The Music of Hindostan c17.96

c17.96

This is a conception which is and must remain foreign to our music as a whole; it is impossible for us to put any note besides the tonic in this position of ‘central’ except the Third or the Fifth; and to build tunes only on that principle would limit the possibilities enormously. Still we may realize the idea of this centre in those of our tunes in which the Third or the Fifth is so treated. Many of Mozart's circle round the Fifth and gain their sprightly character from that fact: