Re: TD 666 -- Music for meantone harpsichord (Steve Kallstrom)

Hello, there, and here's a quick response on the choice of pieces for
a harpsichord recital fitting a meantone temperament.

Just about any Western European music of the 16th and early 17th
centuries would fit this temperament, generally staying within the
compass of a regular 12-note keyboard (Eb-G#, or sometimes Bb-D# or
Ab-C#). A few pieces call for more than 12 notes per octave, using for
example both G# and Ab, but these "experimental" pieces are a
relatively small percentage of the total repertory.

The main possible exception that occurs to me is some lute music
specifically assuming an instrument tuned in 12-tone equal temperament
(12-tet), which becomes standard for lutes by around 1545 or
so. However, some lute pieces from the earlier part of the century
(e.g. Milan) may have been intended especially for a meantone tuning.

One choice that occurs to me is Antonio Cabezon, whose keyboard
compositions sometimes highlight meantone intervals such as the
augmented fifth (around 25:16) or diminished fourth (around 32:25)
which have a "special effect" in this tuning, and add spice to the
music.

Note, by the way, that if you tuned your lower manual in a usual Eb-G#
meantone with 1/4-comma temperament (pure major thirds), and then
tuned your second manual to the same scheme, but a meantone diesis
(128:125 or ~41.06 cents higher), you'd have a 24-note subset of
Nicola Vicentino's basic 31-note tuning for his _archicembalo_ or
"superharpsichord." Here, instead of being a quartertone apart, the
two manuals are about a fifthtone apart.

Incidentally, may I ask when your recital is scheduled? If there's
time, I'd be glad to offer more suggestions about repertory, maybe via
e-mail.

Most appreciatively,

Margo Schulter
mschulter@value.net