Klarinet Archive - Posting 000177.txt from 1994/10

From: Cary Karp <karp@-----.SE>
Subj: Re: the Clarinet d'amour
Date: Mon, 17 Oct 1994 12:37:36 -0400

On Mon, 17 Oct 1994, Fred McKenzie wrote:

> RE>>the Clarinet d'amour
> Cary Karp stated:
> A415 is pretty much of a myth. There were several pitches in use during
> the "Baroque" and if a single one were to be adopted for general use in
> period instrumental contexts it could justifiably be argued to be
> significantly lower than 415.
>
> Cary-
>
> Could it be as low as 392 Hz? It seems to me that discussions of old
> instrument pitch have an inherent ambiguity. If you use a historically
> claimed pitch without knowing what the prevailing standard was, you
> risk an error in the order of one or two semitones.

It certainly could be as low as 392. On the basis of all the evidence that
I've examined, a whole tone lower than modern is a better choice for a
convenient general purpose "authentic Baroque" instrument pitch than is a
semitone lower.