[CAUT] Speaking of Chopin...Montal

[Fred Sturm]

On Jan 13, 2009, at 9:47 PM, Israel Stein wrote:

> Anyway, L. Rellstab writes on August 2, 1833 for the Berlin  
> publication "Iris" about the three Nocturnes opus 9: "Furthermore,  
> Chopin has again not failed to choose the remotest keys, B flat  
> minor, B major and, of course, E flat Major". In general his music  
> is being panned for its wild, crude sound - often citing key choice.  
> Now, if quasi-equal temperament is being used - what difference does  
> key choice make? Would Herr Rellstab be so bent out of shape about  
> having to listen to B flat minor if it didn't sound much different  
> from D minor? Whatever tuning system Chopin used, those outer keys  
> must have sounded quite wild for reviewers to object to them so  
> vehemently...

This kind of speculation is very interesting. But what we need is  
facts. I thought I'd look back at Monsieur Montal's book, and it  
really cuts the legs from under much of the speculation that has been  
engaged in during this conversation. BTW, there was some discussion of  
Montal in the Journal recently (past few years), to do with Stuart  
Isacoff responding to a review by Jorgensen, and an article by RIchard  
Moody. This discussion was based on small extracts from the book. I  
can see in re-reading that it simply must be made available to the  
English reader, and I will endeavor to do so.
	In any case, to be brief, Montal's book was written in 1836, about  
the time of Chopin and Schubert. This was after he had been teaching  
tuning for many years in Paris, and had developed a very strong and  
favorable reputation. The book does not simply give a tuning sequence.  
It gives very, very detailed instruction starting from basic music and  
tuning theory (intervals, the difference between sharps and flats,  
keys, circle of keys/circle of fifths). It proceeds to detailed  
instructions for how to learn to hear intervals. To tune just M3s. To  
tune a stack of M3s and perceive how far that is from an octave. To  
widen the M3s so that each is "equally forte" (forte meaning strong,  
and defined in a footnote as meaning wide) and so that three stacked  
equal an octave. Pages and pages of instructions along these lines,  
with exercises to learn to hear what an ET tuning well executed should  
sound like, and how to achieve it.
	I don't think anyone reading this book can doubt that Montal knew  
exactly what he was talking about. And I believe it would be a good  
textbook today to teach people to tune aurally, with minor  
modifications.
	Jorgensen apparently didn't read this book. He noted it in his  
bibliography, but makes no mention of Montal in the text. In his  
response to Isacoff (who said the Montal's book showed that Chopin  
could have had access to ET), Jorgensen quibbles about how it was an  
"equal-beating" system, hence not "true ET." No doubt he is sincere in  
his beliefs, but I don't think he had read the book, only the  
description provided of the tuning sequence. And, personally, I don't  
think there is any appreciable difference between "equal-beating" and  
"true" in practical terms. In any case, there is no "key color" in  
equal-beating.
	I am convinced that very close approximation to ET existed and was  
considered cutting edge from very early in the 18th century. I will  
try to find time to provide some translations of excerpts in the not  
too distant future so that you don't have to take my word for it.  
There are copies of a reprint (1976, Geneva) around in various  
libraries - I got mine through interlibrary loan from BYU - so if you  
read French, it is available.

Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu