harmonious 
harmonious (hiir-mo'ni-us), . [= F. nariiio- 
nicax = Pg. harmonioso = Sp. It. armonioso, < L. 
harmonia, harmony: see harmony.] 1. Exhibit- 
ing harmony or being inharmony ; having parts, 
forms, relations, or proportions properly ac- 
cordant each with the others, so that all taken 
together constitute a consistent or an estheti- 
cally pleasing whole ; also, being in harmony 
or concord with something else ; congruous. 
What is harmonious and proportionable is true. 
Shaflesbury, Misc. Reflections, iii. 2. 
God hath made the intellectual world harmonious and 
beautiful without us. Locke. 
2. Specifically, in music, concordant; conso- 
nant ; symphonious; agreeable to the ear. See 
harmony. 
Thoughts, that voluntary move 
Harmonious numbers. Milton, P. L., iii. 38. 
The Samian's great Kolmn lyre, . . . 
Its wondrous and harmonious strings 
In sweet vibration, sphere by sphere. 
Longfellow, Occupation of Orion. 
3. Marked by harmony in action or feeling; 
acting or living in concord ; peaceable; friend- 
ly: as, harmonious government ; a harmonious 
family. 
And in the long harmonious years . . . 
May some dim touch of earthly things 
Surprise thee ranging with thy peers. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, xliv. 
Harmonious motion, the motion of a vibrating body. 
For harmonious motion the cars were made. 
Dee, Pref. to Euclid (1570)i 
= Syn. 2. Melodious, dulcet, tuneful. 3. Amicable, bro- 
therly, neighborly, cordial. 
harmoniously (har-rno'ni-us-li), adv. In a 
harmonious manner; with harmony; with ac- 
cord or concord. 
harmoniousness (har-mo'ni-us-nes), . The 
character or condition of being harmonious. 
harmoniphon (hiir-mon'i-fon), n. [< Gr. dpuo- 
via, harmony, + <JKjvr/, sound.] A musical in- 
strument consisting of a series of free metallic 
reeds inserted in a tube like that of a clarinet, 
the wind being supplied by the breath through a 
mouthpiece, and its admission to the reeds be- 
ing controlled by a keyboard like that of the 
pianoforte. 
harmonisation, harmonise, etc. See harmo- 
nization, etc. 
harmonist (har'mo-nist), n. [< harmon-y + 
-is*.] 1. One skilled in the principles of mu- 
sical harmony ; also, a musical composer. 
The towering headlands, crowned with mist, 
Their feet among the billows, know 
That Ocean is a mighty harmonist. 
Wordsworth, Power of Sound, xii. 
A musician may be a very skilful harmonist and yet be 
deficient in the talents of melody, air, and expression. 
Adam Smith, The Imitative Arts, ii. 
2. pi. Same as harmonici. 3. One who shows 
the agreement or harmony between correspond- 
ing passages of different authors ; specifically, 
a writer of a harmony of the four gospels. 
Out of a dread to admit the slightest inaccuracies in the 
Gospels, the Harmonist* convert the evangelical history 
into a grotesque piece of mosaic. 
G. P. Fisher, Begin, of Christianity, p. 40. 
4. [cap.'] A member of a communistic reli- 
gious body organized by George Rapp in Wur- 
temberg on the model of the primitive church, 
and conducted by him to Pennsylvania in 1803 : 
their settlement there was called Harmony 
(whence their name). They removed to New Har- 
mony in Indiana in 1815, but returned to Pennsylvania in 
1825, and formed the township of Economy on the Ohio 
near Pittsburgh, and later anew villageof Harmony. They 
are communistic, holding all property in common ; they 
discourage strongly marriage and sexual intercourse, hold 
that the second coming of Christ and the millennium are 
near at hand, and that ultimately the whole human race 
will be saved. Also called Rappist and Economite. 
harmonistic (har-mo-nis'tik), a. [< harmonist 
+ -ic.] 1. Pertaining to or of the nature of 
harmony. Specifically 2. Pertaining to a 
harmony or reconciliation of apparently con- 
flicting passages, as in different literary works, 
systems of law, etc. 
The effect of the harmonistic assumption . . . is to lead 
to a mechanical combination of two or more relations. 
G. P. Fisher, Begin, of Christianity, p. 405. 
The systematization of the law, by means of a harmo- 
nistic exegesis, which sought to gather up every prophetic 
image in one grand panorama of the issues of Israel's and 
the world's history. Encyc. Brit., XVI. 54. 
harmonium (har-mo'ni-um), n. [NL., < Gr. 
appAviav, neut. of dp/iovtof, harmonious, < apuovia, 
harmony: see harmony.] One of the forms of 
the reed-organ (which see). The essential differ- 
ence between the harmonium and the so called American 
organ lies in the fact that in the former the air is com- 
pressed by the bellows and thence driven out through the 
2724 
reeds, while in the latter the bellows produce a vacuum 
into which the outside air is drawn through the reeds. 
Harmonium is the usual term in England and France for 
all reed-organs. 
harmonization (har"mo-ni-za'shon), n. [< har- 
monize + -ation.] The act of harmonizing, or 
the state of being harmonized. Also spelled 
harmonisation. 
