Complete Encyclopaedia of Music/B/B

B is the nominal of the seventh note in the natural diatonic scale of C ; to which De Nevers, a French musician in the beginning of the last century, is said to have first applied the syllable si ; Guido Aretina having only furnished syllables for the six notes, C, D, E, F, G, A. B is the subtonic. or seventh note. thus : -

B is also sometimes used as an abbreviation for bass. The Germans call B natural, II ; and they call B flat, B, to distinguish it from B natural.