit den Fingem goregiret ..g
werden mussen / nicht thun lasset,
by affixing and removing crooks
(cromette) and other extensions
(called polette) but also with
the mouth and wind (without
affixing crooks but merely by
means of the embouchure and mouth-
piece). This cannot be accomplished
on instruments with holes that have
to be regulated by the fingers,

Praetorius discussed trombones in a family of sizes: Alt. Gemeine

130
rechte. Quart, and Octav, As in the case of the trumpet, the range

chart ignores the skips in the lower range. However, his illustration

of the Quart-Posaune indicates the exact notes obtainable with five

positions of the slide and is, perhaps, the first published indication of

the natural series of overblown partials (see Figure 33), Translated into

harmonic numbers, the first position of the slide yields the following

partials of the fundamental 2, 3, 4-> 5, 6, 8, 10, and 12, The third

position yields the same series on CÇ (see Figure 32), This is, of

course, a practical statement of the trombone series, since, with the

use of the slide, it is possible to obtain a complete diatonic scale

without using the seventh, ninth, or eleventh partials,

Praetorius apparently had only a general notion of the significance

of the natural series. In his discussion of the trombone, he spoke of

the natural tones, as distinct from additional tones that can be obtained

^ %bid,
1 3 0 ib id .. pp. 31-2.
 197

k ê

I t i n I u i' I ' . i i j — i— ■} I— I— !

I. i. "Ou^art-ipoivuincn. "j. ixTan'c 5cmcmôl''0;aun. 4. Alc-^ojûUiî. S-Corno/

0ro(jTcnor-Cornct. 6. OîcdîfS^or^incf. 7* jvtdnDifcsrjt^inct/fodnQumtçooiîr.
,8. 0crADcr^î!icfmifcim9)Iunb|tiicC. p.0dHgmcf. /o.'SroiiinKf. 11.j«2Cï'iv<J"*nî{»%
/i. :Ç)oIçcrn'$rommcf. / (fngnni; ,=

Figure 33» Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum - Illustration

sho%fing trombone slide positions
 198

with a good embouchure in both the low and high range. But since he

used the expression natural tones with regard to the comett and flute,
131
his meaning is obviously ordinary tones. The extra-ordinary tones

he called Faiset Stimme. Praetorius gave this broad definition for

Falset Stlmme;

Falset Stimme in einer Pfeiffen Falsetto tone in some pipes

vnnd andem Instrumenten wird genennet
/ was vber eines jeden blasenden Instru-
ments naturlicher Hohe oder Tieffe /
von eim guten Keister zu wege bracht /
vnd heraus gezwungen werden kan.^32
and other instruments designates
any tone beyond the natural high
and low limits of any wind instru-
ment that can be produced or in-
duced by an accomplished master.

In his charts of trumpet and trombone ranges, Praetorius failed to dis­

tinguish the three possible kinds of Falset Stimme; (l) the unusually high

partials obtained by skilled performers, (2) the fundamentals not normally

used, and (3) the factitious notes that fall outside the harmonic series.

Factitious notes, or "privileged notes" as they are sometimes called, can

easily be obtained on brass instruments and their availability still

133
leads to confusion about the acoustics of this class of wind instruments.

8y slackening lip tension, brass players are able to obtain notes in the
13A
gaps of the lower part of the natural series. The first and second

harmonics can be lowered by as much as five semitones, the third harmonic

by three semitones. The timbre of factitious notes was good enough that
135
composers such as Lully and Cavalli occasionally required their use.

131lbid.. p. 36.

132lbid.. p. 12.
^33gee Arthur H. Benade, Horns. Strings, and Harmony (New York, I960),
pp. 166-70.

Morley Pegge, "Horn," p. 364

^35ibid.
 199
There is no clear evidence in either the text or range chart that

Praetorius understood the distinction between the true fundamentals of

brass instruments and the factitious tones.

In contrast to Praetorius' practical remarks about trumpets and

trombones, Mersenne devoted much attention in the Harmonie universelle

to the theoretical explanation of these instruments and their properties.

Only Mersenne's statements concerning the ranges of the trumpet and trombone

will be considered here. His systematic investigation of the ratio re­

lationships between the natural tones is discussed in Chapter VIII.

Mersenne's interest in the harmonic aspects of the natural series

led him to present an especially detailed commentary on the trumpet.

Although he did not extend the range of the natural series beyond the

sixteenth partial, Mersenne did indicate the complete series of "tnmçet

notes" to that point (see Figure 34-). He further demonstrated his

knowledge of the trumpet by observing that the first note of the instrument

is actually an octave lower than the note usually considered the first

by performers;

II faut aussi remarquer que le ton,
que l'on appelle ordinairement le
premier, ou le plus bas de la
Trompette, n'est pas celuy dont on
vse ordinairement, & que i'ay nommé
VT, car elle descend encore d'vne
Octane entiere, quoy que plusieurs
Trompettes ne le croyent pas, parce
qu'ils ne le peuuent faire, ou qu'ils
ne l'ont iamais e s s a y é
One must observe that the tone
that I have designated as UT, as
one usually calls the first or
lowest tone of the trumpet, is
not the one ordinarily used [as
the first], for the trumpet
descends an entire octave further.
although some trumpeters will not
believe it because they cannot
produce it or have never tried.

13%ersenne, "Traité des instrumens, Bk. V, prop, xii, pp. 249-50.

 200

.Trumpet in C

^ j . 5 6 ? 9 M ,2.
/n ' — ........... y ■-■— ■■■— ........... ''" i"5 Q — ..

Trumpet in F

' ^ ^ ' ‘‘ ! I 4“ I'l ^ = t =

CCP-») —
^ -----

Figure 3h. Mersenne: Natural tones of trumpets

 201
The identification of the true fundamental vas an essential first step

in solving the mathematical relationships between the tones of the

trumpet.

As the range of the F-Trumpet in Figure 34indicates, Mersenne

realized that certain factitious notes could be obtained in the low

register of the trumpet. These tones were a source of irritation to

him because he could find no logical explanation for them. Although he

was suspicious of the report by Father Bourdelot that Pantini could

137
produce a complete scale, apparently from the second harmonic, he must

have heard a performer who could produce factitious notes;

Bien que quelques-vns maintiennent
que l'on peut faire monter la
Trompette par toutes sortes de
degrez, tant en haut qu'en bas,
comme la voix, neantmoins toutes
les experiences que i'ay peu
faire monstrent le contraire;
quoy que i'aye rencontré quelqu'vn
qui descend d'vne Tierce maieure
plus bas que le second son, au
lieu de descendre d'vne Octaue
entiere, comme ie diray dans
l'estenduë de la Trompette, dans
laquelle on void encore deux tons
sous le premier, sous lequel il
y en a qui descendent premièrement
d'vne Tierce mineure, & puis d'vn
ton; mais outre que cela n'est pas
ordinaire, & que ces tons se font
auec vne grande difficulté, ils
ne valent rien, c'est pourquoy il
n'en faut faire nul estât;
Although some maintain that the
trumpet can be made to ascend
through all kinds of steps in both
the high and low [registers] like
the voice, nonetheless, all the
experiments that I have conducted
indicate the contrary. Yet, I have
met.;someone who descends lower than
the second tone by a major third
instead of skipping an entire octave,
as I indicate in the "range of the
trumpet," in which two notes are
also shown below the first tone,
beneath which some descend first by
a minor third and then by a major
second, but, in addition to the
fact that this is extraordinary and
that these tones are produced \i± th
great difficulty, they are of no
value, and for this reason it is
not necessary to pay attention to
them; . . .

^^’^Marin Mersenne, Harmordcomm Libri XII. Tome II: "De Instru­

ments harmonicis" (2nd ed.;' Paris, 1648), Bk. II, prop, xx, p. 109.

^^%ersenne. Harmonie universelle. "Traité des instrumens,"

Bk. V, prop. XV, p. 256.
 202
Later in the treatise, Mersenne, still puzzled by the factitious notes,
dismissed them vith the remark:

II suffit d'auoir expliqué les It is enough to have accounted for

Fhenomenes de l'art, & de la the phenomena of art and nature in
nature pour exciter les meilleurs order to rouse the best intellects
esperits à la recherche des vrayes to the search for the real causes
raisons de tous ces interualles.^39 of all those intervals.
Compared with the discussion of the trumpet, Mersenne*s treatment

of the trombone is less detailed. He recognized that the same natural

principle governed both the trumpet and the trombone and that, as a

result of this principle, the same pitch could be obtained with different
positions of the slide:

Mais la plus grande difficulté But the greatest difficulty consists

consiste à sçauoir faire les
tons en tirant les branches
cachées, & en abaissant les
branches visibles, car elle est
encore au mesme ton, quand on
les a tirées d'vn, ou deux pieds,
ce qui semble estre contaraire
aux proportions des autres
instrumens, qui descendent
d'autant plus bas qu'ils sont
plus grands : quoy qu'il soit
bien aysé d'expliquer comme se
font les tons par le moyen des
différons allongemens de cette
Saquebute, si l'on entend ce
que i'ay dit des interualles
que fait la Trompette par le
vent different qu'on luy donne.
in knowing how to produce the tones
by drax’
dng out the hidden tubes and
lowering the visible ones, for it
[the trombone] is still at the same
pitch when they have been extended
one or two feet, which seems to be
contrary to the proportions of the
other instruments that descend
lower as they are longer. Yet, it
will be very easy to e2q>lain how
these tones are produced by means
of various extensions of this
trombone, if one understands what
I have said of those intervals the
trumpet produces by the different
wind pressure given it.

Concerning the natural series of the trombone, Mersenne mentioned only

that the octave, twelfth, and fifteenth are "easily made with this

instrument without using any extensions." Mersenne's obscure

139lbid.. prop, xix, p. 269,

^ ^ Ibid,. prop, xxi, pp, 271-72,
141Ibid,. p, 272: "L'on fait done aysément 1'Octaue, la Douziesme
& la Quinziesme auec cet instrument sans vser des branches,"
 203

description of the slide positions reveals that he was actually referring

to the fourth, sixth, and eighth partials. A conjectured reconstruction

of Mersenne*8 slide directions is shown in Figure 3& Regarding the

higher limit of the trombone range, Mersenne only commented that "those

who use this instrument can easily test whether it ascends as high as the

trumpet.Evidently he had heard trombonists attempt to match the

range of the trumpet, for he observed that if the trombone is played like

a trumpet the resulting sounds are not suitable for "concerts."

Daniel Speer's Grund-richtiRer Unterricht der musikalischen Kunst

(l687) was not a treatise on instruments, but a practical tutor dealing

with the art of singing and composition. In the second edition of 1697,

Speer included instructions on the use.of the trumpet and trombone. The

section on the trumpet contains the trumpet series, the typical ranges

of the parts (i.e., Clarin I, Ander Clarin. etc.), and some examples as
1A3
models for composition. His series of "trumpet notes" was the same

as Mersenne'8, for he also failed to mention tones higher than the

sixteenth partial (see Figure 36 ),

Speer's comments on the trombone:are more informative about slide

144
positions than the remarks of earlier writers. Speer described four

positions for the tenor trombone and three for the alto (see Figure 37).

Considering the date of this publication, the natural tones that Speer

listed for the trombone are rather surprising for they show that he

^^Ibid.; "Ceux qui vsent de cet instrument, peuuent aysément

experimenter s'il monte aussi haut que le Trompette, ..."
^^Daniel Speer, C-rund-rlchtiger . . . Unterricht der musikalischen
Kunst (2nd éd.; Dim, 1697), pp. 208-09.

lA A lbid., pp. 222-24.

 20k

Quint trombone in C

Harmonies :

Modem
slide
numbers :

Alternate positions ;

1 ("Z2 . (E a; X la S ïïù E E a I

Figure 35» Conjectural reconstruction of ^fersenne's slide directions

for the trombone
 20^
Trumpet in C

Figure 36. Speer; Natural tones of the trumpet

Trombone in A
W 6 7 5
, % 3
— e —
1st position — e -------------2 ------
J
X 3 4
-è — s _ 6

2nd position
' ------------ " 6 '— w
j t i 'S

X 3 4
3rd position
o

X
Lth position
- e - jfA jo )

Trombone in D Alt
4
1 3 -S 6 7
------ 9 -------
1st position -J? .......

/L
X 3 6 [ 7 l
2nd position

3 b o
3rd position

Figure 37. Speer: Natural tones of trombones

 206

considered it a diatonic instrument. For example, the fifth partials in

the first series of both the tenor and alto trombones are a semitone lower

than the true harmonic frequencies. To avoid misinterpretation he included

the letter names below each notated pitch, Speer’s reference to the use

of half positions, i,e,, "two fingers" below the normal points, explains

the pitches in his chart that do not correspond to the natural series.

He was evidently more interested in listing the diatonic tones ordinarily

obtained from the slide positions than in indicating the proper natural

series. In light of Mersenne's declaration that the seventh partial is

"unnatural," it is interesting to observe that Speer listed that partial

in the first and second positions of the alto trombone and in the first

position of the tenor.

The Art of Clarin Playing,

Developments in the specialized art of playing high notes on natural

trumpets, an art that flourished in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,

add little to the history of the harmonic series except to indicate the

limits that were achieved and to show which paitials were used in the fifth

octave of the range. As Barbour pointed out, the grandeur of clarin

playing was not so much a matter of high range as it was of controlled

execution of the florid passage-work that typified seventeenth"and eight-

teenth-century vocal s t y l e , E v e n Menke, a champion of the Germanic

trumpet tradition, seemed somewhat surprised to find that the seventeenth-

century trumpet parts he examined were not generally written in the

^^^Barbour, Trumpets. Horns, and Music (East Lansing, Michigan, 1964),

pp. 44-52.
 207

higher clarin register, as one might suppose from the writings of

1^6
Praetorius and Mersenne, The first known collection of sonatas for

natural trumpet and continue was included in Girolamo Pantini's Modo per

Imparare a sonare di tromba (l638). The pieces show that, although

skill at obtaining chromatic pitches through lipping or hand-stopping

is demanded,the upper range seldom exceeds the twelfth partial and

never exceeds the sixteenth.

By the second half of the seventeenth century it became customary

for players to specialize in limited segments of the trumpet's range, in

order to gain greater control.According to Speer, the range of the

first clarin part included the eighth to the sixteenth partials, and that
1 /Q
of the second clarin the sixth to the twelfth. Other parts were limited

to the lower partials. IMle all the parts were played on similar, eight-

foot trumpets, specialists in the top range used shallower mouthpieces and

narrower-scaled instruments.^^ This specialization led to a considerable

extension of the upper range. In his comprehensive survey of eighteenth-

century brass parts, Barbour found that Caldara's opera I due dittatori.

written before 1736, demanded the highest extension of the trumpet range,

^^A'/erner Menke, History of the Trumnet of Bach and Handel, trans.

by Gerald Abraham (London, 1934), p. 69.
1A7
See Girolamo Pantini, Modo per imoarare a sonare di tromba
(Frankfort, 1638), pp. A5j 53j 77; 81.
3-48Bate, The Tirumoet and Trombone, p. 106.
^^Speer, Grund-riohtieer . . . Unterricht der musikalischen Kunst.
pp. 209-10.
^ ^ B ate, The Trumpet and Trombone, p . 20.
 208

the twenty-fourth partial, and that, in the later period of high horn

parts, Veichtner«s _$imphQuie rugsienne (l77l) demanded the highest partial

151
in horn writing, the twenty-seventh. Barbour found nothing higher
152
than the twentieth partial in Bach's trumpet and horn parts, Barbour's

survey indicated that only diatonic partials were written above the

sixteenth partial, with the exceptional use of the seventeenth (c#"') in

Haydn's .First Rnrn_CnncnntoThe total compass of notes obtained on

natural trumpets and horns is summarized in Figure 38.

Apparently, clarin players developed considerable skill at adjusting

the tuning of troublesome partials by means of lip control. Although the

seventh and fourteenth partials were rarely used, the eleventh partial was

frequently required to do double duty for f" and and the thirteenth for

and a " E v e n the eighth, ninth, and tenth partials were occasionally

"lipped" down a semitone to provide additional chromatics. The success of

these efforts seems to be a matter of some doubt. In Burney's account of the

178A performance of Handel's "The Trumpet Shall Sound", he commented that;

There are, however, some passages in the trumpet-part of this

Air, which have always a bad effect, from the natural
imperfection of the instrument. In Handel's time, composers
were not so delicate in writing for Trumpets and French-homs,
as at present; it being now laid down as a rule, that the
fourth and sixth of the key on both these instruments, being
naturally so much out of tune that no player can make them
perfect, should never be used but in short passing notes, to _ç-
which no bass is given that can discover their false intonation.

^^iBarbour, Trumpets. Horns, and I'fusic. pp. 111-12; 150.

152ibid,. p . 130.
IS^Ibid.. p. 9.
154ibid.. pp. 153-55.
^^^Charles Bumey, .to Account of the Iiusical Performances . . . in
Commemoration of Handel (London, 1785), pp. 86-7.
 20?

g 9 io. pii-, 12.

- j/y l^ iT j " O-ÿrO ^

-
$

^1% ke <>3:2 a I I § I

Figure 38. Partiels used in eighteenth-century clarin playing

 210

Concerning the eleventh partial, Burney stated;

This false concord, or interval, perpetually deforms the

fair face of harmony, and indeed the face of almost everyone
that hears it, viith an expression of pain. It is very much
to bo wished that this animating and brilliant instrument
could have its defects removed by some ingenious mechanical
contrivance, as those of the Geiman flute are, by keys.^56

**************************************

The partial tones produced on lip-vibrated wind instruments are

important to the history of the harmonic series because they present a

direct experience of the series in its successive aspect. Once an ex­

tensive series of harmonic partial tones was obtainable on the trumpet,

it was merely a matter of time before someone would discover the ratio

relationships that govern this natural series. IVhile the series aspect

of flageolet tones might easily escape the attention of musicians, no one

could fail to notice this aspect of the overblown partials of trumpets

and horns. Recognizing the pitches of the trumpet's natural series was

an easy matter, but understanding the way an air column vibrates was not.

The accurate explanation.of overblovm partials was not formulated until

the more easily grasped principles of the vibrating string were applied

to the natural trumpet.

For both acoustical, .and functional reasons, an extensive and useful

series of overblown partials was not achieved or even desired before the

fifteenth century. The peculiar acoustical properties of li^fHribrated wind

^ % b id .. p . 87 n.
 211

instruments often cause the pitches of overblown partials to stray

considerably from the true harmonic frequencies. This factor is so

significant that only advanced technology and careful design can produce

a "harmonious" trumpet or horn. In early times, the acoustically

imperfect trumpets and horns were used as ritual or military instruments

for their awesome sound but not for their musical effect. Kot until

these instruments were refined for use in ensemble music did the skillful

control of the partial series become an essential part of the performer's

technique.
 CHAPTER 7

THE RELATION OF THE HARI^ONIC SERIES TO PITCH

ORGANIZATION IN MI2TÜRES OF ORGAN PIPES

In 1702, the year after Joaeph Sauveur published his explanation

of the harmonic series, he wrote a paper entitled "Application des sons

harmoniques à la composition des Jeux d*orgues," in which he asserted

that the harmonic series is the true organizing principle in the mixture

of organ pipes,^ To many organ historians. Sauveur*s asserted organizing

principle seemed so obvious that they assumed an intuitive application of

the principle by early builders when they designed mixtures. A simplified

system of organization founded on acoustical evidence was especially

attractive to writers who viewed the history of the organ as a progressive

evolution. This point of view was reinforced when Helmholtz experimentally

confirmed the relationship between the harmonic series and the perception

of tone quality.

Helmholtz himself considered the pitch organization of organ mixtures

and the spectrum of partials in complex tones to be analogous. For

example, he observed:

, It is well known that this union of several simple tones

into one compound tone, which is naturally effected in the tones
produced by most musical instruments, is artificially imitated
on the organ by peculiar mechanical contrivances.^

Mémoires de 1»Académie Royale des Sciences. Année 1702, pp. 308-28,

%ermann Helmholtz, On the Sensations of Tone as a PhysiolofdLcal

Basis for the Theory of Music, trans. bv Alexander J. Ellin (2nd ed.;
New York, 1954), p. 57.
212
 213

Later in the same discussion, he presented an inverse statement of the

analogy:

The musician is bound to regard the tones of all musical

instruments as compounded in the same way as the compound
stops of organs, . ,

Helmholtz* experimental observations led him to propose a “scientific"

explanation for the development of compound steps:

The tones of organ pipes are comparatively poor in upper

partials, 'When it is desirable to use a stop of incisive
penetrating quality of tone and great power, the wide
pipes are not sufficient; their tone is too soft, too de­
fective in upper partials; and the narrow pipes are also
unsuitable, because, although more incisive, their tone
is weak. For such occasions, then, as in accompanying
congregational singing, recourse is had to the compound
stops. In these stops every key is connected with a
larger or smaller series of pipes, which it opens simul­
taneously, and which give the prime tone and a certain
number of the lower upper partials of the compound tone
of the note.in question,4

It should be noted that Helmholtz directed his remarks to the function

of compound stops in the overall tonal structure of the organ and not just

to specific solo combinations that imitate instrumental timbres. He

suggests that the function of compounds is to make up for a deficiency

of natural harmonics in the overtone spectra of foundation pipes.

The description of compound registers two centuries earlier by

Hersenne provides an interesting contrast, Merseime’s remarks show that

he did not regard compound stops as supplying the missing components of

a natural tone.' Instead,they added notes that could potentially cause

difficulty in the harmony if they were not managed carefully:

^Ibid,. p. 58.

^Ibid, . p . 57.

Or il eat certain que les six
notes vt, re, mi, fa, sol, la, se
peuuent rencontrer pars fois sur
vne Piesme touche, de sorte que
toutes les Dissonances accompagnent
toutes les Consonances, ce qui ne
pourroit estre que trea-mauuais &
insupportable, si les sons qui
discordent estoient assez forts
pour estre ouys & remarquez. Ce
qui n'empesche pas que ces petits
jeux ne rendent l'harmonie plus
remplie & plus massiue, ou solide,
car ils donnent du lustre aux
tuyaux qui font les Vnissons &
les Octanes, qui ont ce semble
trop de douceur pour estre agréables,
si l'on n'y mesle des sons, qui
tiennent de l'aigre, du piquant &
de l'aigu, & qui fassent mieux
gouster l'harmonie, dans laquelle
il suffit que les Consonances
prédominent, & qu'elles préoccupant
tellement l'oreille, qu'elle n'en
perde point l'idée par la presence
des Dissonances,^
214
But it is certain that the six
notes ut, re, mi, fa, s^, la, can
coincide sometimes on a single key
so that all the dissonances accompany
all the consonances, which could be
very bad and intolerable if the
discordant sounds were strong enough
to be heard and noticed. This does
not prevent the small stops from
rendering the harmony fuller and
more massive or solid, for they
give luster to pipes that malce
unisons and octaves, which seem to
have too much sweetness to be agree­
able if they are not mixed with
sounds that are tart, pungent, and
sharp. These make the harmony
more enjoyable, in which it suffices
that consonances predominate and
preoccupy the ear to such an extent
that it does not lose the idea of
them through the presence of the
dissonances.

Mersenne's point of view serves as a reminder that if the harmonic series

principle influenced organists and builders before Sauveur»s time, the

influence was purely intuitive and not the result of conscious reasoning.

To some extent the two views of the mixutre principle expressed by

Mersenne and Helmholtz still persist in current organ theories. Some place

great importance on the influence of the harmonic series on registration

and others prefer to ignore it, A similar division exists among writers

on organ history..and the question of "intuitive influence" in the early

development of mixtures is so controversial that it will probably never be

resolved to everyone's satisfaction. Although many historians do not take

^4arin Mersenne, Harmonie universelle. "Traité des instirumens"

(Paris, 1636), Bk, VI, prop, xx, p, 348,
 215
a fixed position on the matter, a statement of the extreme positions

should clarify the historical investigation that follows.

According to one viewpoint, the harmonic series had little or no

influence on the early development of mixtures. Loudness, not tone color,

was the primary reason for duplicating pipe ranks, and the pitch choices

were governed by the rules of consonance. The additional fifths and

thirds were not considered to make real "musical parts." but were empiri­

cally selected.from the small group of consonant possibilities. This, in

overly simplified terms, seems to be the view held by Cecil Glutton.^

The best arguments for this viewpoint rest on historical evidence that

(l) the "components" have never been combined in a "natural" way— octave-

and fifth-sounding ranks dominate mixtures much more than the comparable

harmonics do a complex tone; and (2) the distribution of the intervals

in mixtures typically deviates from the pattern of the harmonic series

even though the two systems may be computable. This view stresses the

influences of culture and artistic judgement in the development of

mixtures rather than physical laws.

The opposing opinion is more naturalistic. It asserts that the

harmonic series has always exercised an underlying if unrecognized in­

fluence on the selection of pitches in pipe combinations. Proponents of

this view, such as Rudolph Quoika, seem inclined to believe that color

was an important consideration in mixtures even in the early history of

the organ. Fifths and thirds were included because they were deemed

^See Cecil Glutton, "The Gr^an," in Musical Instruments Through

the Ages, ed. by Anthory Baines (Baltimore, 1961), pp. 59-63.
 216
useful for imitating the much admired sounds of horns and bells.

Quoika further postulates that the natural accident of overblowing pipes

may have originally suggested the use of octave-, fifth-, and third-

sounding ranks.The strongest arguments for this general point of

view cite historical evidence that (l) with few exceptions pitch

organizations of mixtures have been compatible with the harmonic series,

and (2) certain imitative combinations, invented long before theorists

had knowledge of the harmonic series, maintain a fixed agreement with

the lower harmonics.

The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the history of the

organ for indications that the harmonic series principle influenced

the engjirical selection of pitches in mixtures and also for evidence

of developments that contributed to the recognition of the harmonic series,

The general topics to be considered include (l) the pitch relationships

found in chorus mixtures, (2) the synthetic imitation of specific instru­

mental timbres by means of compound registers, (3) the emergence of

foundation ranks'around which others were organized, and (A) the

nomenclature that was adopted to express relationships between ranks.

The conscious manipulation of overtones in individual pipes and the use

of overblown pipes are discussed in Chapter VI. Before historical

evidence can be weighed, however, the complicated system used to describe

the pitches of ranks must be explained and resolved into the terras of

the harmonic series. The following section, therefore, describes certain

aspects of organ "specifications" in order to determine the extent of

*^See Rudolph Quoika, Altosterrelchische Homwerke (Berlin, 1959),

pp. 51-4.
 217
correspondence between the hamonic series and the pitch organization of
the organ as it exists today.

Pitch Relationships in Pipe Combinations

IJhile the simpler attributes of the organ, such as the manuals,

pedals, ranks, and stops, are generally clear to nonorganists, others,

such as breaking mixtures, mutation stops, and indeed the entire scheme

for describing pitch relationships between ranks and departments, are not

well understood. The comments that follow are intended to clarify the
technical terminology used in this chapter. Much of the confusion in

descriptions of organ pitch relationships arises from regional differences

in organ design and tradition. The various nomenclatures that have been

adopted in different countries are discussed later. Here it is sufficient

to review the two methods organists most commonly use for identifying

pitches in organ "specifications": (l) the description of separable

ranks by the "speaking lengths" of pipes, e.g., 32', 16», or 8'j (2) the

description of inseparable ranks grouped in "mixtures" by intervals above

the foundation pitch, e.g., 1. 8. 12. 15. •

The speaking length of pipes is an archaic but still useful means

of indicating how a given rank of pipes relates to the total pitch organi­

zation of the organ. "With reservations, one cay say that the pitch of a

pipe depends on its length. Thus, when a manual is registered at "normal"

or "unison" pitch, the lowest key C, activates an open flue pipe that is

^See Peter Williams, The European Organ. 1A50-1850 (Nashua, New

Hampshire, 1967), pp. 15-19; 29.
 218

approximately eight feet long. Since an entire rank of pipes is identified

by the length of its lowest pipe, the pipe activated by the top key of

the manual, c"\ is, in this example, classed as “8» pitch" in spite of the

fact that its true length is only six inches. TJhen a manual is registered

an octave higher than "unison," it sounds pipes of 4-' pitch. For the

pedal department,‘.16• pitch is regarded as "unison" but ranks may be

coupled an octave below at 32' pitch. It is important to realize that

the lowest sounding pitch in a compound is not necessarily the organizing

pitch.

On the modem organ, ranks of appropriate speaking lengths permit

the organist to register harmonic series combinations at various organizing

levels. Should he desire a combination of pitches that agrees with the

harmonic series of 8» C, he might register Principal 8', Principal 4-S

Quint 2^/3', Principal 2', Tierce 1^/5', Quint 1^/3', Sentieme 1^/?' and

Principal 1'. The resulting combination corresponds with the first eight

harmonics and the pitches produced are Ç c g c' e* g* (b^') c". All

speaking lengths with fractions in thirds are "fifth-sounding," and those

with fractions in fifths are "third-sounding." Separable ranks that

sound in unison or octaves are sometimes grouped in a class called

"foundation stops," although this is also a useful designation for the

"prime pitch" of a combination. Separable ranks that are not octave-

sounding, such as Quints, are called mutation stops. Since the Septième

was not introduced until after the recognition of the harmonic series,
the only mutations considered in this chapter are Quints and Tierces.
 219

For many mixtures, speaking-length designations are confusing

because one seldom registers them in the lower compass of the manual

where the numbers are realistic. For example, a common five-rank

combination, the Comet, characteristically began at c' on old organs

because it was used only as a solo stop. On such organs the lowest pipe

of a Comet might be only two feet long, yet, if the combination were

described in speaking lengths, the specification would read 8» 4.’ 2^/3'

2' 1 /$', because these numbers relate the ranks to 8' pitch. To avoid

unnecessary confusion the ranlcs of mixtures and combinations are often

identified by their interval relationships with unison pitch. Following

this method, the specification of a Comet is 1. 8. 12. 15. 17, which

at c* designates the pitches c* c" c'« e'". In many cases the scheme

of intervals corresponds closely to the harmonic series because it is

related to a single "fundamental.” If, however, a mixture should consist

of ranks, at 15. 15. 19. 22, and be coupled with a foundation rank other

than 8' pitch, similarity disappears because the intervals always relate

to 8’ pitch. The general practice of relating ranks to unison pitch, some

elements added above and some below, tends to obscure similarities between

the pitch organization of the organ and harmonic series relationships. A

comparison of speaking lengths, intervals above unison pitch, and the

harmonic series is shown in Table 3 .

Perhaps the most confusing element in organ specifications is the

description of brealcing mixtures. In contrast to unchanging combinations

like the Comet that maintain the same pitch relationships throughout their

compass, chorus mixtures involving small pipes "break" their pattern

 220

TABLE 3

ORGAN STOPS - COMPARISON OF PITCHES AND HARMONICS

Harmonic 32' 16' 8' ii' 2» Interval

Numbers Series Series Series Series Series Numbers

128 1/U»
112 2/7'
.96 1/3'
80 2/5'
6k V2 1/L'
56 ij/7' 2/7'
hs 2/3' 1/3'
ho ii/5' 2/5'
32 1' 1/2' 1/h' 36
28 1 1/7' ii/7' 2/7' 35
2k 1 1/3' 2/3' 1/3' 33
20 1 3/5' V 5' 2/5' 31
16 2' 1' 1/2» 1/ii' 29
111 2 2/7' 1 1/7' ii/7* 2/7' 28
12 2 2/3' 1 1/3' 2/3' 1/3' 26
10 3 1/5' 1 3/5' ii/5' 2/5' 2ii
8 ii' 2' 1' 1/2' 1/ii' 22
? ii 1/7' 2 2/7' 1 1/7' ii/7' 2/7' 21
6 5 V 3' 2 2/3' 1 1/3' 2/3' 1/3' 19
5 -~6 2/^1 3 1/5' 1 3/5' V 5' 2/5' 17
li 8' ii* 2' 1' 1/2' 15
3 10 2/3' 5 1/3' 2 2/3' 1 1/3' 2/3' 12
2 16' 8* ii' 2' 1' 8
1 32' 16' 6' ii' 2' 1
 221

relative to the foundation rank at various points in the compass. The

purpose and nature of these breaks can best be clarified by revieiving

the history of chorus mixtures. In the e^liest Western organs the

pipes on the vindchest sounded in a fixed and unalterable pattern. The

invention of the stopping mechanism made it possible to divide the vind-

chest and isolate individual ranks or groups of ranks so they could be

used independently. Eventually all the lower ranks were made separable

leaving a fixed group of smaller pipes as a chorus mixture that could be

coupled with the foundation ranks but never used independently. Since

the chorus mixture lacked an independent function, builders found that

by limiting the mixture to very small pipes they could economically add

loudness and incisiveness to the foundation ranks even in the lower compass.

The large gap between the pitches of the mixture and that of the lower

compass of the 8' foundation rank can be seen in the specification of a

Sharp Mixture shown in Table 4 . This mixture on an organ at

Naumberg received J. S. Bach’s approval in 1746»^ Interpreted in harmonics

instead of intervals, this mixture supplied harmonics 8, 12, 16, 24, and

32 at Cj 6, 8, 12, 16, and 24 at cj 4, 6, 8, and 12 at o'; 3, 4, 6, and 8

at c". Although the mixture is described as "breaking back" in relation

to the prime pitch, in reality the ranks of the mixture remain within a

stationary band of pitches while the prime ascends. At the high end of

the compass, many mixtures break back to the extentthat their ranks are

in unisons, thirds, and fifths with the prime pitch, in which case they
cannot be considered "harmonics.The purpose of mixtures is to

^IMd., p. 159.
lOgee ibid.. pp. 78-80.
 222

TABLE 11

SPECIFICATION OF A SHARP MIXTURE

Prime Pitches Intervals of the Mixture

C 22. 26. 29. 33. 36.

c 19. 22. 26. 29. 33.

g 1^. 19. 22. 26. 29.

o' 15; 19. 22. 22. 26.

g* 12. 15. 19. 22. 26.

c" 12. 15. 19. 19. 22.

g" 8. 12. 15. 15. 19.

 223
brighten the eound through vhat is now generally regarded as a process

of adding "artificial overtones," but of all the compound registers their

pitch organization, in many respects, if farthest removed from the

harmonic series. Even this brief survey, which has ignored the way

families of pipes and departments of the organ are combined, suffices to

point up the aspects of organ history thdbmight indicate the influence

of the harmonic series.

The History of Combined Ranks with Regard to the Harmonic Series

Althou^ many ancient instruments exhibited individual traits of the

organ, none of its forerunners, such as the Chinese shêng. the bagpipes,

or the Greek panpipes, had multiple ranks of pipes that sounded in fixed

combinations. The Greek hvdraulis. a water organ, may have been the first

true organ because it contained three essential features: a rank of

pipes, each of different pitch, an artificial wind supply, and a system

of keys to admit or stop the flow of air to individual pipes. Knowledge

of the instrument depends largely on the accounts of Fhilon of Byzantium

(second century B.C.), Vitruvius (first century A.D.), and Heron of

Alexandria (first century A.D.). They ascribed the invention of the

bvd-rmiHfl to the Greek engineer, Ctesibius of Alexandria, who lived in

^Jean Perrot, L«orgue, de ces origines hellénistiques à la fin du

ZIII® siècle (Paris, 1965), pp. 40-6.
 224

the third century B.C. Although the hvdraulla originally had only a
12
single rank of pipes, it had one feature that made the eventual

combining of ranks a possibility. Its wind-supply mechanism was not

merely a compressor, but rather a hydraulic pressure-stabilizer that

changed the pulsating pressure generated by the pump into a static

pressure, providing a wind supply that was both steady and strong enough
13
to drive several pipes at once.

The Roman architect, Vitruvius, gave the first account of separable

registers on the o r g a n . H e specifically stated that four, six, or

eight, longitudinal channels are connected to the wind chest, each fitted

with its own register valve. Key-controlled sliders moved transversely

across the channels to open or close individual pipes. It is possible

with this arrangement to sound simultaneously up to eight pipes with a

single key. Unfortunately Vitruvius gave no hint about the use of the

registers or the ratio relationships between ranks of pipes. It may be

that some registers contained single drone-pipes and others provided

15
transposed ranks, or that Vitruvius was only speaking theoretically

idien he described the eight registers. Perr<>t concluded that no more

^%bld.. p. 59.

^%illl Apel, ’'Early History of the Organ,” Sneculum. XIII (1948),

193.
^^Vitruvius PoUio, De archltectura. X. 8, quoted by Perrot,
L’orgue, pp. 378-79; excerpts trans. in William Sumner, The Organ
(2nd ed.; London, 1955), pp. 17-8.
^^See Hans Hickmann, "Orgel. III, Die weltliche Orgel bis in
die Barockzeit,” Die î'hislk in Geschichte und Gegenwart. X, col. 260.
 225
than four registers could have been practical, after he considered the
mechanical difficulties and problems of dimensions involved in his own
reconstruction of a hvdraulls.^^

In 1885, a terra cotta model of a hvdraulis was discovered in the

ruins of Carthage. It bears the name of the potter and can be dated

with reasonable certainty from the second century Three ranks of

flue pipes, with eighteen pipes in each rank, can be discerned. Judging

by the size of the player, the longest pipe of the first rank is approxi­
mately two feet long. The pipes of the third rank are about one-third

or one-fourth the length of those in the first, but the pipes of the

second rank are so irregular that they can only be described as inter­

mediate. Since both open and closed pipes were known at the time, the

pitch relationships between ranks must remain conjectural. Perrot pro­

posed that the ranks stand.in the relationship; principal, gnint, and
18
octave, but, as McKinnon observed in his review of Perrot's work, the

details of this model are insufficient to justify a specific conclusion.^^

In 1931, the actual remnants of an organ, dating from A.D, 228,

20
were unearthed at the Roman station of Aquincum near Budapest. The

mechanism of the upper portion of the instrument remains intact. There

^^errot, L'orsrue. p. 260.

^7lbid.. pp. 129-32; also see plates 11 and 12, facing p. 161.
^^Ibid.. p. 131.

^^James McKinnon, Review of L»Orgue by Jean Perrot, in Journal

of the American Muslcological Society. XIX, 3 (1966), 425.

20perrot, L»orgue, pp. 143-51; also see plate 20, facing p. 257
and plate 21, facing p. 272.
 226

are four ranks of pipes, each containing thirteen pipes, apparently

arranged in a chromatic octave. Three ranks consisted of closed pipes,

giving the foundation pitch, the fifth, and the octave above. The

fourth rank contained open pipes, at the same pitch as the pipes of the

third rank. The pipes range in length from about five and one-half

inches to eighteen inches. Prom his examination of the mouths of

these pipes, Perrot judged that the open pipes, forming the upper pitch

line, dominated the mixture with a trenchant quality. The wind channels,

slides, stops, and keys indicate that complete selectivity between

ranks and their combinations was available. The discovery of this organ

has great significance because it proves that closed pipes were used,
that a complete stopping mechanism was known, and that mixtures including

fifth-sounding ranks were available in antiquity, although it is not

certain that ranks were used in combination since the "mixture" was not
21
fixed. These remnants provide the only evidence about pitch ratios

between ranks before the eleventh century. It is iDçortant to notice

that the second rank was a quint and not a twelfth. The quint, with its

ratio of 2:3, does not supply a harmonic frequency of the fundamental

frequency and, therefore, is not part of the harmonic series of the

fundamental. Because the term hydra was found in the ascription on the

dedicatory plaque, many writers have assumed that these remnants are the

upper part of a hvdraulis. Perrot concluded that it was a pneumatic organ,

small enough to be transported, because, by the third century A.D., the

21see Ernst Plade, "Literarische Zeugnisse zur Bapfindung der

•Farbe' und ’'Farbigkeit' bei der Orgel und beim Orgelspiel," Acta
Muslcologica. XHI (July, 1950), 99.
 227
22
term hydra had become one of many generic names for the organ.

The hydraulis fell into disuse after the fifth or sixth century and

knowledge of its key mechanism, its stops, and its complicated pressure

stabilizer was lost in the Middle Ages. It was probably superseded by

the less complicated pneumatic organ, which is specifically referred to

in accounts dating from the fourth century. A poetic description,

attributed to Julian the Apostate (d. A.D, 363), seems to refer to a

pneumatic organ with several ranks of pipes:

I see reeds, or pipes, of a different kind: I ween that

from another, a metallic soil, they have perchance rather
sprung up. They are agitated wildly, and not by our breath;
but a blast, rushing from within the hollow of a bull's hide,
passes underneath, below the foundation of the well-pierced
pipes, and a skilled artist, possessed of nimble fingers,
regulates by his wandering touch the connecting rods of the
pipes, and these rods, softly springing to his touch,
express (squeeze out) the song. ^3

The earliest representations of pneumatic organs appear on an obelisk at

Q/
Constantinople, erected by Theodosius (d. A.D. 393). One organ has a

rank of ei^t pipes and the other a rank of eleven. The organs appear

small enough to be portable, but it is impossible to see if there is

more than a single rank of pipes.

An early description of a pneumatic organ with as many pipes as the

Aquincum hydra dates from the ninth century. The Arabic scholar, Ibn

Rusta, described the organ at St. Sophia in Constantinople as it appeared

in A.D. 867:

^Perrot, L«orgue, p. 151.

^^Juliah, Epigram ii, trans. hy William Chappell in J. E. Scott,
"Roman Music," IJew Oxford History of Ihisie. I, (London, 1947), 410.

^ ^ er ro t, L«orgue, pp. 112-13; a lso see p la te 4> facin g p. 81.

 228

There is brought a thing called an organ. This is an

extraordinary thing made of uood, square, in the shape of
a wine-press, and this is covered with strong leather.
There are made in it sixty pipes of copper, half the length
(of which is seen). Above the leather (case) the (pro­
jecting) pipes are covered with gold, with the exception
of a small portion, in proportion to their sizes, one
longer than the other. . .25

It is likely that all Byzantine organs were small portatives, for even

this larger instrument was moveable. Although no mention was made of

ranks or mixtures, their existence was almost certain in an organ of

sixty pipes. This organ had eight more pipes than the Aquincum hydra.

The pneumatic organ was known in Ifestem Europe by at least the

eighth century. It is fairly certain that the Byzantine Zhperor,

Constantine Copronymus presented a pneumatic organ to Pepin, about A.D. 757,

to add luster to the Frankish court at Gompiegne. Charlemagne's son,

Louis the Pius, acquired an organ for the church at Aachen early in the

ninth century. By the tenth century, organ-building hod begun to flourish

in England and Germany. The permanently housed organs built in the

Middle Ages had a "blockwork" design almost as simple as small portable

organs. Air from several bellows was fed into a small windohest upon

which from three to ten ranks of pipes were placed. Instead of playing
27
keys, the organist pulled sliders that opened a fixed mixture of pipes.

In all likelihood, the purpose for multiplying the number of pipes over

each slider was to increase the loudness of these small organs.

2^31bliotheca geogranhorum Arablcorum. 711, 123, trans. in E. J.

Hopkins, et al., "Organ I, History," Grove's Dictionary of I-hisic and
Musicians. VI, 285.
26see piado, "Literarische Zeugnisse zur Empfindung der 'Farbe'
. . . bei der Orgel," pp. 106-07.
27Hudolph Quoika, Vom Bloclcwerk zur Reglsterorgel (Kassel. 1966) .p. 9.
 229
The first detailed account of a Western organ was an ornate

description of the organ at Winchester, built about A.D. 990. Although

Wackerbarth's English translation of the Latin poem by Wulfstan of

Winchester may be somewhat unreliable, it does give details of the pipe

arrangement that correspond closely to descriptions in eleventh-century

treatises:

Such organs as you have built are seen nowhere

fabricated on a double ground. Twice six bellows above
are ranged in a row, and fourteen lie below. These, by
alternate blasts, supply an immense quantity of wind,
and are worked by seventy strong men, laboring with
their arms, covered with perspiration, each inciting his
companions to drive the wind up with all his strength,
that the full-bosomed box may speak with its four hundred
pipes which the hand of the organist governs. Some when
closed he opens, others when open he closes, as the
individual nature of the varied sound requires. Two
brethren of concordant spirit sit at the instrument, and
each manages his own alphabet. There are, moreoever,
hidden holes in the forty tongues, and each has ten (pipes)
in their due order. Some are conducted hither, others
thither, each preserving the proper point (or situation)
for its own note. They strike the seven differences of
joyous sounds, adding the music of the lyric semitone.
Like thunder the iron tones batter the ear, so that it
may receive no sound but that alone. To such an amount
does it reverberate, echoing in every direction, that
everyone stops with his hand his gaping ears, being in
no wise able to draw near and bear the sound, ■vMch so
many combinations produce. The music is heaid throughout
the town and the flying fame thereof is gone out over the
whole country.29

If the limitations of medieval blockwork construction are con­

sidered, it is possible to draw conclusions about the size and mechanism

of the Winchester organ. The fact that it was a double organ accounts

^%IcKinnon, “Review of L'Orgue," p. 424-.

^^Acta Sanctorum Ordinis Benedict. Saec.. V, 631-32, quoted in
Perrot, L«orgue, pp. 406-07; trans. by Wackerbarth in Sumner, The
Organ, p. 36.
 230

^OT its unusu&l lïunibGr o£ pipos* Es.ch. of ths two wlndchosts had a soparato

manual and, judging from the arrangement of the bellows, the windchests
were of similar size. It is possible that the two "works" were identical

in their pipe arrangement and were fitted with twenty sliders, each of

which sounded a mixture of tea pipes. One may assume that the mixture

was fixed, since no stopping mechanism was known at that time. Because of

the limitations of medieval pipe construction, it is doubtful that the

30
largest pipe was longer than four feet. The large number of pipes

suggests that many ranks were pitched in unison, but both fifth- and
31
octave-sounding ranks may also have been included as Sumner conjectured.

The nature of the mixtures in medieval blockword organs is not

entirely certain, but a description by the Anonymous of Beme (eleventh

century) suggests that the pitch combinations were more limited t.Vmn is

often supposed. According to his dictum, five or ten or as many pipes as

one wishes may stand over one slider, but they must be pitched in unison
or at the octave;

Post hoc ordinantur fistulas. After this arrange the pipes

ita ut a dextra modulantis in sinistram so that they become gradually larger
paulatim maiores prodeant. Super una- from the right hand to the left,
mquaraque uero linguam numquam nisi Above each true slider none but
simple et duple fistule constitui, simple or double pipes can be set
quia his est una acuta et gravis, et up because this is one [note] high
ex his quot placuerit, scilicet aut and low. And of these, [set up]
quinque aut decern aut quotlibet, Nam as many as you please, either five,
in his mensuris quas nos facimus, or ten, or whatever you will. For,
sunt lingue quindecim, in these measures that we give there
are fifteen sliders,

30
Quoika, Altosterreichlsche Homwerke. p, $1,

^^Sumner, The Organ, p, 53, n,2,

32cJotthold Frotscher, Geschichte des Orgelsoiels und der Orgelkomposition

(2nd ed,; Berlin, 1959), 1,33% ~
33Anonymous of Beme, De fistulis organicis ouomodo fiant, quoted
in Perrot, L»orgue, p, 411»
 231
This passage is somewhat vague and can he construed to refer entirely
34.
to the nmher of sliders and not to five or ten ranks. It seems un­

likely, however, that aryone would suggest the possibility of having a

compass of only five notes.

The comprehensive account of organ construction, written by Theophilos

(twelfth century), provides a detailed description of almost every aspect

of blockwork organs except the pitch relationships in the pipe mixtures.

His instructions for building a permanently housed organ call for a windchest

with eight sliders. He specified that the top board, on vMch the pipes

stand, should be approximately two and one-half feet long and a foot wide.

Theophilus did not indicate the number of ranks, but his directions leave

no doubt that several pipes stood over each slider:

In his uero lignis quae super How, in the pieces of wood

linguas iunguntur, fiant formamina which are fitted above the slides,
diligenter et ordinate secumdum holes corresponding to the number
numerum fistularum uniuscuiusque of pipes for each note should be
toni, . . .35 made carefully in a row.3°

Ho stopping mechanism was included in the construction. Although Theophilus

gave many instructions on the method of fabricating pipes, his only hint

about their pitch is contained in the admonition that:

Facturus organa primum habeat
lectionem mensurae, qualiter metiri
debeant fistulae graues et acutae
et superacutae.37
A man who is going to make an
organ should first have a table of
dimensions giving the measurements
for the bass pipes, the alto, and
the treble.38

34cf, Perrot, L»orgue, p. 320, n.2.

35Theophilu8, De Diversia Artibus. ed. by G. R. Dodwell (London,
1961), Bk. Ill, chap. Ixjodi, p. 146.
36pn Divers Arts; The Treatise of Theophilus. trans. ly J. G. Hawthorne
and 0, S. Smith (Chicago, 1963), p. 162.
37Theophilu8, De Diversls Artibus. Bk. Ill, chap. Ixxxi, p. 142.
38pn Divers Arts, trans. ly Hawthorne and Smith, p. 158.
 232

This may refer only to the pipes of a single rank, but it could also

apply to the pitch relationships between ranks.

Some other eleventh-century sources are more specific about the dis­

position of the ranks. An account in the manuscript of Selestat describes

a three-rank windohest with two rows of large pipes in unison and a row
39
of small pipes, in between them, pitched an octave higher. Another

account, by Eberhard of Freising, may refer to two or three ranks of pipes;

Cuique natural! choro suum sub- To each natural chorus they affix
duplum affigunt, et item horum its own subduple, and in the same
singulis suos subduplos addunt: vray they add to each of these its
ut tota organica structura octo subduples. Thus the total structure
quidem naturalibus choris constet, of the organ consists of eight
unusquisque autem eorum bis natural choruses, each of which,
diapason resonet.^ however, sounds the double octave.
Perrot interpreted this passage to mean that both the octave and double-

octave might be added to the natural sounds.^

An anonymous treatise on the mensuration of organ pipes, which on

questionable evidence has been dated from the eleventh century, describes

"a new arrangement*' for the pipes. After giving instructions for

determining the pipe lengths for the first rank, it states:

And these eight tympans stand upright, each on its key,
and their front turns towards the musician. They are called
"Fathers" . . . .
Behind each of them set up (a tympan) in the height of the
fifth tympan.after it. And who has no fifth, set up behind it
(a tympan) smaller in proportions, and also (smaller than) the
others. Behind these set up (additional tympans), each of them
being half as large as its fundamental with regard to size,
length, and breadth. And according to the size of the instru­
ment, put on every tympanist many tympans, fourths, fifths, and
eighths.^

390uoted in Perrot. L*orgue, n. A17.

^Eberhardi Frisingensis, Tractatus de mensura fistularum. quoted in
Martin Gerbert, Scrintores ecclesiastici de musica (Facs. ed.: Milan, 1931),
II, 279.
^Perrot, L*orgue, p. 344.
^Ho Avenary-Iioewenstein, "The Mixture Principle in the Mediaeval
Organ," Musica Disciplina. IV, 1 (1950), 52-3.
 233
From the last statement, Avenary-Loewenstein conclvided that foarth-

soandlng ranks were included in the mixture. He formulated the hypothesis

that the mixture was originally invented as a mechanical means of obtaining

organum at the fourth and fifth.*^ The more probable meaning is that

these fourths refer to the interval between ranks of fifths and octaves.

Adler interprets the passage this way. Moreover he believed that, because

the treatise prescribes variable pipe diameters as well as the mixture,

it cannot be earlier than the fourteenth or even the fifteenth century.^

The nortative and positive organs, which were popular in the twelfth

and thirteenth centuries, have no great importance in the history of pipe

combinations. Typically, they contained one or two ranks of pipes.

Pictorial evidence suggests than on positives the second rank duplicated

the pitches of the first and, according to Sachs, the portatives usually

had only one pipe per key, arranged in two rows.^^

An early twelfth-century account by Baudry, Bishop of Dol, apparently

referred to a permanently housed organ at the Abbey of Fecamp:

Ibi siquidem instrumentum vidi Indeed, I saw at the place a musical

musicum, fistulis aeneis compactum, instrument composed of brass pipes,
quod follibus excitum fabrilibus which, put into motion by forge
suavem reddebat melodiam, et per bellows, rendered a pleasing melody,
continuam diapason, et per symphoniae And through a continuous diapason
sonoritatem, graves et médias et and sonorous symphony it united low,
acutas voces uniebat, ut quidam con- medium, and high voices as a kind of
cinnentium chorus putaretur clericorum, pleasing chorus, for example, of
in quo pueri, senes, juvenes jubilantes clerics, in which boys, elders, and
convenirent et continerentur; organa jubilant youths join together and
illud vocabant, certisque temporibus continue together. They call this
excitabant.^® [instrumentJ ‘organ’ and play it at
determined times.

^Ibld.. pp. 54^5.

^Israël Adler, “Les mensurations des tuyaux d’orgue," Acta
Musicologica. XL (January, 1958), 53.
4-5curt Sachs, The History of î’îusical Instruments (New York, 1940),
p. 287.
46Quoted in Perrot, L‘orgue, p. 401.
 234
Accounts such as this supply only a sketchy idea of what the larger

organs were like. The number of ranlcs was probably much smaller than in

the Winchester organ, but the reference to "medium voices" suggests the

inclusion of fith-sounding ranks. However, if such ranks were used to any

great extent in medieval blockwork organs, evidence of them is curiously

lacking.

In the fourteenth century, large cathedral organs began to appear.

Builders met the need for a greater volume of sound in two ways: by

duplicating the smaller pipes, as was done on earlier organs, and by

adding new ranks of long pipes. In his discussion of old organs, Praetorius

gave an account of the great cathedral organ at Halberstadt, which was

built in 1361 and must have been exceptionally large for its time.^ It

had over one thousand pipes and contained a complete rank of pipes of 32’

pitch. Even more unusual was the fact that the Halberstadt organ originally
48
had three keyboards to which pedals were later added. Praetorius did

not give an exact specification for the Halberstadt organ, but he did
conjecture about the contents of the mixtures.He concluded that the

lower chorus consisted of Principal 32’, Unter Octava I6’, Gross Octava

6’ [8 ’?] Gross Quint 6’ [5 1/3’], Octava 4’, etc. For a forty-two rank

mixture on 8 ’ 0 (upper chorus?), he listed: 8 ’, 4', 3’ [2^/3’], 2 ’,

1^1 [1^/3'], 1’, and The omission of fifths in the lower octaves of

^"^Michael Praetorius. Syntagma Ifasicum. Hk. II: De Organographla

(Wolfenbuttel, 1619), pp. 98-103.
^Quoika, Tom Blockwerk -zur Recdsterorgel. p. 12.

49praetorius, Syntagma ]^(usicum. II, 101-02.

 235

these mixtwes, allows them to be classified as aliquot series, the lower

one beginning with 16' (or 32') and the upper one with S' pitch.

The fifteenth century was a period of great activity in organ

building. l'îany of the technological improvements that occurred during this

50
century expanded'the capacity of the organ for tonal synthesis. Lighter

action and narrower keys gave greater flexibility to the large organs.

Roller-boards enabled builders to place pipes more conveniently with respect

to the key mechanism and to increase the number of ranks. Although single­

chest organs were most common, it was not unusual to add one or two wind-

chests to the m a ^ work. The descant manual was sometimes placed in a

separate case behind the organist as a chair organ or Ruckoosltlv. where it

acted as an independent mixture register. An independent pedal work, con­

taining the lowest ranks, .created a similar department for the lower compass.

Couplers were added between manuals and between manual and pedal, to pro­

vide greater dynamic and tonal flexibility, but perhaps the most important

improvement was the spring windchest (Soringlade). ^y means of a rather

complicated spring mechanism, the sound board was divided so that groups

of pipes (registers) could be isolated from the wind supply. Individual

ranks of larger pipes could also be "stopped". These improvements made it

possible to introduce new varieties of pipe families into the tonal

structure of the organ and to provide more flexibility in the numerical

relationships of the pipes that sounded together on a single key.

Although organs with long pipes, like the Halberstadt organ, became

more frequent in the fifteenth century, most church organs fell into

^^Sumner, The Organ, pp. AS-51.

 236
three classes; small organs with Principals 4«, medium with Principals 8>,
and large with Principals 1 6 ' . The number of pipes in some of the

larger organs of the fifteenth century indicates quite an increase in size

and complexity compared with previous centuries. In 1399 the cathedral

organ at Salzburg contained 2,024 pipes; in 1429 Amiens had 2,500 pipes;

in 1478 Nuremberg had 1,100 pipes; in 14S7 Reims had 1,832 pipes.

An Important account of fifteenth-century organs is found in 14s. Paris,

B.K., lat. 7295* This manuscript contains a treatise by Eenri Amaut de

Zwolle (d.l466), astrologer in the Burgundian Court, and entries by three

anonymous writers. These documents provide the first detailed specifications

for individual instruments, from which it is possible to determine the

approximate speaking-lengths of each class of pipes and the pitch relation­

ships in the mixtures.

The organs represented belong to the small (4') or medium (8*) class.

Amaut divided pipes into three general classes: barduni (8»), naturales

(4')» and supernaturales (2').^^ The smallest of the supematurales was

approximately one and one-half inches long, which means the upper range

of the mixture (Fourniture) extended four full octaves above 2* pitch.

Of the specifications for small organs, the simplest mixture

arrangement belonged to a positif de dos.^^ This organ of 195 pipes

^^Praetorius, Syntagma Musicvna. II, 105.

^%Ians Klotz, “Orgel, IV; Die Kirchenorgel bis um 1500," Die Musik
in Geschlchte und Gegenwart. X, cols. 269-70.

^^0. Le Cerf and E. R. Labande (eds,). Les traites d'Henri Arnaut

de Zwolle et divers anonymes (Paris, 1932), p. 13.

% b id .. p . 39.
 237

contained only three pitch classes. Principal (4-')> Octave (2»), and

Double-Octave (l')» duplicated in four to seven ranks. Three other Rmmll

organs, including an «orgue du Salins", had Principal (4'), Quint (2^/3'),

Doubles (2’)j Quint-Fourniture (1^/3*), and Doubles-Fouraiture

The number of duplicate ranks increased uith the ascending scale. An

organ «de la messe du Seigneur" was equipped with five divided registers

(stops): two Principals, two Quints, and Octaves, perhaps in the arrange­

ment 4' 4’ 2^/3« 2'

The specifications of larger organs show more diversity in the

mixture arrangements. The grand organ "des Cordeliers" had a bass manual

of ten pipes which could be coupled to the first ten keys of the upper
57
manual. Vihen coupled, the lower compass included: Bass (8*?),

Principal (4')» Fourniture (2^/3' 2> 1^/3 *). A blockwork organ, the
"old organ" of Notre-Dame de Dijon (ca.1400), contained a fixed mixture:

Principal (8*), Octave (4’)> Twelfth (2^/3'), and Double Octave (2*),
58
duplicated in from eight to twenty-four ranks. The most interesting

specification for "another organ" (ca.1447/8). contains division lines,

59
which apparently indicate three separable registers. In the lower

conçass the Principal register consisted of 8’ and 4' ranks, the mixture

contained 2’ 1^/3' 1' ^/3' (*^.12.16.24) in varying combinations. A

‘ ^^Ibld.'. p. 28.

^^bid.. p. 31.
57%bid.. pp. 29-30.

%bid.. pp. 54-5.

59ibid.. p. 56.
 238

second mixture, vith tierce, gave the intervals 29. 31. 33 in the low
compass, breaking back to 8. 10, 12 in the high. The presence of this

breaking Terzzimbel suggests a Dutch design. The significance of third-

sounding ranks will be considered later.

