The historical evolution of semitization

Author: Sang Tong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: Throughout different historical periods, under the interesting treatments of many composers and the wise summaries and conclusions of some theorists, chromaticism has fully demonstrated its color and expressive power. Chromaticism, in its continuous yet winding historical process, permeates all aspects of music—horizontally and vertically, melody and harmony, tonality and mode—becoming a stylistic feature of certain musical schools. In the history of Western music, the style and technique that stands out and holds special significance is "chromaticism" (Chromaticism), which includes: melodic voice leading with semitones, chord structures and harmonic progressions; frequent changes in tonality, the dense juxtaposition of distant relationships, tonal wandering, concealment, and atonality, as well as the emergence of pan-tonality; from the chromatic colors based on natural scales to Hindemith's chromatic scales in theory and practice and Schoenberg's twelve-tone system—all of these belong to the evolutionary scope of chromaticism as a style and technique. Although in the early 20th century, the concepts and techniques of Western modern music were constantly updated, such as: the complexity of harmonic vertical structures and progressions associated with the concept of "the liberation of dissonance"; the diversification of mode-scale structures and the expansion, compounding, and disintegration of tonality related to the concept of "breaking the traditional major-minor system"; the of pure chordal or pure linear textures, pointillistic and polyphonic harmonic layers associated with the tendencies of "anti-melody" and "anti-harmony"; as well as new rhythmic and meter concepts like "strengthening rhythmic factors," "breaking regular meters," or "abandoning the dominance of bar lines," which formed irregular meters, frequent changes in different meters, compound meters and rhythms, and special rhythmic forms in modern music. However, chromaticism remains a fundamentally significant stylistic feature in the evolution of various new styles and techniques. It maintains a close relationship with both melody and harmony, as well as sound and color in modern music, permeating all aspects of music—horizontally and vertically, melody and harmony, tonality and mode—becoming a stylistic feature of certain musical schools. This situation did not arise out of thin air or form by chance. In the development of Western music, it began its continuous yet winding historical process around the 14th century with the application of accidental notes. The accidentals beyond the seven natural notes moved from their subordinate position in the natural system, i.e., the status of "temporal notes," through different historical periods. Under the interesting treatments of many composers and the wise summaries and conclusions of some theorists, they fully demonstrated their color and expressive power and gradually formed various normative usage methods. Particularly during the Romantic period, due to aesthetic reasons and broader expressive needs, techniques were constantly expanded and innovated, chromaticism developed unprecedentedly and became one of the important features of Romanticism. Meanwhile, accidentals gradually broke the dominance of natural notes, achieving equal significance and role among the twelve semitones.