The life of the social organism must, as an end, rank 
above the lives of its units. These two ends are not har- 
monious at the outset; and though the tendency is towards 
harmonization of them, they are still partially conflicting. 
H. Spencer, Data of Ethics, p. 184. 
harmonize (har'mo-nlz), v. ; pret. and pp. har- 
monized, ppr. harmonizing. [= F. harmoniser = 
Sp. armonizar = Pg. harmonisar = It. armoniz- 
zare; as harmony + -ize.] I. intrans. To be 
in harmony, (a) In music, to form a concord ; agree 
in sounds or musical effect. (6) To agree iu action, adap- 
tation, or effect. 
Magnificent versification and ingenious combinations 
rarely harmonise with the expression of deep feeling. 
Macaulay, Dryden. 
At Sebenico we see side by side a bit in one style and a 
bit in the other [Gothic and Renaissance], and yet the two 
contrive to harmonise. E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 94. 
(c) To agree in sense or purport, (a) To agree In senti- 
ment or feeling ; be at peace one with another. =Syn. To 
agree, accord, correspond, tally, square, chime, comport. 
II. trans. 1. To make harmonious; adjust 
in fit proportions; cause to agree; show the 
harmony or agreement of; reconcile contradic- 
tions between. 
Various attempts to harmonize the views of the parties 
proved abortive. 
Woohey, Introd. to Inter, taw, App. 11., p. 429. 
2. To make musically harmonious ; combine 
according to the laws of counterpoint ; also, to 
set accompanying parts to, as an air or melody : 
as, a harmonized song. 
A music harmonizing our wild cries. 
Tennyson, Sea Dreams. 
Also spelled harmonise. 
harmonizer (har'mo-m-zer), n. One who har- 
monizes; a harmonist. Also spelled harmo- 
niser. 
harmonometer (har-mo-nom'e-ter), n. [Irreg. 
< Gr. apuovia, harmony, + uirpov, a measure.] 
An instrument or monochord for measuring 
the harmonic relations of sounds. It often con- 
sists of a single string stretched over movable 
bridges. 
harmony (har'mo-ni), n. ; pi. harmonies (-niz). 
[< ME. harmonie, armony, < OF. harmonie, F. 
harmonic = Pr. armonia = Sp. armonia = Pg. 
harmonia = It. armonia = D. harmony = G. har- 
monie = Sw. Dan. harmoni, < L. harmonia, < Gr. 
apuovia, a concord of sounds, music, a system 
of music, esp. the octave -system; personified, 
Harmonia, Music, companion of Hebe (Youth), 
the Graces and the Hours, daughter of Ares and 
Aphrodite, and wife of Cadmus (see harmonia) ; 
a particular use of dp/iovia, a joining, joint, pro- 
portion, order, rule, pattern, cf . dpuof, a fitting, 
joining, dp/i6(ttv, fit together, join, set in order, 
< "dpetv, fut. dpelv, join : see arm 1 , arm 2 , article, 
etc.] 1 . A combination of tones that is pleas- 
ing to the ear ; concord of sounds or tones. 
He [the angler] herein the melodyous armony of fowles, 
Juliana Berners, Treatyse of Fysshynge, fol. 2. 
Grit pitie was to heir and se 
The noys and dulesum hertnonie. 
Battle of Harlaw (Child's Ballads, VII. 182). 
O mighty-mouth'd inventor of harmonies, . . . 
God-gifted organ-voice of England. 
Tennyson, Milton. 
2. Especially, in music: (a) Music in general, 
regarded as an agreeable combination of tones, 
(i) Any simultaneous combination of consonant 
or related tones ; a concord, (c) Specifically, 
a common chord or triad. See triad, it is tonic 
when based directly on the tonic or key-note, dominant 
when based on the dominant or fifth tone of the key. 
(d) The entire chordal structure of a piece, as 
distinguished from its melody or its rhythm. 
