Sonido 13 is a theory of
microtonal music
Microtonal music or microtonality is the use in music of microtones— intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of ...
created by the Mexican composer
Julián Carrillo
Julián Carrillo Trujillo (January 28, 1875 – September 9, 1965) was a Mexican composer,Camp, Roderic Ai (1995). "Carrillo (Flores), Nabor" on ''Mexican Political Biographies, 1935–1993: Third Edition'', p. 121. . conductor, violi ...
around 1900 and described by
Nicolas Slonimsky as "the field of sounds smaller than the twelve
semitone
A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically.
It is defined as the interval between two adjacent no ...
s of the
tempered scale." Carrillo developed this theory in 1895 while he was experimenting with his
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
. Though he became internationally recognized for his system of
notation
In linguistics and semiotics, a notation is a system of graphics or symbols, characters and abbreviated expressions, used (for example) in artistic and scientific disciplines to represent technical facts and quantities by convention. Therefore, ...
, it was never widely applied.
His first composition in demonstration of his theories was ''
Preludio a Colón'' (1922).
The Western musical convention up to this day divides an
octave into twelve different pitches that can be arranged or
tempered in different
intervals
Interval may refer to:
Mathematics and physics
* Interval (mathematics), a range of numbers
** Partially ordered set#Intervals, its generalization from numbers to arbitrary partially ordered sets
* A statistical level of measurement
* Interval e ...
. Carrillo termed his new system Sonido 13, which is
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
for "Thirteenth Sound" or Sound 13, because it enabled musicians to go beyond the twelve notes that comprise an octave in conventional
Western music.
Julián Carrillo wrote: "The thirteenth sound will be the beginning of the end and the point of departure of a new musical generation which will transform everything."
["El ''Sonido13'' será el principio del fin, y el punto de partida de una nueva generación musical que llegue a transformarlo todo." Carrillo (1938). ''Teoría lógica de la música'', p.5. Quoted in Zaramella, Enea (2017). "''Estridentismo'' and ''Sonido Trece'': The Avant-garde in Post-Revolutionary Mexico", ]
International Yearbook of Futurism Studies
', Vol. 7, p. 13, n. 28. Aguirre, Sarabia, Silverman, and Vasconcelos; eds. De Gruyter. .
History
Early life
Carrillo attended the
National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City, where he studied violin, composition,
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
,
acoustics, and
mathematics. The laws that define music intervals instantly amazed Carrillo, which led him to conduct experiments on his violin. He began analyzing the way the pitch of a string changed depending on the finger position, concluding that there had to be a way to split the string into an infinite number of parts. One day, Carrillo was able to divide the fourth string of his violin with a
razor
A razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the removal of body hair through the act of shaving. Kinds of razors include straight razors, safety razors, disposable razors, and electric razors.
While the razor has been in existence since bef ...
into 16 parts in the interval between the notes G and A, thus creating 16 unique sounds. This event was the beginning of Sonido 13 that led Carrillo to study more about physics and the nature of intervals.
Professional life
Carrillo was, "closely associated with the
Díaz regime," and preferred
neo-classicism
Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism w ...
to
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
.
[Bethell, Leslie, ed. (1998). ''A Cultural History of Latin America: Literature, Music and the Visual Arts in the 19th and 20th Centuries'', p. 95. .]
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*Mena, María Cristina (1914). "Julian Carrillo: The Herald of a Musical Monroe Doctrine", ''The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine'', vol. 89. Josiah Gilbert Holland and Richard Watson Gilder, eds. Digitized 2008.
*
External links
*
*
{{Microtonal music, state=collapsed
Equal temperaments
Musical notation
Microtonality