ET, Bach and other stuff

[PianoTek4u@AOL.COM]

First of all, I want to thank all of you for a great forum of ideas presented 
here.   I think a few corrections are in order, however.   Bach's WELL 
TEMPERED CLAVIER (Book 1) of 1722 was not the first collection of pieces to 
demonstrate the efficacy of ET.  J. K. F. Fisher's ARIADNE MUSICA is a 
collection of 19 preludes and fugues completed in 1715 and therefore preceded 
Bach's effort by 7 years.  Granted, Fischer did not use all 24 major and 
minor keys, but his collection is the major forerunner to Bach's WTC.  
Perhaps some of you know of other efforts that even preceded Fischer's.

With regard to linear writing in music, please be aware that looking at music 
in terms of chords was known and practiced long before Rameau wrote his 
famous treatise in 1722.  The Baroque Period was already waning by the time 
Rameau tried to explain and expound upon what composers had already been 
doing for decades.  One of the reasons there was such an explosion of musical 
creativity in the Baroque was due to the efforts of Count Bardi, Vincenzo 
Galilei (father of the astronomer), Peri, Caccini, and others who made up the 
Florentine Camerata in the late 16th century.  Their major gripe was 
polyphonic texture in music.......vocal music to be more precise.  In fact, 
Count Bardi called polyphony, "...a depraved and insolent whore..."  His 
words, not mine!  As a result, the Camerata set out to create a new style or s
tile moderno in vocal music which also spilled over into instrumental music.  
 One of their developments was monody, a recitation of poetry usually in free 
rthythm with sparse SUPPORT from an instrument.  Consequently, the vocal line 
could be clearly understood as opposed to the polyphony of the Renaissance 
where the words were often lost in the linear writing.  Resulting from this 
idea was the basso continuo or thorough bass which was usually a cello and 
harpsichord supporting other instruments or singers which is what we hear in 
so many Baroque forms of music:  opera, cantata, oratorio, passion, concerto, 
etc.  Many of these forms were a direct result of the theories of the 
Camerata being put into practice.  The point here is that the basso continuo 
was specifically designed as not only a rhythmic entity but a HARMONIC one as 
well.  The Camerata was viciously attacked by Artusi and, in turn, defended 
by the composer, Claudio Monteverdi who made the transition from Renaissance 
to Early Baroque.  By the time of Arcangelo Corelli in the 1680's....the 
major/minor key system was firmly established and the modal system faded from 
music.  Needless to say, the practicality of tuning in some form of ET went 
hand in hand with these developments.  I hope this "nutshell" history lesson 
was enjoyable and perhaps others can expound on some points even further.  
Thanks.

AGB