You wrote:
 
>
>Doesn't the whole notion of selecting the "proper" temperament for a
>piece written in F# minor defeat one of the most important reasons for
>choosing unequal temperament in the first place, namely, to highlight
the
>uniqueness of each tonal center by giving it a particular sonority?  In
>other words, why didn't Bach simply keep the C#-major prelude (WTC I)
in
>C major?  Or better yet, why not transpose the C-major prelude up a
half
>step?  We know from internal evidence (Barnes, Early Music, 1979) that
>Bach factored the wideness of the major thirds into the compositional
>processes for these pieces.
 
It appears to me to be a different case.  I have as much capacity for
wide thirds etc. as any listener I know, yet that piece does not relate
to the temperament in the same way that other Bach pieces typically do,
craftily skirting the dissonances when it pleases him, sticking it to
you when *that* pleases him.  Rather, it seems to me a kind of random
violence... until you find an "appropriate" (my word, my judgement)
temperament.  I would urge any reader wondering about this to try the
formula cited, i.e. Werckmeister, Kirnberger, whatever, transposed up a
half step, and see what happens.  All those obsessive repetitions
suddenly open out into quite astonishingly new harpsichord sonorities.
This is all, of course, my opinion and experience, and should be taken
as such.
 
Joseph Spencer
 
  Is the F#-minor toccata, written earlier in
>Bach's career, an altogether different situation?  I, for one, find
>nothing "musically inappropriate" with a straight Werckmeister tuning
for
>this piece, and do not mind the Pythagorean thirds (F#-A#, C#-E#) which
>obtain.  But, then again, understand that I once performed the B-minor
>Wuerttemberg sonata -- in temperament ordinaire!
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>Rob Utterback, Music Library    E-mail:  [log in to unmask]
>The University of Michigan      Phone:  (313) 747-9857 (hm.)
>Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2085                (313) 936-1419 (wk.)
>
>On Tue, 22 Nov 1994, Joseph Spencer wrote:
>
>> Recently I was recording with Ed Parmentier the Bach Toccatas, and I
>> knew the F# minor was coming up, and I hadn't dealt with the proper
>> temperament to use for it.  [As a policy I like to use the
temperament
>> that is farthest from equal but still appropriate to the piece,
>> historically and musically.] I ended up making a map of the key areas
>> that dominate that rather peculiar work, and comparing them to common
>> temperaments of the period. What I noticed was that the predominate
>> tonal areas were a half-tone sharp of the "good" key areas in
>> Werckmeister (or any of the usual modified meantones of the time).  I
>> immediately thought "transposing keyboard", and furrowed my brow,
>> thinking "If only Bach had a transposing keyboard!"  I talked with
John
>> Koster at the Shrine to Music Museum about it, and he pointed out
that
>> North Germany and indeed Thuringia seems to have been a center for
such
>> devices, as they appear on some of the earliest instruments there.
>> So... we tuned the Jacques Germain instrument in Werckmeister
transposed
>>  a half step, and the result was magical.  I don't know if others
have
>> made this discovery, but it was great fun.
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Joseph Spencer [log in to unmask]
>> The Musical Offering Classical Record Shop & Cafe
>> 2430 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704
>> ph (510)849-0211, toll-free 800-478-MUSIC
>> FAX 510-849-9214
>>
>
>