Isacoff's crusade.

[David Skolnik]

Ed -
I hardly need another list in my life, but, just the same, could you give 
the address?
Thanks -

David Skolnik





At 08:54 PM 03/11/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>Greetings all,
>      Some of you by now have seen or read the Stuart Isacoff book
>"Temperament" .  The members of the "Tuning" list have been having a bit of
>spar over it, and the following post was sent in by J. Reinhard.  It is a
>sentence by sentence of a small portion of the book.  The quote is the first
>line, Johnny's response, marked with the ----,  follows each of Isacoff's
>sentences.
>    Just another look at the topic!
>Regards,
>Ed Foote RPT
>
> From the Tuning list:
>BY JOHNNY REINHARD
>
>Isacoff Errors p. 216-217 with the text appearing as in the book, though
>
>sentence by sentence:
>
>
>Equal temperament was not, however, the only tuning proposed to
>
>accommodate this new musical trend.
>
>----The wrong implication as Werckmeister preceded ET on keyboards
>
>
>Werckmeister developed an irregular temperament that came to be known as well
>
>temperament.
>
>-----Werckmeister called it, and likely named it well temperament.
>
>
>In Werckmeister's well-tempered tuning, certain keys were more in tune than
>
>others, but none were so out of tune as to be unplayable.
>
>-----No key were was more dissonant than Pythagorean, which was still heard
>
>in the culture.
>
>
>Therefore, as a musical work moved from one key center to another, the shift
>
>would become blatant: the more far-reaching the displacement, the more
>
>grating the harmonies.
>
>-----Not blatant at all, at least most people do not register any difference
>
>at all. And there is nothing grating other than a modern predisposition.
>
>Isacoff clearly has not heard the tuning.
>
>
>This variegation a kind of perspective through audible shading was seized
>
>upon as a good thing by opponents of equal temperament, who saw in
>
>Werckmeister's system the advantage of a built-in musical syntax.
>
>-----This happens after Werckmeister and after Bach, not during the Baroque.
>
>
>Changes in a piece s scales and harmonies were now overlaid with an added
>
>expressive element: a dramatic change in the quality of sound, depending on
>
>which tones the music revolved around at a given moment.
>
>-----Baroque composers were careful not to overexpose the foreign keys or
>
>chords. Here Isacoff is at the tip of the iceberg regarding its potential
>
>expressivity.
>
>
>(Of course, this change would only occur on keyboard instruments; strings and
>
>woodwinds were left to pursue their own musical grammars.)
>
>-----Poppycock. Woodwinds always played, along with the strings of the
>
>Baroque, with the ever present keyboard. There is no separate grammar.
>
>
>Advocates claimed for well temperament the bonus of giving each key its own
>
>character; but for many, subjecting a keyboard to gradations of in-and
>
>out-of-tuneness offered little in the way of musical value.
>
>-----This is ignorance of the value of key character. It shows up the value
>
>for melody ala the Rousseau bit since the ecstatic free nature of melody is
>
>better represented. And more in the way of musical value, not less.
>
>
>Indeed, Werckmeister himself eventually became an advocate for equal
>
>temperament.
>
>-----This is a lie. Werckmeister supported his chromatic tuning throughout
>
>his entire life, as I have previously exposed on this list.
>
>
>The German critic and composer Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg who, at the request
>
>of the heirs of Bach, wrote a preface for a new edition of the master's Art
>
>of Fugue offered a terse critique of the well-tempered system in 1776:
>
>Diversity in the character of the keys, he wrote, will serve only to increase
>
>a diversity of bad sounds in the performance.
>
>-----Marpurg was the director of the lottery and a bitter man. He is writing
>
>against Kirnberger (who was supported by CPE Bach and others).
>
>
>There is controversy to this day over whether Bach preferred equal or well
>
>temperament. Some theorists contend that there is internal evidence in his
>
>music differences in the way he handled different keys to suggest he had well
>
>temperament in mind.
>
>-----Yet there is little by Isacoff to represent the other side fairly.
>
>
>(One modern scholar insists that he has broken the code of Bach's secret
>
>tuning by unraveling the images in the composer's personal seal, which
>
>contained seven points and five dashes. However, his secret solution
>
>conflicts with statements about temperament made by musicians in Bach's
>
>circle.)
>
>-----Rather crude not to mention Herbert's name. Why not indicate what
>
>conflicts there were with statements in Bach's circle?
>
>
>There is as much evidence on the other side: Bach's biographer Johann
>
>Nikolaus Forkel reported, for example, that Bach moved so subtly through the
>
>keys that listeners never noticed the change; this suggests equal
>
>temperament.
>
>-----And yet Forkel is one of the clearest that Bach is not equal
>
>temperament. None of this proves that Bach used anything different than
>
>Werckmeister. Only Isacoff is suggesting ET.
>
>
>His obituary made a similar comment about the artful way in which he tuned
>
>his instruments
>
>-----And tuning Werckmeister is MUCH faster than tuning 12-tET
>
>