Variable fret |

Variable fret – a mode in which the function of the root (tonic) is alternately performed by different tones of the same scale, as well as a mode, the scale of which changes with the same tonic (tonic) (according to I. V. Sposobin).

The concept “P. l.” is usually applied to the first of these modes, although it should rather be called variable-tonal, and the second – actually

Russian folk song “You are my field.”

variable fret. P. l. common in Nar. music, in particular in Russian. Relates the fragility of the tonal center allows it to relatively easily shift to almost any step, and there is no sensation of modulation. The difference between the variable-modal displacement of the support from modulation is in the absence of leaving one key and establishing another, or in the merger of two or more. keys (with a single scale) into one modal whole. The feeling of two or more prevails. colors belonging to the same modal system (M. I. Glinka, “Ivan Susanin”, 1st act, chorus “Ice took the river full”). This is especially noticeable in the most common form of P. l. – a parallel-alternating fret (see the example above, as well as an example of the Russian song “A baby walked along the forest” in the Sound system article). The softness of transitions from one support to another, which is usual for P. l., gives it a calmly iridescent character. However, another interpretation of its expressiveness is also possible – see, for example, an excerpt from the 2nd act of the opera Prince Igor by Borodin:

The dance of men is wild.

In the theories of the Middle Ages. frets for the term “P. l.” a related concept is tonus peregrinus (“wandering tone”, for example, in the melody of the antiphon “Nos qui vivimus”), which denotes the end of the melody in decomp. finales, as well as the variability of other fret supports. The concept of the 17th century is similar in meaning. alteratio modi (“change of mode”), applied to pieces that begin in one tone and end in another (by K. Bernhard); a change in tone can be interpreted both as a modulation and as P. l. N. P. Diletskii (70s of the 17th century) anticipates the idea of ​​P. l. in the doctrine of “mixed music”. For modal variability in Russian. nar. N. A. Lvov (1790) drew attention to the songs, and described them as “musical oddities” (songs No. 25 and 30 from the collection “Collection of Russian Folk Songs with Their Voices…” by Lvov-Prach). But in essence the concept and term “P l.” were first proposed by V. L. Yavorsky. His theoretical the explanation boiled down to the fact that certain tones are stable in one part of the modal structure, and unstable in another (reversible gravity, according to V. A. Zuckerman, for example, sounds ga).

Yu. N. Tyulin connects the occurrence of P. l. with amplification of variable chord functions.

References: Lvov HA, On Russian Folk Singing, in his book: Collection of Russian Folk Songs with Their Voices, St. Petersburg, 1790, republished. M., 1955; Diletsky H. P., Musician Grammar, (St. Petersburg), 1910; Protopopov E. V., Elements of the structure of musical speech, parts 1-2. M., 1930; Tyulin Yu. N., Textbook of harmony, part 2, M., 1959; Vakhromeev V. A., Modal structure of Russian folk songs and its study in the course of elementary music theory, M., 1968; Sposobin I. V., Lectures on the course of harmony, M., 1969; Protopopov V. I., Nikolai Diletsky and his “Music Grammar”, “Musica Antiqua”, IV, Bydgoszcz, 1975; Tsukerman V.A., Some questions of harmony, in his book: musical-theoretical essays and etudes, vol. 2, M., 1975; Müller-Blattau J., Die Kompositionslehre Heinrich Schützens in der Fassung seines Schülers Christoph Bernhard, Lpz., 1926, Kassel ua, 1963.

Yu. H. Kholopov