Our musical traditions:

[FarrahWaters]

Originally Posted by Adam

The only inspired music was written between 1700 and 1850 by white men in Europe. Or written in poor imitation of those dead white men. Or at least sometimes it seems that way. I'm amazed Eliza Snow's masterpiece lyric has survived--honestly amazed it hasn't been axed somewhere along the way.

One need look no further then Come Thou Fount, which even Tex has seen fit to lament its absence from the hymnbook, to understand that our current hymnal is sorely imperfect.

But your question is about music history and theory and well beyond my knowledge. I'd love to learn more about the Devil's keys etc.

I'm not sure what Archaea is thinking of in "devil keys". The ancient Greek thought that music possessed inherent moral qualities, and could shape the character of the person listening to it. The birth of jazz (a melding of African spirituals and Western choral music harmonies) might have been considered subversive at the time.

And I hope Adam is kidding about the inspired music ending in 1850 part.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by FarrahWaters

I'm not sure what Archaea is thinking of in "devil keys". The ancient Greek thought that music possessed inherent moral qualities, and could shape the character of the person listening to it. The birth of jazz (a melding of African spirituals and Western choral music harmonies) might have been considered subversive at the time.

And I hope Adam is kidding about the inspired music ending in 1850 part.

During the Medieval times, certain keys were considered nonreligious. I'll have to look up my notes.

[Sleeping in EQ]

Originally Posted by Archaea

During the Medieval times, certain keys were considered nonreligious. I'll have to look up my notes.

Are you thinking of the tritone?

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by Sleeping in EQ

Are you thinking of the tritone?

That's it.

Here's wikipedia on it.

The tritone is a restless interval, classed as a dissonance in Western music from the early Middle Ages through the end of the common practice period. That interval was avoided in medieval ecclesiastical singing because of its dissonant quality. The first explicit prohibition of that interval seems to occur with

"the development of Guido of Arezzo's Hexacordal system which made B flat a diatonic note, namely as the 4th degree of the hexachordal on F. From then until the end of Renaissance the tritone, nick name the "diabolus in musica" was regarded as an unstable interval and rejected as a consonance"[1]

The name diabolus in musica ("the Devil in music") has been applied to the interval from at least the early eighteenth century. Telemann in 1733 notes that "mi contra fa...welches die alten den satan in der music nenneten," ("Mi against Fa, which the ancients called 'Satan in music'") while Mattheson in 1739 writes that the "alten Solmisatores dieses angenehme Intervall mi contra fa oder den Teufel in der Music genannt haben." ("Older singers with solmization called this pleasant interval 'mi contra fa' or 'the devil in music'.") [2] Although both of these authors cite the association with the devil as from the past, there are no known citations of this term from the Middle Ages, as is commonly asserted.[3] However Denis Arnold, in the referential The New Oxford Companion to Music, suggests that the nickname was already applied early in the medieval music itself:

"It seems first to have been designated as a 'dangerous' interval when Guido of Arezzo developed his system of hexachords and with the introduction of B flat as a diatonic note, at much the same time acquiring its nickname of 'Diabolus in Musica' ('the devil in music')[4]."

Because of that original symbolic association with the devil and its avoidance, that interval came to be heard in Western cultural convention as suggesting "evil" connotative meaning in music. Today the interval continues to suggest an "oppressive," "scary," or "evil" sound.
However suggestions that singers were excommunicated or otherwise punished by the church for invoking this interval are likewise fanciful. At any rate, avoidance of the interval for musical reasons has a long history, stretching back to the parallel organum of the Musica Enchiriadis. In all these expressions, including the commonly cited "mi contra fa est diablous in musica," the "mi" and "fa" refer to notes from two adjacent hexachords. For instance, in the tritone B-F, B would be "mi," that is the third scale degree in the "hard" hexachord beginning on G, while F would be "fa," that is the fourth scale degree in the "natural" hexachord beginning on C.
Later in history with the rise of the Baroque and Classical music era, that interval came to be perfectly accepted, but yet was used in a specific controlled way, notably through the principle of the tension/release mechanism of the tonal system. In that system (which is the fundamental musical grammar of Baroque and Classical music), the tritone is one of the defining intervals of the dominant-seventh chord and two tritones separated by a minor third give the fully-diminished seventh chord its characteristic sound. In minor, the diminished triad (comprising two minor thirds which together add up to a tritone) appears on the second scale degree, and thus features prominently in the progression iio-V-i. Often, the inversion iio6 is used to move the tritone to the inner voices as this allows for stepwise motion in the bass to the dominant root. In three-part counterpoint, free use of the diminished triad in first inversion is permitted, as this eliminates the tritone relation to the bass.[5]
It's only with the Romantic music and modern classical music that composers started to use it totally freely, without functional limitations notably in an expressive way to exploit the evil connotations which are culturally associated to it.(i.e. Liszt's use of the tritone to suggest hell in his Dante Sonata) The tritone was also exploited heavily in that period as an interval of modulation for its ability to evoke a strong reaction by moving quickly to distantly related keys. Later on, in twelve-tone music, serialism, and other 20th century compositional idioms it came to be considered as a neutral interval.[6]
The equal-tempered tritone (a ratio of or 600 cents) is unique in being its own octave inversion. Note that in other meantone tunings, the augmented fourth and the diminished fifth are distinct intervals because neither is exactly half an octave. In any meantone tuning near to 2/9 comma meantone the augmented fourth will be near to the ratio 7/5 and the diminished fifth to 10/7, which is what these intervals are taken to be in septimal meantone temperament. In 31 equal temperament, for example, the diminished fourth, or tritone proper, is 580.6 cents, whereas a 7/5 is 582.5 cents.

