View source for False relation

{{Short description|Type of dissonance in polyphonic music}}
A '''false relation''' (also known as '''cross-relation''', '''non-harmonic relation''') is the name of a type of [[Consonance and dissonance|dissonance]] that sometimes occurs in [[Polyphony|polyphonic]] music, most commonly in vocal music of the [[Renaissance music|Renaissance]] and particularly in English music into the eighteenth century. 
The term describes a "[[diatonic and chromatic|chromatic]] contradiction"<ref name = "one">{{Cite Grove |last=Dyson |first=George |title=False relation}}</ref> between two [[note (music)|notes]] sounding simultaneously (or in close proximity) in two different [[melody|voices]] or parts; or alternatively, in music written before 1600, the occurrence of a [[tritone]] between two notes of adjacent [[chord (music)|chords]].<ref>Arnold Whittall (2002). "False Relation", ''The Oxford Companion to Music''. Ed. Alison Latham. Oxford University Press. King's College London. [http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t114.e2404 Oxford Reference Online]. Accessed 18 March 2007.</ref>

[[Image:False relation byrd.svg|center|thumb|400px|Ex. 1, from ''[[Ave Verum Corpus]]'', by [[William Byrd]]. {{audio|False relation byrd.mid|Play}}]]

In the above example, a chromatic false relation occurs in two adjacent voices sounding at the same time (shown in red). The [[tenor]] voice sings G{{music|#}} while the [[bass (vocal range)|bass]] sings G{{music|natural}} momentarily beneath it, producing the clash of an [[augmented unison]].

[[Image:Baroque false relation.svg|center|thumb|400px|Ex. 2, typical example of a false relation in the Late Baroque Style. {{audio|Baroque false relation.mid|Play}}]]

In this instance, the false relation is less pronounced: the contradicting E{{music|b}} (soprano voice) and E{{music|natural}} (bass voice) ([[diminished octave]]) do not sound simultaneously. Here the false relation occurs because the top voice is descending in a minor key, and therefore takes the notes of the [[natural minor]] scale descending (the diatonic sixth degree). The bass voice ascends and therefore makes use of the ascending melodic minor scale (the raised sixth degree).

False relation is in this case desirable since this chromatic alteration follows a melodic idea, the rising 'melodic minor'. In such cases false relations must occur between different voices, as it follows that they cannot be produced by the semitones that occur diatonically in a mode or scale of any kind. This horizontal approach to polyphonic writing reflects the practices  of composers in the [[Renaissance music|Renaissance]] and [[Tudor music|Tudor]] periods, particularly in vocal composition, but it is also seen, for example, in the [[hexachord]] fantasies of  [[William Byrd]] (for keyboard). Indeed, vocal music from this era does not often have these [[accidental (music)|accidentals]] notated in the manuscript (see [[Musica ficta]]);<ref>{{Cite Grove |last=Bent |first=Margaret |title=Musica ficta, §1: Introduction}}</ref> experienced singers would have decided whether or not they were appropriate in a given musical context.

Many composers from the late 16th century onwards however began using the effect deliberately as an expressive device in their word setting. This practice continued well into the [[Romantic music|Romantic]] era, and can be heard in the music of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] and [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]], for example.<ref name="one"/>

==See also==
*[[English cadence]]
*[[Voice leading]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*Luís Henriques (Saturday, July 21, 2007). [http://musicologicus.blogspot.com/2007/07/william-byrd-ave-verum-corpus.html "William Byrd - ''Ave Verum Corpus''"], ''Atrium Musicologicum''. Another description of the use of false relation in Byrd's ''Ave Verum Corpus''. [This blog is open to invited readers only]
* Early Music Sources ([[Elam Rotem]]): {{YouTube|id=uOoonFUb5HA|title=False relations in the late Renaissance}}


{{Chromaticism}}
{{Counterpoint & polyphony}}

[[Category:Chromaticism]]
[[Category:Counterpoint]]
[[Category:Harmony]]
[[Category:Musical terminology]]