Some Extensions of the Concepts of Metrical Consonance and Dissonance
Harald Krebs · Journal of Music Theory · 1987
Attempting to characterize phenomena, both composers and theorists often have employed terms originally developed in connection with pitch theory. Moritz Hauptmann, for example, devised equivalents of the intervals of the octave, the fifth and the third and of the major and minor modes.' Elliot Carter has developed a technique called metrical modulation and Milton Babbitt has created counterparts of the techniques of transposition and inversion. A particularly interesting borrowing from pitch theory is the pair of terms rhythmic consonance and rhythmic dissonance. These terms seem to have been first used by Joseph Schillinger in his System of Musical Composition. Schillinger refers to such combinations as two against three, three against four, and so forth, as rhythmically dissonant. He lists and illustrates many possible dissonances as well as the resultant rhythms that emerge from dissonant simul-