Chapter i The Evidence
"What everyone knew then, no one knows now.'"
There was no particular reason in Monteverdi's or Bach's time to provide a record of absolute pitches for posterity. It would probably have astonished people to know we would even be Interested.
Nor have pitch standards always been necessary. Until the late i6,h - ntury church music was vocal, so pitch was a question of the range ol the human voice. Instruments were represented in church only by |hf organ, and even then playing only alternatim passages, alternating wiili ihe singers. When secular instruments like the violin and cornett • li.l dually enter the church, the process of matching pitches produced li ,. ussions that left records: although they were not intended for us, «in h discussions represent valuable evidence for our study. And as ■  ultr instruments tended to mutate more quickly than organs, more ■I i ■ • ii- sion ( = evidence) was produced.
I'he situation in the baroque period was especially complicated by <Ih quick dissemination over Europe of newly developed woodwind Mi.imments with pitches that were not only relatively fixed but dif-i. m in I mm that of traditional local instruments. A number of practi-« «1 solutions to the resulting pitch discrepancies were developed, but In nig o( an ad hoc nature, they were not completely documented. Nor Win the terminology consistent; the same name might be used for dif-dt-quencies, and the same pitch level might have different ntffltlt At Bessaraboff wrote in 1941, "The elusiveness of some factors I in 1. .. .u« hing histoiu .il piii li I was ol su< h a nature tint 11 seemed ,is
2
Chapter i
The Evidence
3
if someone had devised the whole thing with devilish ingenuity to mock and tease unfortunate twentieth-century organologists."1
But enough clues have now appeared to allow a picture to emerge. Chance has left a number of written descriptions of pitches in relation to each other, some usable scientific measurements and tuning devices, and many original instruments that give direct evidence. The written material clarifies the relationships between pitch standards (such as the difference of a Mz or m3 between Chorton and Cammer-ton). It also gives pitch standards their names. But it does not tell us the frequency values of pitch standards.
Absolute frequencies come from original instruments (and to a much lesser extent, reports of early research into acoustics). In a sense, this information is the opposite of that supplied by written sources, because it yields pitch levels without names.
It is by coupling these two types of evidence that the frequencies of historical pitch standards can be discovered, and with them, insights into the pitch levels at which particular pieces were played. It happens, rarely, that both kinds of information come together, as, for example, when the original pitch frequency of an organ survives, as well as an original contract or contemporary description that identifies the pitch standard to which it was tuned (see Appendix i). With these few lucky pairings, a very strong case exists for matching a pitch name to a Hz value. When several such combinations occur, we begin to be confident of the frequency level of the pitch (limited, of course, to a particular time and locality).
In practice, instruments can often be plausibly associated with named pitch standards (for instance, recorders made in Leipzig with Bach's Cammerton). In these cases, the number of instruments examined and the consistency of the results are relevant (i.e., how many Leipzig recorders have survived and do they all give the same pitch?).
i-i Paper Evidence: Pitch Names and Relationships
Brief allusions to pitch and descriptions of how pitch standards related to each other appeared fairly frequently in instruction books, theoretical works, dictionaries and other compendia, and doruments by in-
strument makers such as letters, bills, and contracts. Normally they were included incidentally as parts of more general discussions.
There are also many examples of music from the 17th and 18th centuries notated in more than one key. German composers of the early iH'h century who were faced with the problem of writing in "German" mid "French" pitches simultaneously, for instance, were obliged to develop an informal system of notation to accommodate instruments at I 'Morton and Cammerton playing together. The interval between the Bartl, either a whole-tone or tone and a half, indicates the relation between the pitches involved.
Another strategy that can be used for locating and comparing pitch tindards is to track the activities of wind instrument virtuosi whose Concert tours took them to many parts of Europe. Mendel (1978:91) 1 bought the traveling virtuoso was primarily a i9lh-century phenome-u..11, but we will see that many celebrated woodwind players in the ill'1' century continually crossed borders, both political and cultural.
I >l>viously, soloists would rarely have switched instruments merely to
II I ommodate pitch standards.
i-2 Original Instruments and Original Pitch Frequencies
I'm 11 frequencies are the product of the physical nature of musical in-i.innents. It follows, then, that a history of pitch standards will be Nimil.ir to a history of how instruments adapted and mutated with imw. Our knowledge of changes in pitch is related, then, to how much Httlc we know of the great and small revolutions in instrument de-•iKn.
A new factor is used in the present study that was not available to NflMrehera in the past like Ellis and Mendel. This is the increased un-1.1 landing of how historical instruments were played (that is, in-ItfUmentl that used to be considered historical). Many of these in-Itrumtntl are once again being used in concerts, and not only do we imw know enough about them to determine their ranges of pitch, we in often distinguish stages of their evolution and their pitches at spell M .I.uos. This new evidence signals a significant change in the way ilii* lubjei 1 ( .m be studied.
Chapter i
The pitches of original instruments are usable as evidence only if they are credible. On this question there are a number of factors to consider, including the nature of the instruments (discussed in Section 1-3 to 1-5 of this chapter), their present condition, how their pitch is measured, and the suitability of the techniques used to play them (discussed in 1-6). The credibility of evidence from original instruments also depends on a sense of what degree of precision is appropriate in studying pitch, a subject treated in Section 0-2 of the Introduction.
In terms of numbers, I was able to consult the pitches of many surviving original instruments, thanks to a grant from the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The present book regularly refers to this information, which is included in summary form in the appendices; these list the pitches of some 127 cornetts, 28 Renaissance flutes, 292 traversos, 317 recorders, 70 clarinets, 540 organs, and 13 pitchpipes, for a total of 1,387 original instruments.' The appendices include only instruments whose reliability I trust. Of these instruments, about 222 are Italian, 208 French, 544 German, 192 English, no Dutch, 77 Belgian, and 31 Austrian.4
Together with three automatic instruments, this makes a total reference base of 1,390 original pitches. This is not a complete survey, as it probably includes less than half the instruments of these types that have survived and are still able to give plausible pitches. But it represents a larger sampling than any previous study (Ellis, for instance, based his work on about 300 original pitches listed in his tables). My data is the result of several years of correspondence, reading, listening to recordings, and visits to museums and private collections.5 (I understand Ellis's feeling when he wrote in 1880 of his collection of historical pitches: "I wish [these facts] were more complete, but the difficulty of getting information is, sometimes, exceedingly great, and the time spent over obtaining a single pitch has often been so long that I should despair of living for years enough to render my investigations really complete."6)
It might seem that the foundation on which we know the levels of historical pitches can never be tested by direct experience, since we cannot hear the music as it was originally played. But we can hear some of the same instruments (the ones that survive), and measure their pitches with the same accuracy we use in tuning modern instru-
The Evidence
tnents. The difference lies in the possible changes original instruments may have undergone with time, and changes in performing technique. These issues can be addressed by choosing the instrument types that ure the least flexible in pitch, and by an awareness of the variables that nlfect pitch on each instrument.
One pitch standard that was used continuously as a point of reference in written descriptions throughout the i6'h, 17th, and i8'h centuries in l)oth Italy and Germany is the so-called Cornet-ton or "tuon del cornet 10 di mezo punto." We will discuss below why the pitch of cor-miis acts as a reasonably reliable index for locating the pitch levels of Other standards that were described in relation to it.7
There was also an important standardizing factor that we easily overlook in this secular age: the organs. Organs tended to stabilize pii. h over relatively long periods in preindustrial Europe. As long as a major proportion of art music was sacred, as it was in that period, it whs played alongside the highly elaborated organs of the church. I lirse instruments were made by men who tended to stick to well-In.>wn patterns and standards, and once made, an organ was too ex-Mfllivc and venerable for casual alteration. We will see, for instance, 1I1.11 K.uh's organs at Leipzig were still using the pitch level described nv.T .1 century before by Praetorius.
The new French woodwinds, once they were established, also be-H«n to act as a stabilizing factor. Organs were usually tuned so they . .Mild function with other instruments, and harpsichords were often iiiiii-il to flutes. Adlung wrote on tuning clavichords (1726:11:163), "It doci happen that the weather causes the pitch to fluctuate; in that > IM, one should have a flute or other instrument of invariable pitch I. indy, so one can find the normal pitch again."
Sorge (1744:35) wrote, "One begins then on f, and tunes in Chorton in ('.atntnerton (depending to which the harpsichord is tuned) approximately to the pitch of a recorder or traverso."8
A chamber organ by Kirchmann made ca.1740 was "gei'ntoneerd na |l I luyt Travers" ("tuned to the traverso").9
Tin- history of pitch is thus integrally connected to these two types ■ i instrument: the organ and the woodwinds. Praetorius, speaking of nilrK, cited "alten Orgeln und andern blassenden /nsfrumenten" ("old .11» and other wind instruments") as indicators.'" Organ makers of-i.n   |... iln-.l pitch in i.li-ivncr to woodwinds, especially tin- "Tint.-"
6
Chapter i
The Evidence
7
(recorder): Fluytedou toon (1724), Hauboistoon (1721), and ordinaris Flute dous toon (1727)." Woodwinds tended to influence pitch because they were unable to adjust very much. The lack of pitch flexibility in these instruments makes them now the major source of evidence on historical pitch frequencies. The pitches of these instruments are easier to visualize through graphs. I have included a number of graphs at the end of the book that organize pitches by region and period: organs are shown by country in Graphs 18-25 ar>d by period in Graphs 4-8; Graphs 12-17 show woodwinds by country and Graphs 26-30 show them by period.
In addition, pitch has been measured by physicists since the 17th century, and some of these reports are useful for this study.
1-3 The Most Useful Instruments
i-3a Cornetts
Cornet-ton derived its remarkable stability from the simplicity and perfection of the instrument's design. (We are speaking here of the normal curved instrument,12 usually with a separate mouthpiece, that gives a six-fingered A). The cornett's one-piece construction makes it difficult to shorten without disturbing its internal intonation, so alterations are easy to detect. Its basic design remained stable over a long period, and during that period the majority of cornetts (like other woodwinds) came from one place: Venice. The available data shows consistent patterns, suggesting that it is fairly accurate. Sounding length can be roughly correlated to pitch, offering a cross-check on accuracy.1'
Two historical indications of just how specific the concept of cornett pitch was are provided by Michael Praetorius in 1618 and Bar-tolomeo Bismantova in 1677. Praetorius (35) wrote that "even a cornett can be helped into tune by moving the mouthpiece in or out."'4
Bismantova's description of how the pitch of a cornett could be minutely adjusted with the help of various small additional pieces was discussed in o-2a.
Despite these early indications of how precise cornett intonation was, the common wisdom nowadays is thai diilrrencti in pitch be-
tween cornett players is extreme, and therefore pitch data from the instrument is unreliable. I have found, however, that the present generation of practicing cornett players (those who Rainer Weber graciously 1 .ills "wirkliche Zinkenisten"'5) do not share this attitude. Players who use the most common historical embouchure (off to the side rather than in the center like a trumpet) find it relatively difficult to bend notes. And players can hear if a note is at the right pitch when it be-comes brighter in tone, and when it stops "hissing" (which it does when it is either too low or too high).'6 There are thus several checks .hi the plausibility and accuracy of pitch measurements in cornetts.
The pitches of 127 surviving original Italian and German cornetts n( the i6'h and 17th centuries are listed in Appendix 2.'' Included are only those examples in reasonable playing condition. These pitches indicate an unambiguous level that we can assume was considered "cornett pitch:" although it was less specific in the 16th century, its 1 inter was never far from A+1.'8
Comparing the lengths and pitches of surviving cornetts with the Instruments depicted in Praetorius's Sciagraphia of 1618, it is possible
.....stimate that one of the cornetts at 58.3 cm would play at about 460
mid the other (at 57.6 cm) at about 464.'' Mersenne's treble cornett de-ilettd in the Harmonie universelle (1636-37) at one and three-quarters funis du Roy (or 56.8 cm)," would on this same basis yield A =469."
Tlie playing reports on mute cornetts (Haynes 1995:421-28) are less irliulile, since few modern cornettists regularly play this type of in-Itrument. The mute or straight cornett also seems often to have had a different musical role than the curved one. This may be reflected in 1 In- difference in pitch between curved and straight cornetts; the latter ... lower (see Graph ib and ic); most straight cornetts are at A+o.
1 |l. Renaissance Flutes
I In- instrument known as the "Renaissance flute" is particularly reli-• II. 41 a pitch indicator because of its physical properties. Like the . ..1 in 11, it is made in one piece, so its pitch is difficult to alter. Also, as I I. 11.1-11 W. Myers* writes,
8
Chapter i
The Evidence
9
The scaling of Renaissance flutes is extremely consistent, due to their acoustical simplicity: surviving examples were invariably cylindrical . . . the influence of the player's blowing technique on pitch tends to be rather small, because of the propensity of some notes to be flat and others sharp. Specifically, g" [fingered 113] overblows flat and a" [fingered 12 456] overblows sharp, requiring extreme embouchure corrections in both directions; the average playing pitch is thus "bracketed" by the natural, uncorrected pitches of these notes. That is to say, the player has little choice but to play at about that average.
com-
The cylindrical bore of this instrument makes it possible to pare pitch based on speaking lengths."
Renaissance flutes were probably used from the early 1500s to late in the 17th century.1' Pitches of 28 surviving original Renaissance flutes are listed in Appendix 3. Their provenance is in most cases difficult to assess. By implication most are from the Venetian Republic (except for the flutes by Rafi, which are known to be from Lyon). While the Renaissance flute played in consorts, it is associated both in pitch and instrumental settings with mixed groups involving the mute cornett and strings.14 Among surviving instruments, the predominance of tenors (the size that corresponds to the later baroque flute) suggests that tenors may have had more extensive use in mixed musical situations than other sizes.
Myers* determined, on the basis of dimensions, that the transverse flutes depicted in Praetorius's Plate ix must be about a minor 3d below A+o, or about A-3. The first two instruments listed in Appendix 3 are in A-3 if the six-fingered (lowest) note of the tenor is assumed to be di.1' Smith (1978:27) suggests that these instruments were built so low for the beauty of their sound, and were meant to be played in consorts. Praetorius wrote, "Flutes and other instruments are also more beautiful when tuned below our normal pitch, and at the lower pitch give quite another effect to the listener."16
The great majority of surviving Renaissance flutes are at about 400, and a smaller number are at 425-435. The higher level corresponds to that of most surviving mute cornetts.
I-3C Traversos
There is no question that "different players can arrive at a different Ideal pitch for the same flute."'7 Quantz wrote that "Depending on whether the embouchure is more or less open, a player can sound a flute a quarter, a half a tone, and even a complete whole tone higher or lower." This is of course theoretical; as on the cornett, the scope of possible pitches produced when the player is actually making music is
• iuisiderably smaller.
The traverso maker Roderick Cameron* believes the instrument's ■Itch "can be up to 25 cents different among good players depending Upon embouchure." On a museum visit to measure traverso pitches, IWthold Kuyken* noticed that "I had a colleague with me who played
• 1 rything t 3-4 Hz sharper . . . and another who played ± 2 Hz flat->■ 1 " This is a range of 5-6 Hz, or 21-25 cents.1' In playing situations, ilw modern Boehm flute certainly gives the impression of carrying a <|h-i ifir pitch; Leipp & Castellengo (1977:12) determined that the nor-111.il margin of intonation of a modern flute is 4 Hz around its sup-|><>*<•<! base-pitch, or about 17 cents.
The existence of corps de rechange (alternate joints) indicates the ' 1 iverio's limited flexibility in pitch; corps would not have been neces-<.iiv if such adjustments could have been made by the player (as on 1I1. Imssoon and the early 18' -century hautboy, where alternate joints ■ • 11- less common). Traversos were designed so that only one or two ../'•. wrre used regularly. For a pitch study, it is interesting to know In. Ii these were. The corps were normally numbered, the longest be-number 1. In the late l8'h century Ribock (1782:34) compared i. ii-rios in Berlin style with those of Saxony. The Berlin instru-
.....its were by Quantz and Kirst and the Saxon were those of Au-
guitin (irenser and Tromlitz in Leipzig. Most were provided with six 11 p. c/r 1 i-i Iwrige, and Ribock was of the opinion that the Saxon flutes • .. bed towards the top of their range (with joints 3 and 4, in other ird•), while those of Berlin were best at the bottom of theirs (joint 1»   Modern makers and players have also reported'" that traversos
.....I<- l>y Quantz play best with the longest middle joint, as the head
1........ quite large;1' this joint also shows the most wear on surviving
hi»ii nmi-nts.
io
Chapter 1
The Evidence
n
As discussed in the Introduction, it seems that the narrowness of the intervals between the corps on later i8'h-century traversos shows an attempt to adjust pitch within a single pitch standard. The earlier instruments, such as those of Jacob Denner with fewer corps and wider intervals between the joints (10 Hz or more), probably reflect actual differences of standard (and if this is true, these early traversos are particularly useful for showing the exact spacing between pitch standards). To consider the pitches of all the corps de rechange would confuse matters; the most accurate results probably come from referring to the pitches of joints 3 or 4 on most traversos, with the two exceptions just mentioned: joint 1 of Quantz and Kirst flutes, and all the joints of the earliest traversos.'1
Adjustments to the placement of a traverso's cork or the length of its foot have to do with the internal intonation of the instrument," not its basic pitch. The cork is moved when corps are interchanged to compensate for changes in the instrument's sounding length.
Physical alterations to original traversos that would raise their pitch are detectable. Enlarging an embouchure-hole affects the tone;'4 a better method of raising pitch is to shorten the (upper) middle corps, but this can adversely affect the internal intonation and is visible (there is normally a short blank section on the tenon at the extreme end of the joint beyond the thread grooves—called the "tenon ledge"— that would be missing on a shortened joint).
Some of the original traversos listed in Appendix 4 have reconstructed embouchures. Given our present knowledge of the playing characteristics of intact original instruments, these reconstructions generally give accurate pitches and are as trustworthy for the purposes of this study as restorations on other kinds of instruments. Each case of this type was considered individually, however, and a few instruments were excluded.
In sum, within a tolerance of 15-25 cents traverso pitch can be regarded as reasonably accurate historical evidence. While some traversos may have been raised in pitch, there is no way to lower them, so it is likely that the present pitch of early specimens cannot have been higher, although it might once have been lower. Traversos can also serve as a control on other instruments, such as recorders, by the same maker.
i-|d Recorders
Mattheson (1721:434), in discussing tuning, was of the opinion that li.mtboys and bassoons were rather difficult to "force" (that is, to modify in pitch by blowing), while "Recorders are absolutely intransi-MM in tuning, which is why they produce the worst intonation problems, and increase the jangle with their regular howling. They always want the tuning higher or lower. Traversos are much more tractable."
A more positive take on this characteristic of recorders was offered I'V louis Mercy (1718): "But I must say something more in praise of |hl llute ... [it is] never out of tune, nor can you well Stop [finger it]
• ■ill of Tune." Recorders can in fact be considered, as Friedrich von 11 none once said, relatively reliable i8'K-century "pitchpipes," since of ill 1 be woodwinds (except perhaps the clarinet), they are the least II. *ible in pitch. Even more than traversos, differences in wind pres-
in. are only possible within a narrow range.'5
An original recorder has no separate parts (such as reeds or mouth-l ■ ■ •«i-s) that might now be missing. If its scale is reasonably in tune, it l.i probably not been shortened. An enlarged window will raise a re-1 order's pitch, but such doctoring, if it is significant, is easy for an ex-l<i 11 10 detect.'6 And from a historical point of view, since the recorder 1. II Into disuse during the course of the i8'h century, there would have Ml I' no reason at the time to alter the instrument in an attempt to
• • its pitch.
1'i.irtorius showed eight sizes of recorder, intended to be played in
..... Consorts are less useful as pitch indicators, since they were
......ircessarily played with other kinds of instruments and could
■ I" ■.line have been tuned independently of any pitch standard. Re-. .mlrri that are most interesting to this study are those made in three • • 1 urns, of the type made after the middle of the 17th century.
Iloih the recorder and the traverso were regularly used in typical
......iblei of their time, so their pitches can be taken as representative
1 p-neral pitch standards.
12
Chapter i
The Evidence
'3
i-3e Clarinets
A few pitches are available from clarinets made in the early 1700s, but the instrument is especially useful for the latter part of the century. From the point of view of pitch, the emergence of the clarinet counterbalances the slow eclipse of the organ's influence in instrumental music during the i8lh century. In a sense also, the clarinet filled the gap left by the demise of the recorder. Thanks especially to Mozart's Viennese works, the clarinet took on an important role in ensembles. An indication of the time when clarinets became a significant presence is the general edict of Louis XV in France in 1756 replacing hautboys with clarinets in regimental music.17
The clarinet is one of "the least tractable of the woodwinds'"8 in regard to tuning changes. There are several reasons for this. It overblows a twelfth, making tuning relationships unusually sensitive (the other woodwinds over-blow an octave). More important, because it uses a single reed attached to a mouthpiece, embouchure adjustments are less effective at changing overall pitch than on the other woodwinds. Eric Hoeprich* writes,
Pinching and relaxing the embouchure simply don't make very big differences in pitch without a huge difference in sound quality. So if one keeps the sound at an "acceptable" level, then there won't be much room for pitch change. . . . [The clarinet] is by far the most stable instrument among the woodwinds. It has been shown that it is possible to make a clarinet with nearly perfect intonation—very difficult, but possible—and as a maker/player I must say that you make the instrument as well as possible, figure out the fingerings that play in tune and then just play. This doesn't apply to the other woodwinds where embouchure flexibility is essential to playing in tune since the instruments themselves are relatively speaking, out of tune.
According to David Ross*,
Aside from the obvious expedient of pulling out at the joints, the clarinet's sounding length cannot be varied by much, pointing towards stability. I have found that by varying the width and strength
and reeds, I could alter the overall pitch level by a bit, perhaps 5-8 cents, but the pitch on a functioning clarinet seems to be fairly fixed."
Nicholas Shackleton* also points out that where changing the distance from the top tone hole to the sound producer (embouchure hole, Mid) on a flute or hautboy has "approximately twice the effect on c I 1 «•., on hole 1, the highest] as on d [i.e., on hole 7, the lowest]. On a 1 larinet the equivalent has three times the effect. . . ." Tolerances for I* 11 1 el-mouthpiece length are very small; in other words, an inappro-■ 11.lie setup is easily noticed.40 Convincing internal intonation is therefore the criterion that indicates if one is playing at the original l'iii h level.4'
A number of early clarinets are now missing their original mouth-■IflCei. Many "wooden mouthpieces are now unplayable because of • luii.tge to the end of the beak and others have been worn so thoroughly on their lays that they are now unplayable."42 Such instruments might still be reliable as indicators of historical pitch if they muld be made to play in tune internally with another mouthpiece. Al-1 • 11 R. Rice writes,* "Replacement mouthpieces often became neces-Mny lor playing and are sometimes very difficult to distinguish from 111 iginals." The use of new mouthpieces is considered valid for deter-
.......ng original pitches by most experts, since the principal criterion
I mi determining pitch is that the clarinet play reasonably in tune with ll.rll."
1'iuh levels of historical clarinets are useful information when it is I nown in what nominal pitch they were conceived (e.g., in A, Bb, C, I ', rii.). It also gains weight when compared to the pitch levels of ..111.-1 contemporary instruments. The tone color of the clarinet varies noticeably depending on its fundamental pitch; as a result, the stan-1I1111I modern orchestral clarinet is tuned to 392 rather than 440. Its nurtl must therefore be transposed up a step to sound in the same key ■1» ihr other woodwinds. Nowadays we express this fact by saying 1I10 the clarinet is "in Bb." The clarinet in C (the pitch of the other
.....Iwinils) has an unmistakable character and tone quality, brighter
01.1 . older than that of the standard B b-instrument. Many clarinetists it I to u*e an instrument another semitone lower "in A;" here, too, tim-••■ 1      lor. All hough ill"' I>.im< ir.i«m lor the B 1»/A alternative is
14
Chapter i
The Evidence
■5
to avoid excessive numbers of sharps, it is significant that clarinetists do not resort to a C instrument (which would solve the same problem) as much as to one in A.
As for accuracy, Shackleton believes that
To judge the pitch [of a clarinet] accurately within better than zo cents the instrument must be in full playing condition with an appropriate design and size mouthpiece, must demonstrably be internally in tune, and must be played long enough to have reached a stable pitch in a room of appropriate temperature.
As a test of pitch, Shackleton suggests beginning by checking the transition across the break and the C below that.
Then judge the pitch on written C above the break, noting how the rest of the clarinet register pans out. I say that because sometimes an instrument is retuned upwards with some hole enlargement, but the Ab/Eb hole is usually already so large that there is little scope for bringing the note any higher; often they [i.e., a later tuner] were too sloppy to bother with the F»/C« hole either.44
Ross described his testing procedure as
quite straightforward, even somewhat pragmatic. . . . Once a general pitch level was established (for instance in the upper register or between the octaves of c', c", and c'"), I then attempted to find suitable fingerings to bring the rest of the range reasonably in tune.
Ross has found only a few instruments with impeccable intonation; most had a workable upper register with intonation problems in the lower register. He still considers these instruments usable, since "most 18th century clarinet writing emphasized this upper register, and such instruments might have served this literature well."45
Since competent players of the early clarinet are rare, not all the pitches of the approximately 100 surviving early instruments have yet been measured.
i il Organs and Church Bells
In 1696 Sir Christopher Wren referred to Bernard Smith's (now famous) new organ at St. Paul's Cathedral as that "confounded box of whistles."46 Many a wind player trying to match the pitch of an organ hits used even stronger language, since both types of instrument are unyielding in pitch.
Pitch information from early organs complements that of other in-
iminents. Organs are rarely moved, so their pitch, if original, can • ■ ■ n.illy be taken to represent a standard for the place where they are I... .ucd. Because they are expensive and usually associated with in-
1.1 Mi ions like churches, there is often comprehensive archival documentation (contracts, proposals, descriptions, etc.) on their construc-
.....1 and modification over the years.47 These records sometimes
inrniion pitch standards; when they can be combined with surviving l>iii lii-s, they are especially useful in providing links between named I'M 1 li standards and frequency levels.
11 mil at least the mid-i8' century, the significance of the church's 1 "I.- in daily life meant that organs were implicated in much of the ni.uiisiream music that was performed. Since this music also fre-i|tirntly involved other "figural" or orchestral instruments, there was ..I ntcessity a direct relationship of some kind between the organ's i-.i. Ii and the pitch of other instruments. Bedos wrote (1766:432) "Ton /. 1 hapelle is a fixed pitch in France; it best matches the range of both ili. voice and all musical instruments . . ,"48 Organs were thus in a re-l 'i 1.hi of whole intervals to other instruments, and organists had often
■ n.uispose (Cammerton was a discrete number of semitones from 1 U,11 ton, for instance). Organs were often higher-pitched than other ... 11 iiincnts, for the sake of tone quality and because the pipes were
1......1 .ind thus less expensive to make. By the late 18th century the
mutual relationship between the organ and other instruments had I.I..1.1 11 ilown, and there was a general trend in all countries for organs .• in.mi where they had long been, while the pitch of orchestral in-
1. .intents went its separate way.
I >l (ourse, if it is still functioning, an instrument of the size, com-1 I.   iiy, and age of .1 baroque organ cannot have escaped being altered.
111» were regularly repaired, retuned, rebuilt, and restored. As I'e-n 1 Williams wrote, "The big organs of the great builder l.imilirs . . .
i6
Chapter i
The Evidence
'7
were like living organisms, changing their shape and style from generation to generation."49 It is therefore not enough to know the present pitch of a historical organ.
The most reliable information on original organ pitches comes from recently restored organs, because the process of restoration usually reveals the earliest state of an organ in at least a few pipes, and consequently its original pitch. The organ-builder Dominic Gwynn* writes that "The commonest way of changing pitch in an organ is to move the pipes ... it is only possible to arrive at the original pitch by tracing pipe movements, estimating cutting down, etc. Most of my [pitch] evidence I have gained by examining the building history of instruments." Evidence a restorer would use for determining original pitch includes pitch marks on pipes (peculiar to particular builders), changes to the keyboard or key mechanism, and archival records.50 Physical changes to pipes could include cutting down or extending open pipes (Gwynn writes that "it is difficult to gauge the amount, but because of the option of transposing pipes, one can assume it is less than a semitone. Sometimes there are pitch marks at the top of the pipe which have been partially cut off."), repositioning stoppers on stopped pipes, displacement of tuning ears on stopped metal pipes, and soldering up or cutting down the tuning slots on front pipes. Ton Koopman* points out that pitch was not the only reason pipes were changed: in the 19th century the ideal organ timbre was much less brilliant, and since shortening a pipe makes it proportionally "fatter," it tends to result in a "rounder" sound. There was thus a motive for moving pipes even more than a semitone.
