'The forest green of G minor'

[RichardB]

The affective associations of tonalities, in the 18th century especially, would have influenced the kind of music people would write in different keys, giving rise to features (such as the G minor works by both Mozart and Haydn) which would be preserved at different tunings. As for synaesthesia, though, I don't think there's any evidence that associations between tonalities and colours are common to different people. Also it isn't limited to colour; or, indeed, to music that can be characterised in terms of tonality. Even when it comes to twelve-tone music, there's a world of difference between the colouration of, say, Schoenberg and Gerhard.

[Bryn]

You're remark about different pitch for the same key is potentially interesting, Bryn. I haven't thought of that. Maybe K550 at A=415 sounds 'paler' auburn than at A=440. I'd have to do some research to be certain!

On a related matter: https://news.mit.edu/2019/perception...-cultures-0919

[smittims]

Thank, Bryn, I'l read that when I have time. It seems the possibilities are opening up...

[silvestrione]

Presumably she supports Forest Green (Rovers), still in the 'minor key' of the relegation zone in League One at the moment...

[Bryn]

Thank, Bryn, I'l read that when I have time. It seems the possibilities are opening up...

Admittedly only via Internet searches, so far, but I have had no luck in finding anything relating directly to the effect on the doctrine of affections as it relates to the general rise of concert pitch through the centuries. It is something that has puzzled me for decades. There again, the doctrine of affections has rather fallen into disuse.

[cloughie]

M

[Serial_Apologist]

M

For Sis?

[ahinton]

Admittedly only via Internet searches, so far, but I have had no luck in finding anything relating directly to the effect on the doctrine of affections as it relates to the general rise of concert pitch through the centuries. It is something that has puzzled me for decades. There again, the doctrine of affections has rather fallen into disuse.

Never mind only changes in accepted concert pitch over the years, might not forest green likewise be at risk of being affected by climate change?...

[kernelbogey]

The word you're looking for is 'synaesthetic' and yes they do.

Thanks Joseph K, Mal and others: I think I did mean synaesthetic.

I can't think of many good examples from my own experience. Brahms's (mosty late) music is frquently described as 'autumnal', suggesting the brown of falling leaves. But that isn't how I'd describe the 'colour' of (say) the Horn Trio - pierced with sadness and longing; nor the Clarinet quintet, of which much the same could be said.

Mozart K550 is 'in' G minor, but I would not easily identify any colour with it. It may be because I am trained to distinguish verbally between emotions that I would struggle with this idea anyway. I'd say that the slow movement of the Brahms Horn Trio is 'pierced with sadness and longing' - but that doesn't make it autumnal.
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As others have said, it must be highly personal. Someone might find 'Entrance of the Clowns' painfully sad because of the circumstances in which they first heard it.

[kernelbogey]

I would say it’s a load of tosh....

Well that's the Blues sorted....

[MickyD]

I've always felt:

A major - scarlet

A minor - pale pink

B major - pale green

B minor - dark blue

C major - white

C minor - pale grey

D major - ultramarine

E major -a rich viridian green

F major - pale green

G major - orange

G minor - auburn.

I couldn't explain this. It may be simply the result of listening with one's eyes closed; the mind produces mental pictures. I have colours for the days of the week too.

Oh, do let us know what colours you use for the days of the week, Smittims!

[RichardB]

Oh, do let us know what colours you use for the days of the week, Smittims!

That was something Karlheinz Stockhausen was particularly keen on. Each of the seven operas constituting his Licht cycle has its own associated colour: green, red, yellow, blue, orange, black and gold respectively (starting on Monday). Does this coincide at all with your own colour scheme, smittims?

[ardcarp]

Equal temperament means that the intervals occurring in any key are the same. The pitch is different, of course, and although I don't claim to have perfect pitch, I can tell if, say, a well-known choral piece is being sung at a pitch higher or lower than usual. So maybe the 'colour synaesthesia' is just pitch-related. As a small boy, I had a slightly 'alternative' piano teacher who used to glory in the flat keys, and would often play an extract from, say, a G major piece in G flat major. Mainly to please her, I would agree that it sounded better.....but actually I couldn't tell the difference; apart from the pitch, of course.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Equal temperament means that the intervals occurring in any key are the same. The pitch is different, of course, and although I don't claim to have perfect pitch, I can tell if, say, a well-known choral piece is being sung at a pitch higher or lower than usual. So maybe the 'colour synaesthesia' is just pitch-related. As a small boy, I had a slightly 'alternative' piano teacher who used to glory in the flat keys, and would often play an extract from, say, a G major piece in G flat major. Mainly to please her, I would agree that it sounded better.....but actually I couldn't tell the difference; apart from the pitch, of course.

There’s an arrangement of the Schubert GFlat Impromptu in G major. I think it was made because G major is an easier key to read and play in than a black note key. I can’t put my finger on why but when you play it - it sounds different. Less dreamy and exotic somehow - flatter in the sense of duller somehow.

[Mal]

... Brahms's (mosty late) music is frquently described as 'autumnal', suggesting the brown of falling leaves. But that isn't how I'd describe the 'colour' of (say) the Horn Trio - pierced with sadness and longing; nor the Clarinet quintet, of which much the same could be said.

Brahms song - "Im Herbst" (In Autumn.)

"autumn is the fading of life and in the cycle of things there must come an ending."

http://icb.ifcm.net/brahms-the-autumnal/?print=pdf

So, for Brahms, autumn is not "pretty colours", "harvest time", and "bracing walks". It's decay & death.