I agree that the F sharp minor "Pavanne" by Louis Couperin tells us little
about how he might have possibly retuned for this specific piece.
Especially given the fact that a special lute tuning of the time (*ton de
la chevre*) was based on F sharp.
There is at least one piece where Louis Couperin beautifully exploits an
"out of tune" note for musical reasons. It's the *Tombeau de Monsieur de
Blancrocher* (no. 81 in my edition). There are a couple of A flats (bars 31
and 52) that sound mournfully plaintive on their own, oscillating G/A
flat/G. If they are tuned as normal G sharps, they sound wonderful. The
crucial point being they do not have to sound with a fifth above them, or
with a major third above them. I often use this piece as an example of how
"out of tune" is a relative concept, and how having some intervals that are
technically out of tune can actually add something to the music.
There are a few other such notes in LC, but these are the most striking, I
think.
It's worth noting that in all his pieces in F major, there is never a
single G sharp notated, but there is a notable A flat in the Prelude no.
12. It's in the bass, and has an E flat directly above it as well as a C
natural above it. The piece exists in two sources (the Bauyn manuscript and
the Parville manuscript), and the A flat is only in one of them. To cite
from my own notes in the edition (p. 209):
"The flat is only in Parville. It could possibly have been a misreading of
the flat in the key signature at a new line. Yet note that there are other
a flats in this piece and no g sharps. It seems more likely that it is the
Bauyn scribe who made the error: in that source, the note is indeed at a
new line, and the low flat of the key signature is immediately by the note;
perhaps the scribe thought he had already copied the flat for the A? In any
case, given the Tenor E flat, an A flat is more likely, and is beautiful.
One cannot argue against it on the grounds of temperament since Couperin
uses A flats here (and in no. 81, also in F major); no F major piece ever
has a G sharp."
Best wishes,
DM
*Davitt MoroneyProfessor Emeritus Department of Music*
*Morrison Hall*
*University of California, BerkeleyCA 94720-1200*
On Sat, Dec 2, 2017 at 11:06 AM, dcc <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I know 1 piece by L. Couperin, in f# minor, a pavan. But I don't think
> there is any direct evidence about how LC would have tuned for this piece,
> so I don't think we can say that he was "deliberately exploiting the
> incorrectness".
>
> Regards,
> Dale
> ===============
>
>
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