Historical temperamentals (longer)

A440A@AOL.COM A440A@AOL.COM
Tue, 10 Aug 1999 16:44:45 EDT


Conrad and Jim write: 

> If you are referring to Montal's "L'Art d'accorder soimeme son piano" .....
and:
>I didn't know the Montal book was lost.  I saw a copy of it at FLP (Free
>Library of Philadelphia) back in '82 when I was doing some research.

Well, there we have it.  I had been introduced to this book as a "new find" 
at an AMIS meeting about 6 years ago,  I have been mistaken for that length 
of time,eh, but no more.  
    Do we know what effect this book had, then?  Was it found in the 
factories after 1832 or is there historical evidence that it stood in "good 
repute", (like we see other writers describing the temperaments of Young, 
Kirnberger, etal?)  I am trying to assign credibility to a lot of long past 
events, and am usually more comfortable about believing something when the 
record shows various sources.  

    Also,  I am going to cross post something that Stephen Birkett mentioned 
on the Ludwig list, he was talking about the physial pianos, but I think it 
has some bearing on the question of composers attitudes:
Stephen Birkett wrote:
>>Brahms, who, in his piano writing, adhered to his
mental conception of the pianos of his youth, always recommending, and
buying for himself, quite reactionary pianos for the time (e.g. 1878 J.B.
Streicher Viennese piano). 
<snip>
> Composers obviously
adapted to the changes in the piano over their lifetime, but most were
much more reactionary than is generally believed. 

    Hmmm, it seems logical that they would be as reactionary about their 
intonation as their actions.  I think the temperament of any of the 
composer's childhoods might have a very influential effect on their entire 
tonal outlook, and usually adjust from early to later when trying to zero in 
on an "optimum" temperament for a given composer.  This, of course is making 
the assumption that one exists, but the chase is continually interesting  



    Any more information on Montal would be appreciated.   Also, one of my 
customers is out there trying to establish the possibility that Chopin and A. 
DeMorgan may have met and exhanged ideas on tuning and key.  This is WAY out 
in the weeds, but if anyone has suggestions for this particular research,  
that would be valuable info. 
    
     


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