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FWD: Re: Bach's tuning

🔗 Aleksander Frosztega <Froszteg@...>

9/27/1995 12:24:57 PM
On Tue, 26 Sep 1995 06:39:58 -0700 Johnny Reinhard
wrote:

>Mr. Frosztega represents a modern reincarnation of Mr. Marpurg it would
>seem. As a legend in his own mind he has deduced what Bach did by
>his interpretations of what happened after Bach.
>
>I believe he confuses Bach's intent in saying why all major thirds are
>sharp, placing them in an ET context, probably because he is in an ET
>context. Using sophistic argument, trailing inconsequential facts, and
>finally, making acusations of "revisionism" and implying incompetency are
>weak rebuttals for a scholar.

Wasn't *that* special?

>It is the evidence that is presented here that is in question. The
>tuning instructions for Werckmeister III are explicit: they are based on
>tuning 5ths, with the 4 larger-than-just thirds merely resulting.

Huh? This must be a slip of the pen ("hij zonder zonden werpt de eerste
steen..."). To what should this refer?

>The Lubeck Marienkirche which contains 2 organs used by Buxtehude kept 2
>organs: the large one in ET, the "kleine" in Werckmeister III...all
>before J.S. Bach, according to church records. Based on key
>requirements, an organ was chosen, and a Mr. Shoof employs this
>practice today with recent recordings of both Buxtehude and J.S. Bach.

Hm. Equal temperament on an organ before 1685? (Please, Mr.
Reinhard, even *I* wouldn't have gone that far!) Could you cite the source
of the organological examination? I would be very curious to read it.


>> Kirnberger never wrote a book called "Von der Temperatur."

>"Von der Temperatur" is 4 pages long and I have a copy...no one said it
>was a book. It is contained at the end of the translated *Kunst...* and
>appeared earlier in the preface to the fourth collection of Kirnberger's
>*Clavieruebungen* (Berlin, 1766) and later in the preface to his
>*Vermischte Musicalien* (Berlin, 1769).

You are correct. (Just wanted to see if you were on your toes.) Fragments
of it are also contained in Sulzer's _Allgemeine Theorie der Schoenen
Kuenste._ (1771); the "Vorbericht" of Marpurg's _Versuch ueber die
musikalische Temperatur._ (1776); and Marpurg's _Legende einiger
Musikheiligen._(1786).

>Please calm your distress and keep a more open mind regarding
>historical truths.

I have already admitted that I dislike Equal Temperament, yet I find myself
defending it (the mind boggles). How much more open-minding would Mr.
Reinhard have me be? Perhaps defend the piano as a better vehicle for
Bach's keyboard music than the harpsichord?

>Music contains many falsities that have been built upon, amount
>to a proverbial mountain of cards. I agree that as a performer
>phenomenologically captures the intent of a composer regarding
>interpretation, he or she must try to ascertain the tuning framework that
>the composer, his milieu, and his age supported and/or endorsed.

[pause]

Hallelujah! Finally something we agree upon...

[restart]

>it is not a coincidence that most important works on tuning are as yet
>unavailable in translated languages, including important tracts by
>Zarlino, Fux, and Werckmeister.

Why bother with translations? Why not read the originals?

[snip]

>Face it: there is no evidence that JS Bach favored, or even used ET in
>his earlier works. And to some ears, his music is quite enriched by
>variegation of keys.

Of course I agree that most Bach sounds wonderful in Circular
temperaments. But I disagree that there is no evidence to show that the
temperament that Bach used was ET or something close to it.


Aleksander Frosztega



-------------------------------------------------------
Aleksander Frosztega "Odi summusos; proinde aperte
University of Utrecht dice quid sit quod times."
The Netherlands