Klarinet Archive - Posting 000295.txt from 2000/08

From: "Allan Thompson" <pleco@-----.za>
Subj: Re: [kl] My memory /Tony Pay`s Weber
Date: Sun, 13 Aug 2000 03:48:25 -0400

Peter le Huray's excellent book, "Authenticity in Performance", has it that
by the end of the 18th century, wind instrument makers provided up to as
many as seven tuning joints to ensure that any pitch encountered would be
manageable. The late Baroque was about a semi-tone lower than today, that is
about A@-----. By 1820, the London Philharmonic society performed Beethoven 9
at 433, thirty years later it was played at 453(!). Steinway pianos in the
late 19th century were tuned at 455, and it was only in 1955 that A=440 was
adopted as the standard frequency by the International Organisation for
Standards. (see le Huray 1990:154ff)

Allan Thompson

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