Dead interval
The music-theoretical term dead interval aims at the relationship between the border tones of successive musical units of meaning.
It was coined by Hugo Riemann as a counter-term to “happening” steps and jumps that take place within a unit of meaning.
Understanding a melody primarily presupposes, according to Riemann, that the "motif boundaries" intended by the composer and thus the dead intervals are correctly located. Because their relocation evokes other “gestures”. The note example demonstrates these differences in meaning. If the melody is interpreted according to the upper brackets, the upward jumps are made, the downward jumps are dead. After the lower brackets, the downward jumps are made and the fifth and sixth ascent are dead.
Except in the work of analysis and phrasing teaching the term is also in the style of research used. It can be shown that some composers of the 16th century (including Lasso and Palestrina ) use larger jumps differently, depending on whether they are dead or happening intervals. For example, in the alla breve time, these composers largely adhere to the principle that larger upward jumps from a semibrevis are made from an even (second, fourth) measure position (that is, upbeat, as it were). If such jumps are dead intervals, this principle does not apply.
Individual evidence
literature
- Thomas Daniel: counterpoint. A set theory for vowel polyphony of the 16th century . Cologne, Dohr 1997, ISBN 3-925366-43-1 .
- Hugo Riemann: System of musical rhythm and metrics . Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1903.