The period from 1480 to 1530 marked a transition from the organ that

may be typified as Gothic to the variegated organ of the Renaissance,

A developing interest in timbre was encouraged, if not directly caused,

by the perfection of stopping mechanisms. The spring chest, already in

vogue at the beginning of thisperiod, offered an effective means of

isolating groups of pipes from the total block of sound. Anothersyste

the slider chest (Schleiflade), was introduced around the end of the

century. Apparently, this was a rediscovery of the stopping principle used

on the hvdraulls,^ Since the sliders were necessarily rather narrow,

this system was most effective for stopping individual ranks of pipes or

several ranks of small pipes. Sometimes both systems were used in the same

organ. The Renaissance organ was thus a register organ, with new chorus

mixtures supplementing the traditional blocdc of flue pipes, and a

profusion of solo ranks adding to the tonal capacity of the instrument.

In the sixteenth century, specific national characteristics began

to emerge in organ building. Two influential schools developed in

Brabant, the old duchy of the Netherlands, The North Brabant builders

preferred the multiple-work organ and the spring-chest system of regis­

tration. They expanded the main chest into the Hauotwerk and Obenrerk,

^Sumner, The Organ, p , 65.

 239
The Pedal was developed into an extensive, independent bass-organ, which

could be coupled with the Hauotwerk. The Ruckoositiv provided an additional

discant manual. With three manuals and pedals, a maximum number of

combinations were available between wide and narrow-scale flue choruses,

reeds, and stopped flutes. This tradition of complex organ design was

influential in Northern Germany and the Rhinelands.^^

The South Brabant builders preferred a single-work, slider-chest

organ with a single manual, but they extended the lower compass by means

of a set of supplemental pedals. Instead of the extensive, narrow-scale

mixtures of the Northerners, they developed wide-scale solo stops, such

as the Comet and Flute traversiere. This tradition of building was in-
A?
fluential in France, Spain, and Italy,

Arnold Schlick’s Spiegel der Oreelmacher und Organisten. published in

1511, was the first treatise to list organ registers by name. Schlick

seemed to favor features of both Brabant traditions; on the other hand,

he advocated the use of the slider-chest, on the other, he proposed an

organ with three work-divisions, Hauptwerk. Pedal, and Hucknositiv.^^

For the Pedal, he suggested four registers. Principal (16‘)» two 8'-

pitched ranks, and mixture (Hintersatz). For the Hauptwerk. he listed

Principals (8>) of both wide and narrow scale, plus six other registers
including Hintersatz and Zimbel. The smaller Rückpositiv contained four

^^Ifaarten Vente, Die Brabanter Orgel (Amsterdam, 1958), pp. 214-15.

^^Ibid.. pp. 211-12.

^^See Arnold Schlick, Spiegel der Orgelmacher und Organisten. ed. by
Paul Smets (Facs. ed.; Mainz, 1959), chaps, iv and ix, n.p. In modem
German, pp. 83-7; 95.
 240
registers. Principals of wood (4*), Gemshorn (2«), I-ËLrbur. and Zimbel.

Two observations can be made; (1) the three divisions of the organ

supplement each other in octave pitch relationships (i.e., 16« 8» 4.»),

and (2) the organizing rank is 8» pitch, rather than the 4» pitch of

Gothic organs. Schlick took a conservative position about the extrava­

gances of larger multiple-work organs, stressing that clarity and economy

of means should be of first importance. He specifically deplored the use

of the Gross Quint (5^/3*) with the observation "to whom it is pleasant,

let him praise it."^^ On the other hand, he remarked that fifths in the

higher range of the mixtures are acceptable if they are not individually
heard.

The Italian organ builders of the sixteenth century,,built small, single

manual instruments with uniform diapason quality throughout. They

emphasized quickness of key action rather than diversity of timbre. To

compensate for the lack of pipe varieties, they achieved the utmost

flexibility in registration by individually stopping every rank of pipes.

This technique must:have evolved before the end of the fifteenth century

because Italian influence apparently led builders of Southern Germany to

construct organs with fully divided registers .as early as 1498 at St.
Wolfgang and 1510 at Rothenburg.^^

The leading Italian builders of the sixteenth century were members of

the Antegnati family. In 1608, Costanza Antegnati published I'Arte organlca.

^^bid.. chap. v; "wem das gefelt der lob es"; see p. 86 for modem
German.

^^Ibid. . chap. v i; in modern German, p. 88.

^^udolph Quoika, "Orgel, V, 11, Geschichte . . . seit 1500,"

Die Musik in Geschlchte und Gegenwart. X, cols. 302-02.
 2a
in which he listed the instruments built by the family in over a century

of activity. He also gave the disposition for the cathedral organ at

67
Brescia, which he reconstructed in 1580. This organ had a single manual

with supplemental pedals. It contained twelve individual registers,

nine of which comprised an open flue chorus pitched in this series: 16'

16' 8' 4' 2^/3' 2' 1^/3' 1' ^/3'. The remaining registers were wide-scale

flutes pitched 8' 4' 2'. Antegnati listed various ways to combine registers
based on either 16' or 8' foundations. Some of the 8' combinations

correspond closely to the lower portion of the harmonic series, except for

the missing thirds, but others have only an incidental similarity to the
68
series. Aside from the flexibility afforded the performer in the matter

of selecting combinations according to interval relationships, it does not

appear that the Italian organ was any closer to an aliquot organization

than the Brabant organs. In some ways it was less progressive. The Gross

Quint for use with 16' foundations and third-sounding ranks were not

favored in Italy, even after they were well established in Germany, France,

and England.

Mechanically, the Renaissance organ left little to be desired in the

way pipe ranks could be combined and registered. Seventeenth-century

builders directed their attention to the development of complete choirs

of contrasting tone colors. The new combination registers and mutation

stops are investigated in conjunction with the use of third-sounding ranks.

G^Costanzo Antegnati, L'Arte Organlca. ed. by Renato Lunelli (Rev.

ed.; Mainz, 1958), p. 74.

^See iMd., pp. 62-76.

 242
However, it is informative at this point to look at the evolution of

multiple-work organs in Germany where the Horth Brabant tradition con­

tinued to be a strong influence, especially in Protestant regions. The

renowned German builders of the Baroque peiriod, the Scherers, Compenius,

Pritsche, and Schnitger may all be considered part of that tradition.^^

The principal source of knowledge about the early Baroque organ in

Germany is the Syntagma Ikislcum (1619) of Michael Praetorius. He supplied

two kinds of information that are valuable for understanding the tonal

organization of German organs. First, he discussed the various registers

in use at the time, and classified them both according to sounding

lengths and timbre. His Universal Tabel*^^ graphically illustrates the

extent of the pitch series that had evolved for each color class and

shows how the various choruses compare with the Principal. Second, he

supplied detailed specifications for many of the celebrated organs of

the period.

A comparison of organs mentioned by Praetorius with a later seventeenth-

century German organ indicates a trend toward a true 32' foundation for

the total system of complementary works. Five specifications are listed

in Figure 39 to show the evolution from the Brabant design with two

manuals and pedals to the large Schnitger organ with four manuals and pedals.

Since each:.department.of the organ typically contained an extensive series

of octave-sounding ranks, it is important to consider the foundation pitches

^^Johannes Heinrich, "Orgel, V, 9> Geschichte . . . seit 1500," Die

Musik in Geschlchte und Gegenwart. Z, cols. 293-94.
^^raetorius, Syntama Musicrmi. II, facing p. 126.
 21*3

Hans Scherer the Elder; Organ at Bemau, 1^72-1^71*^

Hauptwerk 16' 5V3' 2^/3*

Rückpositiv 8' 2^/3'
Pedal 16'

Hans Scherer the Younger; Hamburg, S. Petri, 1603-1601*^

Hauptwerk 16* 2^/3*

Obenferk 8' 2^/3' 1/3'7
Rückpositiv 8' 22/3'
Pedal 32' (21;' from F)

Heinrich Compenius: Magdeburg, Dom, I60l;-160$°

Hauptwerk 16' 5V3‘ 2^/3'

Brustwerk 8'
Rückpositiv 8' 2v3'
Pedal 32'

Gottfried Fritzsche* Dresden, Schlosskirche, 1611;^

Hauptwerk 16' 5V3' 22/3'

Brustwerk h'
Seitenwerk 8' 2v3*
Pedal 16'

Arp Schnitger: Hamburg, S. Jakobi, 1688-1693®

Hauptwerk 16*
Oberwerk 8* 22/3'
Rückpositiv 8* lV3'
Brustwerk 8«
Pedal 32*

Figure 39. Seventeenth-century organ specifications showing the

distribution of fundamental and fifth-sounding ranks

®Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum, II, 176-77.

^Ibid., 169-70. °Ibid., 172-73. *^Ibid.. 186-88.

®Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, X (1962), col. 2^6.

 2U

of the departments and their relation to fifth-sounding ranks. The

mechanical complexity of multiple-work organs was exemplified by the

Magdeburg organ. It had eight windchests in all, three for the

Kaunwerk-Brustvrerk. one for the Rüclroositlv. and four for the Pedal.

In spite of such efforts to supply adequate wind, improper wind pressure

apparently denied these organs the great synthesizing effect suggested

by the specifications. In 1955 an Merlcan organ architect, William H.

Barnes, toured Holland, Denmark, and Germany for the purpose of examining

seventeenth-and eighteenth-century organs. He was able to hear many organs

that have been restored to reproduce their original tonal design. His

observations provide an informative assessment of their actual tonal effect:

I would like to speak about something that shocked me . . .
the great gulf dividing classic European Pedal Organ speci­
fications on paper and the actual tonal output, with the
great lack of independence and tonal distinction. To be
sure, the old Dutch and German pedal,organs are independent
but they usually sound like another manual division, for
the simple reason that the 16» ranlcs do not stand out
sufficiently to give adequate foundation to the elaborate
tonal sonorities of the manuals. I missed the firmness of
really adequate 16» reeds especially in the larger instru­
ments where they are most needed. l'ÿ reaction was simply
tliis: These pedal organs actually are not 16» sections as
they should be. We speak of the Great as 8», the Ruck
Positiv as 4' or 2» in pitch, and certainly the pedal organ
should center around 16» pitch. Here again the problem of
securing sufficient wind is doubtless to blame. . . .

On paper the 17th and 18th century pedal organs look well in
tonal foundation - they seem to be genuine 16» sections -
but their upperwork destroys this in actual sound, or else
the 16» ranlcs are just not sufficient for all they should
support. 'I'Jhatever criticism one may make of the French
pedal organs (and there are several weak items in their make­
up) certainly they are really 16» sections in no uncertain
terms and they add a grandeur that I find missing in the
Dutch and German antiques.7^

"^^Hans Klotz, Das Bueh von der Orgel (Z.th ed.; Kassel, 1953), p. 116.

7%JiUiam ÏÏ. Bames, The Contemporary American Organ (7th ed.;

Glen Rock, New Jersey, 1959), p. 376.
 245

Thlrd-Soxmding Ranis

To determine the relationship between the historical use of third-

sounding ranlcs and the position of thirds in the harmonic series, one must

consider the use of thirds in chorus mixtures, solo registers, and simple

mutation stops. Since the chorus mixtures were usually designed to “break

back” at various points in the compass, the changing pitch scheme shows

little similarity to the harmonic series. The solo registers and

mutation stops, on the other hand, often maintained a fixed relationship

with the foundation rank that might come close to the pattern of the

harmonic series.

The invention of stopping mechanism made it possible for builders

to divide the blockwork so they could vary the loudness and timbre of the

pipe chorus. The traditional composite of medium-scale flue pipes was

designated the Mixture (or Fourniture). A high-pitched register of narrow-

scale pipes was added as a second chorus. Having a sharp sound similar
73
to small bells, this mixture was designated the Zimbel (or Cymbale).

Third-sounding ranks were first introduced in this sharp-sounding mixture.

The first record of a Zimbel containing thirds was in the

specification of the second organ at Dijon, given in the Amaut manuscript.

Although this register was not identified by name, it corresponded closely

to the design of the Terzzimbel used by North Brabant builders. It con­

sisted of three ranlcs, pitched within the range of an octave in various

'^^Williams, The European Organ, p. 298.

*^^ee commentary in Le Cerf and Labande, Les traités d'Henri Amaut.

p. 56.
 246

positions of the major triad. Even this fifteenth-century mixture was

designed to "break back" as the foundation pitch ascended, following

a scheme similar to that of baroque, mixtures. Only in the upper compass,

did the ranlcs make S. 10. 12, with the prime pitch.

By the middle of the sixteenth century, the Terzzimbel. sometimes

called Schnrf Zimbel. was a typical feature:of iîorth Brabant and North

German organs. Early instances of this type of register appeared in

organs at Lubeck (1518), Praneker (1528), and Eardewijk (ça. 1530).

South Brabant and French builders did not favor the Terzzimbel. When the

Cymbale mixture was present in French organs, third-sounding ranks were

excluded, and this continued to be the practice among French builders

as late as Dom Bedos (1766)

Arnold Schlick did not mention the use of third-sounding ranks in the

high chorus mixture, but Praetorius included a brief reference in the

Syntagma l-lusicum. Under the title Klingende Zimbel. Praetorius remarked;

Klingende Zimbel / 3. Three intense pipes repeated through

Pfeiffen starck renetiret the entire keyboard on f and on cj
durch ganze Clavir in f vnd and is composed thus f a ç :
in c / vnd wird also gesetzt which is said to bethe most
f a c: welches die artistic,
kunstreichste seyn sol.??
The statement that the pipes are "repeated" on f and ç seems to indicate
that this is a breaking mixture. It is odd that no discussion of other
third-sounding ranks appear in the Syntagma Musicum.

?5paul Smets, Die Orgelregister. ihr Klang und Gebrauch (7th ed.;
Mainz, 1958), p. 32; Vente, Die Brabanter Orgel. pp. 50; 52.
?%)om Bedos de Celles, L'art du facteur d'orgues. I (Paris, 1766), 50.

??Praetorius, Syntagma î'&isicum. II, 131.

 247

Little similarity exists between the thirds in breaking mixtures

and the aliquot relationships of the harmonic series. IJhen the Terzzimbel

is coupled with foundation ranks of 8 ft. pitch, the position of the third

is a much as six octaves above the prime pitch in the lower compass of

the manual. Only by accident during the course of the breaks does the

third relate-as the seventeenth (or fifth harmonic) of the prime pitch.

8y the end of the fifteenth century, third-sounding ranks also began

to appear in the numerous solo stops that were being added to the organ.

These stops were deliberate imitations of the timbres of wind instruments,

and the new colors were obtained by the use of reed pipes, the alteration
of pipe shapes, and the synthesis of new mixtures. Like many of the flute

and reed stops, the new solo combinations seem to have originated in

Southern Germany. It is quite possible that the inspiration for these

combinations came from the colorful, outdoor tower organs (Homwerke) that
78
were popular in Austria in the fifteenth century. These "organs" were

used like tower bells to signal the hours of the day and were perhaps in­

tended to imitate the blast of alpine horns with a fixed mixture of pipes,
79
all sounding simultaneously. The organization of an entire chorus of

pipes around a single foundation pitch is illustrated by a Hornwerk of

Gothic design that still exists in Salzburg. Rebuilt in 1745, with much

of the original pipework dating from about 1500, this instrument has a
80
chorus of 135 pipes organized on F? of 16’ pitch. From 8’ to 1/2’ pitch,
81
every octave of the mixture contains pipes in the triad relationship F A G ,

*^®Quoika, Altosterreichische Hornwerke. p. 19.

79]
79jbid.. p. 53.
80-,
Ib id. . pp. 29-30,
^^Ib id. . p . 54.
 248
In organ terms, the instrument contains a third-sounding ranlc (6^5«)
an octave below the Gross Tierce (3^/5*).

Two of the new solo combinations, the Sesouialtera and the Tertian.
were similar in their original design. Both were two-rank breaking

mixtures of narrow-scale fine pipes used in combination with principal

ranks to modify the color. In the Sesaulaltera (or Eomlinl the ranks

were pitched a sixth apart, typically breaking back from 26. 31, on the

lowest keys to 12. 17, on the highest.Thus, a relation between this

mixture and the third and fifth harmonics occurs only in the upper coiz^ass,

Ihich the same can be said of the Tertian, a mixture breaking from 24.. 26.
83
to 17. 19, since it approximates the fifth and sixth harmonics in the

upper compass. The sesaulaltera was so named because it usually included

pipes of 2^/3’ and 1^/5' speaking length. In specifications these figures

were often rounded out to 3* and 2', suggesting that proportional name.^^

The first mention of the Hornlin (Sesaulaltera) occurred in a

specification given by Hans Tugi of Basel in 14.

9 6.®^ Thereafter the

register appeared most commonly in North Brabant organs. Stops of this

type were listed in organs at Alkmaar (1511), Oosthuizen (ça. 1530), and

Amersfoort (ça. 1550) The Sesaulaltera was not used in France and

^^Klotz, Das Buch von der O rgel. p. 43.

G^ibid.
^%illiams. The European Organ, p. 319.

^^Emst Flade, ’’Literarische Zeugnisse zur Bapfindung der Farbe und

Farbigkeit bel der Orgel . . . ca. 1500-1620." Acta Musicolojzica.
m i l l (October, 1956), 183.
86
Sumner, The Organ, p . 68; Vente, Die Brabanter Orgel. pp. 52; 188.
 249
and England until the seventeenth century. The Tertian seems to be a
later development that may have evolved from the Sesaulaltera. The

register was listed in organs at Zierilczee (1549), Lüdingworth (1598),

and Alkmaar (l645)

Neither of these registers was discussed by either Praetorius or

Mersenne. However, a possible reference to the Sesouialtera did occur

in the earlier treatise tqr Schlick:

Item noch ein Register in elm Likewise, there is still a

iglichen Chor grob tertzen vnnd
quinten / dar vff mann kein con-
cordantz greiffen m g / dan welch
claues Oder chor zn samen genommen
werden die discordiren / vnd lautten
vbel / das doch gantz wider die
musica vnd von keinem werd ist als
ein iglicher verstendiger zü ermessen
hot.88
register that includes on each of
the keys coarse thirds and fifths,
with which one can strike no
harmonious accords. For no matter
how the keys are struck together,
they produce dissonances and in-
appropiriate jangles. That is
positively contrary to music and
has no worth, as every intelligent
person must realize.

Unlike breaking mixtures, the Cornet maintained the same harmonic

combination throughout its compass. Composed of from four to six ranks of

wide-scale, lead pipes, it had a reedy composite timbre not compatible with

the Principal chorus but so useful as a solo register that it became a

standard feature of French and South Brabant organs. Early instances of its

use occurred in Rouen (1515), Toledo (1549), and Paris ( 1 5 8 8 ) About 1590
it became customary to mount the Comet on a separate chest as an independent

solo register. Early four-rank mixtures of the Comet contained pipes of

^"^Frotscher, Geschichte der Orgelsniels. I, 299j 335.

88
Schlick, Spiegel der Orgelmacher. chap. vj cf. in modem German,
pp. 85-6.

^^Alexandre Cellier and Henri Bachlin, L*orgue: ses elements— son

histoire— son esthetigum TPariSj 1933), p. 76; Frotscher, Geschichte
des Orgelsplels. p. 262; Vente, Die Brabanter Orgel. p. 12ÏÏI
 250

4’, 2^/3’, 2*, and 1^/5' pitch ( 1. 8, 12, 15. 17), a combination that
corresponds exactly with the first five harmonics of the series, Mersenne

described three Comet registers of different pitch in the Harmonie

90
universelle. As an individual register on the great organ, he listed

a Cornet consisting of chimney flute (2*) and four ranks of open pipes of

1', ^/3*, and ^/5'. These relationships again correspond to the first
five harmonics but at 2* pitch. As a compound of individual registers

on the great organ, he listed Bourdons 16' and 8', Prestant 4', Doublette

2', and the Cornet of five ranks (listed above), under the title Comet,

On the Positif (Rückpositiv), he listed a small Comet composed of

Bourdon 8', Prestant 4', Doublette 2', Hazard 1^/3', Flageolet 1', and

Tiercette Vs*• In this six-register compound, the upper five correspond

to the first five harmonics of 4' pitch.

The Comet was not used in German organs, A quite different stop

with the similar name Cornett mentioned in the Syntagma I^hisicum was a
91
single-rank solo stop of reed pipes.

Because of the difficulty of keeping reed pipes in tune, builders

tried to imitate the reed tones by mixtures of flue pipes. These com­

binations, like the Comet, were nonbreaking solo stops, Praetorius

observed that some builders achieved the sound of Rauschofeifen by com­

bining a Quint and a Suneroctava in one register. If the Quint was the

larger rank (12, 15), the stop was called Rauschouint,^^ Adlung (1767)

^^Mersenne, "Traité des instrumens," Bk. VI, prop, xxxi, pp. 370-71.
^^Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum. II, 146

92lbid., II, 130.

 251
added the clarification that if the Quint was the smaller rank (15, 19),
the stop was called Rauschnfeife.^^ According to Praetorius the large

organ at Danzig, built by Julio Antonio in 1535, contained a Rauschguint.^^

Although some authors believe that this type of combination register

dates back to the beginning of the sixteenth century,^^ the earlier

Rauschpfoifen were probably reeds, since Schlick, in his observations on

the reliability of Rauschpfeifen. paired them with a known reed stop, the
96
Trompeten.

Builders discovered that third- and fifth-sounding ranks, were more

useful if they were controlled individually on separate stops, permitting

the organist to add or omit their distinctive sound according to his

judgement. Separable stops of this class are called "mutation stops,"

The earliest mutation stop that sounded the third was the Tierce (or Terz)

of 1/5' pitch, which stands in the relationship of the seventeenth with

foundation ranks of 8' pitch. In practice, this enabled the organist

to add the fifth harmonic to 8> combinations. However, the introduction

of the Tierce preceded the knowledge of the harmonic series, and, as the

name implies, the stop was conceived as the third of 2' pitch, not as a

fifth harmonic. Perhaps the earliest use of the Tierce occurred in the

middle of the sixteenth century when the Brabant builder, Jan van Geldre,

^^Jacob Adlung, Musica Mechanica Organoedi (Berlin, 1768), I, 133,

^4praetorius, Svntafrma Musicum. II, 163,

^^Klotz, Das Buch von der Orgel. p, 108; Sumner, The Organ, p, 67,
^^Schlick, Spiegel der Orgelmacher. chap, v; in modem German, pp,
86-7,
 252

changed an Oktave 2‘ to a Terz 1 /5* in an organ at Kalkar (St. Nikolaus).

97
This early experiment was later abandoned because of intonation problems.

The Tierce became popular in Prance during the seventeenth century, where

the taste for this stop seemed to run parallel with that for the Comet.

Early instances of its use are found in organs in Paris (I60l), î-Iarsielle
(1615), and Antwerp (I626) M e r s e n n e listed two third-sounding mutations
3 L. 99
in the Harmonic universelle, the Tierce 1 /5* and the Tiercette /5*.

The spreading popularity of the Tierce is reflected by its appearance at

Rotterdam in 1643 and Canterbury in 1662.^^^

During the second half of the seventeenth century, the Crosse Tierce

3^/5' came into use in Prance. The organ of the Rouen Cathedral contained

both a Tierce and a Crosse Tierce in 1657.^^^ Under the name Erode, the

Crosse Tierce became a popular mutation in organs built in Southern Prance

during the last twenty years of the century.^®^ The Crosse Tierce was

used only on conjunction with the 16' foundation ranks of the great organ

and was not included in smaller works with only 8’ foundation.^®^ It thus

acted as the fifth harmonic (the seventeenth of 16', not the tenth of 8').

^'^Vente, Die Brabanter Orgel. pp. 152; 216.

9&Ibid.. pp. 126; Norbert Duforcq, Orgues eomtadines et orgues
nroven(;ales (Paris, 1935), pp. 26; 82.
^%ersenne, "Traite des instrumens," Bk. VI, prop, xxxi, pp. 369; 371.

^^^Vente, Die Brabanter Orgel. p. 148; Sumner, The Organ, pp. 126-27.
l*^lSumner, The Organ, p. 76.

^^^Duforcz, Orgues eomtadines. p. 26.

^^^See Williams, The Buronean Organ, p. 181.

 253

This differentiation in the application of mutation stops indicates

that by empirical Judgement musicians of the late seventeenth century

had already arrived at some correspondence with the harmonic series. The

practical applications suggested hy Sauveur’s classification of organ

stops (1702) were already in effect.

The need for separable mutation stops, especially third-sounding

ranks, was largely caused by problems of dissonance and tuning. Nonoctave

couplings necessarily cause conflicts in polyphonic organ music. Concern

for this problem has already been shown in the quotation of Schlick cited

earlier. Mersenne also provided an illustration of the conflicts between

the mixtures of two manuals. He pointed out, for example, that when the

interval F - A is sounded, the Quint of F (i.e. 0) is dissonant with the

Tierce of A (i.e. He observed that one does not ordinarily

perceive these dissonances because of the weakness of the lesser pipes.

In practice, the dissonances resulting from nonoctave ranks were minimized

by keeping them high in the compass and by making these ranks either

nan*ow in scale (Sesaulaltera) or wide in scale (Comet) to lessen their

strength.
Third-sounding ranks present a special problem with regard to

temperament. Thirds based on the proportion 5:4 measure only 386 cents,

a measure that contrasts noticeably with Pythagorean thirds of 408 cents

or thirds of 400 cents in equal temperament. It was the objective of

meantone temperament to provide as many Just thirds (5:4) as possible,

^^^ersenne, "Traite des instrumens," Bk. VI, prop, xx, pp. 347-48.
 254.
and so, within the limits of the diatonic scale, the correspondence
between the proportional thirds of mixtures and the major thirds of

meantone temperament was exact. Conflicts arose, however, in chromatic

music since only eight of the twelve thirds yielded by meantone temperament

can conform to the proportion 5:4-

The trend toward equal .tempered.tuning diminished the slight intonation

problems of fifth-sounding ranks but greatly increased the discrepancy

of third-sounding ranks. In 1855 Hopkins gave these comments on the tuning

problems caused by third-sounding ranlcs:

%hen the unequal temperament was in vogue abroad, the slightly

sharpened thirds in the common scales nearly accorded with the
Third-sounding rank of the Mixtures, and the latter effected a
direct improvement on the general tone of the organ., On the
equal temperament being adopted,.and the thirds being sharpened
a little more, the Tierce was found to harmonise less agreeably
than before; hence arose the plan of not introducing the Third-
sounding rank so soon as had previously been the custom. Five
ranks of mixture thus came to be generally proposed without a
Tierce; and in its stead a duplication of the Fifteenth was
usually introduced, which substituted rank added materially to ^05
the distinctness and the silvery character of the I4ixture sound.

Imperfect as it is, this statement was at least an attempt by an authority

on organ construction to deal with this thorny subject. He observed one

solution to the problem in this statement;

...in England the prevailing feeling is at present more frequently

in favour of the early use of the Tierce than not; therefore, by
leaving it to be disposed as a separate stop, it could be drawn
either with the first Mixture or not, according as the inclination
of the organist might dictate.^®®

j,Hopkins and 2. ?, Rimbault, The Organ. Its History and

Construction (3rd ed.; London, 1877), p. 274-

lO ^ b id .. p. 274.
 255
The Nomenclature of Organ Stops and its Relation
to the Harmonic Series

To clarify the nomenclature of organ stops one must retrace the

development of the foundation pitch and the relationships of other ranks

to it. In retrospect, it appears that the foundation or organizing rank

progressed from 2* to 4» to 8' and in some cases to 16' pitch. These

are only approximate "speaking lengths" because tuning levels varied

greatly before the eighteenth century. Often the organizing rank vas not

the one lowest in the pitch scheme. According to Eberhard of Ereising,

for example, additional ranks were to be added in octaves below the

107
principal rank. The pattern of organization in larger organs was re­

flected in the terminology used by Amaut in the fifteenth century. The

longest pipes, added to the organ for resonance, were designated barduni

(or Bourdons). The pipes of the tenor range were called the naturales and
108
the smaller pipes, the suuematurales.

Schlick achieved precision in his discussion of organ specifications

by two means: (l) he identified the organizing rank as the reohten ton
des Mercks.^^9 &nd (2) he provided measuring lines in his treatise to

indicate the exact dimensions of pipes. In modem terms his unison rank
was of 8» pitch, Praetorius employed the designation Aeoual Principal for
no
the fundamental rank of 8' pitch. He inferred that the practice of

107
Tractatus de mensura fistularum. quoted in Gerbert, Scriptores.
II, 279.
^*^^e Cerf and Labande (eds.). Les traités d'Henri Arnaut. p. 13.

^^%chlick, Spiegel der Orgelmacher. chapi v; cf.: "Normalhohe

des Werkes," in modern German, p. 86.

.•^Opraetorius, Syntagma Musicum. II, n3.

 256

Indicating the pitch of pipes in feet was standard among builders:

Die Na-tio.t vnd Zahl der Fusse
angedeutet / wie dasselbe ¥ort
die Orgelmacher im branch haben /
dadurch sie die Stimmen vnd
Claves in den Pfeiffen / nach
ihrem Tone vnd Laut / an der HShe
vnd Tieffen fuglich nennen / vnd zum
leichten verstand / aussred vnd
benaraung bringen / vnd also einen
Thon vom andem desto besser
vnterscheiden konnenP^
The names and number of feet are
indicated in the same terms that the
organmalcers use, by which they con-
veniently designate the names of the
pipes according to their tone and
pitch, and bring agreement for easy
understanding, and thus permit the
better distinction of one tone from
another.

The designation of pitch in terms of feet was necessary because

register names were usually based on the tone quality rather than on the

position of the register in the pitch scheme. Specifications indicated

open flue ranks of medium-scale quality by the terms Principal. Fraestant.

Montre. or Diapason. These were considered the fundamental ranks because

of their neutral timbre and their central position in the pitch

organization of the organ.

The register names that do indicate pitch relations developed along

national lines. Asurvey of this class of names providesinsight into the

way buildersconceivedthe pitch organization of the ranks before the

harmonic series was known. Schlick is an early source for the terminology

of the north Brabant and German schools. He listed these registers

according to pitch:
principaln ,(8’)
octaff (4')^..
doppell octaff (2*)

^ I b i d .. p. 19.
^%chlick, Spiegel der Orgelmacher. chap. v; cf.: "Principal,
Oktave, Superoktave," in modem German, p. S4.
 257

He also recognized that some builders included the Quint as a separate

113
register. In 1521, the Rhinelander, Hans von Koln included these
registers at Oosthuizen:

Praestant (8*)
Octaaf (4.0 .
Quint (2%0^
Hendrick îîiehoff provided registers with these names in the organ at

Luneburg (1551):

Praestant (80
Octava (4-’)
Superoctava «(20ttc
Hazatt (2V30

Praetorius presented a systematic terminology in his Universal Tabel.

in which he divided pipes of Principal Mensur into three classes:

Gross Sub Principal Bass 32*

Principaln: Gross Principal 16*
Principal 8*
Klein Principal 4.»
Gross Octava 8*
Octaven: Octava 4'
Klein Octava 2*
Superoctavlein 1*

Gross Quinta 6*
Quinten: Quinta 3»
Klein Quinta li'
Praetorius* complicated system did not find acceptance among German

builders, probably because the practice of including the pitch length

eliminated the need for lengthy titles. The following examples illustrate

some of the register names that were used:

113
Ibid. . chap, v; in modern German, p , 86.

Bouman, Nederland— Orgelland (Leyden, 1964.), p, 43.

^^Klotz, Das Buch der Orgel, p, 113,

 258
117
Hans Scherer at Liibeck (1624)

Prinzipal 16»
Prinzipal 8»
Oktave 8»
Superoctave 4»
Hasard 2v3 '
Arp Schnitger at Ilagdeburg (1690)^^

Subbass 32»
Prinzipal 16»
Prinzipal 8»
Octave 8»
Octave 4'
Octave 2»
Superoctave 1»
Quinte 5/3’
Hazard 2^/3’
Quintflbte lV3'

German builders did not use the Terz as a separate register until the

eighteenth century.

The French seemed even less inclined than the Germans to use interval

designations for registers. For example, they preferred the descriptive

term Hazard (nasal) to the interval term Quint. In 1530 the specification

for the organ in the Cathedral at Toulouse listed »'le jeulx de nazars petits

et grans" (5^/3’ and 2^/3’).^^ Mersenne included a comprehensive list

of French register names in the Harmonie universelle.' The following

terms designate registers with specific pitch relationships:

^*^Klotz, Das Buch der Orgel. p. 114.

UGlbld.. p. 118.
^^^Yvonne Rokseth (ed.). Deux livres d’orgue (2nd éd.; Paris, 196?),
p. xvi.
^^pMersenne, "Traite des instrumens," Bk. VI, prop, xxxi, pp. 369-72.
 259

Montre 16’
Montre 8’
Prestant 4'
Doubletto 2’
Hazard 5^/3*
Hazard 2~/3'
Petit Hazard 1y3*
Larigot 2/31
Tierce
Tiercette w

In addition to these, the specification for the organ at the Rouen

Cathedral (1657) contained;

Quarte de nazard (2’)

Grosse tierce (3 /5’)

A few variant expressions .appeared in the disposition for the organ in

the Cathedral at Auch (1695):

Brode (la tierce du prestant) (3^/5’)

Tierce de douhlette (1 /5’)^22

The nomenclature found in Italian specifications was the most

systematic of all the schools of organ building, partly because Italian

organs were generally similar in size and registration. The preference

for open, flue pipe quality and completely separable ranks permitted the

use of a sicple system of interval names. In 1495, a small instrument

at Lucca contained:
Tenore (S’)
Octava (4’)
Quintadecima (2‘)
Vigesimaseconda (1 ’)

^^Sumner, The Organ, pp. 76-7.

^22j)^^Q^Qq^ Orgues comtadines. p. 22.
TOI
Knud Jeppeson, Die Italienische Orgelmusik am Anfang des
Cinauecento (2nd ed.; Copenhagen, 196o), I, 33.
 260

Principale (l6*)
Ottava (8‘)
Decimaquinta (4-')
Decimanona (2v3’)
Vigesimaseconda (20
Vigesimasesta (lV30
Vigesimanona (lO
Trigesimaterza (1 /31 )-^4

Some organs included the Trigesimasesta (-|->). The Italians did not favor

the Gross Quint (5^/30, and if the name Duodecima vas used, it alvays

referred to 2^/3' pitch (i.e., the tvelfth of S* pitch). Italians did not
125
adopt third-sounding registers until the eighteenth century.

In England the nomenclature included more interval names than vere

used across the channel, but they vere not employed as uniformly as in

Italy. The earliest knovn English specification vas for an organ built

by Anthony Duddyngton in London in 1519. It listed:

Diapason 10’
Principals 5’
The following examples illustrate some of the register names that vere used

in the seventeenth century:

127
Thomas Dallam at Worcester Cathedral (l6l3)
Diapasons 10’
Principals
Principals or fifteenths
Twelfth
Small principal or fifteenth
Two & Twentieth

J-»^4Antegnati. L’Arte Crganica. x>'l IL ,

^^^Duforcq, Orgues comtadines. p. 23.

The Organ, p. 102.

^^ibid.. p. 112.
 261

Robert Dallam at York Minster (l632)^^^

Diapason
Principals
Twelft to the diapason
Small principal!
Recorder nnison to the said principall
Two and twentieth
Recorder of tynn, unison to the voice

Lancelot Pease at Canterbury Cathedral (1662)

Diapasons
Principalis
Fifteenths
Small and great twelft
Two and twentieths
Tierce

The Tierce reveals French influence, both in the use of the third-sounding

register and in its name. The term seventeenth was not used until the

twentieth century. It is now commonly listed under the register classi­

fication of Harmonica (l2th, 15th, 17th, 19th, 22nd),

In terms of the nomenclature, the Italian system was most compatible

with the harmonic series. There was one fundamental rank and all of the

registers formed an aliquot series with it. However, the series was quite

incomplete, since it contained only octave- and fifth-sounding ranks. The

French system contained more elements of the series, but the nomenclature

consisted entirely of simple intervals or descriptions of tone quality.

The strength of tradition was illustrated in the nineteenth century by the

appearance of the Septième (1^/7'), Although Cavaille-Coll introduced this

register to provide the seventh harmonic (flatted 21st) in the mixture, he

named it as if it added the interval of a seventh to the 2' octave.

]-2&Ibid.. p, 113.

^ ^ Ib id ,. p. 127,
 262
************************************

In order to apply the principle of the harmonic series of partiale

to combinations of organ pipes, it is necessary to arrange the intervals

in an aliquot series above a given fundamental pitch. If the organ

had evolved according to this principle, certain characteristics could

be expected. The lowest rank of a given combination would be the source

of the organization, or more specifically, the prime number of an aliquot

series. The first rank to be added to the unison and its octaves would

be the Twelfth. Allowing for octave duplications of the Octave and Twelfth,

the next element to be added would be the Seventeenth. This would be

followed by the Twenty-First (seventh harmonic). Lastly, it might be ex­

pected that the pattern of the mixture would remain relatively constant

for each new fundamental of the scale.

Historical evidence indicates that mixtures were first arranged

according to the ratios of perfect consonances. Technical difficulties

in the manufacture of pipes make it probable that tuning of the ranks was

accomplished with the aid of the monochord. It also seems likely that the

divisions of the monochord suggested the interval relationships between

ranks. This system would eoglain the appearance of the Quint as the first

non-octave rank. As organs increased in size, ranks were added both below

and above the organizing rank. It was not until the search for new tonal
colors in the fifteenth century:that third-sounding ranks were added for

their color value to high brealcing-mixtures, but their position in the

mixtures was not regulated by an aliquot series.

 263
Certain developments in the history of the organ did comply or at

least were compatible with the aliquot system. The completely separable

ranks of Italian organs permitted the selection of combinations that

could conform to an aliquot series of fifths and octaves. The French

Comet register conformed with the aliquot arrangement when the lower

octave was present, and its pattern remained constant, without breaks,

throughout the compass. The addition of mutation stops— Quints and

Tierces— to the French organ made it possible for the organist to select

aliquot combinations and the appearance of the Grosse Quint and the Grosse

Tierce indicated the desire to add aliquot elements to l6* Principals.

developing the multiple-work cathedral organ into a unified instrument

with divisions complementary in pitch design and with complete pedal

divisions based on 16’ and 32’ Principals. German builders also con­

tributed to the extension of the aliquot order into the lower compass of

the organ. All of these developments took place during the sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries.

The diversity of tastes in tonal organization illustrated by the

various national schools, and the problems of tuning suggest that the aliquot

series is not necessarily the most desirable system for combining pipes.

Although it is tempting to try to explain the history of the organ in the

simple terms of the harmonic series, the traditional interval theory gives

a more accurate account of the many-sided developments. On the other hand,

it is easy to see that two thousand years of experimentation in combining

pipes were conducive to the acceptance of the harmonic series as a musically

significant relationship.
 CHAPTER VI

THE OBSERVATION AND MANIPDLATION OF PARTIALS

IN THE TONES OF ORGAN PIPES

It is unfortunate that many of the historical details of organ

pipe construction have been lost, because almost every element in the

structure of a pipe influences the acoustical spectrum of its sound.

Variables that have a marked effect on tone quality include the length,

diameter, and shape of the body, the method of excitation, the con­

figuration of the mouth, the thickness of the vails and density of the

material, the size of the foot hole, and the magnitude of the vind

pressure,^ Without Imowledge of all these details it is almost impossible

to make convincing deductions about the sounds of early organs or the

presence of distinctly audible partials in those sounds. Still, because

the organ vas such an important instrument in Western history, for its

influence on both practical music and music theory, more vas vritten

about it than any other instrument. While these accounts fail to give

details of the pipework, they provide insight into the vay partial tones

of pipes and overblowing characteristics were conceptualized once they

were observed.

The two questions in organ history most pertinent to the investigation

of the harmonic series are (l) when did the art of organ building reach

See Dorn J, Kreps, "Les syntheses sonores de l'orgue à tuyaux," in

Acoustique musicale, ed, by François Canac (Paris, 1959), pp. 146-47;
also see Stevens Irwin, Dictionary of Pine Organ Stops (New York, 1962),
pp, 150-51,
264
 265

the point that pipes could emit individually perceptible partials, and

(2) when did builders begin intentional manipulation of the partial tones?

Complete answers to these questions remain unobtainable, but valuable

clues can be found in the available data about the sizes and kinds of

pipes used in various periods of history.

In 1619 Praetorius remarked that, until 150 years earlier, the only
2
kind of pipe that was known was the open, Principal-measure variety.

Py this he meant open, cylindrical, flue pipes somewhat narrower in scale

than the Principal-measure of today, if the illustrations in the Syntamna

3
Husicum are reasonably accurate. His statement may have been generally

correct with regard to the pipework of medieval organs, but it is possible

that stopped pipes were sometimes used in the Middle Ages as in antiquity

and quite probable that other varieties of pipes were known before 1470.

However, Praetorius was reasonably accurate in pointing up the time \Aien

German and Brabant organ builders introduced a great profusion of pipe

modifications into the T/estem organ. This development was dependent on

the adoption of stopping mechanisms, which appears to have occurred around

1470.^ After that date information pertinent to the history of the harmonic

series becomes more plentiful in written accounts.

This chapter investigates three categories of organ pipes; (l) long

pipes, in which partials are more easily detected because their frequencies

fall in the best range for human perception, (2) pipes adjusted to make

Michael Praetorius, Svntaema Musicum, Bk. II; De Organo.?ranhia

(Wolfenbùttel, 1619), p. 113.
^Ib id. . p. 232, and P late xxx v ii.

^Maarten Vente, "Orgel, V, Ij Geschichte . . . seit 1500," Die Musik

in Geschichte und Gegenwart. 2, col. 272.
 266

tvo individually perceptible pitches at the same time, and (3) overblown

pipes voiced to sound a partial tone instead of the fundamental. Dis­

cussion of these categories falls into two sections, the first of which

concerns the limitations that pipe scale and wind supply place on pipe

length. It will show why long pipes were not available until about the

fourteenth century and why even the long pipes of baroque organs were

less likely to emit distinctly perceptible partials than those of a

modem organ. The second section discusses two new families of pipes

that evolved about 1500: the ouintaden types whose split tones produced

the interval of a twelfth, and the overblown pipes, both open and stopped,

that skipped to the octave and the twelfth respectively.

The Development of Long Pipes

Although the exact dimensions of medieval pipework are no longer

obtainable, it is possible to estimate them from the limitations imposed

by the wind supply, and from what is known about the construction of wind-

chests and the method of manufacturing the pipes. IJhen these factors are

coupled with the instructions in numerous eleventh- and twelfth-century

tracts on pipe mensuration,^ they indicate that early organ pipes were

restricted to a rather narrow range of possibilities with regard to length.

Limitations Imposed by Pipe Scale

Until about the thirteenth century, organ makers apparently used a

single mandrel to shape all the pipes of an organ, with the result that.

^See Ghristhard Mahrenholz, Die Berechnung der Orgelnfeifen-Mensuren

(2nd ed.; Kassel, 1968), pp. 8-10,
 267

all pipes from the shortest to the longest had approximately the same

diameter.^ The treatise of Theophilus (twelfth century) instructs

builders on how to make a mandrel for organ pipes:

Deinde faciat sibi ferrum longum Then he should make a long, thick
et grossum ad mensuram qua uult iron (mandrel) of the dimensions
esse fistulas, quod sit in circuitu that he wants the pipes to be. It
rotundum, summa diligentia limatum should be round in circumference,
et politurn, in una suramitatae filed and polished with the greatest
grossius et modice attenuatum, ita care, thicker at one end and
ut possit imponi in alterum ferrum slightly flattened so that it can
curuura per quod circumducatur, be inserted into a bent iron (crank),
iuxta modum ligni in quo uoluitur like the wooden handle of a grind-
runcina, et in altera suramitate stone, by means of which it can be
gracile secumdum mensuram inferioris turned. At the other end it should
capitis fistulae, quod domo organaria be slender, corresponding in size to
debet imponi.'^ the pipe at the lower end which is
to be put into the \dnd chest.

Pipes fashioned around such a mandrel would all have a similar diameter.

This fact is reflected in Theophilus* final statement on pipe construction:

Hoc ordine omnes fistulae fiant;
mensuram uero singularum a plectro
superius secumdum magisterium
lectionis faciat, a plectro autem
inferius omnes unius mensurae et
eiusdem grossitudinis erunt.9
All the pipes should be made in this
way. He should make the size of each
pipe above the languet according to
the directions in the book, but below
the languet all the pipes should be
of one size and the same diameter

Shorter accounts by two other eleventh century writers, Aribo Scholasticus^

12
and the Anonymous of Berne, confirm that all pipes were to have the same

%bid.. p. 31.

"^Theophilus, De Diversis Artibus. ed. by C. R. Dodwell (London, 1961),

Bk. Ill, chap. Ixxxi, p. 142,
^On Divers i^ts: The Treatise of Theophilus. trans. by J. G. Hawthorne
and C. S, Smith (Chicago, 1963), pp. 158-59•
^Theophilus, De Diversis Artibus. Bk. Ill, chap. Ixxxi, p. 144.

^Qpn Divers Arts, trans. by Hawthorne and Smith, pp. I6O-6I.

"^""ktualiter insae congruenter fiant fistulae. quoted in Jean Perrot,

L*orpie, de ces origines hellénistiques à la fin du XlII^siècle (Paris,
1965), pp. 408-09.
l2Pe fistulis organicis quomodo fiant, quoted in Perrot, L'orgue, p. 408.
 268
diameter. The instructions of Theophilus suggest to some that the

pipes had a conical flare and, indeed, there is pictorial evidence that
13
some organs had tapered pipes. Cylindrical pipes are clearly indicated,

however, by the Anonymous of Berne;

Ad hanc rem propter equalem With regard to this mandril, because

latitudem omnium fistularum it must fit to the equal breadth of
aptato, pene quattuor pedibus all pipes, it is well rounded in the
long, in modum chilindri form of a cylinder and is about four
bene rotundo.^4 feet long.

One way to determine the lengths of the pipes was to follow the model

of the monochord and assume that the proportions for string lengths are

equally valid for pipes. This was the course recommended by Odo of Cluny

(ca.935)^^ and by the Anonymous of Berne (eleventh century). According to

this system, the lengths of pipes an octave apart would have the ratio

2:1, those a fifth apart 3:2, and so forth. As long as the total compass

of the pipes did not go much beyond two and one-half octaves, this method

was adequate with regard to tone quality.^^ However, some medieval

theorists realized that the proportions derived from the monochord did
not provide accurate tunings for p i p e s . A n anonymous writer of the ninth

century,Hucbald (tenth century) and Aribo Scholasticus (eleventh

^^See Perrot, l«or.?u6. plate 25, facing p. 360.

^4oe fistulis organicis. quoted in Perrot, L'orgue, p. 408.

muslca. quoted in Martin Gerbert, Scriutores ecclesiastlci de

musica (Facs. ed.; Milan, 1931), I, 303.

^^See Mahrenholz, Die Berechnung der Orgelnfeiffen-Mensuren. p. 33.

^^See ibid.. pp. 20-3.

l&Si fistulae aeaualls grossitudinis fuerlnt. quoted in Perrot,
L«orgue, pp. 413-14.
^9prima habeat octles suum diametrum. quoted in Gerbert, Scrlptores.
I, 147.
 269
20
century), and many others, recommended a formula that contained a

corrective factor. ïbqjressed in many ways, the formula reduces to

this: the longer of two pipes an octave apart has the ratio of two
2T
lengths plus one diameter to the shorter, i.e., 2L - d : IL. Such a

corrective factor would have been unnecessary for pipes with graduated

diameters. Since the diameters were the same, the addition to the

longer pipe compensated for the substantial "end correction" of the

shorter, wider-scaled pipe.

1'Jhen pipework contains only pipes of the same diameter, as suggested

by the medieval treatises, the scale ratio^changes radlcally;.with each

new octave. For example, if a pipe of A* pitch had the scale ratio of

1:5, the 2» pipe an octave higher would have the ratio of l:2^/2 and the
1* pipe a ratio of l:l^/4, indicating that the length of the latter would

be scarcely greater than its diameter. Compared to modem standards the

lowest pipe would be classed as narrow-Principal. the middle pipe as wide.

po
and the highest as very wide.^ It is for this reason that making all

the pipes with the same diameter imposed a severe limitation both on the

compass of a rank of pipes and on its general pitch level. Notker Labeo

(eleventh century) stressed the importance of selecting the right length

for the first pipe:

20
Antigua fistularum mensura quae intenditur. quoted in Gerbert,
Scrlptores. II, 222.
^Cf. Mahrenholz, Die Berechnung der Orgelofeiffen-Mensuren. p. 12,

Z^See ib id . . p. 33.

Qui fistulam metitur, in ea
evitet, quod in lira vitandum
est: quia ubi primae nimis
longae fiunt, haud sonorae
sunt, tonumque raucum efficlunt,
etiamsi alterae sint sonorae:
si vero nimium breves fiant,
infimae tonum nimis exilem
faciunt, et si primae satis
sint s o n o r a e , s u f f i c
270
In order to measure the [first] pipe,
it is necessary to avoid that which
is avoided on the lyre. If the first
[pipes] get too long, they are not
sonorous and have a raucous sound,
even though the others are sonorous,
If they get too short, the upper
[pipes] will then sound weak, even
though the first [pipes] are
i e n t l y sonorous.

He recommended a specific length for the first pipe, in units of

measurement (ells) that have become ambiguous. However, according to

8ohmidt-Gorg the probable length for this pipe is about 0,90m (almost 3*)#^

The only other figures mentioned in the treatises of this period were
25
supplied by the Anonymous of Berne, who stated that the mandrel should

be about four "feet” long and a "pigeon egg" (about 1" to 1^/4" ) in
26
diameter. After much research Mahrenholz concluded that this narrow

diameter was typical of organ pipes until the twelfth or thirteenth

27
century. Such a diameter would require starting ratios of about 1:7

at 2’ c, or 1:8 at 4' f> and would restrict the pipes to rather short

lengths. As a result, the medieval organ must have had a rather bright

sounding lower conçass and a dull, fluty upper compass. The ranks of

23iiTer die suegela meze , , , ," Latin trans. in Gerbert,

Scriutores. I, 100,

•^Joseph Schmidt-Gorg, "Sin althochdeutscher Traktat uber die

Mensur der Orgelpfeifen," in Kirchen-musikalisches Jahrbuch. (1932),
p, 56; cited in Perrot, L«orgue, p. 338,
25
De fistulis organicis. quoted in Perrot, L«orgue, p. ADSj
also see p, 314.
^^See Mahrenholz, Die Berechnung der Orgelnfeifen-Mensuren. p, 31,

^^ibid,. pp, 31-3,

 271

cathedral organs of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries typically had

28
compasses of three or four octaves. In order to obtain satisfactory
response in the extremes of the ranges and to unify the tone quality

of the chorus, it became necessary to graduate both the lengths and

diameters of the pipes. Some theorists simply recommended halving the

diameter at each octave in accordance with the laws of the monochord.

However, if both length and diameter are halved at the octave, the volume

of air in the smaller tube is only one-eighth that of the larger, and with

this procedure the smaller pipes of the organ would suffer a marked

decline in loudness. Builders, therefore, sought a progression of

diameters that would permit a wider compass of notes without causing the

smaller pipes to lose power. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries

they adopted elaborate numerical progressions for "scaling" the various

families of pipes that had been developed. To provide a narrow-scale

chorus, for example, Brabant builders determined the circumference of

pipes according to the series, 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34-, 55, 89,

144 . . . ( O + l » l j 1 + 1 = 2; 1 + 2 = 3j etc.), a summation series

introduced by the thirteenth-century mathematician, Leonardo Fibonacci
(see Table 5 ). Fibonacci’s series was convenient because it

corresponded nicely with Dutch units of measure: 144 lijnen = 1 voet

0 -1

(about one foot). If the bass pipe, 6’ F was given the proportion 1:6,

Hans Klotz, "Orgel, IV; Die Eirchenorgel bis urn 1500," Die Musik
in Geschichte und Gecenwart. X, col. 267; also see Rudolf Quoika, Vom
Blockwerk zur Registerorgel (Kassel, 1966), p. 61,
29cf. H. Avenary-Loewenstein, "The Mixture Principle in the
Mediaeval Organ," Musica Disciplina. IV, 1 (1950), 52.
2®David E. Smith, History of I-îathematics (2nd éd.; New York,
1958), I, 217.
Bouman, Nederland— Orgelland (Leyden, 1964), p. 20.
 272

TABLE 5

PROGRESSION (F PIPE SCALES BASED ON THE FIBONACCI SERIES

3J4U, 89, 55, 31, 21 . . .

Pipe lengths in Diameters Circumferences Ratios

Feet and Inches in Inches In lijnen® In Inches C:L

6 ' F (l88cm) 3.9" IIiU 12.37" 1:6

31 f 2 ,h ” 89 7.60" l:k.7
1 1/2' f 1.5" 55 U.73" 1:3.8

9” Î 0.93" 3h 2.92" 1:3.1

1 1/2" f 0.57" 21 1.80" 1:2.5

Idjnen= 1 Voet=31iimm=12.37"- Measures other than

circumferences are approximate.
 273

the circumference measured one voet. The numbers of the series gave a ratio

of about .100: 61.8 between each octave. Further justification for using

a progression of approximately 5:3 in the flue-pipe choruses was found in

the “Golden Section" (100: 61.8), an irrational proportion popularized by

Luca Pacioli's treatise De divina proportione (1509).^^ In their refine­

ment of pipe scales and progressions, sixteenth-century builders indicate

their keen sensitivity to the problems of tonal balance within each

chorus of pipes.

Limitations Li^osed by Wind Supply

The problem of scale was not the only one that kept long pipes from

appearing earlier in the history of the organ. Pipes of 3» length and

33
longer are wind-eaters. Not until the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries

could builders supply enough air to experiment with long pipes. The

cathedral organs at Salzburg (1399), Nuremberg (1478), and Reims (148?)

had Gross Principal ranks of 24’, 32', and 22', respectively,^^ but these

pipes were evidently undersupported and indistinct. Schlick was critical

of large organs:
Tff den fast grossen wercken daran
die grosst pfeiff .xx. xxiiii. oder
.XXX. schuch leng het / als dan an
vill ortten funden warden. Wellich
die alten mit grossen kostcn gemacht
haben, ist nit woll vnderschiedlich
ZÜ horen was daruff gespilt wirt
von wegen der gross vnd menge der
pfeiffen sein.35
In very large works, the biggest
pipes are 20, 24, or 30 feet long,
like those found in many places,
The ancients have built such [works]
at great cost. But it is not distinct
enough to hear what is played thereon,
because too large and too many pipes
are present,

^^Smith, History of Mathematics. I, 253.

33yiiiiam H. Barnes, The Contemporary American Organ (7th ed.; Glen
Rock, New Jersey, 1959), p. 293.
34CLotz, "Orgel, IV; Die Kirchenorgel bis um 1500," col. 270.
354mold Schlick, Spiegel der Or%elmacher und Organisten. ed. by Paul
Smets (Facs. ed.; I4ainz, 1959), chap. ii, n.p.; in modem German, p. 73.
 274
Praetorius stated that the 32» Sub-Principal Bass should be used only
with the pedal mixture:

Darumb / veil doroselben so gar , , , because this very deep tone is

tleffer Thon vnnatürlich 1st / so unnatural that when one key alone
dass wenn auch nur ein Clnvls should respond as a bass, it is heard
alleine / als ein Bass resnondiren more as a ^dndvhistle and a snorting,
sol / eo mehr ein ¥indsausen vnd than as a true, distinct, clear tone,
schnauben / als ein rechter
vemehmlicher reiner Thon zu
horen ist.3°

An informative description of the 20» Double Diapason pipes at Exeter

Cathedral as they sounded in 1675 was given by Roger Uorth;

This is heard plainer remote than near, as also louder;

and behind that and the other large doubles are placed
large octave pipes of wood to help them into their sound,
which otherwise would come on very slow, or perhaps not
at all. . . . I could not be so happy to perceive that
in the musick they signified anything at all, but thought
them made more for ostenation, than use.^*^

Extant pipework from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries indicates

that all stops of the organ were supplied with the same light wind pressure,

measuring only about two inches displacement on a column of w a t e r . F o r

comparison, Silbermann used twice this pressure in the pedal department

of his organ at Freiberg Cathedral (1714) and the bass pipes ære still
39
judged weak by modem standards. Although large cathedrals required

as much sound as possible, resistance in the mechanical key action became

excessive if higher wind pressures were attempted. Builders were forced

to voice the pipes in the most efficient manner, by placing mouths low

^%’raetorius. Syntagma Musicum. II, 127.

^^Eloger North, The Lives of the Norths (London, 1740?), I, 246.
^^■laarten Vente, Die Brabanter Orgel (Amsterdam, 1959), p. 216.
39peter Williams, The European Organ. 1450-1850'(Nashua, New
Hampshire, 1967), pp. 151-52.
 275

and by using large foot holes and narrow wind channels.^ Each chorus

of pipes, including the long bass pipes, was set in a separate reflecting

case to obtain the maximum amount of resonance,^ In spite of the in­

distinctness of the larger pipes, their presence indicates that the wind

supply must have been quite adequate to provide resonant sounding 8» and

perhaps 16» pipes. It seems probable therefore that, the fifteenth

century, partials were perceptibly present in the sounds of at least some

organ pipes.

Pipe Modifications Designed to Produce Harmonics

The many new pipe varieties that appeared during the decades before

and after 1500 can be divided into two classes, flutes and reeds. Of the

two, the flutes had the closer relation to the harmonic series, because

the reeds, especially the early varieties with short, inadequate resonators,
42
produced complex tones that tend to have inharmonic partials. The

flute class includes all flue pipes that are characterised by a lack of

upper partials; wide-scale, metal or wood, open pipes; stopped pipes

of various shapes; and overblown pipes. Most of the flute stops were

developed Rhineland and Brabant builders, who sought to incorporate as

many varied colors as possible in their large multiple-work organs. The

leading innovators were Hans von Koln (d.l540) and Peter Briesger (d.l545)
of Koblenz. Hendick Hiehoff, the principal Brabant builder, became acquainted

with the work of these German masters in 1537, when he toured Maastricht,

^Barnes, The Contemporary ilmerican Organ, pp. 14; 92-3.

^IMd,., p. 364.
42William Sumner, The Organ (2nd ed.; London, 1955), p. 65.
 276

Tongres, and Liege "in order to get to Icnow new stops in organs in those

places," He included the new flutes in his organs at the iimsterdaia

Oude Kerk (1540/154.5), which were later played by Sweelinck.^

Pipes of the Ouintaden Type

Certain flute pipes are of special interest because they bring into

audible prominence specific partials of the acoustical spectrum or because

they skip the fundamental to "overblow" a partial. The Ouintaden. and

Rohrflote stops produced detectable partial tones. The Schweizerpfeife

and Querflote were overblown pipes.

The Ouintaden is a closed, cylindrical pipe made of metal, with a

narrower scale than the ordinary closed-pipe chorus (Gedackt chorus). As

a closed pipe, it produces only odd-numbered partials and can be adjusted

so that both the prime pitch and the twelfth are distinctly heard.

According to îlade, the earliest appearance of the Ouintaden was in 1510

at Rothenburg in southern Germany,^ Schlick, however, did not mention

this kind of pipe in his Snieprel der Orgeltnacher (1511), but soon there­

after it appeared at Kampen (1524.), Harderwijk (1530), Koblenz (1534-),

and Treves (1537).^^

The descriptive name Ouintaden evidently dates back to the inception

of the stop. Praetorius observed;

^^Vente, Die Brabanter Orgel. p. 207.

