THE SENSE OF HEAKING 



255 



Musicians have for a long time distinguished between major 

 chords and minor chords. In the former the three notes c, e, and 

 g are the fundamental elements ; in the latter, c, e flat, and g. 

 These two chords give rise to quite different auditory perceptions, 

 although the intervals remain the same and are merely displaced. 

 In the major chord, c, e, g, the major third, e, e, precedes the minor 

 third, e, g, while in the minor chord, c, e flat, g, the minor third, 

 c, e flat, precedes the major third, e flat, g. It is difficult to define 

 precisely in what the difference between these two chords consists, 

 although the ear perceives it plainly. " The major chord," says 

 Bernstein, " offers something clear, precise, and definite, and gives 

 us the feeling of satisfaction, while the minor chord has an 

 indefinite, vague character, which renders it appropriate to express 

 melancholy." 



According to Helmholtz the physical cause of the difference 

 between major and minor chords lies in the ratio in which the 

 resultant (differential) tones stand to each other. In major 



FIG. 103. To the left, Lissajou's figure of the perfect chord do, mi, sol (C, E, G), photographed on a 

 stationary plate ; to the right, the optical figure of the same chord taken on a moving plate. 

 (Zambiasi.) 



chords the resultant tones form a consonance, in minor chords a 

 dissonance. According to Helmholtz it is this dissonance which 

 gives to minor chords the contradictory indefinite character 

 that renders them apt to express melancholy feelings. As- 

 suming with Stumpf and Zambiasi that dissonance is caused by 

 the imperfect fusion and length of period of the intervals, we 

 may logically admit that the specific emotional character of minor 

 chords is an effect of the same cause. 



The hypothesis, according to which the degree of consonance 

 of the intervals depends on the brevity of their periods, is also 

 applicable to chords which consist of several tones. Musical 

 chords are distinguished from the other infinite possible com- 

 binations of tones by having such a brief intrinsic period that 

 they arouse a clear and continuous sensation. The fundamental 

 chord c, e, g, for instance, is the combination of three tones which 

 has the shortest possible period ; it results from the combination 

 of 4 + 5 + 6 = 15 vibrations of the three tones, and the duration of 

 its period is four times that of the vibration of the lowest tone 

 (Fig. 103). 



