Verse:Hmøøh/Rewhd Sgutsis

Rhooc Avniin Askuucis (Anvirese: [r̝oːts əvˈni:n əˈsku:tsis] fT 2036 – fT 2096 (aged 60)) was an Anvirese music theorist and composer.

Traits

• Languages:
  • (Pretty archaic) Anvirese (native speaker)
  • Sfətsiv (knows a little, her grandparents spoke it)
  • Windermere and Tamil (She would have had to be able to read it to read premodern math texts)
• Credit to Mike Battaglia, Gene Ward Smith, and other members of the microtonal community who developed the music theory used here.
• What is her overarching motivation?
• Later in life (after her treatise) she should choose one EDO and stick to it. Let's say 22.

Historical backdrop

• Music theory: their scales are based on diamonds, CPS's, constant-structure scales
• Matrix algebra, from earlier work on tempering out small commas in JI.
  • Perhaps Askuucis's work consists of relating this regular temperament work to equal temperaments.
    • That's where the zeta function comes in, sorta.

Early life and education

Askuucis was born in the city of Fwian, Anvir to a family of Adutsib descent as the second of three children. Her father was the physicist and composer Avnin Salis, who was professor of physics in the University of Flian. Her mother, Χwava Askuucis (adapted from Adutsib xwəbad skwucil), was a classical ŋams player and music teacher. Her mother's brother, Mugiv Ytxudhe, was a sewøðr player.

A child prodigy, Rhooc was taught sewøðr and math from a young age. She started auditing music and math classes before she was 5. She was allowed to skip boarding school and to enroll in the University of Flian in math at age 10 by taking an entrance exam. She was an exceptionally gifted student and graduated in mathematics and music with honors at age 16 (fT 2052). She then studied composition and instrumentation with a number of composers.

In fT 2056 Askuucis returned as a doctoral student in mathematics to Flian University, where she specialized in number theory. Under the supervision of Esngoa rith Mnang, Askuucis was awarded a doctorate for her dissertation in fT 2061.

Later life

Shortly after receiving her doctorate, Askuucis started corresponding with a number of composers, musicians and theorists to exchange ideas about music. These discussions, as well as explorations of various non-Etalocian musical traditions (especially Naquian music), would inspire her to further develop the music theory at that time. These ideas were distilled into a treatise that was published in fT 2066. While Askuucis's treatise does not use the language of modern linear algebra, it still gives detailed procedures for building temperaments and other musical constructions.

In fT 2076, an academic took notice of Askuucis's work and invited her to serve in the University of Cdam Sre as a professor of music. She accepted the offer and would continue to teach there for 14 years. Among her students were several notable Talman composers and popular musicians.

In fT 2090, Askuucis retired from her academic post and secluded herself, intending to focus solely on composition. She lived in a house in Sŋooron until she died of a stroke in fT 2096.

Contributions to music theory

Askuucis's best known written work is her treatise on equal temperaments, which mainly describes the structural properties of various equal temperaments. She wrote this partly as a "call to action" for other composers. [She might not have invented all of the material but she's definitely responsible for the zeta function stuff]

• Various regular temperaments and the equal temperaments supporting them. The equal temperaments supporting a regular temperament also characterize that temperament.
  • She describes a temperament as a span of unison vectors/commas (Note: The commas generate the kernel characterizing a regular temperament relative to the JI space. There are multiple valid generating sets that generate the same kernel, thus multiple comma-sets that characterizes a temperament.)
• Scale-wise... images of constant-structure scales; in addition, MOSes like those found in various world musics.
  • The great thing about equal temperaments might really be that they provide a way of categorizing interval sizes.
• Equal temperaments with "good" (highly divisible) divisions of the fifth or the fourth
• The appendix gives the mathematical details behind the theory, for example: proofs that the algorithms she uses work; links between the Riemann zeta function and "good" equal temperaments. (She didn't have the modern algebraic language to describe what in effect she was doing, making the treatment mathematically less clean than it could have been.)

A part of her goal was to make composition more accessible.

Compositions

[Outsourcing.]

Characteristics

Askuucis often takes inspiration from folk music and world music, as well as older classical music.

Partial list

• A collection of works in various equal temperaments, à la Blackwood (?)
• Winter Solstice "Cantatas"
• Possibly some musical dramas

Bibliography

• Her thesis (fT 2061) + a couple of other math papers
• The treatise: Equal Divisions of the Octave (fT 2066)

Personal life and views

A lesbian, Askuucis never had children. She had a few female lovers throughout her life.

Philosophy-wise, Askuucis was an avid Grwidian and this influenced some of her compositions as well.

Family members:

• Osri Askuucis (older sister) - music teacher
• Yzich Askuucis (younger sister)