^^Emst Plade, "Literarische Zeugnisse zur Qnpfindung der Farbe

and Farbigkeit bel der Orgel . . . ca. 1500-1620," Acta Kusicologica.
X m i l (October, 1956), 182, n.l9.

^ ^ en te. Die Brabanter Orgel. pp. 4-7-52.


Vnd 1st eine llebliche Stimne (von
etlichen Holschelle genennet) dorinnen
zweene vnterschiedliche Laut / als die
-Quinta, ut, sol, im Gehor zu vemehnien
sein; Daher sie anfanglich Quinta ad
u m genennet worden.^°
277
... it is a pleasing voice (that
some call Holschelle) in which
distinct tones, as the fifth ut,
sol, can be perceived in the ear;
for that reason, it was
originally named Quinta ad una.

The reference to the fifth (Quinta) rather than the twelfth was probably not

an error, but merely a customary reduction. In 1767, Adlung m s careful to

point out that this stop contains not the quint 3:2, but rather the quint 3:lf^

The sound of this stop was apparently well liked. Praetorius listed

Ouintaden stops of l6', 8’, and 4' pitch, showing that they were used in

all divisions of the organ. He remarked that because they are closed

pipes, they sound an octave lower than open pipes of the same length.^
In his Plate xxxvii, Praetorius gave illustrations of 16' and 8' Ouintaden

pipes (nos.6 & 7) and showed a Hachthom 4* (no.8) that is similar in

shape (see ligure 40). He explained that one variety of Hachthom is

stopped like a small Ouintaden. It has a somewhat wider scale, however:

. . . vnd daher / (weil sie aus . . . and therefore is called

solcher erweiterung einen Nachthom (because it obtains a
Homklang bekompt / vnd die hom-like sound from such
Quinta etwas stillen darinnen widening, and the fifth is some-
wlrid) Nachthom geheissen.^9 what hushed within).
Mersenne did not describe the Ouintaden by name, but remarked that

closed pipes, such as the soft flutes, often make two pitches at the same
50
time, that are a twelfth apart.

^^raetorius. Syntagma Musicum, II, 137.

^^Jacob Adlung, Musica Mechanica Organoedi (Berlin, 1768), I, 131.
^Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum. II, 137.
^9lbid.. p. 138.
^^■larin Mersenne. Harmonie u n iv erselle. "Traite des instrumens"
(Paris, 1636), Bk. VI, prop, x l i i , p. 396.
 278

>i
X ;cN
X
X

CO 5?

w to

I
fi

a
00 Mi

Figure liO. Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum - Ulustrationa

of organ pipes
 279
The Rohrflote or Flûte à Cheminée is a vjide-scale, metal flute topped

by a cap with an open chimney extending through it. Sometimes described

51
as “half-stopped,” it produces a much brighter tone than a fully

stopped pipe. The acoustical spectrum of the Rohrflote is determined to

some extent by the size of the chimney because it acts as a secondary

resonator.52 Although Schlick did not discuss the Rohrflote in his treatise,

Johann von Koblenz (d.l532) included it, under the name Plolflulte 8*, in
CO
an organ at AUcmaar (Grote Kerk) in 1511. Peter Briesger used it in

both the Hauptwerk and the Rückposltiv at Treves Cathedral in 1537.^^

This stop became popular in France, as well as in Germany and the Low
55
Countries.

It is difficult to judge the size and effect of the chimney from the

illustrations given by Praetorius^^ and Mersenne.^*^ According to

Praetorius, some makers allowed half of the chimney to extend inside the

pipe, while others extended it entirely within,Apparently the

5^Christhard Mahrenlaolz, Die Orgel Register. Ihre Geschichte und ihr

Bau (2nd ed.j Kassel, 1942), p. 114.
52Ibid.. pp. 111-12; also see Hermann Helmholtz, On the Sensations
of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music, trans. by
Alexander J. Ellis (2nd ed.; Hew York, 1954), p. 94.
5^Bouman, Nederland— Cr.?elland. p. 42.

5^ans Klotz, Das Buch von der Orgel (4th ed.; Kassel, 1953), p. 112.
5%illiams, The European Orpran. pp. 288-89.

5^raetorius, S-’
/ntamna Musician. II, Plate xxxviii.

5’^Mersenne, "Traité des instrumens," Bk. VI, prop, i, p. 310.

5^raetorius, Svntaema Musicum. II, 141.

 280
dimensions were determined by the judgement of individual builders.

Praetorius was, however, very informative in his verbal descriptions of

the tone quality. Concerning the Grosso Rohrflolt 16', he noted that

it combined well with the large Gedackt pipe-work because;

• • • dass sie lautter vnd reiner
klingt / welt bosser / denn die
ganz Gedacte Art / veil sie noch
eine feine welklingende Quintan
dameben mit horen lessot.GO
...it sounds louder and clearer than
the entirely stopped kind, since it
allows, in addition, a fine, woll-
sounding fifth to be heard vdth it
at the same time.

The prominent third harmonic may have been characteristic of the 8', 4',

and 2' stops as well, because he made this comment about the smallest one,
the Bauer Rohrfloitleln 1';

Diss Stimmlein ist von etlichen /
weils eine helle Quint in sich
hat / vnnd horen lest / Rohrschell
/ Aber wenn seine Eigenschafft wol
betrachtet wird / nicht recht
genennet worden.°^
Some people call this small voice
Rohrschell. because it contains a
clear fifth within it and allows
it to be heard, but incorrectly if
its quality is carefully observed,

Mersenne did not comment on the presence of partials in specific

stops, although he listed several Flutes a cheminée in the Harmonie

universelle. These include the Fleute d'Allemanda à cheminée and 2*,

the Fluste bouché à cheminée 2' (same as the previous?), and the Hazard a

cheminée 5^/3’, 2^/3' and 1 ^ / 3 * He indicated that the Hazards could

be closed, with chimney, or with a spindle ( Spillflote).

^^See Adlung, Musica Mechanica Organoedi. I, 68,

^Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum. II, I4I.

%bid.

^%ersenne, "Traité des Instrumens," Bk, 71, prop, i i i , p . 317;

prop, xxxl, pp. 369- 71.
 281
Evidently, French malcers varied the size of the chimney greatly.

In one discussion, Mersenne recommended that the circumference of the

chimney be one fourth that of the pipe, and the length of the chimney

twice its circumference.^^ In the description of the Fleute

4', his dimensions suggest that the circumference of the chimney would

be one half that of the pipe, and that the length of the chimney would

be double that of the pipe.^^ This results in a scale of l : 2 ^ / 2 for the

pipe and 1:5 for the chimney. Today a pipe of such wide scale and long
65
chimney would be called a Rohrgedackt. Mersenne concluded that his

prescribed proportions are not so indispensable that they cannot be

66
changed "in a thousand manners."

^^Ibid.. prop, vii, p. 323.

^%bid.. prop. xxxL, p. 369.

^%olfgang Melung, Einfuhrung in den Orgelbau (Leipzig, 1955), p. 77.

^^rsenne, "Traite dès instrumens," Bk. VI, prop, vii, p. 323.

 232

Overblown Pipes

Pipes are said to be “harmonic" or “overblovm" if they sound a

partial other than the fundamental. Flue pipes of all shapes can bo used

as harmonic pipes. Because of their acoustical properties, open pipes

skip first to the octave and closed pipes skip to the twelfth. The term

overblow is a traditional expression that does not necessarily denote an

increase in wind pressure. The skipping effect can be induced adjusting

the mouth of the pipe and by modification of the scale. In general,

narrow-scale pipes have a greater tendency to overblow than those of

wide scale.

Although one may question whether musicians could have detected partial

tones in the complex sounds of organ pipes before certain acoustical

conditions were met, it seems very probable that the overblowing tendencies

of flue pipes were Icnown to the earliest pipe makers. However, they may

have viewed these tendencies as accidents or defects in the adjustment of

the pipes, ‘When the overblowing effect was exploited for musical purposes,

there can be no doubt that builders had acquired at least a rudimentary

understanding of the acoustics of pipes. According to lîahrenholz, overblown

pipes were used by Caspar Goler on an organ he built in Dresden in 1439.^

In 1502 Burkhard Dinstlinger included a stop of harmonic pipes,

Schweizerpfelffen A', in an organ at Freiberg in Saxony. The

Schweizerpfelfe is a cylindrical flue pipe of very narrow scale, usually

^"4jilmer I, Bartholomew, Acoustics of Music (New York, 1943), pp. 114.-15.

^dahrenholz. Die Orgel Reprister. p. 57.

^^Adelung, Einfiihrung in den Orgelbau. p. 159.

 233

made of metal. As open pipes they overblow the octave and must be made

twice as long as the desired speaking length. Praetorius related that

the name was given to this stop by the Netherlanders because the long

narrow pipes resemble a "Swiss pipe." He observed correctly that the

narrow scale gives this stop a tone quality almost like a viol, but

although he noticed that the pipes are slow in speaking, he did not

attribute this to the fact that they are overblown. Praetorius concluded

that their lack of general use was due to the difficulty of achieving
70
good intonation. Ho ended his discussion of the Schweizerpfeife with

a puzzling remark:

Es findet sich auch noch eine Still another kind of Schweizemfelffen

andere Art von Schweitzerpfeiffen /
welche recht vff nraestanten oder
Principal Mensur gerichtet / oben
aber gedackt sein; Vnd vngeachtet
sie sich dahero notwendig vberblasen
mussen / so fallen sie doch in
rechtem Thon / gleich / als wenne
sie offen / vnd gar nicht gedackt
waren.*^^
Since a stopped pipe overblows the twelfth, rather than the octave, this
is found, which conforms exactly to
open Fraestant or Principal measure.
but is closed; and in spite of the
fact that they must necessarily
overblow, they fall, nevertheless,
into proper pitch, the same as if they
were open and indeed not stopped,

statement presents a dilemma. The only explanation that is at all plausible

depends on the factor of pipe scale. If Praetorius was comparing a wider-

scale, stopped variety overblowing the twelfth with the more ordinary

narrow-scale, open Schweizerpfeife overblo^d.ng the octave, the matter of

"end correction" would tend to equalize their real lengths, while the pitch

characteristics he described could be accounted for by their "effective

lengths.

70praetorius, Syntagma Musicum. II, 123.

71lbid.. p. 129.
7%f. Mahrenholz, Die Orpcel Register, p. 59.
 284

The Quorflote (transverse flute) is similar in type to the

Sch^jelaerpfelfe. except that its scale is, slightly larger. The essential

difference is the tone quality produced. As the name suggests, the

QucrflSte was dosianed to imitate the sound of the transverse flute, not

the richer string-lilce tone of many narrovr-scale pipes.Early makers

experimented with both open and closed versions of this overblown stop,

as they did with the Schweizemfeife. but in this case they seemed to

prefer the Gedackt fom."^^ Peter Breisger placed a Querflote 4' in the
Ruckpositiv at Treves Cathedral in 1537.*^^

Praetorius suggested that the QuerflSte was a modification of the

Quintaden. He attributed the fluty quality of this stop to the fact that

these pipes do not sound their "voluntary, natural intonation" but instead

they "skip" (ubersetzen oder u b e r g a l l e n ) Realizing that these pipes

must be about one and a half times longer than a normally voiced open

pipe of similar scale, he offered this explanation;

¥enn das c/ 4. Fuss Thon seinen Klang
horen lest / so ist desselben Corpus
an der lenge so lang / dass / ob es
zwar wegen seiner lenge auff 12. Puss
respondiren solte vnd kbndte / so
intoniret doch in denselben nur allein
die Quinta, die vom vbersetzen oder
vbergallen herruhret; ¥ie denn auch
solch Corpus wegen der vnnatürlichen
lenge gegen der enge / anders nicht
als Quinten kan.'7
T'ihen the c 4'-pitch of its sound
is heard, the same body is as long
as if it could and should respond
in accordance with its length of
12 feet; yet only the fifth, which
originates from skipping, is intoned
in the same, for the reason that
such a body, because of its un-
natural length as opposed to its
narrowness, can produce nothing
but the fifth,

7^Ibid.. p. 73.

"^^Praetorius, Syntagma Kusicum. II, 138.

"^%lotz. Das Buch von der Orgel, p. 112.

^^Praetorius, Syntagma I'fusicum. II, 138.

7?Ibid.
 285

Praetorius discussed an open Querflote that could be made of wood

or metal. Being an open tube variety, it was evidently voiced to overblow

the octave:

Denn es ist naturlicher / dass es For it is more natural that it

sich in der Octava vbersetzet / als skip to the octave, than that it
dass es noch weiter sich vbersetzen should skip further and pass more
vnd femer in die Quint fallen solte. distantly to the fifth.

The scale drawing of the Offen Querflolt 4' in Praetorius' Plate xxxvii

(see Figure ) indicates that the pipe is about eight feet long from

mouth to end.

In his section on pipes tdLth a conical taper, Praetorius listed four

79
basic variations: Gemshom. Plockfolt. Spitzfloit. and Flachflolt.

The ordinary Plockfloit (Plate xxxvii, no. 12) was similar in scale to

the Gemshom. but more like the Snltzfloit in mouth formation and taper.

The top opening was not as small (zugesnltzet) as the Snitzfloit. and

therefore it resembled a recorder in quality. Although Praetorius did

not speak of overblowing as being common in conical pipes, he indicated

that builders experimented with a harmonic version of the Plockfloit;

Etliche arbeiten die Plockfloiten fast
vff Querflbiten Art / also / dass das
Comus noch eins so lang wird / als
sonsten die rechte Mensur mit sich
bringt / obon zugedackt / vnd daher
sich in der Octay vbersetzen vnd
vberblasen imiss.^
Some make the Plockfloiten almost
of the QuerflSlten type, such
that the body is once again as
long as is otherwise the proper
measure when closed at the top,
and therefore it must skip and
overblow to the octave.

Mersenno did not list any overblovni stops, although he understood

the principles involved:

'^^Ibld.. p. 139.
79lbid.. pp. 133-36.
^Ibid.. p. 135.
 286

Lors que le tuyau bouché fait ses lihon the closed pipe emits two
deux sons en mosrae temps, il confond sounds at the same time, it confuses
6 meslo ensemble ce que les autres and mixes together what ether
tuyaux bouchez distinguent; car si closed pipes single out; for if a
l’on donne le vent plus fort à l’vn stronger idnd is given to one of
de ces tuyaux, il quitte son ton these pipes, it abandons its
naturel, 6 monte à la Douziesme, natural sound and rises to the
comme i’ay fait remarquer à plusieurs: twelfth; as I have pointed out to
au lieu que les tuyaux quuerts many: open pipes rise, instead,
montent a l'Octaue, to the octave, . . ,

If one adds the possibility of overblown conical pipes and of open pipes

voiced to sound the twelfth, this statement makes a good summary of the

knowledge that builders had been applying for over one hundred years.

**************************************

It is difficult to imagine what the sound of ancient and medieval

organs was like. The hydraulis of Roman times was described by Cicero
82
as having a "sensation delectable to the ears." One must assume from

what is known of these early instruments and of medieval organs that at

least their lower pipes produced a basic Diapason quality. However,

because pipe scales and wind supply limited the use of long pipes, it is

questionable whether an orderly pattern of overtones could have been

detected in the sounds of these organs. If overtones had been detected,

one would expect to find references to this unusual curiosity in the

tracts on pipe mensuration, ^ the fourteenth century, the introduction

of longer greatly improved the chances of perceiving overtones. The

wind pressure supplied these pipes was so light, however, that the opportunity

to detect partials may still not have been available to musicians.

^%ersenne, "Traité des instrumens," Bk. VI, corollary i , p. 397.

^^Cicero Tusculanae Dlsoutationes 3* 43j cited in ^filli Apel, "Early

History of the Organ," Sneculum. XEII (1948;, 196,
 287
The development of stops like the Qulntaden leaves no question

about the awareness of partials* Tlie date when musicians began to

exploit these stops can be conservatively set at 1500, for this was

about the time that the invention of register mechanisms enabled builders

to add colorful solo stops to the Diapason chorus. The use of overblown

pipes also shows that at least the first few skips of the harmonic

series were known. All of this information probably added little to

the knowledge already provided by the skips of the trumpet and other

overblown wind instruments. Nonetheless, for imitative solo stops such

as the Comet. the organ builders* knowledge of skips may well have pro­

vided the organizing principle.

 CHAPTER VII

THE OBSERVATION AND MANIPDLATION OF PARTIALS

IN THE G014PLEI SOUNDS OF BELLS

The large tulip-shaped bells that evolved in Europe about the

fourteenth century play an interesting and significant role in the eventual

recognition of the harmonic series. First used for tolling and later for

playing music in carillons, these "church bells,” as they are commonly

called, produce a prominent strike tone accon^anied by a number of dis­

tinctly identifiable partial tones in a composite "hum” that continues

after the strike tone dies away. Although most forms of bells produce an

acoustical spectrum that is "inharmonic,” many of the tulip-shaped bells

of Western Europe were deliberately tuned to cause their more prominent

partial tones to stand in consonant relation with each other. It appears

that the observation of these consonant partials provided the impetus that

led seventeenth-century scientists to search for similar partials in the

sounds of strings and other sonorous vibrators.

The purpose of this chapter is to determine idien bell founders began

the deliberate manipulation of partial tones in bells for better tonal

effect in "peals" and in carillons, and to discover the formula they followed

for tuning the partials. The first section presents an overview of the

acoustical properties of tuned bells, and the second reviews their

historical development. Mersenne's remarks about the partial tones of bells

Mill be considered in Chapter VIII.

2S8
 289
Acoustical Properties of Bells

The bell founder has great leeway in determining the design of a tell

and, as a result, can markedly alter its acoustical properties. Unlike

strings and pipes, bells have no natural prototype. Nevertheless, a process

of empirical selection led founders to the distinctive tulip shape that

is now standard for "church bells" because of the prominent strike tone

and "ringing" resonance it provides. The partial tones of these bells are

produced by a confiez pattern of vibrations determined by the profile and

dimensions of the shell, the density of the metal, and the method of setting

the bell in vibration. Tulip-shaped or "Gothic form" bells are distinguished

by their flat crown, squared shoulders, gradually flaring waist, thick

sound bow, and thin lip or rim.

Acoustically, a bell may be regarded as a modified hollow hemisphere

that, \dien struck, has nodal lines of latitude and longitude set up on it.^

These nodal lines are also described as nodal circles and nodal meridians.

The nodal circles in the region of the lip have four intersecting meridians,
2
while those near the crown have twenty or more. Tests indicate that a
250-pound bell, sounding e", produces sixty-eight partial tones in the
3
frequency range from its hum tone to 13,000 cps. The waxing and waning

of various partial tones during the period of vibration is apparently

^E. G. Richardson, Technical Aspects of Sound. Vol. I: Sonic Range

and Airboume Sound (Amsterdam, 1953/, p. 475.

% . Grutzmacher, "Le spectre d*un son de cloche," in Acoustique

musicale, ed. by François Canac (Paris, 1959), pp. 240-41.

^Nilmer T. Bartholomew, Acoustics o f Music (New York, 1952), p . 136.

 290

caused ty a redistribution of energy among the modes of vibration after

the impact of the clapper.^

The frequencies of the modes of vibration are primarily determined by

the profile of the waist and the thickness of the vails. In tuned bells

the profile is carefully designed to provide nodal circles of appropriate

sizes and the vails are graded so they are three times as thick at the

sound bov as at the crovn.^ If the walls were uniform in thickness, the

modes of vibration would be inharmonic; therefore, as Richardson puts it,

"one of the objects of the bell-founder in varying this thickness is to

force the partial tones into an artificial harmonic series,"^ The task of

designing and casting an accurately tuned bell is not easy because small

deviations in the profile cause large differences in the frequencies of

partials.^ Even bells that are considered to have a good, ringing sound can

vary greatly in their spectra of partials. In the 1880» s. Lord Rayleigh

examined five bells in the church at Terling and used resonators to determine

their sjost ir^ortant partial tones, which he recorded in staff notation

(see figure 41) • The notation is only an approximation of the pitches of

the partial tones but it shows to some extent the inharmonic relationships

in a typical "peal" of bells. A set such as this is called a "maiden peal"

%arry F. Olson, Music. Physics, and Ensdneerlng (2nd ed.; New York,
1967), p. 229.
^Siegraund Levarie and Ernst Levy, Tone, a Study in Musical Acoustics
(Kent State University Press, 1968), pp. 158-59.
%tichardson. Technical Aspects of Sound. I, 475.

W d . . p. A78.
 291

Makers : Osborne Mears Graye Gardner Warner

Dates : 1783 1810 1623 ■ 1723 .1863

---z=r
-j ---- ^ --
-- ------- ----
I o o
-- %r^----

Figure lil. Partial tones of bells at Terling^

Sources: Rayleigh, The Theory of Sound, I, 393j

Lloyd, The Musical Ear, 26-7»

^The "White notes indicate strike tones.

 292
because the bells are "cast in tune" and hung "without further scraping,
g
grinding, or turning.

Even a carillon bell, which has its partials tuned through careful

turning on a lathe, has an acoustical spectrum different from the harmonic

series of strings and air columns. The first five partials are so dis­

tinctive and their tuning is so important that they have been assigned

standard names. According to the English system the names from low to high

are as follows: hum tone, fundamental, tierce, quint, and nominal (see

Figure 42 ).^ The Germans adopted.a slightly different nomenclature:

Grundton or Unteroktav. Prtmton. Ter2. Quint, and Ok"bav.^^ All of these

partials correspond with the harmonic series except the tierce. This is a

tenth above the lowest tone and is a minor third that rings out clearly,

soon after the bell is struck. Although its frequency is not an aliquot

fraction of the lowest partial, the tierce is the most prominent of the

sounds resulting from "the vibration of the bell itself. Some "pealing"
bells do produce a major third instead of the minor third, but they tend

to sound harsh and tinny. If the other partial tones are tuned to stand

in consonant relation, the third must be minor.^ The spectra of English

and American pealing bells illustrate the inharmonic relations of other

partials when the third is major (see Figure 43)•

¥. Starmer, "Bells and Bell Tones," Proceedings of the tîusical

Association. Twenty-Eighth Session (1901-1902), p. 44-.
^Llewelyn S. Lloyd, The Musical Ear (London, 1940), p. 28.

^®Piet Visser, "Glockenspiel," Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.

V, col. 293.

^Arthur L. Bigelow, Carillon (Princeton, 1948), p. 45.

 293

Nominal (or Octave)

V- 6) Quint
^a Tierce
Fundamental (or Prime)
Strike Tone
Hum Tone

Figure 1)2. Bell partials that are commonly tuned

Octave
Sixth
Major Third
\?<o--- Strike Tone
Prime
Hum Tone

Octave
Fifth
T- Third
Prime
Strike Tone
7 Hum Tone

Figure 1)3. Partials of pealing bells, (a) an American bell

and (b) a British bell

Source: Bigelow, Carillon, 9l-3.

 294
In addition to partial tones, bells with sound bows produce a dis­

tinctive strike tone. Oddly enough, the strike tone, which is heard as the

identifying pitch of the bell, does not appear to result from a real

frequency. Many acousticians regard it as a pitch "subjectively" supplied

by the ear.^ The strike tone sounds an octave below the fifth partial or

nominal, as one can see in the spectra of the Terling bells. In accurately

tuned bells the strike tone sounds in unison with the second partial, which

is designated fundamental or prime tone. The effect of the strike tone

13
diminishes if the extra thickness of the sound bow is removed. The sounds
of resonant bells are thus a strange mixture of the "subjective" strike

tone, lAich is perceived as the actual pitch of the bell, the upper partials,

of ^Aich the minor third is by far the most prominent, and the lowest pitch,

the hum tone, ^6ich is not especially noticeable until the other sounds

have died away.

In very large bells, partials higher than the basic five are clearly

audible. The finest bell founders have attempted to tune some of these

higher partials so that at least the major third, perfect fifth,and perfect

octave above the nominal are present There is disagreement about both

the order and the ideal pitches for the higher partials. Arthur T. Jones

found that the eighth, ninth, and tenth partials of a good bell closely

approximate the major sixth, major seventh, and perfect octave of the nominal

l^S ee Richardson, Technical Asnects of Sound. I , 478-80.

^Lloyd, The Musical Ear, pp. 44-5.

^4lbid.. p. 41.
 295
(see Figure 44 ). According to his pattern the ideal ratios for the partial

tones would form, this series: 1:1, 2:1, 2.4:1, 3:1, 4:1, 5:1, 6:1, 6,6:1,

7.5:1, 8:1. Piet Visser included a perfect fourth and a "natural" seventh

above the nominal (Oktav) providing a series that follows this order:

1:1, 2:1, 2.4:1, 3:1, 4:1, 5:1, 5*3:1, 6:1, 7:1, 8:1 (see Figure 45 ).
Since both writers agree that there are ten partials within the three-

octave span, at least two partials must stand outside of the harmonic series.
The tuning of the higher partials can be accomplished only the most

skillful artisans. Although the technique was perfected by the Hemony

brothers during the seventeenth century, it was not until the late nine­

teenth century that founders, with the aid of modem precision machinery

and technology, made the accurate tuning of bells a standard procedure

Tuning is not the only factor necessary for producing bells with a good

ringing sound. The density of the bell metal has a direct effect on the

sound because a bell is.a modified form of vibrating plate. The denser the

bell metal used, the lower the pitch and the more resonant the s o u n d . A

bell that has an inharmonic complement of partials but that is made of a

good alloy of tin and copper (bronze) can give forth a more resounding
17
"ring" than one that is well-tuned but made of an inferior alloy.

Another factor that affects tone quality is the method of activating

bells, but this factor is complicated to some extent by problems of design.

In the Low Countries the bells of carillons are "hung dead" and are

activated either by hammers or by pulling the clappers. Such stationary

^^starmer, "Bells and B e ll Tones," p . 35.

^^Charles A. Culver, Musical Acoustics (4th ed.; New York, 1956),
p. 244; also see Olson, Music. Physics, and Engineering, p, 176.
^"^Starmer, "Bolls and Bell Tones," p. 31.
 296

8 :1
7.S:1
6.6:1
6 :1
T :1
il :1
3 :1
*T 2 .i|:l
2 ;1
1 :1

Figure i*ii. Jones: Ten partials of tuned bells

Based on A, T. Jones, "The Vibration of Bells," Physical Review,

XXXI (June, 1928), 109$.

8 :1 2nd Octave
7 :1
6 :1 Twelfth
$.3:1 Eleventh
$ :1 Tenth
ij :1 Nominal
3 :1 Quint
2 . li:l Tierce
2 :1 Fundamental
1 :1 Hum Tone — Strike Tone

Figure ii$. Visser: Ten partials of tuned bells

Source: Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, V (19$6), col. 292.
 297

bells can be designed for optimum tone quality. The English "change-

rlngers" prefer to mount bells on a swivel so that they may be activated

by a freely swinging clapper and thereby gain the maximum amount of

volume from the bell. This is the principle for all tolling bells. The

drawback of this method is that to obtain good balance, the waists.of

larger bells must be shortened considerably at the expense of the consonant

18
relationship of the partials. Regardless of the method used, the best

results are obtained if the bell is struck directly on the sound bow. If

it is struck in an unusual place, (e,g,, higher on the sides) the energy

19 Due to the interaction
is redistributed in favor of the upper partials.

of all of these factors, many centuries of experimentation were required

before large, "ringing" bells could be developed. It was not until the

musical requirements of carillons caused bell founders to turn their attention

to the partial tones that modifications in design were Introduced to obtain

truly haimonious sounding bells.

The History of Bells with Tuned Partial Tones

The history of bells goes back to the earliest stages of metal work.

Artistically crafted bells, dating thousands of years before the Christian

Era, have been found in China, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, Artisans must

have discovered:.at an early date that cups and bowls made of bronze can

produce an attractive sound, llhen tin is added to copper, the bronze

alloy is denser than either of the softer metals, and the compound makes

^%igelow. Carillon, pp, 51-2,

^^Lloyd, The Musical Ear, p, 43j Richardson, Technical Aspects of
Sound. I, 479.
 298

an ideal sonorous vibrator. In fact, modem bell metal differs little

from the alloy used in some ancient Egyptian bells, i.e., copper 82.4^,

tin 16.4^, lead 1.2^. Medieval accounts likewise prescribed a mixture

21
of about 80^ copper and 20^ tin.

%ile most ancient bells were quite small and some were merely bent
22
into shape from flat plates, the difficult art of casting bells was

apparently well advanced in China about the fourteenth century B.G.^^

Althou^ many of the details of Chinese bell founding have been lost, it

is believed that bells were tuned ty scraping, 8y the time of the Chou

period (1630-221 B.C.) the Chinese produced bells that could be more

accurately tuned than ringing stones. Sets of standard bells tuned to the

twelve lu were apparently used to give the starting pitch for musical

performances.^ An interesting comment on early bell tuning was written

by a musical scholar, Tshai Yung (A.D. 133-192):

In determining the pitch of bells in antiquity they

levelled off their notes by ear. After that when they
could go no further they availed themselves of numbers and
thereby made their measurements correct. If the figures
for the measurements are correct, the notes will also be
correct.25

2*^Hans Hickmann, "docken; Altertum und aussereuropaische," Die Musik

in Geschichte und Gegenwart. T, col, 275»
2T_
J. Smits van 'Waesberghe, Cvmbala. Vol.I of Studies and Documents
(Home, 1951), p. 17.
^Ernest Momis, Tintinnabula (London, 1959), pp. 21; 50.

25joseph Needham, et al. Science and Civilization in China. Vol. IV,

part 1: Physics (Cambridge, 1962), p. 195 n.

^Ibid.. pp. 169-71.

25Yueh Ling Chang Chu (Commentary on the Monthly Ordinances), trans.

in Needham, Science and Civilization in China. IV, 1, p. 183.
 299
It appears doubtful that any effort was made to tune the partial tones

of bells, although Heedham thinks they "listened very intently to the

26
harmonics produced by bells," The description of bell sounds in the

Chou Li, upon lAlch he based his opinion, recognizes that different parts

of a bell produce different sounds, but the metaphorical phrases seem

more concerned vith timbre than pitch:

The sound (produced in) the upper part (of the bell) is rumbling.

The sound (produced in) the straight part (of the bell) is slow.

The sound (produced in) the lower part (of the boll) is spreading.

The sound (produced by) the parts idiich curve outward is scattered.

The sound (produced ly) the parts which curve Inward is hoarded.

The big sound (produced by) a part \Mch is somevôiat too big is
exaggerated.

The sound (produced by) a part -pAich is somexdiat too rnnmn is

dark (incomplete).

The sound (produced ty a bell of?) oval (shape) is ample and full.

The sound (produced from) an open (mouth or brim) is t s è (meaning:

sudden or hurried?)«

The sound (produced from) a closed (mouth or brim) is choked.

The sound (produced by) thin (walls) is a staccato shaking.

The sound (produced by) thick (walls) is (like) stone,^

"When one considers that the largest of the Chinese tuned bells did not

exceed a hei^t of about two feet it seems improbable that more than the

prime pitch was tuned,

^%eedham. Science and Civilization in China. IV, 1, p. 199.

^"^Chou Li (Record of the Institutions of the Chou Dynasty), chap. 6,
p. 16b, trans, ^ E, Biot; quoted in Needham, Science and Civilization
in China. IV, 1, pp, 197-98,
 300

Oriental bells evolved along different lines than those of the

Middle East and Europe. The Chinese preferred bovl- and barrel-shaped

bells rather than the "ringing" cup-^aped bells that were popular in the

¥est. The bowl-shaped bells had sounds similar to gongs and, like gongs,

were struck from the outside with beaters. The barrel-shaped bells,

which were sometimes of considerable size, were struck with wooden rams

instead of clappers. Their cross section was usually quadrangular, and

their sound was an indefinite clang with a minimal strike tone. Ten

huge barrel-shaped bells were cast in Peking and Nanking around A.D.I400
for ceremonial use.^^ According to the Grassineau Dictionary (17A0),

Father Le Comte found the sound of even the largest of these bells to be
"very poor."^®

The small bells that evolved ..in the Middle East, Egypt, Greece, and

Rome generally were shaped like half of an eggshell and activated by a

small iron tongue or clapper. Although bells of this shape can make a

pleasant sound, they were not intended for musical purposes but served
31
ceremonial as well as utilitarian ends. The Latin word for bells.

Tintinnabula, derived from tintinno (to ring, jingle, tinkle) suggests the

kind of sound these bells produced.

The connection between the Roman Tintinnabula and the church bells of

the Middle Ages is uncertain, for the art of bell founding apparently

^^Bigelow, Carillon, pp. 26-7.

29christhard Mahrenholz, "Glockenj Abendland: Mittelalter und Neuzeit,"

Die Musik in Geschichte und Geeremvart. V, col. 279.
2®James Grassineau, A Musical Dictionary (London, 1740), p. 11.
• 31See Morris, Tintinnabula, p. 17.
^%igelow. Carillon, p. 28.
 301

waned along with the influence of the Bnpire. The oldest bells of

Western Europe were shaped like cow bells with rectangular mouths and

were made of iron plates riveted together and brazed. Irish hand bells

of this variety date from the sixth century, and missionaries from

Ireland introduced their use throughout Northern E u r o p e . S u c h bells

cannot be classed as "ringing" bells, although the brazing process did

increase their sonority.

During the seventh and eighth centuries, bell founding began to

flourish in France and Germany.^^ There is ample evidence that the use of

tolling bells was widespread by the ninth century.^^ A bell tower is known

to have existed at Treves around 857. According to the ninth-century

Chronicler Ingulphus, the Abbot of Crowland Monastery donated seven bells

including a great bell called Guthlac, "which was tuned to the other bells,

and produced an...admirable harmony, not to be equalled in England.*^ While

the interest in casting larger bells caused the founders of this period

to experiment with design, the most primitive shape, the half eggshell,

was still used for a bell at the Cathedral of Sienna, dated 1159.^*^

Notwithstanding a nearly two-foot diameter, its shell has the same thickness

throughout. An ornamental ring near the lip, perhaps intended to rein­

force the sides, is the only suggestion of a sound bow.

33van Waesberghe, Cvmbala. p. 16.

34ibld.. p. 17.
35ibid.. pp. 15-6.
36i«rancis W. Galpin, Old English Instruments of Music (4th ed.;
London, 1965), p. 191.
^^Bigelow, Carillon, pp. 32-3.
 302

A shape more suited for tolling bells had already been developed

around the tenth century. Because of its rounded crown and rather strai^t

sides it is called the beehive shape (see Figure 4-6 ). Its major

advance, in terms of a ringing sound, was a flared lip with a substantial

sound bow. The addition of this thick ring,set slightly above the rim of

the bell, greatly strengthened the strike tone, however, the uniformly

thick walls and cylindrical shape of the beehive bell gave it a strident

sound. In an eleventh-century example from Thuringen, V-shaped holes cut

39
near the crown heighten the shrillness of the sound. Another example

from the same century, the Lullus bell at Hersfeld, has a diameter of about

three feet, but it is said to have a clanking tone because of the cylindrical

sides.^ Since Theophilus (twelfth century) described the technical details

of bell founding in this period,^ the beehive bells are sometimes called

Theophilus bells.

By the thirteenth century, founders discovered that lengthening the

waist and giving it a slight flare increased the ringing quality of the bell.

One variety that had these features is called the tapering hat or

Zuckerhut shape. Its narrow shoulders cause the tonal spectrum to be quite

inharmonic, but its enlarged sound bow provides a distinct strike tone.^

^^ahrenholz, "Glocken; Abendland," cols. 280-81.

^^Ibid.. col. 281.

^Van Waesberghe, Cvmbala. p. 23.

^Theophilus, De Diversls Artibus. ed. by 0. R. Dodwell (London,
1961), BK. Ill, chap. Ixxxv, pp. 150-58.

^%ahrenholz, "dooken; Abendland," col. 284.

 303

ii

i-^

ïlgure 1(6. Shapes of church hells; (a) half eggshell, (b) beehive,
(c) Zuckerhut, and (d) tulip
 304.
Tolling bells of this shape are still popular in some Germanic countries.

The Bell of FontenaiUes in Normandy, v h lc h is dated 1202, illustrates a

more pot-like shape.^ The spectrum of partials for bells of this shape

is similar to those of the untuned tolling bells of more recent times

(see Figure 47 ).

Bells began to take on characteristic shapes according to the various

national preferences, but the quest for a prominent strike tone was common

to all founders.^ Large bells with distinct strike tones could be tuned

to form a set, like their smaller cousins the handbells that have been

popular since the eighth century. Although the harmoniousness or purity of

large bells was a matter of trial and error, founders had known how to tune

the principal tone for many centuries. Theophilus, for example, stated

that the pitch can be raised by griding metal off the bottom of the rim

and lowered by polishing around the rim in a circle.

During the thirteenth century, it became a matter of prestige for

important cathedrals to acquire sets of three or four large tower bells.

Unlike the smaller handbells (cvmbala) that were used to play melodies, the

great tower bells were rung all together in a peal.^ Henry III installed

three large bells at Westminster Abbey during the period 1230-1252.^

^Bigelow, Carillon, p. 37.

44ibld.. pp. 38-9.

43Theophilu8, De Diversls Artibus. Bk. Ill, chap. Ixxxvii, p. 159.

^Starmer, "Bells and Bell Tones," p. 35.

47jocelyn Perkins, The Organs and Bells of Westminster Abbey
(London, 1937), p. 79.
 305

-e-

Figure 1^7. Partial tones of an archaic bell

Source: Bigelow, Carillon, 36.

 306

The 5^/3 foot diameter of the Hosanna bell of Freiburg in Breisgau,

dated 1258, indicates the magnitude attained in some thirteenth-century

bells.^ In retrospect this period seems to be transitional in the

evolution of harmonious bells. Bells were adequate in shape and size to

produce prominent partial tones, and, although the founders were chiefly

concerned with the ringing quality of the sound, the tuning of large

bells to form "peals** set the stage for their eventual use for musical
purposes.

"With regard to shape some of the bells of the fourteenth century had

the general characteristics of tuned bells. The oldest extant bell at

Westminster Abbey, cast around 1310, looks amazingly modem, for it has the

flat crown, squared shoulders, and tulip shape necessary to produce a good

quality.^ After six hundred years of service, this bell was retired in

1919, when it was found to have insufficient power to function in the

reconstructed ring of bells. Another example at Œient, with a diameter of

almost seven feet, is dated 1314 and is still considered to have a good
50
enough quality to serve as the bass of a fifty-two bell carillon. This

was not its original function, however, as indicated by its inscription:

name is Roland; when I toll there is fire, and when

I ring, there is victory in the land.

The impetus for tuning the partial tones of bells came with the

development of tower carillons. During the thirteenth and fourteenth

^%ahrenholz, "docken; Abendland,” col. 279.

^Perkins, The Organs and Bells of Westminster Abbey, pp. 88-90; 94.

^^illiam G. Rice, Carillons of Belgium and Holland (New York, 1914),

P* 47•
 307
centuries, tower bells were used to announce the time of day and by

the latter half of the fourteenth century, weight-driven clocks were

sufficiently advanced in design to sound these bells automatically. Such

tower clocks wore especially popular in the Low Countries, where it

became customary to precede the striking of the hour with the chiming of

several smaller bells. During the course of the fifteenth century, in­

creasingly elaborate sets of bells were automatically chimed by means of

large revolving drums, similar in principle to the music box.^^ By 1500,

carillons with a compass of more than an octave had begun to appear. A

keyboard mechanism was known at Oudenaarde in 1510 and by 1583 an

52
additional pedal keyboard was in use at Mechlin. A large carillon at
53
Brussels was reported to have thirty-two bells in 1585. Considering

these factors, it is quite probable that the tradition of rendering

polyphonic music on carillons dates from the sixteenth century.

When bells are sounded together in part music, the beats of the different

partials can be disturbingly discordant. The situation can be greatly

Improved, however, if the hum tone and strike tone are tuned in octaves.

How long the practice of tuning the hum tone prevailed on the Continent

is difficult to ascertain, because founders were secretive about their

methods. However, the elaborate tuning procedures of seventeenth-century

artisans would seem to indicate a prior period of experimentation. Even

with excellent tuning, it has been observed that larger bells combine

^^Morris, Tintinnabula, p. 129»

^^Rice, Carillons of Belgium and Holland, pp. 80-1.

% l d . . p. 84.
54starmer, "Bells and Bell Tones," p. 35.
 308

poorly in part music because of the distinct partial t o n e s . T h e bell-

master must be careful about the spacing of the notes when he includes
the large bells in performance.

It is generally conceded that the greatest bell makers prior to the

twentieth century were the Hemony brothers, Frans (1609-1667) and Pierre

(1619-1680). Their first carillon was for the Vinehouse tower at Zutfen

in 164$.^^ Between them they constructed nearly fifty carillons in the

Low Countries, many of which are still in operation. The Hemonys are

credited with being the first founders to adopt the practice of casting

bells oversize so that exact tuning could be achieved by grinding off the
57
excess metal. It is interesting that the English, who cultivated the

art of "change-ringing," believed until the end of the nineteenth century

that any cutting of the original casting was injurious to the bell.^^

The details of the tuning procedure followed by the Hemonys was a

carefully guarded secret, but Frans Hemony did refer to the intervals that

he tuned in a letter of 1 6 5 3 . He stated that a good bell should sound

three octaves, two fifths, and two thirds, major and minor. The spectra

of his bells follow this formula that is still considered the best (see

^%ice. Carillons of Belgium and Holland, pp. 58-9.

^%bid.. pp. 90-4.

57vigser, "Glockenspiel," col. 293.

5^Bigelow, Carillon, p. 50.

^%ice. Carillons of Belgium and Holland, p. 109.

 309
Figure 40 ). Even though the Hemony methods may have been original,

the spectra of some earlier bells indicate that this tuning pattern had

already been formulated sometime in the fifteenth century. For exauçile,

the spectrum of the great bell of Erfurt Cathedral, cast by Gerhard van ¥ou

in 1497, closely approximates the Hemony tuning (see Figure 4.

9 ). This

bell, called Maria gloriosa. has a diameter of almost 8^ feet. It is

likely that Van “Wou's secret of "the accord" and Peter Hemony»s "utter
secret" were identical.

A possible clue to the method bell founders used to test their tunings

is found in an "experiment" performed by Jacob van Ecyk at different times

for Beeckman, Descartes, and Constantin Huygens. A blind bellmaster at

Utrecht, Van Ecyk demonstrated that the partial tones of a bell can be made

to resound by softly singing their respective pitches near the rim.

Apparently he vas able to elicit five or six partiale in this manner.^

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Bells have...been a curiosity throughout the ages, and they still contain

mysteries for modem acoustics. The multiple nature of their sounds must

always have been perceptible, for the effect can be noticed even with finger

cymbals. However, the partisils tend to be quite inharmonic, and it was not

until sets of fairly large bells were cast that one might expect musicians

to take an interest in them. From about the ei^th century, \dien sets of

Frank H. Slaymaker and %llard F. Meecker, "Measurement of the Tonal

Characteristics of Carillon Bells," Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America. ZXVI (July, 1954-), 522.

^See Letter of August 23, 1638 from Descartes, in Comesuondance du

P. Marin Mersenne. ed. by Comelis de 'Waard (Paris, 194-5— ), VIII, 57;
also see notes 2-3, pp. 57-8.
 310

UL

Figure 1»8. Franz Hemony’s bell-tuning formula

- -Ô-

■Figure U9. Partial tones of the Bell of Erfurt

Source: Starmer, "Bells and Bell Tones," P.M.A., XXVIII (1901-02), 28.
 311

small bells (cymbala) were wsed in the church, to the fifteenth century,

when sets of large tower bells (carillons) were used to chime tunes, bells

evolved through a variety of shapes that changed their sound from a

quaintly dissonant clang to a sonorous ring. Through the efforts of bell

makers in the Low Countries, the distinct partial tones of large

resonant bells were brought into a consonant relationship, Although this

relationship did not entirely coincide with the overtone series of strings

and air columns, there seems.to be no question that the very audible

partials of bells were largely responsible for the initial interest of

Mersenne and his conten^raries in the subject of multiple sounds in a

single musical tone.

 CHAPTER VIII

THE DISCOVERIES OF MERSENNE AND EES CONTEMPORARIES

Mersenne's numerous observations on the phenomena of the harmonic

series indicate that he had an incipient conception of the underlying

principle and saw in this principle a possible natural basis for the art

of music. Contrary to general opinion, Mersenne's concept of the series

centered more on the successive intervals of the trumpet than on the

simultaneous overtones that he discovered and identified. Of the

observations available to him, the trumpet intervals provided the most

extensive and constant manifestation of a natural principle. Mersenne

found in this succession of tones a natural demonstration of just intervals

and, with certain "alterations," the diatonic scale. The observation of

overtones was, nevertheless, a key discovery for Mersenne because it

forced him to recognize the connection between concurrent and successive

phenomena and to search for the operation of-a single principle.

Mersenne was the first to make a systematic study of the

characteristics of overtones in spite of the fact that experience with

this phenomenon had been available to musicians for centuries. Not

until the early seventeenth century, however, did fresh and novel dis­

coveries in the realm of acoustics and growing scepticism concerning

traditional numerology favor such a study. Emerging empirical science

was challenging the authority of Scholasticism in every area, and it was

312
 313
inevitable that music theorists should scrutinize the phenomena of

sound for their musical significance. Considering the extensive infor­

mation Mersenne collected about each of the phenomena discussed in the

earlier chapters of this dissertation, it is difficult to see at first

glance why he did not grasp the central principle more clearly and why

his conception of it should have to be characterized as incipient. The

reasons for Mersenne's confusion should not be attributed to a lack of

insight since they stem from conditions typical of his era. The meta­

physical notions of traditional monochord theories were still firmly

intrenched in the minds of Mersenne and his contemporaries and presented

a formidable barrier to new ways of thinking about musical foundations.

Confidence in experimental observations was eroded by an inability to

find convincing explanations of their physical nature. Scientists of the

period were impeded both by a limited understanding of mechanics and by

a lack of sensitive equipment to measure and control the accuracy of

their observations. Mersenne*s pioneering statements deserve a charitable

reading.

In order to evaluate the contributions of Mersenne and his con­

temporaries, sections of this chapter are devoted to the first obser­

vations of overtones, the explanations proposed for this phenomenon, a

summary of Mersenne*s knowledge of related phenomena, and a review of

the connections he drew between acoustical phenomena and music. Because

it was considerably more difficult for Mersenne to observe overtones in

the sounds of stringed instruments and singing voices than in the

sounds of the high-energy vibrators discussed in the preceding chapters.

 314

a brief review of the physical and perceptual limitations involved is

included before the historical sections.

The Perception of Overtones

%ien Mersenne observed that the sounds of sonorous strings or of

the singing voice consist of an aggregate of pitches instead of the

single pitch normally recognized, he made a major acoustical discovery.

This sort of observation was totally different from the recognition of

multiple sounds in bells or penetrating organ stops because such sources

were obviously multiple and their pitches could be regulated to some

extent by the artisans who designed them. Mo knowledgeable musician

would look for a natural basis of consonance in the unpredictable sounds

of a bell when it was apparent that whatever consonance mi^t exist

among the pitches was the result of a bell-founder's skill. But the

discovery that the most common musical tones were also multiple in nature

and that the extra pitches followed a regular order of consonant intervals

was indeed remarkable.

Considering that Mersenne must have depended entirely on the unaided

ear, his detailed observations of overtones are amazing. Even today,

when the presence of overtones is known and the intervals to be listened

for can be predicted, their observation requires intense concentration.

Mersenne claimed that he and many of the musicians he knew had no difficulty

in hearing the extra pitches,^ but he recognized that some musicians.

^Marin Mersenne, Harmonie u n iv erselle. " T r a it/ des instrumens" (Paris,

1636), Bk. 17, prop, i x , p. 208.
 315

particularly lutanists, had difficulty in turning their attention to ,

these "small, delicate sounds."

Or il faut choisir vn grand silence How it is necessary to choose a time

pour les apperceuoir, encore qu’il
ne soit plus nécessaire quand on y
a 1*oreille accoustumee; & si les
Musiciens ne peuuent les ouyr aussi
test qu'ils touchent quelque chorde
d'vn Luth, d'vne Viole, ou d'vn
autre instrument, comme il arriue
à plusieurs ioueurs de Luth, qui
sont tellement preuenus & préoccupez
des sons naturels de la chorde,
qu'il n'y a (ce semble) plus de lieu
dans leur sens commun, ou dans leur
imagination pour receuoir l'idee ou
l'espece de ces petits sons délicats,
il faut qu'ils ayent patience, ou
qu'ils prennent vne Basse de Viole,
dont ils touchent la ô, 5, ou
chorde la nuit, & qu'ils se rendent
grandement attentifs, car il est
difficile qu'ils la touchent
délicatement auec l'archet, qu'ils
n'entendent plusieurs sons en mesme
temps.2
It seems probable that Mersenne's discovery of overtones was no accident.
of great silence to perceive them
[the delicate soundsJ although this
is no longer requisite when one has
accustomed his ear to them. And if
musicians cannot hear them as soon
as they play a string on a lute,
viol, or other instrument, as it
happens with some lutanists who are
so biased and engrossed by the
natural sounds of the string that
there is apparently no more room in
their mind or imagination to admit
the conception or nature of these
small, delicate sounds, they must
have patience. Othervd.se, they must
take a bass viol, on which at night
they play the sixth, fifth, or
fourth string, and they must be fully
attentive because it is difficult to
play delicately [enough] with the
bow to hear several sounds at the
same time.

The curious sounds in bells and certain organ pipes may have stimulated

a search for additional manifestations of this acoustical phenomenon.

Under normal conditions, the harmonies of a complex sound fuse into

the impression of a single tone to which the listener assigns a fundamental

pitch and a specific timbre. let, through the use of an elaborate series

of measuring devices, investigators since Mersenne's time have confirmed

most of his observations about.the "extraordinary sounds." Helmholtz

greatly increased the accuracy of observation by devising resonators to

aid the ear in detecting specific harmonics. These resonators enabled him

Ib id.
 316

to isolate all the partials up to the eighteenth in the sound of a thin,

metal string, 23 ft. in length. But Helmholtz’s real advantage over
Mersenne came from the analytical mathematics developed by Daniel Bernoulli,
Euler, and Fourier,^ and from the advances in the physiology of hearing

made by Haller, Ifioller, Corti, and others.^ Given these tools, Helmholtz

could make assertions about the role of overtones in the perception of

tonal timbre that were beyond the reach of early investigators.

Recent e:q)eriments by R. Flomp, in which electronic sound generators

were used to produce a composite of twelve harmonics, cast new light on

the perception of overtones. Plomp found that even under the most favorable

conditions, either when the harmonics were equally strong or graduated

progressively, not more than five to eight components could be perceived

individually.^ However, the ability to "keep track” of these initial

harmonics as they were synthetically built up into complex tones extended

over a wide range of frequencies. The broadest spectrum of eight partials

occurred around 125 ops— approximately the frequency of o— but five

partials were still distinguishable at 2000 cps, a pitch four octaves
7
higher.

Hermann Helmholtz, On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological

Basis for the Theory of Music, trans. by Alexander J. Ellis (2nd ed.:
New York, 1954), p. 80.
^C. Truesdell, The Rational Mechanics of Flexible or Elastic
Bodies. 1638-1788 (Zurich, I960), pp. 259-60; 295-97.

^Edwin G. Boring, Sensation and Perception in the History of

Experimental Psychology (New York. 19/2). p p . ZOO-06.

Plomp, Experiments on Tone Perception (Soesterberg, The

Netherlands, 1966), p. 22.

7lb id . . pp. 14^5.

 317
Plomp found that beyond this spectrum of five to eight partials listeners

do not normally separate individual harmonics, but the higher harmonics

critically influence both the perception of timbre and the determination

8
of the "fundamental pitch." It should be noted that Plomp did not

rule out the perception of individual harmonics above the eighth if for

some reason they are substantially louder than their neighbors. This may

explain how earlier investigators reportedly heard harmonics higher than

the eighth with the unaided ear. Under the experimental conditions of

his tests, Plomp found that even-numbered harmonics are no more difficult
to distinguish than odd-numbered ones.^ This finding runs counter to the

opinions of Mersenne, Rameau, and Helmholtz, who believed that in general

partials three and five, sounding the twelfth and seventeenth of the
fundamental, are heard most easily.

The development of dependable generators and accurate measuring

equipment enables modem investigators to gauge the limits of overtone

perception more precisely than in the past. In the light of Plomp's

findings, arguments about the musical significance of the higher overtones

seem academic. It is pointless, for example, to argue that the "inhar-

monicity" of hi^er partials in many musical tones discredits the musical

significance of the lower partials. Moreover, since the lower partials

of most musical tones are in fact harmonic,the seventeenth-century

%bld.. pp. 17-8; 141.

^Ibld.. p. 15.

^®Cf. C. A. Taylor, The Physics o f Musical Sounds (Hew York, 1965),

pp. 113-14; Plomp, Broerlments on Tone Perception, p. 140; Truesdell,
The Rational Mechanics, p. 123; Harvey Pletcher, E. D. Blackman, and
0. H. Geertsen, "Quality of Violin, Viola, ‘Cello, and Bass-Viol Tones,
1," Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. XXYVII (May, 1955), 857.
 318

belief that all musical tones are similar in structure to those of

sonorous strings does not fall very wide of the mark.

The Earliest Discussion of Overtones

Priority for the discovery or at least the first discussion of over­

tones has been variously assigned to Mersenne, Descartes, and the ancient

Greeks. Mersenne himself believed that "Aristotle" may have referred to

"this experience" in the Problemata xlx.8 but concluded that his knowledge
11
was probably limited to the octave of the prime tone. Since many
12
modem writers, including Lenoble, Allen, Boyle, and Palisca, continue

to accept Aristotle's priority it is necessary to investigate this matter

before turning to the seventeenth century.

The Aristotelian Problemata

The particular question in Problemata xiz.S that so impressed

Mersenne and his contemporaries was "why does the low note contain the

sound of the high note?" At first glance this question does indeed seem

to affirm a knowledge of overtones. It is, however, only one of several

passages that need to be considered. Gevaert, who also concluded that

Aristotle knew about the octave harmonic, preferred to regard the

^^Mersenne, "Traite des instrumens," Bk. IV, prop, ix, p. 208.

^Robert Lenoble, Mersenne. ou la naissance du mechanisme (Paris,

1943), p. 484; barren D. Allen, Philosophies of Music History (2nd ed.;
New York, 1962), p. 32; see historical commentary in LI. S. Lloyd and
Hugh Boyle, Intervals. Scales, and Temperaments (New York, 1963), p. 4;
Claude V. Palisca, "Scientific Bapiricism in x^usical Thought," in Seven­
teenth Century Science and the Arts, ed. by H. H. Rhys (Princeton, 1961),
p. 96.
 319
"thosia" of this passage as: "the low note iprevails over the high

note."^ Gevaert's confidence in Aristotle's perception was based on

the related passages. However, these passages, plus the evidence pre­

sented in Chapters II and III in this dissertation, seem to indicate

that Greek experience was more limited than Mersenne and later investigators

supposed. The Greeks were merely recognizing that the longer string

contains the shorter ones in the context of monochord divisions and that

greater numbers contain smaller ones.

The complete statement of Problemata xix.8 reads:

IJhy does the low note contain the sound of the high note?
Is it because the low note is greater and resembles an obtuse
angle, while the high note resembles an acute angle?14

Taken by itself, this could refer to overtones, to numbers, or to a

characterization of pitch, similar to the blunt or sharp analogy in the

De anima. But the passage is one from a related series.Problemata xiz.

7-19, dealing on the one hand with the relative merits of accompanied

and unaccompanied singing, and on the other with the perceptual effects

of the unison and the octave. The general view in these passages is

that the low note of an octave is more important than the high note

because the low note is easier to sing, it has male characteristics, the

melody is assigned to it, it gives the effect of the higher note better

Â. Gevaert and J. C. Vollgraff, Les problèmes musicaux

d'Aristote (Ghent, 1903), p. 131: "Thèse : Le grave prévaut sur l’aigu.”
Works of Aristotle, ed.by U. D, Ross, Vol. VII: Problemata.
trans. by £. S. Forster (Oxford, 1927), xix. 918a. 8.
l^The IJorks of Aristotle, ed.by IJ. D. Ross, Vol. III: De anima.
trans. by J. A. Smith (Oxford, 1931),ii. 8. A20a-420b; cf., Gevaert
and VoUgraph, Les problèmes musicaux d’;lristote. pp. 131-32.
 320

than the reverse, and the greater contains the lesser. The last two

points are the ones that led to the confusion about overtones. The passage
quoted above merely refers to the idea that the lesser is contained in

the greater. Another passage, Problemata %i%.12. also belongs to this

category;

lihy does the lower of two strings sounded together

always give the tune? . . . Is it because the low note is
large and therefore strong, and the less is contained in
the greater? So too if hvoate is stopped down in the
center, two netes are produced.

The problems dealing with the relative effects of the lowand high

notes of an octave afford the best evidence of the recognition of over­

tones, and even these are not convincing. For example, Problemata xix.l3

says:

"Why is it that the low note in the octave gives the

effect of unison with the high, but not vice versa? Is
it because, if possible, the sound of both notes is in
both notes, but failing that, in the low note, since
it is greater?!?

This seems to be more concerned with relative perceptual effects than

with the observation of an acoustical phenomenon. In Problemata xix.7

the same reasoning is applied to a different question:

Why did the ancients, when they gave the scale seven
notes, leave in hypate and not nete? Is this a false
statement, since they left in both and omitted trite.
or is it the truer answer that the lower note contains
the sound of the higher note, so that hvnate gives the
Impression of the octave abovebetter than nete for
the high note needs more force,while thelow note is
easier to utter?!^

l^porster, trans., Problemata xix. 918b. 12.

!?Ibld.. xix. 918b. 13.

IS lb id .. x ix . 918a. 7.
 321
Problemata xlx.l/.. suggeats that the octavo may sometimes beconfused

with the unison because the notes are analogous to one another.Heasks:

Is it because their sound appears to be practically the

same owing to the analogy, and the analogy is equality
in sounds, and equality is of the one?^^

This is but another example of the interest in the tonal fusion of the

octave. Perhaps the best case for overtones is found in Problemata xix.18

where it is again suggested that one note contains the sounds of both.

Taken in context, however, it too falls short of being an unmistakable

reference to overtones:

TfJhy is it that the accord of the octave alone is used

in singing? For in 'magadizing* this and no other accord
is used. Is it because it alone is made up of 'antiphonal*
notes, and vdth 'antiphonal* notes, if but one be sung,
the same effect is produced as if both were sung? For the
one note in a way contains the sounds of both, so that,
when one is sung, the concordant note at this interval is
also sung; and when they sing both, or when one note is
sung and the other played on the flute, they both as it
were sing one note. Therefore the accord in the octave
alone is sung, because the 'antiphonal* notes have the
sound of one note. (Italics mine.)20

Like Problemata xix.lA. this passage is concerned with the fusion effect

of the octave. According to Gevaert, "magadizing" refers to strings played

in octaves and "antiphony" to the effect of men and women (or boys) singing

in octaves. Hett translated the italicised phrase "one notes contains in

a sense both notes. "^2 Had the author of the Problemata intended a refer­

ence to overtones he surely could have given a clearer description than this.

19ibid.. xix. 918b. 14.

2Qlbid.. xix. 918b. 18.

^^Gevaert and Vollgraph, Les problèmes musicaux d'Aristote. p. 129.

