pianotech-digest V2002 #190

[Paul N. Bailey]

Charles,

        Excellent post, good description, thought provoking.


         Speaking of the accompaniment, later in the 2nd movement, the
 accompaniment changes to triplets. This is a realization in the note 
texture of the vibrato (beat rates) in the Ab triad.   Where the fifth is
just, 
the major third of the triad beatstwice while the minor third beats 3
times.

         Is this movement a prayer for courage offered up in a moment of
 calm, in the eye of the storm?

         We could use more posts with your kind of musical intuitive
 thinking.


                                         Paul Bailey
                                         Modesto CA



Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2002 13:20:34 -0500 (EST)
From: Charles Neuman <piano@charlesneuman.net>
Subject: HT's - Prinz temperament

I'm listening to the Pathetique sonata in the Prinz temerament on Ed's
first temperament CD. I'm intrigued, but a little confused, by the
temperament. I'd like to be able to categorize a chord as either "pure" or
"not pure", but it doesn't work out that way with the Prinz (and I guess
with any Well temperament). For example, the key of C has a pure
tonic-third interval, but the fifth is tempered. And the key of Ab has the
most tempered tonic-third interval, but a pure tonic-fifth interval.

So, if you take the first measure of the second movement, where the mood
is somewhat calm, you're in the key of Ab. The "accompaniment" part has
the root and fifth, which is pure-sounding. But the melody in the right
hand is the note C, which brings out the highly tempered tonic-third
interval. So I don't know what to make of it. I guess the "accompaniment"
has a calm sound to it, but the melody has an interesting flavor to it
that you wouldn't get if the third were tuned just. I wouldn't quite use
the word "tension" here, but I think the tempered third makes the melody
stand out.  Maybe you could say that the tempered melody note subtly
conveys the feeling that something's a-brewin', sort of like you know
something bad is going to happen in a movie before it happens. It's like a
calm before a storm. Yeah, that's it. Calm before a storm. Or like when a
dog is completely relaxed and lying down, but you know he's going to do
something in a minute. You know he sees that other dog a little ways away,
but he hasn't decided to do anything about it quite yet. Anyway, I focus
on this one measure because the piece comes back to this chord since it's
the key of the movement.

If there's a question in any of this, it's whether people have other (or
similar) ways of looking at it. I'm trying to figure out the difference
between a key with a pure third and a tempered fifth and a key with a
tempered third but a pure fifth. For example, which one is
calmer-sounding?

I guess the sound that is conveyed depends how the chord is voiced in the
music. In the case I mentioned, had there been a C (the third) in the
accompaniment, it might have affected the calm sound that I heard. That
case appears later on in the piece.

Any more ideas people want to share?

Charles

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