source file: mills3.txt Date: Sun, 7 Dec 1997 17:12:42 +0100 Subject: Re: Bach's Tuning From: Johnny Reinhard Bach was known for tuning everything himself and well within 15 minutes. Though absolute pitch as evidenced by the gene for "perfect pitch" would be quite ignored in the era before pitch standards, Bach could well have worked out the finest distinctions of pitch differentiation. Most likely on his favored clavichords. Perhaps well temperament, with its myriad of tuning relationships, is a prototype for the polymicrotonality I am composing. From German city to German city there were different German tuning preferences in the baroque period (e.g. Matheson-12ET-Hamburg, Handel-extended meantone-cosmpolita, Silbermann-sixth-comma meantone-Dresden). Telemann proposed a theoretical 5ET so that a circular sixth-comma meantone could be obtained. Essentially, Werckmeister III is an archetype for all future well temperaments. When Werckmeister wrote in 1691 _Musical Temperament_ he provided the first description of a "correct" tuning that played in a full cycle of keys. Werckmeister first describes a divine just intonation relationship between tones which is basically unreachable due to the keyboard manual's arrangement. Werckmeister I is simple ratio just intonation. The second description of a temperament in "incorrect" ("unrichtige") because it did not allow unrestricted modulation. Werckmeister particularly frowns on the technology of split black (or sometime inversely white) chromatic keys. Werckmeister II is quarter-comma meantone. The largest discussion in _Musical Temperament_ centers on what has come to be known as "Werckmeister III". The author didn't name the "good temperament" but merely described a popular tuning of the middle baroque in Thuringia and throughout German lands (definitiely including Danish-speaking Lubeck where Dietrich Buxtehude was an ardant Werckmeister fan.) (And of course Bach almost lost employment for just taking off to Lubeck to see Buxtehude play in person.) Werckmeister embarrassingly met the charge that 12ET was nowhere to be found in his privately-produced publication by claiming that the "engraver" of his monochord drawings refused to draw it! (This is described in the New Grove article "temperament." Though there are alternate well-temperament arrangements outlined that might now be called Werckmeister IV, V, and VI, these are given relative short shrift by the author. Werckmeister III is the prominent well temperament tuning current in Bach's Thuringia and is more than half the monograph. J.S. Bach lived for a number of years with his cousin Johann Walter (an organist, composer, author of the first major German language music encyclopedia, and former student of Werckmeister). Walter would receive letters and music from his older friend Werckmeister. Do you think Bach could ignore the famous Werckmeister? He couldn't help but tune only to his own satisfaction, clearly accepting on some level the pronouncements of Thuringia's leading organ designer and organist of an earlier generation. If Bach had been equal-tempered he would have said so. If he was well-tempered, likewise he would say so, and he did. 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@idt.net http://www.echonyc.com/~jhhl/AFMM SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: mr88cet@texas.net (Gary Morrison) Subject: Re: Bach and lutes PostedDate: 07-12-97 19:18:46 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: 07-12-97 19:16:54-07-12-97 19:16:55,07-12-97 19:16:43-07-12-97 19:16:44 DeliveredDate: 07-12-97 19:16:44 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 C1256566.00646AF6; Sun, 7 Dec 1997 19:16:49 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA08678; Sun, 7 Dec 1997 19:18:46 +0100 Date: Sun, 7 Dec 1997 19:18:46 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA08677 Received: (qmail 9486 invoked from network); 7 Dec 1997 10:18:42 -0800 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 7 Dec 1997 10:18:42 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu