DESCRIPTION:
The Devil's Chord ~ Piano Composition by Don Puryear

Known as The Devil's Interval, the musical interval between a perfect fourth and perfect fifth was forbidden by the Church for centuries, as many believed it summoned the Devil and drove men to madness.

Before the 17th Century, musicians risked being burned at the stake for composing or performing pieces containing the forbidden chord.

The paired notes -- commonly described in musical terms as "augmented fourth," "diminished fifth" or as a tritone -- are actually lush and beautiful, particularly when embedded into musical phrases or when subtly redefined as a "seventh" by the addition of a third note.

In fact, the Devil's Interval is found throughout the masterpieces of Chopin and Beethoven. In more recent times, the ethereal Truman Sleeps by Philip Glass makes use of tritones with a completely mesmerizing result. What's evil about that?! ♪♫

I wrote this song, weaving the Devil's Interval into several phrases and themes. Most importantly, I completed it in time for the Oct 8, 2014 SELENELION -- an extraordinarily rare celestial event, a lunar eclipse and BLOOD RED MOON.

The astrological event makes the impossible possible: As the rising sun and setting moon come into perfect alignment -- or "syzygy" -- it is possible to see both the sun rising in the East and the RED BLOOD MOON setting in the west. AT THE SAME TIME.

It's an extraordinarily powerful astrological event, and according to legend, during this event, The Devil's Chord becomes a key. The one who plays it achieves wealth, fame and success beyond his wildest imagination. But it's at a cost -- for the key opens the gates of Hell and frees Satan -- the Prince of Darkness, Bearer of Light -- to roam the earth and torment mankind. In Revelations, the Bible calls it The Apocalypse.

Instructions for the Devil's Interval, or Devil's Chord, are found transcribed amongst passages in the Psalms, including the 23rd Pslam ("The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.") in a rare manuscript called CODEX GIGAS. It's a cryptogram that can only be deciphered by reading the Latin backwards and selecting letters and words that follow a precise pattern of 6s. It's hard to find, but it's there - Just like the hidden gem in Psalm 46 from the King James' Bible.

The manuscript containing the instructions is known as The Devil's Bible. It was written in the 1200s....in ONE NIGHT. A monk had broken his vows and was sentenced to death, by being walled up alive. In pleading for his life, the monk vowed to write a manuscript in one night that would contain ALL HUMAN KNOWLEDGE. He was given the chance, but by midnight that night, he realized his task was impossible.

Impossible without help, that is. Instead of praying to God for help, he prayed to Lucifer, the Angel of Light....also known as Satan, the Prince of Darkness. Satan answered his prayer and agreed to write the manuscript for him -- in exchange for his soul.

The manuscript was a true miracle. It's the largest known book from medieval times, and researchers have indicated that it would have taken FIVE YEARS for an ordinary human to have written the massive tome. It is known formally as Codex Gigas. But it has a much darker name because of the legend behind its creation: THE DEVIL'S BIBLE.

As the legend goes, the monk drew a picture of the Devil prominently inside the Bible, as a showing of gratitude. The haunting image soon became the most prevalent feature of the manuscript, and throughout history, terrible disasters befallen anyone who owned it. Soon, it became known to the world as THE DEVIL'S BIBLE.

As everyone knows, the Devil is "wise as a serpent." So it should come as no surprise to learn that he tricked the monk and included a great deal of evil within the text, hidden in plain sight, instructions for his Followers. One such instruction is the Devil's Chord, a magical sound that resonates through the universe when played by a virgin male, undefiled by woman, during a selenelion or blood red moon. The vibrations are said to unlock the Devil's prison, the very gates of Hell, and free him to torment God's creation, mankind.

Of course, I don't believe the chord has any magical or evil powers, even if it was found in an unexplained manuscript. Personally I just think it's a beautiful chord....and the selenelion gave me the perfect reason to write a composition.

What's the worst that could happen? I suppose we'll know soon enough!


TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE will be a RARE SELENELION: http://www.space.com/27338-total-lunar-eclipse-rare-sunrise-selenelion.html

Augmented Fourth/Diminished Fifth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritone

Codex Gigas, The Devil's Bible: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Gigas