HERMANN VON HELMHOLTZ 



the tones of most other musical instruments, by the 

 fact that the loudness of their partial tones does not 

 depend upon the numerical order, but upon the 

 absolute pitch of those partials ; thus, if I sing the 

 vowel A to the note [7, the reinforced tone b"\> is 

 the twelfth partial tone of the compound ; and when 

 I sing the same vowel A to the note b'fr, the rein- 

 forced tone is still "[?, but is now the second partial 

 of the compound tone sung.' ' He also endeavoured to 

 reproduce, but with imperfect success, the tones of 

 vowels by means of the same apparatus as he employed 

 in the investigation of the influence of phase (p. 149). 

 The theory of the absolute pitch of vowels, as advocated 

 by Helmholtz, has met with great opposition, and to 

 it is opposed the theory of relative pitch, but space 

 forbids a critical examination of the subject. 2 



These important investigations, the results of which 

 appeared from time to time, mostly after he had 

 settled in Heidelberg, were collected by Helmholtz 

 into his great book on Sensations of Tone, and formed 

 Parts I. and II. Part III. is occupied with a discus- 

 sion of the relationship of musical tones, the different 

 principles of musical style in the development of music, 

 the tonality of homophonic music, the music of the 

 Greeks, consonant triads, keys, discords, the laws of 

 progression, and the aesthetical relations of the whole 



1 Sensations of Tone, p. 172. 



2 Discussed in article on Vocal Sounds in Schaffer's Text Book, vol. ii., 

 p. 59, by M'Kendrick and Gray. 



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