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Harpsichords and Related Topics

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From:
Bruce Jacobs <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Harpsichords and Related Topics <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 2 Dec 2017 03:26:11 +0000
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Thanks, Andrew



I’ll do a search.



At dessert, I retuned D# to Eb and G# to Ab.



Bruce



From: Harpsichords and Related Topics <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> on behalf of Andrew Bernard <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>

Reply-To: Harpsichords and Related Topics <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>

Date: Friday, December 1, 2017 at 6:34 PM

To: Harpsichords and Related Topics <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>

Subject: Re: Froberger Temperament On Topic



Hi Bruce,



No need to assert that you are on topic in the subject (besides, there are

those for who the matter of temperament is considered mathematical and

properly belonging to the tuning groups, and off topic :-)



What exactly did you 'switch at dessert'? Not clear.



Anyway, while a given temperament has an ideal representation

arithmetically, the practical musician never achieves pinpoint precision -

although one can get very close - due to lack of exact hearing, issues with

the instrument, noise from the surroundings, strings with kinks, various

nonlinearities and inharmonicities, and a hundred other things. In practice

you tune as well as you can. Then there's nothing wrong with setting a few

notes between pieces for sharps or flats is there? After all, guitarists

and lutenists and violinists and others tune between pieces.



What we think Mr Froberger did and what he actually did we will never know.

And I don't think there is a treatise by him on it (?). But it does not

stretch credibility to assume that he would tweak notes for different

contexts, after all, it a rapid and easy. But then there is the other

aspect, which is that of hearing perception in previous times. Flattened

out as we are by equal temperament and modern hearing (even those of us who

are learned in all the temperaments), it possible that musicians enjoyed

and indeed relished the marvellous effects in meantone, which we tend to

rapidly dismiss as being out of tune or unusable,. We have different mental

filters today than Froberger had.



Froberger may have had several instruments on hand or home or in concerts.

It's not unreasonable that you could tune them differently for different

key contexts, providing a refreshing change of colour and sound for the

listener at the same time. Or some on the organ and some on the

harpsichord. All sorts of winderful possibilities.



Speaking of old threads, I seem to recall there has been a lot of

discussion on this topic on the list in the past. May be worth doing a

search.



Andrew





On 2 December 2017 at 10:55, Bruce Jacobs <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:





What do we think would have been done by the master, given some pieces

need sharps, and others flats?







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