colors and music interpretation

[ionutz]

Do you know of any connection between music and colors
? If yes, what is your knowledge of this topic?

[ludwig]

do you mean like actual colours  or like tone colours?

[ionutz]

yes, actual colours (red, blue, yellow, etc.)

[i_m_robot]

it would make sense since light is wavical and sound is wave

[whynot]

Public radio did a recent feature on a pianist who sees actual colors when she plays/hears music.  "They" say this condition is very rare--synesthesia--in which some of the senses get mixed up with one another, so that the person is unable to experience them separately.  But I've known a lot of musicians who experience music in this way to some degree.  I don't know why the researchers don't know this!  Maybe they didn't ask enough people, or didn't ask the right questions.  

[quantum]

Many composers had this.  Scriabin had it and it is quite evident in his music.  I recall seeing a table he made for all 12 pitches in a book. 

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My personal take on some colours.  These are for individual pitches only, a mode or chord may give different colours. 

C - 18% grey (like what photographers use to calibrate cameras)
Db - mustard
D - greenish
Eb - navy blue
E - Blue
F - brownish, redish
F# - crystal
G - sunny
Ab - purple, or deep forest colours
A - orange
Bb - brass, or black
B - stainless steel

[Floristan]

Scriabin associated colors with tones, I believe.  His Poeme Extase (?) was supposedly performed with a light show and fragrances as well.  Maybe that's just a story, but I recall reading it somewhere.

[cadenz]

hm.. i like this. associating keys with colours.
for me i was talking about the keys F# and Gb in another thread, and i sort of associate Gb as black, but not F#. i like crystal for F# it sounds very crystally. despite that it sounds the same as Gb 

[xvimbi]

This was recently discussed somewhat in the context of sound and taste. Check out:

https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,7275.0.html

The phenomenon is called synaesthesia.

[Dazzer]

Messiaen was also a "practicioner" of this phenomenon.

[jlh]

Many composers had this.  Scriabin had it and it is quite evident in his music.  I recall seeing a table he made for all 12 pitches in a book. 

---

My personal take on some colours.  These are for individual pitches only, a mode or chord may give different colours. 

C - 18% grey (like what photographers use to calibrate cameras)
Db - mustard
D - greenish
Eb - navy blue
E - Blue
F - brownish, redish
F# - crystal
G - sunny
Ab - purple, or deep forest colours
A - orange
Bb - brass, or black
B - stainless steel

You must be referring to Hugh MacDonald's book "Skryabin".  Scriabin told the author what colors he saw for certain pitches and the author made the chart.

Here's what Scriabin saw:

C - red
G - orange
D - yellow
A - green
E - pale blue
B - pale blue
F# - bright blue
Dd - violet
Ab - purple
Eb - steel
Bb - steel
F - dark red

[ahmedito]

Actually, for Scriabin, F# was a blue with a metallic sheen... this helps a lot when trying to understand his fourth sonata.

[jlh]

Actually, for Scriabin, F# was a blue with a metallic sheen... this helps a lot when trying to understand his fourth sonata.

The list is exactly what Hugh MacDonald wrote down after interviews with Scriabin.  It may be a matter of semantics between bright blue and blue with a metallic sheen.

[Daevren]

Its called synaesthesia and it is used to name any assosiation with colour. It is random, it could be called a defict in the brain. Few people have it. There is no real link between colours and tones. Its just that their brain is weired incorrectly. This may sound negative, but actually it is pretty harmless.

Scriabin used Newtons work Optics to put colour and tones together.

[ahmedito]

I know this list, but Scriabin expands much more about each colours qualities in his letters to Sofronitsky. Not only were they colors, but many time they had a special texture (like metalic, watery, shimmering, dull, etc.)

[zemos]

Oh man this is so very weird.
I'v made this list a long time ago, I don't even know why, I just felt like it. So now you mentioned this subject and I looked in my computer and found it...
I must say this is very funny to see the colors other people see in the keys compared to how I see them. Someone sees something similar to what I see?
C – Yellow
C# – Gray
Db – Turquoise
D – Green
Eb – Pink
E – Red
F – Bright purple
F# – Dark purple
Gb – White
G – Blue
Ab – Bright green
A – Orange
Bb – Azure
B – Brown

[SirSteinway]

Interesting discussion...doesn't the orchestra on Mr. Holland's Opus play a piece for deaf children and they have colors and lights to represent the music?