Sweelinck's Fantasia Chromatica in mean-tone tuning

Three performances of the same piece in differing temperaments. This is mean-tone. For a discussion about temperaments see http://msteer.co.uk/edu/3temperament.htm

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Michael Maxwell Steer
• michael ellis-jones
• ColourMuse tuning
• sweelinck
• fantasia
• chromatica
• werckmeister
• mean-tone
• equal
• temperament
• virginals
• harpsichord
• spinet
• organ
• ColourMuse
• tuning

[maxwellsteer]

There's probably a long Wikipedia entry on this. There are many contemporary surmises on the range of pitches used in musical 'prehistory'. Standardisation of pitch was driven by touring virtuosi in the 19thC. Germany had the convention of Kammer Ton & Chor Ton but Im not clear about the difference. Prior to the creation of tunning forks (when?) the only evidence is the length of organ pipes, but that is scarce.

[partialalignment]

I have a recording of the 48, played on a piano tuned in Thomas Young's well temperament number 1 (1799). The progression of tonal colour from C major to F# is a joy to listen to. The P&F book II in G#m sounds fantastic.

[maxwellsteer]

Is that 'Vallotti & Young'? I agree with you in principle, but would argue that in practice you can tune equal temperament by ear: or put another way, the results of 'slightly unequal temperament' prevent the blandness of absolute uniformity.

Hindustani music is based on microtonality, the different ragas being a response to rasa (mood) - but none use the mechanistic Western approach of simply subdividing the scale mathematically. I think we've lost something 'relational' that really matters.

[suffiice]

would you be so kind as to send me the score for this or tell me where it is available online?

[maxwellsteer]

I cant send you the score, and doubt that it's available online. But you should be able to buy it in print somewhere.

[10centguitar]

Bach couldnt have used equal temperament. There was no accurate way to measure the twelfth-root of 12 before the beginning of the 20th century. As to the comment "Bach really can't be played in unequal temperament." I would say not to our 20th century 12ET ears. With our acceptance of disgusting thirds and sixths. This is 1/4-comma meantone right? What about 1/6 comma? Or Bradley Lehman's understanding of "Bach's temperament" Our "Rosetta Stone"?

[maxwellsteer]

Bach was viewed as increasingly old-fashioned in his life as the galante style evolved, driven by his son CPE. Forgotten by the time of his death, nobody knew about his music until Mendelssohn pioneered a Bach revival in the mid 19thC. By that time equal temp was well established due to the piano. That's why he really had no influence on it. True, nobody knows exactly what he intended, but if playing the 48 (as I am currently) it's plain that nothing except abs ET works - see G#m or Bbm P&F Bk2

[padaneis]

@Bombarde16 Many thanks for your reply!

[Bombarde16]

@maxwellsteer - "Bach can't be played in unequal temperament."

Unequal temperament encompasses a broad spectrum of systems, ranging from 1/4 syntonic comma meantone (which is indeed a bit rough for some Bach works) all the way out to later 18th century systems that are almost indistinguishable from 12ET. Some suit Bach better than others; but to damn the whole lot of them together and assume that Bach must therefore have been a champion of equal temperament is utter nonsense.

[Bombarde16]

@maxwellsteer - Actually, in classical 1/4 SC meantone, E-flat forms a dead pure third with G and has the same tempered fifth as all the other "good" keys. A-flat is the rancid one, with an enharmonic third that does indeed sound discordant. Tonally, it does indeed cripple the key of E-flat not to have a proper subdominant; but there's nothing wrong with E-flat itself.

[Bombarde16]

@padaneis - Traditional meantone would have E-flat instead of D-sharp, leading to a rancid enharmonic third between B and D-sharp.  I don't have the score in front of me, but IIRC there aren't any E-flats in the piece, in which case (and depending on what else you were playing on the program) you could just as easily tune a D-sharp instead of E-flat.

[Bombarde16]

@10centguitar - "Bach couldn't have used equal temperament"

Probably more accurate to say that, even though Bach and his contemporaries *could* have used 12ET, they chose not to. 12ET was described by theorists generations before Bach but practicing musicians generally balked at the rotten sounding thirds and the pain-in-the-arse fussiness that 12ET is to tune by ear.

[JSAntares]

I too was smiling at the end!

[ccoraxfan]

@suffiice You can find the score freely available online at imslp (dot org) on the page entitled:

Fantasia in D minor (Sweelinck, Jan Pieterszoon)

[norre1024]

To anyone who cares: equal temperament can actually be tuned accurately by ear without ever counting absolute beat rates. Just set up an octave with a stack of thirds beating in 5 to 4 ratios. With the framework in place, you can quite easily find the size of fifths and fourths and finish the temperament.

[Sakurazuka1999]

Sweelinck in equal temperament is just boring.

Thank you for this performance in meantone tuning !

[kratanuva725]

@maxwellsteer (cont.) ... E.A, -->

Meantone, Modified Meantone, Well temperament, mild well temperament, quazi-equal, equal.