OFF (*was: neurology)

[A440A@AOL.COM]

Greetings,

    Two postings from Susan K. combined in one here; 

Inre the preponderance of simpler keys being used by Beethoven and Schubert 
Susan writes: 

>1. At the time of Beethoven and Schubert, music was FINALLY being published
>for the general public. Many of them would have trouble with a lot of sharps
>or flats. Simpler keys might have been chosen to appeal to the public more.

     Seems Beethoven was indignant when it was suggested that he write a 
simpler part for the violin, saying something to the effect, "Do you think I 
care about your fiddle when I am writing music for eternity!".  He was also 
on record as being vehemently opposed to his piano music being transposed to 
other keys.  Does this not indicate that his choice of key was based on 
musical reasons? 

>2. Slightly later, Chopin chose keys with lots of accidentals, because 
playing
>on the black keys is technically easier. So, the growth of technically
>difficult music may have affected the choice of keys, 

   Reason's for Chopin's choice of keys has been ascribed to both the extra 
brilliance found in the remote keys (In WT) helping his weak frame produce 
strength of sound, and also to the hand positions he preferred. This doesn't 
definitively explain why he wrote the way he did, though, so I don't 
know,either.    

   it is interesting to plot the amount of music written in the particular 
keys in a chart,(Koval, you listening?) and then arrange them via the circle 
of fifths.  What happens when such a chart is placed alongside my charts of 
the thirds widths is that it appears to be a mirror image, ie, the most 
frequent usage seems to be found in the keys with the smallest WT thirds.  
Chopin's is a complete reversal of this, so there is some kind of a pattern 
here, even if it escapes me exactly what it means.   

>If more music was being written in distant keys, it may have helped along
>the process toward mild Wells and "quasi-ET's".

I wish there was a compendium of all piano music written in the 1700's, 
1800's and 1900's that was arranged by key signature!  If anyone knows of 
this , please let me know.  It is obvious that in the meantone era, nobody 
was using the wolf keys, and today's modern jazzers are all over the map, but 
it seems that we can see some sort of progression between these two 
extremes,and with enough info, it may be possible to find that the evolution 
of temperament and composition are linked in a parallel manner.  

 I wrote: 
>> Bach is on record(Kirnberger) for having said, "Tune all thirds sharp",
>>and his Wohl-Tempered Clavier is correctly translated as "Completely 
tempered
>>Clavier".

Susan asks: 
>Question --- tune ALL thirds sharp, or all MAJOR thirds sharp? Add a sharp
>major third and a sharp minor third, and you get an atrocious wide fifth ...

I would assume M3rds, since there seems to be little written about tuning 
that mentions the m3 before the 1800's, (Montal).  
Regards, 
Ed Foote