In classical music from Western culture, a diminished octave (
Play (help·info)) is an interval produced by narrowing a perfect octave by a chromatic semitone.[1] As such, the two notes are denoted by the same letter but have different accidentals. For instance, the interval from C4 to C5 is a perfect octave, twelve semitones wide, and both the intervals from C♯4 to C5, and from C4 to C♭5 are diminished octaves, spanning eleven semitones. Being diminished, it is considered a dissonant interval.[2]
The diminished octave is enharmonically equivalent to the major seventh.
Sources [edit]
- ^ a b Benward & Saker (2003). Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I, p.54. ISBN 978-0-07-294262-0. Specific example of an d8 not given but general example of perfect intervals described.
- ^ Benward & Saker (2003), p.92.
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Numbers in brackets are the number of semitones in the interval.
Fractional semitones are approximate.
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Twelve-semitone
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Play (help·info)) is an interval produced by narrowing a perfect octave by a chromatic semitone.[1] As such, the two notes are denoted by the same letter but have different accidentals. For instance, the interval from C4 to C5 is a perfect octave, twelve semitones wide, and both the intervals from C♯4 to C5, and from C4 to C♭5 are diminished octaves, spanning eleven semitones. Being diminished, it is considered a dissonant interval.[2]