^^Aristotle Problems I. trans. by W. S. Hett, Loeb Classical Library

(Cambridge, Mass., 1936), p. 389.
 322

Descartes* Compendlm muslcae

In a comment on the Compendim inusicae (l6l8) Charles Kent suggested

that it m sy contain the earliest theoretical reference to the aural

23
perception of an overtone. Several of Descartes’ statements in the

Compendium, such as this one, might be interpreted to mean overtones;

Nullum sonum audiid., quin huius No sound is ever heard without its
octava acutior auribus quodammodo higher octave seeming to resound in
videatur resonare.24 the ears in some way.

The similarity between this and the statement in Problemata xix.18 is

not accidental. The Compendium, a youthful work written from memory

during Descartes' military service, was compiled for Beeckman, a new

acquaintance, as part of an exchange of i d e a s . I t summarized Descartes*

traditional training in music, including the study of Zarlino *s Institutione

armonlche. and included some new ideas drawn from personal experience
26
with the lute and the flute. As in the case of the Problemata. any

assumptions about references to overtones in the Compendiimi must depend

on vaguely worded passages. Some have interpreted the statement quoted

above as a reference to a subjective impression of the octave within a

single tone. Descartes* distinction between the perceptual and rational

aspects of consonance may have inspired this interpretation.

^See commentary of Charles Kent in Rene Descartes, Compendium of

l-hisic. trans. by ¥. Robert (American Institute of Musicology, I961),
pp. 9j 18, n.l8j also see Matthew Shirlaw, The Theory of Harmony (2nd
ed.; DeKalb, Illinois, 1955), p. 59.
^^ene Descartes, Compendium mslcae. in Oeuvres de Descartes.
ed. by C. Adams and P. Tannery, X (Paris, 1908) , 99.

25lbid.. pp. 133; 140-41.

26ibld. . pp. 133- 34.

 323
As late as 174Û, the Grassineau dictionary merely translates Descartes’
original statement;

Des Cartes . . . concludes that no sound is heard, but its

acute octave seems some way to eccho in the ear.^V

It is worth noting that Grassineau, who knew Sauveur's work on harmonics,

did not attribute the recognition of overtones to Descartes. Yet Descartes,

in a letter to Mersenne (1631), probably denying that he meant no more

than a subjective impression, pointed out that in the Comnenditanthe word

resonare is used, not §b Imaginatione expectari. Even then he made no

direct reference to overtone phenomena.28

Taken in context, many of Descartes’ statements appear to be a

seventeenth-century rehash of concepts from the Problemata xix. For

example, he presented the Aristotelian statement:

Advertendum est . . . , ex It must be observed that . . . ,

duobus terminis, qui in consonantià of the two pitches that are required
requiruntur, ilium qui gravior in consonant intervals, the lower
est, longe esse potentiorem, atque is stronger "by far and in some way
alium quodammodo in se continere.29 contains the other in itself.

But he offered this clarification:

Vt patet in nervis testudinis, ex This is revealed in the strings of

quibus dum aliquis pulsatur, qui
illo octavâ vel quinta acutiores
sunt, sponte treraunt & resonant;
graviores autem non ita, saltern
apparenter.^^
a lute, for when any one of them is
played, those that are higher at its
octave or fifth voluntarily tremble
and resound; the lower, however, do
not do so, at least not apparently.

27james Grassineau, A Musical Dictionary (London, 1740), p. 165.

^^Correspondance du P. Marin Mersenne. ed. by Comelis de Vaard
and others (Paris, 1945— ), III, 213-14.
^^Descartes, Compendium musicae. pp. 96-7.

3Qlbid.. p. 97.
 324

Does this mean the low note contains the high note bocanee it will induce

sympathetic resonance? Descartes continued with additional Aristotelian

proofs:

Cuius ratio sic demonstratur: The reason for this is explained as

sonus se habet ad sonum, vt
nervus ad nervum; atqui in
quolibet nervo omnes illo
minores continentur, non autem
longioresj ergo etiam in
quolibet sono omnes acutiores
continentur, non autem contra
graviores in acuto, Vnde patet
acutiorem terminum esse
inveniendum per divisionem
gravioris.31
follows: sound is related to sound as
string to string, and indeed any string
whatsoever includes all those strings
that are shorter, but not those that
are longer. Consequently, any sound
whatsoever includes all those that are
higher, but, on the contrary, lower
sounds are not included in a higher.
From this it is clear that the higher
pitch is to be found through division
of the lower.

This is obviously not a reference to overtones but rather a traditional

view of monochord division that relates pitch directly to string lengths.

Discussing the octave, he touched on the problem again:

Hanc primam esse consonanti- It is clear from what has been said
arum omnium, & quae facillime that this [the octave] is the first of all
post vnisonum auditu percipiatur, consonant intervals and, after the unison,
patet ex dictis. Atque etiam in the one most easily perceived by the ear.
fistulis experimento comprobatur: Indeed, this fact is also confirmed by
quae si yalidiori flatu inspir- experiments with pipes [flutes], which
entur quam soient, statim vna immediately produce a sound an octave
octava acutiorem edent sonum. higher if they are blown by a stronger
Neque ratio est, quare immediate blast than usual. There is no reason why
ad octavam deveniat potius quam it moves directly to the octave rather
ad quintam vel alias, nisi quia than to the fifth or other interval un­
octava omnium prima est, & quae less it is because the octave is the
omnium minime differt ab vnisono. first of all [consonances] and the one
Vnde praeterea sequi existimo, that differs least from the unison,
nullum sonum audiri, quin huius From this it follows, I judge, that no
octava acutior auribus quodammodo sound is ever heard without its higher
videatur resonare. Vnde factum octave seeming to resound in the ears
est etiam in testudine, vt crass- in some manner. Also from this stems
ioribus nervis, qui graviores the practice on the lute of combining
edunt sonos, alij minores adiun- with the thicker strings that produce
gerentur, vhà^octava acutiores. lower pitches other thinner strings an
qui semper una tanguntur, &effi- octave higher which are played as one
ciunt vt gravioresdistinctihs with them and cause the lower ones to
audiantur.32 be heard more distinctly.

31lb ld .
% b id .. pp. 98-9.
 325
Besides reiterating the traditional dictum that the octave is the first of

all consonances, Descartes added two acoustical observations, that pipes

overblow at the octave and that an octave string counteracts the

indefinite quality of a bass string.

In fairness to his acoustical observations, it must be admitted that

Descartes apparently sensed something; but if he recognized the actual
existence of overtones he certainly did not make a strong point of it.

As Mersenne remarked, the lute was not a very good instrument for observing
overtones, and nowhere in the Comnend- m did Descartes mention the obvious

evidence of overtones provided by th< ounds of bells or penetrating organ

stops. Armed with newly found knowlidge of sympathetic resonance at the

octave, twelfth, and seventeenth, Descartes was trying to revise the

number and string-length theories of consonance. He was searching for an

acoustical justification for the traditional "harmonic divisions" of the

octave and the fifth. Concerning the fourth, he wrote:

Advertendum est nunquam in Musica It must be observed that never in

quintam audiri, quin etiam quarta music is the fifth heard without the
acutior quodammodo advertatur. higher fourth also being perceived
Quod sequitur ex eo quod diximus, in some way. This follows from what
in vnisono octavâ acutiorem sonum we have said: in the unison the
quodammodo resonare, 33 sound an octave higher resounds in
some way.
From this observation he concluded that the fourth is a "shadow" of the

fifth and therefore is derived from it. The fourth cannot be used against

the bass voice because that would be like meeting a shadow instead of the
real object (the fifth),34 \jhile Descartes' acoustical argument seems

22lbid,. p, 107.

34ibid.. p. 108.
 326
satisfactory in this sitmtion, it is not in others. When he came to

deal vith sixths as consonant intervals he abandoned the idea of "shadow"

intervals and substituted another principle based on a system of mono­

chord divisions. According to this new principle, Descartes considered

the major sixth to result from the major third because it is compounded

of two consonant intervals, the major third and the perfect fourth.

Similarly, the minor sixth is derived from the minor third because it is
compounded of the minor third and the perfect fourth.

Sexta major procedit a The major sixth results from the

ditono, eademque fere ratione major third and forgenerally the same
participât hujus naturam, .. . reason shares its nature, . . .

Sexta minor eodem modo fit The minor sixth comes into exist-
a tertiâ minore, vt major \ ence from the minor third in the same
ditono.35 manner as the major sixth comes from
the major third.

When Descartes stated that consonances should be judged by their

sound as well as their ratio because "it is never possible to hear [a

consonance] entirely alone without also hearing its compound resonance,

when the resonance of the higher octave is also included in the

36
unison . . . he took a small step toward Rameau’s theory of con­

sonance based on acoustical influenced. It is still not clear, however,

that his acoustical observations included overtones in addition to

sympathetic resonance and the overblown octave.

3$ibid.. pp. no-n.

3^Ibid., p. 108; " . . . nunquam tarn jejune sola audiri potest,
quin huius compositae resonantia audiatur, cum in vnisono etiam octavae
acutioris resonantiam contineri ..."
 327
Mersenne*s Quaestiones celeberrlaae in Qenealm

In contrast to the ■writings so far examined, Mersenne *s Quaestiones

celeberrimae in Genesim (1623) includes an unequivocal reference to

overtones. This philosophical work, written before I^ersenne became

familiar with the works of Beeckman and Descartes, anticipated Rameau's

excitement about the overtone phenomenon by a full century. Mersenne
not only observed the presence of overtones in a variety of sounds but

he identified their pitch relationships in this passage about "strange

experiments":

Profecto non semel obseruaui
vnius campan^ sono 3 partes
musicae reddi, bassum qui erat
primus, atque proprius sonus,
diapente, & diapason; diatessaron
etiam & ditonum puto me quandoque
distinxisse; quod & in organorum
tubis, 6 in alijs instrumentis,
imo 6 in voce obseruari posse
credidero, quandoquidem ratio
communis est, id nempe fieri,
quia aër non vnifoimiter, sed
difformiter percutitur, atque
frangitur à varijs partibus
mallei campan^; ad quod etiam
variae partes illius densiores,
rariores, magis, vel minus
politae, ex molliori, vel
duriori materia conflatae non
parum conferunt. Idemque de
tubis organorum, & violarum
neruis, voce &c. dicito. Hue
etiam varia loca reflectentia
tarn in oris palato, quam in
vrbibus, & aeris varij motus
conferunt
Indeed, more than once have I noticed
that three musical parts were rendered
by the sound of a single bell: the
bass, which was the foremost and
characteristic sound, the fifth, and
the octave, I believe at some time or
other I have also distinguished the
fourth and the major third, and I be­
lieve I have been able to observe this
[phenomenon] also in organ pipes and
other instruments and even in the voice
because the principle is common. This
must certainly occur because the air
is not struck simply but rather in an
uneven manner. Indeed, the air is
shattered by the various parts of the
clappered bell, in consequence of the
fact that those parts, [being] thicker,
thinner, polished more or less, [or]
fabricated from softer or harder
materials, do not move together equally.
The same may be said of organ pipes,
viol strings, the voice, etc.; here
also these various reflecting places,
in the roof of the mouth as in [the
buildings of?] cities, transform the
diverse movements of the air.

^"^Marin Mersenne, Quaestiones celeberrimae in Genesim (Paris, 1623),

Cap. iv, versiculus xxi, art. xvl, col. 1699b.
 328

Perhaps Mersenne's confidence in the general validity of this phenomenon

is explained as much by his theory of sound as by his powers of observation.

He appears to believe that any vibrator could potentially set up an

aggregate of sounds because it is the air that is beaten or reflected in

diverse ways. Nevertheless, his observations seem genuine enough because

he referred to bells and organ pipes, the very sources that might be ex­

pected to provide an insight into this physical phenomenon.

The early seventeenth century was a period when authors liked to

report natural curiosities, especially if they could show the causes were
38
natural and not magical. This may have been the extent of Mersenne's
intention in the quote because a decade passed before he returned to the

subject. As early as 1625 his letters indicated an interest in sympathetic

resonance and in the skips of trumpets and overblown organ pipes, but it

was not until the period 1633-34 that he began careful investigation of
overtones, particularly the partials of strings. His interest in the

mechanical properties of vibrating strings increased during the years

1628-32, but none of his correspondence from this period specifically

mentions string partials. One letter from Descartes (1630) contained a

passing reference to the multiple sounds of b e l l s . I n 1633 Mersenne

initiated a broad inquiry into the phenomena of overtones, flageolet tones,

trumpet skips, and resonance. This inquiry Involved Beeckman, Descartes,

Villiers, BouUiaud, Gassendi, and Deschamps.^ It is apparent from

^^Marie Boas, The Scientific Renaissance. 1550-1630 (London, 1962),

pp. 183-96.
3%ersenne. Correspondance. I I , 397.

^See Letters 251, 260, 263, 277, 291, and 296, in Mersenne,
Correspondance. Ill; Letter 531 in ibid.. V.
 329
their letters that Mersenne conducted most of the experimentation and

sought expert opinion from the others concerning the piqrsical principles

involved. Since most of the letters in the collected Correspondance

are addressed to Mersenne, the inquiring letters being lost, it is

fortunate that one of the respondents, Deschamps, listed four of the

questions Mersenne circulated. Freely translated they were:

La premiere desquelles est: A 1. Is sound something different

scavoir si le son est quelque from percussions of the air?
chose se distinct des percussions
de l'air.

La seconde question est: Fourauov 2. VJhy does one string of an

une corde d'instrument sans estre
presses && doigt pour l'accourcir.
fait divers sons, et les instruments
a vent sans ouvrir ni fermer aucun
trou?
La troisiesme question est: Pourouov 3« IJhy do both string and wind
tant les Instruments à corde que
ceux à vent, sans presser la corde
sur la manche. ni ouvrir ou fermer
aucun trou, sautent du son grave a
l'octave premièrement, puis apprès
à douziesme. puis à In quinsiesme?
La demiere question, assavoir:
Fourouoy en la trompette vers le
bas ou son grave, on ne peut entonner
ut. re. ml. fa. sol?4T”
instrument, without being
pressed by the finger in order
to shorten it, make several
sounds, and wind Instruments
without opening or closing
any holes?
instruments, without pressing
the string onto the neck or
opening or closing any holes,
sldp from the lowest tone
first to the octave, then to
the twelfth, and then to the
fifteenth?
4. X*Jhy in the bass or low range
of the trumpet can one not in­
tone ut, re, mi, fa, sol?

This investigation was, of course, a part of the preparation for the

Harmonie universelle (l636). It can be seen that Mersenne was already

searching for one general principle that would explain all of these

phenomena^

^Mersenne, Correspondance. V, 566; 570-71.

 330
Mersenne*8 Investigation of Overtones

Most of Mersenne*3 consideration of overtones centered about bells

and strings. Bells provided a distinctive source of partials and strings

a convenient means of testing the mechanical properties of vibrators.

He treated the overtones of organ pipes as a peripheral matter, probably

because stops of the Quintadena variety were not popular in France.

Mersenne»s interest in overtones was strongest in the five-year period,

1633-1638, beginning with his preparation of the Harmonie universelle

(1636) and closing with some afterthoughts in the "Nouvelles observations

physiques & mathématiques" (1638), a short tract later appended to the

Harmonie universelle. In later life his attention turned toward mathe­

matical subjects. Overtones were seldom mentioned in his correspondence

after 1638.^ Itersenne’s most definitive statements about overtones

appear in the Harmonie universelle. "Traité des instrumens," in the

sections concerning the viol, lyra, trumpet marine, and bells.^ The

Harmonicorum Libri (1635/36; 2d ed. 1648) contains briefer discussions

that add little to the information in the Hamonie universelle The

following section, therefore, is concerned chiefly with Mersenne*s ideas

on string partials and their physical causes, and with the difficulties
introduced by the partials of bells.

^See annotation of Comelis de Vaard in Mersenne, Correspondance.

VIII, 58 n.
^Bk. IV, prop. V, pp. 195-96; Bk. IV, prop, ix, pp. 208-11;
Bk. IV, prop, xiii, pp. 220-22; Bk. VII, pp. 36-7.
^^larin Mersenne, Harmonicorum Libri XII. Tome II: "De Instrumentis
harmonics" (2nd ed.; Paris, 1648), Bk. I, prop. xxxLii, pp. 53-4; prop,
xxxvii, pp. 56-7; Bk. Ill, prop, xxwli, p. 140; Bk. IV, prop, xii, p. 159.
 331
String Partials

Mersenne realized that the production of several sounds at once

is characteristic of all sonorous strings. He specifically observed

multiple pitches in the sounds of the lute, viol, spinet, monochord,

and trumpet m a r i n e . H e was not quite sure how to describe the extra

sounds because he sensed that they were somehow components of a total

impression:

Or il est constant qu'elles font Now it is certain that they [strings]

plusieurs sons differens, ou vn produce several different sounds or
mesme son compose de plusieurs an individual sound composed of
en mesme temps, . . several at the same time, , , ,

Mersenne referred to the fundamental pitch as the propre ton or ton

naturel^*^ and described the others as sons extraordinaires, petits sons

délicats. or sons differens du naturel.^

It was apparent to Mersenne that some conditions were more favorable

than others for hearing these extra sounds, Nhile he expressed no

preference between brass and gut strings, he found that low pitched

strings produced the best results, especially if they were bowed rather

than plucked,In the "Nouvelles observations," he suggested that

45}%rsenne, "Traité des instrumens," Bk, IV, prop, viii, pp. 205-06;
prop, xiii, p, 221,

^Ibid,, prop, xiii, p, 221,

^Ibid., Bk,IV, prop, viii, p. 206; Bk, VII, prop, xviii, p, 36,

^Ibid,. Bk,IV, prop, ix, pp. 208-209,

^ I b id , , Bk,IV, prop, v , pp, 195-196,

 332

the listener's inability to perceive the overtones of high pitched

sounds may be due either to physiological limitations or to a lack

of physical stimulus;

Car on n'entend point cette multitude
de sons aux voix aiguës, non plus
qu'aux chordes bien courtes, &
aux petites cloches, soit que
l'oreille n'ayt pas la capacité de
iuger des sons si aigus, ou au'en
effet ils ne se facent pas.50
For one does not hear this
assemblage of sounds in high voices
any more than in very short strings
and small bells, either because
the ear lacks the capacity to
judge sounds so acute or they are
in fact not produced.

Mersenne's remarks about the pitch relationships of the extra sounds

show that he did not immediately grasp the order of the hammonic series.

De ¥aard assumed that when Mersenne, in the Quaestiones in Genesim.

designated partials at the fifth, octave, fourth, and third, he intended

51
the first five terms of the harmonic series. Although Mersenne was

rarely this imprecise, his use of interval names did not always indicate

the proper octave. In the Harmonie universelle he stated:

II est constant ... que l'on oyt
seulement ceux qui s'accordent
ensemble, à sçauoir les rep­
etitions de 1'Octane, les ^ say the repetitions of the octave,
Quintes, & les Tierces repetees,
& quelquefois quelques autres,
par exemple la Vingtiesme: mais
il n'est pas certain que chaque
chorde face tous les sons
possibles en mesme temps; & si
elle les fait, on ne sçalt pas
pourquoy l'on n'entend quasi
que lesdits Consonances.5%
It is certain . . . that one hears
only those [several sounds] that
are consonant together, that is to
the fifths, the repeated thirds,
and sometimes a few others, for
example the twentieth. However,
it is not certain that each string
produces all possible sounds at
the same time, and even if it does,
it is not known why one hears only
the said consonances.

5%ersenne, "Nouvelles observations physiques & mathématiques," an

appendix to the Harmonie universelle, pp. 15-6.

5%ersenne, Correspondance. I l l , 406 n.

5%ersenne, "Traite'des instrumens," Bk. 17, prop, x i i i , p. 221.

 333
Mersenne's reference to consonance serves as a reminder that he

believed the extra sounds to be regulated by consonant relationships

and was not necessarily trying to establish an ordered harmonic series.

This fact is clearly illustrated by a statement in the Harmonie

universelle concerning the viol:

Lors que l'on touche la plus
grosse chorde de la Viole
d'vn coup d'archet, l'on
entend le son naturel de la ^
chorde, & puis vn autre son à
I'Octaue en haut; en
troisiesme lieu la Dixiesme
maleure, & finalement le
quatriesme son qui monte à
la Douziesme du premier son:
de sorte que le mesme chorde
touchee du doigt ou de l'archet,
fait les quatre sons qui
respondent aux quatre nombres
1, 4, 5, & 6.53
lihen the thickest string of the viol
is played with a stroke of the bow,
one hears the natural sound of the
string, also another sound at the
octave above, in the third place the
major tenth, and finally the fourth
sound that ascends to the twelfth
of the first. Thus, the very same
string excited by the finger or bow
yields the four sounds that correspond
to the four numbers 1, 4, 5, and 6.

This confusion of intervals and numbers does not suggest the harmonic

series. A few pages later, in a proposition devoted entirely to overtones-

Proposition IX, "To explain why an open string when sounded makes many

sounds at once"— he eiiglicitly indicated that these sounds follow the

ratio of the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.^^ Moreover, in the section on the

trumpet marine, Mersenne even added the "nineteenth, etc," in his

55
listing of the intervals. These statements accountibr the first six

terms of the harmonic series and perhaps more. Before concluding that

Mersenne saw here the operation of a new principle, however, one

^^Ibid.. prop, v, p. 196.

^^Ibid.. prop, ix, p. 208,

55lbld.. prop, xiii, p, 221,

 334
should consider three points: (1) the first six terms of the harmonic

series do not conflict with the established system of monochord divisions,

(2) his reported spectrum of the viol*s partiels, which is identical with

the bell's (infra p. 349-)» does not conform to the harraonic series, and

(3) his conception of pitch relationships above the sixth partial

was not clearly stated. This third point requires close examination.

The assumption that Mersenne believed the overtones were regulated

by the ratios of consonant intervals rather than the harmonic series can

be tested hy his statements on the highest partials. If he acknowledged

the presence of the seventh and ninth harmonics, that assumption would be

proved false. TfJhile Mersenne»s writings contain no observations of the

seventh harmonic, two passages may be construed to indicate the ninth.

In discussing the flageolet tones of the trumpet marine, he observed:

I'adiouste neantmoins que ces sauts
& ces points, qui imitent les sons
de la Trompette militaire, ne font
autre chose que d'expliquer en grand
volume ce que la chorde fait estant
touchée à vuide, à scauoir I'Octaue,
la Douziesme, la Quinziesme, la
Dix-septiesme, la Dlx-neufiesme,
&c. les vnes après les autres, ...
lesquelles elle fait toutes .
ensemble en mesme temps, ...^
As will be seen in the discussion of flageolet tones his et cetera
I add, however, that these skips
and these points [on the string]
that imitate the. sounds of the
military trumpet make known in
great volume what the string pro­
duces when it is played open; that
is to say, the octave, twelfth,
fifteenth, seventeenth, nineteenth,
etc., one after the other, . . .
which it produces all together at
the same time, . . .

Implies the possibility of the eighth, ninth, tenth, and twelfth harmonics,

Further evidence of the ninth harmonic is found in the Earmonicorum Libri:

56Ibid.
 335

Tertia oxperientia docet praeter Beside the Diapason and Disdiapason,

Diapason, & Disdiapason, quod which octave is the one more clearly
Octaua clarius, atque distinetins and distinctly perceived, I always
percipitur, Duodecimam, & Decimam- hear the twelfth and the major seven-
septimam, maiorem semper audiri, teenth beyond, and then I easily
praeterquas & Vigesimamtertian ^ perceive towai^ the end of the
maiorem, quae est 1 ad 3, facile g» natural sound the major twenty-third
percipio circa finem soni naturalis, [ninth harmonic], which is as 1 to 3«

Hawkins, translating this passage, conveniently omitted the italicized

phrase.Both Hawkins and Ludwig assumed that Mersenne intended the

ratio one to nine,^^ which would be correct for the major twenty-third.

Since Mersenne immediately followed this statement with a discussion of

the ratio relationships li2, 1:3, 1:4, and 1:5, his reason for using

1:3 instead of 1:9 then becomes clear. The answer lies in Mersenne's

conviction that nature, as ruled by a universal harmony, can only generate

consonances. He simply gave the only ratio he was willing to consider—

one yielding a consonant interval above a previous partial. Thus, 1:3

indicates the twelfth above the twelfth or third partial. Interestingly

enough, the comparable passage in the Harmonie universelle reads:

Outre ces quatre sons extra- Besides these four extraordinary

ordinaires, i'en entends encore vn
cinquiesme plus aigu, que i*oy
partioulierement vers la fin du
son naturel, & d'autresfois vn peu
apres le commencement: il fait la
Vingtiesme maieure auec le son
naturel, auec ^quel il est comme
trois a vingt,^
sounds [the 8va, 12th, 15th, & 17th],
I hear yet a fifth one higher up,
which I hear especially towards the
end of the natural sound and some-
times a little after the start,
It makes the major twentieth with
the natural sound, w3.th which it is
as three to twenty.

^"^Mersenne, Harmonicorum Libri, T, II, Bk. I, prop, xxxiii, p. 53.

5Sjohn Hawkins, A General History of the Science and Practice of

Music (Reprint ed.j New York, 1963), II, 604.
59ibid,, 604 n.j Ilellmut Ludwig, Marin Mersenne und seine Musiklehre
(Halle, 1935), p. 42.
^%ersenne, "Traite des instrumens," Bk. 17, prop, i x , p . 209,
 336

References to this twentieth occur several times in the Harmonie

universelle, but none is made to the twenty-third. The twentieth is a

compound of the major sixth, and its ratio 3:20 is curiously similar to

the ratio Mersenne assigned to the thirteenth note of the trumpet,

that is, 3 :40, which yields an interval one octave higher.

Perhaps the clearest insight into Mersenne*s knowledge of over­

tones can be gained from two letters written to him by Villiers in 1633.

In November Villiers wrote:

Je respons à vos objections: ... I respond to your objections . . .

que si vous voulez que les tons a
l'aigu soient te lement spécifiez
qu'il ne soient autres que l'octave,
la 12®, la 15® et la 17® et qu'il
ne s'en face d'autres dissonans,
je vous diray naifvement que je
n'entreprends vous en donner
raison, mais bien que les tons
d'une chorde, orgue etc. tendants
à l'aigu, passent vraisemblable­
ment par tous les tons. Ains les
consonans comme flattant plus
l'oreille se remarquants mieux
que les autres dissonants,
quoyqu'il soit vray que les
dissonantes partyes se recog-
noissent aysement en la musique,
n'en estant de mesme en une chorde
qui termine bien promptement ces
tons.°2
that if you want the high-pitched
tones to be so specific that there
will be none but the octave, the
twelfth, the fifteenth, and the
seventeenth, and that there be no
other dissonant ones, I will say
to you naively that I do not believe
you are correct, but that, as the
tones of a string, organ, etc.,
extend towards the acute, they very
likely pass through all the tones.
Thus, the consonances, since they
please the ear more, are better
noticed than the dissonant tones,
[and] although it is true that
dissonant parts are easily recognized
in music, it is not the same in a
string, which terminates these tones
very promptly.

A month later Villiers added:

^llbid.. Bk, V, prop. xi,p. 249.

^^lersenne. Correspondance. Ill, 545.


N
Et a ce que vous me dites que
ces 3 ou 4 tons qui s’observent au
son, on ne les aperçoit que de prez
et on y aperçoit pas les autres
qui sont dissonants, je diray comme
autrefoys que je n'en puis rendre
raison, mais que de loin le ton
naturel emportant les autres con-
fusement à l’aigu s'perçoit
seullement.®^
These discussions reveal the struggle that was going on. Both men
337
And concerning what you told
me of these 3 or 4 tones that are
observed in the sound, that one
only perceives them close by, and
does not perceive the others that
are dissonances, I say, as before,
that I cannot produce a reason
for it, but that from a distance
the natural tones, obscuring the
others above it, is perceived by
itself.

were fully aware that some relationship existed between overtones and

the series of trumpet n o t e s . Y e t Mersenne, either because of his

conviction that overtones must be consonant, or because of honest per­

ceptual error, or both, reported the existence of partials outside the

harmonic series— at the tenth and twentieth-and failed to formulate an

unequivocal statement of the true relationships.

Concerning the relative strengths of the partials, Mersenne observed

that the natural tone is much more prominent than the extraordinary

sounds, being the one that serves as the fondement (foundation)to the

others and the only one regarded in the practice of m u s i c . H e also

recognized that "no sound is ever heard lower than the natural sound of

the string.Mersenne was interested in this point, not because of

%bid.. p. 583.

&4See ibid.. pp. 519-21.

&5cf., Marin Mersenne, Harmonie Universelle; The Books on Instruments.
trans. by Roger E. Chapman (The Hague, 195?), p. 267, where the translation
fundamental is given.

^•lersenne, "Traite des instrumens," Bk. 17, prop, ix, p. 208.

^^Ibid.: "ITul son ne s'entend iamals plus bas, ou plus graue que
le son naturel de la chorde, ..."
 338

not because of the possibility of an "under series" but because the

entire matter of multiple sounds seems related to the Aristotelian

maxim that the low sound contains the high.^ Of the extraordinary sounds,

he believed the twelfth and seventeenth were more distinct than the

others. In the "nouvelles observations" he developed this point a bit

further, almost in anticipation of Rameau. Mersenne described the voice

as containing three sounds, the twelfth and seventeenth above the natural

tone, "which they have for their bass, and for their origin."^^ As a

general principle he stated;

Les 3 sons qui respondent à ces
3 nombres 1, 3, 5, s’accompagnent
tousiours tant dans la voix, que
dans toutes sortes d’instrumens
à chordes, & de percussion, &
font 9 tremblemens, dont la voix
la plus graue en fournit vn seul,
la seconde 3, & la troisième 5.'
The three sounds that correspond to
these three numbers, 1, 3, 5, always
accompany themselves both in the voice
and in all sorts of stringed instru-
ments and percussion instruments, and
they make nine tremblings, of which
the lowest sound furnishes one alone,
the second 3, and the third 5.

Immediately following, Mersenne admitted that the octave and fifteenth

are also audible, but less distinctly, and that sometimes only one or
the other of the principal overtones, the twelfth or seventeenth, can be

detected. Mersenne suggested that the reason for the distinctiveness

of the twelfth and seventeenth is that they bear less resemblance to the
71
natural sound than the octave. Similarly, he asserted that if the

^See letter of October 15, 1633 from Villiers, in Mersenne,

Correspondance. Ill, 519, in which this subject is discussed.

^^'lersenne, "Nouvelles observations," p. 15: "Ces sons de la voix

ont son ton naturel pour leur base, & pour leur origine."

TOlbid.

7lMersenne, "Traite des instrumens," Bk. IV, prop, i x , p. 209.

 339
octave and fifteenth are audible, the latter is more perceptible, and

here he offered the explanation that the coincidence of vibrations,

4:1 instead of 2:1, is less.

In an almost incidental reference in his discussion of organ pipes,

Mersenne drew an association between partials and timbre that was full

of promise for the future:

Bien que l'on aduouast que les Although it may be affirmed that
chordes, ou les Cloches qui font the strings and the bells that more
plusieurs sons ensemble plus distinctly emit several sounds to-
distinctement, sont plus gether are more excellent than the
excellentes que les autres, rest, one may doubt that the same
l'on pourroit douter si'il faut Judgement must be made of pipes,
faire le^mesme iugement des
tuyaux.
Generally, his explanations for differences of timbre were based on the

traditionally accepted reasons, such as density of material or pipe

73
configuration. Here, of course, Mersenne did not say that the

particular spectrum of partials influences the tone quality, only that

the presence of partials is desirable in the sounds of strings and bells.

Mersenne's reservations about their desirability in the sounds of pipes

resulted from his failure to hear the extra sounds in many pipes:

*^^Ibid. . Bk. 71, prop, x l i i , p. 396,

73ibid.. Bk. I, prop, iv, p. 12; Bk, V, prop, xxxii, p. 301;

Bk, 71, prop, xxiv, p, 358,
 340

le n'ay point remarque que les
ouuertis soit à siiaple bouche,
comme sont ceux du 1restant, ou
à anches, comme les Trompettes
& les Voix humaines, facent
deux sons en mesme temps,
quelque essay que l'on aye fait,
le dis donc que les tuyaux
bouchez, comme sont les Fleutes
douces, font souuent deux sons
en mesme temps, qui sont k la
Douziesme l’vn de l'autre,
comme i'ay fait remarquer aux
meilleurs Organistes; quoy que
cela n'arriue pas, ou du moins
ne s'apperçoiue pas à l'oreille
dans tous les tuyaux bouchez,
par exemple l'on ne le remarque
pas aux moindres tuyaux, mais
aux plus gros, ou aux médiocres.
le laisse aux Facteurs,, ou
plustost aux Philosophes a
determiner si ce double son
monstre 1'imperfection, ou la
perfection du tuyau, car puis
qu'il y en a plusieurs qui ne
la font pas, quoy qu'ils soient
de mesme grandeur que ceux qui
le font, il semble que cela ne
puisse arriuer si les vns ne
sont plus parfaits que les
autres.74
Never have I noticed that the open
pipes, either with a simple mouth,
such as those of the Prestant, or
with reeds, such as the Trumpets and •
the Vox humana, produce two sounds
at the same time, whatever trials I
have made of it. Consequently I say
that the stopped pipes, as are the
Recorders, often produce two
simultaneous sounds at the twelfth
of each other, as I have pointed out
to the best of organists. However,
that does not happen, or at least is
not perceived by the ear, in all of
the stopped pipes, for example, one
does not notice it in the smallest
pipes but rather in the largest or
in the intermediate ones.
I leave it to the makers or
rather to the philosophers to determine
whether this double sound demonstrates
the imperfection or perfection of the
pipe, but since there are some that
do not produce it, even though they
are of the same dimensions as those
that do, it seems that this could
not be the case if some were not more
perfect than others.

Mersenne appears to have qualified his earlier judgement, in the

Quaestiones in Geneslm. that organ pipes emit several different pitches.

Physical Causes of String Partials

The physical e:q)lanation for the partials of strings was even more

troublesome for Mersenne than determining their pitch relationships. The

limitations of the theories he considered show in large measure, why he

did not arrive at a definitive statement of the harmonic series.

74 ib id . . Bk. VI, prop, x l i i , pp. 395-96.

 341

Starting with the conviction that sound consists of movements in

air, Mersenne examined various theories that might account for the

extraordinary sounds. One point seemed certain, the interval relation­

ships of the sounds can be explained by the fact that;

L’air ayant este frappe par la
chorde, se diuise premièrement
en deux parties, puis en 3, 4, 5,
&c. qui font les sons précédons,
parce que cette diuision est la
plus ays^e de t o u t e s .
The air, having been struck by the
string, is first divided into two
parts, then into 3, 4, 5, etc.,
which make the preceding sounds
[i.e., harmonies 1-5] because this
division is the easiest of all.

The next problem was to determine how the s tr in g causes the a i r to d iv id e .

This enquiry was complicated by a m istaken judgement about the way a

stretched string vibrates. On the basis of an experiment with a string

100 f e e t long, Mersenne observed:

L'experience ... monstre euidemment The experiment . . . clearly demon-

que toutes les parties de la chorde
font vn nombre esgal de retours en
mesme temps, car toute la chorde
estant continue n'a au'vn seul
mouuement, quoy ces parties se
meuuent d'autant plus lentement
qu'elles sont plus proches des
cheualets.7°
strates that all of the parts of the
string make an equal number of
vibrations at the same time, for,
being continuous, the string has a
single motion, although the parts
move progressively more slowly as
they are closer to the bridges.

This bit of "evidence" prejudiced him against, theories based on multiple

modes of vibration in the string and turned him toward theories that could

accommodate a single, continuous movement of the string and multiple

movements of the air.

Some of the theories did not warrant much attention. Mersenne easily

eliminated the suggestion that the number of partials might be related to

77
the number of intestines that composed gut strings and found no reason

75 lb id . . Bk. IV, prop, i x , p . 210.

76ibid.
77lbid.. Bk. IV, prop, v, p. 196.
 342

to accept the notion that a string contains internal surfaces, like the
*78
inner layers of an onion, which produce the different pitches at one time.

Mersenne's experiments with string tension and mass caused him to reject

all arguments based on string length alone. Realizing that pendulums and

stretched strings have a fixed periodicity, he also rejected the

Aristotelian notion that a string slows down as it vibrates and that this
effect might cause the extra sounds.

Villiers proposed that the acute sounds may not originate directly

from the vibration of the string itself, but from reflections of its

vibrations within the body of the instrument and from sympathetic vibration
80
of nei^boring strings. Mersenne rejected this explanation because he

found, by repeated experiments with both lutes and monochords, that the

presence of these sounds did not depend on the resonance of additional

Si
strings. His refutation ignored the possible role of reinforcement by a

resonator. The monochords that he used undoubtedly had sound chests that

provided the same coupled system as other stringed instruments. Mersenne

probably did not realize that Villier* s idea had at least some merit in

explaining why the extra sounds were audible.

Descartes preferred the mechanistic view that the partials are

produced by various movements of the vibrating string. He suggested that

these different movements were caused by imperfections in the string or

78
Ibid.. prop, ix, p. 211.

79lbid.. pp. 209-10.

^^Letter of mid-September, 1633 from Villiers, in Mersenne,

Correspondance. Ill, 488-89.
^^Mersenne, "Traite des instrumens," Bk. IV, prop, i x , p. 208.
 343
02
by varying degrees of tension during its vibrating cycle. Mersenne

hesitated to accept such an explanation for two reasons: he believed the

vibrating string had a single movement pattern and doubted that the simple

ratios of the partials could result from "imperfection."^^ Although

Descartes' theory approached the modem view of the complex pattern of a

vibrating string, he and Mersenne were still far from a reasonable expla­

nation of its natural segmentation. They thought in terms of bisections

of the string, a system that produces consonant intervals on the monochord

but does not relate all ratios to the unity of the whole string, Mersenne

stated:

Or si l'on suppose que la If it is assumed that the entire

chorde entiere contienne tous les
sons qui peuuent estre faits par sa
diuision, il faut dire qu'elle fait
seulement paroistre ceux qui
viennent de la premiere, seconde,
ou troisiesme bissection,
string contains all of the sounds that
can be produced through its division,
one must say that it only causes to
be perceptible those [sounds] that
originate from the first, second, or
third bisection [i.e., from halves,
fourths, or eighths].

Not realizing that in a stretched strings several modes of vibration of

the entire length can exist simultaneously without interfering with each

other, Mersenne made this false assumption; •

Car puis qu'elle fait les cinq ou
six sons dont i'ay parle', il semble
qu'il est entièrement nécessaire
qu'elle batte l'air 5,. 4, 3 & 2 fois
en mesme temps qu'elle le bat vne
seul fois, ce qui est impossible
Since it [the string] produces the
five or six sounds that I have
mentioned, it seems altogether nec-
essary that it will beat the air 5,
4> 3, and 2 times in the same time
that it beats a single time, which
is impossible

02
Letter of July 22, 1633 from Descartes, in Mersenne, Correspondance.
Ill, 45S.

^^See letter of November 28, 1633, in Mersenne, Correspondance. Ill,

559, for Descartes' second attempt to convince Mersenne that a mechanical
explanation is correct.
^%ersenne, "Traite des instrumens," Bk. IV, prop, ix , p. 210.

de s’imaginer, si ce n'est que
l’on die que la moitié de la
chorde le bat deux fois tandis
que la chorde entiere le bat
vne fois, & qu’en mesme temps
la 3, 4, & 5 partie le battent
3, 4 & 5 fois, ce qui est
contre 1’experience, ...85
3A4
to imagine unless it is said that half
of the string beats it [the air] twice
while the entire string beats it once,
and that at the same time the third,
fourth, and fifth parts beat it 3, 4,
and 5 times. This is contrary to
experience,

Considering the difficulty of foiroing a mental image of the way a stretched

string vibrates in just the first three modes, where the central nodal

point of the second harmonic occurs within a loop of the third hamonic, it

is easy.to understand Mersenne’s perplexity. “While he could conceive that

a string might divide and each of those divisions subdivide,he could

not understand how a single, continuous string could vibrate in halves,

third, and fifths at the same time.

Instead of explaining the extra sounds by the motions of the string,

Mersenne preferred the simpler view that the string’s single movement some­

how beats the air in diverse ways. He admitted that if one held the

atomistic view of physics, the globules of air, or the sphere of the air,

might be shattered into 2, 3, 4> or 5 parts and thereby cause the additional

soundsPerhaps this action could be caused by different parts of the

vibrating string, or by their different spatial positions. Such a theory

89
was proposed by Beeckman and rejected by Descartes* Mersenne hesitated

85ibid.
^%bid.. Bk. VI, prop, xlii, pp. 396-97.

87ibid.. Bk. IV, prop, ix, p. 210.

8&Letter of May 30, 1633 from Beeckman, in Mersenne, Correspondance.
Ill, 403-04.
^^Letter of March, 1635 from Descartes, in Mersenne, Correspondance.
V, 126,
 U5
to reject it entirely, because he could not disprove it by experimental

evidence.He offered, instead, the rationalization that the air has

great tension and is moving faster than the string. Thus, in a vay

analogous to the action of a pick plucking a string, the thrusts and

recoils of the string reflect into the faster air quick movements as veil
qn
as the simple frequency of the string.

Mersenne's concluding statement on the subject of partial tones shows

that while firmly convinced of their existence he left their origin

undecided:

Chaque moindre tremblement peut Each smaller vibration can still be

encore estre diuise'^ en d*autres divided into other smaller ones:
moindres: ... soit que les chordes, . . . whether the strings or other
ou les autres corps touchez & touched and struck bodies harbor
frappez recoiuent ses différents these various vibrations in them-
tremblemens en eux, ou qu’ils ne selves, or they [the vibrations]
soient que dans l'air, ou qu'ils are only in the air, or they are
soient en tous deux, ou qu'ils in both, or they are formed in the
se facent dans I'oreille, ou dans ear or in the imagination, which
l'imagination, laquelle estant being corporeal is capable of
corporelle est capable de toutes receiving any of these diverse
ces différentes a g i t â t i o n s . a g i t a t i o n s .

Only one system of mechanical action; was possible, regardless of the

source of the vibration: greater movements divide into smaller ones,

and these in turn divide again. The air, being a three-dimensional medium,
seemed the most plausible source of the simultaneous vibrations:

90see Mersenne, "Traite'des instrumens," Bk. VI, corollary ii, p. 397;

cf., Lenoble, Mersenne. ou la naissance du mêchanlsme. p. 434.

^^Mersenne, "T ra ite des instrum ens," He. IV, prop, i x , p. 210.

^^Ibid. . Bk. VI, prop, x l i i , pp. 396-97.


le dis qu'il se fait de petits
retours d'air dans chaque grand
retour du mesme air, ... & par
consequent que chaque partie
d'air, dont le mouuement dure
vn moment en faisant le son graue,
endure encore en soy quelque sorte
de tremblement, ou de frémissement
semblable à celuy des Cloches
tremblantes, ou de l'eau qui
fremist dans vn verre, lors
qu'on le fait sonner en pressant
le doigt sur son bord, & que
l'air est trois fois agite par
ces petites secousses, tandis
qu'il fait chacjm de ses plus
grands retours.
Not having the supposed limitations of the stretched string, the air could
346
I say that small vibrations of air
are made in each vibration of the
same air, . . . and as a consequence,
that each part of the air, vihose
motion lasts a moment in making the
low.sound, still undergoes some sort
of trembling within itself, or some
quivering similar to that of trembling
bells or of the water that quivers
in a glass when one makes it sound
by pressing a finger on its edge, and
that the air is agitated three times
by these little shocks while it makes
each of its larger vibrations.

conceivably divide into 2, 3, 4, and 5 parts and each of these could

likewise divide. Five was the minimum number of divisions that would

account for the pitches he observed. Prom this basis Mersenne formulated

the principle that nature follows the easiest division of all, namely, 1,

2, 3, 4> 5, etc.,^^ however, as will be seen in the discussion of trumpet

notes, he ruled out the possibility of divisions into 7, 11, 13, and 14

parts. Mersenne was convinced that nature's progress depends on harmony,

95
which, for him, meant that only consonant intervals could be generated.

The first five numbers included the minimum terms of consonance, 1, 2, 3,

96
and 5, as stipulated by Descartes,^ and explained the most frequently

observed partials, the octave, twelfth, fifteenth, and seventeenth. The

93ibld.. p. 396.

94ibld.. Bk, IV, prop, ix, p. 210.

95%bid.. Bk, V, prop, xii, pp. 250-51.

9^escartes, Compendium musicae. pp. 105î 131.
 347

other partials listed, the tenth (10:4), twentieth (20:3), and the

twenty-third (9:1), could apparently be accounted for by divisions of

"lesser movements." In this way Mersenne could describe the ninth

harmonic "as 1 to 3" because he conceived it as resulting from the third

part of a third. His clever rationalization of "nature's progress" neatly

eliminated the problem of a partial with the ratio 1 to 7: there can be

97
no seventh harmonic because it forms no consonance with the other partials.

The Oddities of Bell Partials

Compared to Mersenne>s treatment of string partials, his pronouncements

about bell partials were considerably less confident. The partials of

bells may have been easier to detect, but the advantage was more than offset

by the variabilitiesi.and irregularities bells presented. For one thing,

bells obviously vibrated in several ways at the same time, a condition

98
Mersenne recognized but could not explain to his satisfaction.' He also

realized that partials varied in different bells and that altering the

dimensions of bells would produce changes in the spectrum of pitches.

La raison est difficile à The reason [for this variation] is

trouuer, si ce n'est que l'on die
que les différentes parties de la
Cloche tremblent différemment, &
que les fremissemens de celles qui
se meuuent plus viste sont aux
fremissemens de celles qui se
meuuent plus lentement, comme
quatre, cinq, ou six est à deux:
difficult to find, unless one says
[l] that the various parts of the bell
tremble differently and that the
quiverings of those that move more
rapidly stand in relation to those
that move more slowly as four, five,
or six is to two;

^%ersenne, "Traite des instrumens," Bk, 7 , prop, x l i i , p, 252,

98.
Ib id . . Bk, VII, prop, x v i i i , pp. 36-7.

ou que ces differens tons viennent
des différentes parties, ou
portions des spheres, qui com­
posent la Cloche, car l»vne de
ses parties est descrire par
l ’ouuerture du compas de trente
parties, & l'autre par celle de
douzej or douze est à trente,
comme deux à cinq; d'où il
s'ensuit que la Cloche doit
faire la Dixiesme maieure, lors
qu'elle est faite selon ces ouuer-
tures, & que quand elle ne la
fait pas, elle suit d'autres
proportions.99
3A8
or [2] that these various tones
originate from various parts or
sections of the spheres that form
the bell, because one of its parts
is traced by the opening of the
compass to thirty units and another
by an opening of twelve. How
twelve is to thirty as two is to
five; from which it follows that
the bell should produce the major
tenth when it is made according to
these measurements, and that when­
ever it does not it follows other
proportions.

The well-lcnown influence of metal density on the quality of the sound caused

Mersenne to speculate at length on other possible physical explanations,

but none of them met his complete a p p r o v a l . N o t h i n g about the physical

aspects of bells seemed to cause Mersenne to change his view of the consonant

principle regulating the pitches of the partials. If anything, the partials

of bells seemed to reinforce his confidence in that principle. It is not

surprising that Mersenne reported several different spectra for the

partials of bells. % a t is surprising are the similarities of the patterns:

prime
101
8va maj.10th 12th
102
prime 8va maj .10th or 11th 12th
103
prime 8va maj.10th 11th or 12th
104
prime 8va 12th, etc.

99jbid.. p. 36.

lOOlbid.. prop, xix, pp. 37-8,

lOllbld.. prop, xviii, p. 36.

IQ^Ibid.
103Mersenne, Harmonie universelle. "Traitez des consonances," Bk. I,
prop. XXX, p. 77.
l^^^See Mersenne's hand-written marginal note, in Mersenne, "Traite
des instrumens," Bk. VII, prop, xviii, p. 36; cf., Mersenne, Correspondance.
VIII, 69.
 349

The first and last correspond with the two patterns he reported for

strings. This is only one of the factors that suggest all of his ob­

servations were influenced or biased by his belief in a single principle

of generation.

Before judging the objectivity of Mersenne's findings, it is

necessary to determine what he meant by the intervals of bells. The

"propre ton" of a bell could be interpreted several ways, as the strike

tone, the "fundamental", or the hum tone. Although his descriptions were

not explicit, certain clues indicate that he intended the hum tone as the

prime number, lihile the statement "the proper tone ... is the strongest"

is ambiguous, another "the natural tone ... is the lowest of all" can only
105
mean the hum tone. His statement that "the major tenth is more commonly

heard than the twelfth" aptly fits the tierce. despite his reporting a

major tenth instead of the more characteristic minor tenth.Mersenne

apparently ignored the strike tone, which has a quick decay time, describing

only the tones that continue to hum.

Mersenne>s tidy spectra are suspicious looking, more because of what

he failed to report than what he did report. Except for thinness of

the soundbow, the bell dimensions he described were similar to the profile

used by the great bellfounder Van ¥ou.^^*^ The well-regulated prime, octave,

and twelfth seem entirely plausible. His statement about the intervening

partials, in the region of the tierce, is not convincing:

lOSMersenne, "Traite des instrumens," Bk. VII, prop, xviii, p. 36.

^Q%bid.: cf., Ludwig, Marin Mersenne und seine Musiklehre. p. 44.

^®’^See Mersenne, Traite des instrumens," Bk. VII, prop, ix, p. 5;

ibid..-appended illustration after p. 7; cf. Siegmund Levarie and
Ernst Levy, Tone (Kent, Ohio, 1968), pp. 158-59.
 350

Mais le Dixiesme maieure But the major tenth is more

s'entend plus ordinairement que
la Douziesme, & ces intervalles
ne sont pas tellement regiez dans
toutes sortes de Cloches que l'on
n’entende I'Onziesme, o'est a dire
la Quarte repetee, au lieu de la
Dixiesme, dans le sons de quelques
Cloches.108
commonly heard than the twelfth,
and these intervals are not so
regulated in all sorts of bells
that one does not hear the
eleventh, that is to say the compound
fourth, in place of the tenth in
the .sounds of some bells.

That the variations should all be consonant is strange indeed. Since the

best of bells have discordant partials and strike tones often differ from

the "fundamental," it appears that Mersenne was more than slightly in­

fluenced hy his theory that only consonant partials could be generated,

Mersenne's Investigation of Related Phenomena

Although Mersenne's concept of "nature's progress" can be deduced

from his ideas about overtones, the implications of that concept are more

clearly delineated in his discussions of trumpet skips and flageolet tones

in which he was forced to consider a more extensive series of tones,

Mersenne's views about sympathetic resonance are also instructive because

of their divergence from his other ideas about "nature's progress,"

The Skips of Trumpets and Overblown Pipes

The series of tones that can be produced on the trumpet received

Mersenne's enthusiastic attention. He repeatedly commented on the musical

significance he saw in the progression of intervals; For example:

^®%ersenne, "Traite des instrumens," Bk, VII, prop, x v i i i , p, 36,

 351

Parce que ie veux examiner Because I wish to examine why the

pourquoy la Trompette fait les
interualles des consonances
deuant ceux des dissonances, &
les plus grandes consonances
deuant les moindres, il faut icy
considérer les raisons desdits
interualles, afin de rechercher
pourquoy elle les choisit telle­
ment que l’on n'en peut faire
d'autres en leur place.
trumpet produces the intervals of
the consonances before those of the
dissonances, and the greater con­
sonances before the lesser, it is
necessary to consider here the ratios
of these intervals in order to in­
vestigate why it chooses them to such
an extent that one can obtain no
others in their place.

This relationship received notice in his earliest treatise, Quaestiones

in Genesim (1623)^^ and remained a favorite topic in his correspondence

for several years after the publication of the Harmonie universelle.

Although Mersenne had a limited understanding of the acoustical pro­

perties of the trumpet, he reasoned that the succession of frequencies was

regulated by a natural principle;

Or il n'y a nul doute que le How there is no doubt that the

vent est autrement poussé & modifie wind is differently impelled and
pour faire le second ton, que pour modified to produce the second tone
faire le premier, & ainsi des autres, than to make the first, and so with
& que celuy qui fait le second a the others, and that [the wind]
ses reflexions, ou ses retours deux which produces the second has its
fois aussi vistes que celuy qui fait reflections or its vibrations
le premier, ... ^ twice as fast as that which makes
Or le dis que cela arriue à the first [tone], . . .
cause que tous les agens naturels Now I say that this happens for
vont tousiours par le chemin le plus the reason that all natural agents
court, & le plus ayse quand ils ne always go by the shortest and easiest
sont pas empeschez, ... path when they are not obstructed, . .
Il est certain qu'il n'y a nulle It is certain that there is no
addition plus courte, & plus aysee addition shorter and easier than that
que celle qui se fait d'vn a vn, d'vn done by one to one, one to two, one
à deux, d'vn a trois, &c. or quand to three, etc. Now when the trumpet
la Trompette passe par les inter­ passes through the intervals that
ualles que i'ay expliquez, elle ne I have explained, it does nothing
fait autre chose que d'aiouster vn but add one to one, one to two, etc.
à vn, vn à deux, & c , m

lOSlb id . . Bk. IV, prop, x i , p. 249.

110,Cap. iv , versiculus x x i, a r t. x v i, c o ls . I699a-l699b.

111Mersenne, "Traite des instrumens," Bk. V, prop, x i i , p. 250.

 352
One might assTjme, from reading this statement, that Mersenne had struck

upon the accurate mathematical formulation of the harmonic series. Un­

fortunately, neither his text nor his table of ratios for the natural

series bears out the expected conclusions of "easiest addition" (see

Table 6 ).

\fliether Mersenne *s judgement was clouded his: desire to find harmony

in nature, or he was;isimply misinformed, is difficult to say; but he con­

cluded that the natural tones of the trumpet- correspond exactly with just
112
intervals. None of Mersenne*s statements indicates a realization that

trumpeters skipped the seventh partial by choice and adjusted the pitches

of the eleventh and thirteenth partials to conform with the diatonic scale.

Mersenne understood the mathematical consequences of progression Igr

"easiest addition".but reasoned that, because nature depends on harmony

and imitates God, the natural succession complies with the intervals

generated by monochord bisections. Realizing that mathematically the seventh

partial had to be accounted for but could not be accepted harmonically,

Mersenne asserted that Nature rejects it;

La Sesquisexte deuroit ce semble It seems that the Sesquisexta

suiure la Sesquiquinte, puis qu*elle [7:6] should follow the Sesouiouinta
est le moindre interualle, ou la [6:5], since it is the lesser in-
moindre raison qui suit la Tierce terval or the lesser ratio that
mineure, ... Mais parce qu*elle follows the minor third, . . . But
n*est ny consonance, ny difference since it is neither consonance nor
des consonances, la nature qui est difference of consonances, Nature.
harmonique, la reiette & ayme mieux which is harmonic. reiects it and
rompre la suite de ses interualles prefers to interrupt the succession
& de ses chansons, que de passer par of its intervals and of its songs
vn interualle qui ne vaut rien, que than to pass through an interval that
pour blesser 1*oreille & 1*esprit, ... is worth nothing except to offend the
ear and intellect, . . .

^^%bid. . prop, x i i i , pp. 252-53.

 3S3

TABLE 6

MERSENNE: RATIOS OF THE NATURAL TONES OF THE TRUMPET

Multiplex Ratio Pitch and Ratios in Superparticular

Numbers Interval Names Integral Numbers Ratios®

16 C sol ut fa 1ÜÜ
Major Semitone 16:1$
15 B mi 135
Major Tone 9:8
A mi la re 120
Minor Tone 10:9
12 G re sol ut 108
Major Tone 9:8
F ut fa 96
Major Semitone 16:15
10 E mi la 90
Minor Tone 10:9
9 D la re sol 81
Major Tone . 9:8
8 G sol ut 72
Fourth h i3
6 G re sol ut
Minor Third 6:5
5 E mi la U5
Major Third 5:ii
h 0 sol ut 36
Fourth * 1:3
3 G re sol ut 27
Fifth 3:2
2 C sol ut fa 18
Octave 2:1
1 0 sol ut fa 9

Source: Mersenne, "Traite des instrumens," Bk. V, prop, xi, p. 2h9»

^Superparticular ratios have been added to Mersenne's chart.

 354

Orelle ayme mieux prendre le Kow it [the trumpet] prefers to

peine d*adieuster deux mouuemens,
ou battemens d'air tout d'vn coup
pour faire la Quarte, que de n'en
adiouster qu'vn pour faire le
Sesquisextej ce qui monstre que la
Quarto ne reçoit point de diuision
harmonique, puis que la nature ne
la diuise point, comme elle diuise
la seconde Octaue, & la seconde
Quinte ...
D'ailleurs si elle faisoit la
Sesquisexte après la Sesquiquinte,
ses battemens seruiroient au
nombre Septénaire, qui ne peut
estre diuise que par l'vnite, à
laquelle elle ne peut retourner,
c'est pourquoy elle quitte ce
nombre impair, comme inutile a
l'harmonie, pçvî passer au nombre
de huict, ,
take the trouble of adding, all of a
sudden, two movements or beatings of
the air in order to malce the fourth
rather than to add only one to make
the Segnisexta. This demonstrates
that the fourth does not admit
harmonic division at all, since
Nature does not divide it at all, as
she divides the second octave and
the second fifth . . .
Moreover, if it [the trumpet]
should produce the Sesquisexta after
the Sesquiquinta, its beatings would
present the septenary number, which
can only be divided by the unity to
which it cannot return. This is why
it abandons this odd number as use­
less to harmony in order to pass
to number eight, . , .

Mersenne was apparently suggesting the same principle here that he applied
to overtones: the natural series begins with six simple divisions (in the

case of the trumpet "easiest additions").after which it prefers to subdivide.

According to this scheme, harmonics 7 and 14 can be skipped, 8, 10, and 12

are duple subdivisions, 9 is a triple subdivision, and 16 is a quadruple

subdivision.

Since Mersenne knew that trumpeters actually played a diatonic scale

in the fourth octave of the series, he assumed that, by nature, the intervals

resulted in a justly tuned scale. Such a scale results from the numbers

he assigned to the trumpet's upper octave, 72, 81, 90, 96, 108, 120, 135,

144, which follow these ratios: 8:9, 9:10, 15:16, 8:9, 9:10, 8:9, 15:16.
Use of these numbers avoids the fractions that result if the ratios are

expressed in terms of unity.

^^^Ibid. . prop, x i i i , pp. 251-52.

 355

Mersenne's line of reasoning is revealed in his comments about the

eleventh partial:
V
Mais il y a encore plusieurs choses a
considérer dans les interualles de la
Trompette: par exemple, pourquoy elle
fait le demiton maieur par son dixiesme
ton, & comme elle peut passer des dix
battemens du neufiesme son aux 10 2/3
battemens du 10, au lieu de faire vnze
battemens par I'adition de l'vnitéj
car 11 faut qu'elle suppose que dix
vaut qtdnze, afin que 10 2/3 vaillent
seize
His reasoning was perfectly logical:
But there are still several things
to consider in the intervals of
the trumpet: for example,.why it
makes a major semitone with its
tenth tone [llth partial], and how
it can pass from the ten beats [lO;l]
of the ninth sound [lOth partial]
to the 10 2/3 beats of the tenth,
instead of making eleven beats [ll:l]
by the addition of unity; for it is
necessary that it assumes that ten
is worth fifteen, so that 10 2/3
may be worth sixteen [i.e., 15:16].
if the natural series generated a

diatonic scale, the ratio between the tenth and eleventh partials should be

15:16 and the ratio between the fundamental and the eleventh partial should
2
be 1:10 /3 or 3:32. A single principle explains both the "bending" of 1:11

and the rejection of 1:7.

