|
The musical staff
pictured here looks
perfectly innocent,
does it not? Yet
at one time, these
combined notes were
banned by the Catholic
Church from musical
composition, and
were claimed to
have the ability
to summon Satan
himself.
Such is the power
of music to affect
human emotions,
that the tritone
has become known
since Medieval days
as 'the Devil's
interval.' The tritone
interval spans three
whole tones on the
musical scale. As
such, the Church
originally assumed
that three tones
must correspond
with the the Holy
Trinity, making
the tritone the
interval of God.
This concept was
rejected however,
as the dissonant,
disturbing effect
of the tritone was
undeniable, and
it became associated
with the Devil instead
In the Romantic
period of classical
music, the emotional
effect of the tritone
was used in transitioning
from one key to
another. The tritone
has long been used
in music for the
movies, particularly
in science fiction,
horror and film
noir.
In the modern era
of heavy metal music,
the Devil's interval
became an often
invoked sound, to
conjure emotions
of dread and evil.
| 
