Dithon ( dr. Greek δίτονος , lat. Ditonus ) - in the Pythagorean musical interval , composed of two whole tones (9: 8). One way to get a deaton: four fifths up, then two octaves down.
Frequency Ratio:
- .
Deaton 81: 64 is otherwise (retrospectively) called the Pythagorean Great Third .
Historical Review
It was widely distributed among the ancient Greeks in connection with descriptions of the tetrachord of the enarmonic genus Melos . It was first mentioned in the “ Harmonics ” of Aristoxen , later in the treatises of Cleonides , Pseudo- Plutarch and Gaudden , following his traditions, as well as among the Pythagorean Nicomachus . In the Latin tradition, the oldest mentions of the term are found in Martian (De nupt. IX.957), Boethius (Mus. I, 21; IV, 6) and Cassiodorus (Institut. II, 5.8). All theorists mentioned do not have an explicit calculation of the deton as the interval 81/64.
In Martian, the dithon is mentioned (in the form of Greek ditonos ) as the constitutive interval of the tetrachord of the enharmonic genus (also in Boethius in Mus. I, 21, in the adapted Latin form of ditonus ). In IV, 6 of the “Music”, Boethius and Cassiodorus, the deaton is referred to as the interval between the steps of the Complete system . The calculations of the deaton are recorded regularly starting from the 13th century (for example, in John de Garlandia ), for the first time (as the sum of two whole tones) - by the 12th-century theoretician Thainred of Dover. With the development of the teachings on counterpoint in the Renaissance, it is completely replaced by the term tertia maior (big third ).
See also
- Half tone
Literature
- Ditonus // Lexicon musicum Latinum, hrsg. v. Michael Bernhard 8. Fasz. München: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2006, col. 1064-1077.