enharmonic, a. and n. Music.
(ɛnhɑːˈmɒnɪk)
Also 7 enarmonic, enharmonique, 8 -ick.
[ad. L. enharmonic-us, Gr. ἐναρµονικός, f. ἐν in + ἁρµονία: see harmony. Cf. Fr. enharmonique.]
A. adj.
1. Pertaining to that genus, style, or scale of music current among the Greeks, in which an interval of two and a half tones was divided into two quarter tones and a major third.
| [1597 Morley Introd. Mus. Annot., Enharmonicum is that which riseth by diesis, diesis..and ditonus.] 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1252 These were the beginnings of the enharmonique Musicke. 1726 Swift London strewed with Rarities Wks. 1841 I. 827 He sings..with equal facility in the chromatic, enharmonic, and diatonic style. 1774 Steele in Phil. Trans. LXV. 71 The enharmonic genus requires intervals of the diesis, or quartertone. 1852 Fraser's Mag. XLVI. 656 Greek music..in its most approved form, the enharmonic, proceeded by quartertones. |
2. Pertaining to, or concerned with, intervals smaller than a semitone;
esp. with reference to the interval between those notes (belonging to different keys), which in instruments of equal temperament are rendered by the same tone:
e.g. between G{sharp} and A♭.
enharmonic change or
enharmonic modulation: see
quots. 1879.
| a 1794 Sir W. Jones Mus. Modes Hindus in Asiat. Res. III. (1799) 75 Those, it seems, were the first enharmonick melodies. 1865 De Morgan in Athenæum No. 1975. 312/2 An enharmonic organ. 1879 Parry in Grove Dict. Mus. s.v. Change, Changes are of three kinds..1. The Diatonic..2. The Chromatic..3. The Enharmonic, where advantage is taken of the fact that the same notes can be called by different names, which lead different ways, and..into unexpected keys. |
| fig. 1876 J. C. Morison in Macm. Mag. XXXIV. 93 The modulation and enharmonic change with which writers of a totally different cast of genius..surprise the ear. |
3. quasi-n.| 1883 Davenport Elem. Music (1887) 30 Each of the three sounds [C, {sharp}B, ♭♭D] is called the Enharmonic of the one next above or below it alphabetically. |
B. n. pl. Enharmonic music.
| 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1252 Thus you see what were the first rudiments and beginnings of Enharmoniques. 1865 Pall Mall G. 24 Nov. 10 Others seem sanguine that congregations can be got to sing anything—close enharmonics, perhaps. |
Hence
enharˈmonical a. = prec. enharˈmonically adv.| 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Diesis, Enharmonical Diesis is the difference between a greater and lesser semi-tone. 1879 Sat. Mus. Rev. 6 Sept. 506 It roves through seven keys in fifteen bars, and such keys as G major, F minor, E flat, A flat minor, G flat major, F sharp major (enharmonically). |