On the Internet, you can often read about the fear of a medieval church before at first glance a simple musical interval, periodically used today. We checked whether such a dubious glory really went about Titon many centuries ago.

Triton is a musical interval of three whole tones, in the academic sense, which is dissonance, that is, a disgraceful combination of notes. In 2012, speaking of Triton, the guitarist of the legendary group Metallica Kirk Hammett declared: “Around the XVI - XVII centuries, the Vatican declared it outlawed, because they called him the“ devil’s movement ”or“ devil in music ”, and you were not allowed to write music in which this movement would be.”

Hammett is far from alone in this knowledge. In an interview with 2003, the cult rock musician Osi Osbourne admitted that he recently learned about the “Black Sabbath group forbidden in the 17th century forbidden in the 17th century to the Devil’s interval”, which, as it turned out later, was built. The fact that medieval (that is, earlier) prohibitions and an ominous nickname can be read to Triton, can be read on numerous Musical and general metabolism cognitive sites, in art history scientific works, magazines ("Musical life"(1984) and"Philosophical sciences"(1991)) and individual journalistic books ("Gogol: Symphony of prose","Epistemology of art"). Some of the bloggers claimsthat for a violation of the ban could even be dressed on a bonfire. And in 2016 on the network passed informationThat the Republican candidate of US President Ted Cruz called for the ban on this "devilish" interval already today.

So, what is this mysterious newton? The interval of three tones can be obtained in different ways, but they will all be divided into two types:

1) increased quarter;

2) reduced quint.

It sounds like this:

Similarly, isn't it? In this property of Triton, at least in the last centuries, composers used to make notes of anxiety and force the listener to strain. Ferenc Liszt in his Symphony "Dante" (1855–1856) actively applies the interval where the hero descends in circles of hell:

At the beginning of the “Dance of Death” (1874), Camille Saint-Sans can hear how the violinist plays the transition from la to Mi Bemol, and this is nothing more than Triton:

In the experimental orchestra suite of the hill gust "Planets" (1914–1916) Triton is especially clearly manifested in the part called "Mars". Recall that Mars is the god of war, and in Europe in those years the First World War raged:

And of course, this “infernal” mood was special in rock music. Example - the first notes of the composition Purple Haze (1967) Jimmy Hendrix:

For the above -mentioned Black Sabbath group, Triton really became a significant technique. The group of the same name song, recorded in 1969 and entered under the first number in their first album, gave rise to an enduring fashion for Triton in Havi-metal, and guitarist Tony Ayommy recalls that record from reverence.

John Sloboda, professor of musical psychology of the Gildhall School of Music and Theater (London), has his own explanation Triton effect: “Our brain is tuned to the perception of those notes that it is waiting for, and the music is generally more consonant than dissonant, so we expect a good chord. Therefore, when the chord is not quite the one that is expected, it leads to the effect of emotional trepidation. ” However, sometimes Triton can sound and fun, as in compositions from the animated series "South Park" And "Simpsons".

But how are things with the Middle Ages and the stigma of Diabolus in musica in relation to Triton? The fact is that there is not a single medieval musical document that has come to us, in which this metaphor would have met. Before the other colleagues of her mentioned The musicologist Andreas Verkmeister in 1702, saying that “mi vso Fa is the devil in music” and referring to the “authorities of the past”, and at Verkmayster it is applied in relation to the chromatic halftone, and not to Triton. Johann Joseph Fuchs quotes the epithet in his fundamental work of 1725 Gradus Ad Parnassum, and Georg Philip Teeman in 1733 describes the combination “Mi vs.”, which was supposedly called the “devil in music” in the old days.

Of course, some medieval authors were not associated with this interval as a disgusting (outside the devil) - for example, a large musical theorist and reformer Guido D'Areterzo in certain situations Recommended Avoid him. But let's look at other examples.

Several times, Triton is found in the Dum Sigillum Summi Patris two -headed conductor of one of the largest composers of the XII - XIII centuries of Perotin:

Triton repeatedly sounds in the collection of Spanish songs of the 13th century Cantigas de Santa Maria. Flemish musical theoretician Jacob Liezhsky, author of the largest in the scale of medieval work about music (the seven -volume "Mirror of Music", c. 1330), Turned on Triton is among the 13 main intervals, and also proposed as a separate, 14th interval, half-triton. In 1357, the Danish Johannes Bohen even Classified Triton as Consonantia Per Accidens, that is, as a "consonance by circumstances." In 1558, the Italian theoretician of music Joselino Tsarlyno celebratedthat, although the reduced quinta itself is inharmonious, it is pleasant as a synchronous interval. His contemporary and compatriot Nikola Vicentino in his treatise “Ancient music adapted to modern practice” (1555) was more Persistent: “Although it is difficult to sing it, this interval is necessary whenever the words require a wonderful effect, because by its nature it is alive and shows great power when climbing, and during the descent it produces a very mourning and sad effect ... Some singers are embarrassed to practice it. In the end, with constant practice, any thing in any profession becomes easy. ”

Thus, contrary to rumors, many medieval composers actively used the “devilish” interval, and music theorists gave him an important place in the composition. “Devil's” (in the sources available today) began to be called only in modern times. And certainly the ban was not imposed on the part of the Catholic Church. And today, a romantic legend about the unenviable fate of Triton in the Middle Ages is actively supported by rock musicians.

As for the resonant statement of US presidential candidate Ted Cruise, it is first appeared On the resource of Submediant, which positions itself as a satirical site of musical themes.

Image on the cover: Wikipedia