Harmony is two-part, three-part, four-part, etc., according 
to the number of the voice-parts employed. It is ttrict or 
false, according to its observance of established rules of 
chord-formation and voice-progression. It is simple when 
not more than one of the essential tones of the chords is 
doubled, compound when two or more of those tones are 
doubled; compound harmony requires more than four 
voice-parts. It is close when the voice-parts lie as close to- 
gether as the structure of the chords wfll allow ; dispersed, 
extended, open, or spread, when they are so separated that 
by transposition of an octave any one would fall between 
two others. It is plain when only essential tones are used 
and when derived chords are but sparingly introduced ; 
figured, when suspensions, anticipations, passing-notes, 
etc., are used for melodic and rhythmic variety, or when 
foreign tones are frequently introduced. It is diatonic 
when only the tones of a given key are used, chromatic 
when other tones also appear. It is pure when performed 
in pure intonation, tempered when performed in tempered 
intonation. ( c ) The science of the structure, 
harmony 
relations, and practical combination of chords : 
the fundamental branch of the science of musi- 
cal composition. It regards composition rather ver- 
tically than horizontally, noting especially the chords in- 
volved, and studying the voice-parts only so far as their 
nature or relations atfect the value and interrelation of 
the successive chords. It treats of the following topics : 
intervals, consonant or dissonant, typical or derived, per- 
fect, major, minor, diminished, or augmented; chords, 
both triads and seventh-chords, typical and derived (with 
their inversions), major, minor, diminished, and aug- 
mented, with their esthetic value both independently and 
comparatively ; voice-progression, from chord to chord, 
direct, oblique or opposite, pure or false, including the 
preparation and resolution of discords ; suspensions, an- 
ticipations, passing-notes, and all other melodic interfer- 
ences with regular chords, including figuration ; tonality 
or keyship, with special regard to the relations of the 
tonic and dominant chords, to the use of derived chords, 
and to the formation of cadences ; modulation, or the 
alteration of tonality by the use of tones foreign to the 
original key, with the classification of key-relationships ; 
thorouyh-bass, the science of indicating harmonic facts 
by figures and signs appended to the notes of a given 
bass. Harmony la now technically distinguished from 
counterpoint, and regarded as the more elementary branch 
of composition ; but historically counterpoint preceded it 
by some centuries. Harmony in the modern sense did 
not become possible until between 1550 and KiOO, when 
the esthetic value of chords as such was recognized for 
the first time in scientific music. Its development since 
that time has been steady and radically important to 
musical history. Its rules have been modified more or 
less so as to admit to usage, under certain conditions, 
many chord-formations and voice-progressions at first 
regarded as entirely impermissible. The growth of in- 
strumental music, especially of that for the organ and 
pianoforte, has considerably influenced the conception of 
Inn mimic- canons, leading them away from the simplicity 
originally derived from a purely vocal standard. Acous- 
tical researches have also, from time to time, led to rear- 
rangements of harmonic material. The great body of 
harmonic principles is now substantially accepted by all 
theorists, in nearly identical form, as the only sound basis 
for a thorough science of composition or a just method of 
criticism. Numerous efforts have been made by the pro- 
founder musical theorists to discover more comprehen- 
sive principles of composition from which the ordinary 
rules of harmony may be deduced, but with as yet but 
uncertain practical result. 
3. Any arrangement or combination of related 
parts or elements that is consistent or is es- 
thetically pleasing; agreement of particulars 
according to some standard of consistency or 
of the esthetic judgment ; an accordant, agree- 
able, or suitable conjunction or assemblage of 
details ; concord ; congruity. Harmony is to be 
distinguished from symmetry: thus, in a symmetrical 
building, two opposite wings are exactly identical, though 
usually with the architectural members in inverse order, 
while in a harmonious building the two wings need not be 
identical in a single detail, if they balance each other so as 
to form, taken together, a pleasing and consistent whole. 
All men in shape I did so far excel 
(The parts in me such harmony did bear), 
As in my model Nature seem'd to tell 
That her perfection she had placed here. 
Drayton, Pierce Gaveston. 
The qualities of the active and the contemplative 
statesman appear to have been blended in the mind of 
the writer into a rare and exquisite harmony. 
Macaulay, Macliiavelli. 
What we call the progress of knowledge is the bringing 
of Thoughts into harmony with Things ; and it implies 
that the first Thoughts are either wholly out of harmony 
with Things, or in very incomplete harmony with them. 
H. Spencer, Prin. of Biol., 110. 
4. Accord, as in action or feeling; agreement, 
as in sentiment or interests ; concurrence; good 
understanding ; peace and friendship. 
Harmony to behold in wedded pair 
More grateful than harmonious sound to the ear. 
Milton, P. L., viii. 605. 
Thus harmony and family accord 
Were driven from Paradise. 
Cowper, Task, vi. 379. 
No States cherished greater harmony, both of principle 
and feeling, than Massachusetts and South Carolina. 
D. Webster, Reply to Hayne. 
5. A collation of parallel passages from differ- 
ent works treating of the same subject, for the 
purpose of showing their agreement and of ex- 
plaining their apparent discrepancies. Specifi- 
cally (a) A consecutive account of all the facts of the 
life and ministry of Jesus Christ, presented in the lan- 
guage of the gospel narratives, so brought together as to 
present as nearly as possible the true chronological order, 
with the different accounts of the same transactions placed 
side by side to supplement one another, (o) A table in 
which references to the different gospel narratives are 
printed in parallel columns. 
6. In anat., same as harmonia, 1. Constablished 
harmony. See constablinh. Essential harmony, in 
music : (a) The harmony of a composition when reduced 
to its simplest form by the omission of all decorative mat- 
ter. (I) The tonic, dominant, and subdominant triads of a 
major key. Harmony or music of the spheres, ac- 
cording to the fancy of Pythagoras and his school, a mu- 
sic, imperceptible to human ears, produced by the move- 
ments of the heavenly bodies. Pythagoras supposed these 
motions to conform to certain fixed laws which could be 
expressed in numbers, corresponding to the numbers 
which give the harmony of sounds. The seven planets 
produced severally the seven notes of the gamut. 
