On Apr 25, 2008, at 7:16 AM, Martyn Hodgson wrote: > cannot we assume that, like with lutes, the first course of guitars > were pitched as high (or at least not too far off) as they co= > uld reasonably bear.
You can only assume this if you also assume the lack of a high octave on the third course. Since the presence or lack of the high G is what you're trying to establish, you have to assume your conclusion in order to assume your premise. Someone in this thread (I saw it second-hand in Monica's post) mentioned Roman pitch: > Some argue that Roman pitch was around > 392, others say it was nearer 460. I don't know anyone who argues that Roman pitch was ever higher than A 415. Surviving 17th-century Roman organs are slightly lower than 392. Doni wrote in 1640 that the pitch of Roman organs had been lowered a semitone in about (or since) 1600. Robert Smith wrote in 1749 that Roman organs in "about 1720" were pitched around 392. In the early 18th century, Handel, Alessandro Scarlatti and Caldara wrote the oboe parts for Roman performances that are written a whole- tone below the other parts, which Bruce Haynes takes to mean the oboes were at A 435 and everyone else was at A 384. See Haynes' A History of Performing Pitch: the Story of "A" at pages 69-72, 167-168. -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
