Ch. A. B. Huth - Farbige Noten, Hamburg 1888–1889. Three-volume treatise linking the chromatic Western scale to a 12-color system derived from the golden ratio applied simultaneously to tone scale and color scale (Farbenleiter).
| Volume | Year | Title | Key Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1888 | Farben und Noten | Foundational theory; piano notation plates (6 Farbtafeln); establishes the 12-color chromatic cycle with international color-name abbreviations |
| 2 | 1889 | Weiterer Verfolg der neuen Theorie auf das Tonsystem | Harmonic and compositional theory; TAFEL I - the large spectral "Entwicklung der Tonleiter" chart; TAFEL I (notation) - colored musical examples |
| 3 | - | Vorschlag eines neuen vereinfachten Notensystems | Simplified notation proposal; TAFEL III - the definitive piano keyboard color chart; TAFEL IV - chord grids for all major/minor keys; TAFEL V - "Farben u. Noten" prism diagram; TAFEL VI - color ring (Kalte / Warme Töne) |
Huth observed that applying the golden section (φ = 1.618…) to both the tone scale and the color scale yields the same proportional cut-points. On the tone scale these intersections produce the harmonic consonances (major and minor thirds, fifths). On the color scale they produce harmonic color triads - what Huth calls harmonische Tricoloren.
The color wheel he uses is the traditional RYB wheel (Red = 0°, Yellow = 120°, Blue = 240°), which was standard in 19th-century European color science. This is important for interpreting his color names: his "Grün" / "Vert" corresponds to the RYB 180° sector (cyan-green in modern RGB), and his "Gelb" / Yellow maps to the RYB 120° sector (yellow-green in modern RGB).
Key structural rule: The 12 chromatic semitones each correspond to one 30° step counter- clockwise on the RYB hue wheel, starting from Blue at C. One full octave = 360° = a complete circuit of the hue wheel. The octave C above returns to the same blue, confirming cyclic closure.
Cold / Warm division (TAFEL VI):
- Kalte Töne (cold tones): Blue → Cyan → Green (RYB Green ≈ teal-cyan)
- Warme Töne (warm tones): Yellow → Orange → Red
- The transition through Rose → Carmine → Lilac → Indigo bridges warm back to cold.
Complementary pairs (TAFEL VI, Complementäre Farbtöne): Standard RYB complementaries map to the tritone interval (6 semitones apart, 180° on the hue wheel):
- Blue (C) ↔ Orange (F#) - tritone
- Green/Teal (D) ↔ Carmine (G#) - tritone
- Yellow (E) ↔ Violet/Purple (A#) - tritone
Huth's international abbreviations (Vol. 1, system plate bottom line):
BLU. SE. VER. MO. GEL. OR. NER. ROS. CAR. LIL. PEN. IN. BLU.
13 entries = 12 unique colors + octave repeat of the first (C → C').
| # | Note | Abbrev. | Full Name | English | Hue (RYB) | Hex |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | C | BLU | Blau / Blue | Blue | 240° | #3366DD |
| 1 | C# | SE | Seegrün (Sea-green) | Cyan-Blue | 210° | #2299BB |
| 2 | D | VER | Vert (French green) | Green / Teal | 180° | #33AA66 |
| 3 | D# | MO | (Yellow-Green / Mordoré?) | Yellow-Green | 150° | #88CC22 |
| 4 | E | GEL | Gelb (German yellow) | Yellow | 120° | #DDCC22 |
| 5 | F | OR | Orange | Orange | 60° | #EE8822 |
| 6 | F# | NER | (Vermilion / dark red-orange) | Vermilion | 30° | #DD4422 |
| 7 | G | ROS | Rose | Rose-Pink | 350° | #EE3366 |
| 8 | G# | CAR | Carmin (Carmine) | Carmine | 320° | #CC1144 |
| 9 | A | LIL | Lila (German lilac) | Lilac-Violet | 290° | #9966CC |
| 10 | A# | PEN | Pensée (French pansy) | Purple-Violet | 265° | #7744BB |
| 11 | B | IN | Indigo | Indigo | 245° | #4433AA |
| 12 | C' | BLU | (octave repeat) | Blue | 240° | #3366DD |
Note on MO and NER: These two abbreviations remain uncertain. "MO" falls between Green and Yellow; "Mordoré" (dark gold-green, French) or "Moos" (German moss) are plausible. "NER" falls between Orange and Rose; the most likely referent is a dark vermilion or red-orange ink name. The hue positions and hex values above are derived from the RYB 30°-per- semitone rule and the surrounding named colors.
The primary color reference. Shows a piano keyboard with one octave of colored vertical columns. The 7 natural-note (white-key) columns, left to right (C → B), display a smooth blue-to-orange-red spectrum. The 5 accidental (black-key) strips show intermediate shades.
As a 135-year-old chromolithograph the printed inks have shifted significantly. The hex values above are derived from Huth's text-stated color names rather than from direct pipetting of the aged image.
Spectral prism diagram showing the physical correspondence between light-wave frequency and pitch across the full piano range (not one octave). Lowest notes (bass) → red-orange; highest notes (treble) → blue-violet. This is the physical mapping; the cyclic 12-color system in TAFEL III is the symbolic mapping used in the notation.
Color wheel showing Kalte Töne (cool: upper half) and Warme Töne (warm: lower half), plus complementary color pairs. Confirms the warm/cool grouping and the tritone-complementary relationship.
Large spectral chart showing the harmonic scale derivation with colored horizontal bands (one per note) across five octaves.
The Huth palette is defined in src/ui/theme.rs as NOTE_COLORS: [Color32; 12]
and the helper note_color(midi_note: u8) -> Color32.
Active bass, hoover, and AN1X step buttons show the note name (e.g. "C4") in
its Huth color above the velocity dot. The color gives instant visual feedback
about the melody shape before you listen — an interval of a fifth apart produces
complementary colors (tritone = exact opposite on the wheel). Implemented in
huth_note_cell() in src/ui/widgets/step.rs; only shown when pad size >= 26px.
The piano keyboard at the bottom of the UI uses Huth colors for both white and black key labels. Each key's label is rendered in its chromatic color rather than flat gray. Modes: Off / Piano / Full (Full shows Huth-colored U-cup notation on melodic sequencer rows).
Note names (C4, A#3), frequencies (440 Hz), and MIDI numbers (note 60) in the
LLM response log are highlighted with their Huth color. This applies both to
the in-UI log (colorize_log() in src/ui/llm_strip.rs) and to the terminal
via ANSI 24-bit color escape codes (ansi_colorize_notes() in
src/ui/note.rs). Word-boundary guards prevent false positives on strings like
"D&B" or "E-flat"; quality-word extensions color "A minor" and "G major" as
single spans.
- Piano roll note editor — tint each semitone row with its Huth color
- Waveform display — map dominant pitch to Huth color via pitch detection
- Chord grid (TAFEL IV style) — visualise harmonic color triads
- MIDI CC output — send Huth color data as CC values for downstream color-coding in Ableton, Max/MSP, etc.
Ch. A. B. Huth, Farbige Noten, Hamburg 1888–1889. Three volumes held at the International Music Score Library Project: