Perfect fourth

intervals 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]
Perfect fourth Play Play

In classical music from Western culture, a fourth is a

musical interval encompassing four sta positions (see 1 History
Interval number for more details), and the perfect fourth
( Play ) is a fourth spanning ve semitones (half steps,
The use of perfect fourths and fths to sound in paral-
or half tones). For example, the ascending interval from
lel with and to thicken the melodic line was prevalent
C to the next F is a perfect fourth, as the note F lies ve
in music prior to the European polyphonic music of the
semitones above C, and there are four sta positions from
Middle Ages.
C to F. Diminished and augmented fourths span the same
number of sta positions, but consist of a dierent num- In the 13th century, the fourth and fth together were
ber of semitones (four and six). the concordantiae mediae (middle consonances) after the
unison and octave, and before the thirds and sixths. In
The perfect fourth may be derived from the harmonic se-
the 15th century the fourth came to be regarded as dis-
ries as the interval between the third and fourth harmon-
sonant on its own, and was rst classed as a dissonance
ics. The term perfect identies this interval as belonging
by Johannes Tinctoris in his Terminorum musicae din-
to the group of perfect intervals, so called because they
itorium (1473). In practice, however, it continued to be
are neither major nor minor (unlike thirds, which are ei-
used as a consonance when supported by the interval of a
ther minor or major) but perfect.
third or fth in a lower voice.[4]
Up until the late 19th century, the perfect fourth was
Modern acoustic theory supports the medieval interpre-
often called by its Greek name, diatessaron.[1] Its most
tation insofar as the intervals of unison, octave, fth and
common occurrence is between the fth and upper root
fourth have particularly simple frequency ratios. The oc-
of all major and minor triads and their extensions.
tave has the ratio of 2:1, for example the interval between
A perfect fourth in just intonation corresponds to a pitch a' at A440 and a'' at 880 Hz, giving the ratio 880:440, or
ratio of 4:3, or about 498 cents ( Play ), while in equal 2:1. The fth has a ratio of 3:2, and its complement has
temperament a perfect fourth is equal to ve semitones, the ratio of 3:4. Ancient and medieval music theorists
or 500 cents. appear to have been familiar with these ratios, see for ex-
A helpful way to recognize a perfect fourth is to hum the ample their experiments on the Monochord.
starting of the Bridal Chorus from Wagner's Lohengrin
("Treulich gefhrt", the colloquially-titled "Here Comes
the Bride"). Other examples are the rst 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".
(Listen) with perfect (a), augmented (b) and diminished (c)
The perfect fourth is a perfect interval like the unison, fourths
octave, and perfect fth, and it is a sensory consonance.
In common practice harmony, however, it is considered In the years that followed, the frequency ratios of these
a stylistic dissonance in certain contexts, namely in two- intervals on keyboards and other xed-tuning instruments
voice textures and whenever it appears above the bass.[2] would change slightly as dierent systems of tuning, such
If the bass note also happens to be the chords root, the as meantone temperament, well temperament, and equal

1
2 1
temperament were developed.
In early western polyphony, these simpler intervals (uni- puntal style at the time, in which parallel fourths were
son, octave, fth and fourth) were generally preferred. sometimes considered problematic, and written around
However, in its development between the 12th and 16th with ornaments or other modications to the Fauxbour-
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 The development of tonality continued through the
centre of musical interest.
3. By the end of the Middle Ages, new rules for voice
leading had been laid, re-evaluating the importance
of unison, octave, fth and fourth and handling them
in a more restricted fashion (for instance, the later
forbidding of parallel octaves and fths).
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.
1.1 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 fths. The Musica enchiriadis of the mid 10th cen-
tury, a guidebook for musical practice of the time, de-
scribed singing in parallel fourths, fths, 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.
Fourths in Guillaume Du Fays Antiphon Ave Maris Stella
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 in-
frequently improvisatory) in which the two 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 rst inversion
(or 6/3) triad.
HISTORY
This parallel 6/3 triad was incorporated into the contra-
don style. An example of this is the start of the Marian-
Antiphon Ave Maris Stella ( Listen) by Guillaume Du-
fay, a master of Fauxbourdon.
1.2 Renaissance and Baroque
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 har-
monies of fths 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 outlin-
ing the interval of a fourth appear in the Lamento genre,
and often in Passus duriusculus passages of chromatic de-
scent. 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 Frescobaldis Chromatic Toccata of 1635 the out-
lined fourths overlap, bisecting various church modes.
In the rst 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 the-
ory 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:
1.4 20th century music 3

The Steps to Parnassus). He outlined various types of Fourth-based harmony became important in the work of
counterpoint (e.g., note against note), and suggested a Slavic and Scandinavian composers such as Modest Mus-
careful application of the fourth so as to avoid dissonance. sorgsky, Leo Janek, and Jean Sibelius. These com-
posers used this harmony in a pungent, uncovered, al-
most archaic way, often incorporating the Folk music of
1.3 Classical and Romantic their particular homelands. Sibelius Piano Sonata in F-
Major op. 12 of 1893 used tremolo passages of near-
The blossoming of tonality and the establishment of well quartal harmony in a way that was relatively hard and
temperament in Bachs time both had a continuing in- modern. Even in the example on the right from Mus-
uence up to the late Romantic period, and the tenden- sorgskys piano-cycle Pictures at an Exhibition (
cies towards quartal harmony were somewhat suppressed. (-) - The Hut on Fowls Legs)
An increasingly rened cadence, and triadic harmony de- ( Listen) the fourth always makes an unvarnished en-
ned the musical work of this era. Counterpoint was sim- trance.
plied to favour an upper line with a clear accompany-
The Romantic composers Frdric Chopin and Franz
ing harmony. Still, there are many examples of dense
Liszt, had use the special thinned out sound of fourth-
counterpoint utilizing fourths in this style, commonly as
chord in late works for piano (Nuages gris (Fr: Grey
part of the background urging the harmonic expression
Clouds), La lugubre gondola (Fr: The Mournful Gon-
in a passage along to a climax. Mozart in his so-called
dola), and other works).
Dissonance Quartet KV 465 ( Listen) used Chromatic
and Whole tone scales to outline fourths, and the sub- In the 1897 work The Sorcerers Apprentice (L'Apprenti
ject of the fugue in the third movement of Beethovens sorcier) by Paul Dukas, the repetition of rising fourths
Piano sonata op. 110 ( Listen) opens with three ascend- is a musical representation of the tireless work of out-
ing fourths. These are all melodic examples, however, of-control walking brooms causes the water level in the
and the underlying harmony is built on thirds. house to rise and rise. Quartal harmony in Ravels
Sonatine and Ma Mre l'Oye (Fr: Mother Goose) would
Composers started to reassess the quality of the fourth
follow a few years later.
as a consonance rather than a dissonance. This would
later inuence the development of quartal and quintal har-
mony. 1.4 20th century music
1.4.1 Western classical music

Main article: quartal and quintal harmony

In the 20th century, harmony explicitly built on fourths

The Tristan chord in context

The Tristan chord is made up of the notes F, B, D

and G and is the very rst chord heard in Richard Wag-
ner's opera Tristan und Isolde. The chord had been found
in earlier works (notably Beethovens Piano Sonata No.
18) but Wagners usage was signicant, rst 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.
Measures 24 to 27 from Mussorgskys The Hut on Fowls Legs
Quartal harmony in Laideronnette from Ravels Ma Mre
l'Oye. The top line uses the pentatonic scale.[5] Play
and fths became important. This became known as
quartal harmony for chords based on fourths and quin-
tal harmony for chords based on fths. 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 impor-
tant means of expression in music by Debussy, Maurice
Ravel, and others. Examples are found in Debussys or-
chestral work La Mer (The Sea) and in his piano works,
4 3 REFERENCES

in particular La cathdrale engloutie (The Sunken Cathe- [4] William Drabkin (2001), Fourth, The New Grove Dic-
dral) from his Prludes for piano, Pour les quartes (For tionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by
Fourths) and Pour les arpges composes (For Composite Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmilln Pub-
Arpeggios) from his Etudes. lishers).

[5] Bruce Benward and Marilyn Nadine Saker (2003). Music:

In Theory and Practice, Vol. I, seventh edition (Boston:
1.4.2 Jazz
McGraw-Hill): p. 37. ISBN 978-0-07-294262-0.
Jazz uses quartal harmonies (usually called voicing in [6] Robert P. Morgan (1991). Twentieth-Century Music: A
fourths). History of Musical Style in Modern Europe and America,
The Norton Introduction to Music History (New York: W.
Cadences are often altered to include unresolved
W. Norton), pp. 179-80. ISBN 978-0-393-95272-8.
suspended chords which include a fourth above the bass:
[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/.

(Listen) The II-V-I Cadence (Listen) The Fourth-suspension or

Sus"-Chord

Fourths in Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage.

2 See also
augmented fourth

All fths

Lists of intervals

list of meantone intervals

eleventh

chromatic fourth

3 References
[1] William Smith and Samuel Cheetham (1875). A Dictio-
nary 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. Re-
trieved 2006-09-05.

