The chance of occurrence for any chord varies as the frequency
of the key to which it belongs, and as the number belonging to
the place which it holds, as referred to the tonic, in Table II.,
jointly. Hence the chance of its occurrence in all the keys in
which it is found, is as the sum of the products of the numbers in
Table III., each into such a number of Table II. as corresponds to
its place in that key. To give a specimen of the manner in which
this calculation is to be conducted, the numbers belonging to the
major mode in the three first divisions of Table II. are first
to be multiplied throughout by 176, which expresses the relative
frequency of the major mode of the natural key. They are then to
be multiplied throughout by 322, which expresses the frequency
of the key of one sharp. But the first product, which expresses
the frequency of the Vth on the tonic, now becomes GD, and must
be added, not to the first, but to the fifth, in the last row of
products. The product into 59, expressing the frequency of the
Vth on the mediant, becomes BF♯, an interval not found among the
essential chords of the natural key. In general, the products
of the numbers in Table III. into those in Table II. are to be
considered as belonging, not to the letters against which these
multipliers stand, but to those which have the same position _with
regard to their successive tonics_, as these have with regard to
C. Whenever an interval occurs, affected with a new flat or sharp,
it is to be considered as the commencement of a new succession of
products. The IIId C♯E♯, for example, does not occur at all till
we come to the key of two sharps, and even then only in occasional
modulations, corresponding to the IIId on B in the natural key,
whose multiplier is 10. In the key of 3 sharps it becomes another
accidental chord, answering to the IIId on E in the key of C, and
consequently has 40 for its multiplier. It is only in the key of
6 sharps, that it becomes a constituent chord of the key; when if
that key were ever used, it would correspond to the IIId GB on the
dominant of the natural key.
After all the products have been taken and reduced to their proper
places, in the manner exemplified above, a similar operation must
be repeated with the numbers in the second column of Table III. and
those in the second columns in the three first divisions of Table
II.
The necessity of keeping the major, and its relative minor key,
distinct, will be evident, when we consider that the several keys
in the minor mode do not follow the same law of frequency as in the
major; as is manifest from the observations in Schol. Prop. III.
and as clearly appears from an inspection of Table III.
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