Temperament, A pianist responds

[Charles Neuman]

David wrote:
 >>> Recall that
 >>> Beethoven was writing piano pieces with notes that did not yet
 >>> exist on his own piano.
 >>
 > Stephen wrote:
 >> Oh? which notes? which compositions? which piano?
 >
David wrote:
 > The example that comes to mind is of a low Eb that appears even though
 > his piano ended at low E.  I don't recall the piece exactly and will
 > have to look it up, maybe op. 7 or op. 81a.  But there are several
 > other places where octave passages are modified to sixths because the
 > octaves would have extended beyond the boundaries of the keyboard.

I have an example: Beethoven Sonata Op 31 No. 2, first movement. Compare 
the passage in measures 57-63 with the passage in measures 187-193, 
which is the same passage transposed to a higher key. However, if it 
were transposed exactly, the upper notes would be higher than the 
highest note on Beethoven's piano, so he just kept the top note of what 
should be octaves fixed at D and let the lower note carry the tune, if 
you will.

What does this prove? Nothing really. But you can look at it two 
different ways:

On the one hand, you could say that he really wanted this to be written 
for a keyboard with a modern range (range of notes, that is). If he had 
a modern keyboard, he would have transposed the passage exactly. (If it 
were Chopin, however, I'd say he deliberately made the transposed 
version of the passage different to make it sound more improvisational. 
But I think Beethoven was a little more scientific about those kinds of 
things.) But since he didn't have a modern piano, the piece had to be 
compromised. So the real piece, in the abstract, has notes that didn't 
exist on the piano in his time, but the piece that was actually 
published is a compromise. Thus, performers can change the notes to fit 
with what Beethoven wanted.

On the other hand, you could say that clearly the keyboard that was 
available in his time affected his composition. Since he was aware of 
any limitations that might occur, he probably INTENDED to be limited by 
the keyboard range in that particular passage, because it creates a 
really interesting effect with lots of tension.

The two ways of looking at it are analogous to the ET vs WT viewpoints, 
but it doesn't seem you can prove one from the other. I have to take a 
middle-of-the-road stance here: I haven't ordered my flame suit from 
Schaff yet. :)

Charles Neuman
PTG Assoc.