The Possibility of Quarter-Tone and Other New Scales

Author(s): Leonid Sabaneev and S. W. Pring

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 THE MUSICAL TIMES-JUNE 1 1929 501

'Don Juan,' the melodic invention and the find new resources. The nearer we approach
treatment combine to produce a unique piece of to the beginning of the 20th century, the more
pianoforte music. So also in some of his tran- numerous become the attempts to penetrate,
scriptions of Schubert's songs, notably in the theoretically and practically, into this new
' Erl-king,' Liszt has given the world pianoforte musical world. On the eve of the great war
pieces which, by means of his prodigious tech- the gifted pianist and mediocre composer,
nique, express without words the dramatic value Ferruccio Busoni, wrote a small pamphlet
of the poems. In some ways Liszt's transcription entitled 'The Bases of the new Musical
of the 'Erl-king' improves on the original. AEsthetics,'in which he endeavoured, in a naive
The horse gallops faster than Schubert's (in and amateurish way, to establish the necessity
fact, Schubert's original horse did not gallop- for the introduction of quarter- and tertia-tones.
it trotted very fast), and the Erl-king, when he Simultaneously there appeared numerous works
appears, has no tangible body as in the song, on the theory of this question, especially in
but is a ghostly apparition seen in the drifting Russia, where, in addition to the present writer
mist. Nothing else but the most delicate skill -then a staunch adherent of the idea-Prof.
in playing those large, luminous chords could Rozenov, Arseny Avramov, and others, devoted
have conjured up this lovely yet terrifyingwraith much attention to it.
which floated round the benighted travellers. The first practical steps were also taken by
Here is the justification of the technique which Russia, but I cannot boast of their success. In
Liszt set as a standard for future pianists. 1908, A. Lourie, then a little-known futurist
Can it be said, then, that Liszt has failed to composer, but afterwards famous for his activity
leave an imperishable legacy as a composer ? as Minister of Music in the early Communist
Even if his important instrumental and choral period, wrote several things in quarter-tones.
works meet with only occasional performances, In those ingenuous days-when it was so simple
they have had an influence upon history which and easy to overturn the old foundations, and
cannot be ignored. And after all, is it not when it seemed that genius in music was
right and proper that it should be through his reduced to an ability to invent something
first (and lasting) Love, the Pianoforte, that he sensational-there was no difficulty in believing
should have given to music the fruits of his that the music of the new ultrachromatic sphere
genius-a genius which the world had never would develop of itself, providing a method of
known before and which in all probability the recording quarter-tones could be found. But
world will never know again. life and practical creative work dealt somewhat
severely with these naive attempts.
THE POSSIBILITY OF QUARTER-TONE In the years immediately preceding the war
AND OTHER NEW SCALES better organized efforts to write quarter-tonal
BY LEONIDSABANEEV music were made. The pioneer was Haba,
The idea of ultrachromaticism, or music the Hungarian musician. As is always the case
written for certain new scales containing more in this sphere, two problems of a practical
notes to the octave than the current European nature were encountered-the problems of a
tempered scale, is quite an old one. The first notation and an instrument. In Russia and
ultrachromaticists (they were simply called Germany, where the subject was treated
' chromaticists ' in those days) belonged to the seriously and scientifically, there arose further
16th century; their names were Vicentino and inevitable questions as to what, strictly speaking,
Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, and about the this new tonal scheme should be. Should it be
year 1650 they constructed an instrument with created on the principle of a simple doubling or
twenty-two notes to the octave, and also tried trebling of the existing notes by the mechanical
to formulate the theory of this new musical subdivision of the intervals of the 12-degree
plane, and to compose for it. scale into two or three parts ? Or should it be
Subsequently the idea, which had proved based on a theoretical system of notes more
unsuccessful, was thrust entirely into the acoustically accurate ? Should a system of
background, owing to the grandiose and fruitful pure tones, acoustically absolute, be created, or
development of the 12-degree scale. It was would it be necessary to have recourse to some
revived in the 19th century, one of its champions new, more exact temperament ? The problem
being Prince Odoevsky (a Russian theorist and was expanded and became intricate. It was
writer on music), who also built an instrument clear that there existed, actually or in antici-
with the natural pitch, and which is still pation, not one ultrachromatic music, but a
preserved in the museum of the Moscow whole collection of various sects of ultra-
Conservatory. chromaticism, which were even then in a state
The ultrachromaticism of the 19th century of war amongst themselves. So far, not a
presents a different aspect from that of its single instrument capable of realising these
16th-century predecessor. In its perspective a theories had been constructed, not a single bar of
great part is played by the recognition of the the new music had been created, and already the
fact that the old scale is exhausted, that musical theorists were fightingforthe purity of their views,
creative work needs to be freshened up and to and maintaining the soundness of their creeds.

