Question of today

[fenicedautun]

I've been thinking for a while about adding a question of the day to my lj every weekday I'm at work (as I don't tend to get on the computer when not), but I've procrastinated because I didn't know if anybody would want to answer. But then I decided I didn't care and I'd post anyways. For this particular question, if you want to post to your LJ, I'd love you forever as I REALLY want an answer that makes sense.

Before 1600, music was composed using the modal scales. After 1610, pretty much all music was composed in tonal scales (I believe the crossover was between 1603 and 1611, but please correct me if I'm wrong). Obviously, musicians were working continuously through this period, and switching from modal to tonal is relatively difficult, as it's all about what sounds "right". Given this, who invented the tonal system? Why did it gain such widespread and quick acceptance? Were there any contributing factors (political/economic/etc) that helped with this quick acceptance?

Comments

[sichling.livejournal.com]

It's a good question - I haven't a clue, of course, but a good question.

And nice to see you post a bit :-)

[macthud]

Hmmmmm... no wisdom from LiveJournalGenie?

Perhaps a followup posting to Usenet, or elsewhere on the web, or friends-of-friends...

[jacflash.livejournal.com]

You may find this to be a useful starting point.

[fenicedautun.livejournal.com]

hmmm

I have a feeling the answer is in there, but that they're writing about so many things that it gets obscured. Although I think the answer to the adoption question is actually that we just don't listen to any composer who wasn't "on the cutting edge" of the new music.