Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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ROOT
ROOT 137
He died Oct. 14, 1847, and was buried in
Brompton Cemetery. w. h. h.
ROOT. The classification of the chords which
form the structural material of modern harmonic
music is attained l^y referring them to what are
called their roots ; and it is mainly by their
use that these harmonic elements are brought
into intelligible order.
As long as the purely polyphonic system was
in full force, the chordal combinations were
merely classified according to recognised degrees
of consonance and dissonance, without any clear
idea of relationship : but as that system merged
by degrees into the harmonic system, it was
found that fresh principles of classification were
indispensable ; and that many combinations
which at first might appear to have quite a
distinct character must somehow be recognised
as having a common centre. This centre was
found in an ultimate bass note, namely, the
bass note of the complete chord in what would
be considered its natural or first position ; and
this was called the Root, and served as the
common indicator of all the various portions of
the complete chord which could be detached,
and their test of closest possible relationship.
Further, these roots were themselves classified
according to their status in any given key ; and
by this means a group of chords which were
related to one another most closely by having
the same root, might be shown to be related
severally and collectively to the group which
belonged to another root ; and the degree of
relationship could be easily and clearly ascertained
according to the known nearness or
remoteness of the roots in question. By this
means the whole harmonic basis of a piece of
music can be tested ; and it must be further
noted that it is only by such means that the
structural principles of that kind of music
which has been called absohite ' ' because of its
dissociation from words, is rendered abstractedly
intelligible.
The priucipleuponwhichmodern Instrumental
Music has been developed is
that a succession
of distinct tunes or recognisable sections of
melody or figures can be associated by the
orderly distribution of harmonies and keys in
such a manner that the mind can realise the
concatenation as a complete and distinct work
of art. It is obvious that fine melodic material
is a vital point ; but it is not so obvious that
where the dimensions of the work are such that
a continuous flow of melody of a uniform character
is impossible, the orderly arrangement of the
materials in successions of keys and harmonies
is no less vital. The harmonic structure requires
to be clearly ascertainable in works of art which
are felt to be masterpieces o£ form, and to be
perfectly understood and felt by those who
attempt to follow such models : hence, in discussing
the structure of works of this kind, the
frequent use of such terips as Tonic, or Domi-
nant or Subdominant harmony, which is only
a short way of describing harmony of which
these respective notes are the roots.
The simplest and most stable of complete
combinations in music are the chords consisting
of a bass note with its third and perfect fifth ;
and of these the bass note is considered the
root. In most cases such a root is held to be
the fundamental sound of the series of harmonics
which an essential chord may be taken to
represent. For instance, the chord of the
major third and perfect fifth on any note is
supposed to represent the ground tone or
generator with two of its most distinct and
characteristic lower harmonics ; and whatever
be the positions of the individual notes in respect
of one another, they are still referred to this
ground-tone as a root. Thus the chord GBD
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(«) (/)
"=s:"
(a) would be taken to be the representative of
the ground-tone G with its second and fourth
harmonics (b) ; and every transposition or
' inversion ' of the same notes, such as BDG, or
DGB in close or open order (as in c), or even
lesser portions to which the implication of a
context would afford a clue, would be referred
alike to this same root. If F be added (d) to
the above chord it may be taken to represent
the sixth harmonic (6), and similar ' inversions
of the component portions of the chord will
similarly be referred to the note G. If A be
added further above the F of the preceding
chord, producing GBDFA (as in «), that is
commonly taken as a yet more complete representation
of the group of harmonics generated
by the sounding of G, of which it is the eighth ;
and, as before, all the different portions which
could be intelligibly isolated, and all the transpositions
of its component notes, would be still
referable to the one root G. If A|> had been
taken instead of Aft, the same general explanation
would hold good, though the special
question might remain open whether it was a
representative of the 16th harmonic, which is
four octaves from the fundamental sound, or
an artificial softening of the clear and strong
major ninth. Aft. Some theorists carry the
same principles yet further, and include the
C above A, and even the E and E|> above that
in the group which represents the harmonic
series of G, calling them respectively the
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