Sympathetic Vibratory Physics

Hughes
The tones between the seven white notes of keyed instruments, and the tints and shades between the seven colours, cause the multequivalency of colours and of tones; consequently every colour, as every musical harmony, has the capability of ascending or descending, to and fro in circles, or advancing and retiring in musical clef. It is a curious coincidence that Wünsch, nearly one hundred years ago, believed in his discovery of the primary colours to be red, green, and violet; and in this scheme, red, answering to the note C, must necessarily be the first visible colour, followed by green and violet, but these not as primary colours, all colours in turn becoming primaries and secondaries in the development of the various harmonies. To gain facts by experiment, the colours must be exactly according to natural proportions—certain proportions producing white, and others black. In this scheme, green and red are shown to be a complementary pair, and therefore (as Clerk Maxwell has proved) red and green in right proportions would produce yellow. The same fact has been proved in Lord Rayleigh's experiments with the spectroscope. Yellow and ultra-violet, [Harmonies of Tones and Colours, On Colours as Developed by the same Laws as Musical Harmonies3, page 20]

The twelve which develope twelve major harmonies are written thus

the other six which are incapabable of developing major harmonies thus

without regard to musical time. The seven colours are shown to answer to the seven white notes, the other five being intermediate tones and colours. A flat marked to a note indicates that it is nearer to the tone or colour below; a sharp means that it is nearer to the tone or colour above. The notes and chasms are not written according to accurately measured degrees. [Harmonies of Tones and Colours, Diagram I - The Eighteen Tones of Keyed Instruments, page 22a]

the 7 white notes of a keyed instrument are here coloured; the intermediate tones, shown by a flat or a sharp marked to a note, are left uncoloured, being intermediate tints. [Harmonies of Tones and Colours, Diagram I - Eighteen Tones of Keyed Instruments, page 22c]

The Major Key-note of C is here shewn developing its trinities from within itself, veering round; C and the other 11 developing their trinities in musical clef. Below each is the order in which the pairs meet, avoiding consecutive fifths. Lastly, C# is seen to be an imperfect major harmony; and G?, with B as C?, make the same harmony as F#. The intermediate tones of sharps and flats of the 7 white notes are here coloured in order to shew each harmony, but it must be remembered that they should, strictly, have intermediate tints. [Harmonies of Tones and Colours, The Major Keynote of C, page 24c]

Referring to Diagram I., the 18 tones of keyed instruments are here again represented, both round the circle and in musical clef. In this diagram the 12 Minor Key-notes are written thus

; the 7 white notes of a keyed instrument are here coloured; the five intermediate tones, as before, are left uncoloured. [Harmonies of Tones and Colours, Referring to Diagram I, page 33c]

AS an example of the twenty-four, compare A major, developing, in Diagram II., with A minor, Diagram IX., taking the notes in the order which they sound in trinities. The three notes of the primaries sounded by A minor are, first, the same root as the major; the two next are the fourth and seventh higher notes (in the major, the fifth and sixth); the secondaries only vary by the sixth and seventh notes being a tone lower than in their relative major. Observe the order in which the pairs unite; the fourth in depth, sounded seventh, isolated. A and its root do not rise from the chasms. The fundamental key-note C was seen not to be interfered with, neither is the fundamental minor key-note A; G# on the one side, and B? on the other, being the key-notes. The seven of each minor harmony embrace only seventeen tones. C major and A minor are the only two keys which sound the seven white notes of keyed instruments. The minor scale and chords of A are not included in this remark. [Harmonies of Tones and Colours, Diagram IX - The Minor Keynote A and Its Six Notes, page 34a]

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