Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2008-08-21 14:16
If you think of pre-metronome music, especially that of the Baroque, it was very heavily influenced by dance and the highest compliment one can pay for performers is that they have nailed the dance affect. I have heard this not only in "real" dance music of the period, but also in opera, trio sonatas, concertos and even Bach sacred works and in the last case it has been absolutely thrilling.
The affect was much more important than the metronome and with the gradual loss of the feeling of dance affect in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the metronome became, I suspect, inevitable. Quantz bases all of his tempos off a "tempo ordinaire" for the heart beat, which some have calculated as 80 bpm. Obviously, there is a lot of leeway, but some of it holds up very well. I also think that a steady pulse would allow for some rubato within measures which, if I remember correctly, Quantz discusses at some length. (I don't have Quantz handy, sorry.)
Best regards,
Mrs. Ken (Mary)
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