Harpsichord tuning: 17th-Century regular...morphed to Bach's

A normal 17th-Century harpsichord temperament is heard first: regular "1/6 comma meantone".

A folk tune (Twinkle, twinkle, little star / A-B-C-D-E-F-G / Ah, vous dirais-je, Maman / Morgen kommt der Weihnachtsmann...) is played in the four keys of D, B, A-flat, and F major. Two of these scales are excellent, and two of them are terrible.

The sarabande from Bach's B minor French Suite illustrates the behavior of this minor key: problems with the too-sharp D#, A#, and E# as they occur in the music. Those notes are too sharp because they were tuned for their more common use as Eb, Bb, and F...and in this style of tuning, the correct spelling of the note names matters that much.

Then, the harpsichord is retuned by moving six of the 12 notes in each octave. The adjustments are based on a drawing that Bach put on his title page of the "Well-Tempered Clavier"...which I take as his method of adjusting that normal tuning into something more flexible and beautiful.

The notes C, D, E, F, G, and A of the C major scale are retained as they were, and the other six notes F#, G#, A#, B, C#, D# (from the B major or F# major scales) are retuned.

The same compositions are then played again, to compare the change in harmonic and melodic quality.

The regular "1/6 comma meantone" system used here is also known as the 55-tet, or simply the "common" tuning described by 18th century writers: Tosi, Sauveur, Telemann, et al. Enharmonic notes such as D# and Eb are one comma apart. Within a whole tone, such as D-E, the D# is at 4/9ths of the distance, and the Eb is at 5/9ths. Only one of the two notes can be on the keyboard...or a compromise can be reached, picking some intermediate pitch that can serve (roughly) as either the D# or the Eb.

This is what the Bach (as interpreted by Lehman) modification then does: it keeps the notes F, C, G, D, A, and E at their usual positions for that system, but it alters B and the five accidentals to carefully controlled intermediate positions where they can serve more smoothly with additional note-names. The F#, C#, and G# are each raised part of the way toward Gb, Db, and Ab. The Bb and Eb are lowered part of the way toward A# and D#.

Full detail about this is at http://www.larips.com
and especially at the article "Bach's Art of Temperament":
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/larips/art.html

This hands-on demonstration: 2007, Bradley Lehman at home. Flemish-style harpsichord built by Anne Acker. Folk song arrangement: Bradley Lehman, 2007.

Also check my other YouTube videos for examples of music played with this tuning: harpsichord and organ. Various full-length CDs are available, played by me and others variously on harpsichords, organs, and fortepianos.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/larips/recordings.html

Category:

Music

Tags:

• music
• johann
• sebastian
• bach
• harpsichord
• tuning
• temperament
• tempering
• clavecin
• cembalo
• well
• tempered
• clavier
• meantone
• 55

[titighghghg]

thebpl : little question i wanna replace my piano with a harpsichord..

for me it seems like you're tuning the instrument for every piece?? is it what you're supposed to do ??

that's too much time consuming ..

[thebpl]

I fear you've missed one of the main points of this video (and my broader research, see the "larips" web site), which is:

Having made the demonstrated modifications off the old system, you can leave the instrument set up this way to play anything. It wipes out the limitations of the older systems, and facilitates music in all keys/scales.

I usually leave this harpsichord tuned this way almost all the time, unless I'm seriously working on much earlier repertoire (from, say, 1630 or before).

[adrwLe]

someone plz tell me what is the highest note and the lowest note on the harpsichord, im doing some research on it and a bit about its register of keys ty. :)

[thebpl]

There is no standard. Every harpsichord is different. Many go only from C (2 octaves below middle c) up to d''' (2 octaves above middle c).

Some instruments have only a few notes beyond that, in either direction. It "never" goes lower than FF, or higher than g'''; rarely beyond GG and f'''.

Some have an incomplete bass, lacking the chromatic notes such as low C# and Eb.

Mine here, as you can see, goes from BB up to d'''.

[jennyferjoy10]

Does anyone know if that harpsichord comes in a kit form. I am a complete novice but have this dream of playing the harpsichord one day. What is the difference between a double and single keyed harpsichord. Any advice on this subject would be highly appreciated.

[thebpl]

This one was originally a Zuckermann kit, but built professionally by a harpsichord builder (Anne Acker). 

A single manual harpsichord like this is adequate for more than 90% of the harpsichord repertoire. The second manual on some others is only a convenience, allowing quicker changes of registration or the (relatively rare) compositions where one has to play with one hand on each manual at the same time, for parts that cross. If there are two manuals, they play separate sets of strings.

[cesarsalgado1972]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Tuning issues are not easily understood in our computerized world...

[EmdrGreg]

I heard no Wolf tones-- just a lovely vibrato...[Kidding-- kidding. I'm really kidding]. You have a great touch and the instrument has a gorgeous sound. Thanks.

[Blueaspen391]

hi everybody. I would be happy to play Bradley's arrengement of "twinkle twinkle little star". Answering to my request he told me that a scan of it can be found in his web. The problem is that he has more than one web and I've spent a lot of time searching for that scan with no success. I would be very thankful if anyone can help me find it. thanks.

[DarekHB]

Sooooo, why are dissonant notes bad? Other than the fact that non-musicians think you're playing the wrong note because it doesn't sound right to them.

[skruvmaejsel]

i like how you actually play the instrument with odd intonation rather than just jamming the shit out of it like every other experimental music

[CembaloMeister]

I thoroughly enjoyed your practical representation of one of the many tuning systems available to us today. One thing we have in common is that I too own (or will soon; currently being built) a harpsichord built by Anne Acker. You should pursue this area of study as I can see your dedication to the musicological impact it has. This dedication can result in a new, 21st Century book on tunings/temperments of all early keyboard instruments. Thank you for this. -Sean Price

[mrmolinodelahoz]

To me, all the tunings sound good although I realize that there are differences.

Look at the Froberger title pages and try to make sense out of those Squiggles.

I think that the ear can adjust to many things.

After playing a slightly out of tune harpsichord for 5 minutes- it doesn´t sound out of tune any more. ?

[grzegorz19plonka]

Cool tuning

[Watermark0n]

Equal temperament is fine for playing Baroque music. If you want to be uber-authentic you can tune it to meantone, but it's not truly necessary.

[yyjchou]

Thanks for putting this video up! You helped me greatly here: "...Bach (...) modification ... keeps the notes F, C, G, D, A, and E at their usual positions... alters B and the five accidentals to carefully controlled intermediate positions where they can serve more smoothly with additional note-names......" My first harpsichord teacher taught me that verbally but I forgot the details as I didn't have a harpsichord until about 13 years later after that lesson.

[edcerc]

i kind of like the more disonant keys sometimes. It gives it a unique sound

[pureaKero]

Thanks for this post! I have a quiz on tuning and temperament tomorrow in melody and counterpoint and this video really helped me out!