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502 THE MUSICAL TIMES-JUNE 1 1929

The main lines of musical thought on the the construction of the organ and the clavecin,
subject were laid down at this time. One which enabled the human ear to recognise the
school, which might be characterised as the nature of chords. The ultrachromatic instru-
'acoustically-archaic,' saw as the chief feature ment must satisfy a number of requirements,
of the problem of ultrachromaticism the which may be formulated as follows:
principle of a return -to absolute purity of 1. It must be keyed, so that every note may
intonation-a purity destroyed by temperament, be fixed;
which had introduced a consistently false scale. 2. It must be polyphonic, i.e., capable of
Its members considered their ear to be so sounding chords;
sensitive that the 12-degree music must seem 3. It must keep its pitch;
to them a continuous discord. It follows as a 4. Its technique must not be immoderately
matter of course that thinkers of this type had difficult; the abundance of new keys
no inclination for temperament, even had it and notes will be embarrassing enough
been more delicate, but preferredan acoustically as it is ;
pure and exact system. 5. It must have an agreeable timbre.
Others, on the contrary, set out with the It is very evident that the fulfilment of these
idea of enriching the resources of music by conditions is no easy task. No existing instru-
new possibilities. This might be termed the ment satisfies them. It would also be a difficult
'modernist' school. Its adherents found that matter to construct an instrument of a previous
the musical tissue was continually becoming type-such as the organ, the harmonium, the
more refined and the harmonic world richer, pianoforte, and the polychord-which should
and that the time had arrived when the existing permit of extended scale possibilities. Of these
twelve notes were insufficient to express the types the harmonium, though capable of
exquisite and subtle shades of musical thought. maintaining a delicate pitch, has a comparatively
The starting-points of these schools differed unpleasant timbre. The organ is more suitable,
essentially. The first group was, in the main, but is extremely cumbersome; the pianoforte
reactionary, the second progressive. The latter shares with a stringed instrument of the
was less exacting in respect of temperament and polychord type the inability to keep its pitch.
accuracy, and was inclined for temperaments of On the whole, the organ seems to be best fitted
various, but more delicate, types, the most to give bodily form to the problem of ultra-
popular being acoustic temperaments of 53, chromaticism.
43, 31, and even 19 degrees, as well as those In view of all these obstacles, the theorists
obtained by subdividing the existing semitones turned to the new scientific methods of sound-
(i.e., 24-, 36-, and 48-degree temperaments). production, to electrical sound-waves obtained
The problem, as I have already remarked, from the interference of contours (Theremin's
has invariably been faced with two purely system), to the gramophone, and so forth. But
technical difficulties-the construction of an the resultant timbres were rather disagreeable,
instrument capable of producing these subtle and furthermore lacked the most essential
shades of intonation and of keeping them up to quality-stability of intonation, reliable to so
pitch ; and the invention of a system of record- small an interval as a comma.
ing them, and, moreover, a system which shall Whilst the theorists were occupied with their
be sufficiently intelligible and easily read. researches, the more direct and naive people
Human genius has usually started by inventing were busily engaged in composing music and
a notation and a means of gradually perfecting adapting instruments. The experiments of
the instruments, and then has created the theory, Haba and Vishnegradsky in this respect are
but in the history of ultrachromaticism the most worthy of attention. They constructed
process had been reversed. It may be owing instruments (of the pianoforte and harmonium
to this that we have hitherto attained no type) and wrote compositions for them, as well
practical results, though there are a number of as for string ensemble, relying on the fact that
other difficulties. quarter-tones are feasible on the fiddle. Never-
No solution has yet been found for these theless, the impression conveyed by all these
problems. We do not even know what the experiments and devices is that they are
fate of ultrachromaticismwill be. The question curiously foreign to the general stream of music,
of a record is perhaps not so complex, and in are outside musical territory, so to speak, and
any case it is always possible to create a system hence are unnecessary. It is, however, worth
of signs, but when we come to the instrument our while to devote a little time to their
we are confronted with a more difficult business. consideration.
It is indispensable that the ultrachromatic The ultrachromaticists have often given
instrument shall have a constant pitch-in practical demonstration that it is possible on
other words, it must be of the keyboard type; any tonal plane-even the most subtle and
unless it is, the human musical mind will hardly delicate-to write very untalented and un-
be able to orientate itself in the new tonal spaces. interesting music, just as possible as it is to
The development of the 12-degree temperament create works of genius on the archaic pentatonic
could not have been accomplished apart from scale. The tonal plane, the abundance of

