What's In The Name ... Tierce-de-Picardie
Posted: 18 May 2012 18:50
Why 'Tierce-de-Picardie .... there's no great philosophical reason other than I was stuck for a name; I then thought, what ever I call the site it should be named after a 'musical-term'
Spoilt for choice I closed my eyes and just hit the mouse button as I scrolled down the page of a musical term dictionary ... and there it was in front of me:
Tierce-de-Picardie
In the 16th a 17th centuries this was a very common way to end a piece in a major key. There is a scientific explanation for this.
Music in the minor sounds melancholy or disturbed in comparison to the major because the third note of the scale is flattened (lowered by a semitone). In the harmonic series this minor third is the 17th harmonic which sounds dissonant against the fundamental (first note of the scale). This means that ending in the major gives a sense of relief after the tension of the minor.
In a piece in A minor, for example, where the third note of the scale is C natural, in a Tierce de Picardie the final chord will include a C sharp, changing the chord from A minor to A major.
Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony" is in C minor but the last movement is in the major. This is not a Tierce de Picardie in this case, as the term applies only when just the last chord alters. The term was introduced in 1767 by Rousseau in his "Dictionnaire de musique" (Dictionary of Music).
Spoilt for choice I closed my eyes and just hit the mouse button as I scrolled down the page of a musical term dictionary ... and there it was in front of me:
Tierce-de-Picardie
In music a Tierce de Picardie (meaning Picardie's third) is a major chord at the end of a piece of music in a minor key.
In the 16th a 17th centuries this was a very common way to end a piece in a major key. There is a scientific explanation for this.
Music in the minor sounds melancholy or disturbed in comparison to the major because the third note of the scale is flattened (lowered by a semitone). In the harmonic series this minor third is the 17th harmonic which sounds dissonant against the fundamental (first note of the scale). This means that ending in the major gives a sense of relief after the tension of the minor.
In a piece in A minor, for example, where the third note of the scale is C natural, in a Tierce de Picardie the final chord will include a C sharp, changing the chord from A minor to A major.
Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony" is in C minor but the last movement is in the major. This is not a Tierce de Picardie in this case, as the term applies only when just the last chord alters. The term was introduced in 1767 by Rousseau in his "Dictionnaire de musique" (Dictionary of Music).