In Western music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

 and music theory

Music theory

Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...

, the word augmentation (from Late Latin

Late Latin

Late Latin is the scholarly name for the written Latin of Late Antiquity. The English dictionary definition of Late Latin dates this period from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD extending in Spain to the 7th. This somewhat ambiguously defined period fits between Classical Latin and Medieval Latin...

 augmentare, to increase) has three distinct meanings. Augmentation is a compositional device where a melody

Melody

A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...

, theme or motif is presented in longer note-values than were previously used. Augmentation is also the term for the proportional lengthening of the value of individual note-shapes in older notation by coloration, by use of a sign of proportion, or by a notational symbol such as the modern dot. A major or perfect interval

Interval

Interval may refer to:* Interval , a range of numbers * Interval measurements or interval variables in statistics is a level of measurement...

 that is widened by a chromatic semitone is an augmented interval, and the process may be called augmentation.

Augmentation in composition

A melody or series of note

Note

In music, the term note has two primary meanings:#A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#A pitched sound itself....

s is augmented if the lengths of the notes are prolonged; augmentation is thus the opposite of diminution

Diminution

In Western music and music theory, diminution has four distinct meanings. Diminution may be a form of embellishment in which a long note is divided into a series of shorter, usually melodic, values...

, where note values are shortened. A melody originally consisting of four quavers (eighth note

Eighth note

thumb|180px|right|Figure 1. An eighth note with stem facing up, an eighth note with stem facing down, and an eighth rest.thumb|right|180px|Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together....

s) for example, is augmented if it later appears with four crotchets (quarter note

Quarter note

A quarter note or crotchet is a note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note . Often people will say that a crotchet is one beat, however, this is not always correct, as the beat is indicated by the time signature of the music; a quarter note may or may not be the beat...

s) instead. This technique is often used in contrapuntal

Counterpoint

In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...

 music, as in the "canon

Canon (music)

In music, a canon is a contrapuntal composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration . The initial melody is called the leader , while the imitative melody, which is played in a different voice, is called the follower...

 by augmentation" ("per augmentationem"), in which the notes in the following voice or voices are longer than those in the leading voice, usually twice the original length. The music of Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

 provides examples of this application. Other ratios of augmentation, such as 1:3 (tripled note values) and 1:4 (quadrupled note values), are also possible.

A motif

Motif (music)

In music, a motif or motive is a short musical idea, a salient recurring figure, musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a composition....

 is also augmented through expanding its duration.

Augmentation may also be found in later, non-contrapuntal works, such as the Pastoral Symphony

Symphony No. 6 (Beethoven)

Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, also known as the Pastoral Symphony , is a symphony composed by Ludwig van Beethoven, and was completed in 1808...

 (Symphony No. 6) of Beethoven, where the melodic figure heard twice in the last ten bars of the "Storm" movement ("Die Sturm") is an augmented and transposed version of the motif first heard in the second violins in the third bar, or the development sections of sonata form

Sonata form

Sonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...

 movements, particularly in the symphonies of Brahms

Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...

 and Bruckner

Anton Bruckner

Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length...

.

Augmentation in notation

Augmentation of intervals

An interval is augmented if it is widened by a chromatic semitone. Thus an augmented fifth

Augmented fifth

In classical music from Western culture, an augmented fifth is an interval produced by widening a perfect fifth by a chromatic semitone. For instance, the interval from C to G is a perfect fifth, seven semitones wide, and both the intervals from C to G, and from C to G are augmented fifths,...

, for example, is a chromatic semitone wider than the perfect fifth

Perfect fifth

In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is a musical interval encompassing five staff positions , and the perfect fifth is a fifth spanning seven semitones, or in meantone, four diatonic semitones and three chromatic semitones...

. The standard abbreviations for augmented intervals are AX, such that an augmented third = A3.

Augmented intervals on C

Augmented unison Augmented unison In modern Western tonal music theory an augmented unison is the interval between two notes on the same staff position, or having the same note letter, whose alterations cause them, in ordinary equal temperament, to be one semitone apart. In other words, it is a unison where one note has been raised...	Augmented second Augmented second In classical music from Western culture, an augmented second is an interval produced by widening a major second by a chromatic semitone. For instance, the interval from C to D is a major second, two semitones wide, and both the intervals from C to D, and from C to D are augmented seconds, spanning...	Augmented third Augmented third In classical music from Western culture, an augmented third is an interval produced by widening a major third by a chromatic semitone. For instance, the interval from C to E is a major third, four semitones wide, and both the intervals from C to E, and from C to E are augmented thirds, spanning...	Augmented fourth	Augmented fifth Augmented fifth In classical music from Western culture, an augmented fifth is an interval produced by widening a perfect fifth by a chromatic semitone. For instance, the interval from C to G is a perfect fifth, seven semitones wide, and both the intervals from C to G, and from C to G are augmented fifths,...	Augmented sixth Augmented sixth In classical music from Western culture, an augmented sixth is an interval produced by widening a major sixth by a chromatic semitone. For instance, the interval from C to A is a major sixth, nine semitones wide, and both the intervals from C to A, and from C to A are augmented sixths, spanning...	Augmented seventh Augmented seventh In classical music from Western culture, an augmented seventh is an interval produced by widening a major seventh by a chromatic semitone. For instance, the interval from C to B is a major seventh, eleven semitones wide, and both the intervals from C to B, and from C to B are augmented sevenths,...

A good example of this can be seen in the left hand part of Chopin's

Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....

 famous E minor prelude Op

Opus number

An Opus number , pl. opera and opuses, abbreviated, sing. Op. and pl. Opp. refers to a number generally assigned by composers to an individual composition or set of compositions on publication, to help identify their works...

. 28, No. 4. Many of the chord sequences

Chord progression

A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...

 change with the top or bottom note augmenting or diminishing the next chord as the music progresses.

Augmented triad on C

Augmented dominant seventh chord on C

An augmented chord is one which contains an augmented interval, almost invariably the 5th of the chord. An augmented triad

Augmented triad

In music, an augmented triad is a triad, or chord, consisting of two major thirds . The term augmented triad arises from an augmented triad being a three note chord, or triad, whose top note is raised, or augmented...

 is a major triad

Major chord

In music theory, a major chord is a chord having a root, a major third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord has these three notes alone, it is called a major triad...

 whose fifth has been raised by a chromatic semitone; it is the principal harmony of the whole tone scale

Whole tone scale

In music, a whole tone scale is a scale in which each note is separated from its neighbors by the interval of a whole step. There are only two complementary whole tone scales, both six-note or hexatonic scales:...

.

External links

• Prelude in E minor, Op. 28, No. 4 at The Mutopia Project
  Mutopia project
  The Mutopia Project is a volunteer-run effort to create a library of free content sheet music, in a way similar to Project Gutenberg's library of public domain books.The music is reproduced from old scores that are out of copyright...
  
  .