Phrygian mode

The Phrygian mode (pronounced

/ˈfrɪdʒiən/) can refer to three different
musical modes: the ancient Greek tonos or
harmonia sometimes called Phrygian,
formed on a particular set of octave
species or scales; the Medieval Phrygian
mode, and the modern conception of the
Phrygian mode as a diatonic scale, based
on the latter.
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Ancient Greek Phrygian

The Phrygian tonos or harmonia is named
after the ancient kingdom of Phrygia in
Anatolia. The octave species (scale)
underlying the ancient-Greek Phrygian
tonos (in its diatonic genus) corresponds
to the medieval and modern Dorian mode.

In Greek music theory, the harmonia given

this name was based on a tonos, in turn
based on a scale or octave species built
from a tetrachord which, in its diatonic
genus, consisted of a series of rising
intervals of a whole tone, followed by a
semitone, followed by a whole tone.

In the chromatic genus, this is a minor

third followed by two semitones.

In the enharmonic genus, it is a major third

and two quarter tones.
A diatonic-genus octave species built upon
D is roughly equivalent to playing all the
white notes on a piano keyboard from D to
D:

This scale, combined with a set of

characteristic melodic behaviours and
associated ethoi, constituted the harmonia
which was given the ethnic name
"Phrygian", after the "unbounded, ecstatic
peoples of the wild, mountainous regions
of the Anatolian highlands" (Solomon
1984, 249). This ethnic name was also
confusingly applied by theorists such as
Cleonides to one of thirteen chromatic
transposition levels, regardless of the
intervallic makeup of the scale (Solomon
1984, 244–46).

Medieval Phrygian mode

The early Catholic church developed a
system of eight musical modes that
medieval music scholars gave names
drawn from the ones used to describe the
ancient Greek harmoniai. The name
"Phrygian" was applied to the third of these
eight church modes, the authentic mode
on E, described as the diatonic octave
extending from E to the E an octave higher
and divided at B, therefore beginning with
a semitone-tone-tone-tone pentachord,
followed by a semitone-tone-tone
tetrachord (Powers 2001):

The ambitus of this mode extended one

tone lower, to D. The sixth degree, C, which
is the tenor of the corresponding third
psalm tone, was regarded by most
theorists as the most important note after
the final, though the fifteenth-century
theorist Johannes Tinctoris implied that
the fourth degree, A, could be so regarded
instead (Powers 2001).
Placing the two tetrachords together, and
the single tone at bottom of the scale
produces the Hypophrygian mode (below
Phrygian):

Modern Phrygian mode

In modern western music (from the 18th
century onward), the Phrygian mode is
related to the modern natural minor scale,
also known as the Aeolian mode, but with
the second scale degree lowered by a
semitone, making it a minor second above
the tonic, rather than a major second.
The following is the Phrygian mode
starting on E, or E Phrygian, with
corresponding tonal scale degrees
illustrating how the modern major mode
and natural minor mode can be altered to
produce the Phrygian mode:

E Phrygian
Mode: E F G A B C D E
Major: 1 ♭2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7 1
Minor: 1 ♭2 3 4 5 6 7 1
Therefore, the Phrygian mode consists of:
root, minor second, minor third, perfect
fourth, perfect fifth, minor sixth, minor
seventh, and octave. Alternatively, it can be
written as the pattern

half, whole, whole, whole, half, whole,

whole

In contemporary jazz, the Phrygian mode

is used over chords and sonorities built on
the mode, such as the sus4(♭9) chord (see
Suspended chord), which is sometimes
called a Phrygian suspended chord. For
example, a soloist might play an E
Phrygian over an Esus4(♭9) chord (E-A-B-D-
F).
Phrygian dominant scale

A Phrygian dominant scale is produced by

raising the third scale degree of the mode:

E Phrygian dominant
Mode: E F G♯ A B C D E
Major: 1 ♭2 3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7 1
Minor: 1 ♭2 ♯3 4 5 6 7 1

The Phrygian dominant is also known as

the Spanish gypsy scale, because it
resembles the scales found in flamenco
music (see Flamenco mode). It is the fifth
mode of the harmonic minor scale.
Flamenco music uses the Phrygian scale,
together with a modified scale resembling
the Arab maqām Ḥijāzī (like the Phrygian
dominant but with a major sixth scale
degree), and a bimodal configuration using
both major and minor second and third
scale degrees (Katz 2001).

Examples

Use of the Phrygian mode on A in Respighi's Trittico

Botticelliano (Botticelli Triptych, 1927) (Benward and
Saker 2009, 244) Play (help·info)

Ancient Greek
 The First Delphic Hymn, written in 128
BC by the Athenian composer Limenius,
is in the Phrygian and Hyperphrygian
tonoi, with much variation (Pöhlmann
and West 2001, 73).
The Seikilos epitaph (1st century AD) is
in the Phrygian species (diatonic genus),
in the Iastian (or low Phrygian)
transposition (Solomon 1985, 459,
461n14, 470).

