more on this temperament tangent

Richard Brekne Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no
Fri, 02 Nov 2001 22:52:06 +0100



Charles Neuman wrote:
> 
> Richard wrote:
>  >
>  > So Bach probably didnt write (in my opinion) for any particular
>  > temperament in the sense I get from your question... more likely he
>  > was writting in the new (at that time) genre of temperament thinking.
> 
> OK. But if he was "writing in the new genre of temperament thinking", as
> you say, then it's likely that his compositions were influenced by the
> (then) current thinking on temperaments. Would everyone agree with that
> idea? I'm trying to get a sense of exactly what people are arguing about. :)
> 
> Charles

Sure, as I read your  question...
I would think that any and all composers are influenced by the available
and / or prevailing sounds they have at their disposal. Some in
different ways then others. 

Take a guy like Ives for example... wacked out 4th symphony... lots of
sounds and  combinations there that very much relate to the society he
lived in, and for that matter his childhood musical training, some
speculate.  It is said that his father taught him ear training by
forcing him to sort out musical chords and intervals with about 120
decibles of traffic noise blasting in through the living room window.

Heck, today ET has in some ways been left behind... Some people go as
far as leaving all sence of musical scale in the dust... noise has
become an acceptable definition or element in some composers /
performers art. Witness that hanging piano wire experiment I posted the
yesterday...we use largely, in our art what we are exposed to... some
few open new ground for others to follow... grin.. and some of that gets
hastily forgotten.

Bach had his time, his influences and his beliefs and his imagination...
kinda like the rest of us really...except of course he was an
exceptional creative genuis.



-- 
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway
mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no


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