In Search of New Scales: Prince Edmond de Polignac, Octatonic Explorer

by Sylvia Kahan

The first publication and exploration of a pathbreaking treatise on what would become a crucial element in the music of Stravinsky and Ravel: the octatonic scale.

In 1879, French amateur composer Edmond de Polignac (1834-1901) painstakingly devised a new way to create melodies and harmonies using a scale that alternated half and whole steps. This scale -- known today as octatonic -- was animportant element in the music of Liszt and Rimsky-Korsakov,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1580463053
• ISBN13: 9781580463058
• Release Date: August 2009
• Publisher: University of Rochester Press
• Length: 408 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.2"