Why did the enharmonic genus fall out of use?
Scholars are not sure. We can speculate. Maybe it is difficult to distinguish quarter-tone intervals. Maybe quarter-tones would be acceptable in a different environment.
Most musical traditions have developed scales including intervals of at least two sizes between adjacent pitches, without which the music can sound sterile. Adjacent intervals may differ by various ratios in different styles and cultures:
- 4:3 (200:150 cents) in ancient Egypt (neutral heptatonic)
- 3:2 (300:200 cents) in China and Andes (whole-tone pentatonic)
- 2:1 (200:100 cents) in Western Europe (the diatonic genus)
- 3:1 (300:100 cents) in Eastern Europe (the chromatic genus)
- 4:1 (400:100 cents) in Japan (semitone pentatonic)
- 8:1 (400:50 cents) in ancient Greece (the enharmonic genus)
As the ratio widens, music becomes more tense and emotionally charged. To a point, it retains an aesthetic logic. Yet there may be limits to what the ear will accept. The ratio of 8:1 between adjacent intervals in enharmonic scales represented at least a doubling of the most extreme ratio then known. It forced the listener to focus closely on fine quarter-tone intervals, then leap over other possible pitches of equal relevance before landing a ditone away.
Is there any new enharmonic music?
Some modern composers, such as Harry Partch, have experimented with enharmonic scales.
Send suggestions or comments to Spud DuBoise at aloe@rev.net.
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Last revised: 30 January 2008