Tonality is said to be present in a piece of music when every element in it is referred to, gets its significance from its relation to, a fundamental tone, the tonic.
V It has been said that the feeling of tonality is a motor image or "form-quality" and that the image of the tonic persists throughout every sequence of tones in a melody.
Thus, since complete tonality was developed late in the history of music, while the closing on the tonic was certainly prior to it, the finality of the tonic would seem to be the primary fact, out of which the other has been developed.
Henry James was aware of the spherical form of the planet, and susceptible to a given situation, and to the tone and tonality of persons as perhaps no other author in all literature.
From that milieu at least we have nothing of value to learn; we shall not take our tonality from that niveau.
His emotional centre is in being sensitive to the feel of the place or to the tonality of the person.
Among all of the portraits on this wall it is easily the best, although some charming interiors of a singularly cool tonality are not without interest.
It is not a far cry to Twachtman, who presents a peculiar combination of Whistlerian tonality with the methods of the modern impressionist.
The whole aspect of the movement is lofty in thought, vast in tonality and altogether indicative of power and of genius.
The technical mastery is finer than that shown in the Woodland Sketches, and the tonality ranges in the thirty-six bars of its length from fortissimo to softly breathed ppp, and at the end even pppp.
Protestant church musicians are also beginning to find advantage in the study of the melody, the rhythm, the expression, and even the tonality of the Gregorian song.
The system of tonality upon which the music of the Middle Age was based was the modal or diatonic.
The old manner in church music, that Bach often used, of closing a minor tonality with a major chord, was probably due to a regard for the mood of the congregation.
Independently of themes, the rough edge of tonality and the vigorous primitive rhythms are expressive of the Slav feeling.
It marks, in its reaction, the excessive stress of tonality and of simple colors of harmony.
Footnote A: In the whole tonality we may see the "meteoric and solar light" of which the composer speaks in the letter quoted above.
A vague flare of colour in some dark tonality was, to him, the island in the desert which he had to seek, unable to rest until he had found it.
A character delineation plus tone is surely more admirable than mere tonality or mere character delineation.
The light and shade division could be more scientific, and the tonality consequently a finer one.
If there was ever a man tormented by the accursed ambition to put the whole world into one picture, the whole picture into one tonality, and the whole tonality into one colour note, it was Whistler.
The numerous peculiarities to be met with in Polish folkmusic with regard to melodic progression are not likely to be reducible to one tonality or a simple system of tonalities.
For the last time, the old conceptions of tonality obtain in his music dramas.
But the difficulty is to prove the mode or first tonality of these gamuts.
But taking the vertical column alone, we shall have twenty-four special and distinct keys whose action and tonality will be entirely specific.
If C sharp were included the tonality would at once become vague, but without it the dependence of the whole gorgeous edifice upon C major is kept plain.
Besides, the tonalityof authentic raps is characteristic, and the method of simulation indicated at the beginning of these remarks, i.
Another change of tonality in the raps, followed by C.
The sound of the usual rap, on a table, reminds you of the tonality of an electric spark, while of course there are many variations.
The material molecules of the object struck are therefore put into movement; they are not, however, always disturbed in the same way, for the tonality of the raps given on the same object is susceptible of great variety.
In the first place, we must note that the tonality of raps differs according to the object upon which they resound.
In this motive Wagner creates the atmosphere of mystery by making the tonality of the music uncertain through the use of the empty "fifth.
Here, again, Wagner uses uncertainty of tonality to produce an effect of mystery in his music.
Illustration] The episode you quote moves evidently in the tonality of G minor.
Then transfer the sound picture to another tonality in your mind, very much as if when moving from one floor to another with all your household goods you were to place them on the new floor as they were placed on the old.
The effect of a tonality upon our hearing lies not in its signature (as even Beethoven seemed to believe) but in the vibration proportions.
Nevertheless, the proper tonality signature of a note that was changed is very frequently restated when the same note recurs beyond the bar.
It was Bach who finally made true tonality the rule rather than the exception.
All the keys are brought near, as he treats them, and in any key any chord whatever can be introduced without effecting a modulation, provided it be so managed that the sense of tonality is not unsettled.
While the tonality is still vague, like that of the church modes, the music itself is thoroughly chordal in character, and evidently planned with reference to the direct expression of the text.
These later pictures, with their light tonality and their full use of misty blue and gold, had a further influence on the Impressionists' conception of colour.
Furthermore, the volume made by the light tonality in the upper left-hand corner serves as a balance to the form of the woman's tunic.
Jean Puy applies his pictures in a broad, somewhat bold, manner, and his light tonality and angularities point to his having lingered over the work of Cezanne.
Like Bonnard he uses greys of dry and mat colour, but his harmonies are slighter and of lighter tonality than those of Bonnard.
Turner raised the tonality of colour, and introduced a new method for its application.
His colours were never as harsh and acid as those of his confreres, and his pictures have a blond tonality which the other men of the movement entirely lack.
The fruit of his experimentings in tonality we see in the whole latter-day school of piano, dramatic and orchestral composers.
Its tonality accounts for the moods evoked, being indeterminate and restless.
How well Chopin knew the value of contrast in tonality and sentiment!
That sombre theme had to be given a sinister resonance, a tonality of its own, a continued vibration that, I hoped, would hang in the air and dwell on the ear after the last note had been struck.
Yet considering the pitch and the tonality of the whole tale it is very difficult to imagine what else those two people could have found to say at that time and on that particular spot of the earth's surface.
An element in thistonality is naturally Hawthorne's style: it is the best illustration American literature affords of excellence of pattern in contrast with the "purple patch" manner of writing so popular in modern diction.
In the Dorian mode our sensations of tonality are more confused.
It is therefore neither surprising nor a sign of archaism that the tonality of modal music is from the modern point of view often very indefinite.
The tonality of the picture is of an exquisite silveriness--that of clear, moderate daylight, though this relative paleness may have been somewhat increased by time.
Nevertheless, the tonality of the piece throughout is extremely vague, no key being adhered to for any length of time, but modulations occurring with a free hand.
These essentials, together with tonalityand a distinctive secular style, were subsequently to be developed in connection with solo singing and independent instrumental music.
There was indeed much to be done before a permanent basis for modern tonality and modern instrumentation could be secured.
The importance attached to the rich and heavy orchestration of Liszt consists of the bearing it has upon the unfettered form, the freedom of tonality and the novelty of treatment that characterize the New German School.
Lasso and Palestrina eventually pointed the way toward a settled tonality determined by harmonic considerations.
The music wanders through many keys, but C major is generally discernible as the centre round which the tonality oscillates.
To recognize the tonality quickly and certainly, look for the cadences.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "tonality" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
