Chromatic scale (English spelling)

A twelve-tone scale in which the intervals between whole tones in a diatonic scale are filled with semitones. A tone progression obtained by applying chromatic changes to the tones in a diatonic scale is called a chromatic progression, and a chord that includes chromatically changed tones is called a chromatic chord, and these are important as a means of chromatic modulation. The chromatic method became prominent in the late Renaissance and was also used in the Baroque period, but was not used much in the Classical period, and chromaticism, represented by Wagner's Tristan chord, arose in the Romantic period.

[Miho Minamitani]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

全音階中の全音間も半音で埋めた十二音音階。全音階中の音に半音階的変化を与えることによって得られる音進行を半音階的進行、半音階的変化音を含む和音は半音階的和音とよび、これらは半音階的転調の手段として重要。半音階法はルネサンス後期に顕著になり、バロック時代にも用いられたが、古典派にはあまり使われず、ロマン派に至りワーグナーのトリスタン和音に代表される半音階主義がおこった。

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