Consonace

Consonace is a term that has been used in a limited number of contemporary music‑theory and acoustic‑engineering contexts. It is most often understood as a specialized variant of the more widely known concept of consonance, and is usually defined as the orderly arrangement of consonant intervals within a melodic or harmonic line that gives the phrase a sense of stability while permitting subtle motion. Unlike traditional consonance, which focuses on the perceptual quality of two or more simultaneous tones, consonace emphasises the linear progression of consonant intervals across time.

The term first appeared in a 2012 article by Italian music theorist Marco Lucidino, who applied it to a series of minimal‑technique compositions that explore the idea of “linking consonant intervals” as a compositional tool. Lucidino suggested that consonace could be identified by patterns in which every successive interval is itself a consonant interval, thereby creating an unbroken chain of harmonic stability. In subsequent years, a handful of composers in the contemporary classical and ambient music scenes adopted the terminology, often using it in program notes and analytic essays.

In addition to its theoretical usage, consonace is also the registered name of a small Italian audio‑equipment manufacturer. The company produces a line of signal‑processing devices that purport to preserve the “consonant core” of a musical signal while applying digital effects. The brand’s marketing materials cite the concept of consonace as an audible quality that their products aim to protect.

Because of its relatively narrow usage, consonace rarely appears in mainstream dictionaries. In the broader context of music‑theory literature, it is most frequently encountered in niche journals and online forums discussing the design of minimalist and ambient musical textures. The term serves as an example of how contemporary musicians sometimes coin precise technical labels to describe subtle aspects of musical structure or audio aesthetics.