Perfect Fourth - Wikipedia

Perfect fourth - Wikipedia
1 of 7
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_fourth
Perfect fourth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In classical music from Western culture, a fourth is a musical interval

encompassing four staff positions (see Interval number for more
details), and the perfect fourth ( Play ) is a fourth spanning five
semitones (half steps, or half tones). For example, the ascending
interval from C to the next F is a perfect fourth, as the note F lies five
semitones above C, and there are four staff positions from C to F.
Diminished and augmented fourths span the same number of staff
positions, but consist of a different number of semitones
(four and six).
Perfect fourth
Play
perfect fourth
The perfect fourth may be derived from the harmonic

series as the interval between the third and fourth
harmonics. The term perfect identifies this interval as
belonging to the group of perfect intervals, so called
because they are neither major nor minor (unlike thirds,
which are either minor or major) but perfect.
Inverse
Up until the late 19th century, the perfect fourth was

often called by its Greek name, diatessaron.[1] Its most
common occurrence is between the fifth and upper root
of all major and minor triads and their extensions.
Semitones
Interval class
Just interval
4:3
perfect fifth
Name
Other names
diatessaron
Abbreviation
P4
Size
Cents
A perfect fourth in just intonation corresponds to a pitch

ratio of 4:3, or about 498 cents ( Play ), while in equal
temperament a perfect fourth is equal to five semitones,
or 500 cents.
Equal temperament
500
24 equal temperament
500
Just intonation
498
A helpful way to recognize a perfect fourth is to hum the starting of the "Bridal Chorus" from Wagner's
Lohengrin ("Treulich gefhrt", the colloquially-titled "Here Comes the Bride"). Other examples are the first
two notes of the Christmas carol "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" or "El Cndor Pasa", and, for a
descending perfect fourth, the second and third notes of "O Come All Ye Faithful".
The perfect fourth is a perfect interval like the unison, octave, and perfect fifth, and it is a sensory
consonance. In common practice harmony, however, it is considered a stylistic dissonance in certain
contexts, namely in two-voice textures and whenever it appears above the bass.[2] If the bass note also
happens to be the chord's root, the interval's upper note almost always temporarily displaces the third of
any chord, and, in the terminology used in popular music, is then called a suspended fourth.
Conventionally, adjacent strings of the double bass and of the bass guitar are a perfect fourth apart when
unstopped, as are all pairs but one of adjacent guitar strings under standard guitar tuning. Sets of tom-tom
drums are also commonly tuned in perfect fourths. The 4:3 just perfect fourth arises in the C major scale
between G and C.[3] Play
1/18/2017 2:58 PM
2 of 7
Contents
1 History
1.1 Middle ages
1.2 Renaissance and Baroque
1.3 Classical and Romantic
1.4 20th century music
1.4.1 Western classical music
1.4.2 Jazz
2 See also
3 References
Perfect fourth (equal

temperament)
0:00
MENU
The file plays middle C, followed

by F (a tone 500 cents sharper
than C), followed by both tones
together.
Problems playing this file? See media help.
History
The use of perfect fourths and fifths to sound in parallel with and to "thicken" the melodic line was
prevalent in music prior to the European polyphonic music of the Middle Ages.
In the 13th century, the fourth and fifth together were the concordantiae mediae (middle consonances) after
the unison and octave, and before the thirds and sixths. In the 15th century the fourth came to be regarded
as dissonant on its own, and was first classed as a dissonance by Johannes Tinctoris in his Terminorum
musicae diffinitorium (1473). In practice, however, it continued to be used as a consonance when supported
by the interval of a third or fifth in a lower voice.[4]
Modern acoustic theory supports the medieval interpretation insofar as the intervals of unison, octave, fifth
and fourth have particularly simple frequency ratios. The octave has the ratio of 2:1, for example the
interval between a' at A440 and a'' at 880 Hz, giving the ratio 880:440, or 2:1. The fifth has a ratio of 3:2,
and its complement has the ratio of 3:4. Ancient and medieval music theorists appear to have been familiar
with these ratios, see for example their experiments on the Monochord.
In the years that followed, the frequency ratios
of these intervals on keyboards and other
fixed-tuning instruments would change
slightly as different systems of tuning, such as
meantone temperament, well temperament,
and equal temperament were developed.
( Listen) with perfect (a), augmented (b) and diminished (c)