I wish I understood music theory. Farrah you need to teach about this stuff.

[FarrahWaters]

That's interesting, because the tritone is so essential in Western classical music. It creates the tension that leads strongly back to the home key, helping to establish tonality.

You know the first two notes of the song "Maria" from West Side Story? That's a tritone.

[Requiem]

Originally Posted by Archaea

During the Medieval times, certain keys were considered nonreligious. I'll have to look up my notes.

You are truly a renaissance man - this is a great topic. I minored in Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy at an obscure western university (largely discredited by most here) and know just enough to be dangerous. I had a wonderful opportunity to study Music Theory under Dr. Reich, and Music Literature and History with Dr. Miller - both marvelous teachers. I only wish there were enough decent jobs for classically trained musicians. Unfortunately, it is a dying art. Music is absolutely the perfect blend of math and science.

The "evil key" is considered to be F# major. The reason is that there are six sharps and the connotation in Revelations with Satan and the number 6. As a result of this superstition, most composers avoided using F# major. Then the master Beethoven took this as a challenge and composed one of his most sublime works - the Sonata in F# Major. If you want the closest thing to a legal Mormon buzz, get a fresh lemonade, close your eyes and listen to this marvelous work.

The parallels between the great composers and the restoration are nothing less than magnificent (and often not understood). Bach was born around 1685 and spent his early childhood years hand copying sheet music (a common practice - the earliest sweatshops). He absorbed the underlying theoretical structures and went on to codify the present diatonical/aeolian scales used today. Bach was the father of western polyphony. I highly recommend listening to his 24 Preludes and Fugues - considered to be revolutionary.

In 1756, Mozart is born. He is the Bill Gates of the 18th century. The best insight into the brain of Mozart is understood by realizing that he could sit down and write a complete symphony with 56 parts that he heard perfectly in his mind. His original scores have zero corrections and there were no drafts - the first copy was the final version. Contrast that with Beethoven who literally suffered through draft after painful draft. I cannot comprehend Mozart's skill and intelligence.

Then the master, Beethoven, is born around 1770. His childhood was miraculous. Escapes from an alcoholic, abusive father in his teen years. Count Waldstein becomes his mentor and wants him to learn from Mozart. Unfortunately, Mozart passes away prematurely (a recent panel of physicians determined he died from food poisoning), yet the Count is undeterred. Acting on inspiration he arranges for Beethoven to study under Haydn, and uttered the famous quote: "from Mozart's spirit through Haydn's hands". Beethoven was pure genius - he revolutionized music theory (circle of fiifths, harmonic progressions, etc.). Beethoven benefited from the French Revolution which broke the artistocratic control over composers. He was the first to be able to sell his music on his own and reap the profits.

I won't continue to bore you, but Beethoven was followed by Brahms, Debussy, Faure (listen to his Requiem!) and many others. Schoenberg was not a musical genius. He was envious of the late 19th century influence exerted by the French composers and Paris becoming the music capital. I challenge you to find a pleasing composition using Schoenberg's 12 tone theory. If you really want dissonance, try the Schoenberg modified 12 tone format which requires using 144 combinations. Toughest musical assignment I ever had was trying to compose a piece using the modified 12 tone format. It is now largely discredited.

I apologize for rambling, but classical music is such an important element of our culture. I believe it represents a direct connection with the divine. Can we get a separate forum?

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by FarrahWaters

That's interesting, because the tritone is so essential in Western classical music. It creates the tension that leads strongly back to the home key, helping to establish tonality.

You know the first two notes of the song "Maria" from West Side Story? That's a tritone.

How does one decide when a note is the third in a hexachord and the other is the fourth in a hexachord.

I'm also showing my complete ignorance, but what is a hexachord. I suppose I may have known, but right now, it's all Thai to me.

[FarrahWaters]

Originally Posted by Archaea

How does one decide when a note is the third in a hexachord and the other is the fourth in a hexachord.

I'm also showing my complete ignorance, but what is a hexachord. I suppose I may have known, but right now, it's all Thai to me.

Are you really interested in what a hexachord is? Man, you are making me dig way back in the recesses of the brain for that info. I think the article from wikipedia that you quoted is referring to it's use in medieval music. I don't know much about medieval music, I only remember hexachords from modern-day serialism.

Compositions using the 12 tone row and serialism are usually only pleasing from an intellectual standpoint. There is one by Milton Babbit called "Philomel" that connected with me emotionally.