Pitch in 1860

[Piano Forte Supply]

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Israel Stein is certainly correct when he writes; " ...the Paris Grand 
Opera had its own pitch, the Opera Comique had its own pitch and a third 
opera house (whose name I do not remember) had yet another pitch. In 
addition, the military bands used their own pitch and the church had yet 
another pitch..."

I also agree when he writes: "It is probably foolish to think in terms 
of "standard pitch" (even for a locality) much before the late 19th 
century - it simply was not a realizable concept."

I have a bit more trouble when he writes: "The Pleyels and the Erards had to build pianos that could go up and down in pitch as needed.  As did all piano builders of this era. As to what the range was - that I don't know... A good guess would be somewhere between 420 and 435 - though other  pitches (even above 440) are not unknown in this time..."

I would argue to the other direction, that while pitches below 440 were 
not unknown, most seem to have been above that.
There is a fair amount of pitch data which can give us an idea of trends 
and developments which certainly dispels the "standard pitch A 435" notion.

Here are some examples from France, all from Ellis' measurements of 
collected tuning forks:

Paris Grand Opera, 1856/58  : 446.2, 445.8, 448.0 Hz
Paris Italian Opera, 1854/56:  442.5, 447.4 Hz
Paris Opera Comique, 1854: 448.0 Hz
Paris Conservatoire, 1856; 446.2 Hz
Toulouse Conservatoire, 1859: 437.0
Lille Conservatoire, 1859: 452.0 Hz
Marseille Conservatoire, 1859: 447.0

Earlier pitches were generally lower, but pitches in the second half of 
the 19th century were mostly higher than today, and in many instances up 
over 450 Hz, such as a NY Steinway fork at 457.2 Hz (1879)
For more examples, visit  http://www.mozartpiano.com/pitch.html and 
scroll down the page. 
While the French commission set the "Standard" of 435.0 Hz in 1858, it 
seems to have been not much more than a proposal, which was largely 
ignored in favour of higher pitches in the following decades.

So, for those of us who service vintage instruments, is it time to 
retire that A-435 fork and bring in an A-445 fork? <g>.

Jurgen Goering
Piano Forte Supply

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