AW.: RE: Re: Handel, Carrillo, Ives, Kirnberger, enharmonic

In einer Nachricht vom 1/5/00 9:38:25 PM (MEZ) Mitteleurop�ische Zeit
schreibt PErlich@Acadian-Asset.com:

<< >However, I wouldn't assume out of hand
>that modern notation of Handel uses a changed accidental from the
>manuscripts.

Then one would have to dig up the originals (if they still exist).
>>

The days of changing accidentals in Urtext editions are long gone. There are
plenty of performances of H�ndel in meantone (all of the concerts of the
Portland H�ndel Festival for example). (I get the impression that New York
City seems to have missed out on this aspect of the early music movement). 12
pitches of meantone are sufficient for the operas and oratorios, more pitches
are handy for the solo keyboard works, but they remain a minor part of
H�ndel's catalogue.

The greatest obstacle now to more meantone performances, ironically perhaps,
is the fact that so many new and historical baroque-style organs have been
put in a well temperament, ostensibly in order to play Sebastian Bach.

In einer Nachricht vom 1/13/00 6:47:38 PM (MEZ) Mitteleurop�ische Zeit
schreibt PErlich@Acadian-Asset.com:

<<
>What McLaren (or Erlich?) quotes as 'werdern' should apparently
>be 'werden' (I have not been able to find 'werdern' in any of
>my German books, so apparently it is a typo).

>And McLaren's translation mistakenly renders 'keiner' as
>'smaller': that word would have been 'kleiner'; 'keiner'
>means 'none'. >>

I don't have the original in hand, but from the syntax, the best explanation
is that the two words are typos for "werden" and "kleiner". Monzo's
correction and translation is creative but it just doesn't parse. Looking
back at MacLaren's translation, he does, in fact give a translation for
"werden" (become).

"Besser gefa"llt mir das beru"hmten
>> Herrn Capellmeister Telemanns `Systema Intervallorum' also
>> welcher die Octav in 55. geometrische Beschnitte (commata)
>> die von Stufe zu Stufe keiner werdern, theilet."
> (A rough translation: "The well-known Herr Cappelmeister
> Telemann's `Systema intervallorum' pleases me better,
> in which the octave is sliced up into 55 units [commata]
> which become smaller from top to bottom.")"

What is not necessarily correct is translating "Stufe zu Stufe" as from "top
to bottom"; it should just mean from "one (scale) step to the next", i.e.
ascending. That doesn't make it any clearer, nor is the term "geometrische"
in this context.