Tonal harmony

[Chaszz]

This was posted in the General Forum by mistake. I am re-posting it here, where, hopefully, it may draw some interest and a perhaps a response or two.

A happy new year to everyone. I have a question about the evolution of harmony. Between Monteverdi and Bach/Handel there was a change from (what I think of as) modal to tonal harmony, with the new emphasis on the third, a fuller contrast between tonic and dominant, and the use of the subdominant chord. When and with which composers did these developments come about? Thanks.

[Peter]

Great to hear from you again Chaszz. I have removed the post from the other forum. It is with the music of Corelli in the 1680s that a shift occurs although elements of tonal harmony and modality can be found either side of that date.

[Chaszz]

Great to hear from you again Chaszz. I have removed the post from the other forum. It is with the music of Corelli in the 1680s that a shift occurs although elements of tonal harmony and modality can be found either side of that date.

Thanks, Peter. I knew you would have the answer!

I will be exploring that period closely now to hear how the shift takes place.

It seems to me that these new elements of harmony opened up a great range of emotive expression for music, gradually building and then culminating in what some might feel is the over-the-top emotionalism of the Romantic period. So this shift might be considered a major divide in music history. It's also interesting that all kinds of Western music, from classical to rock, jazz and other pop forms, make intense use of these same relatively few emotive relationships of the main chords.

What are your thoughts on this?

[Peter]

Thanks, Peter. I knew you would have the answer!

I will be exploring that period closely now to hear how the shift takes place.

It seems to me that these new elements of harmony opened up a great range of emotive expression for music, gradually building and then culminating in what some might feel is the over-the-top emotionalism of the Romantic period. So this shift might be considered a major divide in music history. It's also interesting that all kinds of Western music, from classical to rock, jazz and other pop forms, make intense use of these same relatively few emotive relationships of the main chords.

What are your thoughts on this?

Yes and I think the defining moment was the publication in 1722 of Bach's 'Well-tempered clavier'.

[Peter]

Following on from this BBC radio 4 is presenting a new series, 'All in a chord' about the 5 greatest chords in music history which starts today at 1.45pm GMT and runs until Fri 13th.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/cla...music-history/

[Chaszz]

Following on from this BBC radio 4 is presenting a new series, 'All in a chord' about the 5 greatest chords in music history which starts today at 1.45pm GMT and runs until Fri 13th.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/cla...music-history/

I was away and did not read this. I hope they will have a re-broadcast or a way to access it afterward.

I will go out on a limb and predict the first four chords: tonic, dominant, subdominant, second seventh.

[Chaszz]

I was away and did not read this. I hope they will have a re-broadcast or a way to access it afterward.

I will go out on a limb and predict the first four chords: tonic, dominant, subdominant, second seventh.

Well, I see it IS available, and i can even listen to it on my phone in the gym. I see I was also wrong, I think, about the chords.

[Humoresque]

This might be of interest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt2zubHcER4