fourths
In early western polyphony, these simpler

intervals (unison, octave, fifth and fourth)
were generally preferred. However, in its development between the 12th and 16th centuries:
1. In the earliest stages, these simple intervals occur so frequently that they appear to be the favourite
sound of composers.
2. Later, the more "complex" intervals (thirds, sixths, and tritones) move gradually from the margins to
the centre of musical interest.
3. By the end of the Middle Ages, new rules for voice leading had been laid, re-evaluating the
1/18/2017 2:58 PM
3 of 7
importance of unison, octave, fifth and fourth and handling them in a more restricted fashion (for
instance, the later forbidding of parallel octaves and fifths).
The music of the 20th century for the most part discards the rules of "classical" western tonality. For
instance, composers such as Erik Satie borrowed stylistic elements from the Middle Ages, but some
composers found more innovative uses for these intervals.
Middle ages
In medieval music, the tonality of the common practice period had not yet developed, and many examples
may be found with harmonic structures that are built on fourths and fifths. The Musica enchiriadis of the
mid 10th century, a guidebook for musical practice of the time, described singing in parallel fourths, fifths,
and octaves. This development continued, and the music of the Notre Dame school may be considered the
apex of a coherent harmony in this style.
For instance, in one Alleluia ( Listen) by
Protin, the fourth is favoured. Elsewhere, in
parallel organum at the fourth, the upper line
would be accompanied a fourth below. Also
important was the practice of Fauxbourdon,
which is a three voice technique (not
infrequently improvisatory) in which the two
Fourths in Guillaume Du Fay's Antiphon Ave Maris Stella
lower voices proceed parallel to the upper
voice at a fourth and sixth below.
Fauxbourdon, while making extensive use of
fourths, is also an important step towards the later triadic harmony of tonality, as it may be seen as a first
inversion (or 6/3) triad.
This parallel 6/3 triad was incorporated into the contrapuntal style at the time, in which parallel fourths
were sometimes considered problematic, and written around with ornaments or other modifications to the
Fauxbourdon style. An example of this is the start of the Marian-Antiphon Ave Maris Stella ( Listen) by
Guillaume Dufay, a master of Fauxbourdon.
Renaissance and Baroque

The development of tonality continued through the Renaissance until it was fully realized at last by
composers of the Baroque era.
Conventional closing
cadences
As time progressed through the late Renaissance and early Baroque, the
fourth became more understood as an interval that needed resolution.
Increasingly the harmonies of fifths and fourths yielded to uses of thirds
and sixths. In the example, cadence forms from works by Orlando di
Lasso and Palestrina show the fourth being resolved as a suspension. (
Listen)
In the early Baroque music of Claudio Monteverdi and Girolamo

Frescobaldi triadic harmony was thoroughly utilized. Diatonic and
chromatic passages strongly outlining the interval of a fourth appear in the Lamento genre, and often in
1/18/2017 2:58 PM
4 of 7
Passus duriusculus passages of chromatic descent. In the madrigals of Claudio Monteverdi and Carlo
Gesualdo the intensive interpretation of the text (Word painting) frequently highlights the shape of a fourth
as an extremely delayed resolution of a fourth suspension. Also, in Frescobaldi's Chromatic Toccata of
1635 the outlined fourths overlap, bisecting various church modes.
In the first third of the 18th century, ground-laying theoretical treatises on composition and harmony were
written. Jean-Philippe Rameau completed his treatise Le Trait de l'harmonie rduite ses principes
naturels (French: the theory of harmony reduced to its natural principles) in 1722 which supplemented his
work of four years earlier, Nouveau Systme de musique theoretique (French: new system of music theory);
these together may be considered the cornerstone of modern Music theory relating to consonance and
harmony. The Austrian composer Johann Fux published in 1725 his powerful treatise on the composition of
Counterpoint in the style of Palestrina under the title Gradus ad Parnassum (Latin: The Steps to
Parnassus). He outlined various types of counterpoint (e.g., note against note), and suggested a careful
application of the fourth so as to avoid dissonance.
Classical and Romantic

The blossoming of tonality and the establishment of well temperament in Bach's time both had a
continuing influence up to the late Romantic period, and the tendencies towards quartal harmony were
somewhat suppressed. An increasingly refined cadence, and triadic harmony defined the musical work of
this era. Counterpoint was simplified to favour an upper line with a clear accompanying harmony. Still,
there are many examples of dense counterpoint utilizing fourths in this style, commonly as part of the
background urging the harmonic expression in a passage along to a climax. Mozart in his so-called
Dissonance Quartet KV 465 ( Listen) used Chromatic and Whole tone scales to outline fourths, and the
subject of the fugue in the third movement of Beethoven's Piano sonata op. 110 ( Listen) opens with three
ascending fourths. These are all melodic examples, however, and the underlying harmony is built on thirds.
Composers started to reassess the quality of the fourth as a consonance rather than a dissonance. This
would later influence the development of quartal and quintal harmony.
The "Tristan chord" in context
The Tristan chord is made up of the notes F, B, D

and G and is the very first chord heard in Richard
Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde. The chord had
been found in earlier works (notably Beethoven's
Piano Sonata No. 18) but Wagner's usage was
significant, first because it is seen as moving away
from traditional tonal harmony and even towards
atonality, and second because with this chord Wagner
actually provoked the sound or structure of musical
harmony to become more predominant than its
function, a notion which was soon after to be
explored by Debussy and others.

