The Ill-Tempered Clavicinist

Tom,

Thanks for your response. I suppose my questions were badly phrased -- I
was hoping to compose some non-12-ET harpsichord music, preferably in a
commonly-used historical well-temperament (Werck III or the like) or
mean-tone; if only because harpsichordists seem loath to play anything
non-historical -- especially contemporary music in uncommon tunings --
and I wanted to be a bit accommodating. I suppose it's of no
consequence; after all, one cannot even approach a harpsichord with a
sheaf of contemporary music, without it should burst into flames or
something.

Harpsichords are beautiful-sounding instruments, and I've long desired
to have one of my own; but after having shopped the Internet -- and
after your exposition on harpsichord crankiness -- I can't forsee my
working-class salary paying $20,000 for a
mother-of-pearl-inlaid-and-real-gold-ormalu-covered Phlegmish zither
that can't hold a tuning for more than a few bars of Bach, or which
needs a completely different historical tuning altogether when I move it
to the other side of the room, where the acoustics are slightly altered.
How I miss real craftsmanship! :-D

J.Smith schrieb:
> Tom,
> > Thanks for your response. I suppose my questions were badly phrased -- I
> was hoping to compose some non-12-ET harpsichord music, preferably in a
> commonly-used historical well-temperament (Werck III or the like) or
> mean-tone; if only because harpsichordists seem loath to play anything
> non-historical -- especially contemporary music in uncommon tunings --
> and I wanted to be a bit accommodating. I suppose it's of no
> consequence; after all, one cannot even approach a harpsichord with a
> sheaf of contemporary music, without it should burst into flames or
> something.

You seem to be unaware of Ligeti's cembalo pieces and his "hit" Hungarian Rock (in meantone). http://www.sound-library.net/shop/de_DE/products/catalogs/1/1000201/

klaus

Klaus Schmirler wrote:
> J.Smith schrieb:
> >> Tom,
>>
>> Thanks for your response. I suppose my questions were badly phrased -- I
>> was hoping to compose some non-12-ET harpsichord music, preferably in a
>> commonly-used historical well-temperament (Werck III or the like) or
>> mean-tone; if only because harpsichordists seem loath to play anything
>> non-historical -- especially contemporary music in uncommon tunings --
>> and I wanted to be a bit accommodating. I suppose it's of no
>> consequence; after all, one cannot even approach a harpsichord with a
>> sheaf of contemporary music, without it should burst into flames or
>> something.
>> >
> You seem to be unaware of Ligeti's cembalo pieces and his "hit" > Hungarian Rock (in meantone). > http://www.sound-library.net/shop/de_DE/products/catalogs/1/1000201/
>
> Or of the existence of a fairly large body of contemporary music for harpsichord in general. Plenty of modern composers love it for it's combination being a historical instrument while at the same time being an antidote to the "age of the romantic" image of the piano.

-A.

> >
>

Hi Jon,

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "J.Smith" <jsmith9624@...> wrote:

> <snip> ... I can't forsee my working-class
> salary paying $20,000 for a
> mother-of-pearl-inlaid-and-real-gold-ormalu-covered
> Phlegmish zither

You do mean "Flemish", don't you?

(or was that an intentional joke?)

-monz
http://tonalsoft.com
Tonescape microtonal music software

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "J.Smith" <jsmith9624@...> wrote:
>
>
> Tom,
>
> Thanks for your response. I suppose my questions were badly phrased -- I
> was hoping to compose some non-12-ET harpsichord music, preferably in a
> commonly-used historical well-temperament (Werck III or the like) or
> mean-tone; if only because harpsichordists seem loath to play anything
> non-historical -- especially contemporary music in uncommon tunings --
> and I wanted to be a bit accommodating. I suppose it's of no
> consequence; after all, one cannot even approach a harpsichord with a
> sheaf of contemporary music, without it should burst into flames or
> something.
>
> Harpsichords are beautiful-sounding instruments, and I've long desired
> to have one of my own; but after having shopped the Internet -- and
> after your exposition on harpsichord crankiness -- I can't forsee my
> working-class salary paying $20,000 for a
> mother-of-pearl-inlaid-and-real-gold-ormalu-covered Phlegmish zither
> that can't hold a tuning for more than a few bars of Bach, or which
> needs a completely different historical tuning altogether when I move it
> to the other side of the room, where the acoustics are slightly altered.
> How I miss real craftsmanship! :-D
>

Did I say harpsichords were *cranky* ? I hope not. Actually my two
short concerts last week went well tuning-wise: the instrument held
almost perfectly over two days, being moved before and after the
concert, and only a handful of notes needed correcting each time.
Which was lucky, considering the number of tourists mumbling around
the church, not to mention the babies. My only anxiety in the end was
putting my fingers in the wrong place. Pianos are really not that much
better: recording studios generally keep a tuner/technician on hand
during any piano solo recording. There are literally about ten times
as many things that can go wrong in a piano.

What I said was that harpsichords are *individual*. You probably
wouldn't compose the same way for a small Italian single manual one as
for a large French double manual. (Would you write a song the same way
for Sting and Dmitri Hvorostovsky?)

This is a *good* thing about harpsichords, because it means one can
create more individual and interesting music than if they all sounded
the same.

You may find it written that much harpsichord music is suited for many
different types of instrument; and so it can be (Bach is usually
cited) - but much of it was also written to exploit specific and
individual types of sonority.

Anyway, if you want to compose something for the harpsichord, whatever
kind, you have to hear it first, I mean really *listen* in detail.
Which means you either have to buy one, or hear a lot of good,
recently recorded harpsichord CDs - and even then you won't get much
idea what strongly unconventional tunings sound like, unless there is
some interesting stuff going on with meantone.

But how much must you spend to buy a musically perfectly functional
instrument? Probably less than $5,000, actually.

For example this one is $6,000 brand new :
http://www.dalyharpsichords.com/Bambino.htm

if you are willing to look around for second-hand - including spinets
and virginals - you can get pretty cheap. See here:

http://www.harpsichord.com/List/list_frmset.html

As for modern harpsichord music, check these out:
http://netcells.net/creative/index.php?g=1203780257

That is Jane Chapman's repertoire, how many dozens of pieces do you want?

Writing in 'unusual' tuning for harpsichord is, in the abstract, a
fairly good idea, because the instrument's tuning is very easy to
alter within limits (given a reasonable time to achieve the new
tuning). Main thing to note is that you can't take strings a semitone
above their intended pitch level without considerable risk of breakage.

Perhaps you should try composing for synthetic MIDI harpsichord timbre
instead. It's ugly and monotonous, but also extremely cheap, and can
be retuned absolutely at will!

Honestly, I don't know what you are really wanting to do. I would hope
the musical idea comes first, then when you get some more precise
notion of what it should sound like, your tuning requirements should
fall into place. Or if you hear a recording or performance where you
really like the tuning, or the sound of the instrument, you can try
and find out what it was and go from there. I'm not sure where the
rest of us come in to the game. Composing is a solo sport...

~~~T~~~