"The Big Lie"

[Billbrpt@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 6/16/99 8:23:41 AM Central Daylight Time, you write:

<< In a radio program about Schumann's Fantasia Op. 17, they were comparing
 different recordings and telling that some of them enphasized a key more
 than others. I couldn't tell the difference at the time but I thought it was
 interesting.
 Jaume >>

The program you heard probably did not have any pianos tuned in Historical 
Temperaments.  Whatever "key color" you were supposed to have heard was 
merely the imagination of the programmer or the result of playing louder and 
faster.  When you finally do hear some real Well-Tempered or Meantone Tuning, 
there will be no question about the difference in your mind.

What you heard, the absurd idea that ET still has key color is part of the 
"Big Lie" that Skip has written about.  If there was any unintended key color 
that was evident because the temperament was not really equal, it was an 
example of the even "Bigger Lie" that I wrote about.

The use of such words as "lie" is not intended by Skip nor myself to offend 
anyone, just to candidly point out the very commonly held misconceptions that 
have been believed by so many for so long.  The use of words like "unethical 
and illegal behavior" and <> were intended only to degrade and demean.  The 
people that write these things seem to think that it is their right and 
privilege to say anything they want to and about anyone else but when they 
get a little of their own medicine, they can't swallow it.

By the way, I lived in Barcelona (pronounced "Barthelona") for a while many 
years ago.  I have fond memories of it and it left an indelible change in the 
way I speak Spanish.

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin