Since I've been associated with some of those "excruciating" harmonies,
I've decided to drop in with a couple anecdotes:
Some years ago I arranged for time on the Schnitger organ at St. Cosmae
in Stade, N. Germany. The resident organist accompanied me to the
console and I began my customary explorations by improvising my way,
beginning with the Hauptwerk Principal. It was Schocking! The organist
screamed at me "Halten Sie, Halten Sie; die Orgel is Mitteltönig!"
("Stop! Stop! The organ is mean-tone!")
Well, yes, I knew that, but I'd begun my adventure, forgetting that it
was also tuned at the higher pitched "chor ton' and, hindered by
perfect pitch, I was immediately at war with the familiar keyboard and
the unfamiliar tonality my "improvisation" gave rise to. I was,
really, lost - for a moment. When we both settled down, I started
again, in the appropriate keys, and found it delicious.
As a student with my Masters Degree from the New England Conservatory,
some years before the Stade experience, I began studies with Karl
Richter as a Fulbright scholar. He immediately put me through his
beginners drill - the "Orgelbüchlein" (beginning appropriately enough
with Âlle Menschen müssen sterben), played by memory, and transposed
into the four neighboring keys. Of course, the organs we played were in
equal temperament.
So, I suppose, if I had REALLY wanted to, I could have transposed that
Buxtehude G Minor Praeludium for the OHS audience at Wellesley College,
but no. I did not. It was in a tuning with which Buxtehude was most
familiar. If it was disturbing, just ask, "why?"
Margaret Irwin-Brandon
385 Worthington St
Apt 3D
Springfield, MA 01103-1322
413-733-2380
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Note: opinions expressed on PIPORG-L are those of the individual con-
tributors and not necessarily those of the list owners nor of the Uni-
versity at Albany. For a brief summary of list commands, send mail to
[log in to unmask] saying GET LSVCMMDS.TXT or see the web
page at http://www.albany.edu/piporg-l/lsvcmmds.html .
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
|