Many earlier organs survived in close to their original states until well into the 19* century. By that time, antiquarian interest had produced a number of pitch reports, so that the original pitches of some important organs are known even when the instruments have since disappeared.
The pitches of organs can sometimes be checked with the bells in their churches, both "Cymbel Glocken" operated by the organist, and the tower bells, which (for practical reasons) were normally tuned to the same pitch.5' In a description of organs published in 1772, William Ludlam commented,
If an organ was to be erected in St. Margaret's church [in Leicester], its pitch should by all means be made to agree with that of the bells; so that if the organ should begin before the sermon bell is ceased, they need not be at variance. So noble a bell would add to the harmony of the organ.*
* In this church is the noblest peal of ten bells in England, without exception; whether tone or tune be considered."
A respected organist, Gustav Leonhardt*, warns that the pitches of historic organs must "be taken with a grain of salt: conclusions often have been made too easily, disregarding later changes on pipes or wind BrtKure." This warning is appropriate; there are a number of pitfalls in 1 onsidering historical organ pitches. Factors that need to be consid-
■ rtd include knowledge of an organ's history, the effects of repeated inning, temperature, standard pipe-scaling and details of manufacture, wind pressure, dust, the differences between flue pipes and reeds, be-iwccn wooden and metal pipes, etc. These issues are addressed in de-
■ "I In Haynes 1995:480-92.'''
One problem with data from organs that have been restored is that m restoration their pitch may be purposely brought to a preconceived Irvrl that the restorer believes is "historical." The levels commonly 1 nnsidered to be in this class are 415 or 466, which are an exact semi-ii'nr (in equal temperament) on either side of 440; some restored or-1 in 1 that were originally near these levels may have been rationalized 1.1 meet them literally.
I liven a knowledge of these elements, a plausible (if approximate) •rlginal pitch can be determined for many historical organs. There is 1111 doubt, however, that in specifying organ pitches, Jean-Albert lllard, the organist of the famous Clicquot organ at Poitiers, is cor-
• 1 in saying* that an organ pitch is "a l'entour" ("around") a par-iii nl.ir number of cycles per second.
In 1978, Mendel listed 48 "reliable" historical organ pitches. I 1 I... In-il his data (some of which, inevitably, turned out to be mis-1 .il> imi), and in Haynes 1995:502-39 was able to add 416 new organ
In-* (1 had to exclude, for various reasons, about 200 others). Most
• ■I 1 Ins information came from the many recordings of historical or-i I... 1l1.1i have appeared in the last generation.
i8
Chapter i
The Evidence
■9
One particular category of organs that must be carefully considered are those with original pitches that no longer survive. For those with pitches that were reported prior to their destruction (in the 19th century, for instance), there is no ambiguity. But there are others for which it is only possible to make deductions. The Gottfried Silber-mann organ at St. Johannis, Zittau, for instance, was destroyed in 1757, but its contract is practically identical with the one for the Frauenkirche in Dresden (which we know was at 414) and it (like the Frauenkirche organ) is described as in "Cammer-Thon." The 8' Ge-dackt stop on the Jacobikirche main organ at Hamburg, replaced in 1761, was a minor 3d below the rest of the instrument, which is now at 489. The organ at Hohnstein (Schmieder, 1732), played by Sebastian Bach in 1731 and 1732, is now at 437, but its action was shifted a whole-step lower in 1935. At Weingarten, now at 440, the original contract states that the lowest C of the organ was supposed to sound the same as the large tower bell; that bell now gives 440 minus 130 cents. In most cases like these, plausible original pitches can be deduced. These pitches, like all the others in Appendix 7, are situated along a gamut of probability.**
On the positive end of this gamut is an important list of the original frequencies of 42 organs with pitch standards that were identified by name (see 1-8 and Appendix 1).
i-3g Pitchpipes
How did instrumental ensembles find their reference pitch in the days before electronic tuners? Where did the harpsichord get its note? To judge from considerable historical evidence, the pitchpipe was the usual means of carrying pitch in the preindustrial music world/5 Mendel (1978:82) cites "a pitch-pipe which Handel constantly carried with him," 56 and Hawkins recounted that John Shore in the early 18th century used a fork to tune his lute; apparently it was a curiosity: "At a concert he would say, 'I have not about me a pitch-pipe, but I have what will do as well to tune by, a pitch-fork.'"57 The implication of Shore's remark is that a pitchpipe was the normal device used for tuning.
The pitchpipe was like a small recorder fitted with a movable wooden plunger or piston, on which a scale of notes with a range of •iliout one octave was marked. Fontenelle (1700:137) indicated that such 11 "Sifflet de bois" was used in France during the 17th century:
To determine the pitch at which voices and instruments should tune in an ensemble, the performers use a kind of wooden or metal whistle made to a particular length. Since they intend this pitch to be always the same, they think the whistle always yields the same pitch.5 hut this is an assumption that is not always true. 1. A 4' organ pipe which is by its nature more accurate than a short whistle does not always produce exactly the same sound. 2. The material from which the whistle is made is quite subject to alteration from being used over a period of time, the weather, and one hundred accidents that can occur . Ii.mge its pitch noticeably after a number of years. 3. There is no question that by blowing harder or softer in the whistle, the pitch rises • 11 falls, and there is no way to be sure of blowing the same way every nine. Finally, if the whistle is lost, it is no longer possible to locate the Bitch that was used.
To put Fontenelle's statement in context, he was presenting a par-|| .11 position in favor of an alternative to the pitchpipe; he was also ipplying the criteria of the acoustician rather than those of the musi-111.   Most of his objections can be answered: it is quite conceivable
11.....pitchpipe is less sensitive to change than an organ pipe because
1 In I.liter is thin-walled; certainly alterations to the material in a pipe iiitplu affect the pitch but not significantly in musical terms; blowing m about the same pressure would probably (depending on how the 1 •'I" was made) be close enough for the practical needs of a musical 1 .111 nililc; and any sensible musician would have another backup pipe 1 lie same pitch. In other words, a pitchpipe was not required to give * 1 • • 11 li to the same exact Hz in order to be perfectly usable in musical |n m 1 ice.
An Italian source in 1774 indicates the general use of the pitchpipe in Instrumental groups,5* and they are described as commonplace for .......ig pianos in a publication from Vienna in 1805.60
Pitchpipci were often used to fix the basic pitch of keyboards. I I., ii- r. evidence that Joannes Couchet, whose instruments have «1-
20
Chápte
The Evidence
ways been highly prized, was concerned that they be tuned at a particular pitch for the sake of their "resonantie," or tone quality. He advised Constantijn Huygens, to whom he had just delivered a new clavecimbel,
that if he will always tune it to the standard pitch, wherefore Your Honor has a little flute, to which the G sol re ul should be tuned, then the most satisfying sound will result, since if the instrument is too low or too high, the tone quality will be spoiled and not as it should be, and [the instrument] will not speak as it was made to do; but if it is done in this way, I will have honor from my work.6'
For tuning a harpsichord, Roger North wrote in ca.1710-1726:
Most begin on C; but following the example of some organ builders, I have chosen F for an entrance. The first thing is to tune that F to its consort pitch, which is done by the help of a pipe, usually made for that end.6'
And in 1739 Van Blankenburg wrote of harpsichords:
To tune the first string, if opera-toon [Opera-pitch] is desired, the sound can be obtained from a flute at this pitch, or else, you can make a square flute without finger holes, in which a sliding rod fits. On the four sides of the rod, different levels can be marked to test organs. This is called a pitchpipe. But since any pipe is unstable in sound because of warmth and cold, humidity and dryness, and because it can be raised or lowered quite a bit by blowing harder or softer, the best reference for a stable pitch is a sounding metal [i.e., perhaps a tuning fork].6'
That pitchpipes were commonly used for tuning has not been generally known, and may be one reason they have not previously been displayed in most instrument collections or listed in catalogues.64 Pitch-pipes operate on the same level of accuracy as recorders, since they use the same blowing technique. They are thus well within a usable range of tolerance for conveying musical pitch. They usually include the n.imcs <>l each of tlx- notes they produce. Unlikr loiks, tlu-y can oiler
. lues as to how their pitches were used, such as the maker's stamp; oc-< nsionally a date is added, and an identification of the name of the pilch or the place where the pipe was used.
De la Fage (i85Q:z9ff) noted that pitchpipes were commonly used mislead of tuning forks in France as late as the beginning of the rtntury. A number of early pitchpipes have survived. Most can be
• I iied from the end of the I7lh to the mid 19th centuries.
The Museo Civico in Bologna possesses a corista a fiato or pitch-pipe''' that was apparently made in the i8'h century, and "has a sliding drvice inside, producing three different tones. They are indicated on 1 be wooden plunger as two Milanese pitches (a' = 425 and 375) and one I le.ipolitan pitch (a' = 411)."66
A pitchpipe with a plunger on which there are marks in ink, going ■ 1.1 • mm.n ically from E through its octave to G (skipping only the high l; natural) is described in Byrne 1966. The pipe is inscribed with the I'" "July 14th, 1774," and seems to be of English origin. Careful meas-Urtments by Byrne yielded a mean value of 425 ! 1 Hz for A (because of Rod shrinkage, this pitch was probably originally about 5 Hz lower). Three pitchpipes preserved at the Paris Conservatory are especially
.....irtfting. One, probably made after 1711, gives "Ton de I'opera" as 399
(piobably originally 394) and "Plus haut de la chapelle a versatile" as 412 (probably originally 407). Another is believed to be by the maker Du-1   •   1/1.1682), and is at about 396 (probably originally 391). The third,
.....It in the late i8'h century by Christoph Delusse,*7 gives two sets of
1 lies, neither named, at 400 and 424 (probably originally 395 and flf),
'mm h small portable pitchpipes are distinct from the Stimmpfeife .. ..I by organ makers, as described in Adlung 1726:11:56, Adlung
• ■ .11 11/, and Wolfram 1815:32s.68 The latter were usually made of metal mil wrre blown through the organ's wind-channel rather than by
.......1I1. A "Temperatur-Pfeiffe," usable both for tuning and checking
1I11   temperament of a previously tuned organ, is also described in
hi.- detail in Sorge 1758:27-28. Using a pipe for tuning to the fineness 1 1 leiiiporament indicates how accurate pipes were considered. The / • "ifrratur-Pfeiffe was to be operated by each individual instrument's mind pressure, "but for each separate organ a special Stimmpfeife must lii> mitilr."6"
XX
Chapter I
The Evidence
The pitches of 13 surviving original pitchpipes are listed in Appendix 8.
1-4 Less Direct Evidence
i-4a Strung Keyboard Instruments and Lutes
In 1965, Frank Hubbard wrote of harpsichord pitch:
Any sort of reasoning which attempts to deduce the pitch of harpsichords from string length rests on very shaky foundations since it is possible for a string of a given length to vary about a fifth in pitch and still sound fairly well.70
As noted previously, Couchet was concerned about the pitch of his clavecimbels and its effect on tone quality and response. At the time Hubbard wrote this, he was not considering the principle applied by recent researchers (such as Huber, O'Brien, Koster, Wraight, and Martin) that keyboard strings were tuned close to their breaking points.7' O'Brien, for instance, writes that
The early builders of virtually all European traditions designed their instruments so that the strings were, with a small safety factor, very close to the breaking point of the material being used. Instruments designed to sound at pitches different from one another would therefore have string lengths which differed in a regular way.71
Denzil Wraight (1997:87-90, 164, 189-90) discusses this same principle, and points out (164) that "the breaking length of a wire is, theoretically, independent of the diameter, which may not be intuitively obvious." The "small safety factor" cannot be determined, but Wraight believes it was probably less than a whole-tone. He notes that
modifications to instruments often only changed the pitch by a semitone (»80 cents) which shows that the scales were considered to have a well-defined relationship to the intended pitch and that the safety fac-
tor was sufficiently narrow to make it imprudent simply to tune a harpsichord a semitone higher.71
A» O'Brien pointed out, if a consistent relationship is established be-IWeen tension and string lengths, it is possible to compare relative (if
..... absolute) harpsichord pitches by reference to the ratio of their
in nig lengths.
Martin Piihringer* noticed that two harpsichords by the Dresden BCgan and harpsichord builder J.H. Grabner show significant differ-•nrei in their string lengths.74 In examining the two instruments, he found that their string lengths work especially well at A-2 and A-i, re-IMCtively. As in the case of Venice, the frequency of those Dresden |mi. lies may be guessed from corollary information (in this case, nor-... 11 < 'ammerton at A-l and tief-Cammerton at A-2).
Wraight was able to compare the pitches of many Italian instru-.... nis by determining what kind of stringing material was originally mril (iron or brass, a critical factor for pitch), and their original
• 11 iug-lengths. In addition, he was able to identify or ascribe many
.....nymous instruments, thus allowing them to be dated. While
ivoiding absolute pitch values, he could nevertheless observe which
• 11 mg-lengths (each of which would correspond to a pitch level) were tin- most common, and how they related to each other.
Wraight found that the most common string-lengths for the note 11 1.1 Venetian instruments made between 1523 and 1594 were 235, 246, and 265 mm, particularly 235 and 265 mm, which would produce hit Ira a whole-tone apart from the same key of the keyboard. Since at iliai nine there were two important Venetian pitches a whole-tone
• I-in, mrzzo punto and tuono corista, it is logical to associate the two
• 11 nig lengths with the two frequencies (about 464 and 413 Hz, respectively).
I 'sing the same principle, Darryl Martin has found that the "de-|| I. irnle note" of i7lh-century English virginals (i.e., the length unit
1.....1 which other string lengths are proportionally derived) can be
1 limped into four pitches separated by semitones.75 These can, in turn, |f  related to absolute pitch frequencies that correspond well with 1I1.1 evidence on English pitch levels (see 2-sa).
II •.<imvi l<"'»gths can be equated to pitch levels, length information I.   n.....ginal harpsichords might be used to extrapolate pitch liequen
24
Chapter l
The Evidence
cies, and since strung keyboards are often dated or datable, their frequencies might be related to specific places and periods. At the moment, these possibilities are speculative, but with positive correlation arriving from several angles, they are quickly taking on a more important status as usable evidence.
The string-lengths of lutes might also offer pitch information of a parallel kind to that of harpsichords, although less is known about stringing materials. The "breaking point" principle that is currently accepted among harpsichordists and violinists is not as popular among lutenists, who generally use strings well below breaking point.76
E.G. Baron (1727:116) mentions that Chanterelle lute strings had earlier been tuned to gl in Chorton but by the time he was writing were at fi in Cammerton. In Baron's time and place, these standards were probably A + i and A-i, which suggests that lutes had gone down four semitones. Hodgson (1985:58-60) calculated that the lute depicted in Baron has a string length of about 68 cm, and would therefore have sounded best at A-i. Hodgson nevertheless thinks that "The proper and common size of Lute in Germany during the i8th.C. had an open string length of around 72cm and would usually be pitched at tief Cammer-Ton (about a tone below modern pitch)."
W.L. von Radolt wrote in the introduction to his aller treueste Friendin (Vienna, 1701) that, of the three sizes of lute for which the music was written, the "Sopran" is very small and "is tuned at least a half-tone higher than CORNET." The next size, somewhat larger, "is tuned a whole-tone lower," and the third, the large common "Ordi-nari" lute, "is tuned two and one-half whole-tones lower."77 If "CORNET" was normal Cornet-ton at A+1,78 "at least a half-tone higher" would have been A+2 to A+3, a whole-tone lower would have been A+o to A+i, and two and one-half whole-tones lower would have been A-3 (370) to A-2. This latter pitch was for the "Ordinari" lute.
When he was in Paris in 1712-1716, Friedrich von Uffenbach bought a "Stimm-pfeife" ("pitchpipe") from none other than the woodwind maker Jean-Jacques Rippert "damit er den Ton der Opera für seine Laute allzeit hätte" ("with which he would always have Ton d'Opera for his lute").7' Ton d'Opera would have been A-2.
1 4b Trumpets
From about Praetorius's time, the trumpet sounded in C-»A+i (which - D~*A-i). Brass instruments could adjust their pitch downward by milling short lengths of tubing called crooks; otherwise, as Roger North succinctly put it in ca. 1710-28, "the Trumpet is confined to a )tay," * Pitch was thus a function of crooking, and to change key was |0 I Iiange pitch. Smithers wrote that "The standard trumpet was in D mid sometimes E flat, but was capable of 'crooking' down to C."8' Ac-I 01 ding to Majer (1732:40), trumpets could play as much as a n-13 below Irtflir normal level: "There are different mouthpieces [sic, Mund-
■ 111. ke] available, whereby a trumpet can be tuned a half-tone, a .•■In.lc-tone, or even a tone and a half lower, when a crook [Krum-llli^>el], slide [Krum-Bogen], or other kinds of accessories [Setz-
111. ke] are added."
The pitch of a trumpet was also changed by muting, which raised "   pitch a tone. Muted trumpets were used until the end of the 17"
■ ...I ury, but were rare thereafter until modern times.81
Van der Heide (1996:49) suggests that "most of the extant instru-.....its have been altered many times in order to adapt to the pitch requirements of following generations." But if it is unmodified and un-
......ked, and its lowest note is assumed to be C, a trumpet is a kind of
|.n. hpipe, carrying a historical pitcb.
Two remarkably early trumpets have been discovered recently, and ... Ilhti appears to have been altered. One was salvaged from a sunken
hip near Texel Island in Holland.8' It is signed and dated 1589, and 11,1« been under water since just after it was made. A replica plays in D
|| i'.<i (that is, its nominal G, the third note, sounds at 233 Hz, and its
■ 11 466). The other, found down a well in the Dordogne, is pre-■ . il in mint condition with its original mouthpiece, and is signed
|f)d dated 1442.84 It plays at the same pitch. This is a whole-step higher
11.....he trumpets of the i8<h century. Praetorius wrote that trumpets
!•• 1>ii to be made at C~*A+i rather than D~*A+i in his own lifetime:
Wlnlr the fundamental or bottom note up to now has been D, in 1 ...miiki Thon^ (military trumpeters have retained this standard), over 1I1. I.nt lew years in some princely and noble courts either the trum-I .1 • dimension! have been increased, or a crook has been inserted .11
26
Chapter i
The Evidence
the mouthpiece end, to give a fundamental of C, in the Hypoionian
i 86
mode.
Brass instruments normally read their parts in C, so the pitch of the instruments that played with them can usually be deduced from the key in which they were written. In Leipzig, for instance, when the trumpets were in C-^A+i, most of the other parts were in D, showing that (because they had to transpose up a tone to match the trumpets) they were tuned a tone lower at A-i. It is curious that most surviving music for hautboy band that involves trumpets is written in Eb (except for the trumpet parts, which are, as usual, in C). This probably means that the composers of these pieces assumed that the hautboys and bassoons involved were pitched a tone and a half below the trumpets, thus at A-2.87
1-4.C Automatic Instruments
Some automatic instruments give pitches that are probably original. These are produced by open wooden pipes, open metal pipes that show no traces of later tuning, and stopped metal pipes with caps soldered into place. The problem with these instruments is again one of context; playing alone, there was no particular reason to tune them to a pitch standard. Still, examples given in Haspels (1987:122^ are quite plausible for their times and places:
Minerva carriage
Langenbucher (Augsburg, ca.1620) 418 Bracket clock with organ
Jaquet-Droz (La Chaux-de-Fonds, ca. 1780) 392 Serinette
Bourdot-Bohan (Mirecourt, cd.1820) 437
1-5 Unreliable Evidence
• \.i Double-Reeds
i >n hautboys and bassoons, there are basic obstacles to determining Bfiglnal pitch. First, the reed is missing (no original reeds from before iboui 1780 are known), and few original bassoon crooks are known . cn fewer can be connected to specific instruments). Second, on the I me hautboy and reed setup, scales can be easily influenced by embouchure to accommodate pitch levels as much as 40 cents apart. This flexibility increases on larger instruments; on the bassoon, the differ-..... can be a semitone. The bassoonist Walter Stiftner (of respected
.....nory) once told me he had played a concert with the same instru-
.... iii, bocal, and reed at 440 before the interval and at 415 after it (not ill players have Stiftner's talent, of course). Some hautboys that are
......■ tally played at A-i can be convincingly played by the same player
1 1   t«|> higher and Vi-step lower, and an hautboy that normally plays .   \ / can be played at A-1V2 by using reeds for an instrument at A-
Surviving original hautboys are made in various lengths, and while
• I.....      is some correspondence between length and pitch, other factors
nil. size of tone-holes, for instance, and the type of reed being used)
■ ■■ •! • n direct connection between dimensions and pitch difficult to Ml alilish.
The existence of alternate top joints implies a certain decisiveness ..I |.n. h, but unlike the corps de rechange on traversos, hautboys did not 1 ■ , in 10 use alternate joints regularly until after the mid-18' century. I lili is probably because so much more could be done to change pitch .1I1 the reed setup. The same, presumably, was the case with basin. It is thought that the bottoms of the wing-joints of many sur-. |ng original bassoons were shortened in the later i8lh century to ac-imodate rising pitch.
I Inn- are ways to guess original pitches of double reeds, such as itlipuring lengths and comparing other types of instruments by the ......makers.
Urn based on the physical qualities of the instruments themselves,
■ I.....ily objective method of determining their pitches may be by a
.....I....I ol  measuring the ,t< ousi wal  impedance of  resonant cavities
54
28
Chapter i
The Evidence
that was developed some years ago.'0 This method makes it possible to determine the impedance and thus the resonance frequency of each fingering of any woodwind instrument without playing it. In the case of hautboys and bassoons, a further calculation is necessary using an imagined staple or bocal.9' The process is still rather cumbersome, and it has not yet been established whether it is capable of yielding results that are specific enough to be useful.
i-5b Bowed String Instruments
Approximate estimates of the pitches of string instruments might be made based on the breaking point of strings, but the physical properties of early strings are not yet completely understood.'2 Segerman (19833:28) writes,
The highest pitch for the string band was governed by gut first-string [e-string] breakage on the violin.
The small-sized violin (with string stop [sic; = vibrating string length] of about 30 cm, that was popular in the 17th and less in the 18th century) could go up to about a semitone above modern pitch. The larger size of violin (with string stop of about 33 cm, that was also used then, and is the standard today) could not comfortably go much higher than modern pitch."
But even for the larger violins, a top string limit of modern e2 is probably conservative. Herbert W. Myers* points out that
the g-d'-a'-d"-g" tuning of the pardessus de viole and quinton (musically the same instrument, despite different body shapes) . . . commonly has a vibrating string length of about 33cm; even at a' = 392 the top string would have sounded a modern f".
If at A-2 (Ton d'Opera), the top string sounded modern fz, at Ton de chambre (A-i'/i) it would have sounded even higher. Strings must then have been commonly available that allowed even the larger sizes of violin to be tuned at least as high as A + i, and possibly A+2. (As
My its* notes, this assumes there were no changes in string-making i<H Imology between the 17th and l8'h centuries.)
That wind instruments were considered more "constant" in pitch than strings is demonstrated by this comment by Charles Butler 116)6:103):
heraus lintata [stringed instruments] ar often out of tun; (which soom-time happeneth in the mids of the Musik, when it is neither good to 'niitinue, nor to correct the fault) therefore, to avoid all offence (where the least shoolde not bee givn) in our Chyrch-solemnities Ontly the Winde-instruments (whose Notes ar constant) bee in use.'4
I htrc are several examples of a distinction in the pitch of specific vio-I",-. in earlier times. An inventory of musical instruments at Krems-Miimster Abbey, drawn up in 1739, lists 17 "Violin," including 2 Ama-11», «nie dated 1619, and 2 Stainers. Listed separately are "2 (Geigen) Ii hi .•.•'isischen Tons," one by a "Francesco Amati di Cremona" dated it \o '' These 2 violins were used in chamber music ("bey der Cam-iih-i"). The differentiation in the list implies that the other 17 violins • .. not at französischen Ton (which would have been A-i); presumably tlu-y were played, like most other instruments at the Abbey at the 1 line, .11 A + i.
A1 the court in Württemberg in 1736, members of the ensemble known as the Bock-Musih used two kinds of violins distinguished as 1 rofte Violin" and "Chor Violin."'6 The latter were presumably at 1 Inn ton.
Vocal Range
t)| ill musicians, singers are probably the ones who benefit most from 1   .1..imitig at original pitches. Ironically, the numerous attempts to 1 ihliih historical pitch standards based on vocal range and voice I p. ■ .in- quite undependable except as corroboration of information
1 .....1 by more reliable means.
An indication of the relative nature of conclusions based on vocal . n,(:.    w.i-. Mi-ihIiTs attempt to estimate Praetorius'l (lammcrThon. In infill, In- suggested .1 level ".1 minor third liigliei than our stan-
30
Chápte
dard" (A + 3).'7 In two later publications he revised his opinion downward: in 1955:477 to A+2, and in 1978:43 he apparently accepted Bunjes's conclusion (see 2-3b); in the end, it seems none of these conclusions was accurate.'8
More recently, articles appeared (remarkably, in the same book) that are in disagreement by a m3 on the pitch of vocal music in England in the late i6,h century." One of the authors based his arguments exclusively on the overall compass of the parts and compared them with modern voice types; the other presented an argument that was marginally stronger because it was based on the little that is known of organ pitch at the time.
In fact, individual singers each have their own range, so that generalizations are meaningless. As long ago as 1511, Schlick (who ought to have known) commented that "people sing higher or lower in one place than in another, according to whether they have small or large voices,"'00 and Praetorius commented on vocal ranges, "In this matter no firm conclusions can be drawn, and no strict limits imposed. There is so much variety about God's gifts, and one singer will always be able to go higher or lower than another.'"01
Based on laryngology, Simon Ravens has made the interesting suggestion that "the average human voice would have had a higher natural pitch in the 16th century than today.""" Whether or not his idea will stand examination, it demonstrates the unreliability of arguments for absolute pitch frequencies based only on vocal ranges.
The most convincing use of vocal ranges is not for indicating absolute pitch values, but for comparing ranges within a single medium, as in different Bach cantatas or Handel operas. If a Bach cantata written for a certain venue has a higher average mid-range than one written for a different place, for instance, it may indicate a pitch difference between the locations.
i-5d Xylophones and Glass Armonicas
Xylophones probably preserve their pitch well. Until the 19th century, however, they were used mainly by itinerant musicians, so their connection to other instruments is difficult to establish.I0'
The Evidence
Although glass armonicas were often played together with other instruments, those instruments were usually strings and voice, where 1 Ik- pitch was not necessarily fixed.,<M The exact pitch of an armonica • hi .ilso be affected by the mounting of the cups.10^ These instruments 11. i onsequently not reliable indicators of historical pitch levels.
• .•  Tuning Forks: Accurate But without Musical Context
I lining forks were probably in use by the beginning of the 17th century (iiulri'd, possibly as early as i486'06). But most references to them through the \S'h century imply they were a novelty and not commonly
HMfli
forks are little affected by changes of temperature or other real or Imagined problems discussed in the section on pitchpipes (i-3g).'°7 I lny are therefore more trustworthy as frequency references. Tans'ur III 177a considered them superior to "any tubical or stringed Instru-
.....ii whatsoever,"'"8 and Adlung (1726:11:163), in suggesting a flute as
it normal tuning reference, mentioned, "In England they make rather I ..(.• steel forks for this purpose, which preserve pitch with great ac-■ 11 y, and are quite clear in sound." I In- problem with tuning forks is to relate them with assurance to . particular place, time, or usage. Unlike pitchpipes (which are often ■ imped and which give note-names), forks offer few clues to their
I.....t manufacture and use, or even where they originated.
Mrndel was dubious about the authority of the two most famous hi lorical forks: that of Handel, and the one associated with Stein and 1 In/art (the pitches of these two forks are 423 and 422 Hz, respec-||t • Iv)- It seems the extreme accuracy of tuning forks is often cause 1 11 nit nut ious claims for how and when the frequencies they give
.. used. The Stein fork (discussed in Haynes 1995, Section 9-2) is
II. . .11...1 flagrant example. It has even been suggested that a fork at
nwned by Pascal Taskin in 1783 (see 8-2b), represented "Lully's
1 11109 upi'ia pitch.
I tlpp cV Castellengo (1977:9), as skeptical as Mendel, make some 1 r. upi 1.111- comments on the limitations of tuning forks: "A touch of •1 I1I1 ai ilu- critical place can seriously alter the frequency," and "The
Ckapter i
The Evidence
J?
fact that I personally own a tuning fork that gives 432 Hz does not mean I use it to tune my violin."
The above will explain why evidence from historical tuning forks has not been given much attention in this study. It has been useful mainly as corroboration of evidence from other sources.
i-5f Length Standards as Indications of Pitch Standards
Organ builders talk of "5 1/3 foot pitch," etc., as if pitch and length are almost synonymous concepts. Adlung wrote (1758:376):
It could perhaps be . . . that on [someone's] organ, this would not be the exact measurement; but I would answer briefly that the Foot ["Schuch"] is perhaps longer in one place than another,"" or perhaps one organ is simply a bit lower than another. We already noted above (§94, which mentions Sauveur's proposal to find a standard pitch that would be recognized everywhere)^ that they are not always quite the same in one city, not to mention between cities.
[Note (d)]: Once again, concerning such a uniformity of standard. Since if such pipes, if they have the same length and inner diameter, and are blown with the same wind [pressure], would necessarily have the same pitch level, would it not be surest (since the German Foot is so variable) to use the constant and therefore unerring Parisian Pied de Roi, when fixing the length and diameter of the 8' Principal?'" If each organ builder accepted this standard, all organs would be in agreement. If some makers intentionally design their organs at a different [pitch] standard (as for example the new organ being built in Dresden that will be pitched in Cammerton"7 C cannot be at the normal 8' length, though I suppose it will have the same name. Since all [the pipes of this organ] will be at this lower [pitch] standard, a larger Foot must be employed in building it,
Just before 1829, Ignaz Bruder (1780-1845), a student of a student of J.A. Silbermann, wrote,
Mere in my book I have continued to use the scaling of the late great Silbermann, and recommend it as exemplary, as well as some from the French organ. I should note however that the dimensions of the latter nre based on the Pied de roi, which causes organs to sound 3/4 of a tone lower. To have Chorion, one should systematically read 3/4 of a tone higher or convert the Pied de roi into the Nürnberger Fufi."f
Ilm mann suggests that, assuming the same scaling, the difference in □Itch between pipes at the Pied de roi (324.8 mm) and the Nürnberger 111ft (503.9 mm) would produce a "reichlichen Halbton.""4 (A large li.JIstep; "Chorton" in Silbermann's scheme was A+o, a whole-tone il'.'vo/ranzösischer Thon; see 7-5.)
I'ipe-lengths are often used casually rather than literally. An ex-imple is the English "10-foot" organ. It used to be that early English in. Ii was calculated on the assumption that original pipes were ex-■ 1 ly 10 feet long, but the organ-builder Martin Goetze (1994:61) writes I ■ .111 see no reason to use 10ft (or 5ft) as a basis on which to calculate 1 ... Ii, unless pipes are discovered which are indeed that length; extant IllpiII ill seem to be slightly longer.'""'
Herbert Heyde (1986: Chapter 6) proposes a correspondence be-1   ■ . 11 the dimensions of surviving woodwinds and the logical subdi-
.....ts of the local ell, foot, inch, etc.,"6 of the place they were made."7
1 I.. ..■ nre three factors that reduce the effectiveness of this idea.
I it st, it is difficult to know which standard was being applied at a place. In some cases we know as little about historical length . ..i.l.iuls as we do of pitch; often more than one Foot-rule was in use
......Ii .meously."8 Mendel (1978:42-43) noticed that in Diderot 1765
11.... lie XI a proportion of 17:18 is given for a length called the "pie
1........nique" (possibly a special length used by instrument makers) and
lilt undard Pied de roi. A direct correspondence between hypothetical |iii. lien and corresponding length standards may thus be difficult to 11111I Also, as is evident from Heyde's study, an instrument and its I. m.iy be the product of a multiple or a fraction of a standard i..(ili unit. It is of course possible to take almost any length and
......Ii ii to some standard or other. It is thus difficult to know
lit 'I.. 1 .1 maker was consciously following a given length standard. • •oiul, makers copied existing instruments that had sometimes
made elsewhere. It is .1 s.tle .issumpl ion, loi  iiisl.mie, ill.ii Den-
34
Chapter i
The Evidence
35
ner and Schell, when they began to make the new "französische Musikalischen Instrumenta," were modeling them on actual woodwinds that had come from France and were thus presumably made to French lengths/pitches."' How long they used those measurements is unknown; if they functioned well, there would have been no reason to change them. And which other makers outside of Nuremberg in turn copied Denner's instruments?
Finally, a correspondence between length standards and pitch standards is frequently not borne out by surviving instruments. To take an obvious example, the pitch relation between Rome and Venice is pretty well established as a rather large whole-step in the early i8rh century, with Rome being the lower, and similar to Paris. For a simple Foot correspondence, then, we would expect Rome's foot to be similar to Paris's and longer than that of Venice. But in fact, the three were 297.8, 324.9 and 347.4 mm, respectively. Venice, with the highest pitch, had the longest Foot-rule, and Rome and Paris, with similar pitches, differed considerably in length.'20
If we take the pitches of woodwinds made in different areas of Germany during the same period (1700-1730), we can compare the possible relationship of Foot-rule to pitch standard. Graph 2 shows the pitches of woodwinds made in this period in eight different towns. We would expect those of Berchtesgaden (317.6 mm, the Vienna Foot)'21 and Berlin (313.85 mm, the r/ieinisc/ie Fuß) to be the lowest, since their Foot-length is longest. The shortest is the Saxon or Dresden Foot at 283.1 mm (used also in Leipzig), with the lengths of Butzbach, Munich, and Roding almost as short. Nuremberg (at 303.8 mm for the Werhfufi) is in about the middle. What we see is that the instruments from Berchtesgaden and Berlin are not exceptionally low, nor are pitch standards in places using shorter standards unusually high. No clear generalizations that link pitch and Foot-lengths are in fact possible.
Another way to test the validity of the hypothesis that instruments were made following local length standards is to compare the pitches of individual makers. If the instruments vary in pitch, we can conclude either that a length standard was not applied, or that a number of different standards were used (which amounts to the same thing as far as we are concerned). Graph 3, for instance, shows the pitches of woodwinds made by a number of individual Nuremberg makers; the
spread is wide enough to make it impossible to detect a particular ■Itch that might be the result of a woodwind maker's Foot-rule used 1 hare.
A one-to-one correspondence between length standards and pitch standards thus appears difficult to find. Rather than match instruments to given length dimensions, it seems this approach is more fruitful in observing geometric proportions, as this will give insights Into general instrument design.'22
1-6 Factors That Determine the Accuracy and Credibility of Evidence from Instruments
The two essential qualities of usable pitch information are accuracy mill relevance. The pitch frequency must be plausible, in other words, • must be linked to a specific time, place, and/or function. The tuning lork usually satisfies the first condition well, for instance, but fails ln< second, because it is difficult to know whether, when, and how ■   I lorks were used.
I .1« tors that can distort the accuracy of a pitch observation include
.....I mi.it tire, physical alterations, wood shrinkage, the nominal pitch
til the instrument, the place and date of origin, the quality of informa-
., 11 i>l anachronistic playing techniques.
Temperature
Aside Irom wind pressure (which has a relatively small influence on Mill li), temperature is a major factor in organ pitch. It has been calculi 1.11 1l1.1t a difference of 7°C corresponds roughly to a difference of 5 M    I  A. Villard, organist at Poitiers Cathedral, wrote me that
1 lie organ was originally tuned by Clicquot in December 1790; for this
•• II......1 is only 3/4 of a tone below the modern pitch of 435 [sic]. As a
irsiill, it is noticeably higher in summer when it is 15 or z6 degrees I. mi ip.i.uli-1 in the loft in July or August; a difference, therefore, of .......■ than is" to 18° with the temperature in December.
36
Chapter 1
The Evidence
37
This means that the Poitiers organ, measured at 400 Hz, could vary about 50 cents, or as much as 12 Hz between extremes.'2' Such a variation in flue pipes was probably normal in the i8'h century, depending on the local weather.
Temperature is much less of a consideration on woodwind instruments, which are activated by the breath of the player rather than a bellows. Woodwinds play low when cold, but reach a "warmed up" steady temperature after a few minutes of playing. Players warm their instruments not only to bring them to pitch, but because they do not otherwise respond or resonate as well as possible. If it is extremely cold or warm, the ambient temperature is a factor, particularly in larger ensembles where winds do not play constantly. But in a room at a moderate temperature, a woodwind instrument will begin to speak and sound normally after 7-8 minutes, and its pitch will have risen about 15 cents.114 The pertinent question is really how long a woodwind instrument has been continually played when its pitch is measured; in other words, whether it is considered by the player to be warmed up.115 At that point, ambient temperature measurements (unless extreme) are irrelevant.
i-6b Physical Alterations
Later doctoring of woodwinds was usually for the purpose of raising their pitch. Removing material was the most common method, either by enlarging recorder windows and traverso embouchures, or shortening joints (as discussed previously). Alterations of this kind are usually detectable. Obviously, in measuring pitch, instruments should be examined for possible modifications.
-6c Wood Shrinkage
Wood is the primary material of most of the musical instruments that yield historical pitch evidence. But with age, wood shrinks, and this affects pitch. Shrinkage (and cracking) of woodwinds is caused by water loss as a result of ambient humidity. Water content in living boxwood (the wood normally used for smaller woodwinds until the early
h/1' century) is about 30 percent; by the time the wood is worked, it is about 10-15 percent,'26 and an instrument made in the first half of the ill''1 century will probably now have a level of about 6 percent.117
The recorder maker Philippe Bolton* reports that bore shrinkage is quite common on recorders he has made and reserviced after 10 years.
On a recorder or traverso, a smaller air volume results in a higher ■Itch. Mathiesen and Mathiesen concluded that a change of 1 percent
• 11 ibe humidity of the wood of a recorder corresponds to a rise of 1/3 Hi (1.84 cents) in the tone ai.'z8 Since the percentage of humidity loss 1 1 instruments made in the i8'h century—that have not been regularly I'liyed since then—is on the order of 6 percent, this theory suggests 1 but an i8'h-century recorder's pitch was originally about 23 cents (or
• I..nit 6 Hz at ai) lower than it is now.
Hecause most woodwinds are made from quartered sections and wihhI shrinks to a different degree in different directions, original
• nlwind bores are almost always oval now rather than round.11' I ii v Karp''° has estimated that the present bore diameter of an early bun wood instrument is probably about 0.985 of its original one.'" Axial • htinkage (i.e., length) is less: about 0.993.1,1
A common rule of thumb for calculating original bores is the re-Ullon
D
-In re D is the original diameter and a and b are the present major and
.........ixes.'" Thus, if a and b are different (in other words, if the
• • i null instrument's bore is oval), D, the original diameter, was even 1 ii 111 than the present maximum bore. Fred Morgan reported that if I., look ihe maximum axis of an original recorder, his copies played 5 1 1   lower than the model had.1'4 But considering the discussion above, H the present maximum axis is not as big as the bore when the in-
......nut was first made, as both axes have shrunk to some degree.
I ■ "iv was also sometimes used for woodwinds. It does not react to
1.....■••In v m 'be same way as wood. In the short term, it is less stable;
I   ny instrument will change measurably in dimensions after an
1 .....1 playing, but the changes are only temporary. Although ivory
■.biink somewhat with time,"5 an ivory instrument is probably
1.....low to its original dimensions than one made ol wood. It is
38
Chapter i
The Evidence
J9
therefore instructive to compare the pitches of instruments by makers who worked in both materials.''6
In the case of cornetts, the amount of shrinkage would have an insignificant affect on pitch because of the proportionally large size of the bore."7
The effect of shrinkage on clarinets and hautboys, whose bores do not contract, is the reverse of the "flutes;" re-reaming of new instruments after they have been played in causes them to go up in pitch. A shrunken hautboy thus plays lower than when it was new, not higher.
The factor of shrinkage also affects the internal intonation of woodwinds, as Ronald Laszewsky* has observed.1'8 Because the patterns of change to different sections of the range are complicated to analyze and no doubt vary in different kinds of instruments, they have not been considered here, except in the effort to avoid taking a general pitch based on only a few notes or a single note.
i-6d Nominal Pitch
Nominal pitch is an issue with recorders in different sizes. An F-alto recorder at A+o could also have been a G-alto at A-2, for instance: to which pitch was it in fact tuned? By the 18th century, the treble or alto with fi as the 7-fingered note had become the standard size. In ca.1732, Thomas Stanesby Jr. indicated that recorder players played any instrument as if it were in F (i.e., recorder parts were normally transposed):
when the size of the Flute is chang'd, tho' the Performer is told by the Tone of the Flute that the lowest Note speaks B, or C, or D, yet he still calls it F, and so every Note is call'd F, in its turn, tho' at the same time it is insensibly to the Performer Transpos'd to its proper Note by help of the Flute."'
Monteclair used the same system in his opera Jephte (1732:164). All the various sizes of recorder were notated "comme si on joiioit de la taille" ("as if one were playing the alto").'''0 This same notational device is seen in Sammartini's concerto for "fifth flute," notated in F for the oilier instruments but in Bl> for the recorder (wliieli, it played on a
I1I1I1 flute, i.e., a soprano recorder, but read as on an alto, would sound in I', the key of the other instruments).
For the sake of comparison, all recorders used in this study have Dl tn assumed in principle to be in either F or C except the following:
1. Voice Flutes in di;
1. Those that would end up in pitches beyond the range of A-2 or
A + 2.'4'
■ '..   Locating and Dating
II pitch changed at various times and places, it is important to know lhl date and location of an instrument's manufacture. In general we in assume that the pitch of an early instrument represents a standard use in the place where it was made. Although well-known makers ||m the Denners probably received orders from outside their region, it || lensonable to assume they worked with standard models.'42
I -.lablishing exact dates of surviving early woodwinds is problem-The instruments are rarely dated, and woodwind makers' stamps mill! sometimes represent the work not of individuals but of work-i»'|is run by family members or successors. Woodwind stamps could
■ I •■ • ■ fore indicate company names just as "Ford" does for automobiles.
Indications of period (if not date) are often present, however. Ex-in|'leu are the style of turnery and the numbers of keys. Some work-Itnpa, like that of Jacob Denner, operated under special permission h in the relevant guild, and authorization to use the master stamp ■ >,l.I not have been transferable after a master's death.14' Some of the ■ ii.only in dating is also balanced by approaching pitch history in hurl periods as is done here, since active workshop dates seldom ex-1I1 J ihis span by much.
1 1 Mialiiy of Information
11 'In instrumental pitch information listed in the Appendices came named sources who were aware that the data they supplied was I • ..ltd in a pitch study. Most sources are professional players and
4o
Chapter i
The Evidence
4"
makers. When possible, instruments were tried by more than one player. The range of pitch of the early woodwinds when played by professional players was about 15 cents, about the same as differences on instruments of the modern orchestra.
As discussed above, since the concern here is with pitch standards, which in practice vary around a center depending on many factors, the degree of exactness is considerably less than what is normally used in the science of acoustics. That difference in tolerance is conscious and deliberate (cf. 0-2 on appropriate frequency tolerance).
Because musicians tend to think in terms of standards rather than cycles per second, some instruments get classified according to preconceived pitch "frequencies." A generic concept like "415," for instance, used approximately (exactly as we use the term "A-i" here) is sometimes applied to instruments that are more specifically at, say, 410 or 422. As in the case of organ restorations, there is a tendency to gravitate towards the reference points musicians know, especially 440 and 415, and these values are probably represented more commonly than they deserve.
i-6g Anachronistic Playing Techniques
The data used for this study obviously depends on the playing techniques of modern musicians. The last generation has seen the development on a large scale of professional performers on historical instruments and copies of them. The pitches used by these players are not necessarily reliable historically, and may be influenced by anachronistic techniques or preconceived notions of pitch standards. But the variation is limited by the inflexibility and general playing tendencies of the instruments they play, especially the winds.
In my own experience, the natural tendency of players trained on modern instruments is to use more pressure and tension on early instruments than necessary (in the form of tenser stringing, faster air-streams, tighter embouchures, and heavier reeds). The longer players work with i8,h-century instruments, the more relaxed their technique seems to become. This is, I think, a measure of the distance they are gradually able to take from their original training. Since higher tension and pressure normally result in higher pin h, 1 In- logical conclu-
llen is that, coming from a matrix of modern technique, contempo-• 11 v players are more likely to play early instruments higher than they • m- originally meant to be played, rather than lower.
1-7 Frequency Measurements in I7'h- and i8,ll-Century Studies of Acoustics and Vibration Theory
I irquency measurements in studies of acoustics and vibration theory I .••in the 17th and i8'h century resemble the information available from .....nig forks; it is of great exactness and accuracy, but is usually diffi-
• nil 10 associate with real musical situations. As with forks, its main hm '» for corroborating other evidence. Here is a short survey of sig-nlfii int developments:
|ohn Wallis established the existence of vibration nodes in 1677. As I )o»trovsky wrote,'44 "The basic ideas of vibration theory were formu-1 "..I during the seventeenth century. . . . That pitch can be identified with Irequency was a major discovery of the seventeenth century, and ihll I'lintification made possible very precise measurements of rela-
• •■ • I requencies.'"45
In about 1682, Christiaan Huygens developed an instrument using
• •nog wheels that produced a sound against which another could be "I'.iii-d,   thus  allowing  him  to  measure  frequency.   Using this
• ••• ihod, he measured the D of his harpsichord at 547 cps (= A-409, or
• ' ■ I 14 His notes also contain a sketch that may depict a siren that .....M have been used to measure frequencies.
The writings of Joseph Sauveur on music, published by the Ai lulemie Royale des Sciences at Paris,'47 dealt with, among other sub-
• , standard frequency, including specific pitch indications.'48 Sau-
• • made important advances in the study of frequency in relation to Hilt h,'4" His report in 1700 (p.131) of the pitch of a harpsichord, accu-
• '■ lo within a few percent,1,0 yields an ai at 404 Hz, or A-i'/i.'5' Sau-n'lits to have been the first to determine frequency by means of As Dostrovsky explains, "The absolute frequencies of a pair of
.....hi be calculated from their frequency difference (given by the
1   II 1 11.'') and their frequency ratio. . . .',4 Newton used Sauveur's re-I' foi Ins check on the velocity of sound . . ."'ss Sauveur later used In 1 method loi determining Irequency based 011 the properties ol
Chapter I
The Evidence
43
a string. Dostrovsky writes, "In 1713 Sauveur ingeniously derived Mersenne's Law with a constant of proportionality for the ideal string that was [nearly] correct. ... In the same year Brook Taylor'56 also gave a derivation. His style of analysis belongs to the i8'h century, Sauveur's to the 17* ." Sauveur's recorded measurements of the pitch of a harpsichord in 1713 can be calculated to yield an ai at 404/405 Hz.1,8 Other indications of pitch found in Sauveur's writings yield ai's at 421, 415 and 410 Hz.'59
Although Ellis (1880:36) observed that "Sauveur mentions no particular clavecin, or organ, or opera, so that his results can only be looked upon in the light of experiments," it can be reasonably assumed that his frequent mention of ton de chapelle and ton d'opera refer to the standard pitches in Paris in his day.
Sauveur was well-known in his time as an advocate of pitch standardization; both Adlung and Mattheson mention him in their writings.'6" The son fixe that he proposed in 1701 as a standard frequency reference was 100 cps. In 1713 he revised this and proposed instead a new theoretical pitch for use in physics (still known as "Sauveur pitch" or "philosophical [i.e., scientific] pitch"). Middle ci was to equal 256 Hz, making ai = 43i. The attraction of this frequency to Sauveur and later physicists was its mathematical logic: it was based on C calculated by powers of two. It seems to have had no particular reference to the musical practice of Sauveur's day, however.'6' Rasch comments, "It was never applied in musical practice, but it has been and is being used
from time to time in papers of a scientific or pseudo-scientific na-»162
ture.
In 1706 the physicist and mathematician V.F. Stancari, building on Sauveur's work, reported experiments with a toothed wheel of his invention that he believed made it possible to measure the vibration frequencies of sound. The experimental method involved appears to have been valid,'6' and Stancari measured the pitch of the organs at S Petronio in Bologna. His results can be calculated to give an A at 386 Hz. Since Bologna was at the time politically under the control of the Vatican, and Corista di S Pietro was A = 384, this pitch is quite plausible. But Barbieri notes that the organist L.F. Tagliavini is certain that the Bolognese organs were never that low (Barbieri reluctantly concludes that Stancari's measurement was in error).'64
In 1712 the English mathematician Brook Taylor (of whom we pos-»r«« a portrait holding a recorder and another beside a harpsichord) 11| .1 published the correct derivation of a vibrating string equation (f = 1 1 '\/T/m),'6s which later became known as "Taylor's Formula" and ■ 1 <-d as the basis for further experimentation in acoustics during the ||' century.'66 In 1713 Taylor reported experiments indicating pitches loi a harpsichord at 383 and about 390.167
l.eonhard Euler, working with Taylor's theories, measured a pitch 11I A ^95.7 for an instrument in chorali modo (sic) in 1727, a "keyboard"
.....1.1731 at 392.2, and an "instrumentis musicis" at 418.168 Euler worked
ii various places during his lifetime, including Berlin, Basel, and St. 1 • ii-i sburg.'6"
In a letter written in 1742, the physicist Giordano Riccati stated ■ Ii 11 ihe C of the organ at S Antonio, Padua sounded at 146 vibrations 1 ■ 1 econd (= A-493 or A+2), whereas the C of a French organ sounded h 11 / vibrations per second (- A-409 or A-1V2; perhaps from Sauveur's
iMtrement). From this he concluded that Italian organs were a 013 higher than those of France.170
Robert Smith published his Harmonics in 1749. Smith used a >*'1'i^liied monochord to measure the pitch of the Trinity College organ ai Cambridge built by B. Smith, which had originally been ex-Iflly a tone higher.'7' The results are calculated in Ellis under 395.2 and 44» /■
In 1762 Daniel Bernoulli described experiments on the sound and 1 III 11 ol organ pipes, using the French "pied de roi" and "pouce de 1 i' 1        He reported that the note he called "C choral" was "environ
......Inations dans une seconde de temps,'"7' which translates to an A
1 il...m 100 Hz.'74
I leinrich Lambert, working at Berlin, reported in 1775 that his flute 1 .In. id an ai at 415.25 Hz.'75 He concluded that
11., pilches on my flute are about a semitone higher than those pro-iui id by the instruments that were used for terms of comparison in il.. experiment by Messrs. Euler and Bernoulli. . . . Such differences ... Frequently observed in instruments made in different countries mnl by different makers.''*
44
Chapter i
The Evidence
45
In 1787 Ernst Chladni at St. Petersburg is said to have recorded certain frequencies in terms of musical pitches.'77 Also at St. Petersburg, the composer Giuseppe Sarti repeated in 1796 Sauveur's famous experiment published in 1701.'78 Sarti recorded an A at 436 cps.'7'
Chladni in 1802 talked of a gradual pitch rise since the earlier reports of Euler in 1727 and Marpurg in 1752. Euler had given pitches of 396, 392, and 418. A report in 1859'*° claimed that Marpurg had given the Berlin opera pitch in 1752 as about 422, and in 1776 Marpurg had estimated the Berlin A as 414 Hz.'8' According to Chladni, certain orchestras (presumably in Germany) had already risen above his proposed pitch of 427.l8i
1-8 Cases Where Both Standard and Frequency Are Known
Forty-two organs survive from Austria (2), England (2), France (2), Germany (27), and Holland (9)'8) with original pitch frequencies that are known and with pitches that were also identified by name in contracts or reports at the time they were built. They are listed in Appendix 1. This evidence has obvious authority, and indicates the following relationships:
1. There are 12 organs at Cornet-ton within a range of 450-467, aver-
aging 462. This level agrees well with the pitch of cornetts (see 1-33).
2. There are 10 examples of Chorton which, although they average
465, range over three levels (A+o, A+i, and A+2), and are pitched as high as 487 and as low as 437.
3. Cammerton (12 examples) is remarkably consistent with a narrow
range from 408 to 416 and an average of 414.184
From this, it is apparent that Chorton was a general concept rather than a specific frequency; in the i8'h century it could have been any pitch from A+o to A+2. Cornet-ton and Cammerton, by contrast, were specific and consistent in frequency even over several periods, and can therefore be used as reference points for finding other pitches. We will discuss all these standards in more detail in the chapters that follow.
Notes
1 Hoyden 1965:2.
■  ll<\saraboff 1941:357.
1 I lie data is given in a more complete form in the appendices of my doc-IHI il dissertation (Haynes 1995).
1 I liese lists include more instruments than the ones I used in my dissertation
I I »riit at least one letter (and often several follow-ups) to every owner of
II ivtrios, clarinets, and recorders listed in Young 1993. I have also corre-1.....'led with a number of organists, builders, and organ experts. Information
'« difficult to collect, however, because (beyond failure to respond at all)
......v individual owners and small museums lack the expertise to measure
m'.11 nment pitches.
I I Iii« 1880:32.
1 hit is true on the Continent. English pitch being different, instruments
.....Ii iliere (including cornetts) must be regarded as an exception.
M A« late as 1801, a handbook written by Johann Andreas Streicher and put Ml I'V the Stein piano company, then in Vienna, sternly instructed its clients
.....1« "allezeit nach der Stimmgabel," and that this latter "muss auf das
Ml Ittigite mit den Blasinstrumenten, wie sie in dem Orte üblich sind, gleich ii»li»tv"
1 "i veld 1977:183.
II Pi ittorius 1618:15.
I'oon" in Dutch is pronounced approximately like "tone" in English. See
I •' h»l examples in 4"3a.
II l'i i.iorius (i6t8b:III:i22) used the word "Schwarz" to distinguish the
I cornett ("Cornu buccina") from the straight "Gelbe" mute cornett. 1 I "i a more detailed discussion, see Haynes 1994c, section 3. .   1 ■  1 lookes 46. I am indebted to Herbert W. Myers for this reference. I It n.lil 1978:24. ■ Ii 1I1.mi Nicholson*.
also Haynes 1994b and Haynes 1995:421-28. 1* I't. alio 2-2ai.
iiinrnne stated in Proposition XXII that he had been careful to give the in n't dimensions very exactly. 1 • ngih calculations made by Herbert W. Myers*. 1   'I mil pitch is discussed further in 2-2ai. 11 I llidrlfio Puglisi*; in determining pitch, he states "For Renaissance flutes I   much prefer to go by speaking length." Pitches and speaking lengths of in« instruments correlate well. I Pugliii 1988:76.
1 1 I  ll.iynrs 1995:418 and Thomas 1975.
im .1 diicunion of nominal pitch on Renaissance flutes, see Haynes •VVV4I".
I 1 11 1 hi in. ifnH: 16. Tr. based on < 'rookes.
46
Chapter t
The Evidence
47
27. John Solum*.
28. Quantz 1752, Ch. IV §15.
29. Kuyken also reports playing a Bizey traverso at the Horniman Museum (Ex Dolmetsch M43-1982) on two different occasions, once at 392 and once at 402 (a difference of about 43 cents); this was, however, an exceptional case.
30. Roderick Cameron*; Friedrich von Huene*; Jeffery Cohan*; Oleskiewicz 19983:144.
31. Cohan points out that the bore of the longest joint appears shinier (from swabbing), the tone holes are a little rounded, and the tenons are compressed on the outside much more than the other joints (although the bore has been re-reamed to remain as big as the other joints).
32. Heyde (1986:175) suggests that when a traverso has alternate joints, it is possible to determine which is the main one because the spacing of its tone holes are in a logical geometrical proportion, while those of the others are extensions. Cf. Bouterse 2001:473, who finds that with Dutch traversos, the longest corps was probably the best; I have accordingly given this pitch in Appendix 4.
33. By convincing "internal intonation" I mean that standard fingerings produce notes reasonably close to a 55"Part octave (approximately Va- to 1/6-comma meantone), as described by 18' '-century sources on non-keyboard tuning such as Tosi, Telemann, Quantz, and Mozart (see Haynes 1991).
34. Embouchure shape is discussed in Powell 1995c in connection with a reconstruction of a traverso whose embouchure hole was replaced.
