HARMONIUM 



HAKMONY 



563 



the tallows to the wind-chest, rushes through the 

 .-In of tin- reed, and produces a Bound which con 

 tinues as long as tin- viilve is kept open. It is a 

 li.irity of tin- fiv.' iv.-.l that an increase or a 

 diminution of the pressure of wind does not alter 

 tin- pitch of the sound, hut merely increases or 

 diminishes its volume. Advantage may he taken 

 of tliis peculiarity by the harmonium-player to 

 effect a n-iwiti/i, or iliinimn-ndo hy gradually aug- 

 iiiiMitiug or decreasing the pressure of the wind. 

 The vibrations of the spring being like those of a 

 pendulum, i-odmmous, remain fixed in rapidity or 

 slowness, according to the length and elasticity of 

 tin- vibrating slip of metal, and thus regulate the 

 pitch of the sound without reference to the pressure 

 of wind. For the deep bass-notes the springs are 

 heavily loaded at the loose end, to make them 

 vibrate slowly ; while in the higher notes they are 

 made thinner at that end. 



Harmoniums are made of various sizes, and 

 from one row of reeds (or vibrators, as they 

 an- now called) to four or more rows. Each 

 row is divided near the middle, between an E 

 and F ; and each half has its separate draw- 

 stop. Knee-pedals are sometimes added for pro- 

 ducing the same modifications of tone as the swell 

 on the organ. Some harmoniums are made with 

 two rows of keys, thus affording a greater variety 

 in playing solo with an accompaniment ; and for 

 more skilful performers, pedals for the feet, similar 

 to organ-pedals, are attached. The manufacture 

 of the harmonium in Paris has, of late years, 

 increased almost .incredibly. The various parts of 

 the harmonium can be obtained there ready-made, 

 from a single reed to a complete set. The best- 

 known makers are the Alexandres and Mustel in 

 France, and Bauer in England. The Seraphine 

 was a similar but much inferior instrument. The 

 American Organ, introduced in 1861 by Messrs 

 Mason & Hamlin, is a kind of harmonium which 

 acts by wind exhaustion or suction, and instead 

 of force bellows, works by exhaustion bellows. Its 

 tone is softer, and its timbre less reedy ; it is also 

 easier to play. But the true harmonium is capable 

 of higher treatment. The percussion action for the 

 harmonium is due to a small hammer like that of 

 a pianoforte, which strikes a blow on the vibrator 

 the moment the key is pressed down, and sets it 

 instantly into vibration, thus assisting the action 

 of the wind. The expression stop an invention of 

 the Alexandres, fattier and son is used almost 

 continuously by the best players on the instrument, 

 but is very difficult to manage. By the action of 

 this stop, the air-reservoir is cut off, and the 

 pressure becomes entirely dependent on the 

 management of the bellows. The latest invention 

 of importance is the melody -attachment of Dawes 

 the date of the patent was 1864 which gives pre- 

 dominance to any special note or notes in the upper 

 part of the harmony, by a contrivance which sliuts 

 off all notes except the highest, in certain registers 

 of a combination. Harmoniums may now be had 

 of various sizes and qualities, at prices from 5 to 

 120. Valuable for accompanying psalmody, they 

 suitably take the place of organs in temporary 

 places of public worship, or among the less opulent 

 class of congregations ; out of late years the French 

 school of players, headed by M. Lemmens, have 

 treated the harmonium with success as a brilliant 

 solo instrument. For domestic use, harmoniums 

 are not likely to supersede the pianoforte ; but 

 possessing the important advantage of not going 

 out of tune through humidity of atmosphere, they 

 will be found available in climates where pianos 

 cannot properly be kept. 



Harmony, paradoxical as it may seem to the 

 lay mind, is the science of discord. It treats of the 

 laws which control the relationship of one chord or 



Bet of chords to others, and which decide the 

 relation to the fundamental concord of the diiwonant 

 elements in a discord. 



1 'uncords. A chord or combination of several 

 tones in anv scale or key may be a concord or 

 a discord. The one concord in a key consist* of 

 the tonic or keynote and the notes which are 

 respectively a major third and a fifth above the 

 keynote . 



Key C. Key P. Key Q. 



* and + are respectively the first and second ' in- 

 versions ' of the chord. These three are the ' 

 notes which nature gives us as producing a per- 

 fect sound in combination (see HARMONICS) ; they 

 are therefore called 'consonances,' and any foreign 

 element is a ' dissonance. ' This ' common chord ' 

 or ' triad ' makes a starting-point and a point 

 of finality from which the harmonies proceed, 

 round which they rally from time to time, and 

 into which finally they resolve themselves. It 

 is with few exceptions the first and invariably the 

 last chord in any composition. One dissonance 

 suffices to change a concord to a discord, which 

 can be effected by .adding to the notes of this 

 common chord, or by changing their relationship 

 to each other, &c. ; and the fundamental law of 

 harmony is that discord as an incomplete idea must 

 give place to concord before the ear can be satisfied. 

 This process is called ' resolving ' the discord. Thus 

 concords stand firm like the straight lines or out- 

 standing features in a landscape ; while discords 

 supply the curved lines of beauty, the effects of 

 perspective, and the variety which gives interest to 

 the picture. 



Discords. The seventh harmonic of nature which 

 is a minor seventh distant from the root i.e. one 

 semitone less than the seventh consecutive note in 

 an ascending major scale produces a discord which, 

 with its complementary or fulfilling concord, is the 

 foundation of all harmony. This discord is called 

 the DOMINANT SEVENTH (its sign is V ,.-), and its 

 ' resolution ' is the triad of the key to which it 

 belongs i.e. the chord of the tonic (I.). 



V 7 . I. 



I. 



A is an example of ' close,' B of ' open ' or ' ex- 

 tended ' harmony. Because the discord on G seems 

 thus to demand the chord of C as its resolution, 

 the note G (or similarly the fifth degree in any 

 scale) is called the dominant (V.) of that key, 

 and the chords and discords built on it constitute 

 the dominant harmonies. Position B is the most 

 satisfactory to the ear, because of the effect of 

 finality induced by the resolution to the first 

 position of the triad ; and the two chords together 

 form the dominant or authentic cadence the most 

 important of those terminal phrases which serve in 

 music much the same end as commas, semicolons, 

 and periods in composition. ' God save the Queen ' 

 offers examples of two other important cadences, 

 snowing at the same time how these mark the com- 

 pletion of more or less final musical periods. 



