historical et (Long)

[Anne Beetem]

>I think that ET, chromatic harmonies, and the modern piano evolved
>together; but to what degree each element affected the others is unknown to
>me. In my head I drew a parallel between the development of a larger
>compass and the development of ET and chromatic harmony. That is, piano
>builders provided a wider octave span, and composers promptly used it. Did
>they demand it, so builders _had_ to provide more octaves? Or did they use
>what was made available?


Yes,  they asked for them, the player/composers typically were touring with
expanded instruments before they were generally available.


>
>It seemed to me that people assume composers moved towards chromaticism on
>their own, and the tuners accommodated them; so I wondered briefly if
>perhaps some of the process had worked in reverse.

I could nitpick that chromaticism was well practiced in 16th century Italy
on their split/keyed harpsichord models, without "sacrificing" the tuning
of the pure thirds throughout, but........  I know, I know,  you mean
chromaticism as it refers to the 12 tone scale with 12 approximately equal
divisions.     I will argue that chromaticism was always present in some
forms.  What  changed was the expansion of the harmonic language, a natural
evolution of composition, and I suspect which evolved right along with the
idealization of E.T.   The larger pianos with greater volume and greater
inharmonicity savored that evolution.

If you wonder if the instrument affects the composition,   try composing
for harpsichord.

ab






>No, I think Arnold S was a product of his time rather than of ET. He seems
>to me to have been particularly susceptible to the horrors happening in
>Europe during the Depression and Second World War, and that the shattering
>of his earlier extended harmony (in Verklaerte Nacht, for instance) into
>12-tone was an expression of a very dark mind set, for which no blame to
>him, of course.


As well as a product of the 20th century belief in the supremacy of
mathematics, science, and engineering.    As such he definitely was a
product of ET as  defined purely mathematically, and tonality was redefined
and respelled with that leading 'a'.


Anne





Anne Beetem
Harpsichords & Historic Pianos
2070 Bingham Ct.
Reston, VA  20191
abeetem@wizard.net