On Thursday, December 25, 2003, at 06:23 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > My question: do you believe that the composers heard that > out-of-tunesness in > the heads when they composed the music, even liked the sound (knowing > no > other), or would they have longed for instruments that actually played > what they > wrote?
No, I think the Baroque composers were more practical than that. I'm sure that Bach, Handel, Teleman, Vivaldi and all the rest fully expected their music to be played in tune. Whether it was or not is not something that can reflect on us today. Plus, bear in mind that they were accustomed to the sound of temperaments the results of which we today might not be used to hearing. > ...Would not > Mozart, Handel and co been utterly delighted with a modern horn, A rhetorical question, to which the answer is: we'll never know. > and does this not > cast certain doubts on the validity of at least some of that the > Authentic > Instruments people are doing? Oh, well, you've heard two recordings, so the entire early-music world is invalid. :-) :-) I can assure you that I've heard 19th and 20th-century music played very badly, but that doesn't invalidate it in any way. It just means I heard a few bad performances. > I realise this is not a lute question, just a thought that crossed my > mind > and which I would like to pass on, in the hope of receiving an answer > which > might convince me that recording music such that the result makes one > long to be a > bus driver, and not a musician, is worth the effort? It's been worth it to me. David Rastall
