During historical periods when instrumental music rose in prominence (relative to the voice), there was a continuous tendency for pitch levels to rise. This pitch inflation seemed largely a product of instrumentalists competing with each other, each attempting to produce a brighter, more brilliant, sound than that of their rivals. (In string instruments, this is not all acoustic illusion: when tuned up, they actually sound objectively brighter because the higher string tension results in larger amplitudes for the harmonics.) This tendency was also prevalent with wind instrument manufacturers, who crafted their instruments to play generally at a higher pitch than those made by the same craftsmen years earlier. On at least two occasions, pitch inflation had become so severe that reform became needed. At the beginning of the 17th century, Michael Praetorius reported in his encyclopedic Syntagma musicum that pitch levels had become so high that singers were experiencing severe throat strain and lutenists and viol players were complaining of snapped strings. The standard voice ranges he cites show that the pitch level of his time, at least in the part of Germany where he lived, was at least a minor third higher than todays. Solutions to this problem were sporadic and local, but generally involved the establishment of separate standards for voice and organ (Chorton) and for chamber ensembles (Kammerton). Where the two were combined, as for example in a cantata, the singers and instrumentalists might perform from music written in different keys. This system kept pitch inflation at bay for some two centuries. The advent of the orchestra as an independent (as opposed to accompanying) ensemble brought pitch inflation to the fore again. The rise in pitch at this time can be seen reflected in tuning forks. An 1815 tuning fork from the Dresden opera house gives A = 423.2 Hz, while one of eleven years later from the same opera house gives A = 435 Hz. At La Scala in Milan, the A above middle C rose as high as 451 Hz. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_pitch#Pitch_inflation
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 20:41:37 +0000
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