source file: m1582.txt
Date: Sat, 14 Nov 1998 23:20:24 EST

Subject: Re: Doren Garcia's inquiry about Mozart

From: Ascend11@aol.com

I'd like to contribute information regarding Mozart which might be relevan=
t to
an understanding of his music.  First, there is a CD containing Mozart's
String Quartet in G, K. 387 and his String Quartet in B-flat, K. 458 "The
Hunt" performed 
by the Classical Quartet with intonation closer to just intonation than is
generally heard - a delightful recording.  It's Titanic Records Ti-154 and=
 I 
obtained it by ordering through Tower Records ordering service 
1=96800=96ASK=96TOWER.

There are two copies of an 1854 Encyclopedia of Music, reprinted in the 19=
70s,
at the UC San Diego music library.  It contains a fairly long biographical
entry 
on Mozart, and mentions that when he was a child: "His greatest delight wa=
s to
endeavor to find out thirds on the harpsichord, and nothing could equal hi=
s 
pleasure when he discovered that harmonious concord."  Later, in the artic=
le -
"Each succeding day discovered fresh proofs of this extraordinary child.  =
He 
could distinguish and point out the slightest variation of sound; and ever=
y
false, 
or even harsh tone, not softened by some harmony, was torture to him."

In "On the Sensations of Tone" by Helmholtz (1954 Dover edition of the 188=
5
translation of Helmholtz' work by Ellis) Helmholtz writes in the course of=
 a 
discussion about tempered intonation (p. 327 of Dover Edition) - "Finally,=
 we 
cannot, I think, fail to recognize the influence of tempered intonation up=
on
the 
style of composition.  The first effect of this influence was favorable.  =
It 
allowed composers as well as players to move freely and easily into all ke=
ys
and 
thus opened up a new wealth of modulation.  On the other hand, we likewise=
 
cannot fail to recognize that the alteration of intonation also compelled 
composers to have recourse to some such wealth of modulation.  For when th=
e 
intonation of consonant chords ceased to be perfect, and the differences
between 
their various inversions and positions were, as a consequence, nearly
obliterated, 
it was necessary to use more powerful means, to have recourse to a frequen=
t 
employment of harsh dissonances, and to endeavor by less usual modulations=
 to 
replace the characteristic expression, which the harmonies proper to the k=
ey 
itself had ceased to possess.  Hence in many modern compositions dissonant=
 
chords of the dominant seventh form the majority, and consonant chords a 
minority, yet no one can doubt that this is the reverse of what ought to b=
e
the 
case; and continual bold modulational leaps threaten entirely to destroy t=
he 
feeling for tonality.  These are unpleasant symptoms for the 
further development of art.   The mechanism of instruments and attention t=
o 
their convenience, threaten to lord it over the natural requirements of th=
e 
ear, and to destroy once more the principle upon which modern musical art 
is founded, the steady predominance of the tonic tone and tonic chord.  
Among our great composers, Mozart and Beethoven were yet at the 
commencement of the reign of equal temperament.  Mozart had still an 
opportunity of making extensive studies in the composition of song.  He 
is master of the sweetest possible harmoniousness, where he desires it, 
but he is almost the last of such masters.  Beethoven eagerly and boldly 
seized the wealth offered by instrumental music, and in his powerful 
hands it became the appropriate and ready tool for producing effects 
which none had hitherto attempted.  But he used the human voice as a 
mere handmaid, and consequently she has also not lavished on him the 
highest magic of her beauty.

Although the piano is at present usually tuned to equal temperament, it 
can be tuned flexibly and practically any temperament may be tuned 
on any ordinary piano.  It is possible to tune a piano to sound triads 
in just intonation in six major keys and six minor keys.  Non-trivial 
music can be performed on a piano in these tunings, although 
with a just intonation tuning and only twelve notes per octave, there 
are considerable limitations.  With quarter comma mean tone 
temperament, which has just major thirds and fifths flat by 5.4 
cents - an amount discernible, but not too detrimental to much 
music, music may be performed in eight contiguous major keys 
and eight contiguous minor keys, affording a great deal of 
flexibility.  Contrary to what many of us have been led to believe,  
temperament makes a very big difference to the harmoniousness 
of music performed in it and most people find the differences in 
sound between music on a piano in equal temperament and 
music on a piano in quarter comma mean tone temperament or 
just intonation to be appreciable, even striking.  I believe that 
the experience of actually listening to music fairly accurately 
performed in different tuning than equal temperament can 
give fuller meaning to the assertions of Helmholtz and other 
earlier writers, whose statements presently often appear 
quaint and based on outdated theories.