Quarter-Tone System

Quarter-Tone System

 

a tonal system based on the division of the octave into 24 equal intervals of a quarter tone instead of the usual 12 halftones. Theoretical work on the quarter-tone system began in 1910, and several composers have used the system in their works. The most prominent exponent of the quarter-tone system was the Czech composer A. Hába. In the USSR, A. M. Avraamov and G. M. Rimskii-Korsakov experimented with the quarter-tone system.

REFERENCES

Hába, A. “Garmonicheskaia osnova chetvertitonnoi sistemy.” K novym beregam, 1923, no. 3.
Shtein, R. “Chetvertitonnaia muzyka.” Ibid.
Rimskii-Korsakov, G. M. “Obosnovanie chetvertitonovoi muzykal’noi sistemy.” In the collection De musica, fasc. 1. Leningrad, 1925.