35. The differences in recorder pitch noted by Bouterse (2001:226-27) are difficult to understand unless the players were inexperienced or untrained.
36. On most recorders, the sidewalls of the window are close to 900 with respect to the labium slope (with a few exceptions, such as Van Aardenberg; see Bouterse 2001:219). The pitch is raised when these walls are opened up, so original instruments with open sidewalls may have been altered.
37. Fleurot 1984:129.
38. K. Ridley quoted in Mendel I978:22ni7.
39. Cf. Ross 1985. Nicholas Shackleton* points out that other factors that may not be obvious can affect pitch, such as a barrel, mouthpiece, or top joint that has been shortened. Shackleton showed me a clarinet made by Hale (successor to Collier soon after 1785) with small dots marked on the tenon ledge that would have been removed if the instrument had been shortened; another Hale at the New York Metropolitan Museum has the same dots. Their existence is a guarantee that the instruments were not shortened.
40. Nicholas Shackleton*. Shackleton adds that most late 18th-century clarinets can be pulled apart a little between the joints, making the effect of an inappropriate mouthpiece a little less evident.
41. Shackleton finds that in order to achieve good intonation over the range, instruments often require tuning rings in the lower socket of the barrel that extend the instrument's length, and he surmises that iuch rings were used in the 18*century as well.
4/ Albert R. Rice*.
41 Eric Hoeprich*.
44 Nicholas Shackleton*.
1 . 1 Livid Ross*.
|| I lopkins 1880:594.
4 ■ Archival evidence can include churchwardens' accounts, vestry minutes, ni||«n builders' books, diary entries, and letters. 4» Original text quoted in 7-48. || Williams 1980:100.
..• I >omenic Gwynn* writes that "What one looks for is evidence of the 1 ..tiding history, to give the provenance of the pipes, pipe movements, and || It "dd reference to a type of pitch."
I I or more discussion on this point, see Haynes t995:384ff. ' .'noted in Barnes & Renshaw 1994:312.
< \ good account of methods of assessing historical organ pitch can also be lnuitd in Gwynn 1985:65-66.
i In order not to weaken confidence in actual reported pitches, I distinguished deduced pitches from direct measurements.
IV Cf. Mersenne 1636:169, Fabricius 1656, William Turner, 1697 (Tilmouth ,H), John Shore (Hawkins 1776:11:752), Petit ca.1740.31 and 33, Tans'ur I6157 quoted in Haynes 1995:540, a Hofkapelle inventory from Darmstadt
.....li '» 1765 (Noack 1967:269), Dom Bedos 1766:35, Tans'ur 1767:71, Schulz
I 1',, and Kiesewetter 1827:146, quoted in Haynes 1995:542-43. Ifl W.S. Rockstro's The Life of George Frederick Handel (1883). H I l.iwkins 1853/^1963:11:752. I   I'hii passage is cited by Mattheson 1721:428. \<l ti. Mancini (i774:82:n). Text quoted in Haynes 1995, Section l-jd. •     I ..ill 1805:66.
■ ■  W.ii|. 1915:^:489.
■ North 1959:208.
.     111 Blankenburg 1739:110. In 7-43, there is mention of a "Memoire" in the i.vrt of the Opera reporting that in 1755 "le sieur Lot, maitre Iutier," pro-l-l the Opera at Paris with "nine bellows-blown [pitchpipesj, needed to 1    'li« pitch of the Opera's harpsichord." 1 I llts, whose sense of precision led him to list his pitches to the tenth of a
I '    wm not enthusiastic about pitchpipes compared with tuning forks (cf.
'-,). Cf. also Mendel 1955/1968:188. Inv, no. 1845. It is described by Dr. J.H. van der Meer* as a duct flute. ■   1 .in grateful to Rainer Weber for sending his measurement notes. The I    I 1 lie plunger that gives the Naples pitch also gives a whole octave scale. I I.. |mi. lies were obtained by using a wind machine, and "the first note was 1     I ml pitch as when blown with the mouth." ... I 144.
II < I Barbour 1951:85-87.
48
Chápte
69. Cf. also Jean Baptiste Clicquot's "diapason ambulant" of 1746 and van Heurn's "Stemfluit" (1804:293), mentioned in Haynes 1995:546.
70. Hubbard 1965:64.
71. The concept of "critically stressed strings" seems to be accepted among violinists as well (cf. Segerman in i-5b below).
72. O'Brien 1990:56. Darryl Martin (2001:2, note 2) believes that strings sound best just below their breaking point because of a reduction of inharmonicity in the string.
73. Wraight 1997:190.
74. 1722, now in the Villa Bertramka (Mozart Museum), Prague; and 1739. now in Schloß Pillnitz near Dresden. Cf. also Kinsky 1940:15. The bigger instrument was probably played by W.A. Mozart at the Nostitz Palace in Prague in the Fall of 1787 when Don Giovanni was premiered.
75 . Martin 20or.27ff.
76 . Ray Nurse*.
77. Original text quoted in Hodgson 1985:59.
78. See 3-6.
79. Preußner 1949:128.
80. North 1959:230.
81. Smithers 1988:204.
82. Smithers 1988:96-97.
83. Van der Heide 1996:47,49,51.
84. Graham Nicholson*. Cf. Madeuf, Madeuf, and Nicholson (1999)-
85. As will be discussed in 2-3b, Praetorius used the word CammerThon here to mean A + i.
86. Praetorius 1618:32-33. Trans, based on Crookes.
87. This principle does not always work, as for instance in the 2d Brandenburg Concerto, apparently written for a trumpet a whole-step higher than normal (see 6-3).
88. Cf. also the observation by Michel Piguet (1997) on his experience playing the same instrument at 415 in 1963 and 405 in 1982.
89. Cf. Haynes 2001:93-99 on "Hautboy pitch," which distinguishes four general lengths among surviving instruments and suggests corresponding pitch levels.
90. Gibiat and Laloe 1990.
91. Escalas, Gibiat, and Barjau 2002.
92. Cf. Segerman 1985c and Segerman 1988a.
93. See also Thomas and Rhodes 1971:63 on Praetorius's illustration of a violin with string length of 30.5 cm.
94. Butler used a particular English orthography he had himself invented.
95. Kellner 1956:357. Amati would probably have thought of his instrument as at tuono corista.
96. Owens 1995:330.
97. Not "somewhere between 466.16 and 493-88." as Bunjn 1966:731 thought.
The Evidence
49
Mendel (1978) states his basic principles in using voices in a section start-|||| "Ti page 47.
««■ Roger Bowers and David Wulstan in English choral practice, 1400-1650, ed. |nlui Morehen.
..... Schlick 1511, "Das Ander Capittel."
i-H I'raetorius 1618:18. Tr. based on Crookes.
K'.ivens 1998:126. "11 See Blades 1980:20:564.
■ ■■ 1 Mozart's Quintet KV 617 was an exception.
|| I am obliged for this information to Prof. Dr. W.M. Meier of the Institut I Hi kristallographie und Petrographie, ETH-Zentrum, Zurich.
• •■<• Mrndel 1978:80, Stradner 1994.
■re Lloyd 1954:797-98. Cf. also Ellis 1880:15, although the degree of accu-■ll y lie discusses is meaningless in a musical context: "As forks are tuned by riling, which not only heats them, but unsettles their molecular arrange-......II -at least, in part—it is necessary to let them cool and rest for several
. sometimes for weeks, before their pitch can be depended on for scien-Illli n curacy."
• (Quoted in Mendel 1978:80 n.90.
• Thomas & Rhodes 1980:14:782. For another view of Lully's pitch, see 2-6c. HI DUhnert (1985:71) points out that Adlung used the Rhenish Foot in his
..... iirrments. He was also able to determine by a comparison of pertinent
'   iiinents that Saxon organ builders, including G. Silbermann, as well as
• 1 ..n«ts and cantors responsible for organ examinations, reckoned according
■ lir Saxon Foot.
Adopting the French length measurement would presumably imply 1  ('ling French pitch as well, a prospect that seemed not to have bothered
• Hung at all in 1758.
I lie Catholic Court Chapel organ by G. Silbermann and Z. Hildebrandt,
■ n-il in 1754.
■ rr Bormann 1968:102.
1  li it difficult to judge how literal Bormann's transcription of Bruder's 1 mil is; length measurements, for instance, are converted to mm. Mi S*» 2-51.
||| I lie metric system was not in general use until about the middle of the igili itntury.
I hit assumes occasional rounding off and tolerance, the degree depending mi the instrument and its condition. Other mitigating factors include I .hi inkage (usually more relevant for diameters than lengths) and a lack 1 ml Hi lent documentation on early length measurement standards. See also Nlli iHHys.ii.
• 1 I Iryde 1986:70.
• I  K irnbauer & Krickeberg 1987:272, who found little evidence that Den-
■ nil ',< hell followed the length standards at Nuremberg.
5°
Chapter i
The Evidence
51
120. See Coates 1985:22, which suggests that the Brunswick inch was common
in many places, including Venice.
in. These figures are taken from Heyde i986:7iff.
122. Cf. Coates 1985 and Adkins 1999.
123. 394 to 406.
124. Leipp & Castellengo (1977:16) determined that the air-column of modern woodwinds stabilizes after only about 3 to 4 minutes of normal playing. This seems short to me. J. Mollenhauer & Söhne wrote that a clarinet that plays at A-435 at a temperature of 15°C will rise to A-443 at 25°C (see Zöpf 14).
125. The same question is discussed in Rousseau 1768:57.
126. Karp 1978:14 gives "usually i2<w>." A.M. Moonen* reports that the recorder maker Hans Coolsma in Utrecht has found the ideal water content to be 12 percent.
127. Mathiesen and Mathiesen 1986. There is disagreement about the amount of shrinkage that has occurred on i8'''-century boxwood woodwinds.
128. Mathiesen and Mathiesen 1986. On the effect of bore diameter on the pitch of cylindrical and conical woodwinds, see Myers 1981:47-48.
129. I use the word "oval" in a general sense; as Paul Hailperin* observes, the deformity caused by drying is not regular. I do not mean to imply here that all ovality is caused by shrinkage, although shrinkage is no doubt a factor in one way or another on any woodwind two to three centuries old.
130. 1978:16-17.
131. Based on his correction factor of 1.015 for an unshrunken bore; cf. his Formula 2 in Appendix 4, p.26. Many factors are involved in extrapolating original bores from existing ones: among others, wood-type, current humidity of the wood, place of manufacture, current age, details of manufacture (windway on flitch or rays), etc. A.M. Moonen*, in studying the process of woodwind bore measurement, has concluded that boxwood shrinks initially but remains relatively stable thereafter.
132. Mathiesen and Mathiesen 1986:177.
133. This formula was kindly passed on to me by Ronald M. Laszewski*. Paul Hailperin* writes that he was told about it by Bob Marvin and has used it since 1970 or 1971.
134. Morgan 1982:17-18.
135. Cf. von Huene 1995:108.
136. The highest pitch of three wooden traversos by Jacob Denner averages about 5 Hz higher than his surviving ivory instrument, which suggests that the wooden instruments were originally about 5 Hz lower than they now play.
137. Graham Nicholson*.
138. Cf. also Bouterse 2001:228-29, 232.
139. Quoted in Higbee 1962:57.
140. Cf. Eppelsheim 1961:75. J.G. Walther, also in 1732, givea the range of the "Flute a bee, oder Flute douce" as fi to g3 without mentionin« any other sizes or ranges. In France, the "flute a bee" had this tame rang» at leant as early as
I .. illon-Poncein's Veritable maniere (1700). Cf. also Hotteterre's Prtncipes 11/"/)- On the fingering of Dieupart's suites for "fourth flute" and more on .1,, general question of nominal pitch on the recorder, see Lasocki i983:5uff. I lir same principle applied to the tenor hautboy in a hautboy band, often •Men in C2 clef so it could be fingered as if it were a normal treble hautboy
■ ■ Tilmouth 1959:202).
141 The result of this method, of course, is to exclude the possibility of in-
.....nents built in pitches more extreme than the major third discussed in
tlila study.
■ 11 Cf. Kirnbauer & Krickeberg 1987:251 and Kirnbauer & Thalheimer 1995:91. i 1 '.er Kirnbauer and Thalheimer 1995.
■ 1 1 1975:169-170.
1   1 Irar overviews and explanations of 17th- and 18th-century indications of
■ I.. |mi. lies of musical instruments by physicists are given in Karp 1984:9-16
I harp I989:i59ff.
.<    I )ostrovsky 1975:201. This harpsichord may have been the Couchet
I night !>y his father, Constantijn Huygens, in about 1648, which was tuned
nriita" or "den rechten toon" (see 2-3 and i-4a).
• juveur was a member of the Academic For a general assessment of in • ur's work related to music, see Cohen i98i:24ff.
Sauveur was a tutor at the court of Louis XIV, and held the chair of
■ 11.. 111.11 ics at the College Royal (Dostrovsky 1975:201). See also Mendel
■ 11 Mu «nd Thomas & Rhodes 1980:782.
• ■•r Truesdell 1980:16:524. 1 Nutrovsky 1975:201.
■ linl.ii-ri K)8o:i9n6. A detailed list of the weights and measures used by
• in can be found in Rasch Introduction (see Sauveur), p.24. Cf. also Lind-
II i 1987:219 and Ellis 1880:36 under 406.6.
I loitrovsky, Bell, and Truesdell 1980:665. .   Defined by Dostrovsky 1975:202, as "periodic fluctuations of loudness
I.....In. ril liy the superposition of tones of close, but not identical, frequen-
I >..\irovsky points out that "there is no indication that beats were un-
1 .......1 Ix-fore Sauveur."
1  I imienelle 1700 (which is an introduction and resume of Sauveur 1701)
1 1.....• the method concisely and clearly. He points out there (p.139) that
. ..1 was, for an unknown reason, unable to repeat his experiment for a
..........■>■ appointed to test it. Mattheson (1721:428^ discussed Sauveur's
1 I niiiriielle's articles.
• • Raich 25.
1 ,«.  '.. . l>i-|ow.
1 Imtroviky, Bell, and Truesdell 1980:666. Karp 1984:16 analyzes Sauveur's i»|nn 1
1 1 I'.inch 26. Ellis 1880:36 gives 408.
1 • 1......"il 111 Rasch 25-26.
Willing 17^8:176, M 1111..-■.. .11 i7Jt:4i8(f.
Chapter i
The Evidence
161. This fact leads one to wonder if Sauveur's other Son fixe at 100 cps was determined with any more relation to practical music. Sauveur was, in fact, deaf (Bardez 1975:31).
162. Karp (1989:161) comments, "It may be worth noting that many tuning forks have been made to the scientific scale (i.e., "Sauveur pitch"), and it may not always be possible to distinguish them from tuning forks made for musical reference."
163. Barbieri 1980:17.
164. This is confirmed in Barbieri 1987:225.
165. Where f = frequency, L = length, T = tension, and m = linear mass or weight per unit of length.
166. Sauveur in 1713 had published similar observations (see Dostrovsky 1975:189).
167. See Cannon and Dostrovsky 1981:19, Karp 1984:10, and Karp 1989:160.
168. Ellis 1880:36 under 418.0. Marpurg 1776:65 cites Euler's pitch at 392.
169. Anonymous article "Leonard Euler," NGi 6:292. See also Ellis 1880:35 under 392.2.
170. Quoted in Barbieri 1987:11:141. Cited also in Barbieri 1980:231114. Barbieri writes that a new organ was commissioned by Pietro Nacchini in 1743, so the pitch in question would have been that of the organ built by Michele Colberz in ca. 1718-22, which replaced a Casparini (cf. Oldham i98od:3:859).
171. Smith 1749:202: the D on the Trinity College organ gave 262 vibrations: an octave higher would be 524; modern C = 523. This was measured in September (Smith 1749:204). In November it was 254, on a hot day in August, 268. This is a range of about 380 to 403 Hz. See Ellis under 441.7.
172. See Cohen 1981:34 for comments on this paper. Bernoulli had published other reports on transversally vibrating rods (1742, pub. 1751) that measured pitch frequencies, though not of specific musical instruments.
173. Pages 34-35.
174. See Karp 1984.
175. Karp 1984:14-15. This value is almost exactly a modern g#i in equal temperament.
176. According to Ardal Powell*, Lambert also left Ms measurements of his flute, with notes on its tuning.
177. According to Dostrovsky, Bell, and Truesdell 1980:669. I was not able to locate these indications in the copy of Chladni 1787 that I examined.
178. Sarti 1796. See Barbieri 1986.
179. Barbieri 1986:225; also reported by Cavaillé-Coll 1859:170. Sarti is mentioned by Ellis 1880:17: "his result is uncertain." See also Ellis 1880:42. The experiment was also reported in Gerber i8i2:II:2i. A complete report of the experiment can be found in Baroni and Tavoni 1983:223-9.
180. Probably Cavaillé-Coll.
181. See Ellis 1880:36 under 414.4. Chladni 1802:28 gave C-125, or the same as Euler's A-418.
Ill, The copy 1 examined was published in 1809; the pages in that edition ■ ' 1 28-30. Chladni had measured C at Wittenberg in 1802 as 128 (according 111 Kiesewetter 1827:148) and, sometime near 1827, Chladni informed Kie-Mwnter of pitches he had measured at C-136 to 138 (the latter about A + i). I'lte musical world had thus already gone beyond Chladni's ideal "scientific pltrh."
■ Hi  In addition to these, there are another 20 organs with pitches that were
.......-d and frequencies that can be deduced (2 English, 2 French, 12 German,
«n<l 4 Dutch); see Appendix 7.
i'M This is with the exception of the earliest example (1606), still at A + i I l'i nriorius's CammerThon; see 2-3b).
Chapter 2
l'itch before the Instrument Revolution of
ca.1670
2-1 When Pitch Standards Became Necessary
▼ n the early i6lh century, church choirs usually sang alone; instruments were actually forbidden in the Sistine Chapel at Rome. -A» Singers simply set their pitch for each piece so that its range
......Iwil comfortably their voices. And given the ranges of surviving
1   ■ • •> in the vocal repertoire, it is apparent that they could not all lieen performed at the same pitch level. This means that the 1 lh li iclerence for vocal groups performing without instruments was ..... m.inently fixed in terms of any absolute frequency level.'
In 1/65 Giuseppe Paolucci, with unusual historical insight for his ...... wrote in his Arte pratica di contrappunto (111:173):
' 'i . miiposers even older than this [1584],2 compositions can be seen in w It It li the parts are higher, but it should first be said that these pieces • ir sung without organ or any other instrument, and the singers wrtr consequently free to take a lower pitch if they wished, depending •n whether the parts went higher or lower, exactly as present-day 1.....« do when they sing a Cantus Firmus, the pitch being chosen for
■ I. piece. It became the practice later for the organ and singers to an-■ • ■ 1 1 .11 li oilier, that is, the organ interjected now one, now another
■ • l( iin, and thus being obliged to be at the organ's pitch, it was nec-»»»«iy (hat composers adapted to the pitch of the organs.
I I hi lust decade of the 161'' century, organs seem to have been used ........ip.iiiy choirs at St. Peter'* in Rome.1 In this period, the organ
56
Chapter i
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
57
alternated verses with the choir as Paolucci described. But for this function, it had no need to be calibrated to a standardized pitch; it had only to match the natural ranges of voices, and for the sake of practicality, the pipes needed to be connected to the keyboard in a way that allowed the organist to use simple tonalities. The "pitch" of the organ, that is, the frequency of the note sounded by the key A, was simply a function of vocal ranges.
An early indication of an appropriate pitch for church organs was given by Arnolt Schlick in 1511. In his book Spiegel der Orgelmacher und Organisten, Schlick printed lines in the margins to indicate the various pipe-lengths he recommended. He considered that
The instrument has to be pitched for the choir [dem Chor gemefi] and be tuned suitably for playing with singers. . . . However, people sing higher or lower in one place than in another, according to whether they have small or large voices/
Schlick's term "Chor gemeß" looks similar to the later terms "Chormaß" and "Chormö/Sig/Cormesig," and his phrase "suitable for playing with singers" sums up the meaning of these words. They appear to represent the same idea as the reference in 1507 cited in 2-2a3 to "co-risto a voce de homo over da coro" ("coristo, at [the level of] a man's voice or that of a choir") and Barcotto's organ "in voce umana, e si chiamano corristi" ("corresponding to the human voice, which is called corristi'").5
Schlick's concern was not specific pitch frequencies, since he added that voices varied in their range. The length of his lines was based on an estimate of the average range of choirs, a pitch that would usually be appropriate. The issue was still where to place the keyboard in relation to the sound of the pipes, and apparently had no relation to the pitches of other instruments; it was an extension of the singers's concern to match the range of the piece to the range of their voices.
It must have been in this way that the pitches of organs were decided in the generations before it became customary to use other instruments in church besides the organ. Whether this can be called a pitch standard is debatable, as i6,h-century organs (all presumably "Chor gemeß" or corristi) varied in absolute pitch (compare Graph 4a, Italian organs built before 1670). Even into tin- iM   < MttUry, organs de-
■ ilird by contemporaries as at Chormafi could be a semitone apart.6
I lluiiinafl (and often Chorton, apparently) seems to have been used to It 11 t ibe an organ's relation to the voices who sang with it rather than * ipecific frequency. The need for a pitch standard in church did not
II lit until other kinds of instruments began to be used there.
Instrumental ensembles began to be commonly used in certain Ital-
• " < hurches in the early 1560s. "The regular use of [string] instru-......is in sacred music may have originated with Lassus in the Bavar-
■ •" 1 :<>urt in Munich" by the 1560s or slightly earlier.7 An account of 1 linn h music in Rome in the 1570s mentions the use of organ, cornett, .tckbut, with the latter two used "among the quyre"8 (thus not in
• li.uiiid'm passages). Gioseffo Zarlino wrote of combining other in-
......irnts with the organ in 1588 (IV:3i:2u).' Niemoller found records
1 1 In use of sackbuts in church services in Emden in the 1570s, and
niriis at the Catharinenkirche in Hamburg in 1592 (or earlier), Kiel , ;o, etc.'° We may assume then that by the second half of the 16th
.....iiy agreements on pitch standards had become necessary in
1 liiiiih.
Writing in 1618, Praetorius tells us in Syntagma musicum that "First 1 'II it should be said that pitch frequently varies in organs and other
........nents. This is because playing together with all kinds of in-
......irnts was not a common practice among our ancestors."" The
1 In ••.<• "playing together with all kinds of instruments" evidently re-
.....I to a different practice from the usual one of playing in consorts
1 llkr instruments often made at the same time by a single maker.
A description in ca.1571 of an "instrument chest" of 45 winds, in-Ittillng large shawms, "Pfeiffen" (flutes), cornetts, a fife, and record-nuiilr by members of the famous Bassano family included the re-111, "iliey are all tuned with one another at the standard organ pitch mil in- intended to be played together."IJ This appears to be an exam-1     'I what Praetorius meant: diverse types of wind instruments ("all 1 I111U ol instruments") designed to play together at a single pitch
.....lard. It seems that the fact that all the instruments were at the
..... pilch standard was unusual enough that it was worth noting; in
lln>i  words, instruments were not always at the same pitch. The 1 1        "iiandard organ pitch" implies a generally recognized system iIh 1',/iis, and perhaps also that organs and wind instruments were .....illy tuned to the same releienie pitch in order to be able to pel
58
Chapter z
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
59
form together. This pitch may have been mezzo punto, the first pitch name I have seen mentioned (in 1559, see below).
2-2 Italy
2-2a Venice
Woodwind instruments, being less flexible, often turned out to be the decisive factor in agreements on pitch. For the whole of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, Venice was the most important source of the best woodwinds. Anthony Baines wrote,
Among the [cornett] survivors in the big collections, those of Venetian manufacture predominate, which is appropriate, since Venice seems to have been the principal focus of design during the period. German courts, for instance, frequently bought their wooden wind instruments from Venice. . . . This, and the constant migration of players from one country to another, led to some degree of standardization in instrumental playing-pitch."
Cornetts made in Venice were frequently exported to other parts of Europe: a contract with the Bassanos in 1559 speaks of customers "qui dela cita come de fora" ("here in Venice as well as abroad").'4 Vin-cenzo Galilei (1581:146) said in his Dialogo della musica antica et della moderna that the best cornetts of his day were made in Venice. After describing a standard set of recorders, Praetorius (1618:34) mentioned that "a whole consort of them can be bought in Venice for about 80 thalers." In 1596 Archduke Ferdinand of Schloss Ambras owned "4 curved cornetts bought in Venice . . . one new doltana, bought from Venice . .. one large consort recorder bought from Venice."'5 Thus (as it was to do again from the late 18th century up until the present moment) Venetian pitch set the standard in the countries of Europe.
2-2<zi Mezzo Punto (A+i)
In 1577 the Cathedral organ at Feltre was repaired by the Frderici firm, in order "that the said organ be put in its rtgUMI |"'' h, that is, in the
nrnett pitch of mezo ponfo.'"6 The term "mezo ponto" was also associ-"•■I with cornetts in a contract drawn up in IS59 between three Ve-Hl tian wind players in the service of the Doge of Venice and two in-Hrument makers of the Bassano family:'7 "Loud [curved] cornetts, both at mezo ponto and tuto ponto, four lire di piccoli each, mute cornetts
II >ll pitches [or sizes], 2 lire and 8 soldi each."
Mezzo punto and tutto punto were evidently widespread concepts in |hl north of Italy by at least the end of the i6'h century, as a large or-
1 ■ made by the city of Genoa in April 1592 shows. The order was for Mimical instruments from Venice, and the instruments were described |l loilows:
Hirst, six mute cornetts, together in a case, in the pitch of tutto punto, Hid made of boxwood; [then] six [non-mute] cornetts, whose pitch
• limild if possible be precisely mezzo punto, together in a case[,] of linxwood, part for right-handed, part for left-handed players; [then]
• ik jiffari [shawms?], the pitch of which should be precisely mezzo •unto, in boxwood, in a common case; [then] eight recorders together in .1 case, they should consist of two small sopranini, four larger, and 1 wo tenors, lower than the four [previous] but without keys at their I bottom] ends, they should be at the pitch of mezzo punto and made of 1 ■iwood. All the above instruments should be of quartered, well-Hiionrd wood, and above all correctly pitched, and to obtain the best ■tiallty one should go straight to Gianetto da Bassano of Venice, or
• l»r "Instrument" Gerolamo, or Francesco Fabretti and brothers, be-
• anir «11 of them are the most knowledgeable in these kinds of into umsnts.'
h <|>prars from these references that mezzo punto was the most com-Iftttit pitch at the end of the 16th century and the one associated with 1 woodwind instruments, though not with mute cornetts." If
.....punto was the most common cornett pitch, its frequency can be
i'i mined from surviving instruments, of which there is a reasonable uttph < iraph id shows the pitches of 101 i6,h- and I7'h-century curved 1 tints still in reasonable condition.'" It is presently impossible to
1.....push German from Italian instruments, or to date the instru-
111«, but most of them were probably made in Venice between
• h 1 ,/o .iihI 1630, and used all over Europe.
6o
Chapter 2
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
6,
Always bearing in mind that to reduce the pitch of a woodwind instrument to a single Hz value is a physical absurdity, and that margins are in order, the range of pitch shown in Graph id for curved cor-netts is 415 to 504.
The central core ranges from 460 to 471, accounting for 52% of the total and averaging 466 = A+i. We assume this, or something close, was the principal cornett pitch. Graph 9 gives an idea of the pitches of the greatest number of curved cornetts. Graph 10 takes a sample of curved cornett pitches from all periods. Each column going to the right shows a greater incidence. The most common pitches are 464/465, the next most common are 463-467, etc.
Pitch estimates by Herbert W. Myers based on the dimensions of the cornett illustrations in Mersenne and Praetorius also shows a predominance of A+i (see [-3a and 2-3b). The same level (though centered a bit lower) is shown by contemporary recorders (cf. Graph ia). Thus it is very probable that mezzo punto was A+i."
Confirming this is Herbert W. Myers' observation that the finger-reach on cornetts at lower pitches, even a semitone lower at A+o, become noticeably more difficult. And people were generally smaller in the i6,h century.
