Dissonance
Two or more tones occur at the same time and create a discordant or clashing sound
"Dissonance" refers to a musical quality where two or more notes played together create tension and an unstable auditory effect. Dissonant intervals or chords evoke a sense of uncertainty and instability in the listener's perception, often requiring further resolution or consonance to achieve a sense of harmonic resolution.
In music, dissonance is typically presented as intervals or chords that create a sense of needing resolution. The structural makeup of these intervals or chords leads to an auditory sense of instability, prompting an expectation for the music to progress to a more stable and harmonious state. In contrast, consonant intervals and chords generate a sense of stability and resolution in the listener's perception.
Dissonance can be used in music composition to create tension, draw attention, or evoke dramatic emotional effects. Often, dissonant intervals or chords introduce moments of temporary uncertainty in the music, followed by a progression to consonant intervals or chords, creating emotional climaxes or changes.
Many musical works utilize the contrast between dissonance and consonance to achieve emotional variation, development, and richness. Composers harness this contrast to manipulate the audience's emotions, guide their emotional experience, and create a diverse range of musical effects.
Example of Dissonance
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer, the predominant musical figure during the transition between the Classical to Romantic eras. He occupies an unprecedented dominance in the history of Western music history, and has been widely regarded as the greatest, most influential and most popular musician who ever lived.
Beethoven's music inherited the artistic atmosphere of Haydn and Mozart, penetrated the desire for dignity, vented the anger tortured by fate, and demonstrated his determination to fight with fate.
Compared to other musicians, Beethoven is effectively to interact the philosophy of life with audience through music. Although he was not a romantic, he had become the object followed by other romantics.
As a musician, Beethoven suffered from ear diseases. However, he was unwilling to succumb to fate, vowing to take fate by the throat, and continue to complete his career. In the last ten years of his life, without hearing any sound, his compositions influenced the development of music for nearly two hundred years.
