Snippet from the the BBC - the horror key

I walked in on a discussion of Purcell's music on the radio. At the
mention of quarter comma meantone I listened more closely and gathered
that they were talking about "the horror key" which has an "extremely
flat third". This was in relation to either Dido and Aeneas or the Fairy
Queen. Sorry I don't have more to go on.

I didn't realise the extent to which Purcell, or anyone for that matter,
used meantone in this way, ie deliberately exploiting the dissonant
resources of the tuning. Food for thought?

Regards

In-Reply-To: <3D1035DD.AE7011AC@which.net>
Alison Monteith wrote:

> I walked in on a discussion of Purcell's music on the radio. At the
> mention of quarter comma meantone I listened more closely and gathered
> that they were talking about "the horror key" which has an "extremely
> flat third". This was in relation to either Dido and Aeneas or the Fairy
> Queen. Sorry I don't have more to go on.

It was part of a broadcast of the Fairy Queen, so I'll guess that one. F
minor was the key mentioned, because you get G# when you wanted Ab.

> I didn't realise the extent to which Purcell, or anyone for that matter,
> used meantone in this way, ie deliberately exploiting the dissonant
> resources of the tuning. Food for thought?

It was news to me as well, but the snippet they played sounded dissonant
all right. It included an organ, which wouldn't have been retunable.

Graham

--- In tuning@y..., Alison Monteith <alison.monteith3@w...> wrote:

> I didn't realise the extent to which Purcell, or anyone for that
matter,
> used meantone in this way, ie deliberately exploiting the dissonant
> resources of the tuning. Food for thought?

yes, it's well-documented that several composers deliberately
exploited the dissonant resources, such as the "wolves", of meantone.