CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



to call each chord by the sol-fa name of its root, 

 in which case (a) becomes the chord of Doh, and 

 (b) the chord of Soh. The lowest note in each of 

 these cases is called the root of the chord, but the 

 same triad of notes may be placed in any order 

 without altering the nature of the chord. \Yhen 

 the third is in the bass, as at (c), the chord is said 

 to be in its first inversion ; and when the fifth is 

 in the bass, as at (d), in its second inversion. 

 The principal chords in the major scale are the 



chords of Doh, Soh, and Fah, which are all called 

 major chords, on account of their containing a 

 major third. The chords next most frequently 

 used are those of Ray, Lah, and Te. The first 

 two of these have minor thirds, and are therefore 

 called minor chords. The last has an imperfect 

 fifth, and for this reason it has frequently been 

 excluded from the list of chords given by the 

 theoretical writers on music. Composers used it 

 constantly as a chord, nevertheless, and there 



seems no adequate reason why it should be refused 

 that name. The chord of Me is seldom used, but 

 not from any imperfection, mathematical or other, 

 but simply because it seldom sounds well by itself, 

 and is seldom wanted to use as a substitute for 

 any other. 



There are dissonant as well as consonant chords, 

 but of these we can only mention two. The chord 

 of Soh, with a seventh added above the fifth, as at 

 (e\ commonly called the chord of the dominant 

 seventh, is the most common of them. It pos- 

 sesses the property of defining the key in which 

 it occurs in a very remarkable way, and on this 

 account is used as the last chord but one in the 

 great majority of pieces of music.* The chord of 

 the ' diminished seventh,' as it is most frequently 

 called, is shewn in two forms at (/). It consists 

 of three minor thirds one above the other, so that 

 its intervals remained unchanged in any of its 

 inversions. Its great importance consists in the 

 extraordinary facilities it gives by its peculiar 

 constitution for modulating from one key into 

 another, f 



Mr Curwen, whose Tonic Sol-fa notation we 

 have already mentioned, is also the author of a 

 system of Harmony Analysis, with a correspond- 

 ing notation, which, although written in a popular 

 style, contains a thoroughly scientific investiga- 

 tion of chord-structure. It is built up upon 

 no theory, harmonic or otherwise, but merely 

 carries out consistently, in their application to 

 harmony, those principles of key relationship 

 which are the foundation of all modern music. 



VOCAL MUSIC AND VOICES. 



Vocal music is generally written in four parts 

 Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass the first two 

 being sung by women and children, .-and the last 

 two by men. In oratorio music this arrangement 

 is almost invariably adopted, the quartette of parts 

 being sometimes doubled, as in Israel in Egypt, 

 or Bach's Matthew-Passion. Wagner also writes 

 his choruses usually in this form ; but the modern 

 Italian opera writers have found it too much 

 trouble, and frequently write three-part choruses 

 only, in a very slipshod fashion. 



* On the history of this chord, see the succeeding number of 

 information for the People, p. 711. 



t This chord is generally said to be derived in the second of the 

 forms shewn atf, from the Me of the key to which it belongs, and 

 in tne form shewn to have its root omitted. This ' derivation ' 

 seems to be purely gratuitous on the part of theorists, and to have 

 no objective existence. 

 700 



The compass of the four different classes of 

 voice mentioned above cannot, of course, be given 

 with the same accuracy as the compass of as many 

 different instruments, but fig. 23 shews it approxi- 

 mately at (a). At (b} are the compasses of two 



W 



Soprano. Alto. Tenor. Bass. 



Fig. 23. 



kinds of voice very common in this country, the 

 baritone and the mezzo-soprano ; the one lying 

 between the tenor and bass, and the other between 

 the soprano and contralto. The limits given are 

 those which are reached by the majority of chorus- 

 singers ; but voices of greater compass will be 

 found in every chorus, and soloists have a very 

 much greater range. The songs of the Queen of 

 Night (in Mozart's Magic Flute), for instance, go 



up to I , although they are generally sung a tone 



lower. Among basses, too, the note C is occasion- 

 ally reached. It is not the extreme compass of 

 a voice, however, which determines what part it 

 is best suited for, but the compass which it can 

 produce most comfortably, and with the least 

 fatigue. All voices have at least two registers or 

 qualities of tone, which overlap each other in the 

 centre, so that a number of tones can be sung at 

 will in one or the other of them. They are called 

 the chest and the throat registers, the latter being 

 always the higher. The bass and contralto voices 

 can commonly use their chest tones, which are 

 fuller and rounder, and more sonorous than the 

 throat tones, throughout the whole of their com- 

 pass ; but the sopranos and tenors use their throat 

 register for their upper tones. Many voices have 

 also a third register above the throat register, 

 called the falsetto, the notes in which are occasion- 

 ally, but not very often, of service to the higher 

 voices of men and women. The throat register 

 is sometimes called, incorrectly, the head voice, and 

 confounded with the falsetto ; and the so-called 

 ' chest ' As and Bbs of tenors are almost invariably 

 'throat' tones. One of the great difficulties in 

 singing is to manage well the notes lying about 





