Fifths meaning

Two parts must not move in consecutive octaves or fifths, because by so doing they unaccountably reinforce each other by an amount by which they impoverish the rest of the harmony.

This is of constant occurrence in classical pianoforte music, in which thick chords are subjected to polyphonic laws only in their top and bottom notes, while the inner notes make a solid mass of sound in which numerous consecutive fifths and octaves are not only harmless but essential to the balance of tone.

As early as 1618 a code of laws for the regulation of the mining industry had been drawn up by Philip III., the executive and judicial functions in the mining districts being vested in a provedor, and the fiscal in a treasurer, who received the royal fifths and superintended the weighing of all the gold, rendering a yearly account of all discoveries and produce.

Thus the second A = 2 X 2 X 2, and we may regard it as an ascent through two fifths in succession and then a descent through an octave.

On every axis there are usually fifths.