Harmonic Vectors: essay for a systematics of harmonic progressions

Authors

  • Nicolas Meeùs University Paris-Sorbonne
  • Marília do Espírito Santo Carvalho Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina
  • Sérgio Paulo Ribeiro de Freitas Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5965/2525530402012017171

Keywords:

Musical Theory and Analysis, Harmonic Progressions, Nicolas Meeùs

Abstract

This is a Portuguese version of what its
author, Belgian musicologist Nicolas Meeùs (1944-), considered to be the founding
essay for his theory of harmonic vectors.
In it, Meeùs revisits the discussion of the
classification of harmonic progressions,
reviews the arguments of three of the 20th
century’s most important music theorists,
namely Hugo Riemann, Heinrich Schenker,
and Arnold Schoenberg, and acknowledges the contributions of earlier theoreticians, such as Jean-Philippe Rameau, Gottfried Weber, Anton Bruckner, and Simon
Sechter. The author also dialogues with his
contemporary Yitzhak Sadai’s then-recent
systematization, published in 1980. Finally,
Meeùs applies vector analysis to works of J.
S. Bach, Beethoven, and Chopin to illustrate his thesis that it is possible to reduce the
syntax of harmonic progressions to two
categories, the “vecteur dominant” and the
“vecteur sous-dominant”. This translation
of the French original, published in 1988
in Fascicules d’Analyse Musicale, received
some annotations by the present authors.

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Author Biographies

Marília do Espírito Santo Carvalho, Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina

Aluna do mestrado em Música na Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina (UDESC), é formada em flauta doce, flauta transversal e arranjo pela Escola de Música de Brasília (CEP/EMB). É licenciada em Educação Artística – Música pela Universidade de Brasília (UnB). Atuou como coordenadora e professora do curso de flauta doce no projeto Música para Crianças da UnB. É professora efetiva do CEP/EMB, onde coordenou o Núcleo de Música Antiga e leciona Flauta Doce, Prática de Conjunto, Música de Câmara e Banda Antiga. Desde 2007, atua na produção de trilhas sonoras de espetáculos de teatro de grupos de Brasília, tais como a Andaime Cia de Teatro e a Cia Os Buriti. É membro fundadora da banda de música folk irlandesa Tanaman Dùl.

Sérgio Paulo Ribeiro de Freitas, Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina

Professor nos cursos de graduação e pós-graduação em Música na Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina (UDESC). Possui mestrado e doutorado (“Que acorde ponho aqui? Harmonia, práticas teóricas e o estudo de planos tonais em música popular”, UNICAMP, 2010) no campo da teoria e análise da música popular e é membro dos grupos de pesquisa "Processos Músico - Instrumentais" (UDESC) e "Música Popular: história, produção e linguagem" (UNICAMP). Sua atuação docente, pesquisas e publicações se desenvolvem nos campos da teoria e análise musical, contraponto, arranjo, música popular e harmonia tonal. Atualmente desenvolve o projeto de pesquisa “Para tudo na vida tem um acorde? Da persistência das ideias românticas na apreciação valorativa da música popular”.

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Published

2017-12-19

How to Cite

MEEÙS, Nicolas; CARVALHO, Marília do Espírito Santo; FREITAS, Sérgio Paulo Ribeiro de. Harmonic Vectors: essay for a systematics of harmonic progressions. Orfeu, Florianópolis, v. 2, n. 1, p. 171–202, 2017. DOI: 10.5965/2525530402012017171. Disponível em: https://periodicos.udesc.br/index.php/orfeu/article/view/1059652525530402012017171. Acesso em: 22 nov. 2024.