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Subject:
From:
Bradley P Lehman <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Harpsichords and Related Topics <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 5 Apr 2001 16:53:08 -0400
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> How much of a stretch is it to propose that Walther wrote out this f#
> toccata for the duke's teenaged son for a lesson?  And how much of a
> stretch is it to propose that JSB and JGW collaborated in studying
> Buxtehude copies during those years? And how much of a stretch is it to
> propose that one day somebody said, "Hey, what if we put both the Bux
> piece and this new toccata into f# minor?  It would be a good way to teach
> this young noble about composition!"  (As I noted before, f# minor in the
> toccata lets the lowest note, BB#, fit onto a C-c''' keyboard.)  "Let's
> give this guy some music he can study at home!"

"And let's stretch the kid's ears and fingers some, maybe with that
newfangled Werckmeister temperament.  He said he wants to try another
modern piece anyway, and he's past that easy stuff in Fischer's _Ariadne
Musica_ from a couple years ago.  He's not real good at tuning yet, we're
lucky if I can get him to set the fifths pure let alone shrink them a
little, so I usually just let him make them pure.  Easier just to run
around the circle pure for as many as possible than doing anything
tasteful by ear, since he's just a teenager yet.  Heck, if we just told
him to make all the fifths pure he'd probably by error somewhere make the
circle close half the time, or fuss with it until it sounds good.  It's a
game of luck what key sounds good when he tunes.  His ear's not good
enough yet that he even cares what the hell key his music is in.  I'd
rather see him get everything sucky but reasonable than put his wolf in
some random place.  Especially for the Fischer.

"So anyway, I want to give him a weird modern piece with a bunch of sharps
and see what he does with it.  Yeah, I know f# feels awfully strange to
play in, and the sound is gnarly, but hey, let's get him to recognize what
double-sharps are!  If we put it in this wacko key he'll have to think by
intervals instead of habits.  Whaddya think, Sebastian?  Got anything
fairly tough we can slap into f# minor just to blow his mind?  Then I want
to give him a fugue assignment in c# minor next week.

"Hey, speaking of the Fischer, when are you gonna bring that back?"

[c1712]


Bradley Lehman, Dayton VA
home: http://i.am/bpl  or  http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl
CD's: http://listen.to/bpl or http://www.mp3.com/bpl

"Music must cause fire to flare up from the spirit - and not only sparks
from the clavier...." - Alfred Cortot

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