> On 27 Sep 2020, at 20:59, Kevin Barry <barr...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Both cases were discussed. For an orchestra they are not the same pitch, >> thus formally a slur. > > You cannot make this assumption. It is exceptional to distinguish D > sharp and E flat since most performed orchestral music is equally > tempered.
Orchestral music is in what microtonalists call adaptive 5-limit Just Intonation; Hindemith calls it the natural tuning. A measurement of a performance of a string quartet that should have been (atonal) E12 showed that it in reality it was in something like Pythagorean. There are not references for playing in E12, unless there are som such instruments added, and using would make the harmonies sound less focused. > It is common, for example, for a composer to write D sharp > for some instruments and E flat for others. A composer should write so that it becomes easy for the musician to perform, otherwise they will have to edit the score, which costs time and money. The musicians then listens to the other musicians and adapt so it sounds right—this is what one of my flute teachers said, who sits in an opera here. Or modern composers just haven't checked it out. Some do, though.