Heinrich Bellermann
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Johann Gottfried Heinrich Bellermann was a German music theorist, born in 1832 and died in 1903. Author of Der Contrapunkt ("Counterpoint"), 1862, (Berlin, Verlag von Julius Springer -- 2nd ed., 1877; 3rd ed., 1887; 4th ed., 1901), and Die Grösse der musikalischen Intervalle als Grundlage der Harmonie {"The size of musical intervals as the foundation of harmony"), 1873 (Berlin, J. Springer).
According to Joe Monzo, composer Arnold Schoenberg derived important material in Chapter 3 ("Consonance and Dissonance") and Chapter 4 ("The Major Mode and the Diatonic Chords") of his influential Harmonielehre (1911) from Chapter 2 ("Musikalischer Ton. Akustische Verhältnisse." [Musical Tone. Acoustic Ratios.]) of Bellermann's Der Contrapunkt -- specifically: (in Chapter 3) the idea that a musical interval is categorized in terms of consonance and dissonance by the complexity and size of the terms in its frequency ratio, which led Schoenberg to the concept that sonance is a continuum whose opposite poles of consonance and dissonance differ only in degree and not in kind; and (in Chapter 4), the derivation of the diatonic major scale from the first 6 overtones of the three primary notes (tonic, subdominant, and dominant) of the major scale.
[edit] External links
- A Century of New Music in Vienna, with many photos, maps, and links to audio files
- Schoenberg's Harmonielehre, chapter 3: analysis by Joe Monzo
- Schoenberg's Harmonielehre, chapter 4: analysis by Joe Monzo