II faut remarquer que tous les It must be observed that all of the
sons qu'elle choisit font des sounds that it [the trumpet] chooses
consonances auec ceux qui precedent, make consonances with those that
..• ^ precede. . . .

By generating the ratios 3:32 and 3:40 for its eleventh and thirteenth

tones and by rejecting ratios involving 7, 11, and 13, the trumpet
demonstrated for Mersenne that:

Le progrez de la nature est amy de The progress of Nature is a friend

l'harmonie, qu'elle.gouueme ou of harmony, which it governs or
dont elle depend. on which it depends.

^
-^•*H ib id ... p. 253.
-^Ibid.
^ ^ Ib ld . . p. 252; c f . , Mersenne, "Traitez des consonances," Bk. I ,
propI. x x x iii, p. 85.
^^%ersenne, " T ra it/ des instrumens," Bk. V, prop, x i i , pp. 250-51.
 356
As. with overtones, the acoustical reasons for trumpet skips greatly

perplexed Mersenne. He was satisfied that the principle of the trumpet

should apply to all lip-vibrated instruments but was uncertain why it did
117
not apply consistently to organ pipes.

L«experience enseigne que les Experiment shows that the organ

tuyaux d*Orgues que l'on embouche,
ou à qui l'on enuoye le vent par la
pression plus ou moins forte des
soufflets, produisent des sons
differens, car il y en a qui montent
plus haut d'vn demiton que leur son
naturel & ordinaire, & les autres
montent plus haut d'vne Quinte, d'vne
Octaue, d'vne Douziesme, ou d'vne
Quinziesme, comme il arriue aux
Flustes & aux Trompettes. ...
Mais il est difficile d'expliquer
pourquoy tous les tuyaux ne font
pas les mesraes interualles, comme
font toutes les Trompettes. I'ay
experiments que les tuyaux ouuerts
tant gros que petits montent a
1'Octaue, si tost qu'on pousse le
vent vn peu plus fort qu'à l'ordinaire, third, the fourth, or the fifth,
sans qu'ils puissent monter à la
Tierce, à la Quarte, ou à la Quinte,
& que ceux qui sont bouchez montent
tousiours à.la Quinte, ou à la
Douziesme.
Mersenne could offer no explanation for these differences. In the case of
pipes that are sounded [by the breath]
or into which the wind is transmitted
by stronger.or weaker pressure from
the bellows produce various sounds,
for there are some [pipes] that
ascend higher than their natural and
ordinary sound by a semitone, while
others ascend by a fifth, an octave,
a twelfth, or a fifteenth, as happens
with flutes and trumpets. . . . But
it is difficult to explain why all
pipes do not produce the same in­
tervals, as do all trumpets. I have
experienced that open pipes, both
big and small, ascend to the octave
as soon as the wind is impelled a
little more forcefully than normally,
without being able to ascend to the
and that those which are stopped
always rise to the fifth or to the
twelfth.

trumpets he speculated on the possible influence of the embouchure on the

119
skips. He realized that regulating the frequencies of the vibrations

required more than one kind of adjustment from the performer. Wind pressure,
for example, could not be the sole regulator because one can produce an

^^^Ib id . . prop. XV, pp. 255-56; c f . , Mersenne, "Traitez des con­

sonances," Bk. I , prop, x v i i i , p. 6%.
^^^ersenne, "Traite des instrumens," Bk. VI, prop, x ix , p. 34-6.
^^^See Mersenne, "Traite" des instrumens," Bk. V, prop, xii, p. 250;
cf., Mersenne, Correspondance. VIII, 306.
 357
120
individual tone softly or loudly without "overblowing" to another.

Without knowledge of the modes of vibration in an air column, Mersenne's

failure to explain how frequencies are changed on the trumpet is no more

surprising than his inability to understand the mechanical production of

overtones and flageolet tones.

The Flageolet Tones of the Trumpet Marine

The Harmonie universelle contains what is probably the first serious

attempt to explain the flageolet tones and other acoustical phenomena of

121
the trumpet marine. Although Mersenne's investigation was by no means

complete, he did isolate several important factors: (l) that the trembling

bridge was responsible for producing the trumpet timbre but not for the

pattern of skips associated with "trumpet notes," (2) that if the string is

lightly touched it produces the same pitches with or without the trembling

bridge, and (3) that if the string is pressed firmly against the soundboard,

the instrument behaves like a viol producing pitches at any point on the

scale. Further, he observed, as did earlier writers, that the intermediate

tones between the "trumpet notes" are quite undesirable. These intermediate

tones occur when the string is lightly touched at points other than the
proportional divisions of the string. Seeking the relationship between the

trembling bridge and these points of division, he came close to the discovery

of nodes when he observed:

120j^grsenne, "Traite'^ des instrumens," Bk, V, prop, xv, pp. 255-57,

^^ I b id . . Bk. IV, prop, x i i i , pp. 220-21.
 358
La difficulté semble encore plus grande The difficulty seems still greater
quand on considéré que les chaualets when one considers that the bridges
doiuent aussi bien trembler, quand on must vibrate as well when points
touche les points a, c, e, f, &c. que _
a, Ç, e, f, etc, [the points between
lors qu'on touche d, g, &c. Quoy qu'il aliquot divisions] are touched as
en soit, il tremble si mal à ces points when d, g, etc, [i,e,, at one-third
que leurs sons ne valent rien, & qu'ils one-fourth, etc,J are touched, B©
sont forte d é s a g r é a b l e s that as it may, it vibrates so badly
at these points that their sounds
have no merit and are extremely
disagreeable.
One might suppose that the series of aliquot divisions exhibited on
the trumpet marine would have raised serious questions in Mersenne's mind

about Nature's progress. The truth is that Mersenne did not conceive of

these stopping points as an aliquot series but as the points where trumpet
notes sounded on a string treated as a monochord. These points produced

exactly the same interval succession that he found in the trumpet. Thus,

the first six string divisions are simple, the ratio 6:7 is skipped, and the

remaining pitches, from partials 8 to 13, proceed according to the major

hexachord.

Quant aux autres sons qui se suiuent ¥ith regard to the other sounds [8
par degrez, ils sont marquez par les to 13] that succeed each other by
cinq nombres qui suiuent 2, à degrees, they are marked by the five
sçauoir par 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7, qui font numbers that come after 2, namely,
tous les degrez de l'Hexachorde by 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7, which, with the
maieur en y comprenant le son du sound produced at point 2, give all
point 2,^^^ the degrees of the major hexachord.
As in the case of the trumpet, Mersenne postulated that the natural series,

being consonant, must sometimes break with aliquot divisions:

IZZibid.. p, 221.

123ibid,, prop, xii, p, 219,


Il est certain que les points ou
elle les imite naissent de la
premiere, seconde & troisiesme
bisection^ &c. comme i'ay prouue
au traite du Monochorde, & que
la nature tesraoigne tousiours,
ou souuent qu'elle ayme ces
diuisions en deux parties esgales,
comme les plus aysees de toutes
les possibles, ^ possibilities, . . .
359
It is certain that the points where
it imitates them [the trumpet notes]
originate from the first, second,
and third bisections, etc., as I
have shovm in the treatise on the
monochord, and that nature testifies
always, or often, that she is fond
of these divisions into equal parts
as the easiest of all the

Mersenne's conception of how the stopping points on the trumpet marine

originate from a process of "natural" bisections requires examination.

One of Mersenne’s favorite theories was that the order of consonant

intervals is determined h y a series of bisections of the monochord. The

idea was evidently first suggested to Mersenne by Descartes. It corresponds

exactly with one of the monochord divisions of the C o m p e n d i u m Crediting

an "excellent mathemetician," Mersenne presented the system in an unpublished

manuscript of 1626 almost exactly as it appears in the Harmonie universelle.

(Unfortunately, the line figure in the manuscript passage is incorrectly

127
reprinted in the Correspondance. as verified by Hyde from a photostat.)

According to the system (Table 7), the first bisection produces the unison

and octave, the second bisection adds the remaining consonances of the

Quaternarius. the third completes the consonances of the senarius. and the

fourth adds the major and minor tones and the semitone. Thus, the perfect

consonances are generated first, followed by imperfect consonances and

dissonances. Mersenne. saw this beautiful scheme reflected also in the series

^^^Tbid., prop, xiii, p. 220,

^^^Descartes, Compendium musicae. pp. 101-03.

126p^j.is Bibl. de l’Arsenal, MS, 2884., fol. 4Sr, quoted in Mersenne,
Correspondance. I, 4C2-03.

I27i’rederick Bill Hyde, "Mersenne as Theorist of l'îusic" (unpublished

Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University, 1954-)» 206 n.
 360

TABLE 7
MERSENNE; BISECTION OF THE MONOCHORD

AL e b b D ^ B

Bisection Segments Multiplex Superparticular

Ratios Ratio Series

First AC:CB 1:1 1:1

AB:BC 2:1 2:1
Second AB:AD 1:3
AD:AC 3:2
AD:CD . 3:1
AB:DB 1*:1
Third AE:AC 5:b
AE:AD 6:5
AE:CE 5:1
AD:ED 6:1
AE:EB » 5:3
ABrAE = 8:2
AB:BF 8:1

Fourth AG:AC 9:8

AE:AG 10:9

AG;CG 9:1
AE:GE 10:1
AH:AC = 1^:8
AB:AH 16:15
AD:BH 12:1
AH:HB 15:1
AB:BH 16:1
* # # e #
 361

of trumpet notes, which is his view was a natural demonstration of the

same order of generation. In a letter of September 15, 1634, Descartes

agreed that the process of bisections probably applied to both the

trumpet and the strange phenomena of the trumpet marine.129 Nothing was

said about the fact that the third bisection can produce the ratios 1:7,

6:7, and 7:8, or about why a natural process managed to select some ratios

and reject others. One must conclude that Mersenne’s statement, that the

divisions of the trumpet marine "originate from" the system of bisections,

was based on the a priori assumption that Nature is harmonic.

Sympathetic Resonance

Considering the general interest in resonance in the early seventeenth

century, it is surprising that the topic does not figure more importantly

in Mersenne’s theories. Nhile Descartes and others saw in sympathetic

130
resonance nature’s strongest demonstration of consonant order, Mersenne

was satisfied to recognize a relationship between the two but gave much

less attention to resonance than to the natural series of the trumpet.

Mersenne mentioned typical resonance effects involving identical frequencies

in the Quaestiones (l623),^^^ and, as early as 1625, he discussed response

at the octave and the fifth (twelfth?) with Bredeau.^^^ His statements

^^%ersenne, "Traitez des consonances," Bk. I, prop. xxxLii, p. 87;

Mersenne, "Traite des instrumens," Bk. V, prop, xii, pp. 250-51.
129Mersenne, Correspondance. IV, 360.
l^Opescartes, Compendium musicae. pp. 102-03.
13lMersenne, Quaestiones in Genesim. Cap. iv, versiculus xxi, art.
xvi, col, 1699b.
132Letter of January 30, 1625 from Bredeau, in Mersenne, Correspondance.
I, 191.
 362
in the Harmonie universelle concerning the intervals responsive to

resonance correspond closely with those in Descartes* Compendium.

Mersenne *s most comprehensive statement reads;

Plusieurs croyent qu'il n'y a Some believe that only strings

que les chordea à I’Vnisson, ou tout
au plus que celles de l'Octaue qui
se fassent trembler, mais 1*exper­
ience qui se fait sur vn Luth, sur
vn Tuorbe, ou sur tel autre Instru­
ment que l’on veut, monstre euidem-
ment que la Quinte, & quelques autres
Consonances ont la mesrae propriété,
quoy qu’elles ne 1’ayant pas dans
vn degre'' si parfait.
at the unison or, at most, those at
the octave make each other vibrate
but an experiment made on a lute,
theorbo, or any other instrument
you wish shows clearly that the fifth
and.-a few other consonances have
the same property although not in
as perfect a degree.

Mais il y en a peu qui ayent remarque"*
ces experiences dans la Quinte, &
moins encore:qui le remarquent dans
le Quarte, & dans les Tierces,
dautant qu’ils ne se seruent pas
d’Instrumens assez grands, assez
propres, & assez bien montez pour
ce sujet: par exemple, l’on ne
l’apperyoit pas si bien sur vn
Monochorde de 3 pieds, dont le
creux a peu de profondeur, que
sur vn Luth, dont le concaue est
fort grand, & generalement parlant,
les experiences réussissent dautant
mieux que les Instrumens sont plus
grands, & mieux montez.
Mersenne made no clear statement of resonance at the seventeenth, as
But there are few who have noticed
these experiences in the fifth, and
still fewer who observe it in the
fourth and in the thirds, as long as
they fail to avail themselves of an
instrument large enough, suitable
enough, and well enough adjusted for
this purpose. For example, one does
not perceive it as well on a three-
foot monochord, whose sound-box is
shallow, as on a lute, whose sound­
box is quite deep. And, generally
speaking, the experiments succeed
proportionately better as the
instruments are larger and better
adjusted.

did Descartes, but the context shows that he believed strings could

resonate at the simple intervals of the fifth, fourth, and the thirds;

Mais la Douziesme fait trembler But the twelfth causes the

les chordes^g^us fort que la strings to vibrate more strongly
Quinte, than the fifth, . . .

^^%ersenne, ”Traitez des consonances,” Bk. I, prop, xxi, p. 67.

134lbld.
 363
Mersenne echoed Descartes’ idea that the strength of resonance in various

intervals demonstrates the degree of consonance, but he carried it

further by concluding that all the simple consonances, including the fourth,

are subject to his demonstration;

Les 7 chordes qui font ces 7 inter-
ualles consonans, font trembler les
autres chordes plus fort que nulles
autres, puisque leurs tremblemens
se rencontrent plus souuent, & con-
sequemment que lesdites chordes
estans touchées frappent plus
souuent les chordes qui n’ont pas
este touchées,
The seven strings that make these
seven consonant intervals [8, 5, 4,
M3, m3, M6, m6] cause the other
strings to tremble more strongly
than any different ones, since their
movements coincide more often, and
consequently the strings in question
being touched affect more frequently
the strings that have not been
touched, . . .

Perhaps the logic of the coincidence theory influenced Mersenne’s judgement

about resonant effects.

The difficulties of explaining sympathetic resonance may account for

the lack of stress given it in the Harmonie universelle. Mersenne’s

commentary suggests an undercurrent of religious mistrust in any action

1^A
associated with "sympathj»- or antipathy.” He devoted more space to

denying the occult influence of the phenomenon than he did to its physical

explanation. Moreover, the explanation he presented, based on the theories

137
of Beeckman and Descartes, was directed almost entirely to the relative
138
strengths of resonance caused by coincidence of vibrations. ^ The

^^%bid.. prop, xxxiii, p. 87.

^^^bid.. prop, x-vi, pp. 25-8.

^^See letter of August, 1630 from Descartes, in Mersenne, Correspondance.
II, 604-05; letter of October 1, 1629 from Beeckman, in ibid.. p. 277; see
also Journal tenu par Isaac Beeckman de 1604 a 1634. ed. by Cornells de
¥aard. Vol. I (The Hague, 1939), fols. 67r-67v; fois. 101v-102r.

13%ersenne, ’’Traitez des consonances,” Bk. I , prop, x i i i , pp. 52-4.

 364

influence of the partial frequencies supposed in his overtone theory did

not correspond closely enough for him to suggest a connection. Mersenne

may also have been discouraged by his oxm experiments with resonance. In

the Harmonie universelle he recounted a strange situation:

L»experience enseigne aussi que de Experience also teaches that of two

deux chordes de mesme grosseur &
matière, soit de leton ou de boyau,
&c. qui sont à l’vnisson, l’vne
estant touchée fait quelquefois
trembler l'autre plus fort,
qu'elle ne tremble au son de
l'autre: par exemple, quand on
a touché la chorde A B, la chorde
G D tremble bien fort, & quand
on touche G D, la chorde A B no
tremble quasi point: ce que l'on
remarquera aysement sur vn
Monochorde monte de plusieurs
chordes à l'vnisson, dont les
vnes tremblent plus fort aux sons
des autres, qu'elles ne font
trembler les autres par leurs
sons: ...139
"While it is disappointing that Mersenne did not relate sympathetic
strings of the same thickness and
material, whether brass or gut, etc.,
which are at the unison, playing the
one sometimes makes the other
vibrate more strongly than it vibrates
at the sound of the other. For
example, when one plays the string
A B, the string G D vibrates quite
strongly, and when one plays G D the
string A B scarcely vibrates at all.
This will be easily obsei^ed on a
monochord mounted with several
strings in unison, some of which
vibrate more strongly at the sound
of the others, than they cause the
others to vibrate with their
sounds: . . .

resonance to his central theory of natural progression, it must be

remembered that no one from this period, not even Galileo, offered an

acceptable explanation for the resonance of harmonics.

Collation of Mersenne's Observations Concerning

the Harmonic Series

Regardless of how much of Mersenne's work represented the actual

discovery of new facts and how much involved the compilation of available

information, he was undoubtedly the first investigator to know so much

139Mersenne, "Traite des instrumens," Bk. IV, prop, xiii, pp. 221-22.
 365

about the phenomena related to the harmonic series. In the introduction

to this chapter, we described Mersenne’s conception of the harmonic series

as incipient, implying that he formulated a principle, but one not as

precise or comprehensive as Sauveur’s Sons harmoniques or Rameau’s

•principe sonore. I&lle Mersenne did offer a principle common to various

acoustical phenomena, he viewed natural orders as manifestations of a God-

given, universal harmony that is reflected by nature in many ways. Perhaps

the conviction that nature is harmonic enabled him to report objectively

the many variant relationships, knowing that somehow everything must fit

into its place in the universal order.

Since Mersenne did not choose to group his ideas concerning the

relevant phenomena into a single, comprehensive discussion, it is necessary

to synthesize his central thought from scattered evidence. This chapter

has already reviewed his principal ideas on individual phenomena. Two

additional kinds of evidence are instructive: (l) the terminology Mersenne

used to indicate his ideas, and (2) the cross-references he included in

his writings to suggest connections between ideas.

Terminology

Unfortunately, Mersenne’s treatises do not share the clarity of

writing exhibited in Galileo’s Piscorsi. The task of interpreting Mersenne’s

meanings is complicated by both a discursive style of writing and an

inconsistent use of terms. Some of the semantic difficulties can be

attributed "to Mersenne’s attempts to express new ideas within the limits

of traditional terms and labels.

 366
If, as it is sometimes assumed, the hamonic series principle is

simply an extension of the ancient “harmonic proportion" or the "harmonic

divisions" of Renaissance theorists, one might expect to find a trans­

itional application of the concept harmonic in Mersenne’s writings,

especially in light of his extensive study of the natural tones of the

trumpet. His use of the word harmonic was entirely conventional, and in

no case did he relate it to the components of the natural series. In

the broadest sense he, like the ancients, used harmony to express the

orderly agreement exemplified in the consonant relationships of music.

Only in this general way did he associate the natural series and harmony:

Le progrès de la nature est amy de The progress of nature is a friend

l’harmonie, ... de sorte qu’il
semble que la nature ou ses mouuemens
ne soient autre chose qu’vne
rauissante harmonie, qui nous
inuite à considérer la premiere
source, dont elle prend sa
naissance, c’est à dire à
contempler Dieu, ...^^
of harmony, . . . so that it appears
that nature or its movements are
nothing other than a ravishing
harmony that invites us to consider
the first source, from which it
takes its birth, that is to say
to contemplate God, . . .

Mersenne’s more specific uses of the term harmonie illustrate shades

of meaning from "musical" to "Just." His "harmonic hand" was of course

the Guidonian hand; the "harmonic monochord" was a monochord with rule

affixed so that numbers could be used to indicate precise divisions of the

string.Mersenne referred to these monochord numbers as "harmonic

numbers." For example,he gave the harmonic numbers 72, 31, 90, 96, 108,

120, 135, 144 to indicate the Justly tuned, diatonic (major) scale,

^^Ibid.. Bk. V, prop, xii, pp. 250-51.

141ibid.. Bk. I, prop, xiv, p. 37; Bk. II, prop, vi, p. 63.
^^ I b id . . Bk. I I , prop, v i , p. 62; Bk. 7 , prop, x i , p. 249»
 367
143
Although he usually associated harmonic numbers ^jith Just intervals,

he also used the same designation for the numbers of equal temperament.^^

Normally, harmonic numbers -were large enough to avoid the use of fractions

in the computation of ratios. His expressions "harmonic ratio" and

"harmonic temperament" refer specifically to justly tuned intervals.

Following Salinas, he used "harmonic division" and the "harmonic mean"

to divide the octave into fifth and fourth, the fifth into major and minor
146
thirds, and the major third into major and minor tones. Mersenne

deliberated the merits of dividing the fourth harmonically (6:7 & 7:8)
1Z.7
but rejected the idea. His references to "perfect harmony," meaning
148
the major triad, were few in number and in only one instance did this

imply more than the harmonic division of the fifth (4:5:6). Speculating

about improvements for the hurdy-gurdy, he proposed:

Si l’on met six bourdons qui fassent
I’Octaue, la Douziesme, la Qulnziesme,
la Dix-septiesme & la Dix-neufiesme,
suiuant les nombres 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 &
6, l’on aura vne parfaite Harmonie,
que l’on pourra varier en différentes
maniérés, en adioustant ou soustrayant
telles chordes que l’on voudra, ...
If one places six bourdon strings
on it, which make the octave,
twelfth, fifteenth, seventeenth,
and nineteenth, following the
numbers 1, 2, 3> 4, 5, and 6, one
will have a perfect harmony that
can be varied in different manners
by adding or subtracting such
strings as may be desired, . . .

^^^Ibid.. Bk. I, prop, xiv, p. 37; prop, xv, p. 40; Bk. T, prop,
xxiv, p. 280.
^^Ibid.. Bk. I, prop, xiv, p. 38.

Bk. II, prop, iii, p. 53; Bk. VI, prop, xxx, p. 367.

^^lersenne, "Traitez des consonances," Bk. I, prop, xxxiv, pp. 90-02.

^^^Ibid.. prop, xxxiii, pp. 82-9; Mersenne, "Traite des instrumens,"

Bk. V, prop, xiii, pp. 251-52.
148j,lersenne, "Traitez des consonances," Bk. IV, prop, iv, p. 213.
14%iersenne, "Traité^ des instrumens," Bk. IV, prop, x, p. 212.
 368
In no case did he apply the appellation "perfect harmony" to the
phenomrr of the harmonic series.

Mersenne had no single expression to describe his natural series.

As his discussion of overtones shows, Mersenne was usually forced to list

the ratio terms, 1, 2, 3, 4-, 5, with or without an ^ cetera. H i s

only precisely defined expression was "the natural order of consonance,"

151
which meant the terms 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8. The phrase "progress of

nature" could mean a series of bisections or of simple divisions of the

152
whole. In the discussion of the trumpet, instead of divisions of the

whole he referred to progress "by addition" as if the instrument somehow

153
added frequencies to produce the pitch changes. Such circumlocutions

would have been unnecessary had the concept "harmonic series" crystalized.

As it was, Mersenne found it necessary to speak of trumpet skips, trumpet

intervals, trumpet tones, military notes, and even the harmonic numbers
of the trumpet, meaning monochord numbers.

Interconnections

Although Mersenne’s statements about harmonic series phenomena are

usually interspersed in the,discussions of other topics, he included

Ibid.. prop. pp. 208-11.

^^%ersenne, "He l’utilité de l'harmonie," an appendix to the

Harmonie universelle, p. 36.

^^%ersenne, "Traité des instrumens," Bk. IV, prop, ix, pp. 210-11;
prop, xiii, p. 220.

l^^Ibid. . Bk. V, prop, x ii- : d .ii, pp. 250-53.

^^4lb id . . prop, x i , pp. 248 e t sgq.

 369
numerous connective references that invite his readers to make associations.
Cross references offered Mersenne a means of making associations without

having to explain the difficulties that are entailed. Since he had many

opportunities to elaborate more fully on interconnections, one may con­

clude that his reliance on this device implies a certain reluctance to

be more specific. Figure 50 illustrates the maze of interconnections that

Mersenne provided through cross references. It is useful to examine both

the connections he made and those he failed to make in estimating the

comprehensiveness of his central thought.

Writing on universal harmony, Mersenne was obviously searching for

every possible connection between natural phenomena and consonance. The

central cluster of trumpet skips, overtones. and consonance represents

his strongest set of associations. Despite variants, Mersenne's numerous

cross references regarding the overtones of diverse instruments suggest

155
that he considered them all to be controlled by one principle. In

general, the same can be said for the discussions of the overblown partiale
156
of brass instruments and many of the pipes. His strongest link between

individual phenomena, therefore, connected overtones and trumpet skips.

IJhile he linked each of these phenomena with consonance, the attention he

gave to trumpet skips in this regard indicates that he saw in them the

strongest manifestation of nature unfolding the order of consonance.

Flageolet tones appear to fit in the same cluster of associations even though

^^^Ibid.. Bk. IV, prop, v, pp. 195-96; prop, viii, pp. 205-05; prop,
ix, p. 208; prop, xiii, pp. 220-21; Bk. VII, prop, xviii, p. 36.

^56%bid.. Bk. V, prop, x, pp. 246-47; prop, xii, p. 249; prop, xxi,
pp. 271-72; prop, xix, p, 346.
 370

Timbre Synthesis
(RLpe mixtures)

Overtones

Flageolet Consonance
Tones

Sympathetic
Resonance
Trumpet Skips

Overbloxm Pipes
(open)

OverbloTrm Pipes
(closed)

Figure $ 0 , Mersenne's interconnections of harmonic-series phenomena

*"Traite des instrumens," Bk. 17, prop, xiii, p. 221.

^"Traitez des consonances," Bk. I, prop, xxx, p. 77.

®"Traitë des instrumens," Bk. V, prop, xii, p. 2^0.

‘^"Traitez-des consonances," Bk. I, prop, xxi, p. 67.

®"Traite des instrumens," Bk. VI, prop, xix, p. 3h6.

^Ibid., Bk. IV, prop, ix, p. 211. Slbid., Bk. VI, prop, xxxü, p. 37k.

^Ibid.. Bk. V if prop. xHi, p. 397.

 371
he drew no direct connection between that particular phenomenon and

consonance. Perhaps the omission was due to the relative unimportance

of flageolet tones in music.

The most disappointing aspect of the factors considered in the chart

was Mersenne's treatment of tonal synthesis in organ mixtures. Here,

at the threshold of a great discovery about the relation of overtones to

timbre, Mersenne seemed satisfied to draw only the most tenuous links

between the interval relationships he observed in organ pipe combinations

and the interval orders of other physical phenomena. His statements take

it for granted that only consonant combinations are logically possible and

that within this framework all combinations are useful "assuming they are
157
well-tuned together." He did remark, nevertheless, that certain

imitative combinations depend on the interval structure:

La consideration de tous les The consideration of all the

jeux différents de l'Orgue, tant
simples que composez n'est pas
indigne des bons esprits, qui en
peuuent tier des cognoissances
particulières pour perfectionner,
ou pour commencer la Philosophie
fondée sur les différentes experi­
ences d l'oreille, de l'oeil & des
autres sens: par exemple, le ieu
de Hazard compose de d^ux tuyaux
qui sont à la Quinte, a la
Douziesme, ou à la Dix-neufiesme
l'vn de l'autre, imite ceux qui
parlent du nez, & nazarde, à raison
de ces deux sons; ce qui donnera
occasion de rechercher pourquoy les
battemens, dont l'vn bat trois ou
six fois au mesme temps que l’autre
bat vne ou deux fois, engendrent
plustost ce nazard, que ceux de la
Quinziesme, dont l'vn bat quatre fois
tandis que l'autre ne bat qu'vne
fois, &c. ...
registers of the organ, both simple
and compound, is not unworthy of ex­
pert minds, who can draw upon some
specific knowledge in order to per­
fect or to commence the philosophy
based on the diverse experiences of
the ear, the eye, and the other
senses. For example, the Hazard,
composed of two pipes that are at the
fifth, the twelfth, or the nineteenth
of one another, imitates people who
spealc through their nose and malces a
nasal sound because of these two
sounds. This will provide an opp4-
ortunity to investigate why the
vibrations, one of which beats tliree
or six times at the same time the
other beats one or two times, give
rise to this nasal sound instead of
those of the fifteenth, one of which
beats four times while the other
beats only once, etc. . . .

157ibid., Bk. VI, corollary i, p. 374: "l'on peut vser de tous ces
jeux en toutes ces maniérés, supposé qu'ils accordent bien ensemble, ...'
 372

I'adiouste encore que ce que Further, I add that what malces

rend le ieu du Cornet different
des autres, depend particulièrement
de la Dix-septiesme, qui fait vn
petit son aigu, lequel imite celuy
du Cornet de Musique, ... car les
quatre autres tuyaux, qui font
l'Vnisson, l'Octaue, la Douziesme
& la Quinziesme, & mesmes ceux
qui font la Tierce & la Dixiesme
maieure ne peuuent parfaitement
imiter le Cornet, quand la Dix-
septiesme est absente, ...
Quand le ieu du Cornet ...
est mesle auec le Tremblant, & auec
le Cleron il fait vn ieu tres-
excellent, lequel imite plustost
les Hauts-bois qu le Cornet à
bouquin.^^
In spite of the fact that Mersenne realized certain intervals were somehow
the Cornet stop different from the
others depends especially on the
seventeenth, which produces a small,
high sound that imitates the actual
cornett,. . . for the other four
pipes, which make the unison, octave,
twelfth, and fifteenth, and even
those that make the major third
and tenth, cannot perfectly imitate
the cornett when the seventeenth
is absent. . . .
T’
ihen the Cornet stop . . . is
mixed with the Tremulant and with
the Clairon, it makes a very
excellent mixture that imitates the
oboes, rather than the Cornet à
bouQuin.

responsible for imitating particular timbres, he made almost nothing of

the coincidence between these intervals and overtone relationships or of

the influence of overtones on timbre.

II faut encore remarquer que It is further necessary to notice

quelques Organistes font des
jeux, dont les mesme tuyaux
ont tous les deux sons dont
nous venons de parler.
that some organists compose stops
each of whose pipes have the two
sounds that we have just mentioned
[i.e.,,the fundamental and the
twelfth].

The problems of explaining why combinations of pipes could imitate the

sounds of other instruments apparently obscured the seemingly obvious

similarities between deliberate synthesis and overtones.

The lack of cross references between sympathetic resonance and the

other phenomena is a convincing indicator that Mersenne did not conceive

15%T3id.. corollary ii, pp. 374-75.

159lbid.. corollary ii, p. 397.

 373

of a single physical principle uniting them. He was confronted by a

complex of bothersome factors. Although sympathetic resonance seemed

closely related to the coincidence of frequencies, the available evidence

failed to suggest to Mersenne that the responsive intervals follow the

same pattern as overtones and trumpet skips. Furthermore, Mersenne was

not satisfied with any single explanation of consonance, the only factor

that seemed common to all p h e n o m e n a , L i k e Descartes, he recognized

discrepancies between logical ratio orders and the perceptual orders that

musicians agreed upon,^^^ The ambivalent nature of the fourth was an

obvious example of the conflict between practice and traditional theory.

Conceding that usage and taste might alter judgements of consonance,

Mersenne was content to assert the broad generalization that Mature is

harmonious rather than to rely entirely on a fixed order demonstrated by

various phenomena. Yet the tone of his writing and the points of emphasis

suggest that Mersenne would have gladly embraced a fixed, natural basis

for consonance had he been able to assemble a more persuasive set of proofs,

**************************************

Mersenne*s efforts to relate all of the tonal aspects of acoustical

phenomena with a theory of consonance became a milestone in the history

of musica speculativa. By compiling and publishing this information in

his French and Latin Harmonies. Mersenne ushered in an age of preoccupation

l60j,jersenne, "Traitez des consonances," BIc, I, prop, xxxiii, pp, 87-8,

^^^See ibid.. prop, i, pp. 1-2; prop, iii, pp. 8 et sea; cf.,
commentary by De Vaard in Mersenne, Correspondance. Ill, 220-21,
l62j^Qygenne, "Traitez des consonances," Bk, I, corollary iv, p, 89.
 374 /
with the acoustical foundations of harmonic practice. His investigation
of overtones is important to the history of acoustics because he identified

the proper interval relationships in the lower part of the series. Un­

fortunately, confusion about the physical principles involved kept Mersenne

from offering a definitive statement of the overtone series. One year

before Mersenne died he wrote to Constantin Huygens that the explanation '

of the simultaneous partials was the greatest difficulty he had encountered

in music:

La plus grande dificulte'' que The greatest difficulty that I have

j'aye recentre"'dans la Musique, est
que quoy et quant et pourquoy la
voix qui est l'une des plus basses
qu'on puisse prendre, ou plusieurs
voix ensemble font oi^re leur propre
ton, vn autre son en haut à la
douzième ou double quinte. Ce qui
ariue aussi aux grosses chordes
d'une viole touchée, ,,.
Certes puisqu'a à bon droit
l'on vous peut appeller pere ou
patron de la Musique, cette
difficulté mérité que vous ne
la laissez pas au monde, et que
pour vour mesme elle ne soit
deraonstree par qui que ce soit,
si clair que chacun en voye
la raison, ,,,
Ne permettez point que prochain
(?) siecle vous ayde et qu'elles
demeureront sans la vraye solution;
que ie priferay plus que tout le
reste de 1»harmonie,
Having observed the characteristics of overtones, Mersenne realized that
encountered in music is how, why, and
wherefore does the voice that is one
of the lowest obtainable, or do
several voices together produce
beyond their own tone another sound
above at the twelfth, or double
fifth. This also happens with the
thick strings of a viol that is
played, , , ,
Indeed, since with good reason
one can call you father or patron
of music, this difficulty merits
that you do not leave it existing
and that, for your ov/n sake, it
is not demonstrated by anyone else
so clearly that everyone sees the
proof,*,,. Do not allow either the
next age to help you, or these
sounds to remain without the true
solution, which I shall prize more
than all the rest of harmony.

this phenomenon in some way obeyed the same principle of generation as the

skips of the trumpet and the flageolet tones of the trumpet marine. The

^^^Letter of January 12, 1647 from Mersenne to Constantin Huygens,

in Christian Huygens, Oeuvres completes. Vol. I: Correspondance
1638-1696 (The Hague, 1888), 59-60,
 CHAPTER IX

THE CONTRIBUTIONS OP THE ACADEMICIANS DURING THE PERIOD

FROM MERSENNE TO RAMEAU

Considering the great accomplishment of Mersenne, it is surprising

that further progress in the investigation of the interrelationships

between tonal phenomena and just intervals was so slow. More than sixty

years elapsed before another investigator, Joseph Sauveur, dealt as

comprehensively with these particular acoustical phenomena as Mersenne,

and nearly a century had passed before another music theorist, Jean-Philippe

Rameau, added significantly to the musical relationships postulated by

Mersenne.

During the century between Mersenne and Rameau, speculative theorists

continued to be absorbed with the Pythagorean notion of a divinely-given

harmony of the universe.^ This idea had been revitalized by Kepler's

Harmonices mundl (l6l9), in vdaich he reappraised world harmony in the

li^t of the Copemican system and empirical observations made possible by

2
the telescope. However, unlike the scholarly investigators, Mersenne and

Kircher, the practical musicians of the period tended to discount purely

acoustical phenomena as curiosities of nature rather than as meaningful

See Otto Kihkeldey, "The Music of the Spheres," Bulletin of the

American Musicologrical Society. Nos. 11-13 (September, 1948)» 30-2; also
see Cecil D. Adkins, "The Theory and Practice of the tfonochord" (unpublished
Ph. D. dissertation, Iowa, 1963), pp. 450-57j 467-73.
^See l^arie Boas, The Scientific Renaissance. 1550-1630 (London, 1962),
pp. 293-312.
376
 377
démonstrations of universal harmony. Most practitioners, indeed, were
apparently unaware of Mersenne’s acoustical discoveries. The general

attitude is typically reflected in a statement by Christopher Simpson

concerning the "Divine Principle from whence all Harmony proceeds;"

TfJhen I further consider that Three Sounds placed by the

Interval of a Third one above another, do constitute one entire
Harmony, which governs and comprises all the Sounds which by
Art or Imagination can, at once, be joyned together in Musical
Concordance; This I cannot but think a significant Bnbleme
of that Supreme and incomprehensible Three in One. Governing,
Comprising and Disposing the whole Machine of the world with
all its included parts, in a most perfect and stupendious Hazmoi^.
I insist not upon things of common observation, as that
a String being struck, the like String of another Instrument
(tuned in Concordance to it) should also sound and move; or
that the Sound of a Sackbot, Trumpet, or like extended Tube,
should, by a stronger emission of the Breath, skip from
Concord to Concord before you can force it into any gradation
of Tones, etc. Uhat I have already mention’d [concerning
the harmony of the spheres] is enough to persuade me that
there is a greater mystery in the Harmony of Sounds, than what
hath been yet discovered.^

■While musicians increasingly regarded the bass line as the foundation of

harmonic organization and the major triad as a principal unit of vertical

construction, these developments resulted from stylistic changes and were

Justified by monochord relationships, not by acoustical considerations.

On the other hand, the learned men of the period among vâiom were a

number of amateur scientists characterized as "virtuosi," were concerned

with the physical sciences: including acoustics.^ Following the example of

Francis Bacon and Descartes, they became increasingly skeptical of

^Christopher Simpson. The Division-Yiol (2d ed.; London, 1665), p. 24.

^Frederick 1. Hussbaum, The Triumph of Science and Reason. 1660-1685
(New York, 1962), pp. 7-8; A. Rupert Hall, From Galileo to Newton. 1630-
1720 (New York, 1963), pp. 26-30.
 378

scholastic doctrine and more reliant on direct observation.^ Some of the

great thinkers of the time, including Vallis, Newton, Hooke, Francis

North, Huygens, Leibnitz, Claude Perrault and Fontanelle, were interested

in music and its relation to acoustical matters. Though none of these

men devoted as much attention to music as Mersenne, some of their

observations influenced musical thought in the eighteenth centuiy.

During Mersenne's time, scientific ideas and the results of experi­

mental work were often transmitted through personal letters. Mersenne

himself has been described as "the secretary general of learned Europe,"^

and he was only one of many figures who helped disseminate information by
7
means of an extensive correspondence. About the middle of the seventeenth

century, scientific academies were established at Florence, London, Paris,

g
and various towns in Germany. These groups began to promote scientific

interchange in published journals that provide an index to the subjects

they took under consideration. Among those subjects acoustics now emerged

as a sister science of optics. Interest centered on the general aspects

of sound: the mechanism of the ear, the acoustic medium, the velocity of

sound, echo, and the relation of pitch and frequency.^ But, before

^Hall, From Galileo to Nevrbon. pp. 103-09; David A. Kronick, A

History of Scientific and Technical Periodicals (New York, 1962), pp. 41-7.
%. Sergescu, "Mersenne l'Animateur," Revue d'Histoire des Sciences.
II (1948), 6, quoted in Kronick, History of Scientific Periodicals, p. 53.

"^Kronick, History of Scientific Periodicals, pp. 53-9.

^Abraham ¥olf, A History of Science. Technology, and Philosophy in
the l6th and 17th Centuries (2nd ed.: New York. 1950). I. 55-69: Hall.
From Galileo to Newton, pp. 132-54.
^Edwin G. Boring, Sensation and Perception in the History of Experi­
mental Psychology (New York," 1942), pp. 321^24..
 379

Sauveur»a work, relatively little attention was directed to the phenomena

governed ty the harmonic series. ?y systematically reassessing Mersenne's

earlier findings. Sauveur was able to formulate a complete system. Yet

Sauveur»s scope of interest was much more restricted than Mersenne's,

Perhaps the musical connections proposed ly Mersenne were more clearly

championed in Fontanelle»s critical reviews of Sauveur»s writings than

in the writings themselves.

Sections of this chapter are devoted to the major discoveries after

Mersenne and the formulation of ideas that can be considered the basis
for Rameau»s principe sonore. These sections concern the discovery of

nodes, the correct mathematical statement of the trumpet series, the

affirmation of the harmonic series principle, and the assertion that music
has certain acoustical foundations.

From the Discovery of Nodes to the Proper Mathematical

Statement of the Trumpet Series

Mersenne and his contemporaries lacked one bit of information that

ml^t have unravelled the mystery of harmonic resonance and given a more

accurate picture of "nature's progress," This key factor was the reali­

zation that nodal points, or points of minimal motion, exist in the complex

pattern of the vibrating string and other sonorous vibrators, Mersenne's

conviction that the stretched string makes a single, continuous pattern

denied him the conception of nodes and the implications that accrue.
It was no accident that discovery of nodes took place in England,

The invention or importation of instruments with sympathetic strings about

1600 gave seventeenth-century Englishmen a more extensive contact with the
 380

phenomenon of sympathetic resonance than other Europeans. Even so, over

half a century ..elapsed before English scientists offered an explanation

of harmonic resonance. In so doing they added an essential facet to the

understanding of the harmonic series without, however, completely grasping

other aspects already explored by Mersenne.

The Discovery o f Nodes

In 1677 John Wallis published a letter in the Philosophical Transactions

"concerning a new Musical Discovery."^® He reported that by means of

sympathetic resonance strings can be induced to vibrate in aliquot segments

and that between these segments are points of no motion;

Whereas it hath been long since observed, that, if a Viol

string, or Lute string, be touched with the Bow or Hand,
another string on the same or another Instrument not far
from it, (if an Unison to it, or an Octave. or the like)
will at the same time tremble of its own accord. The
cause of it, (loaving been formerly discussed by divers,)
I do not now inquire into. But add this to the former
Observation; that, not the whole of that other string
doth thus tremble, but the several parts severally,
according as they are Unisons to the whole, or the parts
of that string which is so struck. For instance, sup­
posing A C to be an upper Octave to a v, and therefore
an Unison to each half of it, stopped at/9 x

A__________________ C

/3
Now if, while tfvis open, A G be struck; the two halves
of this other, that is, ckj3 and^> , will both tremble;
but not the middle point at/3 . Which will easily be
observed, if a little bit of paper be lightly wrapped
about the string a v , and removed successively from one
end of the string to the other

10"Dr. Wallis's Letter to the Publisher," Philosophical Transactions.

XII (1677), 839-42.
l llb id . . pp. 839-40.
 381

Further examples show that strings pitched a twelfth or a fifteenth higher

than the given string will also cause it to vibrate in segments. The

illustrations are somewhat misleading because the lines are equal in length

instead of being proportional according to their pitches. Wallis perhaps

intended string thickness and tension to account for the tunings. His

final example suggests sympathetic resonance induced by a harmonie of the

struck string:
If A G be a Fifth to & n ; and consequently each half of that
stopped in D, an Unison to each third part of this [on]

A________!_______ G
cr.

stopped invtj while that [AG] is struck, each part of this

will tremble severally, but not in points 6 j and while
this is struck, each of that will tremble, but not the
point D. The like will hold in lesser concords; but the
less remarkably as the number of divisions increases.^

According to Wallis these discoveries had been made about three years

earlier by William Noble and Thomas Pigot, each working independently of

the other. In a later publication. De algebra tractatus (1693), Wallis

indicated that word of the experiments of these gentlemen had been trans-

mitted to him by the Irish Bishop, Narcissus Marsh in 1676. Karsh’s

"Essay to the doctrine of Sounds, containing some proposals for the

improvement of Acousticks," published in 1684, does not refer to this matter.^

^^Ibid. . p. 840»
l^See C. Truesdell, The Rational Mechanics of Flexible or Elastic
Bodies. 1638-1788 (Zurich, I960), p. 118 n.
^^Philosophical Transactions. XIV (l684), 472-88,
 282

Although "Wallis offered no special term for the newly discovered

nodal points, he presented some important observations of his own;

I add this further, (which I took notice of upon occasion of

making trial of the other, ) that the same string, as being
struck in the midst at^s , (each part being unison to the other,)
will give no clear Sound at all; but very confused.15

Recognizing that others had also observed that a string struck at the mid­

point gives no clear sound, he pointed out that the same holds tirue if

the string is struck at the one-third, one-fourth, two-fifths, or other

points of "consonant divisions," thou^ the effect is again "less

remarkable as the number of divisions increaseth."^^ His explanation of

these phenomena has been cited as proof of his understanding of harmonics;

but Wallis's actual statement reads:

This and the former [harmonic resonance] I judge to depend upon

one and the same cause; viz. the contemporary vibrations of the
several Unison parts, which make the one tremble at the motion
of the other: But when struck at the respective points of
divisions, the sound is incongruous, by reason that the point
is disturbed which should be at rest, (italics mine.)!'

Boyle, Boring, and Falisca each concluded that Wallis understood the
relationship between harmonic resonance and overtones.18 It should be

observed, however, that Wallis did not mention the overtone phenomena, nor

did he give an absolutely clear statement of the complex ways in lAich a

15nDr, Wallis's Letter to the Publisher, concerning a New Musical

Discovery," p. 8A1.
l^Ibid.
17lbid.

l^Ll. S Lloyd and Hugh Boyle, Intervals. Scales, and Temperaments

(New York, 1963), p. 3; Boring, Sensation and Perception in Psychology.
pp. 325-25; 357; Claude V, Palisca, "Scientific Ekpiricism in Musical
Thought," in Seventeenth CentTirv Science and the Arts, ed. by E. S.
Rhys (Princeton, 1961), pp. 99-100. — —
 383

string vibrates. Instead, he used the phrase ''contemporary vibrations

of the several Unison parts," which implies segmentation but not necessarily

in several modes at once. Neither of his tests— by the point of ex­

citation or ly paper riders— could demonstrate the simultaneous existence

of nodal points from different modes of vibration. The knowledge of over­

tones possessed by English scholars during this period will be discussed

below in greater detail. Here it is the importance of their discovery of

nodes that must be stressed. Within a very few years, that discovery led

to the correct mathematical formulation of the series of flageolet tones

and the skips of the trumpet.

The Mathematical Statement of the Trumpet Series

A brief but well-organized essay by Francis Roberts, "A Discourse con­

cerning the Musical Notes of the Trumpet, and Trumpet-Marine, and of the

defects of the same," appeared in the Philosophical Transactions in 1692.

20
Roberts, a Fellow of the Royal Society and composer of some merit, was

interested in two inquiries;

1. Whence it comes to pass that the Trumpet will perform no
:other Notes . . . but only those in the Table, \Mch are
usually called by î-îusicians Trumpet-Notes. [See Fig.i5l]
2. What is the reason that the 7th, 11th, 13th, and 14th __
Notes are out of Tune, and the others exactly in Tuna.

Hy associating three separate phenomena, harmonic resonance, flageolet tones,

and the trumpet series, Roberts was successful in identifying the correct

succession of tones in the harmonic series. Realizing that, despite

J-9ph-îlosophical Transactions. W l (l692), 559-63.

^^John Wilson, ed., Roger North on Music (London, 1959), p. 350.

2lRoberts, "A Discourse concerning the Musical Notes of the Trumpet,"
p. 559.
 381,

Aliquot
divisions % lyo
75LO 3&0 ^

aÎ-el, ét
J t' ^1^ T Û --------- — ' |=
Just
divisions:

' €>3% 60 SI 5/7 Vg

<}o go 7%.
JL -j=L ^

90 ao TU 67^',. 0O 5*9 5<» 4? 45

yigure ^1. Roberts: Trumpet notes measured in monoohord numbers

 385
acoustical differences, the trumpet and trumpet marine produce the same

series of tones, he assumed that an explanation of the trumpet marine

vould provide the answer to his first inquiry. Following a review of

earlier experiments with harmonic resonance, he offered a refined state­

ment of the phenomenon:

In short this Experiment [resonance between strings] holds when

any Note is struck which is a unison to some aliquot part of
the [responding] String, . . .
In this case (the vibrations of the equal parts of a String
of being Synchronus) there is no contrariety in their motion to
hinder each other, , . ,22

Instead of relating resonance to consonance, as "Wallis and all other previous

writers had, Roberts offered an open-ended formula that permitted him to

compare resonance with an extensive series of flageolet tones. He observed

that the gentle stopping technique used on the trumpet marine allows the

string to vibrate in segments, but only if the thumb touches it at points

of aliquot division (i.e., at nodal po ints)Thus, Roberts was able to

demonstrate what Mersenne, lacking the knowledge of nodes, failed to

realize: flageolet tones follow a series of segmented vibrations of the

whole string.

means of a monochord measured in 720 units, Roberts determined

which tones derived from aliquot divisions coincide with just ratios and

which do not (see Figure 51). In this way, he showed that the 7th, 13th,

and 14th tones are flat, and the 11th tone is sharp.^^ Roberts' monochord

22ibid.. pp. 560-561.

^3lbld.. p. 561.

2^IMd., p. 562.
 386

nmbers give the exact deviation of the "ont-of-tnne" partiale and thereby

illustrate how easily such small differences could have gone unnoticed

by earlier theorists investigating the trumpet marine. For example, the

deviation of the eleventh partial is about two units, which in terms of

a five-foot string on a trumpet marine is a distance of only one-sixth of

an inch.

Confident of his solution for the series of the trumpet marine,

Roberts returned to the consideration of the trumpet:

Now to apply this (in a few words) to the Trumpet, where the
Notes are produced only by the different force of the breath;
it is reasonable to imagine that the strongest blast raises
the sound by breaking the Air within the Tube into the shortest
vibrations, but that no Musical sound will arise unless they
are suited to some aliquot part, and so by reduplication
exactly measure out the whole length of the instrument, . , .
To which we add that a Pipe, being shortened according to the
Proportions we even now discours'd of in a String, raises the
sound in the same degrees, it renders the case of the Trumpet
just the same with the M o n o c h o r d . ^5

Unaware of the discrepancies between strings and air columns with an open

end, Roberts assumed they could both be measured in precisely the same
way. A century later, Hawkins fell into the same error in a comment about

this very passage:

To these remarks of Mr. Roberts another not less curious

and difficult to account for, may be added, viz., that the
chord of the trumpet marine is precisely equal in length to
the tj^pet, supposing it to be one continued uninflected
tube.26

Roberts closed his essay with what seems to be the first accurate

statement of the harmonic series of tones:

2 5 lb id .. p . 563.
26john Hawkins, A General History of the Science arid Practice of
Music (Reprint ed.; New York, 1963), II, 606 n.
 387
For a Corollary to this Discourse, we may observe that
the distances of the Trumpet notes ascending, continually
decreased in proportion of l/l 1/2 1/3 1/4 1/5 in infinitum.^?
His assertion that the series is infinite reflected a contemporary pre­

occupation with infinite processes that had been stimulated by Cavalier!'s

Geometria indivisibilibus continuorum (1635) and ‘Wallis's Arithmetica

infinitorum ( 1 6 5 5 ) Indeed, the presently used algebraic symbol for

infinity was introduced by Wallis.^9 It seems no accident that acousticians

recognized the operation of the harmonic series in sonorous vibrators during

the very period when mathematicians were developing new tolls for analysis
30
in the form of the calculus. The new mathematical concepts undoubtedly

encouraged Roberts in his proposal of a natural and infinite progression

that defies "universal harmony" by including nonmusical intervals. In defense

of Mers.enne'a "incipient series" it should be observed that even Wallis,

a pioneer in the study of infinite series, was content to limit harmonic

resonance to consonant ratios. No reference to consonance is to be found in

Roberts' essay.

Knowledge of Overtones in England

It is puzzling that Roberts should fail to mention overtones after

recognizing the connection between harmonic resonance, flageolet tones on

^"^Roberts, "A Discourse concerning the Musical Notes of the Trumpet,"

p. 563.
^%irk J. Struik, A Concise History of Mathematics (3d ed.; New York,
1967), pp. 10^6; 110-11.
29w. W. Rouse Ball, A Short Account of the History of Mathematics
(4th ed.; London, 1908), p. 243.
30
Tobias Dantzig, Number. The Languarce of Science (4th ed.; Garden
City, N. Y., 1956), pp. 138-40.
 388

the trumpet marine, and the trumpet series. Since he was so close to

anticipating the discoveries of Sauveur, it seems necessary at this point

to investigate why Roberts made no further generalization.

It has often been assumed that because the English discovered nodal

points they necessarily realized that strings vibrate in many modes

simultaneously, and thereby produce a compound of overtones in a single

sound. There is reason to believe, however, that the English either

ignored or were unaware of the overtones in string sounds until well after

Sauveur’s publications. As far as can be ascertained, English authors made

no unequivocal statements about the overtones as a harmonic series before

1740. In that year John Lampe published The Art of Musick. a treatise

based on Rameau's theories, and James Qrassineau, secretary to Johann

Pepusch, published A Musical Dictionary "interspersed with curious Obser­

vations on the Phaenomena of Sound." Lampe, following the doctrines of

Rameau, proposed that the natural basis of music is found in the s i x "com-

bined sounds" heard during the vibration of a string,"^ îfereover, he

criticized earlier.theorists, especially Pepusch, for not knowing the

3 2
"true operations of nature." Lampe objected to learned theories based

on mathematics, insisting that Nature, in her free operation, provides the

proper basis for music:

The Motion or Vibration of one single String gives a perfect

Connection, or Chain of Harmony: And from this great Original
of musical Sounds, as from the Fountain Head, all practical
Harmony is naturally and truly derived.^^

3^John Frederick Lampe, The Art of Musick (London, 1740), pp. 18-26.

^^Ibid.. p. 9j 36.
33ibid.. p. 18.
 389
Grassineau*s Dictionary, though based largely on Brossard’s Dictionnaire

de Musique (1703), contains acoustical references not to be found in the

earlier work. Overtones are mentioned in the articles on "sound," which

considers Perrault"s acoustical theories, and on "harmonical sounds," which

contains a resume of Sauveur"s findings.Although Grassineau also re­

viewed the researches of ¥allls, Roberts, and various other English writers,

he specifically credited Sauveur as being the first to consider the re­

lationships of intervals according to the series of harmonical sounds:

The relations of sounds had only been considered in the

series of numbers, 1:2, 2:3, 3:4, 4:5, &c. which produced the
intervals called octave, fifth, third, fourth, &c. And
Mr, Sauveur first considered them in the natural series, 1,
2, 3, 4, 5, &c. and examined the relations of sounds arising
therefrom. . . .
This new consideration of the relations of sounds, is
more natural than the old one; and does express and represent
the whole of music, and is in effect, all the music that nature
makes without the assistance of art. The strings of a Harpsi­
chord, or parts of a bell, beside their general sound, which
is proportionate to their length; tension, dimension, &c. do
also at the same time yield other subordinate and acuter
sounds, which a nice ear, with good attention, clearly dis­
tinguishes. . . . Now these subordinate sounds are harmonical
with regard to the whole sound.^5

Mersenne"s discovery that strings produce subordinate sounds and that

these sounds are harmonic with the fundamental seems to have taken a full

century to achieve recognition in England.

None of the articles on acoustical subjects in the Philosophical

Transactions mentions overtone phenomena, not even Brook Taylor"s celebrated

study "De motu nervi tensi"' (1713).^^ Taylor"s analysis of the vibrating

^Ajames Grassineau, A Musical Dictionary (London, 1740), pp. 236; 93-4.

^^Ibid.. p. 93.
^^Philosophical Transactions. ZXVIII (1713), 26-32.
 390
string is limited to the fundamental modes of vibration and contains no
37
suggestion of a spectrum of frequencies produced simultaneously. Wilson,

in discussing Roger North's The Theory of Sounds (ça, 1715), remarked

that North sensed a relationship between overtones and consonance:

How, then, is the term 'discord' to be defined? The

importance of 'overtones' in this connection, though not
yet generally appreciated, seems to have been glimpsed by
North in his remark that 'when a musicall sence hears a
tone, it partly hears all its accords; and [the presence of]
sounds accompaning, \diich are utterly dissonant with such
accords, is not borne with.'^°

If North actually realized the existence of overtones in musical sounds,

it seems strange that, about 1710, he should have made such an uncertain

statement as this;

One thing must not be forgot, which is that every tone what­
ever that is itself, unrelated to others, bears well this
accord, that is a 3rd and 5th to it, and it is so natural, as
to be, as it were included in the sound of it.39

Alexander Malcolm, a contemporary of North, appears to have had some

knowledge of the string’s overtones. His A Treatise of Musick (1721)

contains an extensive discussion of Perrault's theories of sound, which

touch upon the partial tones of strings and other sonorous sources (infra.
p. 397).^ Although it cannot be proved that string overtones were un­

recognized in England before Malcolm's treatise, considerable evidence

suggests that this was indeed the case. Malcolm's presentation of Perrault's

37See Truesdell, The Rational Mechanics, pp. 136-37; 255; 295.

3%ilson, Roger North on Music, p. 245.

39British jMuseum, Add. MS, 32, 531, fol. 31, quoted in Louis Fred
Chenette, "Music Theory in the British Isles during the Enlightenment"
(unpublished Ph. D. dissertation. The Ohio State University, 1967), p. 196.
^Alexander Malcolm, A Treatise of Musick. Speculative. Practical,
and Historical (Edinburgh, 1721), pp. 6-12, et sgc|,.
 391

obscure pronouncements suggests that even he vas not entirely convinced

of their validity. Malcolm preferred to attribute the "compound sounds"

to resonance:

Nature, and Situations of the circumjacent Bodies, make Sounds

more or less compound. This is a Thing ve know by common Ex­
periencej we can have a hundred Proofs of it every Day by singing,
or sounding any musical Instrument in different Places, either
in the Fields or within Doors; but these Reflexions must be such
as returning very suddenly don't produce what we call an Eccho.
and have only the Effect, to increase the Sound, and make an
agreeable Resonance; but still in the same Tune with the original
Note: or, if it be a Composition of different Degrees of Tune,
they are such as mix and unite, so that the "Whole agrees with
that Note. But this composition is not under Rules of Art; for
tho' we leam by Experience how to dispose these Circumstances
that they may produce the desired Effect, yet we neither know
the Number of different Tunes of the Sounds that enter into this
Composition; and therefore they come not under the Musicians's
Direction or what is hereafter called the Composition of î^îuslck.

Malcolm makes it clear that he did not know the number or order of overtones.

In a specific reference to the overtones of strings, he stated:

If we consider the Sound of a Violin, and all string'd

Instruments, we have a plain Demonstration that, every
note is the Effect of several more simple Sounds; for
there is not only the Sound resulting from the Motion
of the String, but also that of the Motion of the Parts
of the Instrument, . . .
But Perrault affirms the same of every String in it
self without considering the Instrument.^
Malcolm believed that pitch (Tune) and duration are musically the most

important attributes of sound:

Tho' indeed in the Practice other Differences are considered
. . • but they are so little, compared to the other Two,
and under so very general and uncertain Theory, that I don't
find they have ever been brought into the Definition of Musick.^

^ Ib ld . . p . 24.
^ I b id . . pp. 26-7,

^ Ibid. . p. 29.
 392

John Lampe»s jndgement that his predecessors were concerned with mathematical

constructs rather than natural operations is verified nicely, in Malcolm's

case, by the following description of the "Harmonical Series":

All which Numbers make up this Series, viz. 1, 2, 3, 4-, 5,

6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 20, 24, 32, 43, 48, 64, 80, etc. which
is continued after the Number 5, by multiplying the last
Three by 2, .;and their Products in infinitum by 2; whereby
»tis plain, we shall have all the Multiples of these original
Numbers 1, 3, 5, arising from the continual Multiplication
of them ty 2. And this I call the Harmonical Series, because
it contains all the possible Ratios that make Concord, either
simple or compound. ^

Although Malcolm associated this mathematical series with consonance,

harmonic resonance, and trumpet notes, he made no connection between it and

overtones.

