[Smt-talk] BELGIAN +6

[Ildar Khannanov]

Dear Nicholas,
 
France, as I know, not only does not make an exception from this, but is and has always been on the forefront of this. Fetis defines Sous-Dominante, Dominante and Tonique quite clearly in his treatise La musique mise a porte de tout le monde.... (see the appendix). He uses the word Sous-Dominante and defines it in the same fashion (as a certain scale step) as Tonique and Dominante. 
 
As for the role and importance of Subdominant, you should look not into the writings of Fetis, but through the textbooks for the Conservatoire. Charles-Simon Catel will be a good source. The atmosphere at the Sorbonne and Universite de Paris 4 is somewhat different from that of the Conservatoire. I am sure that your attempt to throw away the Subdominant will be perceived  by Conservatoire professors as an insinuation.
 
I also wonder, what would Serge Gut say about this discussion? Ivanka Stoinova? 
 
And the main question: do the French theorists use the term French +6 chord remains unanswered.
 
Best,
 
Ildar Khannanov
Peabody Conservatory
 

________________________________
 From: Nicolas Meeùs <nicolas.meeus at paris-sorbonne.fr>
To: smt smt-talk <smt-talk at societymusictheory.org> 
Cc: Ildar Khannanov <solfeggio7 at yahoo.com> 
Sent: Thursday, November 24, 2011 1:10 PM
Subject: Re: [Smt-talk] BELGIAN +6
 

Le 24/11/2011 15:40, Ildar Khannanov a écrit : 
That is why old textbooks maintain that all three chords with +6 belong to the Subdominant function. They seem to see the context very well. Function is defined not by the pitch of the chord, but by its place in the metric grid. Of course, later in the 19th century the chords were emancipated, but all composers, including Franck, had similar training and the concept of Subdominant instilled from the early age.   
Dear Ildar,

I wonder to what extent France made exception to this. If I am not
    mistaken, Fétis, in his Treatise of harmony, does not name the
    subdominant at all. He has no name for it and merely dubs it "the
    4th degree". Do you know whether this was exceptional, do you know
    what other French treatises said?

Yours,

Nicolas

nicolas.meeus at paris-sorbonne.fr
Université Paris-Sorbonne
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.societymusictheory.org/pipermail/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org/attachments/20111124/b5ef03ab/attachment-0004.htm>