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 THE MUSICAL TIMES-JuNE 1 1929 503

tones, is of itself no guarantee of the quality not do this. Haba writes academic music with
of the music. I have heard these ultrachromatic quarter-tones tacked on to it, which does not in
experiments many times, and they have always any way make it more modern. Vishnegradsky's
impressed me as stillborn. compositions are sometimes academic, sometimes
Moreover,I have never felt that they revealed in the Scriabin style, but in both cases the
new perspectives, or originated a new era. I construction of the musical whole is borrowed
can confidently assert that my ear has never from the past, and our mind, in following this
received this music as something 'different,' music, involuntarily thinks of it in connection
created on 'different tonal planes,' but as the with what has gone before. And it cannot be
old music out of tune. In fact, the new otherwise.
intervals are not accepted as such by our ear, In the first place there is the physical aspect,
which has been trained in a definite direction, from which there is no getting away. The
but are brought into conformity with the semitone is the 'inter-atomic interval' of the
familiar intervals of the 12-degree or diatonic musical material, so to speak. Everyone knows
scale. An interval less than an octave or very well that it is not a pure interval but an
greater than a seventh sounds to us like an average quantity, easily recognisable by the
octave or a seventh out of tune, and not like a average ear. Any narrower interval appeals to
new, independent interval. The case is similar the exceptional ear, just as a system constructed
with all the other ' new ' intervals. We are not on the wider intervals-such as the old
directly conscious of them; habit makes us pentatonic scale-was based on the less sensitive
refer them to the previous tonal world, as ear. It is precisely this mean or average
distortions of the sounds with which we are distinguishable quantity that enables us to
familiar. And in so far as we bear within us tolerate and re-tune by our inner ear the large
the whole burden of the inheritance of our acoustical inaccuracy with which we are
tonal culture, the creation of the ages-and we presented at nearly every musical performance,
cannot rid ourselves of this burden without especially by the orchestra and the vocalist.
ceasing to be cultured, without discarding the In art-no matter what it be-the optimum
whole of our heritage of culture and becoming is always the important thing, and not the
savages again in a tonal respect-we shall maximum, and this applies equally to the
always be obliged to adopt this attitude to the number of sounds. Historically, how was it
new resonances. contrived that the semitone should remain the
We know that our ear has the faculty of the musical 'atom'? Could it have been mere
psychological corrective. We hear one thing chance ? It is more probable that, as an organic
and feel or are conscious of it as something else. phenomenon, it became the minimum interval,
The accuracy of intonation in our musical not because nobody imagined any other, but
performances is often approximate, the ex- because it is the optimum in this case. Every
pressional and casual deviations from purity pitch is potentially included in music. Never-
frequently exceeding two and even three theless, it has never made use of all of them, but
commas. Furthermore, measurements made by has always selected from them a tonal plane on
me at the Academy of the Art Sciences, Moscow, which to project itself. Thereby the chaos of
showed that every sound-by which I mean a unorganized pitches is differentiated from the
musical and not an acoustic sound-has a scale, from the cosmos of orderly arrangement.
certain breadth; it is never an isolated sound Possibly the inclusion of new pitches, instead of
of an exact pitch, with a definite number of providing fresh resources for the cosmos, will
vibrations, but a more or less compact group merely bring music nearer to chaos.
of sounds having an approximately similar The other considerations are of the historical
number of vibrations. A sound which, order. The musical plane is analogous to the
acoustically, is absolutely pure is to us simply spoken language. Both of them undergo
unpleasant, smacking of the dry and the changes, but these changes can never be sudden,
abstract. It appeared from my measurements and still less can they be premeditated and
that with singers the breadth of a note is often theoretically constructed. It is impossible to
as much as a semitone. Our ear orientates ' compose' a language and compel us to talk it.
these notes, and refers them to a certain In the best case it would be an Esperanto,
centre, a certainpitch, being guided thereinby the which wants to be a world-language, but is, in
structure of the musical tissue. One and the same fact, only the language of a little group of
note will seem to us to vary in pitch according people who study it out of curiosity. Nor is it
to the context in which it is presented to us. possible to construct a musical tongue, a new
Consequently, in order that we may be able musical plane. It alone can shape itself in the
to receive these new notes in their new positions, process of prolonged historical mutations. But
hitherto unknown to musical culture, we must the further we go, the less probable does it
weave the musical tissue on entirely new and become for our European culture. We see that
different principles, and thereby demolish the now in particular the sphere of language
outlook on music which has existed for ages. undergoes less alteration than any other. Its
But the modern ultrachromatic composers do changes took place considerably earlier, when