In 1677 Francis North published a short treatise, A Philosophical Essay

of Musick. in which he expounded a theory of consonance based on the coin­

cidences of pulses, similar to the ideas of Benedetti in the previous

century. North's treatise contained a graphic demonstration of frequency

coincidences that resembles an illustration of simultaneous harmonic

frequencies in a modem acoustics book, Roger North, the younger brother,

presented a similar illustration and reaffirmed the concept in his The

Theory of Sounds (ca.l715). The illustration from the 1728 version of this
work is shown in Figure 52. Roger North's account of the speculation that

resulted from his brother's presentation of the coincidence theory indicates

rather conclusively that Mersenne's statements about overtones and their

interval relationships were unknown in England:

% b id . . p. 173.

^^Ibid.. pp. 85-9; 167-70.

■f i ni^iI!f
I I
! : I!

Figure $ 2 , North; The coincidence of vibrations between concordant sounds

' Source: Wilson, Roger North on Music, L2.

 394
Wot many years before his lordship [Francis Worth] was
preferred to the Great Seal, he fell upon a pleasing speculation
of the real mechanism whereby sounds are distinguished into
harmony and discord, or disposed to please or displease our
sense of hearing. Every one is sensible to those effects, but
scarce any know why, or by what means they are produced. He
found that tones and accords might be anatomised, and by apt
schemes be presented to the eye as well as to the ear, and
so musick be demonstrated in effigie. . . .
But to accomplish an ocular representation of these
pulses, his lordship made a foundation upon paper by a
perpetual order of parallel lines, and those were to signify
the flux of time equably. And when a pulse happened, it
was marked by a point upon one of those lines, and if con­
tinued so as to sound a base tone, it was marked upon every
eighth line; and that might be termed the Base. And then
an upper part, which pulsed as 2/1, or octave, was marked,
beginning with the first of the base, upon every fourth
line, which is twice as swift: and so all the other
harmonious proportions, which shewed their coincidences,
as well with the base as with one another. And there was
also shewed.a beautiful and uniform aspect in the com­
position of these accords when dravm together.
The virtuosi soon took up this little piece, and during
the nine days' wonder, were very busy about it. Mr. I4atthews
of Sidney College in Cambridge was so affected that he made
a perpetual comment upon it, and took great pains to explain
the doctrine of pulses by experiments; but those prefers are
all mislaid, or lost. . . The ingenious Mr. Hook put this
scheme of musick into clockwork, and made wheels with small
llnsulae in the manner of cogs, which moving each upon its
pin, as the wheel turned, struck upon an edge one after
another, equably. The wheel turning slow, the pulses were
distinguishable, and had no other virtue; but then moving
swifter, the distinction ceased, and a plain musical tone
emerged. This for one. Then another wheel was contrived
to strike three to two (for instance); and, as the dis­
tinction [of the individual pulses] ijegan to fail, and the
continuation to take place, we might hear a consort 5th ^
coming on, and settling in the manifest accord so named.^

Robert Hooke apparently conducted a similar experiment for the Royal

Society in 1681 according to this comment by his editor, Richard Waller,

in The Posthumous Works (1705):

^^Roger North, The Lives of the Norths (London, 1740?), II, 206-09.
 395
He showed an experiment of malting musical and other sounds
by the help of teeth of brass wheels; which teeth were made
of equal bigness for musical sounds, but of unequal for
vocal [speaking] sounds.^'

It is apparent that these discussions and experiments.were limited entirely

to the consideration of the sounds of consonant intervals. Coming this

close to the invention of a tone synthesizer, it seems incredible that

Hooke could have failed to experiment with overtone relationships had the

similarity between their pattern and North» s representation been known

to the members of the Royal Society.^

The Affirmation of the Harmonic Series Principle

Joseph Sauveur was the first writer after Mersenne to attempt to

formulate the various tonal phenomena and the idea of musical consonance

into a complete system. His presentation of the Sons harmoniques was

partly the result of original discovery and partly the systematic organi­

zation of scattered ideas already known. His greatest debt, of course,

was to Mersenne. As seen above, the English were able to deducefrom the

discovery of nodes the correct mathematical formula for the natural tones

of the trumpet, but, largely because of their lack of knowledge about over­

tones, they attributed no particular musical significance to this formula.

Sauveur, working quite independently, was able to tie his discovery of

nodes into the system he inherited from Mersenne. To appreciate Sauveur»s

achievement it is necessary to review the ideas held by his immediate

predecessors.

4"^Quoted in R. T. Gunther, Early Science in Oxford (Oxford, 1930), VII,

577.
4*Gf., Truesdell, The Rational Mechanics, p . 29A n.
 396
Sauveur*8 French Predecessors

On the Continent as in England, the physical aspects of sound

received increased attention during the second half of the seventeenth

century. However, Mersenne's pronouncements about the tonal phenomena

related to the harmonic series remained largely unchallenged. Investi­

gators who showed an interest in these particular phenomena were more con­

cerned with Mersenne's unsatisfactory physical explanations than with the

pitch relationships. The academicians who may be considered Sauveur's

most important predecessors with regard to the harmonic series was

Huygens, Perrault, and De la Hire.

Christian Huygens, though a Netherlander, lived in Paris from 1666

to 1681 and was a member of the newly founded Académie Royale des Sciences.49

Both he and his father, Constantin, had been among Mersenne's correspondents

and he knew of Mersenne's work on strings from his y o u t h . T h e fact that

knowledge of overtones had progressed little since Mersenne's death is

reflected in this statement from a manuscript fragment written by Huygens

in 1675:
Ayant tendu une chorde A B
sur le monochorde, si on approche
le doit [sic] contre la chorde
en C aux deux tiers, et qu'on la
sonne doucement avec l'autre main
par la partie courte C B, retirant
aussi tost après le doit de C, la
chorde sonnera la 5t® ou plutost
la 12® seule à ce qu'elle sonne
dans toute sa longueur A B.
Having stretched a string
A B on the monochord, if one
puts the finger against the
string at [point] C at the two-
thirds and sounds it gently with
the other hand by the short part
C B, withdrawing the finger from
C immediately after, the string
will sound by itself the 5th or
rather the 12th of that [pitch]

49wolf, A History of Science. Technology, and Philosophy. I, 162.

^^Truesdell, The Rational Mechanics, p . A7.

 397

De mesme si B C est de 2/5 ■which it sounds in its total

ou 3/5 ou 1/5 ou 4/5 de toute
la chorde, on entendra, en la
sonnant de mesme qu'auparavant,
la 3® ou la 10®. Et il est
vraisemblable que ces tremblements
se font encore, quoique
foiblement, lors qu'on sonne
toute la chorde a vuide, et qu'y
qyant tant de maniérés qui sont
cette 10®, c'est là la raison
pourquoy on l'entend tousjours
avec le son de la chorde sonnée
à vuide; Et que la 12® se fait
entendre aussi mais plus
foiblement parce qu'il n'y a
que deux divisions de la chorde,
comme C et D, qui produisent
cette 12®.^^
Although by 1688 Huygens seems to have recognized 'the existence of nodal
length A B,
Likewise, if B G is two-,
three-, one-, or four-fifths of
the total string, one will hear,
sounding it in the same way as
#fore, the 3rd or the 10th,
is probable that these
■vibrations occur also, although
weakly, when one sounds the whole
string open, and that there being
so many ways of producing this
10th, is the reason one hears it
with the sound of the string
played open, and, [moreover],
that the 12th makes itself heard
also but more weakly because there
are only two divisions of the
string, as C and D, that produce it.

points in the •vibration of a suspended rod, there is no positive indication

in his writings on sound that he understood their similar existence in the

vibration of the string.

In 1680, Claude Perrault, the architect who designed the east

facade of the Louvre, published a rather substantial treatise on acoustics

entitled Du bruit. Perrault proposed a theory of sound based on the move­

ment of minute particles composing a sonorous body,^^ a theory that may

have been inspired ly a similar explanation of light communicated to the

Académie des Sciences by Huygens in 1678.^^ By assigning the source of

sound to the movements of particles within the sonorous body rather than
to the gross motions apparent to the eye, Perrault could account for the

^^Christian Huygens, Oeuvres completes. Vol. XIX: Mechanioue

théorique et physique de 1666 a 1695 (The Hague. 1937), 366-67.

52see Truesdell, The Rational Mechanics, p. 49.

53ciaude Perrault, Du bruit, in Oeuvres diverses de physique et de
méchanique (Leyden, 1721), II, 163-189.
5 ^ f . % )lf, A H istoiy o f Science. Technoloerv. and Phllosonhv. I , 260.
 393

production of overtones without the knowledge of nodes. He conceived of

minute agitations traveling in apparent circles like the illusion of a

circle of fire caused by revolving the fire on the end of a stick. Con­

vinced that only consonant partiale can be heard in a musical tone,

Perrault offered the following explanation of how the circles yielding

consonant pitches dominate in the total composite;

Tout 1*instrument frémissant par The whole instrument vibrating by the

des ondoyemens differens dans
chacun des cercles dont il est
composé, d'autant qu'ils sont de
grandeur différente, ces
ondoyemens, qui ne produisent
qu'un seul son partial dans chaque
cercle, en composent un total par
la consonnance qu'ils font
ensemble, étant par cette, raison
disposez à se joindre aisément &
à se fortifier mutuellement, & il
arrive que les sons produits par
des cercles dont les tons sont
discordans a'obscurcissant l'un
l'autre, on ne doit ouïr
distinctement que le son des
cercles qui sont d'accord
ensemble, dont il ne resuite qu'un
seul son total, ainsi qu'il se
void clairement dans les orgues,
où l'assemblage des tuyaux de
different ton sur une même marche,
quand ils sont consonnance, ne
produit qu'un seul ton. 55
How Mersenne might have reacted to this explanation must remain a matter
different undulations in each of the
circles of which it is composed, [and]
seeing that they are of different
sizes, these undulations, which pro­
duce only a single partial sound in
each circle, compose a totality be­
cause of the consonance that they pro­
duce together, being,;:for this reason,
disposed to join together easily and
mutually fortify each other. And it
happens that [since] the sounds pro­
duced by the circles whose tones are
discordants obscure one another, one
can hear distinctly only the sound of
the circles that are concordant to­
gether, from which only a single total
sound results. This is seen clearly
in organs, where the mixture of pipes
of different pitch for a single key,
when consonant, produces only a
single tone.

for speculation. Perrault's theory does appear to satisfy the reservations

Mersenne had about other mechanical explanations of the string's motion and

•to account for his belief that only consonant partiale can be produced

nature.

^ ^ erra u lt, Du b ru it, chap. x i , p . 213.

 399
In a general vay, Perrault drew a connection between tone quality
and the spectrum of partials. If the sonorous body was not uniform in

its configuration, as for example, a defective string, the resulting

mixture of partials would produce a rough rather than smooth sound because

of a lack of similar and coincident motions to mutually fortifÿ each

other. 56

A natural preference for consonant intervals seems to be the only

general principle that Perrault recognized in the phenomena of overtones

and trumpet skips. In his only specific identification of overtones, he

asserted that the tons differens of both bells and strings follow the
57
order: prime, fifth, octave, and twelfth. Concerning the series of

trumpet notes, he offered this rather inadequate explanation of the skips;

Par cette théorie de l'union
des differens cercles qui
produisent les tons dans les
trompettes, suivant les
consonnances qu'ils sont capables
de former, il est aisé de rendre
raison, pourquoi dans la premiere
octave des trompettes le second
ton qui s'y peut former est la
quinte, & non pas la quartej &
pourquoi au-dessus de cette
quinte le troisième ton n'est pas
une quinte, mais une quarte: car
le second ton ne sçauroit être
une quarte, parce que la quarte
sur la basse ne fait point con­
sonnance; & le troisième ton ne
sçauroit être une quinte sur le
second, parce qu'il feroit une
dissonnance avec la basse, [à]
sçavoir, une neuvième: au-lieu
que faisant une quarte sur la
quinte, cette quarte soutenue
par la basse qui est à l'octave
fait une consonnance, ...5°
^ this theory of the union of
the different circles that produce
the tones in tnmpets according to
the consonances that they are capable
of forming, it is easy to explain
why, in the first octave of the
trumpet, the second tone that can be
formed is the fifth and not the fourth,
why above this fifth the third tone
is not a fifth, but a fourth. The
second tone could not be a fourth
because the fourth above the bass is
not a consonance, and the third tone
could not be a fifth above the second
because it would make a dissonance
with the bass, namely, a ninth. In­
stead, by making a fourth above the
fifth, this fourth, supported by the
bass that is at the octave, makes a
consonance, . . .

^(^Ibld.. chap. vii. p. 200.

57lbid., chap. xi. p. 214.
^%bid.t chap. xi, p. 217.
 400

Perrault did not specify the remaining intervals of the series and re­

vealed his inadequate knowledge of the trumpet when he accounted for the

increasing number of tones in higher range in this manner:

On peut ... , expliquer, pour­ One can . . . explain why, in the

quoi dans la second octave des
trompettes on sonne tous les
tons, au-lieu que dans la
premiere on ne sonne que la
quintefr’ car la raison, pour
laquelle dans la premiere
octave les tons hors la quinte
ne sonnent point, est, que ces
tons qui sont formez par les
levres n’ont pas dans le bas
de la trompette un assès grand
nombre d'autres tons avec
lesquels ils puissent faire
consonnance: mais tous les
tons que les levres forment
dans la second octave en
trouvent suffisamment, parce
qu'ils les peuvent prendre dans-Q
toute l'Rendue de la trompette. '
Following this peculiar reasoning, Perrault concluded that long trumpets
second octave of the trumpet, all
of the tones can be sounded,
whereas in the first [octave] only
the fifth can be produced. The
reason that in the first octave
the tones beyond the fifth do not
sound at all is because these
tones that are formed by the lips
do not have a large enough number
of other tones in the bass of the
trumpet with which they can make
consonances. However, all of the
tones that the lips form in the
second octave find them sufficiently
because they can choose them from
the lAole range of the trumpet.

yield a higher range than short ones because of the greater number of

undulating circles they provide. In spite of his mistaken ideas, Perrault's

theories of sound continued to influence acoustical thought into the

eighteenth century, but his statements about phenomena related to the

harmonic series were not sufficiently penetrating to advance the knowledge

of a general principle.

In 1692, the same year in which Roberts published his findings on

the series of the trumpet, a paper on a similar topic appeared in the

Mémoires of the Académie Royale. This study, entitled "Explication des

differences des sons de la corde tendue sur la trompette marine," by the

59Ib id. . chap. x i , p. 218.

 AOl
astroraomer, Philippe de la Hire, offered an explanation of the skips

within the general framework of the theories set down by Perrault,^

De la Hire attributed the sound of a string not to its gross vibrations

but to internal undulations, which he likened to wave motions in water,

and, without recourse to nodal points, he attempted to explain why only

certain tones can be produced by the light-stopping technique. In con­

trast to the clear formulation of the series set down by Roberts, the most
explicit statement offered by De la Hire was:

•ELle fait les sauts en passant It [trumpet marine] plays skips

seulement de l’octave à la quinte passing only from the octave to the
& ensuite à la quarte, 6 ainsi de fifth and next to the fourth, and
suite par les autres consonances so on by the other consonances up
Jusqu'aux tons.' to the tones.

De la Hire demonstrated that "undulations" activated by the bow above

the stopping point are communicated to the lower segment of the string.

He found that a bell pitched in unison with half the string length would

respond loudly when struck by a glass bead attached to the lower segment

of the string.After trying various stopping points, he concluded that,

if the upper segment is bowed forcefully, the lower segment responds when

the string is touched at any "Just division." Realizing that effective

tones do not result from some Just divisions, for example 5:6 or 3:A,
De la Hire added the further stipulation that divided segments must make

consonant ratios not only with each other but also with the string as a

whole:

^^emoires de l’Académie Royale des Sciences, depuis 1666 iusqu’à

1699» Tome IX: Oeuvres diverses de M, De la Hire (Paris. 1730). p p . 330-50.

%bid.. p. 331.

62ibid., pp. 331-32.

% b id .. pp. 337-40.

Il faudroit donc que la chorde
entiere & ses deux parties
fissent un accord pour faire
que le son qu'elle rend fût
agréable, ...
402
It is necessary, then, that the
entire string and its two parts
form an accord for the sound it
yields to be agreeable, . . .

In this way he eliminated the division 3:4, for example, since each

segment would be dissonant with the whole in the ratios 3:7 and 4_:7.

Although his obscure presentation gave no systematic statement of the

acceptable ratios. De la Hire's formula does permit divisions at the half

(1:1), the third (1:2), the fourth (1:3), the fifth (1:4) and the sixth

(1:5)• At the same time the formula neatly eliminates division at the

seventh (1:6), since the segments are dissonant with the whole, it also

rules out division at the eighth (i.e., the eighth harmonic) because the

segments form a dissonant ratio, 1:7. Thus, the formula will not account

for any flageolet tones higher than the sixth harmonic. IJhile his state­

ment quoted earlier seems to imply that the compass of the trumpet marine

extends into the fourth octave. De la Hire was content to limit his dis­

cussion to three octaves:

•Puisque j'ai démontré Since I have demonstrated before

ci-devant qu'il n'y a que de
certaines divisions de la corde
qui puissent en tirer un son
net & agréable à l'oreille, &
que ces divisions sont celles
qui forment les consonnances
entre les deux parties de la
corde qui sonnent ensemblej
il s'ensuit nécessairement
qu'on ne pourra faire d'autres
passages sur la corde de la
Trompette Marine que ceux qui
sont déterminés par les con­
sonnances de suite de la
premiere, seconde & troisième
octave, & ces passages déterminés
sont appelles sauts.
that there are only certain divisions
of the string that can elicit a clear
and pleasant sound, and that these
divisions are those that form con­
sonances between the two parts of the
string that sound together, it follows
necessarily that one can only make
those passages on the string of the
trumpet marine that are determined by
the successive consonances of the first,
second, and third octaves, and these
determined passages are called skins.

^ 4 b id .. pp. 341-42.
^ 5ib id .. p . 338.
 403

The almost deliberate lack of clarity in his study, especially with regard

to the pitches produced by the divisions discussed, leaves in question

what De la Hire knew and what he did not.

The General Scope of Sauveur* s "Works

Joseph Sauveur’8 role as a music theorist has been so erroneously

portrayed in Scherchen’s Vom Vesen der Musik that it is necessary to pre­

face the discussion of his works with some biographical information.^^ A

detailed account of Sauveur’s life is preserved in a eulogy written by

Fontanelle, the secretary of the Académie Royale des Sciences.^

Although Sauveur is remembered only for his acoustical writings, he

was primarily a geometer and engineer. He was fortunate enough to gain

entry into the courtly circles at a young age and was engaged as a mathe­

matics teacher for the children of royalty. 1686, at the age of 33,

Sauveur was in sufficient favor to obtain a Chair of Mathematics at the

Collège Royal and in I696 he was admitted into the Académie. From 1703

until his death in 1716, he was charged with the examination of engineers,
a responsibility that earned him a royal pension.

In order to give proper perspective to Sauveur’s writings that deal

with sound, it should be observed that before entering the Académie his

interests centered on mathematics and military engineering. Initially, his

incentive for investigating acoustics seems to have been scientific rather

^^Cf. Truesdell, The Rational Mechanics, p. 120 n.

^"^Heimann Scherchen, Vom Wesen der Musik (Zurich, 1946?), pp. 27-59.

Bernard de Fontanelle, "Eloge de M. Sauveur," Histoire de

l’Académie Royale des Sciences. Année 1716, pp. 79-87.
 m

than musical. Inspired by advances in the field of optics. Sauveur

proposed, upon his admission to the Académie in I696, to establish a

specialized science of acoustics. He apparently had little musical back­

ground, although he familiarized himself with the works of Mersenne and

others as part of the groundwork for his new undertaking.^^

Sauveur was bom mute but gradually gained the use of his voice after

age seven. Fontanelle clearly stated that the difficulty was caused by

defective vocal organs and that Sauveur»s sons suffered from the same

affliction. Although his hearing may not have been perfect, it is

apparent from Fontanelle »s KLoge that Sauveur was able to function quite

adequately as a lecturer and civil servant. Scherchen’s claim that the

acoustical discoveries of Sauveur were almost miraculous seems to be

70
based on a misconception. Fontanelle»s statement that Sauveur "had

neither voice nor ear" and had-to "borrow the voice or ear of others" was

a reflection on Sauveur»s lack of "musical ear," a comment not unusual in

an era when a "nice ear" was considered an attribute worthy of the cultured
71
few. ' In matters that required musical sensitivity. Sauveur consulted with

his former mathematics pupil, the Duke of Orleans who later became the

Regent of France from 1715 to 1723. According to Fontanelle, the Duke knew
72
music perfectly because it is one of the beaux arts. Contrary to

Scherchen’s assertions it would be unreasonable to expect extensive and

penetrating musical insights from an academician of Sauveur»s background.

, ^%ee Joseph Sauveur, "Système général des intervalles des sons,"

Mémoires de l’Acad&ie Royale des Sciences. Année 1701, p. 328.

“^^Hermann Scherchen, The Nature of Music, trams, by Mann (London,

1950), pp. 13; 15; 51.
7^Fontanelle, "Eloge de M. Sauveur," p. 85.
72ibid.
 405

The acoustical writings of Sauveur consisted of six articles that

appeared in the Histories and Mémoires of the Académie during the period

1700-1713. Unlike his immediate predecessors, Perrault and De la Hire,

Sauveur*s interest focused on the mathematical aspects of sound more than

on its physical basis. He wished to apply scientific rigor to musical

acoustics by establishing a standard of pitch (son fixe), a logarithmic

scale for measuring tunings (système général). a precise mechanism for

regulating tempos (chronométré), and the principle of the harmonic series

(Sons harmoniques). In addition, he offered a specific terminology to ex­

press concepts unique to this relatively unexplored branch of science.

Some of the terms in current use, such as, fundamental, node, ventre (or

loop), and harmonic can be traced directly to Sauveur*s writings. As

Fontenelle pointed out. Sauveur borrowed freely from the terminology of

73
astronomy, drawing an analogy between the macrocosmic motions of planets

and the microcosmic vibrations of sonorous bodies.

Sauveur*8 claim to the establishment of the field of acoustics and

n t
to the honor of naming it was a bit extravagant. The term acoustic had

already been used by Francis Bacon in the Advancement of Learning (1605)

and had also been applied to seventeenth-century studies of sound by

75
Caspar Schott and Narcissus Marsh. Moreover, Sauveur*s range of interests

within the field of acoustics was far narrower than Mersenne*s being

73
Bernard de Fontanelle, "Sur un nouveau système de musique,*'
Histoire de 1»Académie Royale des Sciences. Année 1701, p. 131.

'^ASauveur, **Système general des intervalles des sons," p. 299.

^^Gaspar Schott, Maria universalis naturae et artis. Tome II;
Acustica (Wurzburg, 1657); Marsh, "Essay to the doctrine of Sounds, con­
taining some proposals for the improvement of Acousticks,*' Philosophical
Transactions, XIV (l684), 472-88.
 406
limited to vhat is now called musical acoustics. In addition. Sauveur's

principal contributions had been largely anticipated by Mersenne and the

other writers investigated earlier in this chapter. On the other hand.

Sauveur summarized and systematized most of what was known of the musical

aspects of acoustics at the beginning of the eighteenth century. It must

be acknowledged that before Sauveur the term acoustics pertained mostly

to the process of hearing. Sauveur intended a more general meaning, com­

parable in scope to optics, that would encompass the whole science of

s o u n d . D u e to his influence, a section headed Acoustique appeared for

the first time in the Histoire of the Aoadmle in 1700, Though the title

"Father of Acoustics" belongs more properly to Mersenne, Sauveur can

rightly be credited with popularizing this newly emerging science in learned

circles.

Sauveur's Sons harmonioues

In his most extensive paper, "Système general des intervalles des

sons, et^ h application à tous les systèmes et les instruments de musique"

(1701), Sauveur affirmed the principle of the harmonic series under the

label Sons harmoniques, claiming that "this principle of the harmonic

77
sounds" had been "unknown until the present time." One brief section of

this paper, "Des Sons harmoniques," brings together under the operation of

a single principle the phenomena of flageolet tones, harmonic resonance,

78
overtones, and the natural tones of the trumpet.' In the following year

"^^Sauveur, "Systme geWral des intervalles des sons," p. 299.

7?Ibld.. p. 356: "Co principe de Sons harmoniques ayant été inconnu
jusqu'a present, ..."
*^^Ibid.. pp. 349-56.
 407

Sauveur also proposed to apply the principle of Sons harmoniques to the

79
mixtures of organ pipes. Although he did not solve the physical

questions that so troubled and confounded Mersenne, Sauveur can be

credited with defining the principle, thereby completing Mersenne's quest

for the inherent rule of "nature's progress."

One is tempted to equate Sauveur's Sons harmoniques with the term

harmonics as it is defined by modern acousticians; partial constituents

of a complex sound, whose frequencies correspond to terms of the harmonic

series. Sauveur, however, intended no restriction to any particular

phenomenon. Vhen he wished to specify overtones, he used the same ex­

pression as Mersenne— petits Sons.^^ The English translation "harmonical

81
sounds," given by Grassineau and Hawkins, preserves Sauveur's original

meaning more faithfully. Equating pitch with frequency. Sauveur used

Sons harmonioues to describe only one class of proportional relationships

between two sounds:

J'appelle Son harmonique d'un I call a harmonic sound of a

Son fondamental, celui qui fait
plusieurs vibrations pendant que le
Son fondamental n'en fait qu'une;
ainsi un Son à la douzième du Son
fondamental est harmonique, parce
qu'il fait 3 vibrations pendant
que le Son fondamental n'en fait
qu'une.
fundamental sound that which makes
several vibrations while the funda-
mental sound makes only one; in
this manner a sound at the twelfth
of the fundamental sound is harmonic
because it makes three vibrations
while the fundamental sound makes
only one.

Sauveur used the term with the same general meaning in his discussion of

organ mixtures:

*^%oseph Sauveur, "Application des sons harmoniques à la composition

des jeux d'orgues," Mémoires de 1'Académie Royale des Sciences. Année
1702, pp. 308-28.
^^Sauveur, "Système général des intervalles des sons," p. 300.
^iQrassineau, A Musical Dictionary, p. 93; Hawkins, A General History
of Music. II, 604 n.
Ô2sauvetir, "Système général des intervalles des sons," p. 349»
 w

Remarquez, 1 . Que dans l'Orgue Notice: (l) that in the organ

les tuyaux qui répondent aux touches the pipes that respond to the
PA de toutes les Octaves, rendent des keys Ut from any octave, produce
Sons exactement harmoniques à l'égard sounds exactly harmonie with re-
du Son fondamental 1, ou du plus long gard to the fundamental sound
tuyau de 32 pieds. no.l, or to the longest pipe of
2®. Que les tuyaux qui sont sur 32 feet; (2) that the pipes that
une même touche rendent des Sons are played by a single key pro­
harmoniques à l'égard du Son du premier duce harmonie sounds with regard
tuyau de cette touche, qui tient lieu to the sound of the first pipe
de Son fondamental; car les Sons des of this key, which takes the
tuyaux de chaque touche ont même rapport place of the fundamental sound;
entr'eux, que les Sons de la premiere for the sounds of the pipes of
touche Subbis-PA. lesquels sont each key have the same relation
harmoniques, among themselves as the sounds
of the first key, bottom Ut,
which are harmonic.-'-'

Sauveur conceived of the Sons harmoniques as a particular set of frequency

ratios, which always relates to a prime number and therefore explain tonal

phenomena more adequately than "just ratios." 1'Jhile Sauveur derived this

system from natural phenomena, he did not restrict its validity to the

realm of nature— a point that did not excape Rameau's notice.

Unlike Roberts, Sauveur did not represent the Sons harmoniques as an

infinite series. The notion that the principle is limited by the

thresholds of human perception is implicit in his reference to harmonic

sounds. The "Système général" (l70l) included, in tabular form, a complete

statement of the harmonic series through five full octaves to the 32nd

term (see Table 8 ). This table not only added an octave to the compass

of harmonics studied by Roberts, but also indicated the variance between

harmonic ratios and justly derived ratios in terms of logarithmic units.

According to his system of 301 Eptamerides per octave, a value derived from

log 2, Sauveur showed which harmonics are variant and by precisely what pro­

portion of an octave.Realizing that the range of human hearing is far

^^Sauveur, "Application des sons harmoniques," p. 317.

S4See the small Arabic numbers in cols. K and 5.
 h09

TABLE 8

SAUVEUR«S CHART OF SONS HARMONIQUES

1. i. 4' s- 6.
Rafpocti de: vibra- Intervalle: In te rv a lle : in te rv a lle :
Jci viSta- üont au en Orlave., l'la ;o n ii;u e : D ia to n ^ u e : Noms lit*
ctoiu au premier Merlde: je a u p rem ier au Son ton* Kom: nouvel**. cieai.
SoQt'oaila* aou de Eptameii. Son de (lia . d a m e n tal.
fflcouL charnue de:. queOAave.
Otcave.

I X I GO O O 0 I • I PA VT

I & 10000 1- 4- 0 I . V III feni - P A VT

I 3 I J O O O iH-zj' V xn fcm -B O r SOL

I .4 10000 z-H 0 I XV bis - P A VT

I ■ y IZJOO i - t - 1 4 . III xvn bis - G A n MI
I 6 lyooo z-4-zj' V XIX bis - B G r SOL
I 7 1 7 JOO l“b'5 5/y 7 7 7 ZI bis - la/ la . d

II S 10000 3”^ °, I XXII ter - P A VT

£ . ^ I lijo 34- 7 II X XIII ter - R A r RE
I • XO I Z J O O 3- 1- 14, III X XIV ter - G A n MI
r £1 13750 3-t-:o„ 10 I V 10 XXV ter - fvl /'t'/
I I I IJOOO 3 - H 1 5 ' V XXVI ter - Bor SOL
I 13 iJzjo 3-4-50' 6 7 ter - Itr l a \\)
I • 14 17500 34-35,, 7 7 ter - la/ la.d
I __iy 1 8 7 5 0 34-59 • V II X XV III ter - D O SI

I i6 10000 44- 0 I XXIX quat - P A

X 17 l O Ü Z J 44- 4;; z Z 1 30 quat - ro/
1 • x8 I I Z J O 4-4- 7 II XXX quat' . R A f
I I P 1 1 8 7 5 4 4 - 1 1 ,, 4 31 quat - g o /
£ 2.0 I Z JO O 4-4-14, ^ III' X XXI quat - G Art
£ ZI IJIZJ 44-17, 7 3Z quat -J/noxigtn
I Z Z 1 3 7 5 0 44-zo,, L i v 10 X XX II quat
£ 2-3 1 4 3 7 5 44-13,,, 33 1 quat -bic
£ Z 4 r J OOO 4 4 - 1 5 '
V ^ X XXIII quat - B O r . .
10 6 10 34 quat -b a/
X il ijJzj 4-4-18
£ z 6 rJzjo 44-30' ■ 6 7 34 7 quat . îvr
V I 5 XXXIV quat - L O t
£ i ? 16875 4-4-31,,,
£ z 8 17500 4 4 -55,, 7 7 % n quat -la/
7 7 35 quat •dut
£ 19 iSizj 4 4 - 37 , 7
VII XXXV quat - D O
£ 3 ° 18750 44-39 quat - ou </«
4 -h4 t V I I 14 X X X V 14
i _ J .i 19375

II 32 10000 J4 - 0 VIII XXXVI quin

in-P A
 410

greater than five octaves, Sauveur extended his consideration of Sons

harmoniques to the tenth octave or 1024th term in the "Application des sons

harmoniques" (1702). This extended series was b y no means complete,

however. Since Sauveur was concerned here with the intervallic organi­

zation of organ-pipe mixtures, he considered only those harmonic sounds

that are octave-, fifth-, or third-sounding. In the same study, he .even

contemplated the possibility of extending the series to the twelfth

octave or 4096th tern. But more significant than this detailed exami­

nation of harmonics beyond the first sixteen terms was the fact that

Sauveur, the first French investigator to do so, recognized that the series
contains ratios not used in music.

Although Sauveur realized that a stretched string vibrates in a

complex manner, he offered no physical explanation whatsoever of the

mechanics involved in producing a spectrum of frequencies. The expla­

nation of the simple modes and proper frequencies of an oscillating system

awaited the initial analysis of Daniel Bernoulli, about 1733, and the
87
definitive formulation by Leonhard Euler in 1748. However, Sauveur* s

discussion of the vibrating string advanced the findings of Wallis and

Robeirbs in several respects. Most importantly. Sauveur reported the

connection between partial vibrations of the open string and overtones.

^%auveur, "Application des sons harmoniques," p. 328.

^^bid.

^7gee Truesdell, The Rational Mechanics, pp. 137; 155; 159; 250.

En méditant sur les phénomènes
des Sons, on me fit remarquer,
que sur-tout la nuit, on
entendoit dans les longues
cordes, outre le Son principal,
d'autres petits Sons qui étoient
à la douzième & à la dix-septiéme
de ce Son; ... Mais en cherchant
moi-même la cause de ce phénomène,
je conclus que la corde, outre
les ondulations qu'elle faisoit
dans toute sa longueur pour
former le Son fondamental, se
partageait en deux, en trois,
en quatre, &c. ondulations égales
qui formaient l'octave, la
douzième, la quinzième de ce Son.
411
In meditating on the phenomena of
sounds it came to my attention that,
especially at night, one may hear in
long strings in addition to the
principal sound other small sounds
that are a twelfth and a seventeenth
of this sound; « . . But, in
searching for the cause of this
phenomenon, I concluded that the
string, besides the undulations it
made in its total length to make
the fundamental sound, divided it­
self into two, three, four, etc.,
equal undulations that form the
octave, twelfth, and fifteenth of
gg this sound.

Sauveur agreed with Mersenne that the twelfth and seventeenth are more

easily perceived than octave-sounding harmonics;

'L'expérience montre que les Experience shows that long

longues cordes, lorsqu'elles sont
bonnes ou harmonieuses, font
entendre les premiers Son har­
moniques, principalement ceux qui
ne sont pas en Octave l'un de
l'autre. S9
strings, when they are good or
harmonious, make the first harmonic
sounds perceptible, principally
those that are not an octave of
one another.

In analyzing the partial vibrations induced by lightly stopping the

string. Sauveur introduced a descriptive terminology that gradually gained

90
acceptance during the eighteenth century. He termed the points of

minimum vibration noeuds and the agitated segments between them ventres

( l o o p s ) F o r the pitch of the prime frequency and the flageolet tones he

used the terms Son fondamental and Sons harmoniques, even though these

names did not distinguish between successive and concurrent phenomena. In

^^Sauveur, "Système général des intervalles des sons," pp. 300-01.

%bid.. p. 355.

90See Truesdell, The Rational Mechanics, pp. 121; 159; 271.

^^Sauveur, "Système général des intervalles des sons," pp. 301; 352-53.
 412

only one passage did Sauveur use either of these adjectives as an

independent noun:

Pincez cette corde â vuide, elle Pluck this string open: it will render
rendra un Son que j'appelle le a sound that I call the fundamental
fondamental de cette corde. 9^ of this string.

Sauveur suggested two methods for isolating partial vibrations of

a string; one by inducing flageolet tones and the other by means of

93
sympathetic resonance. By using a light obstacle, such as a feather, he

demonstrated that touching the string at one-fifth of its length produced

"the fifth harmonic sound." This observation added very little to the

findings of Roberts except for the terminology and the fact that Sauveur

derived his results from a monochord rather than a trumpet marine. Sauveur

appears to be the first writer since Mersenne to realize that the vibrating
bridge is unessential to the phenomenon of flageolet tones. In inducing

partial vibrations by sympathetic resonance, Sauveur discovered the existence

of nodal points, apparently unaware of the reports of his English pre­

decessors. Vhen he announced his findings to the Académie, some of the other

members informed him of the earlier experiments reported by Wallis and

recommended the demonstration of nodal points by the use of paper riders.

Sauveur's detailed observations more than compensate for his lack of

priority in the discovery of nodes. He found that the relative strengths

of the harmonic sounds decreased as the aliquot segments become smaller

until those produced by resonance become imperceptible and those by light

%id.. p. 351.

^^Ibid.. pp. 353-54.

94See Fontanelle, "Sur un nouveau système de musique," pp. 131-32.

 413
95
stopping become indistinct. From this he concluded that the farther the

nodes of one segment are from those of neighboring harmonics, the more

distinct is the sound, and that the nodal points of the larger divisions

of a string tend to efface those of the smaller divisions. Sauveur also

recognized that a flageolet tone can be induced by touching the string

at any node distinctive to its division of the string. Thus the fifth

harmonic sound could be obtained at two-fifths of the string as well as

at one-fifth. He even observed that by sliding a light obstacle along a

plucked string a twittering of harmonics appear in a confused sequence as

the object passes from one nodal point to another. Regarding resonance.

Sauveur recognized that an overtone of one string can induce the response

of an overtone in another string. Instead of the vague statements typical

of earlier writers, as for example, that the string a fifth higher responds

when a given lute string is sounded. Sauveur clearly identified the re-
97
spending pitch as that of the lowest harmonic sound common to both strings.

Sauveur evidently believed that the demonstrations of the Sons

harmoniques in the vibration of a string were so convincing that detailed

discussion of related phenomena in other vibrators was not required. He

was content to dismiss the skips of the trumpet with a single sentence

appended to a brief discussion of the trumpet marine:

Cette même Table marque aussi
les Sons de la Trompette ordinaire,
du Cor de chasse, & les ressauts des
Instrumens à vent qui ont des trous.
This same table [see Table 8 ]
marks also the sounds of the ordinary
_ trumpet, the hunting horn, and the
leaps of wind instruments that have
some holes.

^^Sauveur, "Système général des intervalles des sons," pp. 354-55.

9^bid.. pp. 352-53.
97lbid.. p. 354.
^ Ibid., p. 356.
 414

To stun up, it appears that Sauveur considered the principle to he

equally valid for all sonorous vibrators. Prom his study of the Sons

harmoniques. Sauveur concluded that: (l) the series is perceptible to

the limits of hearing, (2) the strengths of the sounds decrease progressively

as they are farther removed from the fundamental, and (3) the odd-numbered
sounds are more easily perceived than the even-numbered ones. One might

easily assume from these conclusions that: (l) the newly defined "harmonic"

relationships have musical significance over an ezbended range of terms

in the series, (2) the low-numbered harmonics have the most significance,

and (3) the odd-numbered harmonics are more Important than the even-numbered
ones. Rameau made all of these assumptions.

Musical Implications of the Sons harmonics

Sauveur’a modest statements concerning the musical implications of the

Sons harmoniques seem quite inconsistent with the assessment of his

position in musical history offered by Scherchen. References to "the

QQ
revolution initiated by Sauveur and Rameau"and the suggestion that "the

decisive musical discovery of the eighteenth century was set forth in

Sauveur’s demonstration of the natural structure of the musical tone"^^^

are not only extravagant, but unfair both to Rameau and to Sauveur’s pre­

decessors. Inferences that Sauveur anticipated many of Rameau’s theoretical

^%cherchen.7om Wesen der Musik. p. 59î "Die tJmwalzung, die von

Sauveur-Rameau ausging, wurde von den Musikem ebenso wie von den Gelehrten
verspurt."

^Q^Ibid.. pp. 62-3: "Die entscheidende musikalische Entdeckung

des XVIII. Jahrhunderts war in Sauveurs Nachweis der natiirlichen Struktur
des musikalischen Elanges gegeben, ..."
 415

postulates are unfounded.Scherchen consistently overestimated the scope

of Sauveur*3 concepts and terms. The statements made by Sauveur and his

reviewer. Fontanelle, were, in most respects, more guarded than analogous

pronouncements by Mersenne,

Sauveur*s Applications of the Sons harmoniques

One can only conclude from a perusal of Sauveur*s writings that he

deliberately restricted the application of his Sons harmoniques to systems

of tuning and to matters of acoustics and instrument construction. He

had ample opportunity to link his acoustically based system of tonal re­

lationships with musical consonance and with the idea of interval inversion,

but he avoided any such suggestions. Almost the sum total of Sauveur*s

discussion of consonance is found in this statement:

L'Unisson, l'Octave, la Quinte, The unison, octave, fifth, fourth,

la Quarte, les Tierces & les thirds and sixths, major and minor.
Sixtes majeures & mineures sont are called consonances, and the other
appellés Consonances. & les autres intervals dissonances,
Intervalles Dissonances,'

He offered no explanation for the cause of consonance, either acoustical

or numerological. The same passage contains Sauveur* s only comment on the

inversion of intervals;

•Entre les Intervalles du Among the intervals of the dia-

Systeme Diatonique, nous appellerons
la Seconde, la Tierce, & la Quarte,
petits Intervalles; & la Quinte, la
Sixte, & la Septième, grands Inter-
valles. De plus un Intervalle est
le Complement de 1*autre à l'octave,
tonic system, we call the second, the
third, and the fourth, small intervals;
and the fifth, the sixth, and the
seventh, large intervals. In addition
an interval is the complement of the
other at the octave.

lOllbld,, pp. 9; 27; 36-7; 57; 62-4.

^Q^Sauveur, ’‘^sterne general des intervalles des sons,** p. 304.

lorsqu'il achevé 1'Octavej ainsi
la Quarte est le complement de la
Quinte à l'Octave; la Tierce
I'est do la Sixte; & la Seconde
do la Septième, & réciproquement.
nais les Complémens des Inter-
valles Majeurs sont Mineurs, &
rociproquement; ainsi la Sixte
Majeure est complement de la
Tierce Mineure.
416
when it completes the octavoj thus
the fourth is the complement of the
fifth at the octave, the third is
[the complement] of the sixth and
the second of the seventh, and con­
versely. But the complements of
major intervals are minor, and con-
versely; thus the major sixth is the
complement of the minor third.

This direct and precise statement marks an advance over Descartes' dis­

cussion of "shadow interval"or Mersenne's idea of "residues"^®^ since

both earlier writers saw a closer affinity between the major sixth and

major third than between the major sixth and minor third. Brossard's

Dictionary contained no reference to inversions. Although it is a short

step from the point reached by Sauveur to a theory of interval inversion,

he gave no hint of it in his writings.

Sauveur's use of the term Son fondamental requires scrutiny because

this expression described an important concept in the theories of Rameau.

In spite of Fontanelle's remark that this was one of Sauveur's new terms

that musicians would find more convenient than traditional ones,^^^ it

appears that Sauveur may have borrowed the expression from the musicians

and adapted it to his various "systems." Quite independently, Brossard's

Dictionary referred to the Son fondamental in the definition of Trias

107
harmonica, using it in the sense of the root of the major triad.

lO^Ibid.
^*^%ené Descartes, Compendium musicae. in Oeuvres de Descartes, ed.
by C. Adams and P. Tannery, 2 (Paris, 1908), pp. 107-03.

^^%Iarin Mersenne, Harmonie universelle. "Traitez des consonances"

(Paris, 1636), Bk. I, prop, xxxii, pp. 79-80.

^^^ontanelle, "Sur un nouveau système de musique," p. 136.

lOTSebastien de Brossard, Dictionnaire de musique (Paris, 1703), no
pagination.
 417
Although Riemann was able to trace the use of the name Trias harmonica as
nQg
early as the Disputatio musica of Johann Lippius (1609-10), no use
of Son fondamental antedating Sauveur and Brossard has come to my

attention. The suggestion that Sauveur borrowed a current expression is

reinforced by the fact that he employed it in a variety of ways. His con­

ception of the Son fondamental was by no means limited to the relationships

of the harmonic sounds or to specifically acoustical matters. In his

"Système général" (1701), Sauveur spoke of the Son fondamental as a fixed

reference pitch equivalent to the Son fixe or 8 ft. whose frequency he

had previously calculated to be 100 cps.^^^ According to his system, the

fundamental sound was a median reference above which intervals were to be

reckoned for three octaves (intei*valles aigus) and below for two octaves

(Sous-intervalles) In other words. Sauveur simply applied a new name

to the conventional "unison pitch" used by organists. In his Mémoire of

1702, Sauveur shifted the Son fondamental from 8 ft.G to 32 ft.C but still
TIP
retained its meaning as a fixed reference point. At the same time, he

regarded the fundamental sound as a relative reference point, the first in

any series of Sons harmoniques. In addition, he used the term more loosely

^®%ugo Riemann, Geschichte der Muaiktheorie im IX.-XIX.

Jahrhundert (2nd ed.j Hildesheim, 1961), p. 437 n.

^*^%auveur, "Système général des intervalles des sons," p. 303.

^^®See Bernard de Fontanelle, "Sur la determination d'un son fixe,"

Histoire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences. Annee 1700, p. 139.

^^Sauveur, "Système général des intervalles des sons," p. 305.

^^^Sauveur, "Application des sons harmoniques," p. 316; also see

Plate 2 after p. 321.
 418
as the best note of a tuning system, of an instrument, or even of a
song, from which one could determine the intervals.113

Sauveur recognized that the consonant relationships of organ mixtures

were compatible with the Sons harmoniques.

L*Orgue ne fait qu'imiter By the mixture of its stops the

par le mélange de ses Jeux,
1'harmonie que la nature observe
dans les corps sonores, qu'on
appelle harmonieux; car on y
distingue les Sons harmoniques
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. comme dans
les Cloches, & la nuit dans les
longues cordes du Clavecin.
Cette harmonie paroît sur-tout
dans les Comets.
organ has only imitated the harmony
that nature points out in those
sonorous bodies that are called
harmonious; for we notice therein
the harmonic sounds 1. 2. 3. 4» 5» 6.
just as in bells and at night in the
long strings of the harpsichord,
This harmony appears especially in
the Comets [organ stop].

suggesting a new method for explaining these pitch combinations, he

linked the synthesis of tones with the phenomena of the harmonic series,

offered a more systematic analysis of the pitch relationships than that

provided by Pranch organ parlance and explained, for the first time, why

the ranks of the Cornet followed a particular order and why fifth- and

third-sounding stops.were not acceptable in the lower compass of the

instrument. Sauveur»s pronouncement that "the mixture of the steps is

harmonic"did not actually change existing practice because all of the

mixtures in use, though based on the traditional proportional system, were

compatible with his formula. His table of Sons harmoniques for the organ

considered only ranks that produced octaves, fifths, or thirdsü^recisely

^^Sauveur, "Système général des intervalles des sons," p. 357.

^^^Sauveur, "Application des sons harmoniques," p. 328.

^ ^Ibid. . Plate 2 a fter p. 321.

 419
the practice of many centuries of organ construction. Sauveur saw the

clearest example of his principle in the Cornet, yet his description of

this stop reveals the complexity and confusing aspects of a system that

relates all of the organ's ranlcs to a 32ft, fundamental instead of to the

actual fundamental of a particular mixture.

Les Sons harmoniques des cinq The harmonic sounds of the five
tuyaux de la touche PA sont l6. 32. pipes of the key 1ft [2 ft. C] are
4S. 64. 80, Les Sons des 5 derniers 16 . 32 , 48. 64. 80. The sounds of
de la touche hls-PA sont 64. 128. the last five on the key bls-Ut
192. 256. 320. qui sont proport- [l/2 ft. C] are 64. 128. 192. 256,
ionnels a 1. 2. 3. 4» 5.''^^' 320, which are proportionals of
1. 2 . 3. 4 . 5.
Sauveur was able to bring a fresh viewpoint to the question of breaking

ranks in the Fourniture, which are related by fifths and octaves (see

Chapter V). He pointed out that the reprise beginning with the series 2.

3. 4 . 6. etc., which would produce a fifth as its lowest interval, should

n A
be avoided because "the Sound 3 is not at all harmonic with the Sound 2."

The application of the Sons harmoniques to the synthesis of tones in

organ mixtures was perhaps Sauveur»s greatest contribution to musical

practice. By drawing a direct connection between the harmonic series and

the artificial mixture of pitches, he took a significant step beyond the

point reached by Mersenne. Yet it can be questioned whether Sauveur

realized the potential of his principle because he, like Mersenne, lacked

the elucidative knowledge of the relationship between the spectrum of over­

tones and the perception of timbre. His observations about the factors

affecting the tonal properties of pipes centered on materials and shapes

ll^Ibid.. p. 321.

^ ^Ibid.. p. 327: "Le Son 3 n'est point harmonique avec le Son 2."
 420
119
and represented no advance over Mersenne. The following commentary

by Hawkins gives a valuable insight into eighteenth-century thought con­

cerning the synthesis of tones in the organ:

Mons. Sauveur asserts that the structure of the organ,

by which he must be supposed to mean the combination of
pipes therein, depends upon this so long-unknown
principle (of harmonic sounds)j but we should rather say
it is resolvable into it; in like manner as we must
suppose the wedge of the pulley and the lever, which were
in use before the principles on which they severally act
were investigatedj for in the consgruction of the organ,
meaning thereby the Diapason or full concentus or symphony
of the greater or lesser pipes, it was sufficient for the
fabricators of that instrument to know, that they could not
long be ignorant of it that the acuter sounds in the
harmonical ratios above enumerated would coincide with^y
and also did, the fundamental or graver; and it remained
for philosophers and speculative musicians to discover
the physical causes of this vronderful coincidence.
(Italics mine.)

Sauveur offered no recommendations about adding new, higher-order harmonics

to the mixtures of pipes. Even within the limited set of octave-, fifth-,

and third-sounding harmonics he warned that stops should not be drawn

•'indifferently," and recommended that mixtures be regulated by the style

of the composition to be played and by the taste of the performer. As

in other aspects of musical application. Sauveur*s suggestion was guarded

and cautious. Els new formulation did, however, lay the foundation for
later extensions of the principle, such as the inclusion of the seventh

harmonic in mixtures by nineteenth-century builders.

^^Ibid.. pp. 311; 313.

^^%awkins, A General History of Music. II, 604 n.

^^Sauveur, "Application des sons harmoniques," p. 324.

 421

Fontanelle’s Evaluation of the Sons harmoniques

Bernard Le Bovier de Fontanelle (1657-1757) was a prominent figure

in French intellectual circles who, as secretary of the Académie, became

an influential reviewer and critic of Sauveur’s new theories of musical

acoustics. Poet, litterateur, and savant. Fontanelle was not only a

leading protagonist in the cultural "querelle des anciens et des

modernes" but also a spokesman for the scientific community. Being

a defender of modem tastes in the arts, he was receptive to Sauveur's

new acoustical proposals and eager to consider their implications for

music.

Fontanelle was permanent secretary of the Académie from its re­

organization in 1699 until 1733. The aimual publication of the proceedings

did not begin until 1702 when the Histoire et Mémoires for 1699 were

issued. Between 1729 and 1734, the Académie issued a retrospective Histoire

et Mémoires. 1666-1699 to cover a period when the activities of the organi­

zation were reported in an independent publication. Journal des Scavans

(1665-1707).^^^ As secretary, it was Fontanelle's responsibility to write

the obituaries and the reports of each year's activities, which were

collected in the Histoires. The publications appeared from two to six

years after the papers had been delivered at the meetings of the Académie.
The short essays in the Histoires not only summarize the accounts of in­

vestigations made by members but also reflect the discussions elicited at

122|j^bert Gillot, La querelle des anciens et des modernes en France

(Paris, 1914), pp. 491-96.
^^^Kronick, S c ie n tific P eriod icals. pp. 123-25.
 422
the meetings» The Mémoires. on the other hand, were papers read before

the Académie that were considered worthy of being published in their

124.
entirety. In all, Fontanelle wrote six reviews of Sauveur.»s.. work

between 1700 and 1716. The first essay, entitled "Sur la determination

d'lin Son fixe" (1700), was lengthy and detailed, as if it reviewed ex­

tensive work done by Sauveur, although no corresponding paper appears in

the Mémoires of that year.^^^ Perhaps Fontanelle was reviewing part of

Sauveur»s unpublished "Traité de Musique speculative" dictated at the

College Royal in 1697.^^^ In 1713 Sauveur listed this essay of 1701 as
127
part of his own output, but some passages are obviously the commentaries
of the reviewer.

Fontanelle reviewed Sauveur»s achievements in a three-page essay

"Sur 1»application des sons harmoniques aux jeux d'orgues" of 1702. Despite

the restrictions of its title, this essay is a comprehensive critique of

the entire subject of Sons harmoniques. Because this particular essay

was probably the most widely-read version of Sauveur’s theory, being quoted

extensively in Grassineau's Dictionary^^^ as well as appearing in the

popularly oriented Histoire, it is given here in full;

124see Fontanelle's Preface in Histoire de l’Académie Royale des

Sciences. Année 1699, pp. ii-iii.

^^%istoire de l’Académie Royale des Sciences. Année 1700, pp. 134-43.

^^^Sauveur, "Système général des intervalles des sons," p. 300.

^^"^Joseph Sauveur, "Rapport des sons des cordes d’instruments de

musique, aux fléchés des cordes," Mémoires de l’Académie Royale des
Sciences. Année 1713, p. 324.
1 Ofi
*®Grassineau, A Musical D ictionary, pp. 93-4.
 A23

¥e have seen in the Histoire of 1701 that M, Sauveur

calls Sons Harmoniques those that alvays malce a certain
determined number of vibrations while the first sound, to
which we relate them and which is named Fondamental, makes
one.
Until the present, we have only considered the relationship
of sounds by taking them according to the numbers, 1:2, 2:3,
3:4, 4:5, 5:6, etc., which has produced the intervals we
have named octave, fifth, fourth, major third, minor third,
etc., or else we compared numbers more distant from each
other than one unity, such as 3 & 5, and 5 & 8, which are
the sixths, and an infinitude of others; but we have not
taken the numbers according to their natural order, 1, 2,
3, 4, etc., to examine the relationships of the sounds that
would result.
M. Sauveur is the first who has considered the sounds
according to this natural series of numbers. The first
interval, 1:2, is an octave; the second, 1:3, is a twelfth;
the third; 1:4, is a fifteenth or the double octave higher;
the fourth, 1:5, is a seventeenth; the fifth, 1:6, is a
nineteenth, etc.
This new consideration of the relationship of sounds is
more natural not only because it is only the series of
numbers that are all multiples of unity, but also because
it conveys and represents all the music and the only music
that nature gives us by itself without the help of art.
¥hen a harpsichord string has been plucked, beyond the
sound it renders proportionate to its length, thickness,
and tension, one hears at the same time (if one has a
sensitive and practiced ear) other sounds higher than that
of the entire string— [sounds] produced by some of its parts,
which detach themselves in some way from the general vibration
in order to make special vibrations. This complication, of
vibrations can be conceived by the example of a cord attached
at the two ends and slack, like those of [rope-] dancers.
For, while the rope-dancer gives it a large oscillation, he
can with his two hands give two special oscillations to the
two havles; the two halves being determined in this manner,
one can give a further oscillation to each of them, etc.
Thus, each half, each third, each fourth of the instrument's
string has its separate vibrations, while the total vibration
of the entire string is made. It is the same with a bell,
when it is very good and harmonious. Now all of the special
sounds produced by the parts of the string or of the bell are
harmonic with regard to the total sound; the lowest pitch that
we hear, compared with this total sound, is at its octave,
the next higher than follows it makes a twelfth, the one that
the double octave, the following a seventeenth, etc., until
 424
these sotmds get so high they escape the ear. ¥e hear none
that makes vith the total sound either a fifth, or a third,
etc., or, indeed, any accord not included in the series of
harmonic sounds.
The string, on which we measure any part by placing a
light obstacle thereon, and which then divides itself,
either in similar:or in different parts according to how
the first division was made, only divides in such a way
that the sounds of its parts are harmonic with regard to
the total sound. Likewise, if in a wind Instrument, you
force the breath more and more, the tone always rises, but
only according to the series of harmonic sounds.
It would appear, therefore, that everytime nature makes
by itself, so to speak, a system of music, she employs in
it only this species of sounds, and, nevertheless, they
have remained, until the present, unknown in the theory of
the musicians. Mien we heard them, we treated them as
strange and irregular, and in that way, were excused from
making a breach in the imperfect and limited system that
was in vogue.
It is not, however, that nature has not sometimes had the
power to make musicians fall into the system of the harmonic
soundsJ but they fell there without being aware of them, led
only by their ear and their experience. M. Sauveur gives a
very remarkable example:of this in the composition of the
organ. He shows that it depends entirely on this principle,
though unknown. This detail is not our concern. It will
prove to those who wish to consider it how much the new
Système général of M. Sauveur gives scope and adds light
to the theory of m u s i c . ^29

Fontanelle’s observations were philosophically more sophisticated

than Sauveur’s, though not always penetrative with regard to the details of
acoustics or history. Fontanelle seemed to realize that the significance

of the Sons harmoniques demanded further amplification than it had received

in Sauveur’s papers of 1701 and 1702, and thus his essay was directed

toward the musical implications of the system.

129Bemard de Fontanelle, "Sur 1’application des sons harmoniques aux

jeux d’orgues," Histoire de l’Académie Royale des Sciences. Année 1702,
pp. 90-2; the French text is given in the Appendix.
 A25
If for no other reason, his essay is important because it contains

what is likely the first reference to the term harmonic series. In two

passages Fontanelle used the phrase "la suite des Sons harmoniques,"

which is curiously lacking in Sauveur*s writings. Fontanelle‘s reference

to the serial aspect of the Sons harmoniques was not accidental. He was

at the time involved in a lively dispute among members of the Académie as

to the validity of infinitesimal methods in m a t h e m a t i c s % e n he

later published his Elémens de la géométrie de 1»infini (1727), he ex­

pounded on infinite series, including the series 1, 2, 3, A ••• «0 and

131
l/l, 1/2, 1/3, 1 /4 . . . 1/00 « He did not, however, refer to either

of these series as the "harmonic series," nor did he suggest any

application of his geometrical methods to the operations of vibrating

strings.

Seemingly without question. Fontanelle concurred with Sauveur»s

assumption that all tonal phenomena obey a single harmonic principle and

asserted that, at least in a limited way, this principle forms the basis

for the tonal relationships in music. He suggested that musicians, guided

only by their ear and their experience, had been unwittingly influenced by

the natural system. The notion that the harmonic series is somehow the
basis of consonance seems implicit in his discussion but is not directly

stated. Fontanelle had discussed the topic of consonance in the Histoire

of 1701, and concluded that the determination of agreeableness was not

^^®Carl Boyer, The History of the Calculus and its Conceptual

Development (Hew York, 1959), p. 241.
13lBemard de Fontanelle, Siemens de la géométrie de 1*infini
(Paris, 1727), art. 85, p. 30; art. 1396, p. 467,
 426

so firmly set by nature that it could not be Influenced by cultural

tastes and personal training.

132 let, he felt that nature should be con­

sulted as much as possible because the coincidence of the frequencies

and the phenomenon of "beats" were significant factors in the perception

of consonance. And while Fontanelle reiterated the old argument that

intervals with the ratios 6:7 or 7:8 are unacceptable because they are

neither consonance nor difference of consonances, he did not attempt to

consider the questions raised ty the acoustically generated, seventh

harmonic.

