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Scan 177
Harvard Dictionary Of Music, 1944
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1COLOPHANE
3Colophane, colophony. See *Rosin.
5Color [L.]. (1) In 13th-century theory the term color signified various special devices of composition and performance, such as the repetition of a melodic phrase, its imitation (in *Stimmtausch), quotations from other sources [see *Refrain], or embellishments, especially the vocal *vibrato [cf. Joh. de Garlandia, CS i, 115/116]. The first meaning survived in the color of the *isorhythmic motet; the last, in the present-day term *coloratura. — (2) For color temporis, color prolationis, see *Mensural notation V.
7Color and music. The physical and psychological relationships between the colors and the sounds have been the subject of numerous studies. From the physical point of view a fundamental analogy between the two phenomena exists in the fact that the various pitches of the musical scale as well as the colors of the optical spectrum are conditioned by waves and can be determined by frequencies of aerial and ethereal vibrations respectively. The frequencies of (audible) sound range from about 16 to 40,000 per second; those of (visible) light, from about 450 to 780 billions per second. Since the latter two figures are nearly in the relation of 1:2 it would seem reasonable to compare the visible spectrum from red to violet, not to the entire audible musical scale, but only to an octave or, more nearly, to a seventh, e.g., to the tones 450 to 780 (approximately a' to g''). This analogy seems to be supported by the fact that the number of colors in the spectrum is the same as that of the diatonic tones, that is, seven. However, various incongruities of this analogy can easily be pointed out: (a) Newton's distinction of seven colors is arbitrary; in fact, his scheme was partly influenced by the preconceived analogy with the musical scale. (b) In reality, there are infinitely more colors in the spectrum than there are tones in the musical octave, since the former is a continuous, the latter, a discrete multitude. Only the violin portamento could be compared to the optical spectrum. (c) The most serious objection is that the spectrum lacks the phenomenon of the musical *octave, i.e., the identity or, at least, similarity, of its lower and upper end. (d) In general, the laws relating to colors (e.g., complementary colors, such as orange and blue, red and green) are of an entirely different nature from those governing the sounds (consonance and dissonance). The chief studies in the above field were made by I. Newton (1700), W. von Goethe (1810), and H. Helmholtz (numerous essays, 1860–80).
9Among musicians the psychological or synaesthetic approach to the question of color and sound has been more popular than the physical. It seems that a number of musicians, particularly among Russians and Englishmen, possess a peculiar mental faculty which produces in their minds a coördination between sounds and colors. This faculty appears to be of a highly subjective nature, as the various schemes of coördination differ widely. For instance, Rimsky-Korsakov interpreted the keys of C, D, A, F and F-sharp (all major) as white, yellow, rosy, green, and grayish-green, respectively, while according to Scriabin they represent red, yellow, green, red, and bright blue.
11Colors have also been associated with entire works — e.g., Tannhäuser: blue; The Flying Dutchman: green (the "blue cave" of Venus and the "green sea"?)—and even with composers (Mozart: blue; Chopin: green; Beethoven: black). An example of a composition based on color impressions is Arthur Bliss's Colour Symphony (1922) each movement of which represents the associations of a special color (e.g., purple: royalty, pageantry, and death). Obviously the whole matter of color-sound-synaesthesia is a largely subjective experience, comparable to personal likes and dislikes of smells and flavors.
13More important are the synaesthetic analogies between the optical colors and the timbres (tone-"colors," G. Klang-"farben") of instruments. The terms "orchestral colors" or "orchestral palette" are widely used to signify a musical technique reminiscent of, and largely derived from, methods used in modern painting [see *Impressionism]. However, it appears that these terms signify only the
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