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504 THE MUSICAL TIMES-JUNE 1 1929

culture was being developed; as soon as that tine era)' melody was developed, the process
was accomplished, language became fixed, was reversed-polyphony disappeared, having
established, stabilised. And the musical lan- been reduced and converted into a harmonic
guage was also stabilised. Too many precious accompaniment: the centre of interest was
things have been created in it to permit of our transferred to melody and its expressiveness.
parting from it so lightly. Music especially In the 19th century it was the turn of harmony,
lives by being performed, and hence it is not and rhythm and melody lagged far behind.
merely a question of composing a new species Nowadays the interest in rhythm has obscured
of music, but also of creating absolutely new harmony and melody, and even music itself.
cadres of absolutely new performers. The If ultrachromaticism were an organic pheno-
individual manifestations of musical culture are menon it would have to devote its whole attention
closely and inseparably interwoven-it is im- to the new, ultrachromatic melody. It must
possible to confine oneself to composition alone pass through the same stages as our music-
-and performance needs to be recognised; first melody, then polyphony, then the synthesis
these new instruments and new players, this of melody and harmony. This problem intro-
new music, have to struggle for existence in duces to our musical consciousness a series of
open competition with their rivals in the field new and most complex phenomena. By way
of art. And if we consider the matter seriously of compensation it should simplify all the rest
we shall see that the chances of survival are as far as possible. Ultrachromatic music should
poor: the new compositions are more complex become monodic, or almost so, with a minimum
and less accessible ; the instruments, too, are of accompaniment; only then can it gradually
more difficult, their construction is expensive, enter into the comprehension of the musical
and their technique fatiguing. The ultra- masses. But our ultrachromaticism wants to
chromatic music threatens to become nothing 'kill all the hares' off-hand-to create simul-
more than Esperanto-the language of a few taneously a new plane and in it the most complex
hundred people, and moreover merely supple- harmony and rhythm in the whole of musical
mentary to the original, native tongues. The history. History is not made suddenly. Our
European has his own music, his own musical senses cannot grasp such a collection of novelties
plane, to which cultured thought will always and complexities all at once ; given time, it has
return. When we have ceased to be Europeans, a chance of being recognised as an organism.
and have reverted to barbarism and forgotten Hence it seems to me that these seekers have
the culture of the past, it may be possible to taken the wrong course. They ought to have
erect some new thing-ultrachromaticism, let concentrated their forces on the creation of the
us suppose-on the space left vacant. People new ultrachromatic melody, and reduced every-
of other races may do it when they come to thing else to a state of primitive simplicity, as
replace the European culture. Again, it is music did in bygone days when homophony
hardly probable that they will adopt the came into being. And the ability to create
ultrachromatic language; they are more likely works of genius is also needed-but this is not
to begin everything from the beginning, as the so easy, since the creation of melody is a most
Europeans did. Ultrachromaticism no longer mysterious and incomprehensible process, and
seems to me an organic possibility of culture, most difficult of attainment by contemporary
a stage in its inevitable development, as composers, as we all know very well.
temperament undoubtedly was; it is an arti- (Translatedby S. TV.Pring.1
ficial excrescence of civilization, an invention,
which may have some vogue and notoriety as l libitttmn
a curiosity but not as an organic phenomenon. By ' FESTE '
It is merely another symptom of the twilight
'
of our era. 'A RACE APART : OUR BERLIOZ EXCLUSIVES
In the best and most favourable case for the The Daily Telegraph of April 27 contained an
idea of ultrachromaticism its course must be article by Mr. Constant Lambert entitled 'The
altogether different from that which it has Isolation of Berlioz : Academic Criticism.' His
hitherto followed in practice. Ultrachromaticism main point was one that (he says) has been
introduces a new tonal plane, and it must first overlooked by the participants in the recent
of all orientate itself therein and show others discussion-namely, that Berlioz was 'the one
how to do so. To achieve this creatively, the great romantic composer whose work stands
whole attention must be concentrated on the completely outside the German tradition.' The
task. In the history of art, any complication result is (he argues) that critics have made the
in one sphere is inevitably accompanied by a mistake of judging Berlioz by the standard and
simplification in the others, in order that the methods, of the German tradition. But will
attention may be directed wholly to the former. this contention hold ? Surely no critic worth
With the development of counterpoint tunes his salt has ever found fault with the French
became simpler, the melodies of the chorales composer for not adopting the harmonic and
were hardened, so that the study of the harmony melodic methods of Beethoven, Schubert, or
might be more possible. When (in the Floren- Brahms. I may return to this point presently.

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