Mutation ( lat. Mutatio - change, change), in the system of the solidification of the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque - the transition from hexachord to hexachord; in the theory of a polyphonic composition of the same time, a mutation standardly explained the expansion of the sound system , mainly due to transposition and alteration chromatics .
Content
Mutation Mechanism
In the event that the ambitus of the melody goes beyond the limits of one hexachord, a transition — mutation — is necessary from one hexachord to another. In such a transition, the syllable of one hexachord (“vox”) is equated to the syllable (vox) of another hexachord. For example, a in a natural hexachord (with a C-ut base) corresponds to la vox. In order to make a transition to singing to b (a sound that goes beyond the limits of the natural hexachord), it is necessary to equate the la of the natural hexachord to mi of the soft hexachord (with the base F-ut ), after which (already within the limits of the soft hexachord) it is possible to make a half- tone move mi- fa :
| Cde | Fg | a | b |
|---|---|---|---|
| ut re mi | fa sol | la | |
| fa | |||
If the melody happens beyond the limits of normative mixodiatonics (first of all, introductory tone chromatics ), this expansion of the sound system gets its theoretical explanation through the introduction of a false mutation (mutatio falsa). For this, the theory imagines a hexachord with a “non-normative” base, from which familiar vocals are built (ut re mi fa sol la). For example, if you put ut on the keyboard D , then the syllable mi will be on the keyboard fis , which is absent in the regulatory sound system [1] , which will lead to the appearance of “false music” (musica falsa), or “fictional music” (musica ficta), - sound arrivals from an alien interval genus , namely (transpositional and / or alterative) chromaticity.
Historical Review
The introduction of a mutation into the practice of musical practice and music theory has been associated with the name of Guido Aretinsky since the Middle Ages. Moreover, none of Guido's authentic treatises contains the concept of mutation or the term mutatio. At Guido himself (in the “Message about an unfamiliar chant”) the syllables ut ... la are attached only to the keys C ... A. It is likely that he extrapolated them as modal functions to other keys of the two-octave scale described by him, but there is no real evidence of such extrapolation.
Manuscripts in which hexachords are illustrated from different heights (thus, mutation is implied) appear in the 11th century. For example, in the manuscripts (1) of the British Library Add. 10335, (2) Monte Cassino 318, (3) Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Clm 14523 (all from the 11th century) a hexachordic series of syllables is painted in relation to heights C and G. In the manuscript of Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Clm 14965a, fol. 1v (dated around 1100), voxes are already attached to all three so-called “Guidon” hexachords: natural (from C ), hard (from G ) and soft (from F ) [2] .
Theoretically, the mutation was reflexed only in the 13th century and was associated with the numerous counter-point books that became popular at that time. The developed doctrine of mutation (without mentioning the name of Guido), for example, is presented by Jerome Moravsky (c. 1275) in the 12th chapter of his Treatise on Music, where he defines it like this: Mutatio est sub una clavi et eadem unisona transitio vocis in vocem [3] . The first mention of a false mutation (mutatio falsa) is documented in the “Treatise on Music” by Magister Lambert (c. 1270) and is associated with the need to “perfect” (perficere) the triton that occurs in polyphonic music between h and f (up), as well as between b and e (down) [4] . Improving the newt, turning it into a fifth, is possible only with the help of false music, that is, imagine a hexachord in excess of the three established by the guidonic tradition. The rule of banning newt in counterpoint in the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries received the original designation mi contra fa ; in the ascending newt, mi was used to mean the vox of a solid hexachord (that is, clavis h ), and fa was a vox in a natural hexachord (clavis f ); in the descending newt, mi was used to mean the vox of a natural hexachord (clavis e ), and fa was the vox of a soft hexachord (that is, clavis b ). According to other documentary evidence, mi contra fa meant the prohibition of a large semitone (in the Pythagorean apotome system) [5] .
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, treatises (if they describe solimization at all) include a chapter on mutations, one might say, without fail.
In the polyphonic music of the Renaissance and Baroque, the change in the altitude of the basic scale (by means of internal transposition and sequencing ), known in the modal frets as a metabola , acquired a systemic character. A mutation (including a false one) was used in the genre of polyphonic variations of ital. inganni (lit. "trickery, substitution") in instrumental music by J. M. Trabachi , J. Frescobaldi and some other composers [6] . The theme of such variations was the unchanging sequence of syllables (“voices”) of the hexachord, for example, ut fa mi re ut fa mi. The application of a mutation to any of the cokes of a constant sequence led to a shift in the absolute altitude position of a sound within a “topic”, as a result, its initial interval contour could change beyond recognition.
At the same time, during the formation of tonality, a change in the pitch position of the scale led to a shift to a different height of the whole complex of tonal-functional relationships, known in the theory of music as modulation . The ancient theory up to Rameau continued to explain this important change in modal and prototonal music by inertia by the action of the hexachordic mutation, which Guido and his closest followers did not conceive at all for such a developed harmony , but for learning monodicodal chants, Gregorian chorales .
Notes
- ↑ The established set of pitch in original terms was called the terms musica vera (“true music”), or musica regularis (“correct music”).
- ↑ For illustration and description, see: Stäblein B. Schriftbild der einstimmigen Musik // Musikgeschichte in Bildern. Bd.III, Lfg. 4. Leipzig: VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik. Leipzig, 1975, S.218-219.
- ↑ "Mutation is in the same clavis a single-altitude transition from vox to vox." Another definition of mutation is given right here, in the margins of the manuscript of Jerome: Mutatio est sub eodem signo et sub eodem sono vocis in vocem transitio (Mutation - with one note and sound of the same height, the transition from vox to vox).
- ↑ Recall that the sound stage b was part of myxodiatonic and, as a rule, was not considered to violate the integrity of “true music”.
- ↑ As, for example, in A. Werkmeister ’s treatise “Paradoxical Discourse on Music” (Chap. 14), even in the frightening wording: “Mi contra fa est diabolus in Musica” (Musicalische Paradoxal-Discourse <...> Quedlinburg, 1707, S . 76).
- ↑ For more details see: Harper J. Inganni // The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London New York, 2001.
Literature
- Berger K. The Hand and the art of memory // Musica Disciplina 35 (1981), pp. 87-120.
- Berger K. Musica ficta: theories of accidental inflections in vocal polyphony from Marchetto da Padova to Gioseffo Zarlino. Cambridge, 1987.
- Pesce D. Guido d'Arezzo's Regule rithmice <...>. A critical text and translation by Dolores Pesce. Ottawa: The Institute of Medieval Music, 1999.