There seems to be little justification for Scherchen’s charges that

"Fontanelle’s later reports show a marked decline in his interest in

Sauveur" or that "Fontanelle’s understanding had c e a s e d . T h e reviews

of Sauveur’s Mémoires on systems of temperament and the measurement of

frequencies were as comprehensive as the earlier essays. Fontanelle

closed his review of Sauveur’s final paper of 1713 with a pertinent

commentary on the trend of thought in musica speculatlva that he found

exemplified in Sauveur’s work:

•On verra par-là que ces nouvelles You will see by this that this new
connoissances peuvent s’entendre intelligence can extend as far as
jusqu’à la Phisique, & il n’y a Physics, and there is no reason to
pas lieu de s’en étonnerj la I-fusique, be astonished about it; music,
principalement lors qu’elle est principally when it is treated by
traitée par des Philosophes, n’est the philosophers, is only the
que la Phisique des sons. Physics of sound.

132pontanelle, "Sur un nouveau système de musique," pp. 123-25.

133scherchen, The Nature of Music, p. 50,

134-Bernard de Fontanelle, "Sur les cordes sonores," Histoire de

1’Académie Royale des Sciences. Année 1713, p. 75.
 CEâPTEa X

RA^ffiAÜ à m THE PRINCIPE SONORE

Reviewing earlier theories of consonance, Helmholtz pointed to a

philosophical contribution of Rameau and his contemporaries that is not

generally appreciated by present-day musicians, namely, a shift of

allegiance from numbers to acoustical evidence.

In the middle of the eighteenth century, when much suffering

arose from the artificial social condition, it may have been
enough to shew that a thing was natural, in order at the same
time to prove that it must also be beautiful and desirable. Of
course no one who considers the great perfection and suitability
of all organic arrangements in the human body, would, even at
the present day, deny that when the existence of such natural
relations have been proved as Rameau discovered between the
tones of the major triad, they ought to be most carefully con­
sidered, at least as starting points for further research. . . .
But this is by no means everything. . . . The mere proof
that anything is natural does not suffice to justify it
esthetically. . , ,
Nevertheless this attempt of Rameau and d’Alembert is
historically of great importance, in so far as the theory
of consonance was then for the first time shifted from meta­
physical to physical ground fitalics mine]. It is astonishing
what these two thinkers effected with the scanty materials at
their command, and what a clear, precise, comprehensive system
the old vague and lumbering theory of music became under their
hands.^

Although this assessment oversimplifies Rameau’s inheritance and his

accomplishment, it nevertheless recognizes the often neglected fact that

his theories of music signaled the demise of an era in the philosophy of

^Hermann Helmholtz, On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological

Basis for the Theory of Music, trans. bv Alexander J. Ellis (2nd ed.;
Hew York, 1954), pp. 232-33.
m
 428

music. The present dissertation has had two objectives; to trace the

history of experiences with musical phenomena leading to the formulation

of the harraonic-series principle, and to indicate the historical factors

responsible for the eighteenth-centuiy assertion that this principle

is the physical basis of music. The final chapter is therefore concerned

primarily with Jean-Phllippe Rameau, the first musician who attempted to

derive a complete theory of music from the principle of the harmonic series.

Rameau's theoretical writings span a period of forty years, in which

he constantly modified and reshaped his ideas. His most important treatises

on harmonic theory include: Traite de l'harmonie (1722), Houveau système

de musique théorique (1725), Génération harmonique (1737)..Démonstration

du prlnclne de l'harmonie (1750), Nouvelles réflexions (1752), and Code de

musique pratique (1760), to which is appended Nouvelles réflexions sur

le principe sonore. The task of unraveling the central concepts in these

various publications is made no easier by the lack of clarity in Rameau's

writing style, but many have made the attempt. Their primary concern has
been Rameau's codification of contemporary practice into a system of
2
harmony, which Palisca has aptly described as a clarification of syntax.
3
Shirlaw's study is especially detailed if not completely reliable. Itore

recent contributors include Pischner, Ferris, Suaudeau, and Keane

^Claude V. Palisca, "Scientific Ihpiricism in Musical Thought," in

Seventeenth Century Science and the Arts, ed. by H, H. Rhys (Princeton,
1961), p. 94.
%atthew Shirlaw, The Theory of Harmony (2nd ed.; DeKalb, Illinois,
1955), pp. 63-285.
%ans Pischner, Die Harmonielehre Jean-Phllipoe Rameaus (Leipzig,
1963); Joan Ferris, "The Evolution of Rameau’s Harmonic Theories,"
Journal of Music Theory. Ill (November, 1959), 231-56; R. Suaudeau,
Introduction a 1’harmonie de Rameau (Clermont-Ferrand, 1957); Sister
Kichaela Maria Keane, The Theoretical % 1 tines of Jean-Philinne Rameau
(Washington, 1961).
 429

The more specific concern of this chapter is the development of

Rameau's conception of the first principle of harmony and his gradual

formulation of a system based on the harmonic series. The investigation

necessarily extends beyond the time when other musicians, such as Tartini,
Ç
Gorge, Levens, and Lampe, set forth similar theories, because certain

aspects of Rameau's conception of the harmonic series did not crystalize

until his later treatises. It seems strange, in retrospect, that so long

a time should have elapsed after Sauveur had drawn the divergent aspects

of the harmonic series into a unified idea, had identified the phenomena

related to it, and had determined the exact relationships of the series

through the thirty-second term. But many external factors slowed the

process, especially the gap that had developed in the previous century

between speculative theorists and practical musicians. Even Rameau, a great

musician with a theoretical and didactical turn of mind, was not quick

to grasp the consequences of his first principle.

I’lany scholars, past and present, view Rameau's Traité de l'harmonie

(1722) as his major work because it contains almost all of his practical,

musical ideas.^ It may be argued, however, that the real growth in Rameau's

theories and the stimulus for the long outpouring of treatises came from

his interest in the speculative aspects of music, the long range

significance of which should not be ignored. Therefore, this chapter first

^Giuseppe Tartini, Trattato dl musica secondo la vera sclenza dell'

armonia (Padua, 1754)J Georg Andreas Gorge, Comnendium harmonicm
(Lobenstein, 176o)j Levens, Abrégé des règles de l'harmonie (Bordeaux,
1743); John Frederick Lampe ."The Art of Musick (London. 1740).
^See Suaudeau, Introduction â l'harmonie de Rameau, p. 7; also see
Keane, The Theoretical Writings of Rameau, p. 52.
 430

views the influences that led Rameau to propose a nature-based theory of

music, and then details the stages in the evolution of his concept of the
orincine sonore.

Influential Ideas and Conditions

Before the details of Rameau's theories can be adequately interpreted,

certain questions must be asked about the intellectual climate in lAich

those theories developed. "Why did nearly a century elapse between Mersenne's

observations about the relationships between consonance and natural

phenomena and the presentation of a theory of music based on the haimonic

series? Vhat caused musicians to re-examine the philosophical basis of

their airb? "Vilhy was Rameau the first major musician to adopt a natural,

mechanistic view of music? How many of Rameau's key ideas were already

current among musicians? These questions delineate the intellectual,

personal, and musical factors that must be considered.

The previously quoted remarks of Helmholtz indicated a new attitude

in Rameau's time that greatly influenced the arts, namely, a new assessment
n
of the importance of nature with regard to man's existence. Renaissance

men considered mankind to be of central importance in the scheme of things.

Kan was surrounded by a natural world essentially created for his benefit.

However, after the Cartesian conception of the universe as a mechanical

system subject to mathematical analysis was dramatically and convincingly

illustrated ty Newton's discovery of the laws of motion, thinkers began to

"^Helmholtz, On the Sensations o f Tone, pp. 232-33»

 431
g
reassess man's position. It now appeared that man is a small figure in

a large, impersonal universe. The notion that the earth is the center

of creation, a view still popular in Mersenne>s time, could no longer be

9
entertained by Europe's elite. The new ideas about man's position in an

all-embracing, natural mechanism had sweeping implications for the

arts as well as for theology.
The desire to discover natural determinants carried over into many

areas of human experience beyond the bounds of physics. During the first

half of the eighteenth century, a new rationalistic aesthetics was conceived

by a number of writers interested in poetry, music, architecture and other

10
beaux arts, Rameau was a leader in this movement. He consciously

applied the Cartesian method of analysis to music, proceeding in small

11
steps from simple, self-evident truths to more remote principles. In

1750, Rameau gave the following account of how he used the deductive method

in developing his own theories:

Je compris d'abord qu'il falloit I understood at the beginning

suivre dans mes recherches, le même
ordre que les choses avoient entre-
elles; & comme, selon toute apparence,
on avoit eu du chant avant que d'avoir
eu de l'harmonie, je me demandai
comment on étoit parvenu à obtenir
du chant,
that in my investigations it would
be necessary to follow the same
order that things have between them,
and since, in all probability,
people had melody before they had
harmory, I asked myself how they
succeeded in obtaining melody.

^Edwin A, Burtt, The Meta-phvsical Foundations of Modem Physical

Science (2nd ed,; Garden City, N, Y,, 1955), pp, 238-39.
%ohn B, Volf, The Ehierpence of the Great Powers. 1685-1715 (New
York, 1962), p, 225.
^^Ibid., p, 216; Paul Henry Lang, Music in Western Civilization
(New York, 1941)» p* 439; Cuthbert Girdlestone, Jean-Philiupe Rameau,
His Life and Vbrk (London, 1957), p, 523.
^T, V, Smith and Marjorie Grene, From Descartes to Kant (Chicago,
1940), p. 53.
 432

Eolaire par le Méthode de Guided by the Méthode of

Descartes qué j'avols heureusement
lue, et dont j'avois été frappé, je
commerçai par descendre en moi-memej
j* essayai des chants, à peu près
comme un enfant qui a’exercoit à
chanter; j*examinas ce qui passoit
dans mon esprit & dans mon organe,
Descartes, which I fortunately had
read and with which I had been
impressed, I began searching
within myself; I tried some tunes
almost like a child that practices
singing; I examined what took
place in my mind and my voice, . •

Je me plaçai donc le plus Thus I placed myself, as

exactement qu’il me fût possible nearly as possible, in the condition
dans l’état d’un homme qui n’auroit of a man who had neither sung nor
ni chanté, ni entendu du chant, me heard melody, firmly promising
promettant bien de recourir à des that I would return to these arti­
expériences étrangères, toutes les ficial e;q)eriences whenever I
fois que j’aurois le soupçon que suspected that the habits of a
l’habitude d’un état contraire â condition contrary to the one I was
celui où je me supposois assuming would carry me, in spite
m ’éntraîneroit malgré moi hors of myself, beyond the supposition.
de la supposition.
Cela fait, je me mis à That done, I began to look
regarder autour de moi, & à about me and to seek in nature
chercher dans la nature, ce que what I could not draw from nyself
je ne pouvois tirer de mon propre so clearly or surely as I desired.
fond, ni aussi nettement, ni aussi
sûrement que je le désirois. ^
Rameau, like most eighteenth-century theorists, believed that his goal
was not to invent a theory but to discover the true system of music. His

Lettre aux Philosophes (1762) contains this concise expression of his

philosophical viewpoint;

In all that I suggest, I am but the interpreter of nature,

unique stronghold of truth. All my truths are founded in
generally accepted experiments which anyone can verifÿ by
consulting those that I recorded in my Génération Haimopique.

^^Jean-Philippe Rameau, Démonstration du principe de l’harmonie

(Paris, 1750), pp. 7-8; 11-2.
^"Lettre de M. Rameau aux Philosophes,” Journal de Trévoux
(August, 1762), pp. 2035-53; excerpt trans. in Keane, The Theoretical
Writings of Rameau, p. 236.
 433

JMany, perhaps moat, musicians agreed that the diatonic scale, the major

triad, and indeed, the whole of Rameau's harmonic theory were nature's

prescribed system determined at last, in the eighteenth century, for all

time.^^ Some went so far as to hail Rameau as "the Newton of Harmony"

In 1780, Jean-Benjamin de Laborde went further, writing:

La Physique ne doit pas plus Physics owes no more to Newton

à Newton que la Musique ne doit â
Rameau. ...
On peut donc assurer qu'à lui
seul Rameau a été Descartes &
Newton, puisqu'il a fait pour la
I-fusique ce que ces deux grandes
hommes ensemble ont fait pour la
Philosophie. Mnsi que Newton,
il était d'abord parti de ce qui
existait dans la pratique pour en
trouver le principe; & comme
Descartesf il était parti de la
nature même, (c'est-à-dire, de ce
phénomène connu du corps sonore)
pour en déduire comme autant de
conséquences, les principes &
les regies particulières, qui, par
son travail, ont élevé en science
les opérations machinales les plus
plausibles de la simple pratique.
Part of the impetus for the new rational aesthetics came from a more
than music owes to Rameau. . . .
One can then assert that Rameau
by himself has been Descartes and
Newton, since he has done for music
what these two great men together
have done for philosophy. Thus, as
Newton, he started from what existed
in practice to find its principle;
and,..as Descartes, he started from
nature herself (that is to say, from
the known phenomenon of the sonorous
body) to deduce from it, as so many
consequences, the principles and
specific rules that, by his work,
have raised to a science the most
plausible, automatic operations of
simple practice.

humanistic source: the "quarrel of the ancients and modems" and the
17
revived "doctrine of affections." By the end of the seventeenth century,

the "modems," led by Fontanelle and the Perraults, Charles and Claude,

succeeded in popularizing the view that contemporary literary and artistic

^Herbert M, Schueller, "The Quarrel of the Ancients and Modems,"

^îusie and Letters. XLI (October, I960), 329; "Warren D. Allen, Philosophies
of Music History \2nd ed.; New York, 1962), p. 192.
^^John Hawkjns, A General History of the Science and Practice of
Music (Reprint ed.; New York, 1963)',' II, 901.
^^Jean-Benjamin de Laborde, Essai sur la musique ancienne et moderne
(Paris, 1780), Tome III, pp. 466-67.
17See Schu eller, "The Quarrel o f the Ancients and Modems," p . 321.
 434

efforts vere no less worthy than the achiovements of the great classical

civilizations of the past. However, advocates for the "ancients" gained

considerable support for their contention that the ancient arts were

founded on rational principles and that ancient music, in particular, had

great power to move the emotions. The modernists could counter the

implied criticism of contemporary music and literature only by an appeal

18
to "taste." Rameau, a modem practitioner, was not satisfied with the

notion that music could be based on caprice. He considered music to be

a science based on principles that determined not only the rules of

harmony but even its expressive powers. Rameau’s principles were not to

be derived from outmoded doctrines of the past, but rather from truths

deduced according to a unified, Cartesian methodology. His viewpoint was

summarized in 1738 ly a highly respected and influential student. Mile.

Thérèse DesHayes:

I believe that M. Rameau’s work will be considered less a

system than a palpable demonstration of music from its origins
through all its results, since the rule on xMch he bases it
is given us by nature.... This truth existed but someone had
to be bom to discover it. A great musician was needed, to be
able to compile under one heading that which the ancients
whether musicians, physicists, or geometricians omitted in
their works and various researches.

So this writer (Rameau), raised in a study and practice

of music, felt that when it was presented to him as an art,
this was not sufficient. He saw in ancient and modem methods,
results of false principles, methods lacking solid foundation
and coordination. So in nature herself he discovered the
fundamental principle from which all else is derived. ?

^®See Lang, Music in Vestem Civilization, p. 438.

Extrait de l’ouvrage de M, Rameau intitulé Génération harmonique,"

Le Pour et Contre. XIII (1738), pp. 31-48; excerpt trans. in Keane, The
Theoretical Writings of Rameau, pp. 143-44»
 435
In his later years, Rameau sav in the nrincine sonore the first

principle of all the arts and mathematical sciences. In 1752 he annexed

the arts when he said he had long held the view that:

... dans la Musique reside le plus . . . in music resides most certainly

certainement & le plus sensiblement «n most perceptibly the principle
le principe de tous les Arts de goût. of all the arts of taste.
By 1756 he dared to invade the sciences:

Elle nous apprend ... que la She [Nature] informs us, . . .

Musique est le seul Art qui ait une
régie certaine & infaillible indé-
pendamment même de la réflexion i
singularité qui mérite assurément
l'attention des Artistes, das gens
de Lettres & des Philosophes. ...
Elle nous persuade ... que du
même principe de l'harmonie, sagement
& sçavamment mis en oeuvre, on peut
tirer de grands avantages pour la
perfection de toutes les Sciences
fondées sur les rapports.^
that music is the only art that
has a sure and infallible rule
independently even of contemplation :
a peculiarity that surely merits
the attention of artists, men of
letters, and philosophers. . . .
It convinces us . . . that
from the same principle of haimony,
wisely and learnedly put in action,
one can draw great advantage for
the perfection of all sciences
founded on relationships.

In 1761, Rameau went so far as to publish a work entitled Origine des

sciences, in \diich he asserted that the principles of geometry find their

22
true source in the proportions available to the ear in the corps sonore.
It is less surprising that such statements drew criticism from the

Encyclopedists than that even Rameau's most sweeping assertions gained

respectful attention. The editor of the Journal de Trévoux, writing in

1758, reported:

Jean-Philippe Rameau, Nouvelles réflexions de M. Rameau sur sa

Démonstration du principe de l'harmonie (Paris. 1752). u. 50.

^«Erreurs sur la musique dans 1 'Encyclopédie," Journal de Trévoux

(February, 1756), art. xx, pp. 511-12.

^^Jean-Philippe Rameau, Origine des sciences, suivie d'une

controverse sur le même suiect (Paris. 1761); see commentary in Keane,
The Theoretical TJritings of Rameau, pp. 230-31.

La découverte qu’a faite M. Rameau
du vrai principe de l'harmonie, ajoûte
beaucoup à 1 idée qu’ont eue jusqu’ici
les hommes, ou qu’ils ont dû avoir de
la Ihisique, ... Nous ne savions pas,
avant cet habile Maître, que la nature
ou plutôt son très-puissant Auteur,
nous donne tous l’Art, en_nous
donnant un corps, sonore.
436
The discovery that K. Rameau has made
of the true principle of harmony
adds much to the conception of music
that men have had till now or should
have had. . . . ¥e did not know,
before this able master, that nature,
or rather its most powerful Author,
gives us all of art in giving us one
sonorous body.

The most serious questioning of Rameau’s philosophical tenets arose

from the conflict between two currents in eighteenth-century philosophy—

rationalism and empiricism. IJhen Rameau began writing, Cartesian

p/
rationalism was the unchallenged view of most Parisian thinkers. By mid-

century, the efforts of Voltaire and others of his generation to introduce

Newtonian empiricism into French thought succeeded in causing a reassessment

of the established viewpoint. Concepts of innate ideas, human intuition,

and all metaphysics in general came under scrutiny. Although Rameau may

not have been totally uninfluenced by the shift toward empirical methods,

his theories remained thoroughly entrenched in the Cartesian system. This

philosophical conflict seems to be the principal basis for D’Alembert’s

criticisms of Rameau’s theories.

■Why Rameau should have "been the first major musician to postulate a

theory of music based on the harmonic series is Impossible to judge with

certainty, but two factors contributed significantly: (l) Rameau was a

composer with an exceptional interest in the speculative aspects of his

art; (2) once he became a Parisian, he moved in an intellectual and

cultural milieu unmatched in any other capital. Rameau’s preoccupation with

^^"Code de musique pratique ... par M. Rameau,” Journal de Trévoux

(January, 1758), Vol. I, art. ix, pp. 177-78.

^J. Wolf, The Baergence of the Great Powers, p. 217.

 437
with theoretical problems lead to the Tinusiial resxilt that his reputation as
25
a theorist and teacher preceded his recognition as a composer. Although he

was eager to be accepted in intellectual circles and most especially to gain

the approval of members of the Académie des Sciences, he also aspired to be

a practical musician. Hot only did he seek public recognition as a composer,

but he also wished to be known for his efforts to simplify the teaching of

composition and accompaniment. One can scarcely regard Rameau's outpouring

of treatises as either more or less impressive than his musical output during

the forty productive years that followed the Traite of 1722.

As a Frenchman, Rameau's cultural inheritance included more than the

general philosophical views discussed above. He also had easy access to the
research in musical acoustics carried on by his earlier compatriots Descartes,

Mersenne, and Sauveur. Strangely enough, the knowledge of overtones, an item

important to Rameau in the long run, seems not to have been widely disseminated

either within or outside of France during the century that had passed since

Mersenne. Perhaps even stranger, considering the publications in the Histoire

and Mémoires of the Académie des Sciences, is the near certainty that Rameau

himself had no knowledge of overtones until after he moved to Paris in 1722

at the age of thirty-nine.

The influences that led Rameau to develop a musical system around har­

monic principles were not limited to the lofty realm of philosophy and science.

Changes in musical style during the previous century caused new concepts and

aesthetic values to emerge. Although Rameau's theories were revolutionary

in their long-range implications, their immediate effect was to codify an

already established style. The evidence indicates that few, if any, of

Rameau's ideas were

^^Girdlestone, Rameau. His Life and ¥ork. p. 7.

26ciaude V. Palisca. Baroque Music (Englewood Cliffs, H.J., 1968), p. 169.
 438
entirely original, despite his ntmerous claims as an innovator. His

real contribution consisted in organizing current ideas into a formal

system. Though antagonistic, the following appraisal of Rameau’s Traité

by a rival Parisian composer, Michel de Montéclair, is historically

informative:

Je pourrois rabattre beaucoup I could diminish considerably the

des louanges que vous donnez raises you bestow on this work
à cet Oeuvragej mais je me
contenterai présentement de
f Traité]; but I will be content at
present to censure your temerity
blâmer la témérité que vous for maintaining in your preface
avez de soutenir dans votre that everything of value that has
Préface que tout ce que l'on a been composed till now has been
composé jusqu'à présent done by taste alone, without clear
d'excellent n l'a été que par and certain principles. Have you
goût, sans principes clairs probed thoroughly the minds of all
& certains. Avez-vous pénétré these great composers to become
au fond de l'ame de tous ces acquainted with their knowledge? ...
grands Auteurs, pour connoitre These excellent composers did not
leur sçavoir? ... Ces excellens publish their principles, con­
Auteurs n'ont point mis au jour sequently you cannot judge them.
leurs principes, donc vous n'en Because you are the first to refer
pouvez pas juger. Parceque vous in print to the fundamental sound
êtes le premier qui avez faits of a chord, does it follow that you
imprimer le son fondamental d'un are the first to have recognized it?
accord, s'ensuit-il que vous êtes One often sees in the arts that
le premier qui l'avez connu; combien principles are practiced long before
voit-on dans les Arts de principes they are published. This [knowledge]
pratiqués long-tems avant qu'on that you claim to have brought to
les imprime. Ce que vous votilez light a short while ago has been
avoir mis au jour depuis peu est common in Paris for thirty years, . .
commun dans Paris depuis trente I do not intend to insinuate that
ans, ... Je ne prêtons pas your Traité d'harmonie does not
insinuer que votre Traité contain much that is good, in spite
d'harmonie n'ait beaucoup de of its faults; on the contrary, I
bon, malgré ses deffauts; au admit it is a merit to have compiled
contraire, j'avoue que c'est un it, but inferior to the merit of the
mérite de l'avoir compilé, mais excellent composers whose insights
inférieur au mérite des excellens j^ou deny.
Auteurs dont vous niez les lumières.
Itappears that Montéclair*s reference in 1730 to "thirty years" earlier

was no idle approximation, for many of the practical harmonic ideas usually

27
«Repense du second musicien au premier musicien," Mercure de France
(May, 1730), pp. 881-82.
 439
attributed to Rameau were common knowledge early in the century.

Charles Masson* s Houveau Traité (I694), a popular text containing practical

28
rules, already assumed a major-minor key system. Sauveur* s Mémoire of

1701 contained a complete statement of interval inversions, Brossard’s

Dictionnaire de Musique (1703) described the lowest member of the Triade

harmonique as the Son fondamental without, however, suggesting that this

29
"root" retained its identity in triad inversions. Yet, Saint-Lambert*s

Principes âü clavecin (1702) clearly spoke of the "reduction" of sixth

chords and six-four chords to their appropriate root position triads

QA
(accords parfaits), The doctrine of harmonic functions was apparently

not published before Rameau but was implicit in the system of accompani­

ment known as the règle de 1*octave. The practical formulas for harmoni­

zation in this system emphasized the chords Rameau later classified as

31
tonic, dominant, and subdominant. Rameau*s greatest insight concerned
the progression of chords according to the relationships of their roots.

The basse fondamental, as he called it, was a logical outgrowth of inversion

theory and the established cadence for formulas. However, Pfonteclair even

denied Rameau*s exclusive rights to this idea:

28 ^
Charles Masson, Nouveau traité des regies pour la composition de
musique (Paris, 1694) > P» 10.

^^Sebastien de Brossard, Dictionnaire de musique (Paris, 1703)> no

pagination.

^9l'iichel de Saint-Lambert, Lea principes du clavecin (Paris, 1702),

p. 23; quoted in Pischner, Die Harmonielehre Rameaus, p. 256.

3^See Sfairlaw, The Theory o£ Harmony, pp. 118-19.

 Je n'ai nul intérêt de
décrier ce Livre comme vous m'en
accusez, & si je me pare de la
Basse fondamentale, je puis dire
en même-tems, qui je ne vous en
suis point redevable; on n'en
peut point douter, puisque je
vous accuse de la mal expliquer.
I have no interest in dis­
crediting this book [Traité] as you
accuse, and if I boast.of the
fundamental bass, I can say at the
same time that I am not indebted to
you [Hameau] for it; this cannot be
doubted since I accuse you of
explaining it wongly.

Montéclair'B statement was in reply to a communication of 1729, in which

Rameau had asserted:

Car la Base fondamentale dont il For the fundamental bass of which

se pare, & qu'on adopte de plus he boasts, and which is being
en plus en Europe, ne doit sa adopted more and more throughout
naissance qu'à ce Livre, c'est Europe, owes its beginning only to
là qu'il en est parlé pour la this book. That is where it is
premiere fois, & que ce principe mentioned for the first time and
de l'Harmonie inconnu jusqu'alors, where this principle of harmony
est dévelopée,32 unknown until then is developed.
Rameau may have been a bit overconfident, for it appears that British

as well as French theorists had developed similar ideas quite independently.

Godfrey Keller's Method for ...Thorough Bass (1707) already suggested an

O/
understanding of triad inversion, and the manuscripts (ca. 1726) of
Roger North expound.a "proper base" system similar to the fundamental bass
35
in concept but less comprehensive and dissimilar in terminology.

Rameau was perhaps more ambitious in his theoretical goals than his

predecessors had been. He wished to provide a simplified system, yet one

^^"Reponse du second musicien au premier musician," p. 881.

Examen de la conférence sur la musique," Mercure de France

(October, 1729), p. 2369.

^^See Louis îted Chenette, "tiusic Theory in the British Isles during
the Enlightenment" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. The Ohio State
University, 1967), p. 238.

^British thiseum. Add. MS, 32, 533, fols. 71v; 77r-77v; cited in
Chenette, "Music Theory in the British Isles," pp. 261-62; 266.
 Ml
in vhich every idea is justifiable on natural grounds. These two goals

tended to confound each other, but this was the task that occupied Rameau's

attention. Thus he reworked time and again the system he had presented

almost fully developed in the Traité. A review of the long and bitter series

of polemics between Rameau and his critics suggests that he was not in the

least apprehensive about the merits of his musical compositions or even about

the validity of his practical ideas. His zeal was directed toward gaining

approval for his speculative ideas because these, he believed, were to be

his greatest contribution to posterity. The opening and closing paragraphs

of the Demonstration (1750) ezpress Rameau's thoughts on this matter:

L'Ouvrage que je donne The work that I now present

aujourd'hui est le résultat de
mes méditations sur la partie
scientifique d'un Art dont je
me suis occupé toute ma vie:
heureusement je ne me suis
point rebuté dans mes recherches,
& je suis enfin parvenu à
démontrer ce principe fondamental
de la tîusique, que jusqu'à moi
on avoit tâché vainement de
découvrir; je l'avois entrevu
dès mon Traité de l'harmonie,
& il n'y manquoit que cette
demiere main pour autoriser
tout ce que j'avance dans ma
Génération harmonique.
is the result of my mediations on
the scientific part of an art with
which I have been occupied all my
life. Fortunately, I have not
become discouraged in my investi­
gations, and I have finally
succeeded in demonstrating this
fundamental principle of music
that people before me have vainly
attempted to discover. I caught
a glimpse of it in my Traité de
l'harmonie and it needed only this
finishing stroke to justify all
that I assert in my Génération
harmonique.

^^Rameau, Démonstration, preface, pp. v-vi.


Comblé des bontés du Public
par les succès de mes Ouvrages de
Musique-pratique, suffisamment
satisfait, & content moi-même,
j’ose le dire, de mes découvertes
dans la théorie, je ne désire plus
que d’obtenir du plus respectable
Tribunal de l’Europe Sçavante, le
sceau de son approbation sur la
partie de mon Art, dans laquelle
j’ai toujours le plus ambitionne
de réussir.
4A2
Filled uith the public’s
kindness because of the success of
my musical compositions, sufficiently
satisfied and content myself, I dare
to say, with my discoveries in theory,
I want no more than to obtain from
the most respected tribunal of
learned Europe the seal of its
approval for the part of my art, in
which I have always most desired
to succeed.

Modem scholars have tended to ignore the philosophical aspects of

Hameau’s theories, accepting his practical contributions and ’’forgiving’'

him his preoccupation with the principe sonore. A critique, of Hameau»s

Mémoire (later called Démonstration) prepared by DeMairan, Nicole, and

D’Alembert, likewise emphasized the value of the practical ideas but did
not fail to acknowledge Rameau’s philosophical speculations:
Ainsi l'harmonie assujétie
communément à des loix assez
arbitraires, ou suggérées par
une expérience-aveugle, est
devenue, par le travail de M.
Hameau, une Science plus
géométrique, & à laquelle les
Principes I4athématiques
peuvent s’appliquer avec une
utilité plus réelle & plus
sensible, qu’ils ne l’ont été
jusqu’ici. Ce dernier jugement
est à peu près le même que
l’Académie avoit deja porté en
1737, de la Génération harmonique
de l’Auteur. Les principes
éstablis dans ce dernier Ouvrage,
sont fortifiés dans le Mémoire
dont nous rendons compte, par de
nouvelles preuves, 6 de nouvelles
observations, & surtout exposés
avec beaucoup d’order, & de clarté.
Thus harmony, commonly bound by laws
that arc rather arbitrary or
suggested by a blind experience,
has become through the work of M.
Hameau a more geometric science to
which mathematical principles can
be applied with more genuine and
evident usefulness than they have
been till now. This latest
judgement is almost the same as
the Académie had already reached
in 1737 concerning the Génération
harmonique by the author. The
principles established in this latter
work strengthened in the Mémoire of
which we [now] give an account, by
new proofs and observations, and,
above all, they are e:q)lained with
great order and clarity.

37lbid.. p. 112.

38See Girdlestone, Rameau, Hla Life and tJork. p. 545.


C'est pourquoi M. Rameau après
avoir acquis une grande
reputation par ses Ouvrages de
musique pratique, mérite encore
d'obtenir par ses recherches
dans & ses découverts la
Théorie de son Art, l'approbation
& l'éloge des Philosophes. ^9
Uô
This is why M. Rameau, after having
gained a great reputation for his
musical compositions, deserves still
further to obtain, for his researches
and discoveries in the theory of his
art, the approval and praise of
philosophers.

The ensuing review of Rameau's theories will concentrate primarily

upon his concept of the principe sonore and its relation to consonance,

the major triad, and the major scale. In addition, the changes in Rameau's
theories that resulted from acoustical problems and the criticisms of

academicians must be considered.

The Evolution of the Principe Sonore

While most of Rameau's specifically musical ideas were well-established

in his writings from the start, his conception of a philosophical, first

principle evolved through a series of stages and continued to develop

throughout his life. In his late works, Rameau adopted the term principe

sonore for this first principle. Before then he had relied chiefly on

the phrase "resonance of the sonorous body" or simply on the term corps

sonore. An examination of the conceptual evolution of Rameau's principe

clarifies the stages in the historical progression from the senarius to

the harmonic series as the basis of musical theories. The Traité (1722)

reflects a metaphysical basis similar to the one found in Descartes'

Compendium (1618), namely, a senary theory supported by knowledge of

harmonic resonance. Rameau soon acquired a more general understanding of

^^"Extrait de Registres de l'Académie Royale des Sciences; 17A9,"

included after the preface in Rameau, Démonstration, pp. xlv-xlvii.
 444
acoustics and, in his next theoretical work, Nouvoau système (1726), he

adopted a "physically generated" senarius as the first principle, which is

again clearly stated in the Demonstration (1750). In these publications,

Rameau's fundamental conception was little advanced over Mersenne's more

forward-looking ideas. In his last writings, Rameau began to grasp more

clearly the logical implications of the harmonic series relationships.

Reacting to the criticisms of others, he attempted to tidy up the trouble­

some numerological speculations of his earlier works, but in spite of

criticisms he tended more and more to broaden the supposed scope of his

nrinclne sonore.

Certain fixed ideas about the basic theory of consonance remained

unchanged throughout the myriad of subtle alterations encountered in

Rameau's explanations. First, Rameau accepted without question the

traditional view that musical consonance depends on the ratios of the

numbers 1, 2, 3, 4> 5, 6, and 8. Second, he saw special significance in

the proportion 1:3:5 because its reciprocal form 1:1/3:1/5 enabled him to

relate the major triad to the fundamental pitch of a sonorous vibrator.

Third, he declared that octaves and compound octaves are so similar in their

effect to the fundamental pitch that they may be regarded functionally as

identical. From these three primary ideas, Rameau postulated various

further relationships. For example, he believed that since his "harmonic

proportion," 1:3:5, contains 1:3 and 1:5, these ratios can in turn generate

a "triple proportion," 1:3:9, and a "quintuple proportion," 1:5:25.

Similarly, he derived another geometric proportion, 1:2:4, from the notion

of octave Identity. Rameau believed that such formulas were equally valid
 4^5

when expressed as fractions of unity (sous-multiples) or as multiples

of unity (multiples). Prom these porportions, submultiple and multiple,

Rameau attempted to explain every aspect of harmony. In a general sense

this entire system of proportions was Rameau’s principe sonore, but more

specifically his principle was the "harmonic proportion" 1:3*5 from which

he derived the others. The elements of change in his theories concerned

the physical justification of this proportion and the mathematical super­

structure that could be derived from it.

It would appear that modem scholars have generally misinterpreted

Rameau's actual theoretical position regarding consonance. If Rameau's

theories of consonance are viewed according to the stages of his personal

development— senarius. senary division, and harmonic series— it is

surprising to find that the bulk of his ideas rests squarely in the second

classification rather than in the third as is generally supposed. The

essence of Rameau's principe sonore is the senary division of a single

/ string, or other tone-producing vibrator, into its aliquot parts. In this

conception he was much more indebted to Descartes and Mersenne than to

Sauveur. Only Rameau's last writings indicated progress beyond the limits

of the senary division concept.

The distinction between senary division theories and earlier theories

based on the senarius is subtle but important. The senarius. an outgrowth

of the Greek guatrenarius. was a system of six "sounding numbers" (1 to 6)

nominally of equal importance. V/ith regard to monochord divisions, any

ratios of the six elements were valid for whatever comparison might be
desired. Senary division, on the other hand, implies that segments must
 446
always be compared to the total as halves, thirds, fourths, etc. The

notion of senary division supposedly carries a stronger feeling of

"naturalness” because of the constant comparison to a single unit and pro­

vides the impression of a fixed hierarchy of "strengths" extending from

unity* But senary division presented serious disadvantages as the price

for a fixed order. ïbqplaining the nature of the perfect fourth and the

derivation of the minor triad was more bothersome for Rameau than for

Zarlino. Zarlinob system permitted a measure of leeway in the arbitrary

combination of consonant ratios. The essential difference between the

systems is simply that, while in senarius theory ratios may be compared

40
with unity, as in Zarlino*s Harmonia-perfetta. in senary division theory

the ratios must be compared with unity.

The theoretical shift from the more flexible senarius to the fixed

senary division was forced by the relationships discovered in acoustical

phenomena. Descartes modified his discussion of the senarius by relation­

ships observed in the harmonic resonance of lute strings, vhLle Mersenne,

for his part, saw Important relationships in the natural series of the

trumpet. The point of distinction between sixteenth- and seventeenth-century

viewpoints shows up clearly in the évaluation of consonances. Descartes and

Mersenne considered the twelfth (3:1) and the seventeenth (5:1) to be more

perfect than the fifth (3:2) and the major third (6:5) because ratios with

unity were confirmed by natural phenomena. Yet, neither of these theorists

progressed to quite the point at which Rameau began. Descartes’ knowledge

^ S ee Shirlaw, The Theory o f Harmony, p. 54*

 44.7

of harmonic resonance was incomplete and confused. He still accepted

the older idea that the octave, by its "harmonic division," generates the

fifth, which in turn generates the major third. Mersenne moved closer

to future thought by asserting the primacy of the unison over the octave.

He considered the unison to be the first of all consonances because nature,

the "friend of harmony", indicated it. For Rameau the unison had to be

the first of all consonances because he considered nature, not as the

friend of harmony, but as the actual source of all harmonic relationships.

The distinction between harmonic-series and senary-division theories

is as easily confused as the earlier transition from senarius to senary

division. If, in theories supposedly based on the harmonic series, the

consideration of terms is limited to the six of senary.division, there is

no practical distinction at all, but merely a difference with regard to the

philosophical premise. The systems can only be distinguished when terms

beyond the sixth, such as the "natural seventh" (7:1) proposed by Sorge in

1 7 4 7 are introduced. Once the real nature of the harmonic series was

understood, it was no longer possible to assume that nature generates the

consonances but not the dissonances, plus a lot of other troublesome relation­

ships that are not used in music. Mersenne already sensed this problem

in 1637, with regard to the upper range of the trumpet, but it was only

around 1760 that Rameau finally concluded that both consonances and

dissonances must be accounted for by the same derivation.

Rameau fuUy recognized that his proposal of a natural basis of music

constituted a radical shift from older philsophies. The numerology of the

^Georg Andreas Sorge, Yorgemach der musicalischen Composition

(Lobenstein, 1745), p. 12f; cited in Pischner, Die Harmonielehre Rameaus.
p. 204.
 448
"ancients" vas now supplanted ly a new viewpoint made possible hy the

scientific achievements of the "moderns." ’What is not obvious from

accounts of Rameau's theories is that his own interest in the acoustical

aspects of sound was rather, superficial. Prodded by criticisms and

suggestions from others, Rameau gradually began to realize the logical

implications of the harmonic series and to make efforts to present a
theory philosophically consistent with it.

Rameau's Starting Point

The distinctions that have been drawn between the senarius. senary

division, and harmonic series are necessary for an adequate understanding

of the theoretical foundation of Rameau's first work, the Traité de

l'harmonie réduite à ses principes naturels (1722). Although the title

suggests an appeal to several natural principles, they consisted here of

mathematical constructs, not the mechanical, first principle of his later

treatises. Rameau's general philosophy at this point is evident in the

Preface;

In whatever progress music has made thus far, it appears

that the more sensible the ear becomes to its marvelous effects,
the less curious the mind is to fathom its true principles, so
that we may say that, while experience has here gained a certain
authority, reason has lost its rights.
Such writings as have come down to us from the ancients make
it very clear that reason alone enabled them to discover the
greater part of music's properties; yet, though experience still
obliges us to approve most of the rules wliich they passed on, we
neglect today all the advantages we might derive from reason in
favor of the experience of ordinary practice.^

^Jean-Philippe Rameau, Traité de l'harmonie (Paris, 1722), preface,

no pagination, [ij; trans. in Oliver Strunk, Source Readings in Music
History (New York, 1950), pp. 564-65.
 U9

Vlth a specific reproach for his more recent predecessors, Rameau

continued:

If modem musicians...had applied themselves as the ancients

did to giving reasons for what they practiced, they would have
abandoned many preconceived ideas which are not to their
advantage.,,. Their knowledge is not common property, they
have not the gift of communicating it,43

Rameau's solution for the shortcomings he saw in music based on "taste"

was to treat music as a mathematical science:

Music is a science which ought to have certain rules;

these rules ought to be derived from a self-evident
principle; and this principle can scarcely be known to us
without the help of mathematics.,,. It was only with the
help of mathematics that my ideas disentangled themselves
and that light replaced an obscurity that I had not
previously recognized as such. 44

In the discussion of details, the senary division concept emerges as

the theoretical basis of the Traité, in spite of statements that lend them­

selves to differences of interpretation. Ambiguous statements, such as

the following, have sometimes been taken as referring to the harmonic series

when,in reality, they were concerned with divisions of the string.

Le Son Fondamental, c’est-à-dire,
le Principe se sort de son Octave comme
d'un second terme où doivent réspondre
tous des Intervales engendrez par sa
division, ... Le Principe ne reside
pas seulement dans les Accords fonda­
mentaux, mais plus précisément encore
dans le Son grave de ces Accords,'4-5
The fundamental sound, that
is to say, the principle. makes
use of its octave as a second
term to which all the intervals
engendered by its division must
conform. . . . The principle
does not reside solely in the
fundamental chords, but more
precisely yet in the lowest
sound of these chords.

43ibid.. [ii]; trans. in Strunk, Source Readings, p. 565.

44-Ibid.. [iii]; trans, in Strunk, Source Readings, p, 566.

45Haiaeau, Traité de l'harmonie. "Table des termes," p, xvii.

 450

Le principe de l'harmonie s'y The principle of harmony reveals it­

découvre dans un Son unique. ...
Par sa premier division ce Son
unique en engendre un autre, qui
en est l'Octave, & qui semble no
faire qu'un avec lui. ^
self in a single sound. , , , By its
first division this single sound
engenders another, which is the octave
and which seems to be as one with the
first.

But, the traditional preoccupation with the numbers demonstrated by

divisions of the monochord is clear in these statements:

L'on a trouvé, en un mot, que
toutes les Consonances étoient
contenues dans les six premiers
nombres, à l'exception dos
grosseurs & des poids, où 11
faut se servir des quarroz de
ces nombres radicaux; ce qui a
donné lieu d'attribuer toute la
force de l'harmonie à celle des
nombres. ^7
In a word, we have found that
all of the consonances are contained
in the first six numbers, (not con­
sidering the thickness and weights
[of strings] in which it is necessary
to use the squares of these radical
numbers). This is what allows us
to attribute all the strength of
harmony to these numbers.

L'unité qui est le Unity, which is the principle

principe des nombres, nous of numbers, represents to us the
represents le Corps-Sonore. dont sonorous body, from which we draw the
on tire la preuve du rapport proof of the relationships of sounds,
des Sons. ^

There is considerable evidence to indicate that Rameau, a French

musician writing in 1722, had no knowledge of the overtone series and

apparently a rather limited understanding of other related phenomena. For

the most part, references to acoustical phenomena in the Traité were ex­

tracted from Descartes* Compendium and were limited to harmonic resonance

49
between strings and to the overblowing of the octave on the flute. The

most promising passage, entitled "Des différentes manières dont le rapport

^Ibid.. preface, [ivj.

^%ld.. Bk. I, p. 3.

^Ibid.. "Table des termes," p. xii.

^%bid.. Bk. I, pp. 6-7.

 451

des Sons peut nous être connu,*' refers only to number relationships,

string lengths, and string frequencies, with no hint of overtones.

Speaking in retrospect, Rameau himself remarked in 1737 that his under­

standing of the principe sonore was sketchy at first:

C’otoit déjà beaucoup pour It was already quite an accomplish-

moi d'avoir découvert cette Basse
fondamentale, telle que je
l'annonce dans mon Traité de
l'Harmonie; on peut dire que
c'est le plus pur raion d'une
lumiere, dont, à la vérité,
la source m'étoit encore
inconnue; j'ai commencé â
l'entrevoir, cette source, dans
mon nouveau Système, & je crois
maintenant la toucher de près. ?
ment for me to have discovered this
fundamental bass, as I announced it
in my Traité de l'harmonie. One can
say that it was the purest ray of a
light, whose source, in truth, was
yet unknown to me. I began to perceive
this, source in my Houveau Système
[1726], and now believe I have fully
grasped it.

Perhaps the reason for Rameau's apparent ignorance of Sauveur's

writings in 1722 is the fact that the Traité, unlike the later treatises,

was written before he moved to Paris. It is even doubtful that he knew

the sections of Mersenne's Harmonie universelle that contained discussions

of overtones, since he only refers to the theoretical books in the first

part of this work. Although the term corps sonore appears in the Traité

it does not yet carry the implication of a sound source that acoustically

produces harmonics in addition to the fundamental. Rameau used the term

in the traditional meaning of a vibrator, that produces a musical tone,

comparable to the expression "luminous body" popular in optical treatises

53
since the late sixteenth century. tfe find no evidence that corps sonore

^°Ibid.. Bk. I, p. 2.

Jean-Philippe Rameau, Génération harmonique (Paris, 1737), preface,

[i-ii].
52cf, Shirlaw, The Theory of Harmony, p. 29.
5^See Abraham Wolf, A History of Science. Technology, and Philosophy
in the l6th and 17th Centuries (2nd ed.; New York, 1959) I, 249; 258; 260.
 452
represents anything more than, a source of the numerical relationships

demonstrated by senary division of strings.

Rameau’s discussion of harmonic resonance in the Traité warrants

examination because it reveals the state of his understanding of acoustical

operations and portends some odd conceptions that caused problems in later

treatises. Contrary to Descartes’ conclusions, Rameau believed that

sympathetic vibration demonstrates a distinction in kind between the octave

and other intervals;

Si l’on prend une Viole dont les
cordes sont assez longues pour
pouvoir en distinguer les battemens,
l’on y remarquera qu’en faisant
résonner une corde avec un peu de
violence, celles.gui seront plus
basses ou plus éîovees d’une Octave,
trembleront d'elles-mêmes, au lieu
qu’il n’y a que le Son aigu de la
Quinte qui tremble, & non pas le
grave; ce qui prouve que le principe
de l’Octave est confondu dans les
deux Sons qui la forment, & que
celuy de la Quinte, & par consequent
de tous les autres intervals, reside
uniquement dans le Son grave &
fondamental. Descartes s’étant
trompé icy par la fausse preuve
qu’il tire d’un Luth, à 1’ égard
de l’Octave, 54
If you take a viol whose strings
are long enough to distinguish the
vibrations, you will notice that
in making one string sound with some
force, those that are lower or
higher by an octave will tremble
by themselves, whereas there is
only the higher sound of the fifth
that trembles and not the lower.
This proves that the principle of
the octave is mixed in the two
sounds that form it and that the
principle of the fifth, and con­
sequently of all other intervals,
resides solely in the low, funda­
mental sound. Descartes was de­
ceived here by the false proof he
drew from the lute with regard to
the [nature of the] octave.

Rameau’s objective in this passage was to justify his assertion that octaves

are functionally identical with the fundamental pitch and not the first of

all consonances as Descartes supposed. Rameau needed such a concept to

explain octave shifts in triad and interval inversions and even suggested

that the octave should be characterized by the special te rm Aeouisonaace

^^ameau. Traité de l ’harmonie. Bk. I , pp. 6-7.

 453
55
Instead of consonance. The idea of octave identity vas probably

grounded, in part, on the prevailing French view that the octave should

be classed with compound intervals rather than with simple intervals. Both
Masson and Brossard referred to the octave as a réplique, a term they
56
used to describe compound intervals. Like Descartes, Mersenne, and

Sauveur before him, Rameau accepted the validity of both visual and

auditory manifestations of resonance phenomena. A few years later he re­

garded these visual "indications" as sufficient proof for a series of

multiple proportions in addition to those found by division.

The Principe Sonore Confirmed by Overtones

Evidently the acclaim Rameau received for the Traité encouraged him to

move from Clermont to Paris in 1722. There he soon became familiar with

the acoustical discoveries of Mersenne and Sauveur. Hans Pischner suggests

the J. J. Dortous de Mairan may have been influential in drawing Rameau*s

attention to the similarities between ideas in the Traité and current

57
acoustical notions. De Mairan, a physicist, published a theory of sound

propagation containing concepts that Rameau found useful in his Génération

harmonique (1737). However, the only substantial evidence that De Mairan

was an early influence on Rameau is found in this comment from the

Génération:

^%bid. . "Table des termes," p. xvd.

^%Ias8on, Nouveau traité, p. 29; Brossard, Dictionnaire de musique.

see under "intervalle" and "replicate."

^^Pischner, Die Harmonielehre Rpmeaus. p . 87.


II y a dix ou douze ans que M,
de Mairan, dont le nom seul fait
l'éloge, raisonnant avec moi sur
mon sistême, me communiqua cette
réflexion sur les particules de
l'Air, & qu'il m'expliqua son idée
fort en détail, conformément à ce
qui en a été rapporté dans les
Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences
de l'année 1720. pag, 11, Mais
n'ayant pas encore les vues tournées
de ce cbté-là, je ne sgus pas en
profiter, & je l'avois même
oublié, lorsque M, de Gamaches ma
rappelle ce que m'avoit dit M,
de Mairan; & par une bonté dont
Je ne puis trop lui témoigner ma
reconnoissance, me fit si bien
sentir le rapport de ce principe
avec ceux sur lesquels j'avois
déjà fondé mon sistême, quegie
me le suis enfin approprié,^
A person who was more responsible/for supplying Rameau with acoustical data
454
It was ten or twelve years ago
that K. de Mairan, whose name alone
bespeaks his praise, in talking with
me about my system informed me of
this conclusion about particles of
air, and explained his idea to me
in great detail according to what
had been reported in the Mémoires de
1»Académie des Sciences of 1720, p.
11. But not yet having my thoughts
turned in this direction, I did not
know how to profit from the idea,
and I had oven forgotten it when
M, de Gamaches reminded me of what
M. de Idairan had told me. And, b y
a kindness for which I can never
sufficiently prove my gratitude, he
made me so aware of the relationship
between this principle and those
upon which I had already founded my
system, that I have finally
appropriated it.

was Pere Gastel, a Jesuit interested in mathematics and acoustics. Soon

after the publication of the Traite, Castel presented a highly favorable

critique of it in the Journal ^ Trévoux, In the critique Castel developed

some of Rameau's ideas and brought into consideration the relationship

between senary division and overtones:
Il a remarqué qu'en fait de Musique
comme en fait de Langage, on s’exprime
quelquefois à demi mot, & que l'oreille
a la propriété d e sous-entendre
souvent ce qu'elle n'entend pas. ,,,
il est aisé de conclure que lorsque
nous entendons la quarte, nous sous-
entendons la quinte avec laquelle
la quarte forme l'octave complete :
effectivement, tandis qu'on touche
la quarte sol, ut, s'il y avoit une
corde montée a l'octave inférieure
d'ut, on la verroit trembler, comme
He [Rameau] remarked that in music
as in language one sometimes suggests
indirectly and that the ear has the
property of inferring often what it
does not hear, , , . It is easy
to conclude that when we hear a
fourth, we supply the fifth with
which the fourth forms the complete
octave. Indeed, when one plays
the fourth sol, ut. if there were
a string tuned an octave below ut,
it would be seen to vibrate as

5%ameau, Génération harmonique, pp. 3-4»


pour nous faire sous entendre;
c'est-à dire, entendre tout bas
la quinte ut, sol. ...
On peut pousser encore plus
loin cette idée, car non-seulement produce, at the same time, two sounds
une corde peut faire en même tems
deux sons à l'octave l'un de
l'autre, mais encore trois &
quatre, 6 sans doute les six 1
ut, 2 ut, 3 sol, 4 ut. 5 mi. 6
sol, c'est un fait attesté par
M. Sauveur que lorsque la nuit on
touche une grande corde, on entend one hears still more; thus in Physics,
la douzième ... & même souvent la
dix-septième ... & que dans les
trompettes on en entend encore
davantage; de sort que dans la
Physique, la nature nous donne
le même système que H. Rameau a
découvert dans les nombres, &
viola ce concours précis de la
raison & de l'oreille, à quoi
cet Auteur vise dans tout son
Ouvrage. On sçait que lorsqu'une
corde ou que l'oreille tremble,
elle s'allonge, & que par con­
sequent ses parties souffrent
une division, non pas totale,
mais partiels. & que l'ame est
là comme aux écoutes pour tout
sentir. Cette division doit sans
doute se faire de la maniera la
plus naturelle; c'est la nature
seule qui la fait; celle du
nombre senaire est la plus simple
& la plus facile; elle se fait
donc dès qu'un son frappe l'oreille; is disagreeable to us; when I hear the
chaque division nous fait donc
entendre le son qui lui est propre. by itself the entire senary harmony
Kous entendons toujours, ou
si l'on veut, nous sous-entendons
l'Harmonie parfaite, & c'est a
cotte Harmonie naturelle que nous
comparons toutes celles que nous
entendons; leur conformité nous
plait, leur disconvenance nous
est desagréable; que j'entende le
son d'ut, aussi-tôt mon oreille
se compose elle-même toute
l'Harmonie senaire, selon que la
modulation précédente l'y determine;
455
if to make us imagine that we hear
the fifth ut, sol. . . .
One can carry this idea still
further, for a string can not only
an octave apart, but even three or
four and, no doubt, the six 1 ut, 2
ut. 3 sol. 4 ut, 5 ml, 6 sol. M.
Sauveur attested that when at night
a long string is played, one hears
the twelfth . . . and often even the
seventeenth . . . and that in trumpets
nature exhibits the some system that
M. Rameau has discovered in numbers,
and there is the precise concurrence
of reason and ear to which this author
aspires in his entire work. It is
known that when a string or the ear
vibrates, it stretches, and conse­
quently its parts undergo a division,
not total, but partial, and that the
mind is on the alert to perceive
everything. This division must, with­
out doubt, be made in the most natural
manner, [for] nature alone makes it.
That of the senary .number is simplest
and easiest, therefore it is made
as soon as the sound strikes the ear;
in that way each division causes us
to hear its own sound.
We always hear, or if you prefer,
we infer the perfect harmony, and it
is to this natural harmony that we
compare all those that we hear; their
conformity pleases us, their incongruity
sound of ut my ear immediately composes
according as the preceding modulation
determines it.
 456

or là-deasus au lieu de me but if above it, instead of presenting

présenter quelqu'un des sons de
cette Harmonie, vous me présentez
fa. qui n'y est pas; je sens une
disconvenance, une dissonance,
une confusion de sons qui
déchirent mon oreille, en la
divisant les uns d'une maniéré,
les autres d'une autre; ... c'en
est assez pour établir la con­
sonance de la quarte, & pour
expliquer la pensée de Mr Rameau
sur les renversemens des accords,
& sur les sons fondamentaux qui
y sont sousentendus : ce sont
ici les deux grandes clefs de
son système de théorie, ...?"
one of the sounds of this harmony,
you present fa, which is alien to it,
I sense an incongruity, a dissonance,
a confusion of sounds that distresses
my ear, some sounds dividing it in
one way and others in another. . . .
This is enough to show how the con­
sonance of the fourth is established
and to e3q)lain the thought of M.
Rameau on the inversions of chords
and the implied fundamental sounds :
these are the two principal keys to
his system of theory.

In this brief summary, Castel not only anticipated the conception of the

corps sonore in Rameau's second treatise. Nouveau système (1726), but also

showed that the acoustical discovery of overtones had outmoded all con­

sonance theories based on the simple coincidences of fundamental frequencies,

If Castel first brought the phenomenon of overtones to Rameau's

attention, the latter did not aclcnowledge his indebtedness. In 1735,

Castel published a series of articles, entitled "Nouvelles expériences

60
d'optique et d'acoustique," that piqued Rameau and led to an exchange of

antagonistic articles. Castel, writing in 1736, offered these observations

about their communication of ideas during earlier, friendlier days:

21** Et puis si j'ai vu ses 21. And besides, if I saw his

générations harmoniques il y a
trois ans, il y en a 13. ou 14.
qu'il a vu les miennes, & que
je lui en ai donné la premiere
idee & toute la méthode, avec
une suite de réflexions, de
principes & de raisonnemens
harmonie generations three years ago,
it was 13 or 14 years ago that he
saw mine and that I gave him the
primary conception and the entire
method, with a series of reflections,
principles, and reasonings—

^%ouis-Bertrand Castel, "Traité de I'haimonie par M, Rameau,"

Journal de Trévoux (October, 1722), art. cv, pp. 1732-36.
^Louis-Bertffand Castel, "Nouvelles ei^eriences d'optique et
d'acoustique," Journal de Trévoux (August-December, 1735), pp. 1444-82;
1619-66; 1807-39; 2018-53; 2335-72; 2642-2768.
 457

Physiques, Géométriques ou autres, physical, geometrical, or others—

n'ayant jamais eu rion de cache
pour lui sur les matières do sa
compétence. Car comme pendant
10, à 12. ans il n'avoit rion de
caché pour moi, on doit juger
que le commerce étoit très-
réciproque, & que ce commerce
étoit tout relatif aux intérêts
du nouveau système de Musique &
de M. Rameau. ...
22^ M. Rameau témoin &
arbitre de mes occupations en ce
genre, en fut frappé, sur-tout
lorsqu'il vit avec quelle
facilité j'y démontrois
1 'in.?enorabilltê numérique. ou
1'incommensurabilité de la
quarte du ton. Il m'envia le
plaisir d'aller plus loin. Son
compliment fut néanmoins fort
honnête. Il me dit qu'ayant
assez dequoi me signaler dans
les sciences qui m'étoient
propres, je ferois bien de lui
céder ce morceau, qui étoit
de son ressort, disoit-il. Cet
habile Ihisicien sera surpris de
m'entendre dire aujord'hui
qui je fus alors très-piqué
de sa demande, d'autant plus
que je n'eus pas la force de
lui rien refuser, n'ayant eu
que celle de lui remontrer qu'il
falloit être-fort Géomètre, ,
pour suivre cette veine. ...^
In retrospect it is abundantly apparent that Rameau overstated his claims
having never hidden anything from him
on matters of his competence. But
since he hid nothing from mo for a
period of 10 or 12 years, one must
judge that the interchange was quite
mutual and was entirely relative
to the concerns of the new system of
music and of M. Rameau. . . .
22. K. Rameau, witness and judge
of my work in this area, was especially
struck when he saw how easily I
proved that the fourth of the key is
numerically ingenerable and in­
commensurable, He wanted the pleasure
of going further [with the idea].
His compliment was* however, quite
honest. He told me that, having enough
to distinguish myself in the sciences
that were appropriate to me, I would
do well to give him this morsel that
was in his field. This able musician
\dll bo surprised to hear me say today
that I was at that time quite piqued
at his request, the more so that I
lacked the strength to refuse any­
thing, having only enough to point
out to him that one must be an
excellent geometer to follow this vein.

as an innovator, and that he borrowed many ideas without acknowledging

their source. Even the device of presenting acoustical experiments as a

demonstration of the natural basis of harmony, a scheme that Rameau

adopted in treatises after the Traité, had been used much earlier, hy
62
W. C. Printz in the Exercitations musicae (1639).

