Date of Award
1945
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Music (MM)
Department
Music
Abstract
The problem of consonance and dissonance has intrigued and baffled theorists since the days of Pythagoras. There are many aspects of the problem which have never been satisfactorily explained. All are agreed, however, that consonances are those relations of pitch which can be expressed in small numbers. Why this should be so, no one has been able to decide definitely, at least up until Helmholtz wrote his Sensations of Tone. It is also self-evident that consonance is a restful and dissonance a restless sound, that dissonance demands resolution into consonance and that the two are necessary to each other, in order that music may retain the variety and movement which makes it a vital art.
Recommended Citation
Carter, Edith H., "The Changing Attitudes Toward Consonance and Dissonance In Various Historical Periods" (1945). Graduate Thesis Collection. 11.
https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/grtheses/11