source file: mills3.txt Date: Tue, 2 Dec 1997 20:00:42 +0100 Subject: Bach again From: Aline Surman The Bach "chestnut," as Reinhard said, is rather enduring, it seems. I have a few more comments. First, when I say "Bach," I am actually using his name as a representation of that general period in Western music...I don't just mean him, per se. There were tons of musicians back then. It also seems that tunings were in a much less settled state at that time than they are now, with well temperaments, meantone, equal temps, and most likely others, all vieing for attention, and musicians trying to decide which tunings were appropriate for what situation. For example, when Bach jammed with the great lutenist, Sylvius Leopold Weiss, did they use equal temps while they played? How were lutes fretted back then? Bach liked the lute sound so much that he had a clavier built that sounded like a lute. Also, when Bach arranged the 5th cello sonata, and the 3rd violin partita for lute, was he using equal temps? When he wrote flute sonatas, what tuning were the flutists using? How about his gigantic works, like the St. Matthew Passion? Well tempered, or equal? Do we know, or are we guessing (however intelligent our guesses)? We also know that Handel had a keyboard with, I believe, 16 tones/octave...was this a common practice then? Did Handel use 16 tones/octave extensively? These are all valid questions, to me, and they only open the door to many more questions about historical tuning practice...it is a fascinating subject, to be sure. Mself, I believe that Bach, and most likely many others, used various tunings, depending on the context of the piece, and the instrumentation. Bach was nothing if not very practical, so to think that he would switch between systems is not too farfetched. As to what he would have ideally preferred, are there any writings on this subject? If so, I would very much like to study them....It is, again, a fascinating subject...Hstick SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: "Paul H. Erlich" Subject: Reply to Ed Foote PostedDate: 02-12-97 21:05:20 SendTo: CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH ReplyTo: tuning@eartha.mills.edu $MessageStorage: 0 $UpdatedBy: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH,CN=Manuel op de Coul/OU=AT/O=EZH RouteServers: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=notesrv1/OU=Server/O=EZH RouteTimes: 02-12-97 21:03:42-02-12-97 21:03:42,02-12-97 21:03:36-02-12-97 21:03:36 DeliveredDate: 02-12-97 21:03:36 Categories: $Revisions: Received: from ns.ezh.nl ([137.174.112.59]) by notesrv2.ezh.nl (Lotus SMTP MTA SMTP v4.6 (462.2 9-3-1997)) with SMTP id C1256561.006E2F60; Tue, 2 Dec 1997 21:03:31 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA04516; Tue, 2 Dec 1997 21:05:20 +0100 Date: Tue, 2 Dec 1997 21:05:20 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA04514 Received: (qmail 12003 invoked from network); 2 Dec 1997 12:05:17 -0800 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 2 Dec 1997 12:05:17 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu