Re: [tuning] diminished scale and Bach

Carl Lumma wrote:

>
> >I was taught that even Bach used it once or twice.
>
> I'm not surprised -- do you have any refereces? Of
> course, I _would_ be surprised if he composed in the
> diminished scale for long periods of time.
>
> -Carl
>

I don't know about the diminished scale as such, but there are plenty diminished arpeggios. My
greatest find was a lydian augmented scale tucked away at bar 39 of the Courante of his
(Bach's) second Partita in D minor for solo violin. It can be analysed more conventionally,
but the phrasing and the modal modulation of the following bars lends itself to this
interpretation, and anyway, I wouldn't put anything past old Johann Sebastian.