The single affect principle is a musicological term describing the idea that contrasting
affects (moods or sentiments) cannot belong in the one and the same musical movement,
[http://www.musicalratio.com/onaffect.html] the harmonic structure of which would thus be limited by
enharmonic modulation
In music, modulation is the change from one tonality ( tonic, or tonal center) to another. This may or may not be accompanied by a change in key signature (a key change). Modulations articulate or create the structure or form of many pieces, as ...
s. It was one of the defining characteristics of
pre-Classical period music (
Renaissance music
Renaissance music is traditionally understood to cover European music of the 15th and 16th centuries, later than the Renaissance era as it is understood in other disciplines. Rather than starting from the early 14th-century '' ars nova'', the Tr ...
,
Baroque music
Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Classical period after a short transiti ...
, etc.), and gradually became obsolete ca. 1800. There has been a resurgence of its use in contemporary
historicist and
minimalistmusic.
References
Musicology
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