source file: mills2.txt Date: Thu, 7 Dec 1995 21:55:48 -0800 Subject: RE: more Bach From: Johnny Reinhard Gary is right to question why I tied improvisation to microtonality in Bach. Let me try some examples of implied Bach microtonality. Bach's virtuoso use of the piccolo trumpet which had no pistons and is rarely if ever used in modern performances was using higher number just relationships. Bach's favorite keyboard was reputed to be the clavichord, even though he was known widely as an organist and wrote for harpsichord, and never as a pianist. The clavichord Bewebungen changes pitch discreetly by the weight of the hand. Since each keyboard was tuned differently in a variety of temperaments, Bach would need to have an especially flexible intonation schemata for his fertile imagination to be realized. Not only was there no concept of absolute pitch, there was a dualistic "chamber" and "church" pitch usually about a whole tone apart. Since equal temperament was "unnatural" to the ear in the sense that it is tuned by in the present day by outsiders, tuners. Bach would tune a harpsichord in 15 minutes. No interval could be given with authority to a musician unless he gave it. To write music that would favor the most advanced temperament schemes, and yet be fully functional and aesthetically pleasing in alternatives and variations, combined with the knowledge of his prowess in improvising to the point of musical duels, leads me to believe that he was a great micrtonalist indeed. He has the most microtonal title of any established composer (The Well-tempered Clavier). His Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue takes full advantage of the best that Werckmeister III has to offer, and he replaced to pitch-restricted viola da gamba with the fretless cello. Gary, ultimately it's an intuitive thing, that to imagine as an improvisor as must have would require the greatest of microtonal minds to navigate at such a level of distinction. Johnny Reinhard Director American Festival of Microtonal Music 318 East 70th Street, Suite 5FW New York, New York 10021 USA (212)517-3550/fax (212) 517-5495 reinhard@styx.ios.com Received: from eartha.mills.edu [144.91.3.20] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Fri, 8 Dec 1995 13:07 +0100 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id EAA03627; Fri, 8 Dec 1995 04:07:32 -0800 Date: Fri, 8 Dec 1995 04:07:32 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu