1st. We have gone on the supposition that tunes on the more difficult keys are as often performed, according to their number, as those on the simpler keys; and have taken for the measure of dissonance, in different systems, what would be actually heard, if the 1600 scores, whose signatures were examined, were all played in succession, and on the keys to which they are set. But the fact is, that those pieces which are set to the simpler keys are oftener played, and with fuller harmony, on account of the greater ease of execution, than those in which many of the short finger keys must be used.
2d. Pieces on the more difficult keys are often played on the adjacent easier keys, but the contrary is seldom or never done.
Giving to these two considerations no more than a reasonable weight, they will counterbalance the objection, and will render it evident that the sums under the several systems in the table may be taken as a true exhibition of their respective merits, without any injustice to the more equal systems at the left-hand of the table.
Cor. We may hence draw a comparison between the systems in common use. Their merits, when every consideration is taken into view, are nearly in the inverse ratio of the sums denoting their aggregate dissonance. That of Mr. Hawkes is the best, and, in many respects, has a remarkable analogy to the one derived from the preceding investigations.
Cor. 2. As the aggregate dissonance of the changeable scale is calculated on the same principles, in Prop. VIII., as that of the Douzeave in this, a comparison of the results in Table VIII. with those in Table XIII., will furnish us with the relative dissonance of different systems for these different scales. The relative dissonance of the two systems which form the object of this essay, is nearly as 17 : 27. Hence it appears, that by inserting eight new sounds between those of the common octave, the harshness of the music executed, at a medium of all the keys, may be diminished by more than one third of the whole, while the transition from a better to a worse harmony will never be perceived.
Art. XXII. Notice of Colonel Trumbull's Picture of the Declaration of Independence.
Art. XXII. Notice of Colonel Trumbull's Picture of the Declaration of Independence.