Definition of enharmonic in English:
enharmonic
adjective ˌɛnhɑːˈmɒnɪkˌɛnhɑrˈmɑnɪk
Music 1Relating to or denoting notes which are the same in pitch (in modern tuning) though bearing different names (e.g. F sharp and G flat or B and C flat)
double flats and double sharps are replaced by their enharmonic equivalents in harp music
Example sentencesExamples
- Perhaps the most famous of the op.20 quartets is no.5 in F minor, the sober beauty of whose first movement is lifted into sublime regions with wonderful enharmonic modulations near its close.
- He never completely lost his fascination with Wagner, particularly Wagner's harmony, and it certainly comes out here in the many chromatic and enharmonic shifts.
- Some 16th-century composers evidently favoured the enharmonic advantages of the system.
- Go around the first half of the circle until all seven letters of the alphabet have been used with sharps, or use the enharmonic relationship between F-sharp and G-flat major to make the transition into flat keys.
- You can see that his fondness for modulation by thirds and enharmonic shifts comes from French composers.
- 1.1 Of or having intervals smaller than a semitone (e.g. between notes such as F sharp and G flat, in systems of tuning which distinguish them).
Example sentencesExamples
- The main purpose of the 1997 restoration was to replace the missing enharmonic tuning system, with its missing pipes and slider mechanism
Derivatives
adverb
Music For example, the key of B, with five sharps, is enharmonically equivalent to the key of Có, with 7 flats.
Example sentencesExamples
- The repetition of the original words at the close of the first stanza returns to the original music, but modulates to E minor, the D s of which shift enharmonically to E (flat).
- Just as the pitches are enharmonically related, intervals that contain the same number of half-steps are referred to as enharmonically equivalent intervals.
Origin
Early 17th century (designating ancient Greek music based on a tetrachord divided into two quarter-tones and a major third): via late Latin from Greek enarmonikos, from en- 'in' + harmonia 'harmony'.
Definition of enharmonic in US English:
enharmonic
adjectiveˌenhärˈmänikˌɛnhɑrˈmɑnɪk
Music 1Relating to notes that are the same in pitch (in modern tuning) though bearing different names (e.g., F sharp and G flat or B and C flat)
double flats and double sharps are replaced by their enharmonic equivalents in harp music
Example sentencesExamples
- Go around the first half of the circle until all seven letters of the alphabet have been used with sharps, or use the enharmonic relationship between F-sharp and G-flat major to make the transition into flat keys.
- Perhaps the most famous of the op.20 quartets is no.5 in F minor, the sober beauty of whose first movement is lifted into sublime regions with wonderful enharmonic modulations near its close.
- Some 16th-century composers evidently favoured the enharmonic advantages of the system.
- You can see that his fondness for modulation by thirds and enharmonic shifts comes from French composers.
- He never completely lost his fascination with Wagner, particularly Wagner's harmony, and it certainly comes out here in the many chromatic and enharmonic shifts.
- 1.1 Of or having intervals smaller than a semitone (e.g. between notes such as F sharp and G flat, in systems of tuning which distinguish them).
Example sentencesExamples
- The main purpose of the 1997 restoration was to replace the missing enharmonic tuning system, with its missing pipes and slider mechanism
Origin
Early 17th century (designating ancient Greek music based on a tetrachord divided into two quarter-tones and a major third): via late Latin from Greek enarmonikos, from en- ‘in’ + harmonia ‘harmony’.