Changes

==Historical definition==

==Historical definition==

In Greek [[music]], from which derive both the [[concept]] and the appellation, ‘harmony’ signified the combining or juxtaposing of disparate or contrasted elements – a higher and a lower note. The combining of notes simultaneously was not a part of musical practice in classical antiquity: harmonia was merely a means of codifying the relationship between those notes that constituted the framework of the tonal system. In the course of history it was indeed not the meaning of the term ‘harmony’ that changed but the material to which it applied and the explanations given for its manifestation in music.

In Greek [[music]], from which derive both the [[concepts|concept]] and the appellation, ‘harmony’ signified the combining or juxtaposing of disparate or contrasted elements – a higher and a lower note. The combining of notes simultaneously was not a part of musical practice in classical antiquity: harmonia was merely a means of codifying the relationship between those notes that constituted the framework of the tonal system. In the course of history it was indeed not the meaning of the term ‘harmony’ that changed but the material to which it applied and the explanations given for its manifestation in music.

According to the conception of classical writers, taken over by medieval theorists, harmony was a combining of intervals in an octave scale – a scale understood not as a series but as a structure. Consonances based on simple, ‘harmonic’ numerical proportions – the octave (2:1), the 5th (3:2) and the 4th (4:3 – form the framework of a scale (e′–b–a–e), and in addition to the octave structure resulting from the interlocking of consonances, the consonance itself also qualifies as harmony, as a combining agent (see Consonance, §1).

According to the conception of classical writers, taken over by medieval theorists, harmony was a combining of intervals in an octave scale – a scale understood not as a series but as a structure. Consonances based on simple, ‘harmonic’ numerical proportions – the octave (2:1), the 5th (3:2) and the 4th (4:3 – form the framework of a scale (e′–b–a–e), and in addition to the octave structure resulting from the interlocking of consonances, the consonance itself also qualifies as harmony, as a combining agent (see Consonance, §1).

Carl Dahlhaus

Carl Dahlhaus

==Basic concepts==

==Basic concepts==

===The chord===

===The chord===