People
Alexander John Ellis
Objects in the Database
On the sensations of tone as a physiological basis for the theory of music Texts
The alphabet of nature Texts
A plea for phonotypy and phonography Texts
The essentials of phonetics Texts
On the conditions, extent, and realization of a perfect musical scale on instruments with fixed tones Texts
On the physical constitution and relations of musical chords Texts
On the temperament of musical instruments with fixed tones Texts
On musical duodenes Texts
On the sensitiveness of the ear to pitch and change of pitch in music Texts
On the musical scales of various nations Texts
Post Date: February 7, 2023
Last Modified: April 4, 2023
Alexander John Ellis
Date of Birth:
June 14, 1814 (Hoxton, Middlesex, England)
Date of Death:
October 28, 1890 (London, England)
Alexander John Ellis was born Alexander John Sharpe on June 14, 1814, in Hoxton, Middlesex, and died in London on October 28, 1890. He studied mathematics and philology at Trinity College Cambridge, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1837. Ellis later became a phonetician, whose work in vocal and musical pitch, speech, and song also influenced the field of musicology. Among his most important contributions were the annotated translation of Hermann von Helmholtz’s On the Sensations of Tone and his development of the notion of cent for musical intervals.
Ellis, Alexander John. The essentials of phonetics; - containing the theory of a universal alphabet, together with its practical application as an ethnical alphabet to the reduction of old languae, written or unwritten, to one uniform system of writing, with nomerous examples; adapted to the use of phoneticians, philologists, etymologistsm ethnographists, rravellers, and missionaries. In lieu of a second edition of the “Alphabet of nature.” . London: Fred Pittman, 1848,
Post Date: February 7, 2023
Last Modified: April 4, 2023
© 2015 – 2024 Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin