At 11:38 PM -0400 9/4/07, Aaron Rabushka wrote:
OK--without getting into the minutiae of this or that intonation system (something I am ill-equipped to do), I've often heard that Bach had to fight to get the one he wanted, that would sound good in any key.
No need to get into the details. Yes, some theorists talked about equal temperament as early as the 16th century. Yes, fretted instruments have trouble NOT playing in equal since each fret has to tune 6 notes on 6 different strings. But there is simply no evidence that Bach or any other high level musician in the mid-18th century would have wanted, adopted, or been able to stand the bad intonation of equal temperament.
The closest we can come to that nowadays is to attend a couple of weeks of something like the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute during the summer, where you are immersed in the world of in-tune playing and well temperaments, and then experience the shock to your ears when you reenter the world of equal temperament. I've done it! It's VERY educational.
As to the 24 (or actually the 48), at least some of the experts on the HarpsichordList are convinced that Bach was showing how skilled he was by writing playable music in every key BY AVOIDING THE BAD INTERVALS IN THAT KEY. Musicians expected every key to sound different, which is one reason, I believe, that they tended to publish Opuses in sets of six or twelve in different keys. And this approach lasted longer than most people would think. I have a photocopy of an American Bandmaster's Manual from the 1810s that includes a drawing of a violin fingerboard, showing very clearly that a C# (for example) is lower on the fingerboard and therefore lower in pitch than a Db.
John -- John R. Howell Virginia Tech Department of Music Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
