The Locrian mode is a musical mode or diatonic scale. It may be considered a minor scale
with the second and fifth scale degrees lowered a semi-tone. The Locrian mode may also be considered as a scale beginning on the seventh scale degree of any Ionian, or major scale.The Locrian mode has the formula 1, b2, b3, 4, b5, b6, b7. Its tonic chord is a diminished triad (Bdim in the Locrian mode of the diatonic scale corresponding to C major).
Some examples:
- The B Locrian mode starts on B and contains the same notes as the C Major scale. (B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B)
- The E Locrian mode starts on E and contains the same notes as the F Major scale. (E, F, G, A, B?, C, D, E)
- The G Locrian mode starts on G and contains the same notes as the A? Major scale. (G, A?, B?, C, D?, E?, F, G)
- The F? Locrian mode starts on F? and contains the same notes as the G Major scale. (F?, G, A, B, C, D, E, F? )
The Locrian mode is the only modern diatonic mode in which the tonic chord is a diminished chord, resulting in a tonic chord that is considered dissonant. For example, the tonic chord of B Locrian is made from the notes B, D, F. The interval between the tonic (B) and the dominant (F) is a diminished fifth or tritone.
The Locrian mode was of mainly theoretical importance in classical music before the 1850s because of the large amount of dissonance created within the scale and its corresponding chord. In more recent musical pieces, the dissonance or musical imbalance created by the Locrian scale and chord have come back into favour (especially in Jazz) in order to create a sense of large tension.
A fascinating Locrian mode passage from the Romantic Era is the first ten measures of Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1, where the initial phrase of the main theme is built entirely upon the D Locrian mode (D Eb F G Ab Bb C D), which has the same notes as the E-flat major scale.
Classical composers of the 20th century have occasionally used the Locrian mode, although usually with somewhat complex chords that avoid baldly stating the tonic triad. For example, Scriabin's 5th Piano Sonata, op. 53, often questionably referred to as being in F-sharp major, actually both begins and ends in the Locrian mode on D#. The wrong key signature was used by Scriabin for both these passages; but if the correct one were used, it would be 4 sharps, instead of 6 sharps as used in the opening and 3 flats as used in the ending. It is actually partly the same passage of music, used as both the start of the introduction and the end of the coda. The closing D#-Locrian passage is immediately preceded by a short passage, in the same Locrian mode enharmonically notated in E
, which in turn is arrived at via very brief transitions through several other modes, all based on E.
There are brief passages in works by Rachmaninov (Prelude in B minor, op. 32, no. 10), Hindemith (Ludus Tonalis), and Sibelius (Symphony no. 4 in A minor, op. 63) that have been, or may be, regarded as in the Locrian mode. The Sibelius symphony in general makes quite a bit of play around the interval of the tritone, which is so prominent in the Locrian mode. But, because it is difficult to write pure Locrian-mode passages that are unambiguously in the Locrian mode, the actual mode of these passages may be more open to interpretation in a different mode than is usual for passages in other modes that more closely resemble a major or minor scale. At least in the case of the Rachmaninov Prelude, it is unlikely that the composer was deliberately writing any passages in the Locrian or any other mode, so the passing Locrian effect may be nothing more than the accidental by-product of the sequence of harmonies he used, which certainly can be analyzed in more traditional, non-modal terms.
The name "Locrian" is taken from music theory of ancient Greece. However, what is now called the Locrian mode was what the Greeks called the Diatonic Mixolydian tonos. The Greeks used the term "Locrian" as an alternative name for their "Hypodorian", or "Common" tonos, with a scale running from mese to nete hyperbolaion, which in its diatonic genus corresponds to the modern Aeolian mode.
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