[3] Paul, Oscar (1885). A manual of harmony for use

in music-schools and seminaries and for self-instruction,
p.165. Theodore Baker, trans. G. Schirmer.
 5

4 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

4.1 Text
Perfect fourth Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_fourth?oldid=740942652 Contributors: AxelBoldt, Ellywa, CatherineMu-
nro, AugPi, Hyacinth, Opus33, Fredrik, Bkell, Dave Bass, Tea2min, Gene Ward Smith, Anton Mravcek, Andycjp, Tothebarricades.tk,
Atemperman, Picapica, Perey, Flying Hamster, PWilkinson, Keenan Pepper, Laug, Koavf, FlaBot, 8q67n4tqr5, YurikBot, Zwobot, Ad-
dps4cat, Wknight94, Reyk, SmackBot, Py, Berland, Hoof Hearted, Just plain Bill, Andeggs, Rigadoun, iga, Carneyfex~enwiki, Dicklyon,
Amakuru, Maerin, Cydebot, Rracecarr, After Midnight, Thijs!bot, Dawnseeker2000, ThomasPusch, Escarbot, Sluzzelin, JAnDbot, A4,
Jerome Kohl, Longinus876, Penpen~enwiki, Bissinger, CommonsDelinker, Nono64, Adavidb, Pmbcomm, TXiKiBoT, SieBot, Paolo.dL,
Scoggles, SoundOfNumbers, Mild Bill Hiccup, PixelBot, Tjako, Addbot, Jafeluv, LaaknorBot, Tassedethe, Erutuon, Legobot, Luckas-bot,
, LilHelpa, Jubileeclipman, Fewskulchor, ItJustSaysGumbo, Citation bot 1, LadybugInvasion, FilePeter, Double sharp, Emaus-
Bot, WikitanvirBot, GoingBatty, ZroBot, H3llBot, Norah1977, Snaevar-bot, Eman235, Shitoryu19, GreenC bot, Bender the Bot and
Anonymous: 40

4.2 Images
File:AveMarisStellaDufay.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f8/AveMarisStellaDufay.png License: Cc-by-sa-
3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Baby_Yaga_for_wikipedia.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Baby_Yaga_for_wikipedia.png
License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Barretto_Amor_Artificial.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Barretto_Amor_Artificial.png Li-
cense: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims). Original
artist: No machine-readable author provided. Bottomline~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims).
File:Bartok{}s_fourths.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Bartok%27s_fourths.png License: GFDL
Contributors: Created by Hyacinth (talk) using Sibelius 5. Original artist: Hyacinth (talk) (Uploads)
File:Fourth_ET.ogg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ac/Fourth_ET.ogg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0 Contributors:
Own work
Original artist:
Gary Adams (User:SoundOfNumbers)
File:Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/
Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work. Based on File:Gnome-mime-audio-openclipart.
svg, which is public domain. Original artist: User:Eubulides
File:II_V_I_for_wikipedia.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/II_V_I_for_wikipedia.png License:
CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Loudspeaker.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Loudspeaker.svg License: Public domain Contrib-
utors: New version of Image:Loudspeaker.png, by AzaToth and compressed by Hautala Original artist: Nethac DIU, waves corrected by
Zoid
File:Maiden_Voyage2.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Maiden_Voyage2.png License: CC-BY-SA-
3.0 Contributors: Herbie Hancock, edited by Boris Fernbacher2 09:52, 14 March 2006 (UTC) Original artist: Original by Boris Fernbacher,
translation by Rainwarrior. Maiden Voyage originally composed by Herbie Hancock, 1965.
File:Nascimento_Vera_Cruz.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Nascimento_Vera_Cruz.png License:
CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Notenbeispiel_Quarten.gif Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Notenbeispiel_Quarten.gif License:
Public domain Contributors: Transferred from ru.wikipedia to Commons by Rubin16 using CommonsHelper. Original artist: The orig-
inal uploader was MaratL at Russian Wikipedia
File:Perfect_fourth_on_C.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Perfect_fourth_on_C.png License: Pub-
lic domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Created by Hyacinth (talk) using Sibelius 5.
File:Ravel_Ma_Mere_l'Oye_Laideronnette.PNG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Ravel_Ma_Mere_
l%27Oye_Laideronnette.PNG License: Public domain Contributors: Illustration of quartal harmony in Laideronnette from Maurice
Ravel's (18751937) Ma Mre l'Oye (1910). Original artist: Created by Hyacinth (talk) 18:39, 14 July 2005 using Sibelius 5.
File:Renaissance_Kadenz_for_wikipedia.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Renaissance_Kadenz_
for_wikipedia.png License: Public domain Contributors: Palestrina and Lasso Original artist: Boris Fernbacher2
File:Schoenberg{}s_fourths.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Schoenberg%27s_fourths.png Li-
cense: GFDL Contributors: Created by Hyacinth (talk) using Sibelius 5. Original artist: Hyacinth (talk) (Uploads)
File:Schoenberg_string_quartet_quartal_chord.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Schoenberg_
string_quartet_quartal_chord.png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Created by Hyacinth (talk) using Sibelius 5. Original artist:
Schoenberg
File:TristanChord.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/TristanChord.svg License: Public domain Con-
tributors: Own work Original artist: Romainbehar
File:Wagner_Tristan_opening_(orchestral).ogg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Wagner_Tristan_
opening_%28orchestral%29.ogg License: EEF OAL-1 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

4.3 Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0