^^"Remarques du Père Castel sur la lettre de M. Rameau," Journal

de Trévoux (September, 1736), art. xcv, pp. 2018-19.
62W61fgang Caspar Prints, Exercitiones musicae theoretico-practlcae
curiosae_de ooncordantiis slnmilis (Dresden. 1689)^ 1^ 12-lA; 11^ IZ^IQ.
 458

This publication may well have been another source of enlightenment, for

Brossard listed Printz as one of the readily accessible authors in

Parisian libraries.
In any case, the Pre^face to the Nouveau système (1726) asserted a

new, acoustical basis for Rameau's harmonie theory:

Si la Basse-Fondamentale proposée
dans le Traité de l'harmonie, paroit
aux Musiciens, un objet digne de leur
attention; que n'en présumeront-ils
pas, lorsque par leur propre experience
ils seront convaincus qu'elle leur
est naturelle, qu'elle leur suggéré
tout ce qu'ils imaginent en Musique,
& qu'en un mot, son Principe subsiste
dans leur voix même?
Il y a effectivement en nous un
germe d'harmonie, dont apparament
on ne s'est point encore appercû:
Il est cependant facile de s'en
appercevoir dans une Corde, dans
un Tuyau, &c. dont la resonance fait
entendre trois Sons différents à la
fois; puisqu'on supposant ce même
effet dans tous les coirps Sonores,
on doit par consequent le supposer
dans un Son de nôtre voix, quand
même il n'y seroit pas sensible;
mais pour en être plus assuré, j'en
ay fait moy-mome 1'experience, &
je l'ay proposé à pluseurs Musiciens,
'.v’
-i, comme moy, ont distingué ces
trois Sons différents dans un Son de
leur voix, de sort qu' après cela,
je n'ay pas douté un moment que ce
no fut-là le veritable Principe
d'un Basse-Fondamentale. dont je
ne devois encore la découverte
qu'a la seule experience.
If the fundamental bass pro­
posed in the Traite de l'Harmonie
appears to musicians a matter
worthy of their attention, how
highly will they regard it when
by their own experience they are
convinced that it is natural to
them, that it suggests everything
that they contrive in music, and
that, in a word, its principle
subsists in their own voice?
There is indeed within us a
source of harmony, which,
apparently we have not yet per­
ceived. It is, however, easily
noticed in a string, in a pipe,
etc., in which resonance pro­
duces three different sounds
[the prime, twelfth, and seven­
teenthJ at the same time. In
supposing this same effect in
all sonorous bodies, one must
consequently, suppose it in the
sound of our voice oven when
it is not perceptibly present.
But in order to be further assured,
I personally conducted the experi-
mant and proposed it to several
musicians, who, as I, distinguished
those tlu-ee different pitches in
the sound of their voice, so that
from then on I have not doubted
for a moment that here was the true
principle of a fundamental bass.
the discovery of which I still
owed to experience alone.

^^Brossard, Dictionnaire de musique. "Catalogue des auteurs," Ft. I.

ean-Fhllippe Rameau, Nouveau système de musioue théorique (Paris,

1726), preface, p. iii.
 459

By linking the structure of the triad to the sound of the human voice,

Rameau presented his strongest argument for the naturalness of the major

triad and therefore for the importance of harmony in musical composition.

Considering the state of acoustical knowledge in the year 1726, Rameau’s

assumption that all musical sounds, including those of the human voice,

inherently contain the tones of the major triad was not unreasonable, but

it was specifically challenged in 1753 Daniel Bernoulli,Although

Rameau’s conception of the exact nature of the nrincino sonore changed

somewhat during the years that followed, his confidence in the musical

significance of overtones and related phenomena did not falter. In the

Génération harmonique (1737), he declared that the origin of harmony is

natural:

L’Harmonie qui consiste dans Harmony, which consists in an

un mélange agréable de plusieurs agreeable mixture of several sounds.
Sons différons, est un effet is a natural effect whose cause
naturel, dont la cause réside dans resides in the air agitated l%r the
I’Air agité par le choc de chaque vibration of each sonorous body
Corps sonore en p a r t i c u l i e r in particular.
According to Rameau, each musical sound is to be considered triple in
its composite nature:
Si ce Son fondamental change If this fundamental sound changes
de Ton, de degré, il n’en est pas pitch, it is accompanied nonetheless
moins accompagne de ses mêmes Sons by its same harmonie sounds; its
Harmoniques, sa Douzième & sa twelfth and major seventeenth always
Dix-septiémo majeure résonnent resound with it in the same sonorous
toujours avec lui dans le même body; it is never separated from
Corps sonore, il ne s’en sépare them. Thus, sound as our physical
jamais; done le Son, comme notre object must always be reputed triple
objet Fhisique, doit toujours in its nature, in the order of the
être réputé triple de sa nature, harmonic proportion 1, 1/3, 1/5.
dans l’ordre de la proportion
Harmonique 1 1/3 l/p.

65see C. Truesdell, The Rational Mechanics of Flexible or Elastic

Bodies. 1638-1783 (Zurich, I960), pp. 195; 196, n. 1; 256.
^^Rameau, Génération harmonique, p. 1.
67lMd., p. 31.
Later, in an article published, anonymously, Rfmoau described the overtones
as nature's model for accompaniment:
Le phenomene du corps sonore,
accompagne de ses harmoniques &
de ses octaves, est, à proprement
parler, le premier do tous les
accompagnemonsj 1*accompagnement
que donne la nature; l'accompagne­
ment qui doit servoir de modèle
à tous les autres; l'accompagnement
qui^orme ce qu'on appelle l'harmonie.
The phenomenon of the sonorous
body, accompanied by its harmonics
and its octavos, is properly
speaking the first of all accompani­
ments: the one nature produces,
the one that must serve as the model
for all others, the one that forms
what we call harmony. . . ,

In his Observations sur notre instinct pour la musique, et sur son

principle (1754)» Rameau even went so far as to assert that harmony is

69
instinctive to man.

After the Nouveau système. Rameau apparently regarded the description

of music as a mathematical science as inadequate, and he now called it a

Science Phvsicomathematigue. During his quarrel with Monteclair in 1730,

he clearly stated bis new position:

Vous prétendez d'abord que le
premier fondement l'Harmonie doit
se tirer des proportions qui ^
trouvent dans les Vibrations des sons,
pour me servir de vos propres termes;
& moi je soutiens qu'il existe dans
l'Harmonie qui résulte de la
resonnance d'un corps sonore. Vous
dites que c'est un fait de Physique;
mais avez vous bien pris garde que
ce fait, qui véritablement est
Physique dans la maniéré que je
l'expose, devient purement
Géométrique de la façon que vous le
présentez? Ne spavez-vous pas que
la I-îusique est une science Phisi-
comathématique, que le son en est
l'objet Physique, & que les rapports
trouvez entre différens sons en sont
l'objet Math^qtique ou Géométrique?'
At first you claim that the
primary foundation of harmony must
be draim. from the proportions
found in the vibrations of sounds.
to quote you exactly, while I
maintain that it exists in the
harmony resulting from the resonance
of a sonorous body. You say that
it is a fact of physics; but have
you noticed that this fact, which
truly is physical in the manner
that I explain it, becomes purely
geometrical in the way you present
it? Do you not know that music
is a physico-mathematic science,
that sound is its physical object,
and that the relations found
between different sounds are the
mathematical or geometrical object?

68"Erreurs sur la musique dans 1'Encyclopédie," Journal de Trévoux

(February, 1756), art. xx, p. 496.
69See Keane, The Theoretical IJritlnRs of Rameau, pp. 173-76.
*^6iiji©plique du premier musicien à la repense du deuxième," Mercure
de France (June, 1730], p. 1339.
 461
Rameau could not, of course, lay claim to the discovery of the resonance

of the "sonorous body," but he did assert, with some injustice to his

predecessors, that he was first to recognize the principle of harmory in

this phenomenon. In a later quarrel with D'Alembert and the Encyclopedists,

Rameau made an even stronger statement of his contribution:

Mettons de côté les erreurs
dans lesquelles le Mathématicien
a donné. Examinons seulement
quel a pû être son but, lorsque
de concert avec les plus grands
Philosophes de tous les tems,
il s'est obstiné dans le projet
d'approfondir un Art pour lequel
il a inutilement épuisé ses
calculs. ... mais après de vaines
recherches, il a tout abandonné
à pou près dans le tems où le
principe qu'il cherchoit s'est
offert à ses yeux comme à son
oreille.
Ce principe est donc le
Phénomène du corps sonore.
Phénomène reconnu depuis un
siècle, & dont on n'a fait que
s'amuser comme d'un simple objet
de curiosité. Jusqu'à ce qu'enfin
Je l'ai fait reconnoitre pour
le Principe de l'Harmonie, c'est-
à-dire, de la Musique. ...
Je ne dois mes découvertes
en liusique qu'aux loix de la
Rature, dont le corps sonore
nous présente un modèle, & dont
l'observation est en même tems
si simple & si lumineuse
qu'aujourd'hui le Musicien,
d'accord avec le Géomètre, »,
m'écoute, m'entend & m'imite.
Let us put aside the errors into
which the mathematician has fallen.
Let us examine only what can be his
aim when in concert with the greatest
philosophers of all time he has per­
sisted in the project of investigating
an art for which he has uselessly
exhausted his calculations. . . . But
after vain investigations, he
abandoned everything at about the time
when the principle he sought was
offered to his eye as to his ear.
This principle, then, is the
phenomenon of the sonorous body; a
phenomenon known for a century but
considered merely a matter of
curiosity until I finally made it
knovm as the principle of harmony,
that is to say, of music. . . .
I owe my discoveries in music
only to the laws of nature, of which
the sonorous body presents a model
whose observation is at once so
simple and enlightening that today
the musician, in accord with the
geometrician, listens, understands,
and imitates me.

"^^Jean-Phillppe Rameau, Réponse a IM. les éditeurs de l'Encyclonédie

sur leur dernier avertissement (Ix>ndoa/Paris. 1757). p p . 47-52.
 462

Rameau*8 Gonceptioa of the Harmonie Series

In the light of Rameau's certain knowledge of Sauveur's writings

hy the year 1726, it is strange that he should have continued to regard

the corps sonore as a sort of mechanically activated senary division.

However, the obscurity of his writing style makes it difficult to know

exactly how he did conceive the harmonic series. He did not adopt Sauveur»s

definition for Sons harmoniques, preferring instead, the mathematical

expression parties allquotes when describing, for example, the natural

tones of the trumpet. In the Génération harmonique. Rameau defined Son

harmonique in the way that chordal tones might be described today:

Son Harmonique. C'est un Son Harmonic sound . . . is a sound

compris dans l'Harmonie du
fondamental, comme sa Tierce,
sa Quinte, ou son Octave, même
sa Septième, & sa Sixte majeure,
lorsqu'il s'agit des Dissonances.
included in the harmony of the
fundamental, as its third, fifth,
or octave, even its seventh, «nd
its major sixth, when it concerns
dissonances.

The chord members are obviously not to be confused with partiale since

the same treatise denies that certain parties alinuotfis of the trumpet
are harmonics:

Les Sons du 1/7, du l/ll The sounds of 1/7, l/ll, and

fitdu l/l3 n'étant point 1/13, being neither harmonics of 1
Harmoniques de 1. ni de 3. sont nor of 3, are always out of tune in
toujours faux dans ces these instruments.
Instruments.72

Other discussions seem to limit the meaning of Sons harmoniques to the

terms of Rameau's "harmonic proportion," 1, 1/3, 1/5, in which case not

"^^Rameau, Génération harmonique. "Table des termes," [vij.

73lb id . . chap. v i , p. 62.
 463

even the octaves are considered in quite the same class as harmonics:

Le Son grave & dominant, qu'on
croit y distinguer seul, &
que nous appellerons dans la
suite Fondamental, y est
toujours accompagné de deux
autres Sons, que nous
appellerons Harmoniques. &
avec lesquels l'Octave sera
comprise.'*
The low and dominant sound, which
is thought to be heard alone, and
which we will call hereafter
fundamental, is always accompanied
by two other sounds that we will
call harmonics, and with which the
octave will be included.

Rameau offered several reasons for limiting his consideration to the

first, third, and fifth partials of the overtone series. Octave-sounding

partials were always tacitly understood but not mentioned because of the

theory of octave identity, but the others required special consideration.

Rameau's earliest assertion, in the Nouveau système, was that among the

concomitants of a fundamental sound the twelfth and seventeenth are

easiest to perceive:

Une seule Corde fait A single string causes ail of

résonner toutes les consonances, the consonances to sound, among which
entre lesquelles on distingue we principally distinguish the
principalement la Douzième & la twelfth and the manor seventeenth.
Dix-seotiéme ma.ieur.'^^

As corroboration for this point, Rameau listed references.to earlier

statements by Mersenne and Sauveur. At this time”,liêTâpparently believed

that no dissonances are generated in the harmonic series:

Si l'on n'entend point de If one hears no dissonances at all

Dissonances dans la resonnance
d'un corps Sonore; cela prouve
qu'elles ne sont pas naturelles
dans l'Harmonie; & par con­
sequent elles ne peuvent y
être introduites que par le
secours de l'Art.'6
in the resonance of a sonorous body,
this proves that they are not
natural in harmony, and, consequently,
can only be introduced through the
assistance of art.

74ib id . . chap. i i , pp. 30-1.

*^%ameau. Nouveau svsteme. p. 17.
7oibid.. p. 55.
 464

Rameau also ruled out the use of the number seven in music for the same

reason Mersenne rejected it: seven is not a multiple of any of the first
77 , ^
six numbers. The Generation harmonique. -which Rameau dedicated to the

members of the Académie des Sciences, contained a very formal presentation

of supporting acoustical e-vidence in a series of propositions and exper-

ments. Rameau now recognized the sound of "1/7" in the tones of lower

cello strings but added, "it will be so weak, that undoubtedly it will
78
escape your attention." Other evidence, including organ pipe mixtures

of the Cornet variety, encouraged Rameau to assert a new theory of the

"appreciable sound."

Toutes ces Experiences A U these experiments combined

réunies, ... confirment, à
n'en pouvoir douter, que non-
seulement le Son a besoin de la
résonance d'un certain nombre
de ses parties aliquotes pour
pouvoir être apprétiô, mais
encore que ce nombre est
fixé.dans le 1/3 & le 1/5»
sans parler des Octaves que
donnent le 1/2, le l/4, &c.
confirm beyond a doubt that not only
does sound need the resonance of a
certain number of its aliquot parts
in order to be appreciated, but more­
over, that this number is restricted
to the 1/3 and the 1/5, without
mentioning octaves ^ven by the 1/2,
l/4» etc. . . .

Reconnoissons donc Let us, henceforth, recognize

désormais l'Harmonie comme un
effet naturel qui résulte de la
résonnance de chaque Corps sonore
en particulier, c'est de là
qu'elle tire son origine: le
Son apprétiable n'est pas
unique de sa nature, il est
Harmonieux, & son Harmonie donne
cette proportion 1 1/3 1/5, ..."°
harmony as a natural effect that
results from the resonance of each
particular sonorous body; it is from
there that it takes its origin. The
appreciable sound is not single in
its nature: it is harmonious, and
its harmony gives this proportion,
1, 1/3, 1/5.

"^^Ibid. . p. 32.

*^%ameau. Génération harmonique, chap. i, p. 10; " H sera si

foible, qu'il vous échappera sans doute."
7 9 ib id .. pp. 27; 28-9.
 k6$

The Son appretlable now became the basis for much of Rameau's speculation.

Carrying a bit further the idea that musical sounds have an optimum number

of overtones, he suggested in the Demonstration (17^0), that a person's

inability to perceive these harmonics might account for negative reactions

to music. He adopted the strange notion that music is noise to listeners

who can only discern the fundamental pitches:

Le premier son qui frappa mon The first sound that struck my ear
oreille fut un trait de lumière. Je was a flash of light. I noticed all
m'apperçus tout d'un coup qu'il n' of a sudden that it was not single,
étoit pas un, on que l'impression qu* but that the impression it made on
il faisoit sur moi étoit composée; me was composite. There I immediately
voilà, me dis-je sur le champ, la said to myself, is the difference
difference du bruit & du son. Toute between noise and sound : anything that
cause qui produit sur mon oreille une produces a single, simple impression
impression une & simple, me fait en­ on my ear causes me to hear noise;
tendre du bruit; toute cause qui pro­ anything that produces an impression
duit sur mon oreille une impression composed of several others causes me
composée de plusieurs autres, me fait to hear sound. I called the primitive
entendre du son. J'appellai le son sound, or generator, the fundamental
primitif, ou générateur, son fonda­ sound, its concomitants harmonic
mental, ses concomitans sons har­ sounds, and I had three things sharply
moniques , & j'eus trois choses très- distinguished in nature, independent
distinguées dans la nature, indé­ of my ear and very perceptibly
pendantes de mon organe, & très- different to it: noise, fundamental
sensiblement différentes pour lui; sounds, and harmonic sounds.
du bruit, des sons fondamentaux, & . . . , I noticed that these harmonic
des sons harmoniques. sounds were very high and fleeting,
..., je m’apperçus q^ue ces sons har­ and that as a consequence there must
moniques étoient très-aigus & très- be ears that would discern them less
fugitifs , & qu'il devoit par con­ distinctly than others, some that
séquent y avoir telle oreille qui les might perceive only two, some that
saisiroit moins distinctement qu'une would be affected by only one and per­
autre, telle qui n'en appercevroit haps even some that would receive the
que deux, telle qui ne seroit affec­ impression of none. I said immediately:
tée que d’un, & peut-être même telle there is one of the sources of the
qui ne recevroit l'impression d'aucun. disparity in sensibility for music
Je dis aussitôt; voilà une des that we observe among people. There
sources de la différence de la sen­ are the men for whom music will only
sibilité pour la Musique que l'on be noise: those who will be impressed
remarque entre les hommes. Voilà des only by the fundamental sound, those
hommes pour qui la Musique ne sera que for whom all the harmonics will be
du bruit, ceux qui ne seront frappés lost.
que du son fondamental, ceux pour qui
tous les harmoniques seront perdus.30

®®Rameau, Demonstration, pp. 12-1;=

 466

Overtones and the Diatonic Scale

Two problems forced Rameau to revise his geometric view of musical

relationships and to move away from his reliance on senary division to

a broader and a more logical conception of the harmonic series. One was

the theoretical derivation of the diatonic scale, including the explanation

of the dissonant relationships contained in it. The other was the

justification of multiple or "underseries" proportions that he found

necessary for explaining the subdominant relationship, and the minor triad.

Since Rameau's method of deriving major and minor scales changed

considerably during the course of his writings, it is necessary to review

contemporary notions of the justly tuned diatonic scale to understand

his development. Although J. îmirray Barbour has argued persuasively

81
against the practical existence of the justly tuned diatonic scale, the

exact ratios of such a scale were a major theoretical concern throughout

the Baroque period and well into the eighteenth century. Perhaps if

consideration were given to the restrictive influence of justly tuned organ

mixtures on the tuning of the primary triads in the scale, one could

bètter appreciate this long continued preoccupation with just tuning.

Important mixtures that contained the tierce, such as the Comet stop,

presented a real conflict with tempered tunings, a conflict that became

especially obvious with the increasing emphasis on triadic harmony in

eighteenth-century music.
Prom the sixteenth century, two tunings had been considered "natural";
82
the syntonous or intense diatonic of Ptolemy and the diatonic of Didymus.

^^James Murray Barbour, "Just Intonation Confuted," lîusle and Letters.

XIZ (January, 1938), 48-60.
^^See Jo!^ Wallis (ed.), Glaudii Ptolemaei harmonicqrimi libre III
(Oxford, 1682), appendix: "De’vete'rum'liarimonia^'*''pp. j excerpt
trans. in Hawkins, A General History of Music ^ i, 3v.
 467

The practical distinction between the systems concerns the order of

major tones (9:8) and minor tones (10:9) in tuning Ut, Re, and Ki in the

natural hexachord (see Figure 53). Zarlino preferred Ptolemy*s syntonic

tuning while Salinas, Kepler, and Holder favored the diatonic of

Didymus.Descartes and Mersenne presented both systems as acceptable.

Mersenne recognized, however, that natural instruments like the trumpet

approximate more nearly the syntonic tuning in their fourth octave.

The fact that, in the Traite de l'harmonie (1722), Rameau adopted the

diatonic of Didymus, the tuning that neither follows the trumpet's series

nor provides a justly tuned dominant triad, suggests how little he was
85
influenced hy the harmonic series at that time. Gastel was quick to

chide Rameau for being in error about the order of the major and minor

whole tones:
Nous avons découvert une erreur
qui s'est glissée dans la tiusique
faute d'y considérer les choses
dans le point de vue où on les
trouve ici; car on a établi, &
M. Rameau I'a établi aussi après
tous les autres, que de ut à re,
il y avoit un ton mineur, dont
la proportion étoit de 9 à 10,
& de re à rd, un ton majeur
exprimé par 8, 9, ce qui a
été la source de bien d'autres
erreur» . ...°°
We have discovered an error that has
slipped into music for want of con-
sidering things from the point of
view that one finds here; for it has
been asserted, and M. Rameau asserted
it also following everyone else, that
from Tjt to re is a minor tone whose
ratio is 9 to 10, and from re to ml
is a major tone expressed by 8, 9>
which has been the source of many
other errors,

838ee Hawîcins, A General Histcrv of Music. I, 37 n.

6%ené Descartes, Compendium lausicae. in Oeuvres de Descartes, ed.

by G. Adams and P. Tannery, X (Paris, 1908), 116-18; 125-26; Marin-
Mersenne, Harmonie universelle. "Traité^ des instrumens" (Paris, 1636),
Bk. II, prop, vi, p. 62; prop, viii, pp. 70-1.

^^Rameau, Traité de l'harmonie. Bk. I, p. 23.

ë&Gastel, "Traité de l'harmonie par M. Rameau," pp. 1726-27.
 i)68

Intervals :

Integral
number ratios:

Primary triads
■ Ratios of fifths : 1 &3 a i3
Ratios of thirds: A A : ? : 6 4- ; 5" : 6 4 . S' ; 4

Integral 46 lap /oç »ss Uz-

• number ratios : Vt *»o.

b.

Hbtervals;

.Integral ¥ ^ o O —
number ra'U.os: •jj, 5*0 qo 96 '2.0 '5S

Primary triads

Ratios of fifths :
Ratios of thirds : a

Integral 9É» l%o (Of »3S /t»o

number ratios: <90

Figure ^3. Diatonic scale systems; (a) the syntonous diatonic

of Ptolemy and (b) the diatonic of Didyraus

8m—'
T=lîâjor Tone, t=Hinor Tone, and s=Semi'tone.
 469
It is likely that Rameau was influenced by Descartes on this point as
87
he was in so.many other matters. In the Nouveau système (1726), and

the treatises thereafter, Rameau adopted the ratios found in the syntonic

of Ptolemy,

With the Nouvelles reflexions (1752), Rameau began to take a less

"geometrical,“ more physical view of the diatonic scale, comparing it

with the natural tones of horns and trumpets as Mersenne and Prints had

done long before,

II n»y a de Justes parmi tous Among all of these sounds, the

ces sons que les harmoniques, only Just pitches are the harmonics,
ou produits du générateur ut, or products of the generator ut, ut
ut ml sol. & ceux de sa gg mi sol, and those of its dominant
dominante sol, sol si ré, sol, sol si re.

Observing that f^ at "11" is too sharp and that In is too flat at "13"

and too sharp at "14,"^ he continued:

On voit par-là quo la nature no We see by this that nature has
s'est d*abord attachée qu'a nous first been concerned only to give
donner les homes du Mode entre us the limits of the mode between
le générateur & sa dominante. ,,, the generator and its dominant, , , •
c'est pourquoi tout ce qui ne se This is why all that is not confined
renferme pas dans ces homes se within these limits is false in
trouve faux dans ces instruments these natural instruments,
naturels,89
Before examining Rameau’s ultimate theory of the diatonic scale, it is

necessary at this point to consider how he resolved the difficulty of

relating the subdominant and other "underseries" products to an acoustical

basis.

®*^Rameau, Nouveau svsteme. p. 32,

88Rameau, Nouvelles réflexions, p. 79.

89ibid.. pp. 81-2.

 470
The Problem of the Underseriea

A major goal for Rameau in the Génération harmonique (1737) was

to establish the sonorous body as the single origin of all harmonic

principles. This desire lead him to propose a peculiar intepretation of

the sympathetic resonance of strings pitched lower than the fundamental

string. Even when the lower string is not heard to sound in sympathy

and when it can be demonstrated visually that it vibrates in segments,

Rameau judged by tactile evidence that, in fact, the whole string does
vibrate:

Prenez une Viole, ou un Take a viol or a cello on which

Violoncello, dont vous accorderez
deux cordes à la Douzième l’une
de l'autre; raclez la grave, vous
verrez frémir l'aiguë: vous
l'entendrez peut-être même
résonner, & vous l’entendrez
indubitablement, si vous
l’effleurez avec l’ongle pendant
qu’elle frémit: raclez ensuite
l’aiguë, vous verrez non-seulement
la grave frémir dans sa totalité,
vous la verrez encore se diviser
en trois parties égales, formant
trois ventres de vibrations entre
deux noeuds, ou points fixes.
Pour s’assurer que la corde
grave frémit dans sa totalité,
pendant qu’elle se divise en
trois, lorsque l’aiguë est raclée,
il faut y effleurer les points
fixes avec l’Ongle, & on la
sentira frémir en ces endroits,
où pour lors ce frémiss^ent est
Imperceptible à l’Oeil.^
you tune two strings at the twelfth
of.each other; if you bow the low
[string] you will see the high
[string] vibrate, perhaps you will
hear it resound, and you will un­
doubtedly hear it if you touch it
lightly with the fingernail while it
vibrates. If you then bow the high
[string], you will not only see the
low [string] vibrate in its totality,
but you will further see it divide
itself in three equal parts, forming
three loops of vibrations between
two nodes or fixed points.
In order to be convinced that
the low string vibrates in its
totality while it divides in thirds
when the high [string] is bowed, it
is [only] necessary to touch the
fixed points with the nail; you will
feel vibration in these places where
it is Imperceptible to the eye.

^9Rameau, Génération harmonique, chap. i , experience i i , pp. 8-9.

 471

From this misleading tactile evidence, Rameau drew the convenient

conclusion that a single sonorous body excites both aliquot and aliquant

particles of air and thereby generates an upward and a downward series of

harmonics.

Ces deux proportions 1 1/3 Two proportions, l:l/3:l/5 and 1:3:5»

1/5 & 1. 3. 5, qui sont renversées which are inversions of one another,
l'une de l'autre, naissent égale­ are produced equally from the harmony
ment de l'Harmonie du Corps sonore, of the sonorous body as a result of
en conséquence de l'action the reciprocal action of the slower
réciproque des Vibrations plus and faster vibrations on each other,
lentes & plus promptes les unes so that the fundamental sound, ly
sur les autres; de sorte que le agitating the particles of air that
Son fondamental, en émouvant les are the third and fifth of it,
particules de l'Air qui en sont disturbs at the same time those that
le Tier & le Cinquième, émeut en are the triple and quintuple of it.
mêmc-tens celles qui en sont le But, since only this third and fifth
Triple & le Quintuple, mais comme are perceptible as a consequence of
il n'y a que ce Tier & ce Cinquième the reaction of these particles to
de sensibles, en conséquence de la the aliquot parts of the same sonorous
réaction de ces particules sur les body, whereas the triple and the
parties aliquotes du même Corps quintuple, commonly react on larger
sonore, au lieu que leur réaction bodies, it follows that what is
du Triple & du Quintuple ne peut perceptible without further artifice
se faire que sur de plus grands must be for us more natural and
Corps, il suit de là que ce qui therefore more perfect. However,
est sensible sans autre artifice, since the artifice is known to us and
doit être pour nous ce qu'il y depends only on our associating with
a de plus naturel, & par conséquent the sounding sonorous body those
de plus parfait; mais aussi, comme [others] that will react to the
l'artifice nous est connu, & qu'il particles agitated Ty this same
dépend de nous d'associer au Corps sonorous body, the harmony that will
sonore qui résonne ceux sur lesquels result, though less perfect and less
la réaction des particules émues natural than the first, will nonethe­
par ce même Corps sonore doit less exist for us, since it occurs
avoir lieu, l'Harmonie qui en in the air.
résultera, quoique moins parfaite,
moins naturelle que la premiere,
ne laissera pas que de l'être
encore pour nous, puisqu'elle
existe dans l»Air,°^
By thus using the harmony of multiples to create the third and fifth below

the fundamental, Rameau believed he had discovered an acceptable

^^Ibid. . chap. i i , pp. 31-2»

 472

explanation for the subdominant and for the minor triad. Though less

perfect than the major triad for ■which he could produce audible evidence,

the minor triad was directly related to the original sonorous body,

according to the scheme shown in Figure 54. On the same grounds he

proposed the two series of key relationships, multiple and submultiple,

that are shown in Figure 55 . Rameau obviously believed that the "under-

series" evidence was sufficient justification for all the multinle

progressions he had set forth earlier in the Nouveau système (1726).

In the Démonstration (1750), Rameau modified his position regarding

multiple co-vibrations, starting now that the longer strings résonante

only in segments:

On ne peut donc supposer ¥e can not, therefore, presume

la résonnance des multiples dans
leur totalité, pour en former un
tout harmonieux, qu'en s'écartant
des premieres loix de la nature:
si d'un côté elle indique la
possibilité de ce tout harmonieux,
par la proportion qui se forme
d'elle-même entre le corps sonore
& ses multiples considérés dans
leur totalité: de l'autre elle
prouve que ce n'est pas-là sa
premiere intention, puisqu’elle
force ces multiples à se diviser,
de maniéré que leur résonnance,
dans cette disposition actuelle,
ne peut rendre que les Unissons.
comme je viens de le dire; mais
ne suffit-il pas de trouver
dans cette proportion l'indication
de l'accord •parfait qu'on en peut
former? La nature n'offre rien
d'inutile, & nous voyons le plus
souvent qu'elle se contente de
donner à l'Art simple indications,
qui le mettent sur les voyes.°^
the resonance of multiples in their
totality in order to form a harmonious
whole except by deviating from the
first laws of nature: if on the one
hand she indicates the possibility
of tills harmonious whole by the pro­
portion that is automatically formed
between the sonorous body and its
multiples considered in their totality,
on the other, she proves that this
is not her first intention, since she
forces these multiples to divide so
that their resonance, in this actual
disposition, can only produce unisons,
as I have just said. But, does it
not suffice to find in this proportion
the indication of the perfect chord
[minor triad] that we can form from
it? Nature offers nothing that is
useless and we see most often that she
is content to give to art simple
indications that point out the way.

92aameau, Demonstration. pp. 65-6.

 ii73

Harmonic Proportion
T 1

la^ fa ut sol id.

5 3 1 1/3 1/5

i______________________L
Arithmetic Proportion

Figure 5U. Rameau, Demonstration - Derivation of major and minor

triads from the "harmonic" and "arithmetic" proportions

Submultiple

I I
sol^ re ^ la^ mi^- si^ fa ut sol re la mi si fa#

129 2h$ 81 27 9 3 1 1/3 1 /9 1/27 1/81 l/2 h S 1/729

J_____________________________ I
Multiple

Figure Rameau, Generation - Key relationships derived from

multiple and submultiple progressions
 474
It is likely that Rameau*s earlier conclusions had drawn criticism,

for he now suggested that nature only " indicates the possibility" of

multiple relationships. Itoreover, he evidently felt his argument was

sufficiently weakened to require a new theory for the oidgin of minor

harmony. He now proposed a subordinate generator 3a for the ml that is

directly generated by the original source ut and offered this as

93
justification for the triad, la ut mi.^"^ Rameau's "subordinate generator"

is but another version of an earlier idea, the "double employment,"

according to which a single tone of the scale can be related to two

94
different fundamental basses. His later writings show an increasing
conviction that one sonorous body is insufficient to explain harmonic

relationships.

Shirlaw has overstated Rameau's supposed rejection of "underseries"

relationships in his development of this new theory of minor presented in

the Demonstration. The Nouvelles reflexions (1752), appearing just two

years later, reveal that Rameau had by no means given up the idea:
Ce même principe, après avoir
engendré la division avec la
proportion harmonique, engendre,
d'un autre c&te, la multiplication
avec la proportion Arithmétique,
1. 3. 5., en faisant frémir des
corps plus grands que le sien, en
raison inverse de ses parties
aliquotes résonantes.
Ces deux proportions sont
des groupes harmoniques, pour
ainsi dire, toujours présens à
1'oreille dans leur totalité, &
auxquels on peut joindre autant
d'Octaves que l'on veut.°°
This same principle fcorps sonore],
after having engendered division with
the harmonic proportion [1, 1/3, 1/5j,
forms, on the other side, multiplication
with the arithmetic proportion, 1, 3,
5, by causing bodies larger th^ It-
self to vibrate in inverse ratio of
its resonant, aliquot parts,
These two proportions are the
harmonie groups, so to speak, always
present in the ear in their totality
and with which you can join as many
octaves as you wish,

93ibid.. pp. 71-2.

94See Ferris, "The Evolution of Rameau's Harmonic Theories," p. 243.
95Shirlaw, The Theory of Harmony, pp. 231-32.
96aaaieau, Nouvelles reflexions.t)p . 14-5.
 475
The same treatise contains Rameau’s own assessment of his earlier

position in the Demonstration;

La proportion Arithmétique a sur The arithmetic proportion has

l’oreille à peu près les mêmes
droits que l’harmonique; il
s’agissoit de la fonder, à c’est
le sujet de l'article intitulé,
du Mode mineur, dans ma démonstration,
p.62, justqu’à 80, où l’on peut
voir que je n’ai prétendu tirer aucun
avantage de la résonnance des multiples
dans leur totalité, de sorte qu'il y
auroit de la mauvaise foi à le
supposer, & que je n’ai regardé la
proportion qui s’en forme, que
comme une indication.^’
nearly the same rights in the ear
as the harmonic; it was a question
of establishing it, and this is
the subject of the article
entitled "Concerning the Minor Mode"
in my Démonstration (pp. 62-80).
There you can see that I have not
pretended to draw any benefit from
the resonance of multiples in their
totality— it would be devious to
suppose I did— and that I have:only
viewed the proportion that is
formed thereby as an indication.

Rameau never totally rejected the notion of the "underseries" relationships.

Even in his last major treatise, the Code de musique pratique (1760),

containing "New Reflections on the Sonorous Principle," he still referred

to the idea:

On sait que le corps sonore, % know that the sonorous

mis en mouvement, se divise en une
infinité de parties, qu’on appelle
aliquotes ou sous-multiples; qu'il
les fait frémir, même résonner, &
que de toutes ces parties il n'y
en a cependant que deux, savoir,
son tiers, 1/3, & son cinquième,
1/5, dont le sons se distingue.
On sait encore qu’il fait frémir,
& même diviser en ses unissons,
les corps plus grands que le sien,
accordés à l’inverse de ses
aliquotes. & qu’on .appelle
allouantes ou multinles.
body, set in motion, divides into
an infinitude of parts called
aliquots or submultinles. that it
causes them to vibrate, even to
resound, and that of all these
parts there are, nevertheless,
only two, its third, 1/3, and its
fifth, 1/5, whose sound is
conspicuous. In addition, we
know that it causes to vibrate
and even divide into its unisons,
bodies greater than itself, tuned
to the inversion of its aliquots,
which are called allouants or
multiples.

9 7 lb id .. pp. 28-9.

^%ean-Philippe Rameau, Code de musique pratique ... avec de

nouvelles relflexions sur le principe sonore (Paris. 1760). p. 193.
 476

However, Rameau must have had misgivings about the theoretical basis

for multiple proportions, for he proposed alternative theories in his

final writings. The first indication of doubt seems to have appeared in

a pamphlet of 1755, entitled Erreurs sur la musique dans l»Encvclonédle.^^

In the following year, a more readily available critique of this pamphlet,

bearing the same title, was also written h7 Rameau but under the guise of

"an apologist of M. R a m e a u . B o t h of these documents were intended

as rebuttals to the criticisms that the Encyclopedists Diderot, Rousseau,

and D'Alembert had aimed at Rameau in the Encyclopédie during the years

following 1751.^^^ Speaking as "the apologist," Rameau offered this new

rationale for the derivation of the subdominant:

II est dit, dans ce Livre (p. It is stated in this book

31 & 32) que la quinte au-dessous
du fondamental est soudomlnante :
ce qui, à proprement parler, ne
peut être, puisque cette quinte
étant multiple du fondamental,
n'est point censée harmonieuse :
condition qui seroit néanmoins
essentielle pour une vraie
soudomlnante. Hotre Auteur
s'exprime ici plus exactement :
11 dit que quand le principe ou
fondamental cede à la quinte
au-dessus le droit d'ordonner
du mode, dêslors la quinte au-
dessous n'étant plus multiple.
se trouve naturellement harmonieuse.
& propre par conséquent à devenir
soudomlnante.
FDemonstration, pp. 31-2] that the
fifth below the fundamental is sub-
dominant, which, properly speaking,
cannot be, since this fifth, being
a multiple of the fundamental, is
not deemed harmonic, a condition
essential for a true subdominant,
Here [in Erreurs ... 1755J our
author explains it more clearly:
he says that when the principle or
fundamental yields to the fifth
above the right to determine the
mode, from that moment the fifth
below..bein? no longer & multiple^
ig. naturally harmonic and fitted
therefore to become a subdominant.

99jean-Philippe Rameau.,'. Erreurs sur la musique dans l'Encyclopédie

(Paris, 1755) î see Keane, The Theoretical VJritings of Rameau, p. 182.
lOOiiErreurs sur la musique dans 1 'Encyclopédie," Journal de Tréyoux
(February, 1756), art. xx, pp. 493-513.
lOlEncyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences. Vols. I-VII
(Paris. 1751-57); see Pischner. Die Harmonlelehre Rameaus, pp. 146-67.
102"Erreurs sur la musique dans 1'Encyclopédie," Journal de Trévoux
(February, 1756), art. xx, pp. 507-08.
 477

As this statement indicates, Rumeau ultimately assumed that the

fundamental of the sonorous body could be assigned the subdominant

function, giving the role of the tonic to the third partial. His

deteimination to derive the whole of harmony from a single source, led

him to startling conclusions in the "New Reflections" appended to the

Code (1760), In this work he turned his attention from sympathetic

resonance and overtones, and concentrated on the natural tones of the

trumpet as another manifestation of the sonorous principle:

Tout ceci se confirme à
l'oreille comme à la raison, dans
les Trompettes & Cors de chasse,
qui sont des corps sonores dont
on ne peut tirer d'autres Sons
que ceux qui naissent de leurs
parties aliquotes.
A U this is confirmed to the ear
as to the intellect in the trumpets
and hunting horns that are sonorous
bodies from which one can get only
those sounds produced by their
aliquot parts. . . .

Dans ces Instruments encore, du Moreover, in these instruments, at

moins dans les Cors, une assez
bonne partie des aliquotes
résonne; j'en ai oui tirer
jesqu'au Son de la 19.® qui la
triple quinte. Ces aliquotes,
d'ailleurs suivent l'ordre le
plus naturel des nombres:
reste à savoir lequel a produit
l'autre dans la Nature, ... Il
y a plus, & l'on doit juger
par-là combien ces Instruments
sont soûmis aux loix de la
Nature, quoique notre propre
Ouvrage, puisque tout ce qui
n'est pas harmonique de 1, de 3,
& de 5, y est toujours faux,
relativement au principe 1 ou
à ses identiques.^^2
least in the horns, a large portion
of the aliquots resound. I have
heard them played up to the 19th,
which is the fifth in the third
octave. In addition, these aliquots
follow the most natural order of
numbers: it remains to discover
which produced the other in nature,
. . . Further, and one can judge
from this how much these instruments—
although our own creation— are
subject to the laws of nature, all
that is not harmonic of 1, 3, and 5
is always false in them, in relation
to the fundamental or to its identicals.

^^^Rameau, Code de musique uratioue avec de nouvelles réflexions.

pp. 202; 203-04.
 m

Rameau concluded t h a t , since th e in te rv a ls o f the fo u rth and s ix th

produced Içr th e eleventh and th ir te e n th p a r t i a l s are fa ls e in r e la tio n to

th e fundamental, th e th ir d p a r t i a l must be the " a rb ite r" o f the d iato n ic

sc ale :

. . . l a quarte & l a s ix te (consonances The fo u rth and s ix th (consonances

absolument n é cessaires dans l ’ordre
diatonique de to u t octave) sont
fau sses dans to u te s le s p a rtie s
a liq u o te s de ces mêmes Instrum ents,
d 'o u l ’on d i t qu’e ll e s l u i sont
incommensurablesj s i bien qu’on
v o it & qu’on se n t en même-temps
p a r - là , 1 ’im p o s sib ilité de rendre
ce p rin cip e ordonnateur d ’un
Mode, où sa quarte & sa s ix te sont
fa u sse s, pour ne pas d ire où ces
consonances l u i sont i n t e r d i t e s .
ab so lu te ly necessary in the d iato n ic
o rder o f every octave) are fa ls e
in .th e a liq u o t p a rts o f these same
instrum ents, hence they are sa id to
be incommensurable to [th e funda­
m ental]. Therefore one sees and
knows a t the same time th e im­
p o s s ib ility o f rendering th is
fundamental th e re g u la to r o f a mode
where i t s fo u rth and s ix th are
f a l s e , not to say where these con­
sonances are forbidden to i t .

On v o it donc assez que l e p rin cip e Thus, we see re a d ily enough th a t

n ’a p ro d u it son harmonie que pour
en fa v o ris e r sa quinte 3 s o l, en
l a rendant a r b itr e du Mode par l a
p ro p o rtion t r i p l e que présente
n aturellem ent 9 ré a l a s u ite de
1 u t 3 s o l, dont le s Sons résonnent
dans ces Instrum ents avec le u rs
harmoniquesJ s i bien que to u te
l ’octave diatonique de ce s o l.
sa v o ir, s o l, l a . s i . u t . r é . m i.
f a d iè s e . s o l, y résonne par
conséquent. . . . Nous voyons donc
effectivem ent ao l é ta b li pour
ordonnateur p a r u t qui l ’aide en
même-temps de son octave & de sa
t ie r c e m i, pour en former la
quarte & l a s ix te ju s te s .
the p rin c ip le has produced i t s
harmony only i n order to favor i t s
f i f t h , 3 s o l, rendering i t
a r b ite r o f the mode by a t r i p l e
proportion th a t n a tu ra lly p resen ts
9 re follow ing 1 u t 3 s o l , whose
sounds resonate i n these in s tru ­
ments with th e ir harmonics, so
th a t the e n tire d ia to n ic octave o f
t h is s o l, namely, s o l, l a . s i . u t
r e . m i. fa# , s o l, resonates th ere
as a r e s u l t , . . . Thus, we see
so l e ffe c tiv e ly e stab lish ed as
re g u la to r by u ^ which aids i t a t
the same time w ith i t s octave and
i t s t h ir d , mi, i n order to form
the j u s t fo u rth and s ix th .

This new d e riv a tio n o f the sc a le i s based on the reco g n itio n o f p a r tia ls

as high as the f o r t y - f i f t h , and i t re lie v e d Rameau o f h is dependence on

m u ltip le p ro p o rtio n s. The prim ary tr ia d s and a complete major scale now

104-Ibid. . pp. 202-03.

 479

came from a sin g le , a liq u o t s e r ie s : subdominant (1 :3 :5 ), to n ic

(3 :9 :1 5 ), and dominant (9:27:45). The primary ro o ts are consequently

r e la te d the t r i p l e p ro p ortion, 1:3:9» By octave adjustm ents he

brought the major tr ia d found in the terms 12:15:18 in to agreement with

h is "harmonic" proportion 3 :9 :1 5 . This b i t o f number m anipulation led

Rameau to draw the questionable conclusion th a t another s e t of term s,

10:12:15, which produces the minor t r i a d , must rep re se n t the "arithm etic"
proportion:

Dans ces mêmes i n s t iw e n t s . In these same instrum ents,

1* accord de l a proportion aritlm otiq u e ,
renversée de 1*harmonique, s ’entend^
e n tre le s Sons 10 ^ 12 so l 15 s i où
le s octaves du 1/5 & du 1/3 sont à
10 & à 12, . . . A insi l ’o r e i l le &
l a ra iso n y concourent également
pour nous convaincre, e t su r l e
renversement e n tre ces deux pro—
p o rtio n s, d ’ou s u it c e lle du Mode
majeur en mineur, e t sur 1 ’agréable
e f f e t que nous en éprouvons. Tout
l ’ordre diatonique du mineur
s ’e n te n d ra it mêmes dans le s a liq u o te s
des corps sonore en qu estio n , s i
l ’on a v o it l a fggÿLté d 'e n pouvoir
t i r e r le s Sons.
the [minor] chord of the a rith m etic
proportion, in v ersio n o f the
harmonie, i s heard between the
sounds 10 mi 12 so l 15 s i , where
the octaves o f 1/5 and o f 1/3 are
a t 10 and 12. . . . Thus, the
e ar and reason concur equally
here to convince us both about
the in v ersio n between these two
proportions from which follow s
the in v ersio n o f major mode
in to minor, and also about the
agreable e ffe c t th a t we experience,
The e n tir e d ia to n ic order o f minor
would likew ise be heard i n the
a liq u o ts of the sonorous bodies
i n question i f one had the
fa c u lty o f e x tra c tin g i t s sounds.

Through the conjunction o f major and minor t r ia d s , Rameau obtained

dissonant chords i n the terms 10:12:15:18 (minor seventh chord)-and

8:10:12:15 (major seventh chord). In e a r l ie r works he considered consonance

to be the product o f nature and dissonance the product o f a r t . Now he

lO Slbid.. p. 203.
 ABO

was forced to conclude th a t nature generates the dissonances as w ell:

Ne se t r o u v e - t- il p a s-là
une co n tra d ic tio n m anifeste e n tre
le sentim ent & l a raison? n 'a - t-o n
pas cru bien certainem ent fonder
le s systèmes de Musique su r ce
q u 'i l y a de plus n atu rel? &
comment a -t-o n pu s'im aginer,
après c e la , que le s dissonances,
dont ces mêmes systèmes sont
composés, ne fu ssen t que l'ouvrage
de l'A r t? Puisque l a Nature ne
s'ex p liq u e qu' harmoniquement
dans l a résonnance du corps
sonore, pouvoit-on le s p u ise r,
ces dissonances, dans une a u tre
source? Quel aveuglement l Si
j ' a i te rg iv e rsé moi-miême sur
ce s u je t dans mes deux premiers
Ouvrages, du moins n 'a i - j e pas
voulu prononcer dans le s d e rn ie rs:
je prévoyais d é jà ce que je ne
pouvois encore concevoir, fau te
d 'a v o ir sù t i r e r du principe
to u te s le s conséquences dont
i l e s t susceptible.^^®
Does th e re not e x is t here an
evident co n tra d ic tio n between
sentim ent and reason? Have we not
believed very c e rta in ly th a t wo
founded the [ sc a le j aystems o f music
on th a t [b a s is ] wliich i s most
n a tu ra l? How, a f te r t h is , could we
fancy th a t the dissonances, of which
these same systems are composed,
were only th e work o f a rt? Since
nature only expresses i t s e l f
harm onically in the resonance of the
sonorous body, could we draw these
dissonances from, another source?
VJhat blindness I I f I myself was
evasive on th is su b ject in my f i r s t
two t r e a t i s e s , have I n o t, a t l e a s t ,
wished to speak out in the la te s t?
I a n tic ip a te d then what I was not
y e t able to p erceiv e, fo r lack of
knowing how to e x tra c t from the
p rin c ip le a l l o f the consequences
o f which i t i s su se p tib le .

A fter such a statem ent as t h is i t i s su rp risin g to discover th a t Rameau's

d e riv a tio n s o f dissonant in te rv a ls do not proceed from adjacent terms

in th e n a tu ra l s e r ie s , i . e . , 8 :9 , 9:10, and 15:16. In stead , they come

from re la tio n sh ip s w ith the fundamental bass and between the ro o ts and
107
sevenths o f c e rta in chords.

lOGlbid. . pp. 206-07.

lO T lbid.. pp. 207; 210-12.

 4SI
******************************

Despite the f a c t th a t Rameau's conception o f the harmonic s e rie s was

decidedly more "geom etrical" than a c o u stic a l, h is a sse rtio n th a t music i s

regulated by a p rin c ip le w ithin sound i t s e l f was an id ea i n keeping with

h is times and one destined to have la s tin g consequences. In h is l a s t

t r e a tis e s Rameau recognized th a t the harmonic se rie s extended beyond the

lim its o f a mechanical senary system: he spoke of an i n f in i t e number o f

a liq u o t p a rts , o f the n a tu ra l generation o f dissonances, and o f harmonics

extending only upward. Although h is ideas about the n a tu ra l b a sis o f

harmony were not as o rig in a l as he claimed, Rameau's enormous p ro fessio n al

p re stig e did much to popularize a c o u stic a lly o riented th e o rie s o f music in

th e eighteenth century. The harmonic s e rie s offered a fre s h and stim ulating

way of explaining the th e o r e tic a l foundations o f music. A demonstrable

a c o u stic a l p rin c ip le could now supplant th e outmoded concept of u n iv ersal

harmony. Instead o f looking to the macrocosmic re la tio n sh ip s o f the

p la n e ts , those in te re s te d i n the speculative aspects of music found a more

so lid s ta r tin g point in the microcosmic p ro p erties o f sound i t s e l f .

Evidence presented in the f i r s t p a rt o f t h i s d is s e rta tio n shows th a t

experience with th e phenomena re la te d to th e harmonic s e rie s was qu ite

lim ite d before the f if te e n th and six tee n th cen tu ries and almost t o ta lly

uninvestigated before the seventeenth. Recognition o f t h is physical

p rin c ip le in aco u stics appears to have depended on two developments in

Western c u ltu re : the emergence o f a harmonic sty le in music and an

em pirical viewpoint i n philosophy. Concern fo r harmonic values caused

Renaissance musicians to explore the n a tu ra l c a p a c itie s :o f musical

 482

instrum ents and to develop t h e i r own s k i l l s in sp ecialized ways. They

obtained new c o lo r is tic e ffe c ts from th e organ combining pipes in

consonant m ixtures and by modifying pipe c h a ra c te ris tic s to e l i c i t the

sp e c ia l tim bres produced by p a r t i a l l y o r completely overblown p ip es. They

extended and exploited the range of n a tu ra l tones obtainable on brass

instrum ents and, in strin g ed instrum ents, devised means o f extending the
I
usable range o f fla g e o le t tones and in cre asin g so h o rity through the

ad d itio n o f sympathetic s tr in g s . They even discovered how to tune the

p a r t i a l tones of la rg e b e lls to improve t h e i r e ffe c t i n tower c a r illo n s .

These m usical developments enriched man's experience.w ith sound and

stim ulated in te r e s t in i t s a c o u stic a l a ttr ib u te s ,

Mersenne and h is contemporaries brought a new em pirical a ttitu d e

toward the physical world to bear on the problems o f music and a co u stic s.

T heir quest to explain the phenomena re la te d to the harmonic s e rie s and to

show i t s re la tio n sh ip to music i s traced i n the second p a rt of th is

d is s e r ta tio n . The statem ents o f the v a rio u s.w rite rs quoted i n t h is se ctio n

in d ic a te the g re a t d if f ic u lty they had i n conceptualizing the p rin c ip le o f

the harmonic s e rie s w ithin the framework o f e x istin g ideas and term inology.

T heir statem ents also rev eal the d i f f i c u l t and slow evolution from

Mersenne*3 incomplete notions to Sauveur*s more system atic conception of

the harmonic s e rie s and, f u r th e r , the laborious process then required to

move from recognition o f the a c o u stic a l p rin c ip le to i t s conscious

a p p lic a tio n i n music.

 m

Rameau’s a s s e rtio n th a t music i s based on a n a tu ra l a c o u stic a l

order—the p rin cip e sonore—was the most ra d ic a l thought i n the theory

o f to n al o rganization since Pythagoras demonstrated the r a tio s o f

consonant in te rv a ls w ith the monochord. Although Rameau comprehended the

sig n ific an c e o f h is a s s e rtio n , the id ea was too new and rev o lu tio n ary

f o r him to grasp a l l o f i t s su b tle im p lic a tio n s. The question o f how

th e p rin c ip le was supposed to determine p r a c tic a l operations in the

o rganization o f music caused him to modify and c o n tin u ally reshape h is

th e o rie s . Viewed as a whole, h is id eas about th e theory o f harmony were

s t i l l much influenced the tr a d itio n a l notions o f numbers and p ropo rtio n s,

and, fo r the most p a r t , h is conception o f th e harmonic s e r ie s d id not

exceed the bounds o f senary d iv is io n th eo ry . He did not d ir e c tly face

th e problems posed by the seventh harmonic nor did he adequately explain

th e d e riv a tio n o f one o f h is most im portant concepts, the subdominant.

He d id , however, p resen t an im pressive argument f o r the n a tu ra l generation

o f the major t r i a d . ^
I t i s hardly su rp risin g th a t Rameau's th e o rie s came under a tta c k

from a number o f c r i t i c s when one considers the d iv e rs ity o f explanations

he offered f o r h is p r a c tic a l system o f composition. ITor i s i t su rp risin g

t h a t h is C artesian pronouncement th a t th e whole o f music, a r t , and

science can be derived from a sin g le p rin c ip le , a cosmic harmony i n a new

g u ise, would draw the f i r e o f th e younger generation o f Newtonian

 484
e m p iric is ts . Metaphysical speculations such as th is seem to have
been the primary cause fo r the c ritic is m s o f h is a stu te review er, Jean

Le Rond d'A lem bert. Host o f D'Alem bert's c ritic ism s can be resolved to

the sin g le theme th a t Rameau overindulged i n such sp ecu latio n s. In the

Discours prélim in aire to the 1762 e d itio n o f the Élémens de musique

théorique e t p ratiq u e suivant le s p rin cip es de M. Rameau. D'Alembert

s p e c if ic a lly admonished h is readers to ignore the ideas Rameau presented

i n the "Nouvelles re fle x io n s su r le p rin cip e sonore" (1760). However,

he and most o th er e i^ te e n th -c e n tu ry m usicians gen erally accepted the

id e a th a t the corps sonore i s a n a tu ra l source o f m usical harmony.

 APPH'IDIX

F o n tanelle, "Sur l'A p p lic a tio n des sons harmoniques,"

H isto ire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences. Année 1702, pp. 90-2.

"On a vû dans l'H is to ir e de 1701, que M, Sauveur appelle Sons

Harmoniques, ceux qui fo n t toujours un c e rta in nombre déterminé de

v ib ra tio n s , tan d is que l e prem ier Son auquel on le s rap p o rte, & qui nommé
Fondamental, en f a i t une.

J u s q u 'ic i l 'o n n 'a v o it considéré le s rap p o rts des Sons qu'en le s

conduisant selon le s Nombres 1 ,2 :2 ,3 :3 ,4 :4 ,5 :$ ,6 , &c. ce qui a produit

le s In te rv a lle s qu'on a nommés Octave, Quinte, Quarte, T ierce majeure.

T ierce mineure, &c. ou bien, on comparoit des Nombres éloignés e n tr'e u x

de p lu s d'une u n ité , comme 3 & 5, 5 & 8 qui sont des Sixièmes, & une
i n f i n i t é d 'a u tre s ; mais on ne conduisoit p o in t le s Nombres selon le u r

s u ite n a tu re lle 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. pour examiner le s rap p o rts des Sons qui

en r é s u lte r o ie n t.

M. Sauveur e s t l e prem ier qui a i t considéré le s Sons selon c e tte

s u ite n a tu re lle des Nombres. Le prem ier In te rv a lle 1, 2 e s t une Octave,

l e second 1, 3 e s t une Douzième, le troisièm e 1, 4 e s t une Quinzième ou

l a double Octave aiguë, le quatrième 1, 5 e s t une Dix-septième, le

cinquième 1, 6 e s t une Dix-neuvième, &c.

Cette nouvelle con sid ératio n des rap p o rts des Sons n 'e s t pas seulement

plu s n a tu re lle en ce q u 'e lle n 'e s t que l a s u i t même des Nombres qui tous

485
 486

sont m ultiples de 1 'u n ité , mais encore en ce qu’e lle esq^rime 6 représente

to u te la Musique & l a seule Musique que l a Mature nous donne par elle-même
sans l e secours de l ’a r t .

Une corde de Clavecin é ta n t pincée, outre le son qu’e lle rend,

proportionné à sa longueur, à sa grosseur, & à sa ten sio n , on entend

encore en même-tems, quand on a l ’o r e i l le fin e & exercée, d ’au tre s sons

plus aigus que c e lu i de l a corde e n tiè re , p ro d u its par quelques-unes

de ses p a rtie s , qui se détachent en quelque so rte de l a v ib ra tio n générale

pour f a ir e des v ib ra tio n s p a r tic u liè r e s . C ette com plication de v ib ratio n s

se peut concevoir par l ’ exemple d ’une corde attachée p ar le s deux bouts

& lâch e, comme c e lle s des Danseurs, Car tan d is que le Danseur de corde

l u i donne un grand b ran le, i l peut avec ses deux mains donner deux branles

p a r tic u lie r s aux deux m oitiés; le s deux m oitiés é ta n t a in s i déterm inées,

on peut encore donner un branle à chacune d ’e lle s , &c. Ainsi chaque

m o itié, chaque t i e r s , chaque quart d ’une corde d ’instrum ent a ses

v ib ra tio n s à p a rt, tan d is que se f a i t l a v ib ra tio n to ta le de l a corde

e n tiè re . C’e s t l a même chose d ’une Cloche, quand e lle e s t f o r t bonne &

harmonieuse. Or tous ces sons p a r tic u lie r s p ro d u its p ar le s p a rtie s de

l a Corde ou de l a Cloche, sont harmoniques à l ’égard du Son t o ta l ; le moins

aigu que l ’on entende, comparé à ce Son t o t a l , e s t à son Octave, l e moins

aigu qui le suive f a i t une douzième, c e lu i d ’après l a double Octave, le

suivant une dix-septièm e, &c, jusqu’à ce que ces Sons devenus tro p aigus

échappent à l ’o r e i l l e . On n’en entend aucun qui fasse avec le Son t o ta l

n i une Q uinte, n i une T ierce, &c, n i en fin aucun accord non compris dans

l a s u ite des Sons harmoniques.

 487
La Corde à qui l 'o n détermine une p a rtie quelconque en y m ettant un

o b stacle le g e r, & qui ensuite se divise-elle-m êm e, ou en p a rtie s semblables,

ou en p a rtie s d iffé re n te s , selon que l a première d iv is io n a é té fa ite ,..n e

se d iv ise que de manière que le s Sons de ses p a rtie s sont harmoniques à

l'é g a r d du Son t o t a l . De même, s i dans un Instrum ent à vent, on force

le so u ffle de plus en p lu s, le ton hausse to u jo u rs, mais seulement selon

l a s u ite des Sons harmoniques.

I l p a ro ît donc que to u te s le s fo is que l a Nature f a i t par elle-même,

pour a in s i d ir e , un Système de I-hisique, e lle n 'y emploie que c o tte espèce

de Sons, & cependant i l s é to ie n t demeurés Ju sq u 'à présen t inconnus à l a

Théorie des M usiciens, Quand on le s en ten d o it, on le s t r a i t o i t de

b is a rre s & ir r é g u lie r s , & l 'o n se d isp en so it p a r-là de f a ir e une brèche

au Système im p arfait & borné qui é to i t en regne.

Ce n 'e s t pourtant pas que l a Nature n 'a i t eu quelquefois l a force

de f a ir e tomber le s Musiciens dans le Système des Sons harmoniquesj mais

i l s y sont tombés sans le s connoître, conduits seulement par le u r o r e ille

& p ar le u r expérience, M, Sauveur en donne un exemple très-rem arquable ,

dans l a composition des Orgues, I l f a i t v o ir q u 'e lle roule entièrem ent

sur ce p rin c ip e , quoiqu'inconnu. Ce d é ta il ne nous a p p a rtie n t p as. Il ^

prouvera à ceux qui voudront y e n tre r combien le nouveau Système général

de M, Sauveur donne d'étendue & ajoute de lum ières à l a Théorie de l a

Musique,"
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