Fourth-based harmony became important in the work of Slavic and Scandinavian composers such as
Modest Mussorgsky, Leo Janek, and Jean Sibelius. These composers used this harmony in a pungent,
uncovered, almost archaic way, often incorporating the Folk music of their particular homelands. Sibelius'
Piano Sonata in F-Major op. 12 of 1893 used tremolo passages of near-quartal harmony in a way that was
relatively hard and modern. Even in the example on the right from Mussorgsky's piano-cycle Pictures at an
1/18/2017 2:58 PM
5 of 7
Exhibition (
(-) - The Hut on Fowl's Legs) (
Listen) the fourth always makes an
"unvarnished" entrance.
The Romantic composers Frdric Chopin and
Franz Liszt, had use the special "thinned out"
sound of fourth-chord in late works for piano
(Nuages gris (Fr: Grey Clouds), La lugubre
gondola (Fr: The Mournful Gondola), and
other works).
Measures 24 to 27 from Mussorgsky's The Hut on Fowl's

Legs
In the 1897 work The Sorcerer's Apprentice (L'Apprenti sorcier) by Paul Dukas, the repetition of rising
fourths is a musical representation of the tireless work of out-of-control walking brooms causes the water
level in the house to "rise and rise". Quartal harmony in Ravel's Sonatine and Ma Mre l'Oye (Fr: Mother
Goose) would follow a few years later.
20th century music

Western classical music
In the 20th century, harmony explicitly built
on fourths and fifths became important. This
became known as quartal harmony for chords
based on fourths and quintal harmony for
chords based on fifths. In the music of
composers of early 20th century France, fourth
chords became consolidated with Ninth
chords, the Whole tone scale, the Pentatonic
scale, and polytonality as part of their
language, and quartal harmony became an
important means of expression in music by
Debussy, Maurice Ravel, and others. Examples
Quartal harmony in "Laideronnette" from Ravel's Ma Mre
are found in Debussy's orchestral work La Mer
l'Oye. The top line uses the pentatonic scale.[5] Play
(The Sea) and in his piano works, in particular
La cathdrale engloutie (The Sunken
Cathedral) from his Prludes for piano, Pour les quartes (For Fourths) and Pour les arpges composes
(For Composite Arpeggios) from his Etudes.
1/18/2017 2:58 PM
6 of 7
Bartk's music, such as the String Quartet

No. 2, often makes use of a three-note
basic cell, a perfect fourth associated with
an external (C, F, G) or internal (C, E,
F) minor second, as a common intervallic
source in place of triadic harmonies.[6]
During Schoenberg's middle

period he favoured a chord
composed of two fourths, one
perfect and one augmented (C, F,
B or C, F , B).[7][8]
Quartal chord from

Schoenberg's String
Quartet No. 1.
Jazz
Jazz uses quartal harmonies (usually called voicing in fourths).
Cadences are often "altered" to include unresolved suspended chords which include a fourth above the
bass:
( Listen) The II-V-I Cadence ( Listen)

The Fourth-suspension or "Sus"-Chord
Fourths in Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage.
Listen The brass section of Ray Barretto's version

of "Amor Artificial".
Listen Guitar break from Milton Nascimentos

composition "Vera Cruz"
See also
1/18/2017 2:58 PM
7 of 7
augmented fourth
All fifths
Lists of intervals
list of meantone intervals
eleventh
chromatic fourth
References
1. William Smith and Samuel Cheetham (1875). A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities. London: John Murray.
2. Sean Ferguson and Richard Parncutt. "Composing in the Flesh: Perceptually-Informed Harmonic Syntax" (PDF).
Archived from the original (PDF) on 2005-10-13. Retrieved 2006-09-05.
3. Paul, Oscar (1885). A manual of harmony for use in music-schools and seminaries and for self-instruction
(https://books.google.com/books?id=4WEJAQAAMAAJ&
dq=musical+interval+%22pythagorean+major+third%22&source=gbs_navlinks_s), p.165. Theodore Baker,
trans. G. Schirmer.
4. William Drabkin (2001), "Fourth", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by
Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmilln Publishers).
5. Bruce Benward and Marilyn Nadine Saker (2003). Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I, seventh edition
(Boston: McGraw-Hill): p. 37. ISBN 978-0-07-294262-0.
6. Robert P. Morgan (1991). Twentieth-Century Music: A History of Musical Style in Modern Europe and America,
The Norton Introduction to Music History (New York: W. W. Norton), pp. 179-80. ISBN 978-0-393-95272-8.
7. Morgan (1991), p. 71. "no doubt for its 'nontonal' quality"
8. Floirat, Bernard (2015). "Introduction aux accords de quartes chez Arnold Schoenberg". p. 19 via
https://www.academia.edu/.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Perfect_fourth&oldid=740942652"

Categories: Fourths (music) Perfect intervals 3-limit tuning and intervals
This page was last modified on 24 September 2016, at 09:20.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may
apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a
registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
1/18/2017 2:58 PM

Perfect Fourth - Wikipedia

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Perfect Fourth - Wikipedia

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Perfect fourth - Wikipedia

In classical music from Western culture, a fourth is a musical interval

The perfect fourth may be derived from the harmonic

Up until the late 19th century, the perfect fourth was

A perfect fourth in just intonation corresponds to a pitch