Ru
EnG. Rybintseva
On the symbolism of consonances
The history of world culture presents various symbols of harmony of the universe. Most of them are of visual nature. As for acoustic symbols, their semantic content is not sufficiently realized. In this connection it is expedient to consider perfect and imperfect consonances, as well as major and minor triads from the point of view of the symbolism contained in them.
Perfect consonances for many centuries have fulfilled the function of symbols of the super-real (heavenly, divine) world. The absolute purity of their sound is conditioned by the proportions of prime numbers from 1 to 4, which form the basis of these consonances and received the name of the Divine Tetraxis – the numerical basis of the world – from the Pythagoreans.
In the music of the New Age, the consonances of thirds (major and minor thirds) and chords having third structure were widely spread. The mathematical justification of third was presented by G. Zarlino, who expanded the quantity of numbers creating harmony to six. Thanks to the discovery of the overtone series, it was proved that thirds are generated, respectively, by the fifth and sixth sounds of the main tone.
Since the numbers 4 and 5 have symbolized nature and man since ancient times, and the number 6 served as a symbol of their harmony, the imperfect consonances of the thirds can be regarded as symbols of the imperfect material world and human existence, the sum of which gives rise to the perfect consonance of the fifth – the image of the perfect world.
The theory and practice of new European music confirmed the high status of both thirds, as well as the major triad as having a natural origin. The minor triad, which is absent in the structure of the sound, was apparently the result of human creative endeavors, which created a consonance opposite to the major in structural and emotional terms.
The unity of the results of acoustic research, numerical laws, symbolism of ancient numerology and human auditory perception allows us to assert that both triads are symbols of the harmony of the universe in its natural (major) or humanistic (minor) version.
Key words
acoustic symbols, numeral proportions, consonance, third, overtone series, major triad, minor triad.
For citation
Rybintseva G. On the symbolism of consonances. In: South-Russian Musical Anthology. 2025. No. 2. Pp. 68–74.
