The Lydian musical scale is a rising pattern of pitches comprising three whole tones, a semitone, two more whole tones, and a final semitone. This sequence of pitches roughly describes the fifth of the eight Gregorian (church) modes, known as Mode V or the authentic mode on F, theoretically using B♮ but in practice more commonly featuring B♭ (Powers 2001). Because of the importance of the major scale in modern music, the Lydian mode is often described (or learned) as the scale that begins on the fourth scale degree of the major scale.
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The name Lydian refers to the ancient kingdom of Lydia in Anatolia. In Greek music theory, there was a Lydian scale or "octave species" extending from parhypate hypaton to trite diezeugmenon, equivalent in the diatonic genus to the medieval and modern Ionian mode, i.e., the modern major scale: C D E F | G A B C (Barbera 1984, 233, 240). In the chromatic and enharmonic genera, the Lydian scale was equivalent to C D♯ E F | G A♯ B C and C E E F | G B B C, respectively, where "" signifies raising the pitch by approximately a quarter tone. Placing the two tetrachords together, and the single tone at bottom of the scale produces the Hypolydian mode (below Lydian): F | G A B C | (C) D E F. Placing the two tetrachords together, and the single tone at the top of the scale produces the Hyperlydian mode (above Lydian), which is effectively the same as the Hypophrygian mode: G A B C | (C) D E F | G.
In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, this mode was described in two ways. The first way is the diatonic octave species from F up to F an octave above, divided at C to produce two segments: F–G–A–B–C and C–D–E–F. The second is as a mode with a final on F and an ambitus extending to F an octave higher and in which the note C was regarded as having an important melodic function. Many theorists of the period observed that B♭ is used more typically than B♮ in compositions in Lydian mode (Powers 2001).
The Lydian scale can be described as a major scale with the fourth scale degree raised a semitone, e.g., a C-major scale with an F♯ rather than F♮.
In Lydian mode, the tonic, dominant, and supertonic triads are all major. The subdominant is diminished. The triads built on the remaining three scale degrees are minor.
A rare, extended use of the Lydian mode in the Classical repertoire is Simon Sechter's 1822 Messe in der lydische Tonart (Mass in the Lydian Mode) (Carver 2005, 76). A more famous example from around the same time is the third movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132 (1825), titled by the composer "Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart" ("Holy Song of Thanksgiving by a Convalescent to the Divinity, in the Lydian Mode"). The alternating passages in F use the Lydian scale with sharp fourth scale degree exclusively. Anton Bruckner employed the Lydian scale is his motet Os justi (1879) more strictly than Renaissance composers ever did when writing in this mode (Carver 2005, 74–75).
Many jazz musicians use the Lydian scale in their compositions and improvisations. Pianist-composer George Russell developed a Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization, which became highly influential in the jazz world, inspiring the works of people such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Woody Shaw. Jazz organist Larry Young's album UNITY contains several compositions by Woody Shaw that are written in the Lydian mode, including a piece entitled Zoltan, a tribute to Hungarian composer and ethnomusicologist Zoltán Kodály's opera Háry János, parts of which also use the Lydian mode.
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