Medieval and Renaissance

Gregorian chant, Tristes erant apostoli,

version in the Vesperale Romanum,
originally Ambrosian chant (Otten 1913).
 The Roman chant variant of the
Requiem introit "Rogamus te" is in the
(authentic) Phrygian mode, or 3rd tone
(Karp, Fitch, and Smallman 2001, §1).
Orlando di Lasso's motet In me
transierunt (Pesic 2005, passim).
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina's motet
Congratulamini mihi (Carver 2005, 77).
Thomas Tallis's "Third Tune for
Archbishop Parker"

Baroque

Johann Sebastian Bach keeps in his

cantatas the Phrygian mode of some
original chorale melodies, such as
 Luther's "Es woll uns Gott genädig sein"
on a melody by Matthias Greitter, used
twice in Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre
Gottes, BWV 76.
Heinrich Schütz's Johannes-Passion
(1666) is in the Phrygian mode (Rifkin,
Linfield, McCulloch, and Baron 2001,
§10)
Dieterich Buxtehude's Prelude in A
minor, BuxWV 152 (Snyder 2001),
(labeled Phrygisch in the BuxWV
catalog) (Karstädt 1985,)

Romantic

Anton Bruckner:
Ave Regina caelorum, WAB 8
(1885–88) (Carver 2005, 76–77).
Pange lingua, WAB 33 (second
setting, 1868) (Carver 2005, 79;
Partsch 2007, 227).
Symphony no. 3, passages in the
third (scherzo) and fourth
movements (Carver 2005, 89–90).
Symphony no. 4 (third version,
1880), Finale (Carver 2005, 90–92).
Symphony no. 6, first, third
(scherzo), and fourth movements
(Carver 2005, 91–98).
Symphony no. 7, first movement
(Carver 2005, 96–97).
 Symphony no. 8, first and fourth
movements (Carver 2005, 98).
Tota pulchra es, WAB 46 (1878)
(Carver 2005, 79, 81–88).
Vexilla regis, WAB 51 (1892) (Carver
2005, 79–80).
Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a
Theme of Thomas Tallis (Ottaway and
Frogley 2001), based on Thomas Tallis's
1567 setting of Psalm 2, "Why fum'th in
sight".

Modern classical music

John Coolidge Adams, Phrygian Gates

(J. Adams 2010)
 Samuel Barber:
Adagio for Strings, op. 11 (Pollock
2000, 191)
"I Hear an Army", from Three Songs,
op. 10 (Pollock 2000, 191)
Philip Glass, the final aria from
Satyagraha (Strickland 2001).

Film music

Howard Shore, "Prologue"

accompanying the opening sequence of
the film The Lord of the Rings: The
Fellowship of the Ring (D. Adams 2010,
54).

Jazz
 "Solea" by Gil Evans from Sketches of
Spain (Pelletier-Bacquaert n.d.).

See also
Phrygian dominant scale
Bhairavi, the equivalent scale (thaat) in
Hindustani music
Hanumatodi, the equivalent scale
(melakarta) in Carnatic Music
Phrygian cadence
Neapolitan chord

References
Anon. n.d. Free Piano Sheets of
Madonna . Sheetzboz: Free Piano Sheet
Music Source (Accessed 27 January
2012).
Adams, Doug. 2010. The Music of the
Lord of the Rings Films: A
Comprehensive Account of Howard
Shore's Scores. Van Nuys, CA:
Carpentier/Alfred Music Publishing.
ISBN 0-7390-7157-2.
Adams, John. 2010. "
[http://www.earbox.com/W-
phrygiangates.html John Adams
Benward, Bruce, and Marilyn Nadine
Saker. 2009. Music in Theory and
Practice: Volume II, eighth edition.
Boston: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-
310188-0.
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"Chorale Melodies used in Bach's Vocal
Works Es woll (or wolle/wollt) uns Gott
genädig sein ". (April) (accessed 24
October 2009)
Carver, Anthony F. 2005. "Bruckner and
the Phrygian Mode". Music and Letters
86, no. 1:74–99. doi:10.1093/ml/gci004
Comp, Nate. 2009. "The Moods of the
Modes ". The Fretlight Guitar Blog
(cached) (Accessed 27 January 2012).
Franklin, Don O. 1996. "Vom alten zum
neuen Adam: Phrygischer Kirchenton
und moderne Tonalität in J.S.Bachs
Kantate 38". In Von Luther zu Bach:
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Smallman. 2001. "Requiem Mass". The
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Buxtehude: Buxtehude-Werke-
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(WAB 33)". Singende Kirche 54, no.
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Pelletier-Bacquaert, Bruno. n.d. "Various
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http://brunojazz.com/vt-
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2009.
Pesic, Peter. 2005. "Earthly Music and
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Interest in Practical Music, Especially
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American Romantic". The Musical
Quarterly 84, no. 2 (Summer) 175–205.
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New Grove Dictionary of Music and
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John Tyrrell, 19:634. 29 vols. London:
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Henricus]". The New Grove Dictionary of
Music and Musicians, second edition,
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Dieterich". The New Grove Dictionary of
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Further reading
Hewitt, Michael. 2013. Musical Scales of
the World. [S.l.]: The Note Tree.
 ISBN 978-0-9575470-0-1.
Tilton, Mary C. 1989. "The Influence of
Psalm Tone and Mode on the Structure
of the Phrygian Toccatas of Claudio
Merulo". Theoria 4:106–22. ISSN 0040-
5817

External links
The Phrygian mode mapped out for
guitar in all positions
Phrygian Dominant Scale - Analysis

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