At a much later time, in 1765, Giuseppe Paolucci implied that most Venetian organs had been at A+i when he wrote that "the already celebrated organ maker Master Pietro Nacchini was the first to lower organs in those countries by about a semitone . . ."" Organs by Nacchini for which original pitches are known are at A+o (433, 436, and 437V This would make earlier Venetian organ pitch, "about" a semitone higher, - 462 = A+i (or again mezzo punto). This in turn clarifies a report from the end of the 17th century by Giovanni Andrea Bontempi, who had been employed as a singer at S Marco from 1643 to 1650. He reported in his Historia musica (1695:188), that the organs at S Marco "sono un tuono intero piu acuti degli altri dell'altre Chiese" ("are a whole-tone higher than the organs of the other churches"). Since we know that Nacchini lowered many organs a semitone to A+o in the i8lh century, most Venetian organs must have been at A+i in Bon-tempi's time. "Un tuono intero piu acuti" than A+i would have been A + 3. This pitch may have been a relic of the past. The organ "in cornu Epistolae" at Bologna built by L. da Prato in 147s waa also apparently at At j. In 1521 Giovanni Spataro, then maestri) <!• rupprlla, complained
• •I its high pitch, and in 1531 it was lowered a whole-tone to A + i by 1 • IV Fachetti.
Although he did not use the term mezzo punto, Antonio Barcotto in lit* manuscript Regola e breve raccordo of 1652 apparently regarded A+i h« 1 ypical not only for the cornett, but for the violin as well:
I The organs] of Venice are among the highest used in that state, and must be tuned to the pitch of cornetts. Chamber organs, though, at Venire, Padua, Vicenza, and other cities, are a tone lower, [corresponding to] the human voice, which is called corristi. This difference "I pitch is used to accommodate voices and instruments, since organs thai are high work well with lower voices and violins, which are for |h|| reason more spirited.M
I urn 1 omental works like those by Fontána, Neri, Trabaci, Rossi, the 11.lie and symphonie of Marini, and the canzoni of Marini and Merula, ill pioduced in Venice in the iyth century, were presumably played at ......punto, or A+i.
I In- other surviving cornett pitches are both above and below A+i, with peaks at 448-452 and 480-484; together these levels, which are the
illy other significant ones, make up some 200/0 of the known cornett 1 Id lie*. Although neither of these levels is a complete semitone from ,    1 A 11), they may have been regarded that way.'5
A 11 may have represented an older pitch level that fell out of use 1   lb* 17' century. There are surviving organs at A+2, made in the 16th
.....1 y: S Maurizio, Milan (1554) and the Silberne Kapelle, Innsbruck
rentury). In early Spanish sources, "punto" sometimes meant pili li" and sometimes "tone."26 Nassare wrote in his Escuela música |.i I 1« noticed in the musical chapels where dulcians, cornetts, and 1 iwmi are used, these are usually pitched a punto higher than natural pltih."" By "natural," Nassare meant a specific pitch level that was
li........ied because it was comfortable for a man's voice. Since dul-
1 lana, «h«wms, and especially cornetts were normally at A+i, and ideal il pilch was generally considered corista at A-i, "punto" may well . hern a whole-tone.
II punlo originally meant "whole-tone," A + 2 would be the level to I... 11 mezzo punlo and lullo punlo refer. Mezzo punlo would then origi-• lly have meant "a half lone below A I 1" (All), and liitlo punlo "a
50
62
Chapter z
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
63
whole-tone below A+2" (A+o). This might be checked by investigating the possible age of the few surviving instruments at A+2.
2-202 Tutto Punto (A+o)
A proposal submitted in 1582 for lowering the organ at Cremona produced an interesting discussion of pitch standards. In that year, the cathedral's organist, Camillo Mainerio, together with the maestro di cappella at Cremona, Marc'Antonio Ingegneri (who was also the music teacher of a 15-year-old named Claudio Monteverdi), recommended lowering the organ "approximately a semitone, so that the pitch of the organ in question will agree with the choir and the ensembles that perform both now and in the future with all kinds of musical instruments that play together in choirs and ensembles."28
An organist and builder, G.B. Morsolino, was consulted about this proposal. Morsolino (also Morsselino) had worked with Orlando di Lasso at Munich.20 Part of his reply was the following:
As for lowering [the organ], I see no advantage for playing with other instruments, since all the organs I have seen in my lifetime, either in Italy or elsewhere, that are normally used to perform with the greatest performers, are in the cornett pitch of mezzo punto, a note higher than ours that we are presently discussing at the cornett pitch called tutto punto, which is a note lower than the other that is called mezzo punto." This situation obtains because, not wishing to hinder the organs when playing with the wind instruments, they leave them in the above-mentioned mezzo punto pitch, which is however too high for the chapel singers. Because of this practice, organists are always (or at least usually) compelled to play lower than the written key in order to accommodate the singers. This is what is done at St. Mark's in Venice; 1 do the same on mine [in Bergamo], as is done on most organs played by organists of any merit. For this reason it can be concluded that lowering [the Cremona organ] is not required for concerted playing, since organs used that way which are played by the best men in the profession are a note higher than ours at Cremona."
A lurther opinion on the question was requested of the distinguished • 1 hi builder Graziadio Antegnati (who had built the organ at Santa Nmhara in Mantua at A+i; see 2-2c). Antegnati sided with Ingegneri II"I Mainerio. He thought that lowering the pitch "rendera esso or-p«tui piu comodo al choro et alia musica" ("would make this organ
.....rr practical for use with choir and mixed vocal-instrumental mu-
llf").
Morsolino placed tutto punto "un tuon" below mezzo punto. Since Innl 1 n whole-tone and a semitone could be a "tuon,"'2 it is unclear Inim Morsolino's testimony whether he considered tutto punto A+o or
• (and consequently whether the proposal was to lower the organ to A 1 1 wo semitones below mezzo punto—or to A-3, which would have 1 ■ • n 1 wo whole-tones below mezzo punto).
In order to answer this, it helps to consider why, in fact, Ingegneri • ..I Mainerio would have made this proposal. Their stated purpose wit* to get the pitch of the organ in "correspondence" with the choir mil <nscmbles of instruments. If tutto punto had been a whole-tone be-inczzo punto, thus at A-i, lowering the organ further would not ■ been necessary, and A-3 would seem an absurdly low and im-■ in al pitch. But if tutto punto was a half-tone below mezzo punto, at Am, the organ might well have been considered too high for the
I 11  In addition, most of the instruments at mezzo punto would have 1 difficulty transposing down a semitone (transposing down a
I111I1 1 <>ne is much easier). Thus we may safely assume Morsolino
• 1 i|nated A+o with tutto punto.
' ■• 1r1.1l sources indicate that tutto punto was sometimes a cornett 1 H1I1  Morsolino, the Bassano contract of 1559 cited previously, and « irnoa order of 1592 that relates tutto punto to cornetti muti. The 1 significant cluster of surviving mute cornett pitches is at 430-446 | naph ic). The second most important cluster of surviving
II .li ornetts extends from 434 to 452 with an average of 444 (Graph 11 " 1 »1 iginal curved and mute cornetts also exist at A-i, but they are
nun li fewer.u
I lure was a good reason for cornetts to be made at pitches a semi-■ |i H i: transposing a semitone would have been problematic. First, 1   11 11 1 In- dilliculty of unequal temperaments and semitone transpo-n« (discussed in o-3c). Besides this is the question of finger tech-mitonc transpositions were impractical because simple scale*
64
Chapter 2
like C would turn into B and C* with a high percentage of cross-fingerings or half-holes. For both these reasons, whole-step and minor third transpositions were much easier and more practical on woodwinds without key systems. It is conceivable that players owned two or even three instruments pitched in consecutive semitones, allowing whole-step transpositions in various combinations to produce any required scale. While cornetts were predominantly at A+i, instruments a semitone lower would have been useful in Rome (where most organs starting about 1600 were tuned to A-2) and in the north where some organs were at A+z (like the Antegnati at S Maurizio in Milan), since in both cases the necessary transposition would have been a simple whole-step.
Since transposition was common for organists, it seems the levels under discussion were at distances of integral semitones from each other. The relationship of these pitches would thus have been as follows:
A+i     Mezzo punto
A+o    Tutto punto; pitch of the Cremonese organ A-i      The higher of two pitches for "choir and mixed vocal-instrumental music" (= tuono corista) A-2      The lower of two pitches for "choir and mixed vocal-instrumental music" (= tuono corista)
Once it is apparent that clear and distinct pitch standards a semitone apart are involved, the seemingly apathetic wording of a number of authors from this period takes on a new significance. Costanzo Antegnati writes in his directions for tuning in L'Arte organica (Brescia 1608:72) that one may "stabilire la cordatura come si vuole Corista di tutto ponto, o di mezzo, o alta, o bassa come si vuole, & e com-moda" ("fix the tuning as one wishes at tutto ponto or mezzo [ponto], higher or lower, as is wished and is comfortable"). Antegnati's phrase "corista di tutto ponto, o di mezzo" can thus be understood to offer a choice between two specific pitch standards; by "commoda" he would have meant the standard that was most appropriate for a specific church organ and choir. The same may be said of Bartolomeo Bisman-tova's comment on tuning keyboards in his Compendia musicale
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
65
11 < uara, 1677): "You will need first to tune all the C's in perfect oc-I .      at the pitch standard you wish."35
At least one organ at A+o is known to have been built at this time, though only one stop survives (Costanzo Antegnati, Cathedral of Ve-.....1, ca.1610).
• i.i) Tuono Corista (A-i)
1 hi lirst reference to the concept "corista" of which I am aware is
1.....1 .1 contract for the organ at S Maria di Monteortone, Padua (1507),
hit I) specifies "Item sea coristo a voce de homo over da coro"'6 (at [ til* level of] a man's voice or that of a choir).
"< 'orista" quickly came to have a more general meaning, but it •penii originally to have been associated with mixed groups of singers 1 instrumentalists. Its name makes its connection to choirs obvious. I lust, it was probably produced by simply transposing downward, m Moisolino described; Zacconi noted in Prattica di musica utile et ne-M m (i592:f2i8v):
observe, that just as the human voice can sing a piece a tone higher or a tone lower, depending on how well it works and is satisfying; 10 the instruments can play a composition sometimes in one key, •i.niet imes in another because they are all without exception high niinpared to the voices. Thus, when it happens that instruments wish !• |i . ompany singers, most of the time, to oblige them, they play a 2d, id, 4th, etc. [lower]."
Il I..uigb most sources put tuono corista a M2 below mezzo punto, it was mriimt's  lower, as  Zacconi  wrote.  In  1609  Girolamo Diruta
......miied in /I transilvano "trasportationi . . . un Tuono, & una Terza
1 1 " At least part of the reason for this was that tuono corista at 1   .... w.is at A-2 (see 2-2b), a m3 below mezzo punto. Diruta distin-
I ■•• lied between the common transpositions of chiavette (or clef-code)
II ......11'" and "another kind of transposition that allows a response in
■ .Iin 1 able pitch for the choir.""
I In- intervals between the organ's pitch and this chorus pitch, a li  li 1..ne and .1 (minor) third, are smaller than those loi rhiiivrMf,
66
Chapter 2
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
67
and are the same as those that would be made from most organs going down to the pitch Antegnatt had said was "more practical for use with choir and mixed vocal-instrumental music." "And since most organs are pitched high, beyond tuono corista, the organist must accustom himself to playing otherwise, a whole-tone and a [minor] third lower."4"
In the course of the 16' and 17' centuries, there are signs that organists in northern Italy were finding it increasingly impractical to be constantly transposing in order to match the compass of church choirs. There are indications that many organs were lowered in pitch, presumably to tuono corista. Some examples:
1546     Bergamo, S Maria Maggiore
Lowered 2 semitones.4' 1571      Ravenna Cathedral
Put "in tono corista un tono piu basso del
solito"4* (in tono corista, a tone lower than
normal).
1609     Reggio Emilia, Collegiata di S Prospero
"di dieci piedi, un tuono piu basso del cornetto'"" (i.e., a tone lower than cornett-pitch).
1626     Salo, Duomo
G.B. Facchetti, "arbasar uno tono lorgano."44
1628 Arezzo
Originally at A+i; pitch lowered a semitone, and in 1723 a further semitone. 1645     Padua S Antonio
Lowered a tone by Graziadio Antegnati.4'
In the passage cited above, Costanzo Antegnati in 1608 was using the term "corista" not as a specific pitch level different from "tutto punto" and "mezzo punto," but with its modern meaning of "the general pitch standard."46 The majority of sources in this period associated tuono corista with a specific frequency level, however. As quoted previously, in 1652 Barcotto wrote that chamber organs were pitched at "corristi," a tone lower than the pitch of cornetts; since the most common cornett pitch was mezzo punto, cotristi would probably li.ivr been A 1 (depend-
ing on what Barcotto meant by "tone"). He went on to say that "The Id ■ .-r-pitched organs are much better at meeting the needs of choirs, .. well as those of higher voices. But the lower and deeper voices have
......e trouble with them, and they do not work as well with violins as
• lie high organs." This is reminiscent of Morsolino's argument for -.ping the Cremona organ at A+o; organists were caught between the differing pitch demands of instruments and choirs.
Sabbatini (writing on keyboard tuning in 1657) also considered "co-tlita" a specific frequency: "Next you will have to decide the position "i pitch in which you wish to tune the instrument, whether in corista •  "inething else."47
H.ircotto in 1652 made another reference that might have been to co-iltln:
I he Most Rev. Father Maestro Antonio Tavola, Maestro di Cappella " the hallowed Basilica of S Antonio in Padua, has had the organs of lua church tuned to the most comfortable pitch that can exist for
......-s as well as instruments, having kept a limit neither too high nor
100 low, so that every voice and instrument can adjust comfortably.
■Wv»n years earlier, in 1645, the organ in question at S Antonio had It mm lowered "a tone" (which could have been either a semitone or a 1   le-ione) by Graziadio Antegnati.4* Adriano Banchieri in Conclusioni nel suono dell'organo (Bologna, |fi,66) noted:
I I he note F2], called by instrumentalists and organists corista; it can W in 1 he natural pitch of the instrument, voce corista, or alternately a ......■ lower or four higher, or lower.
I would add that the organ is a keystone, since being tuned in tuono co-■ 11, every other musical instrument needs to take from it its proper pin h.
While Morsolino in 1582 had considered tuono corista a level achieved
ll.....p..in through transposition, here Banchieri a generation later
11   "« to make it by definition the pitch of organs.49
68
Chapter 2
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
69
2-2<i4 Instruments Pitched Lower Than Mezzo Punto
The mute cornett was generally considered to be at a lower pitch than the curved cornett at A+i. How much lower is unclear, however. Most surviving mute cornetts are a semitone below most surviving curved cornetts; 57% of mute cornetts are at an average of 442 (A+o) and 25% average 420, a high A-i (see Graph ic and id).5"
But there are indications that the mute cornett was normally thought of as a whole-tone lower than the curved cornett. Praetorius noted in two different plates (viii and xiii) that the mute cornett was in G (the cornett is normally thought of as in A). Myers calculated that Praetorius's mute cornett in Plate viii no.9 with a length of about 66 cm suggests a pitch of about 409.51 A court inventory made at Stuttgart in 1589 indicated that while curved cornetts were at Cam-merThon/Cornettenthon, mute cornetts and flutes were at CJiorTJion (thus presumably a whole-step lower, as we will see in Section 2-3 on Germany).51 One possible explanation for this discrepancy between A+o and A-i is that, just as curved cornetts were built a semitone apart at both mezzo punto and tutto punto, mute cornetts were also common at levels a semitone apart.
Surviving Renaissance flutes are also pitched about a semitone apart (Graph lb). The majority (59%) are at 400, and the others cluster around 430.
Flutes were sometimes noted for their low pitch. The Stuttgart inventory of 1589 listed tenor and bass Zwerchpfeiffen "not agreeing with the Chor but a tone lower," and at Graz in 1577 there were "2 big Zwerchpfeiffen used in the concert."5'
These instruments would have been used for different musical functions than those at mezzo punto. Prince Ferdinando de' Medici wrote in 1708 that "it does not appear possible to me that straight cornetts can produce the same effect as curved ones, because the curved ones . . . sound more like the trumpet, while the straight ones are softer, and are played at funerals and similar occasions, which is why we call them cornimuti."u
The order from Genoa to Venice in 1592 mentioned above specified that curved cornetti, shawms, and recorders were all to be at mezzo punto, while the mute cornetts were to be at tuffo punto, so evidently they were not intended to be played together. Smith (ni/H.id) noticed
ii.ii mute cornetts and flutes were often scored together in 16th- and ||''-century music.55
Praetorius (1618:16) indicated that certain instruments were tuned a in 1 lower than his standard CammerTfion (which, as we will see, was i"ivalent to mezzo punto at A+i). He wrote that "Flutes and other in-
.....nents are also more beautiful when tuned at such a low pitch, and
Klvr quite another timbre to the listener."56 There were certain other Inds that Praetorius considered to be typically built at a lower stan-lird.57 These include the gedact dulcian58 and cornamuse. Sackbuts mild be crooked lower, and were-also apparently made lower (cf. the ■ miii- and Terz-Pusonen in the Stuttgart inventory of 1589, presuma-11   1 Mi and m3 below the gemeine tenor).5'
lor strings, the pitch question is somewhat less rigid, since they in be retuned. When concerted pieces performed in church were llinrd lower for the sake of the singers, it would have been absurd for 1 rings, playing in keys like G and D with all their open strings, to
.....ipose down to F and C. In such cases they would presumably have
......./ down a whole-step.6" Praetorius advocated this practice:
I hll pitch [CammerTfion] is often found too high—and not only for • Ingres, but also for string players. Violins, viols, lutes, pandoras, and tO mi require extraordinary strings to cope with such high tuning.
I hui it happens that the top strings break in the middle of the per-loimance, and one is left in the mire. Really, to let the strings hold ■ In 11 inning better, stringed instruments like these must commonly be .......•! about a tone deeper, with the other instruments also playing a
.....id down. This does not come easily, by any means, to unskilled
muiiciins; but it is a great relief for the singers to be able to sing at |hil pitch, a tone lower.6'
Wlirn violins functioned as an accompanying orchestra rather than as 1 ■•mis, being tuned "a tone lower" might also have been an advan-, . ,11 they would have had a less individual and aggressive sound.
< 1I1 Pinne
h«.....in wiote in i6">z:
7°
Chapter z
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca. 1670
7'
The pitches of organs are very different from one city to another, since there are those who use very low organs, and others very high, such as those in Rome, which are among the lowest used in Italy.6*
Roman pitch was often seen as a contrast to that of Venice. In 1640 (180-82), G.B. Doni devoted several pages in his Annotazioni to the notion that natural vocal ranges corresponded to latitude, and that northern people sang lower than southern. He therefore found it remarkable that the "Tuoni artificiali de gl'instrumenti" were just the reverse, at least in Italy: the organ pitches of Naples, Rome, Florence, Lombardy, and Venice, he said, formed a series of ascending semitones.
Starting from Naples, it is known that organ pitch there is semitone lower than that in Rome; the latter is another semitone below that of Florence; that of Florence the same distance below that of Lombardy; and the latter equally a halftone lower than that of Venice. So that, adding these differences together, Venetian pitch is a ditone, or M3, higher than Neapolitan.6'
Mendel called this description "suspiciously neat,"6* but it is interesting to compare it to the 27 available Italian organ pitches prior to 1670 shown in Graph 4a. They break down into five distinct pitch levels at fairly precise semitones, averaging 387 (Rome or environs6'), 415 (Tuscany, and south of Naples66), 435 (mostly in the North'7), 464 (mostly the Veneto68), and (higher than anything Doni mentioned) 495 for Milan.6'
In his Compendio of 1635, Doni mentioned this same relation but included only three of the five pitches; in describing a harpsichord by Iacopo Ramerino he wrote ". . . in which, ingeniously, just by moving the register the same strings will give you the pitch of Rome, that of Florence and that of Lombardy . . ."7° Again, the implication is that these pitches were at equally spaced semitones.7' If Rome was the lowest at A-z, the other pitches would have been A-i and A+o. Doni thus associates "Lombardia" with A+o, and apparently leaves Venice to claim the pitch a semitone higher (A+i, which was in fact mezzo punto).
If organs at Rome were at A-2, according to Doni they would have h#en at A-3 at Naples. There is some support for this. Though made in >!•• iH'** century, there is one Neapolitan organ (Morano Calabro, 1 .inline) at 375. Barcotto (writing just 12 years after Doni) considered 1 iiman organs among the lowest used in Italy. But he did not cate-nmM.illy rule out low organs at other places. The explanation may be 1 Inn Naples, like many other places, used more than one pitch level.
In 1618 (16), Praetorius reported a low Italian pitch:
The lower pitch of which we have spoken (a minor 3d down) is used a great deal in different Catholic chapels in Germany, and in Italy. Some Italians quite rightly take no pleasure in high-pitched singing: iliry maintain that it is devoid of any beauty, that the text cannot be i Imrly understood, and that the singers have to chirp, squawk, and warble at the tops of their voices, for all the world like hedge-• purrows.72
■ e (as we will see below) Praetorius's reference was CammerThon-1 uMifffcnthon at A+i, the low level would have been A-2. He was thus 1    !• ibly referring to Roman pitch.
Mrtidel reported that three years previous to the appearance of
1 • ■■.....us's book, the French theorist Salomon de Caus had recorded
1    dimensions of an organ pipe that (using the most likely standard 1 h ngih measurement, the pied de roi) would produce A-2.7' Athana-•   I in her published a translation of de Caus's text in 1650 "without i.l|iistment for the fact that Kircher lived and wrote in Rome,"74 llttt* by implication confirming that Roman pitch was A-2.
Mendel (1978:77) cites a letter by G.B. Mocchi written in 1675 that 1    probably indicates this level. Mocchi wrote that German organs ■ • limed "fast zwei Töne höher" (= between a n-13 and major third ' , I.. 1 ) 1 ban Roman ones. If Mocchi's German reference was standard I HMimer'I'lion/Cornertentlion at A+i, a m3 lower would have been A-2; a 1  more would put Roman organs into the 380s, which is indeed the 1    • I "I 1 hose that survive.
An mding to Doni, writing in 1640, the pitch of many Roman or-ktu  lie^.m to be lowered in about 1600:
72
Chapter 2
having been lowered by a half-tone in the last 40 years (as people say, and demonstrate by a comparison with some old organs).75 I have heard these matters about the pitch of Rome discussed in diverse ways by the experts. For some, its lowness is to be attributed to the weakness and sloth of the singers; for others, to the many castrati who, once they are more advanced in years, are no longer able to sing with the same high-pitched voice as that of real boys; and finally for still others, to the large number of bassi profondi found here more than elsewhere.7'
As for the castrati, it was indeed at the end of the i6'h century that they became an important presence in the Sistine Chapel (they had been part of the choir from about 1565, and the Munich chapel under Orlando di Lasso had included them by at least 1574).77
That there was a Roman "corista" is reported by a number of sources dating from ca. 1562 to 1702.78 Since these dates are on both sides of the change in Roman organ pitch in about 1600 described by Doni, it is likely that "corista" in Rome was used as elsewhere to mean something similar to "Chormdjiig," or "suitable for playing with singers," not a specific pitch frequency.
Barbieri (1991^52-53) points out that the interval for downward transpositions as indicated by high-clef (chiauette) notation gradually diminished at Rome as a result of a general lowering of the pitches of organs. He cites a number of pieces to show that at the end of the 16th century the transposing interval was a 5th or 4th downward; at the beginning of the I71'1 century, it was only a 4,h; at the end of the 17th, either a 4th or a 3d; and in the i8lh century, only a 3d. The transposed interval in the north never got smaller than a 4th, probably because absolute pitch ended up a tone above Rome (1991^:55). Barbieri (199^:54) cites three surviving versions of Palestrina's Tu es Petrus, written "per la basilica vaticana." The earliest, from the 171 century, is notated in high clefs, and requires a transposition "alia 4a bassa"; the second, from the it)'^ century, still in high clefs, requires "alia 3a"; a third copy is in chiavi naturali but is transposed downward by a 3d.
Palestrina was maestro di cappella of the Cappella Giulia at St Peter's from 1551. From 1555-1560 he was maestro at S Giovanni in Later-ano, after which he moved to S Maria Maggiorc. From 1571-1594 he was back at the Cappella Giulia. Barbieri (1980:22) • ilea a report in
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
7J
illH", by Monsignor Bartolomeo Grassi-Landi7' that states that the j.iii lies of the organs at the Cappella Giulia, S Maria Maggiore, and S < .M>vanni in Laterano8" were at A=384, on the low side of A-2. Grassi-I indi called this pitch "Corista di S Pietro." If Doni's information is
......-ct and Roman organs were lowered "per mezza voce, cioe mezzo
I......o" in about 1600 (after Palestrina's time, in other words), Pal-
• 11 ma would have been performing his masses at a rather low A-i.
I 11. same pitch would presumably have applied to the masses and mo-1*1» of Victoria, working in Rome in the 1570s and 80s. The composers
II ' Ive in Rome after 1600, like Landi (from 1620) and Carissimi (from
• I.....1 1630) would probably have been working with the new, lower
1 In h of A-2.
\\y 1666, the castrato Antonio Cavagna, engaged for an opera 1 11 -11 ma nee at Venice, insisted that the orchestra tune to Roman I'lii Ii: "and I intend to sing accompanied with the instruments of the 11 lir>i(ra tuned to proper Roman pitch and not as I did in Statira, in I'i ■", and in other works; this will be advantageous for my voice, and I In |ng up the subject now, so that no one will complain about it."8'
()ther Cities
1 In urgnn at the Basilica of Santa Barbara in Mantua was built in 1565 1    ' iiaziadio Antegnati. This instrument was recently restored to its ■ 1 null pilch, A + l, which suggests that this was also the pitch of the : 1 ..111,111 court cappella. Mantua was very active musically. Palestrina 1 nig musses for S Barbara and it would be interesting to compare ■ In 11 uinges with those he wrote for Rome, a whole-tone lower in 1     11   Sulamone Rossi worked at the Mantuan court, and Lodovico nlanii was maestro di cappella from 1593 to 1597. Monteverdi held this 1    ' 111 mi 1601 to 1612. Presumably, both L'Orfeo of 1607 and the Vespro I II . dr.iia Vergine (1610) were originally performed at A+i.8j Two
.....I 1 he Vespers, the "Lauda Jerusalem" and "Magnificat a 7," are
inning many late 16th- and early ^'^-century vocal pieces that use chia-■"•, and are thus meant to be transposed downward, normally by a When down a 4''' and at An, these pieces are indeed placed in a I • 1 lange lor both singers and instruments. Other theatrical works
74
Chapter i
performed at court included Monteverdi's Arianna and II ballo delle in-grate, and Marco da Gagliano's Dafne.
As Antonio Barcotto wrote from Padua in 1652, "Organs in Rome are also larger, unlike the church organs of this area, since they are three notes lower, for which reason they sound bigger."8* Since it is unlikely that Padua's general pitch level was three whole-tones above Corista di S Pietro at A-2, we can assume Barcotto, like Morsolino speaking of the organ in Cremona, meant three semitones,** making Paduan pitch a plausible A+i.
There is a piece of evidence linking Naples to Ferrara (in the Ve-neto): in the late i6lh century, when the Ferrarese court was interested in hiring a Neapolitan bass singer, they wanted to know "what is the lowest note he can sing, which can be measured by means of a flute. The note or number on the flute that corresponds to the deepest note of the voice should be written in the letter."86 This method of communicating a note would have been accurate only if the pitch of flutes at Naples was the same as those in Ferrara. Thus at the end of the 16 century in these two cities in the north and south, instrumental pitch, or at least flute pitch, was assumed to have been equivalent.
The Cathedral at Milan has been called the "principal church of Lombardy."87 Its organ, like a number of others in Milan, was made by Gian Giacomo Antegnati of Brescia. In Milan, however, the playing of instruments other than organ was forbidden in church, so the organs were not necessarily required to be tuned to match other pitch standards. Surviving pitches of organs by the Antegnati family are generally at A+i and A+o (a few are at A+2). Barbieri (io,8o:23ni4) cites a chant manual published by G.M. Stella in Milan and Rome in 1665 that states "The pitch at Rome is about a tone and a half lower than that of Lombardy."88 Stella uses the word "quasi," confirming other indications that the relation between the two pitches was not a pure interval.8' Surviving organs from the Veneto in this period average 464; a tone and a half lower is 392, whereas surviving Roman organs are at about 384.
Although Crema and Cremona are in the Lombardy region, they were politically a part of the Venetian Republic until the 18th century. Cremonese violins were thus probably designed to be played at the prevailing Venetian pitch standards, anywhere from mezzo punto to luono corista (A + i to A-i or A-2). It is well known tnll siring instru-
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
75
....ins resonate best when they are tuned at certain pitches; as Har-..I wrote (1981:470), "the pitch of a stringed instrument is perhaps |hi most important single factor in determining the way it sounds." i'...nito, who was a contemporary of Nicolo Amati and the young .i.mio Stradivari, wrote in 1652 that the high organs tuned to "tuono I. ' 1 ornetti" (presumably A+i) "work well with lower voices and violin*, which are for this reason more spirited." With the type of strings imil at the time, violins could have been tuned at least as high as A + i, irttl possibly A+2.*° Thus the most common pitch of Cremonese violin* ol the 17th century was probably mezzo punto, A+i.
In Bologna, the two organs at S Petronio "in Cornu Evangelli" and In 1 ornu Epistolae," as well as that of S Martino, were tuned at A+i, 1 In* sonate da chiesa of Legrenzi and Vitali, written in the second half 1 1111- 17" century, were presumably conceived at that pitch, as indeed w»ir (he famous pieces for trumpet and strings by Cazzati, Perti, and Terflli.
In 11 letter from Florence dated 6 October 1612, Marco da Gagliano mi* 1l1.1t "in Roma si canta un tono piu basso di qua" ("in Rome 1   , ling a tone lower than here").9' Since we do not know whether 1   ....in pitch had descended from A-i to A-2 by 1612, and whether by ..." da Gagliano meant a whole-tone or semitone, the Florentine 1 Iti li niuld have been anywhere from A-i to A+i. An organ that was 1. in I'lorence in 1571, SS Trinita, was preserved until 1939, at which
..... 11 was raised a half-step by shortening the upper ends of the
, |n « "' Since the rise was presumably to 435/440, the original pitch 1 li.ive been approximately a Vi-step lower. Doni had already as-. .iril I'lorence with A-i in his writings of 1635 and 1640. There is lm   iriison to think that the intermedi and early operas of the 1590s by • In-11 and Peri, as well as Caccini's Nuoue musiche, were originally
I 1 .mill at A-i, and this pitch may also have been used in Cesti's
II .......if productions of the late 1660s.
76
Chapter 2
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
77
2-3 Germany
2-3a Praetorius's ChorThon (A-i)
In his Syntagma musicum (Part i, 1618; Part 4,1620), Praetorius provided a great deal of information on contemporary pitch levels both in Germany and in other parts of Europe. His comments are not always clear, but with the background of the situation in Italy, it is easier to understand them. Contrary to i8th-century custom, Praetorius often used the term ChorThon (choir-pitch) to mean a pitch a whole-tone below most instruments, which were at CammerThon. ChorThon used in that way was thus analogous to tuono corista, and a system that used two instrumental pitch standards a whole-tone apart was parallel to the one used in northern Italy.
Praetorius began by using the name ChorThon to designate a pitch a M2 lower than CammerThon, but halfway through his book his conception of ChorThon seems to have become ambiguous," which has caused 20<ll-century readers major confusion. Fortunately, however, there was no doubt about CammerThon. He described CammerThon as "Our normal present-day pitch, to which nearly all our organs are tuned . . The Schloß at Schmalkalden preserves an organ that was renovated in 1606 by Gorge Weisslandt and was described as in "rechten Zimberthon" (i.e., presumably Zimmer- or Cammer-thon).n The original wooden pipes are pitched at 477. Since instrument making in the i6,h and 17th centuries was concentrated in relatively few places, and the principal one for woodwinds was Venice, it can be assumed that Italian woodwinds were in regular use in Germany (as mentioned previously, Praetorius indicated Venice as a source of instruments). It is thus likely that Cornettenthon in Germany was similar to the most common Venetian cornett pitch, mezzo punro at A+i. And Praetorius explicitly equated his CammerThon with "rechte Cornettenthon."'6
The reason for Praetorius's ambivalence about the meaning of ChorThon was that the term was in process of changing its meaning in north Germany in his day. He described how ChorThon was "earlier in the time of our elders a tone lower than it is now . . ."*7 From this we can take it that composers like Lasso at Munich were performing at that lower level, about A-i (whatever its name)  I'metorius described
Ifgint that had originally been at ChorThon but had been raised a step
i limb ein Thon") so that by his day they were mostly at Cammer-Tlimi.
An example of this deliberate raising of pitch is the famous organ
II i.Johannis, Lüneburg, originally built by Niehoff in 1553 at A-i, ind described by Praetorius in 1618. The organ was rebuilt in 1652 by
■ ■ II wagen, who raised it a whole-tone to A + l, calling this pitch 1 liiirmdsstg" (suitable for use with singers).'8
In his own day, Praetorius considered that instruments were (as 11 1 oni had put it") "tutti universalmente alti rispetto alle voci" ("all llhout exception high compared to the voices"). He did not approve il 1 he rise in ChorThon, and considered the older, lower level better for ne< and string instruments.'00 With prophetic insight (considering ■I 11   iination in Germany a century later) he wrote that "it would not bad thing if all organs were tuned a tone [i.e., a second] lower: 1." Ii is now, however, wholly impossible to change in our German 1 1111I», und so we shall have to keep to our usual CammerThon . . As
.....<l above, for the comfort of the choir, Italian organists transposed
1    uward a whole-tone or m3 to Tuono corista in "ensembles that per-1   .ii . . . with all kinds of musical instruments that play together in Ii 11» und ensembles."'"2 For the same purpose, Praetorius and other
■ i mints suggested adding low-pitch, transposing stops on high-
lied organs:
llvitius once wrote me (and I was already of the same opinion, for
nil Ii reason I had wanted to have two separate stops in the organ of I hi 1 title Chapel here tuned a half-tone lower) that he had often con-• ulnrd, since some organists would not be familiar with the new keys
M 'In organs, whether it would not be better to have installed in or-Umi. .. one or two soft stops, open or gedackt, of 8-foot pitch, tuned a
I..>le tone or a minor third lower than the rest of the organ, to be mmmI in concerted music.1"1
1 ......iiu\, who was a frequent visitor to Prague, pointed with ap-
il 10 the practice there "and certain other Catholic chapels" of 1 In lilng 1 lunch music a tone lower than CammerThon.'04 This was ap-nily why he set out at the beginning of his book to call this lower hlili h pili Ii ( .'I101 J'hon.
78
Chapter 2
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of cd.1670
79
Nor apparently was he alone in using ChorThon to designate a lower pitch. The inventory of instruments at Cassel in 1638 listed "6 old flutes (Zwerchpfeifen) longer than the above ones and thus in Chor-ton."'°% The organ of St. Annen, Annaberg-Buchholz was tuned in 1652 "im ChorThon," but by use of a "Kammerkoppel can be put a M2 higher, or in other words, in CammerThon." Urban Vielhawer von Hohenhaw, writing in 1660 in Neisse, described a harpsichord also mentioned by Praetorius,'00 a "Clavicymbalum Universale, seu perfec-tum" with 19 keys to the octave. Hohenhaw implied that ChorThon was a M2 below CammerThon when he wrote that this instrument was capable of playing at three different pitches each separated by a whole-tone, "alft Chor-Cammer-vndt ein Thon, piu alto" (hence Chorton, CammerThon, and one tone higher).107
But in a book on organ building written in 1656, Werner Fabricius associated ChorThon with "Zinken, Posaunen, Dulcianen und andern chormasischen Instrumenten":
It would be reasonable to begin this chapter by considering Chorton or Chormaft, and if in tuning it has been determined whether the organ can be used together with cornetts, trombones, dulcians, and other instruments in Chormafi pitch. An organ maker must be able to determine this accurately with the aid of a pitch pipe that has been carefully tuned.
ChorThon remained an ambiguous word throughout the 17th century, sometimes referring to A-i, other times to A+i. In Germany it could still mean a pitch a whole-tone lower than CammerThon as late as the 1680s (cf. Haka in 3-3). This usage may seem strange to those familiar with the later i8,h-century use of the terms, where their relationship is reversed. The switch in terminology was the result of a major instrument revolution in the 1680s and 90s, when the newly invented French woodwinds were adopted all over Europe (see 3-3b).
2-3b A+i Prior to 1670: Praetorius's "CammerThon"
Praetorius used other names for CammerThon, like rechte Thon (standard pitch) and Cornettenthon (cornet pitch). Drupitr the latter name,
In- li makes its pitch obvious, there has been recent debate about the |l ■ I of CammerThon.
The source of confusion is the apparent discrepancy between the linn different indications Praetorius provided for the value of Cam-"i.i I'hon. The first of these is the synonym "Cornettenthon." The sec-is his "Pfeifflin zur Chor-mafi," a scale diagram of a set of organ jilpi a provided in his book to indicate the absolute frequency of Cam-
..... I'hon. The third is the pitch of surviving original instruments that
1 . .. lorius said were pitched at CammerThon. And the fourth are the
it* drawings of the same kinds of instruments, included in his book.
I he first is straightforward, as we have seen: CammerThon and * i • liii' Cornettenthon" were identical.10* As we have seen, the majority 1 1 urnetts, both Italian and German, were tuned at A+i.'°' Cornetten-
il.......in be regarded as a constant, since cornetts had a single principal
1 III li 1 inter that did not change from the 16th to the i7lh centuries, or 1 11 Irom the 17'  to the 18' . They were thus an ideal reference for 1 llili Irequency, and were commonly used that way in Italy, Ger-
......v, and Austria. In 1608 a project was undertaken to make the
1 III lu-i of the organs in two churches in Nuremberg the same, for in-
......, .md the reference was the pitch of "Cornet und Dulcian.""0
i.. 11 ( iottfried Silbermann's Jacobikirche organ at Freyberg was fin-ln I mi 1717, one of the ways it was tested was described as follows: lin k if the organ was in normal Cornet-ton or Chorton, some of municipal musicians played trumpets and cornetts with the organ
ii • .uiipaniment, and found that they were well in tune together . . I In- pitches of 12 German organs originally identified as in Comet-
■ h 111 v 1 ve, and are quite consistent at an average of 462 (see 1-8). Cor-■ 1.hi .ii An emerges, in fact, as one of the two most reliable German
1 - 11 iiundards. Janowka wrote in 1701:43 "As a matter of fact, [re-11I1 1 I match the German or Bohemian organs, tuned to the Zinck or .■•Hi at this pitch.""*
A« to the second of Praetorius's indications of the level of Cam-1 lion, a number of reconstructions of the Pfeifflin diagram have
1     I.....I results varying between about A-424 and 433; these are all a
».....I M-miione and a hall below An."' The evidence appears therefore
In in • onflict. Praetorius had described CammerThon as the pitch "to 1 li nearly all of our organs are now tuned." If the reconstructions 1 lin I'jrifflin diagram are valid, at least a few extant organs should
8o
Chapter 2
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of cd.1670
81
therefore be in the area of 424 to 433. In fact, Graph 4c shows no organs near this pitch; there is a gap between 415 and 442, and the majority of organs are clearly at A+i.
Two recent articles have suggested explanations for this disparity. After examining the accuracy of the evidence based on the paper in original copies of the book, Karp (1989:156^ concludes that Praeto-rius's performance pitch could have been in a range "anywhere between A-410 and about A-450 . . . The uncertainty of the paper dimensions would provide further room for arguing the pitch higher or lower, as one might prefer." More recently, John Koster has pointed out other factors that suggest that the diagram represents A+i."4 Making his own reconstruction of the Pfeifflin pipe, Koster arrived at an A between and 454 and 468, depending on various factors. Previous trials using Praetorius's pipe measurements used lower wind pressure and smaller mouth dimensions, based on earlier 19th- and 2o',,-century assumptions (now disproved) about the nature of early organs. Koster's article plausibly resolves the conflict in the evidence."5
The third and fourth of Praetorius's pitch indications are in agreement with the first, and their evidence is consistent and abundant. Much of it is reviewed in Haynes I995:i57ff, and some of it will be noted here.
Graphs 1 and 4c show the pitches of surviving flutes, cornetts, and German organs of the period. Both curved cornetts and organs cluster at A+i. Renaissance flutes and mute cornetts are lower, and some of them do show a level in the low 430s, the pitch suggested by earlier reconstructions of the Pfeifflin diagram. But these instruments were apparently used for a different function and not normally expected to be at the usual high instrumental pitch. Weber (1975:8) wrote that "Transverse flutes and mute cornetts are . . . those wind instruments which appear together with strings in the so-called 'Stille' or 'Broken' Consort," and (as noted previously) these instruments often appeared together."6
One surviving organ built by Esaias Compenius in 1616 is particularly relevant because Praetorius himself acted as the consultant in its building and was its first organist."7 The instrument is unusual in being all of wood, which permits less leeway in voicing. It was originally built for Castle Hessen in Braunschweig, and survives in a more
II less unchanged state now at Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark. Its plli It is 470.
A complete set of instruments, described in three separate invento-ll»s Irom the years 1658, ca.1720 and 1728, survives at the Musikin-
.....nentenmuseum in Berlin. These instruments were used at the St.
• izel Stadtkirche in Naumburg. Krickeberg (1978:15) established )h«l 1 hey probably originated in Leipzig, were collected from 1625 to onward, and were brought to Naumburg by the new Kantor in The present pitch of several of them (recorders and mute cornet) This seems a good indication that as early as 1625 instrumen-1(1 1'iirh at Leipzig was A + l.'M
I Irrbert W. Myers recently did a thorough analysis of the dimen-111* of all of Praetorius's winds as depicted in the Theatrum instru-
......fnuim (the pictorial supplement to the second volume of the Syn-
.......1 rnusicum, containing scale illustrations of instruments)."' He
1 uril that the dimensions of the alto and tenor sackbuts, the mute men (in G at A +1), the cornettino, the tenor cornett, most of the re-
■ lirs (c2 sopranos, altos, and tenors), and the shawms indicated a 1 Hi h id A + i. This was a more careful backup study of conclusions he ' ■ I .ilready published in 1984, in which he wrote, "With very few ex-
1 inns (in particular, the transverse flutes) the lengths of the wind
.....nun-ins depicted are very close to those of surviving examples
1 .1 play at about a' = 46o . .
In addition, the combination cornett-sackbut is a time-honored one •1I1 texts and music;'21 the two instruments must usually have 1    >. pitched identically. Praetorius used the sackbut as another check ihr I'lvifflin diagram, writing "I also am personally of the opinion ilim no better instrument exists for representing rechte Thon [= Cam-
■ I linn I than a sackbut, especially those made formerly and still 1 • . oily ai Nuremberg. If the slide is pulled out two finger's width 1    .1 • lis- end, it will produce A lamire in reclite Chormasse absolutely
■ ■ ■ • 11v and in tune." The reason Praetorius specified that the slide Was not pushed in completely may have had to do with the original
1 lot hand position;'24 it was also probably necessary to avoid sud-I     I'll-. 10 the embouchure. In this position, the sackbut gives its ml pitch for A. Myers (1984:370) writes
8z Chapter z
Several [sackbuts such as those Praetorius indicates] are extant and playable, and they confirm a consistency of pitch on the part of Nuremberg makers of Praetorius's era. Completely closed, the majority produce a pitch slightly above modern b flat;'" pulling out the slide the recommended distance (say, 45mm) thus gives a pitch slightly below that, equivalent too at about a'= 460,"'
Myers also found that the sackbut dimensions in Mersenne were "very close to Praetorius's tenor (and to the length of most surviving Nuremberg examples).'"27
The end result of the recent discussions about the level of Praetorius's reference pitch has been a clearer understanding and more certainty (at least among most of the people who have examined the question) that this pitch was A+i. Praetorius called this Cammer-Thon/Cornettenthon. As might be expected from a region that imported many of its instruments from Italy, CammerThon was equivalent to the analogous Italian pitch, mezzo punto.
Thus German music, especially instrumental music, written from Praetorius's time until the adoption of Lully's new instruments (roughly the first 80 years of the 17th century) was performed against a background of this reference pitch, A+i. There is no indication that instrumental pitch changed in Germany before the arrival of French instruments, nor would there have been any motivation for a change during those troubled times (which included the Thirty Years War). CammerThon was no doubt used by Rosenmüller in the 1640s and 50s, and by Biber for his violin music. Schein's collection of instrumental suites, the Banchetto muskale, published in 1617 (a year before Praetorius's book appeared) was probably conceived at CammerTrion/A+i, as were his sacred concertos with continuo called Opella nova (1618 and 1626). Scheldt's Tabulatura nova for organ (1624) were likewise probably at this pitch. Scheidt worked with Praetorius at Halle in the 1610s, and was a friend of Compenius's.
Heinrich Schütz would also have used Cammer Thon at A+i at Dresden from 1629.128 There is indirect proof of this: the Fritzsche organ at the Schloßkirche, built in 1614, was lowered in 1737 a whole-step to "Cammer Ton" (by that time, A-i), so it must originally have been at A + i;11* this is the organ shown in Conrad's well-known engraving (1676) of Schütz in the royal chapel (see Illuttriii i«>n 1, page Kj).
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
11   11 'i ion i. Conrad, David. Frontispiece to Geistreiche Gesangbuch, a lollection of music edited by Christoph Bernhard, Dresden, I 1676.
84
Chapter 2
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca. 1670
85
2-4 The Low Countries
In 1618 (16), Praetorius reported that
Formerly in England-, and up to now in the Netherlands, most wind instruments have been made to sound a minor 3d lower than our present-day CammerThon, so that their F is in CammerThon our D, and their G our £ . . . This is true of the excellent maker Johannes Bossus [Jan Bos] of Antwerp, who uses this pitch in most of his harpsichords and virginals, as well as the organs built into them.1'0
If Praetorius's CammerThon was A+i, these instruments would have been at A-2. Koster (1998:89) cites several clavecimbels from this generation, including one by Bos himself, that have in appropriate scaling for A-2. Van Biezen (1990:239) comments that organs made in the Netherlands in the 16th and early 17' centuries were often low, although closer to A-i than A-2. Since Praetorius speaks of Antwerp, it may be that he was thinking of the pitch of the influential school of Flemish organ makers that included the Langheduls and Carlier, who built many important instruments in both Spain and France in the i6t'1 and early 17th centuries. Of what survives of their work, the indications are that they normally worked at A-2."'
Pitch terminology in the Low Countries just 30 years after the appearance of Praetorius's book included words that are by now familiar: "corista" and "den reghten toon" (standard pitch). The Flemish reghten toon was apparently about a whole-step below Praetorius's rechte Thon, however. In 1648 Constantijn Huygens, a well-known Dutch musician and man of letters, ordered a clavecimbel from Joannes Couchet of Antwerp (successor to the famous Ruckers workshop)."1 Huygens was assisted by a mutual friend who lived in Antwerp, Gaspard Duarte, a diamond merchant and amateur musician. Duarte says in one of his letters to Huygens that an instrument "acht voet" (8') long plays at "den thoon corista." Corista was evidently thus a specific pitch frequency, and one thinks first of a parallel to the Italian and German meaning of the word as a pitch a whole-tone below instrumental pitch, i.e., A-l.'"
Koster (1998:88-90) argues that the thicker firings used by the Kutkers led them to shorten their sellings while tii.iiiiiniiiing the pitch
1 the Antwerp makers of the generation before. This was the pitch li ■ nhed by Praetorius, apparently A-2. For lack of evidence, we are m <\>\e to consult other kinds of instruments,''4 so this question must li nun open.
Duarte mentioned smaller instruments that played "gemeynelick
■ li thoon hooger" ("generally one tone higher"). Huygens had pro-pmrd a clavecimbel two tones lower than "Mevrouwe Swan's;"""' 1 limrte advised Huygens,
I nil could be bad and quite out of style, and unsuitable for playing wiib voices; [I would rather advise] the natural pitch of this country, which is called corista, exactly one tone lower than that of Madam Swan, [a pitch that] serves well for normal voice [ranges]. The pitch
■ I 1 lie said Madam [i.e., a tone higher than corista^ is suitable for ex-Irtordinarily good voices that sing high, and for playing allemanden
ml lounanten [i.e., solo music]. At this same [higher] pitch I have I.mm or five [instruments?], unlike my clavecimbel and organ (which
... 11 rechten thoon), the one I would recommend to Your Honor.1'6
'1 I   'uirprising that Madam Swan's instrument is taken as a reference 1 1 li, us if a harpsichord remained at a constant level;"7 perhaps it too Wm irgularly tuned from a "fluijtien" (pitchpipe) like the one Couchet 1      .1. .1 10 Huygens (see i-4a). In a letter dated 19 July of the same .. Duarte indicated that the clavecimbel was to be made "in uni-... van den leegsten ordinarisen thoon chorista" ("in unison with 1. .west normal pitch, or corista"), presumably the one he had ear-
1 ......mmended. Couchet himself called the pitch of this instrument
1 .1 irghten toon" (standard pitch). As to whether this would have
ii A i, A-1V2, or A-2, we saw in 1-7 that, in about 1682, Huygens' .. 1 Kiistiaan developed a method of measuring pitch, and reported
1 11 Inn harpsichord (which may have been this same Couchet that his 1 ii111 1 luul bought in 1648) was at A-409, or A-lVi."8
In 1 he North, a number of organs built in the early I7ch century •   ipparently at A-i. These included:
I l.i.irlem, St. Bavo, small organ (J- van Covelens, 01629) Wijk bij Duurstede, St.-Jan Baptist (A. Kiespenning, cti.1615?) I eiilen, Si. I'ieler (Jacobs, 1'1/H, recently restored)
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87
Rotterdam, St. Laurents (H. Goldfuss, 1641) Maastricht, O.L. Vrouwekerk (1652).'"
In Groningen, Schnitger's contract made up in 1692 for the rebuilding of the organ in the Martinikerk stated that the organ at that time was "1V2 toon te hooch" ("1V2 steps too high") in relation to the pitch he eventually gave it (A+i).'4° The organ had existed from 1479. Other organs from this period were at A+i, including most of the important organs in Amsterdam.1'*1
Bouterse (1995:81-85, 2001:195) reported the pitches of five small one-piece recorders of Dutch provenance from the 16' and 17' centuries. The fact that all of them are close to A+o suggests that in the Low Countries at least, this pitch level may have been quite ancient. It is difficult to know how far to generalize from these "hand-fluytjes" to other kinds of music-making on other instruments, however. The one-piece keyless traverso left on the island of Nova-Zembla by a Dutch expedition in 1596 and rediscovered in 1871 is also at A+o.'4i A+o continues to be seen on a few Dutch woodwinds and organs in Holland through the 18th century (Graphs 16 and 24).
2-5 England
Much of the pitch evidence from the i6,h and 17th centuries that might have come from English organs was erased by two widespread annihilations of existing instruments. The first of these disasters was the result of Henry VIII's break with Rome and the so-called "English Reformation:"
For the period between 1526 and 1600 no [organ] contracts have yet come to light; by the fourth quarter of the century it is clear that organs had been removed or destroyed across large parts of the coun-try.14'
Many organs were taken from churches after 1547, and others ceased to be used. "No new organs are known to have hern built in London churches during Elizabeth's reign (1558-1603).'"44
Alter a brief but impressive flowering of organ building in the inion, the Civil War of 1642 to 1649 and the subsequent Common-wraith systematically abolished musical activities in churches and at itirt. Hopkins & Rimbault (1855:190) wrote, "In 1644 church organs writ ordered to be demolished by Act of Parliament, and so implicitly wm« the nonsensical decree obeyed that very few organs escaped the (metal destruction." By the time of the order of parliament, in fact, 1     . hurch organs remained. Even later, after the Restoration in 1660 Intl 1 he Great Fire of 1666, organs "were rarely purchased out of parish 1 tenses, as they were not considered necessary for worship."1'" All that remains of the pitches of organs made before 1660 are a 1      |tipes from Thomas Dallam's instrument for King's College l Impel, Cambridge, 1606; the largest sounds about G2 at 433-440, mak-\     487"494.'46 Another Dallam organ at Christ Church, Oxford, wan probably at 484 (see 3-4). There are also early pipes at about 473 limn a Robert Dallam instrument originally built ca. 1632 for Magdalen I   H. Ke, Oxford.'47
IIy the mid-i9th century, organ experts had already surmised that 1 .in had been pitched higher in the past. Hopkins & Rimbault , 1H9) wrote,
II wr read the notation of the old services a tone higher, the average iinpsss of the treble parts will then be made to the extent from mid-M. b or c1 up to e2 or P; and the bass parts, as a rule, not lower than 1 ■ .unit G or FF; precisely the ranges which are known to be the best I..1 1 lie corresponding voices in church music.
I'lit* during) measured the fork used by Hopkins & Rimbault as their
1.....it- "Philharmonic" pitch; it was 433.2. Thus "a tone higher"
11I.I have been about 484. E.H.  Fellowes (l92i:7iff) estimated, nly on the basis of voice ranges, that sacred vocal music in Eng-11 I hi the early 17111 century was "more than a tone higher than mod-111 |nii It" ("modern pitch" equaling 435). I lone of these figures is very specific, but they are probably indi-■ lug .1 level known as Quire-pitch.
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Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
89
2-5a Church Music and the Quire-pitch Grid
English church organs from the Tudor period through the late 17th century were normally built from a bottom pipe of five- or ten-foot length, which the organist called a C. Based on this length, with a diameter given by Nathaniel Tomkins in 1665 (7V2 inches, see quotation below), such a pipe has been calculated to play at about 50.1 Hz,'48 or midway between modern G and Ab. On this basis, ai would have been at about 508 Hz. For some time, it was widely accepted that that was the pitch implied by a 10-foot pipe. But Goetze (1994:61) reports recent measurements of unaltered early English organ pipes generally called "10-foot," and finds that in reality they are consistently somewhat longer and yield a lower pitch than A-508. They are, in fact, at what works out to be about A-473, sharp to A+i by about 32c.'49 A pitch at somewhere between A+i and A+2 is therefore the most likely frequency for the 10-foot organs of this period.
To match this pitch to the ranges of choirs, organists evidently found it necessary to use a transposing scheme that involved shifting the names of the keys on the keyboard. The note that was normally C was transformed into an F. Thus when playing alone, an organist considered his bottom note a C, but when he accompanied a choir, he customarily changed it to an F, thereby effectively performing a transposition. The untransposed system (where the key C was called C) is now sometimes called "Organ-pitch." The other system, where the key C became F, was called "Quire-pitch." As it was expressed at the time, an organ was in "Gamut in Dsolre," which meant that when the organ key D (Dsolre) was played, it would produce G (Gamut) in Quire-pitch.'50 Because the keys were nominally a 4' lower than Quire-pitch, Organ-pitch sounded a 4'h higher than Quire-pitch (or a 5' lower).
Thus in discussing the organ at Worcester Cathedral, Nathaniel Tomkins in 1665 equated the pitch of a 10-foot pipe (activated from the "key" on the keyboard that we would call C) with two different notes in different nominal pitches:
The great Organ wcn was built at Worcr consisted of z open diapasons of pure and massy metall double F fa ut of the quire pitch & according to Guido Aretinet scale (or as some term it double C fa ut according to ye keys & muiiks) an open pipe "I ten foot long ye
diameter 7 inches & an half, (at St. Pauls Lond. yc diameter was 8 inches).
I he difference between these "pitches," Quire-pitch and Organ-pitch ("according to ye keys & musiks'"v), was not one of frequency (since • Ik v were produced by one and the same pipe) but of nominal pitch,
......• the key on the organ keyboard had two different names.'5'
It is logical that this kind of organ is now known as the "transposing "rgan." It was apparently common in the 16th and early 17th centu-tnd may be a remnant of a tradition that was widespread in Kurnpe; 161 -century organs on the continent were sometimes in C/F 1 1  Schlick). The ramifications of the system are explained in detail l.irk (1974:25-37)-
II Quire-pitch was A=473, Organ-pitch a fifth lower'5' (or fourth 1 ■., I .i-r) would have been A = 3i7/634. The approximate frequencies of 1 names in these two pitches would be:
Quirrpitch	Hz	Organ
A	473	D
11«	448	C#
II	423	C
U	400	B
1	377	A#
1 i" lour highest of these frequencies are remarkable. Instrument for
......inrnt, they reflect almost exactly the pattern of pitches of sur-
I nig Inglish church organs from as far back as there are records up mill the 19'" century (Graph 22). The same is true of chamber organs (Ur.ph 23).
A« we will see below, the most common 17th- and i8th-century fre-1   in v !<>r A was ±423, a M2 below Quire-pitch and a fourth above Or-1« / Hi li. The two semitones immediately above 423 were also com-iiimh AJ448 and A=473. Such a consistent relation is unlikely to have ■ 1 matter of chance.
Although original organs are pitched at what appear to be integral • "alii to both Quire-pitch and Organ-pitch, the relation to Quire-pitch 11 practical for transposition (a semitone, M2 and m)) than that 1 ' 'ii'.in pitch (an augmented fourth, perfect fourth and ni.ijoi third).
31
90
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Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
9'
It would seem, then, that Quire-pitch was the reference point, and survived (sometimes in transposed forms) on organs right through to the 19th century.'54 The consistency of these levels is a retrospective confirmation of the original frequency of Quire-pitch.
It is possible, then, to construct a transposition grid based on Quire-pitch, and identify its pitches as follows:
Pitch symbol   Approximate value      Interval from Quire-pitch
a-o
Qri
a-3
473
448 423
400
(Quire-pitch) Semitone below M2 below
m3 below (= A-1V2)
Qri is a semitone below Quire-pitch, Q;2 is two semitones below, etc. In what follows, I will use these symbols to indicate approximate pitch frequencies.'" It will be noticed that they fall between the normal grid encountered on the Continent (A+i, A-2, etc.). This suggests an independent English pitch system. There are other indications of this difference that will be discussed below: Robert Dallam's "quarter of a note" for the organ at New College, Oxford; Praetorius's (1618:15) English wind instruments "umb etwas, doch ein gar geringes, nie-driger" ("somewhat, but only a little, lower"); Rousselet's hautboys and bassoons for the Queen's Theatre "environ d'un Car de Ton plus haut.""6 The inventory from Kremsmlinster Abbey of 1739 also mentions "1 Paar [Flautten] englischen Tons'"57 (one pair [of recorders] at English pitch), as if their pitch was unusual.
An apparent confirmation of these levels is an analysis by Darryl Martin of the pitches of i7th-century English virginals. As mentioned in i-4a, Martin has found that virginals built between 1638 and 1684 fall into four pitch groups at his reference pitch (pitch V), V-is, V-2s, and V-3S (i.e., in descending semitones). Most instruments are at pitch V. Martin believes that if these virginals were strung in iron, and based on the string lengths of other keyboard instruments outside of England, pitch V would have been between 459 to 497 Hz. The center of these numbers is 478.'5° This may well be an indication that Quire-pitch, centered on 473, was already established by the 1610s, along with its derivatives Qm, Q:2, and Q-3.
Quire-pitch can be observed on organs from 1660 to 1730, but disappears after that (see Graph 22); Q;i persisted until at least the mid-l8,h ■ntury but is absent after 1770. Q^2 was regularly used by Renatus 1 1 " 1 is and was to become the dominant organ pitch in England in the hi' , entury and into the i9,h, identified at least once as Chappell-pitch
I • ■ |-2b3); when it was later adopted by orchestral instruments it was ill.il "new Consort-pitch.""9
Among the memoranda of Dr. Woodward, Warden of New Col-
II 11. Oxford, under the date "March 10th, 1661," occurs the follow-
Ml
Some discourse was then had with one Mr. Dalham, an organ maker I |'i isumably Robert Dallam], concerning a new fair organ to be made 1111 our college chapel. The stops of the intended organ were shown Unto myself and the thirteen seniors, set down in a paper and named • •v 'he organist of Christ Church, who would have had them half a note
I.......> than Christ Church organ, but Mr. Dalham supposed that a
|.. 11 irr of a note would be sufficient.
1 h.ippens, the original pitch of the new organ (made by Robert
I ■ .ll.im in 1665) can be calculated from surviving pipes at the College:
ii 1« A «470, which is of course Quire-pitch.'b' With this information we
ilnluce that the older Christ Church organ (presumably a Vi-step '    • I >.ill.»m's organ) would have been at about 484.
I Ins compares interestingly with the "trebill cornets for the quire," • h. cptionally  fine  instruments  still  preserved  in  the Christ 1 liiiuli library, which are pitched "a little higher than [A-44o].'"01 I h(< oi.iy thus have been Qm (448). The cornetts were "bought for the
1.....•! Christ Church Cathedral in preparation for the visit of James
1 md. his Queen to the House on 27 August 1605. The King and Queen ml < iie/icnt voices mixt with instruments at a service in the Cathe-linl       I he cornetts have silver mounts that fit over their upper ends, 1 Inwrr the pitch to somewhat below 440.104 These mounts may 1    1 lowered the cornetts to a whole-step below the organ, thus allow-1 iIh instruments to play together through transposition. I ii  Woodward's memorandum gives evidence that organs could be ^^Ht V*-»tep apart; since transpositions must necessarily be based on jml semitones, these two instruments could not li.iv«- been part ol
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93
the same transposition system. Christ Church's organ had been built by Dallam's father. By building at Quire-pitch, Dallam must have been doing so purposefully, as it was necessary to overrule the suggestion of the organist of Christ Church, who wanted it lower. Dallam was thus deliberately choosing the Quire-pitch system, which he used (as far as we know) for all his other English organs.'65 He had built organs in Brittany, however, in another grid (cf. Ergue-Gaberic at 389).166
2-507 Religious Vocal Music in the rtS,h Century
Lacking the evidence of organs, determining the pitch standards of religious vocal music in England before the 17' century can be only speculative. Wulstan (1966) combined the notion of Quire-pitch'67 with "clef codes" (in which clef choice was used to indicate specific transpositions), and extrapolated backwards from the Quire-pitch evidence of the early 17th century. While reasonable, the question is how far back the principle can be applied. It is now generally believed on the basis of a number of surviving fragments of organs as well as contracts (e.g., Duddyngton) that the 10-foot pipe represented the normal church organ pitch at the time.'68 Other bits of evidence presented in Caldwell 1970 and Bray 1980 (the ones not based on vocal ranges and voice types) indicate that the system of transposing from Organ-pitch to Quire-pitch was in use by 1519, and perhaps earlier.'6'
Bowers's competing argument, which implies that Tudor music was at 440, is less convincing because it is based exclusively on vocal ranges.'70 Ravens' suggestion that "the average human voice would have had a higher natural pitch in the 16 century than today" was mentioned in 1-5C, and underlines the problems of using vocal ranges and voice types to determine historical pitch levels.
2-5b Instruments Other Than the Organ before 1642 The Court and Church Music
Henry VIII maintained several "consorts" of foreign musicians. Of the two groups of shawms and sackbuts at court, the first he inherited
I.....1 his father and the second was imported from Italy in the 1520s.
I I" two groups were kept distinct, possibly because the Italians 1 1 iyed at a different pitch level than the older group.'7' At the end of •l" i',»os, Henry also engaged a recorder consort from Venice consist-
■    ol five brothers of the famous Bassano family. He also imported a ■•" <>rt of six French musicians associated with his private chamber, who in 1543 were described as "the flutes." By 1561, this group probably luded cornetts (the instrument was to have an important place in tin ensemble).'71
' 'i iginally these court groups played in closed consorts. There is no Minid of the use of instruments in church services at court until the Hunt.'" Agreement with organ pitch was therefore not necessary until
.!,. n
I In- foreign consorts either came from Venice or very likely got
II.....nstruments from there. The Bassanos arrived in London from
mi 1 "with all their instruments.'"74 Since wind instruments are not lly altered in pitch, it is probable that the pitch or pitches these
iiiiimnc used (at least at first) were standard in Venice. As mentioned m, there is documentation of members of the Venetian side of the
It inn l.imily using "mezo ponto" and "tuto ponto," pitches with levels li.unined to be A+i and A+o. Strumenti coristi also existed at
........usta (A-i or 1V2), used both with voices and in small broken
11m. The "instrument chest" mentioned in 2-1 was made by the
1 111I1111 Kassanos and described in ca.1571 as including 45 winds all -.1 in "den gemeinen Tonum der Orgel" ("the standard organ
i     1   1   There are records of other instruments the Bassanos made for
ii 1.111 -. on the Continent, presumably at the appropriate pitches.'75 Tin I n j r recorders Mersenne depicts (1636:111:239) "sent from Eng-■■■ I   may have been made by Anthony II Bassano;'76 they form only
id i set, the others presumably made in France or Italy; all were lulily .11 the same pitch. Thus the Bassanos almost certainly con-
.....I in make and play instruments at Continental pitch levels (of
'   li 1 In- most common was A+i) when they moved to England. Urn 1 here are indications that, early on, they were also able to iinuiidnie   the   English   system.   In  the  larger  cathedral and hoirs, wind instruments regularly played with choirs from nlv 11 1525.1,7 References to the use of wind instruments in church 1111  11..[iii-iu liom about 1600. The Cornell is often mentioned in
iL.iminrti.    mnA    uuhil*    w»    wnitM    nnrmillu    »viu'i I tin-
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Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of cd.1670
95
formances, and while we would normally expect the Continental cornett pitch at A+i to apply, it is likely that the English instruments were pitched a little lower, for several reasons. The first is of course the Quire-pitch system, suggesting that organs in English cathedrals would have been at pitches a little above or below Continental cornett pitch: either Quire-pitch (473) or Q;i (448). Praetorius (1618:15) tells us which:
ChorThon among our ancestors was about a tone lower than it is today. (The examination of early organs and different wind instruments confirms this.) Over the years it was raised to its present level in Italy and England, as well as in the princely chapels of Germany. The English pitch, however, is a very little lower, as the instruments made in that country show, for instance cornetts and shawms (or 'hoboys', as they call them there)."8
As Myers (1983:3) observes, '"a very little bit lower' must be taken to mean lower by rather less than a semitone, since the rest of his discussion relates pitches by semitones and larger intervals."
It was also true that the Bassanos were fine makers and could easily have adapted their instrument designs to the English pitch grid. It has been suggested that the "rabbit's feet" or "silkworm moth" mark (!! in various multiples) found on many renaissance woodwinds was the Bassano's workshop mark.'7' While this cannot be proven, it appears probable.'8" In her careful study of the general !! mark, Maggie Lyndon-Jones has distinguished nearly 20 forms, with the implication that they represent individual makers. Since the Bassanos worked in both Venice and London, if the mark was theirs, the pitches of surviving instruments under each mark type could indicate a relationship between makers and locations. Some of these mark types (Lyndon-Jones's Type C and Type K) include cornetts at both mezzo punto (A+i) and Quire-pitch, suggesting they were made by individuals working in both Continental and English systems (see Graph 11). Type B, on the other hand, shows curved and mute cornetts at only mezzo punto and tutto punto, despite the clear association of some Type B cornetts with England.'8' Types A and G recorders at Verona are at 450 and 452,'81 thus most likely Q-i and suggesting English provenance.
I mm this, then, it would seem that Quire-pitch or one of its deriva-" ■ •• (most likely Qm) was an available level for wind instruments as I H back as the 1520s when wind instruments began to be played with
■ I.....s. The instruments that frequently played together were cornetts,
11 I huts, shawms, and recorders. There is no reason to think that this
• I instrument pitch was abandoned in the course of the i6'h century •I up through the time of the Civil War in 1642 (or even at the Res-
■ * 1 'Hon in 1660). Talbot gave measurements for the cornetts of "Mr. Iimr" in the 1690s that would theoretically produce pitches'8' of
and A=467 (which are Qm and A+i). 1 ' 1 may also have been the level of secular vocal music in England • ihf early I7,h century. Based mainly on voice ranges, both Fellowes ' /iff) and Wulstan (1966:105) suggested that secular vocal music
• lil have been performed at about A+o. This falls between two lev-1  • ■ I the Quire-pitch grid, Qm and Q;2, and being only a quarter step
1   "i either one, could as well line up with either (cf. also the pitches 1 I he earliest chamber organs that survive in Graph 23a). Without ■ ■ lni evidence, this is only speculation.
In (!«>nsort-Pitch
1 .....ih's wistful discussion of A-2 (1618:16, quoted in 2-4 above) as-
1 .il it to the Netherlands, some Catholic chapels in Germany, and 1 11v (meaning, presumably, Rome). He also said it was used for wind " "merits  in  England "formerly,"  which  would  probably have
.....n the i6'h century. "Formerly in England . . . most wind in-
.......■ ins have been made to sound a minor 3d lower than our pre-
■ day "CammerThon," so that their F is in CammerThon our D, and 1  li (i our F. . . ."'84 It is surprising that he said it was used on "most ml instruments," since no other evidence from that period has so
......led up to indicate such a pitch, either A-2 (392) or Q;3 (400).
I 1 1 wti probably the pitch Thomas Mace identified as "Consort-1 ■' li  in 1076 (pages 207, 216-7), and it may have had a long and vener-1 1   luiiory, especially in secular music. Mace's clearly conservative in ind dislike of the new French ideas that were becoming popular lln I He 17''' century suggest he was referring to an English standard iblished.   We  may  he  justified   in  extending  ('nnsm f pifrfi
96
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Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
97
backwards into the 16th century through the history of the paramount English consort instrument, the viola da gamba. Peter Holman writes (1993:265):
It used to be thought that the destruction of England's main musical institutions, the royal music, the cathedral choirs, and the collegiate foundations, together with the disruption of the [Civil War] and the establishment of Parliamentary government, produced conditions that were wholly detrimental to its musical life. But Percy Scholes pointed out in the 1930s that the Puritans were not against music as such, only against elaborate church music, and the public exhibition of plays and dancing. Some types of music, notably those that could be cultivated at home, actually flourished.
Viol playing, then, may well have continued through the I7lh century virtually without disturbance.'8'' In that case, presumably, so would have its pitch. Pitch has a natural tendency to stay where it is unless it has a reason to alter; it is in everyone's interest that it remain stable. As Segerman observed (1985^60), a prime factor in establishing a string pitch standard is top-string breaking point,'86 and since that depends on the size of the instrument, and viols did not change in design from the i6'h to the 17th centuries, the standard probably remained approximately the same. Evidence of the level of Consort-pitch in the later 17th century, in other words, would probably be indicative of what had been practiced before.
That Consort-pitch probably had an interface with the Quire-pitch grid is likely. Current information on viol strings at the time (which should be taken as approximate, since our knowledge of the subject is still relatively limited) suggest that Mace's viol pitch was about 382-392.187 By that indication, Consort-pitch could have been Oj:3 at 400 or 0:4 (if it existed) at about 377. Q:3 is clearly the more likely, since its vigor in the late 17th century (see 3-4) and its persistence into the i8'h suggests it had an established history extending back earlier.'88
2-6 France
i tt* Ton de Chapelle at A-2
Hliice pitch evidence for this period in France is not plentiful, the I Mi lion to ask is if there are any indications that the situation was Ml'rent from the rest of the continent. For wind instruments, the 1.11 answer is "no;" the woodwinds shown in Mersenne's books pub-1 hrd in 1635-37 are similar in dimensions to those in Praetorius a hull generation earlier. All of them were at A+i, the normal pitch of • n.iian woodwinds used all over Europe at the time. Itui the normal organ pitch in France and Flanders was indeed un-11 il; in the mid-i6'1' century it was considerably lower than in Italy mil < iermany. This difference was to become an issue of importance lh* late i7,h century, because by then it had been transmitted to llu 1 instruments, the designs of which France began exporting to the < 1 'I I'.urope.
I'he classical French organ seems to have appeared in about the Idle of the i6'h century, in the general area of the Low Countries, 1 1 nmandy, and the He de France;'8' by that time, the concept of "ton '    lioeur" was already in existence.'90 As mentioned in 2-2b, Salomon li 1 mis recorded the dimensions of an organ pipe in 1615 that (using
lln de roi) would have produced A-2. A number of original organ
1    lira are known from the 17th century, all in the region of A-2:
«395	Paris, St. Gervais, 1601
»395	Soissons, Cathedral, 1621
»392	Meaux, Cathedral, 1627
1396	Rodez, Cathedral, 1629
)88	Lanvellec (Bretagne), 1647
• m	L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, 1648
< w	Orleans, Cathedral, 1657
1395	Bourges, Cathedral, 1663
l«S	Lille, St. Sauveur
1 III   was the principal pilch associated with organs in France right ilu  m/'  century (see Graph 19). It was presumably the one ■ • nne 111 1 lie 1610s called "7'nri i/r < .hapelle."""
98
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Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
99
There may have been other organ standards, as implied by a minute dated 17 August 1612 from the organ builder Pierre Marchant. He requested the Chapter of the Cathedral at Aix to inform him "en quel ton ils desirent que le grand orgue soit mis" ("at which pitch they wish to have the large organ tuned") in order "that it be tuned at the most comfortable and appropriate pitch for the music of this church. The question was duly debated and after all arguments and opinions were heard by the gentlemen, it was resolved and commanded to the said Master Pierre that it be put in Ton de Chapelle . .
A confirmation of the connection between A-2 and Ton de Chapelle is Mersenne's description of cornetts, instruments he said were used "together with voices in churches, cathedrals, and chapels" and "in vocal concerts and with the organ.'"" In his musical example he calls the cornett's lowest note ao, which was the lowest note of the instrument at its normal pitch, A+i. But in the text and in his range chart, Mersenne starts the instrument on ci instead of ao. As Herbert W. Myers points out (*), ao at A+i (say, mezzo punto) is the same sounding pitch as ci at A-2 (the level of French organs). Thus if Mersenne had been using A-2 as a standard, he might have considered the cornett as in ci.
2-6b Ton d'Ecurie
While the cornett may have been used in church, and could be transposed in order to plug into the Ton de Chapelle grid, most of the instruments depicted in Mersenne's books were never heard in ecclesiastical settings. They were the woodwinds current at the French court, and had no need to be in a pitch relation to church organs. Many of them, particularly the "haut" instruments, were at a level similar to Italian mezzo punto and Praetorius's Cammer Thon/Cornettenthon, A+i."4 Indeed, considering the connections between the French court and northern Italy at the time, the woodwinds described in Mersenne might have been made there. The story (perhaps apocryphal) of the famous shawm player from Siena named Filidori comes to mind, who in about 1620 had impressed Louis XIII with his playing.'0' In any case, Myers writes that "certainly Mersenne's dimensions for woodwinds of Renaissance type do not differ signilii anily from those of
.....ving   examples   from   elsewhere.""6   Myers   calculated that
M*r»enne's treble cornett was 56.8 cm long, for instance, which (com-
.....I «0 extant early cornetts) should yield A=469 (A+i). The cornett
1» »till present in French artistic representations of wind instruments 'lie late 1660s,'07 although the instrument was soon to disappear hum most musical contexts. Mersenne gave the treble shawm an
......tic length1'8 of 241.2 mm, and its total length was 2 pieds = 649.7
hum, not significantly different from the total length of the treble iluwm Praetorius depicted (at 653 mm), as well as extant museum in-
-11 indents.
Ilie court's wind players were part of the Grande Ecurie (or Royal fcipirrry), and a group like the Douze grands hautbois probably per-1 lined at A+i. There is in fact a later mention of a standard called ' " d'Ecurie that was probably A+i. It appears in an inventory drawn 11 October 17, 1708, at the death of Jacques Danican Philidor (a musician who joined the "Chambre du roi" in 1690). It lists a umber of instruments, including "2 hautbois dont I'un vieux et 1 nil re d'un tond descurie"200 ("two hautboys, one old and the other in
I...../Tunic"). On the death of Philidor's wife Elisabeth Hanicque a
months later, a second inventory of the estate mentions instru-111» (presumably the same) as "2 hautbois, dont l'un vieux et l'autre 1     11 different""' ("two hautboys, one old and the other in a differ-|ittih"). Taken together, these statements imply that "tond des--■•" (    "Ton d'Ecurie") was different from the pitch of most of 1 liiliilm's instruments (which would presumably have been at lower |illi be»).
Wind-band instruments, often used for ceremonial and outdoor
■ .....\ have a tradition of being in higher keys, which sound more
.....K ("son timbre a plus d'eclat")"" and carry further. Hautboys,
1   ' 1 limpets, were sometimes used on the battlefield and on parade. 1 .'ill associated with the Ecurie would for these reasons probably • lieen high.
!• ■   possible, then, that Ton d'Ecurie was the pitch standard at A + i
1.......■ted in Mersenne's time and was associated with wind instru-
Tlie well-known maker Jean-Jacques Rippert is survived by a
-1.....1 recorders at this level. We have no means of making a di-
• link between An and Ton d'Ecurie, but by default it seems prob-I 1.11 A n existed it certain, however (whatever its name), mul it
IOO
Chapter z
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
101
is probably the reason the woodwinds underwent radical changes in the mid-i7,h century that made them suitable for use in the Opera (see 3-0-
In comparing the fife and the traverso, Mersenne (1636-37:243) implied a difference in pitch between wind ensembles and "concerts:" "mais l'on ne fait pas ordinairement toutes les parties de Musique avec les Fifres, comme avec les Flustes d'Allemande, que l'on met au ton de chapelle pour faire des concerts" ("but it is not usual to put fifes on all the parts of an ensemble, as is done for German flutes, which are made at Ton de chapelle so they can be played with other instruments"). It would be very interesting to know the circumstances and instrumentation of these concerts in which German flutes played."' In any case, fifes would probably have been pitched at Ton d'Ecurie (the Fifres et Tambours was one of the official groups in the royal Ecurie).
2-6c Lully's Pitch (Ton d'Opera)
Lully's major opera productions, begun in 1672, were performed at a pitch that came to be called Ton d'Opera. By the 1690s (when Lully was no longer alive), it was at A-2 (see 3-ia). It is unlikely to have changed; Lully's influence remained strong and his works continued to be regularly performed for nearly a century after his death. To have altered the pitch level of performances of his works would have disturbed the ranges of the vocal parts, and since it was the singers who had the upper hand at the Opera,10* pitch there showed no sign of change from the 1690s until at least 1750."' Indeed, Ton d'Opera was so stable that it became the common reference pitch in France.
Although it is not enough evidence on which to base a conclusion, there is an indication of the respective pitch levels of the Grande Bande (the Vingt-Quatre Violons) and Petite Bande (the "petits violons") in the early 1660s.
Cavalli's opera Ercole amante was commissioned by Cardinal Maza-rin to celebrate the marriage of Louis XIV and Maria Theresia of Spain, and Cavalli wrote it in Paris, probably in 1660 or 1661. Lully wrote instrumental ballets, or entractes"* that were interspersed throughout the opera and danced by the kinv,, queen, and other members of the court. It is curious that Lully's entractn were systematically
■"■I eonsistently notated a m3 below each of the pieces they followed In 1 ivalli's opera (C-A, g-e, etc.). The logical explanation for this dif-nee in key is that Lully's pieces were played by another ensemble, 1 III bed a m3 above the opera orchestra. The only plausible combina-llnn of pitches would have been A-2 and A+i.
Ercole Amante was performed from February to May 1662. Lully at iln» point had the petits violons (an orchestra created for him), but had 11.11 yet consolidated his power at court and had not begun working li the Vingt-Quatre Violons, the established orchestra of the court. I I1.1i would not happen until two years later in 1664.207
I lins it seems Lully performed these entractes (and the Ballet des upl I'lanbtes that followed the opera) with the petits violons, while the ('•in itself was played by the Vingt-Quatre, probably conducted by t avail;. There was certainly space enough for the two bands in the . ■ 1 nous theater built by Vigarani in the Tuileries, and money was nhjrct for this performance (Mazarin had spoken of "jetter l'argent 1 11 lei lenetres" to astound all of Europe with the wedding celebra-Miiih ) Indeed, several later pieces included the two ensembles playing nnjunction (one on the stage, the other in the pit, for example).200 I Ins could explain the difference in pitch: the Vingt-Quatre Violons 11I.I li.ive been at A-2 for the sake of the singers; the fact that organs . I to accompany voices in church) were already at A-2 indicates 1   . .1 was considered a singer's pitch. Georg Muffat's association of .ml "Teatralischen Sachen" (see o-ic) may well have been refer-1 Inn k to the years 1663 to 1669, which he had spent in Paris study-1 mimic: "The pitch to which the French usually tune their instru-iii   is .1 whole-tone lower than our German one (called Cornet-ton) 1 hi operas, even one and a half-tones lower." Muffat's reference, 1   1 in 1 inn, was A + 1.20' Thus pitch "pour les Operas" would have been A I
I I" petits violons on the other hand, playing instrumental dances 1   H voice, would still have tuned to the traditional Ton d'Ecurie
.....z-6b). Later, when the two ensembles began to merge in
1  1I1. pel lis violons would have had some major refitting to do to mini down 10 (he low pitch; the string instruments (which might well been li.ilian, where pitch was high) would probably have been • .1, .mil the pitch change .il lei led the design of the winds so fun-.' illy ili.it it may have pi ei ipit.Hed the process ol developing the
lOZ
Chapter i
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of 01.1670
103
new models that appears to have taken place between 1664 and about 1670.
2-7 The Habsburg Lands
A dual pitch system was practiced in the Habsburg Lands as early as 1513. Mendel (1949:178) describes a contract made in that year for an additional small organ at the St. Jacob Pfarrkirche in Innsbruck with a G that was to be the same pitch as the large organ's F (in other words, it was an organ pitched a whole-tone below the large organ).
The reason given is: "in order that when His Imperial Majesty's choir sings in the said church, they shall have in the two organs two different pitches [chormass] side by side . . ." i.e., in order that the organist may have two manuals at different pitches at his disposal, and avoid difficulties of transposing.
The use of pitches a whole-tone apart was of course parallel to the system outlined by Morsolino in 1582 for northern Italy, in which the organist transposed down a whole-step for the sake of the singers (to "Tuono chorisla," called "ChorThon" in Prague) from a high instrumental pitch (called "mezzo punto" in Italy and "Cornet-ton" in the Habsburg Lands). Praetorius, as we have seen, would have liked to see the same relationship adopted in northern Germany. He cited Prague as an example (1618:15):
Thus I find very appealing the distinction drawn between ChorThon and CammerThon employed at Prague and at a number of Catholic chapels elsewhere. Our normal modern pitch, to which nearly all of our organs are now tuned, is there called "CammerThon" . . . "ChorThon" however, which is a whole-tone lower, is used only in the churches, primarily for the sake of the singers, on whose shoulders rests the greatest responsibility in church ... it allows their voices to hold out better, and saves them from becoming hoarse through operating at high pitch."'
Vtnma also used this system, regarding ChorThon as a tone below I'm net-ton (i.e., the general instrumental pitch).1" Poglietti's instruc-
.....• for tuning the harpsichord, published in Vienna in 1676 (p.ioo)
Im Inde the comment "Cornetton ist umb ein Ton höcher, als Chor-Imii" ("Cornetton is a tone higher than ChorThon").^
I he same terminology is found in other places in Austria. A con-Itm 1 dated 7 May 1621 for the organ in Brixen called for an organ in (.'kmThon with a movable keyboard that "auf Cornetthon zu rucken III   ("can be shifted to CornetThon").2'* An inventory of instruments
I m msmünster Abbey made in 1606 lists "2 Fleuttl die Cornetthöch" .....Ir that year by Hans Feichtinger of Gmunden."5
' (mi Thon was evidently a low pitch in at least some parts of south-' .11 many. An inventory from Stuttgart, 1589, listed curved cor-^^H) at CammerThon/'Corneltenthon and mute cornetts and flutes at I hin Thon (presumably a whole-step lower).1'6 "A.S.," the writer of the 1   1111 mrntälischer Bettlermantl (P1633), spoke of "gerechter" Cornet-ton ihr pitch of most instruments, including the trumpet, while Chor-11 • vulently lower, was used for certain others like the clavichord "or
.....Iiir instrument.""7 A clockwork organ survives, built by Langen-
|mi liri in Augsburg in about 1620; it is at A-418.1'8
I hui in the south (Austria, Bohemia, and southern Germany), the 1111 ChorThon was used to mean a vocally-oriented lower pitch than
.......i-ntal pitch. It was also called "französisch Ton" and "Tono
illiiii " As we will see in 3-6, this terminology was common until
II Into the i8'h century, and was in direct opposition to the usage in ■ ihn 11 (iermany at the same time.
Notes
1 I I Imulrr, Harris, and Fallows 2001:430-31.
1 ml.....it speaking of a motet by Andrea Rota, probably from his collec-
I • ■ I • I ■ -11. ,1 in r,k-1-
1   1 "i iyyVU4- The first indication in an Italian treatise of the liturgical 1 in k"i» dates from 1529, according to oarbieri 1994:587. !■ r,n, "D.11 Amln Cnpittrl." Tr. hasrd on ILirhri 10H0.
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of cci.1670
105
5. See 2-2ai below.
6. For instance: Hamburg, Jacobikirche and Freyberg, Dom, at 489 and 467, respectively.
7. Bonta i99o:5ioff.
8. Sherr 1994:607 (quoting Gregory Martin [Rome, 1969, written in 1581], Roma sancta, ed. G.B. Parks, p.96). Cf. also O'Regan i995:io8ff.
9. Quoted in Ratte 1991:332.
10. Niemoller i969'.2o6ff.
11. Praetorius 1618:14.
12. Inventory made by J.J. Fugger. Quoted in Lasocki 1983:633^0.
13. Baines 1957:241.
14. Ongaro 1985:393.
15. See Lyndon-Jones (19968:10) for other documentation of the purchase of Venetian instruments in Italy, Germany, and the Habsburg Lands.
16. Cited in Mischiati 1981:74.
17. Ongaro 1985:396.
18. Quoted in Moretti 1992:20 from Ferretto.
19. This observation is thus in disagreement with Mitchell 2001:100, who suggested (citing Haynes 1995, for an unclear reason) that tutto punto was more common than mezzo punto.
20. Tarr's categories 1-3 (see Tarr 1981).
21. This level was posited some time ago by Anthony Baines, and reported by Mendel (1955/1968:222).
22. Paolucci 1765:174 note (d).
23. See Haynes 1995, Appendix 7-98.
24. It is true that for 17th-century instrumental music, violins tuned lower than A+o are less effective and have less bite and character than wind instruments of the same period (small recorders and cornetts).
25. The Cassel inventory of 1613 described by Baines (1951:32) lists one case of curved cornetts im than (at pitch, presumably Cornet-ton) and another "nearly [sic] a tone higher than the above." Roland Wilson* suggests that some of the lower instruments were alto (G-) cornetts at A+2.
26. Beryl Kenyon de Pasqual* and Nelson 1994:255^ and 254-
27. Nassare 1723:^:455.
28. The text is cited in Cesari & Pannain 1939^ vi. This organ (made by G.B. Facchetti, 1546) was replaced in 1937 (Lunelli 1956:38ft) and again in 1985.
29. See Haar 1989:249. (I am grateful to Douglas Kirk for this reference.) According to NG2 (17:150), a player named Morsolino became organist at Cremona in 1591.
30. I have been advised by Douglas Kirk on information from Andrew Par-rott that the "non" found at this point in the text as transcribed in Cesari 8t Pannain (and which renders the sentence nonsensical) does not exist in the original document. Morsolino used "tuon" to mean both "pitch" and "tone" when he described mezzo punto immediately above; the "tuon" that he used
ham could thus be either. The present phrase might also have meant "which
li 1 lower pitch than the other, mezzo punto."
1 'noted in full in Cesari & Pannain I939:xvi-xvii. A more literal transla-.....to English appears in Herbert Myers, "To the editor," GSJ LV (2002,
1 "In urning).
'.1 least two other authors use "tuon" to mean "half-step." Cf. Barcotto 1 ■} on Paduan organs in 2-2C G.B. Facchetti II (a descendent of the
I I In of the organ in question) wrote, in 1626, in a proposal for the organ at
'Item ancora come obligo a riazonzer bisognando una cana major che
.....no quele che sono in opera ziove di stagno e questo si fara per arbasar
Inno lorgano per far chel sia conformo come lo coro de li preti" (quoted 1'iiilavini 1973:18-20). "Una cana" (one pipe) implies a semitone. '• > (iraph id shows, Mitchell 2001:101 is in error when he states that "Prac-'<• 111K players have searched in vain for such an instrument [a cornett at I .unongst European collections."
1« of the seven stamp-type "B" !! cornetts, dated by Lyndon-Jones
ii 1    ) to 0559-1608, are at 430-443, averaging 438. I ......-il in Barbieri 1987:247.
f l.iulel I978:37n35 citing R. Lunelli, Studi e document! di storia organaria • ■il I I lorence, 1973], 37).
I Im 1« paraphrased in Spanish by Cerone (Naples, 1613:1064). ! my interesting articles deal with the origins and use of chiavette. Cf. for i...in,. 1, van Heyghen i995:2iff, Kurtzman 1994, McGowan 1994, Kreitner i»m >/•>, Barbieri 1991b, Kurtzman 1985:75, and Parrott 1984. The latest is by
Mi' I......1 NG2 (5:597-600).
1   H.irbieri 1991^56. Virgiliano (ci6oo) categorized transpositions of a tliliil hi lex as associated with chiavi natural! rather than chiavette. <   1 'Kr *■
'•i '"illy built 1498; see Lunelli 1956 cited in Mendel 1978:37. li |»|iprien 1960:31. (i Mix liuiti 1981:9. . . 1 nl>v 111 i 1973:18.
,     I Hill Hi 1956:112-13.
r  1.....mlern Italian, corisla has also come to mean a tuning fork.
ilrnzio Sabbatini, Regola secura per accordare a orecchio con/orme I'uso
' .....       >-foi>;nni, cembali, o altri simili insfromenf; da tasti (Pesaro, 1657), quoted
1.. I' .■ I". 11 19X7:143.
• I uiielli 1956:112-13. The pitch of this organ was measured by the physi-■ ' ""iil.ino Riccati in 1742 as A-493, but it had been virtually replaced twice In   . 1 11 A ntc gnati's work and Riccati's measurement.
1 im In. 11 was Irom Bologna, where organs were generally tuned at Aft; 1 '• 11.•1110 Irom 1531.
'     '' 1 ' ik,'* 47° (Alt). The Cassel inventory of 1613 described by Baines Ml Inn mule cornetts at three diflerent pitches: the 2d pitch a tone pliio 11, "i (he I ir st, the )d a loin I li lupin 1 111.111 1 In- ;.l   loin oi 1 line in urn-
io6
Chapter 2
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
107
ments have apparently survived at Leipzig (see Heyde 1982:51-55); two are | pitched at A-2 and two at A+o.
51. This is of course if it is considered to be in A. Praetorius's depiction of the mute is more than i3<w> longer than the curved cornett; a whole-tone is about I2<vt>. It is also about 5.64b longer than a good modern cornett that plays at 440 (Herbert W. Myers*). See also Myers 1997a.
52. Ardal Powell (*).
53. Baines 1951:35.
54. Ferrari 1994:207.
55. Listed on pp.56-57. Among other examples, she indicated works by Schütz and Schein. Myers (*) points out that there are other pieces that mix flutes with instruments characteristically at high pitch, such as Schein's Vater Unser, which has "Violino, cornetto, voce" on the top part, "Traversa, cornetto, voce" on the second, and violone+trombone on the other three lines. It is thus possible that flutes at higher pitches did once exist; indeed, a tenor survives at Vienna at A+i (museum no. 185).
56. Original text quoted in o-ic.
57. Myers 19973:44.
58. Cf. the Cassel inventory of 1613, which includes "Ein großer Fagott ins C. octaf, Ein großer Fagott ins B. octaf' (one large dulcian in low C, one large dulcian in low Bk). Lyndon-Jones 19963:16. These instruments were often used to accompany choirs and help keep the pitch level, and would have been useful pitched at the low ChorThon.
59. Baines 1951:34.
60. Pace Barcotto 1652; see above.
61. Praetorius 1618:15. Tr. based on Crookes 1986:31.
62. Barcotto 1652, §16.
63. Doni 1640:181; text and translation from Mendel 1955/1968:236. A certain A.D.V. (see Bibliography; quoted in Barbieri t98o:24ni4) paraphrased this passage in 1702: "En Itálie [les Orgues] varient suivant les Villes. Celles de Florence sont plus hautes d'un Demi-ton que Celles de Rome, qui de leur coté sont plus basses d'un Ton qu'a Venise ... De sorte que les Orgues de Venise sont plus hautes de deux Tons entiers que Celles de Naples." According to Scharlau 1969:149, Kircher left notes in a Ms (MU B 370) that indicate a similar series of pitches, but in reverse, so that Naples was a major third abovt Venice (sic). 64 . Mendel 1978:75.
65. This is the average pitch of Rome: St. Peter's (Cappella gregoriana and Cappella giulia), S Maria Maggiore, S Giovanni in Laterano, Orvieto.
66. This is the average pitch of Montepulciano: S Maria delle Grazie; Firenzei SS Trinitá; Nicastro: S Domenico.
67. This is the average pitch of Casalmaggiore: Chiesa di S Cbiara; Verona: Cathedral, L'Aquila; Piacenza: Chiesa abbaziale di San Siato; Fanano: S Giuseppe.
M This is the average pitch of Carpi: S Bernardino; Brescia: S Giuseppe, S I'mlo; Bologna: S Petronio "in Cornu Evangelli," "in cornu Epistolae," S Mm 1 mo; Arezzo: Cattedrale, Colognole; Bolzano: Castel Coira.
. I Iiis is the average pitch of Milan: S Maurizio and Innsbruck: Silberne •Aqirllr.
I 'niii 1635:70. Thomas and Rhodes 1980:14:783 state that Doni gave this
........lformation in a Ms at F-Pn (fonds fr.19065) entitled Nouuel/e introduc-
.....>•• mtisique. Walther (1732:511, citing Kircher VI:46i) also refers to
1 .....nno (although he calls him "N. Ramarinus"), mentioning his harpsi-
1 nl with 9 [sic] manuals, the first of which he says is "nach der Römischen 1 In eingerichtet, und wird insgemein Tonus chorista, oder der chor-Ton |tMPiinrt."
■  I h« 1537 Müller harpsichord at Rome transposes one whole-tone.
I 1 b.ised on Crookes.
■ nit, l.es raisons des forces mouvantes. , 1 lendel 1978:43. Kircher's book was Musurgia universalis (Rome, 1650).
I 1 Mendel 1968:236. There is a surviving record that in 1627 the pipes of a ,   • .1.1«* organ at the Cappella Giulia were lengthened "per abbassarlo mezzo
im 11 poco meno" (cited in Hammond 1983:110,365). Barbieri 1980:241115 notes iihk records of a sudden lowering of organs in the region of Rome in 1 •■ .|nriit years. Mi Tr. Barbieri 1991^54.
II nbieri (i99ib:;8) reports that "In the Cappella sistina, castrati began to pnljrly engaged only from the year 1599 for soprano parts and from the
".I .1 1 lie seventeenth century for alto parts."
.....iding to Mendel (1955/R 1968:192), Athanasius Kircher wrote in [650
ilm    I'.iin.iii music" was at "tonus Chorista." The Chiesa della Minerva 1 w.ij at "tono choristo," and S Maria in Aracoeli (1586) was "in tono 1   11......      1 nine quello della chiesa della Minerva" (Cametti 1919:449-50). Lull-Ill (iy<>6:95ff) also reports a contract for the Cathedral at Anagni (1702) 1    1I1 inn "von 7 Fuß und im römischen Chorton." The organ at San Luigi
'    1.....iii was lowered a semitone to "tono choristo" in 1617 (Barbieri
l|«lli 1^4).
1 .......urn de\ suoni col vero corista o diapason normale (Rome, 1885), p.19.
• hi ums aspect of the history of the pitch of the organ at S Giovanni in
.......... 1 * 1 lie existence of organ parts notated a semitone below the other
.....iTiain works by Girolamo Chiti, who was maestro di cappella there
.....i'i !•> 1759. The Dixit Dominus, CHWV 678, for instance, is in Bb ex-
■ *Im ib* organ in A. That would imply that the organ sounded a semitone 1    ■ 'In oilier parts, which is difficult to explain if it was indeed pitched at 1 1 I (imeinwieser 1968:161.
...... ( )< 1 1665. Quoted in Rosand 1991:238.
I ......rmporary letter includes the statement "Mr Graciadio ha fornito
, ......Ii iiiiiu ponto, con gli 12 rrgiitri . . . I'organo e riusrito lanto buono
nun «aprri dimandar meglio" (quoted in Frnlon 1980:18(1). "IU liiim
io8
Chapter 2
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
109
ponto" does not here refer to the organ's pitch but means rather "completely, thoroughly," as in "Mr. Graciadio has quite finished the job of supplying the organ." I am grateful to Herbert W. Myers (*) for help in understanding this passage.
83. See Parrott 1984:490-516, Kurtzman 1985:75, and van Heyghen 1995:19fr.
84. Translation adapted from Picerno.
85. "Tono" was also used to mean semitone in a proposal for the organ at Salo written in 1626 by G.B. Facchetti II quoted above.
86. Quoted in Wistreich 1994:9.
87. Lunelli i956:74ff.
88. Breue istrutione alii giovani per imparare con ogni facilitä il canto fermo, pp.126 and 124, respectively. Margaret Murata* writes that on p.48 Stella also wrote "voce Chorista di Lombardia, ch'e una voce [e] mezza quasi piu alta di questa di Roma."
89. Margaret Murata* notes further "That the practical differences [between the pitches of Milan and Rome] are ingrained and entrenched, see p.i4off where tables of modes for ordinary chants are re-given to accomodate Lombard use, and p.149, which discusses reconciling local organ pitch to the chants." She also points out a passage in Giulio Cesare Marinelli's Via retta della voce corale (Bologna, 1671) that cites Stella on organi Lombardi and states that Roman organs are pitched "quasi, o senza quasi" a m3 below others (presumably organi Lombardi).
90. Segerman 19833:28.
91. Quoted in Vogel 1889:103-4.
92. Lunelli 1956:58.
93. As Herbert W. Myers put it (*), this was "from p.121 onwards." Cf. Myers 1998:260.
94. Tr. Crookes 1986.
95. Hart 1977:125-28.
96. Praetorius 1618:41.
97. Praetorius 1618:14.
98. The instrument was subsequently lowered a half-step in the 19th century. Cf. van Biezen 1990:671.
99. 1592, quoted above.
100. The organ at the Martinikirche, Braunschweig (where Praetorius lived) was lowered about two semitones in 1630 (Mendel 1978:37). Praetorius's lower ChorThon had apparently been preceded by organs often tuned higher. Fock (1939:313) writes "In der Zeit zwischen 1540 und 1600 findet sich in den Kirchenrechnungen sehr oft der Ver-merk, daß die Orgel "ummegestemmet" ist, das heilst: die früher in höherem Tone stehende Orgel wurde auf eine niedrigere Stimmung, eben den Chorton, gebracht."
101. Praetorius 1618:16.
102. Ingegneri and Mainerio 1582 (see 2-2a2).
103. Syntagma III:8i-82. Translation from Mendel im«lll]<
104. Praetorius 1618:15.
Iiis Haines 1951:36.
Infi. I'raetorius i6i8:63f.
• 1 .'noted in Ratte i99i:38off.
• I'raetorius 1618:41. The specification in the contract for the organ at llim Cathedral, finished in 1627, was f°r "Cornett Thon" (Bösken 1967:80).
I ornetts did of course exist at lower pitches but were less common. Cor-Dfttl made in Venice were frequently exported to other parts of Europe (cf. ■!.. Ilassano contract cited in 2-2ai), and since the pitches are similar to Ger-..... instruments, a national distinction is unnecessary.
I I irrassowitz 1973:21. Ill 1 iiioted in Müller 1982:428.
See also Janowka 1701:93, quoted in 3-6. I am indebted to Jean-Pierre Cou-li 1 lor help in translating the passages in Janowka used in this study, in I Iiis 1880, Bunjes 1966, Thomas & Rhodes 1971, Gwynn 1981, and Karp These conclusions have been the base of a series of articles on Praeto-l«itch by Ephraim Segerman starting in 1983 (see Bibliography). Despite liyiunrnts from various quarters, Segerman has remained loyal to the ±430 I   • I   The question was further discussed in Myers 1998 (which points out nius errors in Segerman's use and understanding of the relevant evi-li in . I and Köster (1999, see below). • In * paper presented at the Symposium "Stimmton und Transposition im lahrhundert,"   Hochschule  für  Künste,   Bremen,  9  October 1999. ('im ■Tilings are in press.
lit An srticle and related responses by Segerman, Myers, and Koster ap-.   .1 in GSJ 2001 (200-18, 420-24), none of which alters their former posi-111 Segerman's general survey of pitch history in that issue is fundamentally Unwed by using as a general reference ("P") a value for Praetorius's 1    I, 11 A U430 that is no longer credible. ..uili 1978:56-57. ■ 1  Vogel 1986:34.
Mi ndel 1948:123 suggests that the additions of Cavaille-Coll in 1896 could lowered the pitch a small amount. See also Williams 1980:101; Mendel in   I   Schneider 1937:32; Lottermoser 1983:70. 11.1  A,,,,iilmg to Krickeberg. Tarr 1981:58 gives cornett #662 as at 470, and a
mill .....nil, «661 as at 409.
I In 11 is also a connection between Naumburg and Heinrich Schütz, who honorary court Capellmeister at Zeitz, a city closely connected with I Isniiilnu g.
I I yen 1997a.
I In unsupported statement in Thomas & Rhodes (1980:782) that the id in illustrations in De Organographia generally depict instruments "a 1111 i..i portion of a semitone lower than .1' 440 Hz" seems to have been 1 11 1 lien 1 (inclusions about the IMeifflin diagram rather than on any real ii«ii|.<i nun nr measurement.
no
Chapter 2
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
111
123. Cf. Galilei 1581:142, Baines 1983:501.
124. McGowan 1994:457.
125. Segerman 1993 confirms this pitch with careful measurements of the sackbut illustrations.
126. Segerman (1985:262) suggested that a shank could have been added to this sackbut, lowering it a semitone to about 435 and thus reconciling the pitches (this is repeated in Segerman 1993, although he seems now to have retracted it). It is difficult to imagine that Praetorius, attempting to be quite specific about the pitch frequency he wished to convey, would not have mentioned an added shank, since its role would have been critical in fixing that pitch. Both the shank and crook illustrated with the Posaun could have been used, of course, to lower the instrument to accompany choirs (cf. 2-283). The standard crooks were used "to create two principal new pitch levels: a single coil to play a tone lower, or two to play a major 3rd below" (McGowan 1994:459). Praetorius included with his tenor sackbut a "Krumbbiigel auff ein ganz Thon," probably for playing a tone below CammerThon. Shanks were used for smaller adjustments of tuning within a standard, much like the cornett's "Giunte," as described by Bismantova (see o-2a). The Instrumentalischer Bet-tlermantl (P1633) also mentions crooks for sackbuts (see Kite-Powell 1997:7).
127. Herbert W. Myers*.
128. Cf. Moser 1959:316, 521.
129. Flade 1931:114-15; Wolf 1738:69 (orig. p.178).
130. Praetorius appears to be indicating claviorgana here. Pierre Hardouin*.
132. See Worp 1915:^:465,477,486,489 and O'Brien 1990:180,197,225. See also 1-4a.
133. Van Biezen 1990:240 suggests the same thing, since this pitch favored singers. O'Brien (1990:62) tentatively suggested that Ruckers and Couchet worked at a reference pitch (which he calls "R") of 413-419 (A-i). He based this on a similarity of scaling and a link to Taskin's 1783 tuning fork at 409. How consistently, and when Taskin used his tuning fork, and whether he had others now lost, are all open questions, and O'Brien's suggestion for the frequency of "R" was not meant to be proven (nor could it be, based solely on scaling).
134. The nearest we can come are recorders made in Brussels in the early 18th century, which are relatively consistent at an average of A-1V2 (406).
135. Lady Utricia Swan, nee Ogle, wife of Sir William Swan, who corresponded with Huygens. Howard Schott*, O'Brien 1990:305.
136. 3 May 1648. Quoted in Worp 1915:^:477.
137. Cf. Wraight's comment quoted in i-4a that "scales were considered to have a well-defined relationship to the intended pitch and that the safety factor was sufficiently narrow to make it imprudent simply to tune a harpsichord a semitone higher."
i|M I liristiaan Huygens inherited his father's musical compositions, and had |H|imrntly visited Duarte and possibly Couchet in Antwerp when the harpsi-ilmnl was being made (see Worp 1915:486). lit* ' I. van Biezen 1990:290.
I lorgelo 1985:67,71.
Van Biezen i99o:38on6i. Cf. also Peize, NHK (A. Verbeeck, 1631), and (mi ■ 11 >. Jacobskerk (T. Faber, 1645). Ii * Itmiterse 2001:197, 295.
11 i' 11 knell 1996:43.
it   I ••mperley 11:147.
1    I i-mperley 11:147.
Hi. I Ins pipe was probably intended to be at nominal Quire-pitch F2. See t lm l< 11)74:36. Ellis's evidence (1880:42) on the Worcester Cathedral organ (T. 1 'ill .in, 1613) and that at St. John's College, Oxford (T. Dallam, 0619) is too
II to be usable.
low at Tewkesbury Abbey and Stanford-on-Avon (Bicknell 1996:80). 1    iti  pitch, see Goetze 1994:61. I4R 'trr Mendel i978:65n66. ,1 1 I I llis 1880:48 under 474.1.
Hi. Knell (1996:82) expressed this idea, but got the relation between the Inii It ward. If a keyboard C produces a Quire-pitch F, it is a keyboard D •ill produce a Quire-pitch G. A keyboard G will produce a Quire-pitch C. I rys and musiks" probably means "white and black keys" (Clark 1 .11 1 '.I. Mendel 1978:64 and Wulstan 1966:107-08. Gwynn (1992:57) states 1 In mlii pieces were played on 'the keys', and the ranges indicate that they played untransposed." '   ■ vim 1985:67 reports that there are 17th-century organ pipes marked 11I1 lini h names.
• ■ Mendel 1978:64-65. , 1 I  lm example the chamber organ at Canons Ashby, Lowered in 1851 to iPMlil 4*5.
11     '.ystem of notating English pitches is different from the one I used ■ I 1 -.'.ertation. Hp (§» 4*5*.
1 • linn 1956:357.
Wtk Ht«»» stringing would produce pitches of about 389, 367, 346, and 327. Evi-ilni. » •npporis the use of iron, however (p.39ff).
I In 11 .imposition system used by organists seems no longer to have been «. I I'v 1 In- end of the 17th century (Clark 1974:48; Bicknell 1985:80). An (pun move to a non-transposing organ keyboard was made on the conti-• I..1 inn the 17th century (van Biezen 1990:286). 'iinled in Hopkins & Rimbault 1855:190.
11.....n»n wa* lowered a whole-tone by R. Harris in (? 1713) to 1425
.I.. njHvdH-oi;; Goetze 1995:61). A chamber organ survives al iWthn.il 'lm wu formerly also at New College, made in about 1680. It was dii-
112
Chapter 2
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca. 1670
"3
covered in the mid-i9th century by Sir John Sutton and was "originally below concert pitch" (the latter being in the low 450s; see 10-id). The wooden pipes had been cut, however, and the pitch is presently iVz semitones above 440 (Job" P^e Mander*).
162. Drake 1981:44. The cornetts may have been made by Arthur or Anthony II Bassano. They are shown in Parrott 1978:183.
163. Quoted in Drake 1981:44.
164. The mounts "slightly worsen the intonation, which is otherwise excellent." Drake 1981:44-45.
165. Dallam built Prestbury, St. Peter (1663) at Quire-pitcri; Oxford, Magdalen College (1630s) was at Q;i and Cambridge, St. John's (1635) was apparently
Q.-2.
166. Lanvellec, 1647, at 388, may have originally been built higher than it now sounds and had its pipes shifted. Ton Koopman* noted in playing it that the semitone tuning suggests this.
167. Which he thought at that time was about 503; it can be corrected downward to 473 without affecting his argument.
168. Cf. Goetze 1994:60, 1995:61. Goetze makes clear here he is speaking of "church organs (as opposed to the few extant chamber instruments)."
169. See Mendel 1978:65 and Gwynn 1985:66-67.
170. Bowers 1995:10-15, 43ff. Bowers also questions the clef code theory when applied to that period.
171. Lasocki I995b:i74.
172. Lasocki 1995^175-76.
173. Parrott 1978:183.
174. Lasocki I995b:9.
175. Lasocki I995b:2i6.
176. Lasocki I995b:22i.
177. Parrott 1978:183.
178. Tr. based on Crookes 1986.
179. See Kirk 1989:19-20, Waterhouse 1993:20-21, and Lasocki 1995^223-28.
180. Lyndon-Jones 1999:243, 261-62.
181. Lyndon-Jones 1999:246-47.
182. Weber 1975:7-8.
183. Following the method described in Haynes 1994.
184. Original text quoted in 2-4.
185. Praetorius (1618:44) mentioned a practice among English viol consorts of transposing the music down a fifth by pretending to play different sizes. Hii wording suggests a pitch change, but like the transposing organ, the actu sounding pitch did not change, merely the nominal pitches of the strings. C Myers 2001:6.
186 . Although the breaking point is a useful reference, there are indications that strings were not always tuned up to it; see Myeri 2001:14-15. 187. Segerman 1991:14.
ittM. |ones (1989:157-69) uses lutes to propose pitches for the period 1610-70. On |hl lusis of string length and composition, he suggests "Consort-Pitch" was 1 ween a semitone and a tone below modern standard pitch." This is Q;3, wltH b is quite plausible. |K«. Dufourcq 1957:70. |M Kokseth 1930:353. n,i Mersenne i636:I:iii:§VI, p.169. I 'ufourcq I97i:l:202. It Mersenne Proposition XXII. I . 1   .ee 2-2ai and 2-3. lyv Thoinan 1867:398. lyh Myers 1989:3,
1 lobelins tapestries L'Air and Printemps, which probably depict the in-
......ients used in the Ecurie. See Haynes 1988b and Haynes 2001:30.
iul> I lie distance from the top of the instrument to the middle of hole 6. imv Myers 1997a. Mersenne's shawm played a six-finger di, whereas Praeto-tliit'a was at ei for the same fingering and (apparently) pitch frequency. This •'*(tKr»'s there was a pitch standard for French shawms that sounded a whole-iii 1 higher than the one used in Germany.
I (ufourcq and Benoit 1963:195. I am indebted to Marc Ecochard for pointing 1 liu passage out to me.
.....I r!>ruary 1709. Benoit and Dulourcq 1966:206.
' I this mid-i9th-century advertisement (Verroust i857:[last page]): "Au
I .....Ir vue du progres des musiques militaires . . . notre nouveau hautbois
nt I'/ 1. est incontestablement preferable a celui en Ut; son timbre a plus
Ii in, rt il permet d'executer dans les tons les plus favorables les passages .....ni» accessibles a ce dernier."
n.I MriM-nne included detailed dimensions ol a traverso that he called "one 1 'lie best flutes in the world," but there are serious questions about the
mI«.....rut of the tone-holes and the total length of the instrument. Trevor
Piililiiaim'i reconstruction of it (reported in Robinson 1973:84-85) plays close
......Inn," i.e., A + o. But, as Powell comments (2002:58), Robinson was
1 1 , . .1 in interpret Mersenne's dimensions too freely to be sure they accu-
lairly irpresent the instrument he described.
1 I'otiiieau 1768, s.v. "Orchestre" observed that in French music "c'est tou-
,  hi  luieur qui regie I'orchestre tandis que l'orchestre devrait regler
I'lH.Ml."
1 lin 11 when major reworkings and additions began to appear in production! ..I I iilly's works. Before then, alterations "tended to be relatively small .....nliri and modest in scope." See Rosow 1989:217, 228.
,«..  I WV l7/l-!2.
Mi   li.nl been appointed suiinlenddtll <'«' Ifl mUiioiM it < omfuivilriii it for in. 1/1 l.i 1 II. 11111'ie in May 1661 and was naturalized in Drcember of that I li jibled the title ol mailfe Jr In musitfur Je In famillr rovule .mil m.uiieil
|p . 1 •. daughter in July 1662.
ii4
Chapter 2
208. Beaussant 1992:128.
209. Cf. the next section, 2-7.
210. See Haynes 2001:56-59.
211. Tr. based on Crookes 1986.
212. Vienna and Prague were connected both politically and culturally as parts of the Habsburg sphere. Antonicek (1980:19:716) wrote "Ferdinand II made Vienna his capital and place of residence, although neither he nor later mon-archs liked to reside there permanently; other towns such as Prague, Regensburg . . . and Graz shared Vienna's reputation as one of the places where the imperial Kapelle gave outstanding performances."
213. To distinguish this pitch from the northern Chorion at A+i, 1 will write this southern name for the lower pitch as "ChorThon."
214. Senn 1974:39.
215. Mandorfer 1977:29.
216. Ardal Powell (*).
217. Kite-Powell 1997:5. See also Campbell 1995 (who believes the dialect used in the text indicates a south-German or Austrian provenance).
218. Haspels 1987:123.