Klarinet Archive - Posting 000947.txt from 2000/10

From: "Lacy, Edwin" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: [kl] Minor key - Mendelssohn Octet
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2000 12:36:29 -0400

> I was (incorrectly) expecting that the movement's tonic and printed
> signature would indicate a minor key, but the music would avoid minor
> intervals. Therefore it would sound "major" even though the printing
> indicated "minor". I'm not sure if such a thing is practical and still
> produce enjoyable music, but I was on the lookout for it.

I'm not quite following this. Why would the composer want to avoid minor
intervals? Minor intervals occur in music in major keys as well. If he
wanted it to sound major, wouldn't he write it in a major key?

> As a similar example, I wrote a ditty for myself in G major. At the
> end of it, I realized that the only F in my masterpiece was an
> accidental F natural, no F#s at all. It was the unavoidable tonic that
> caused me to use the G major signature.

The most likely explanation for the F natural is that it would be the
seventh of the secondary dominant of the subdominant, a frequently-used
harmonic device. That would be unlikely to have anything to do with the
tonic key of the piece.

> What if the sharps and flats don't match the signature for a composition's
obvious tonic?
> If I understood everyone correctly, while such a thing was anathema before
Beethoven, it
> is now a non-issue.

I wouldn't exactly go that far. For composers who are writing various kinds
of non-tonal music, it has become common to write without a key signature,
and place accidentals before notes as needed. However, if the piece has a
tonal center, it would be more than a little inconvenient for the performer
if the key signature indicated a different tonality. This could and does
happen in relatively short sections of the music, when something occurs
which some theorists like to call a "temporary tonicization," but for entire
works, movements, or major sections, the key signature should be in
agreement with the tonal center.

Ed Lacy
EL2@-----.edu

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