Aeolian mode

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Pictorial representation of the Aeolian scale. ( Explanation )

The Aeolian mode (Greek-Latin Aeolius mode , named after the tribe of the Aioli ), or Aeolian for short , is one of the authentic modes , along with the Ionian , that Glarean added to the system of church modes in the 16th century . In the system of church tones, which was expanded around 1550 (consisting of twelve keys ), Aeolian is the 9th mode or ninth tone (characterized by the ambitus  aa 1 , the repercussa  e 1 and the finalis  a). The tenth tone is called the hypoaeolian mode and differs from the aeolian by an ambitus ee 1 .

In the Aeolian scale there is a semitone step between the second and third and the fifth and sixth degree, the other intervals are whole steps . The key of A-Aeolian contains the original notes of Western music, to which the white keys correspond on keyboard instruments :

A-Aeolian scale with marked semitones

The Aeolian scale originated in ancient Greece as a variant of the ancient Hypodoric mode . Our today's (natural) minor scale emerged from it. One of the differences between the Aeolian mode and the subsequent Tongeschlecht minor is that the modal music exclusively melodic was determined at which minor tonal major contrast and harmonious aspects are relevant.

An example of the use of the Aeolian mode is the folk song Es ist ein Schnitter, called death ( Regensburg 1637). The hymn Alone to you, Lord Jesus Christ, is hypoaeolian .

Audio sample

Audio file / audio sample Scale in C Aeolian ? / i

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b Johann Gottfried Walther : Musical Lexicon [...]. Wolffgang Deer, Leipzig 1732, p. 414 ( IX. Æolius Modus ... Æolische Singart )
  2. Wieland Ziegenrücker: General music theory with questions and tasks for self-control. German Publishing House for Music, Leipzig 1977; Paperback edition: Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, and Musikverlag B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-442-33003-3 , pp. 96-98.