A great discussion. Let me contribute this, the best single compilation of
"character of the keys" descriptions...
from Christian Schubart's Ideen zu einer Aesthetik der Tonkunst (1806)
C Major
Completely Pure. Its character is: innocence, simplicity, naïvety,
children's talk.
C Minor
Declaration of love and at the same time the lament of unhappy love. All
languishing, longing, sighing of the love-sick soul lies in this key.
Db Major
A leering key, degenerating into grief and rapture. It cannot laugh, but it
can smile; it cannot howl, but it can at least grimace its
crying.--Consequently only unusual characters and feelings can be brought
out in this key.
C# Minor
Penitential lamentation, intimate conversation with God, the friend and
help-meet of life; sighs of disappointed friendship and love lie in its
radius.
D Major
The key of triumph, of Hallejuahs, of war-cries, of victory-rejoicing. Thus,
the inviting symphonies, the marches, holiday songs and heaven-rejoicing
choruses are set in this key.
D Minor
Melancholy womanliness, the spleen and humours brood.
Eb Major
The key of love, of devotion, of intimate conversation with God.
D# Minor
Feelings of the anxiety of the soul's deepest distress, of brooding despair,
of blackest depresssion, of the most gloomy condition of the soul. Every
fear, every hesitation of the shuddering heart, breathes out of horrible D#
minor. If ghosts could speak, their speech would approximate this key.
E Major
Noisy shouts of joy, laughing pleasure and not yet complete, full delight
lies in E Major.
E minor
Naïve, womanly innocent declaration of love, lament without grumbling; sighs
accompanied by few tears; this key speaks of the imminent hope of resolving
in the pure happiness of C major.
F Major
Complaisance & Calm.
F Minor
Deep depression, funereal lament, groans of misery and longing for the
grave.
F# Major
Triumph over difficulty, free sigh of relief utered when hurdles are
surmounted; echo of a soul which has fiercely struggled and finally
conquered lies in all uses of this key.
F# Minor
A gloomy key: it tugs at passion as a dog biting a dress. Resentment and
discontent are its language.
G Major
Everything rustic, idyllic and lyrical, every calm and satisfied passion,
every tender gratitude for true friendship and faithful love,--in a word
every gentle and peaceful emotion of the heart is correctly expressed by
this key.
G Minor
Discontent, uneasiness, worry about a failed scheme; bad-tempered gnashing
of teeth; in a word: resentment and dislike.
Ab Major
Key of the grave. Death, grave, putrefaction, judgment, eternity lie in its
radius.
Ab Minor
Grumbler, heart squeezed until it suffocates; wailing lament, difficult
struggle; in a word, the color of this key is everything struggling with
difficulty.
A Major
This key includes declarations of innocent love, satisfaction with one's
state of affairs; hope of seeing one's beloved again when parting; youthful
cheerfulness and trust in God.
A minor
Pious womanliness and tenderness of character.
Bb Major
Cheerful love, clear conscience, hope aspiration for a better world.
Bb minor
A quaint creature, often dressed in the garment of night. It is somewhat
surly and very seldom takes on a pleasant countenance. Mocking God and the
world; discontented with itself and with everything; preparation for suicide
sounds in this key.
B Major
Strongly coloured, announcing wild passions, composed from the most glaring
coulors. Anger, rage, jealousy, fury, despair and every burden of the heart
lies in its sphere.
B Minor
This is as it were the key of patience, of calm awaiting ones's fate and of
submission to divine dispensation.
Translated by Rita Steblin in A History of Key Characteristics in the 18th
and Early 19th Centuries. UMI Research Press (1983)
-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf
Of A440A@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 8:46 AM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Re: (careful, it is about temperaments)
Greetings,
For those that are just tuning in, there is a post from a concert
pianist concerning temperament in our archives. It was posted on 12/9/01,
and deals specifically how temperament affects the music.
David writes:
>>I find these two points to be at odds and reflective of a tendency, in
>>these
treatises, toward a sort of pianocentrism in explaining the choice of keys.
Of the 32 piano sonatas of Beethoven only 2 are in the key of C and most
fall in the 2, 3 and 4 sharps and flats category. <<
I am not clear on "pianocentrism in explaining the choice of keys."
When we are talking about pianos and the music composed for them, the choice
of key is certainly indicative of something, and one thing common to
composers of the Classical period is their reliance on the keys in approx.
the same ratios.
If we combine the works in the major keys of Mozart (21 sonatas, 17
variation, 26 solo keyboard works), Beethoven (24 sonatas, 199 variations,
32 other assorted keyboard works), and Schubert (12 sonatas, 3 waltzes), we
come up with 343 separate compositions between 1760 and 1835. If we look at
the keys used in these pieces, we see the following:
CMaj. = 122
F ==== 44
Bb==== 24
Eb==== 33
Ab === 3
C# === 1
F# === 2
B ==== O
E ==== 3
A === 37
D=== 50
G == 24
There is a very clear pattern here, no? And it is the same pattern
we see when we chart the tempering of the WT form. Is this a coincidence?
I submit it is not. Not only is there a pattern to the cumulative total,
that same pattern is evidenced in Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert
individually!
Inre Beethoven, David continues:
>>Only one piece is in 6 sharps and none are in either 5 flats or 5 sharps.
You would think that if
temperament were dictating choice of keys that there would be a greater
dispersion. <<
I see the opposite. The numbers indicate that temperament was a
compositional influence. Equal dispersion in the use of keys didn't happen
until
the late 1800's, when I believe ET became widespread. (several
"Temperament-heads" that I know argue for the use of WT well into the 20th
century, but I dunno. After listening to "Rhapsody in Blue" on a Young
temperament, I am a firm believer in ET for that piece).
The comparison above clearly shows that the pattern of usage mimics
the
pattern of tempering in a WT. LVB certainly favored Eb over all other
keys,
and if there is any logic for this other than a subjective favoritism on his
part, it is that a 'home' key of Eb offered the greatest flexibility in
modulation. This key has broad room to modulate up the dissonant ladder as
well as
down into consonance. Compare it to the key of F# and it is easy to "come
back" to the tonic without suffering an increase in the level of tension.
F# and B are hard keys to resolve, (is that why virtually no one used them?
I am told that Bmaj. is an easy key for the hands, so there had to be some
reason it was avoided by so many major composers).
>>Interestingly, the width of the tonic major third in the keys
with 2, 3 and 4 sharps or flats (where most of the pieces are written) falls
very close to the width of the third in ET. <<
I respectfully disagree. The vast majority of the compositions are
composed in 3 accidentals or less. If we examine the Young temperament, we
see 2 accidentals (keys G or F) creates a 8 cent tonic 3rd, and 3 sharps or
flats is the same as ET. When we reach 4 sharps, we are dealing with 18
cents in the third. This is hardly ET size.
And while we are on the subject of Young, it is hard to imagine that
such a mathematical genius would have presented a WT to the Royal Society if
he had found favor in ET. Why would he have chosen the idealized WT as his
vehicle in 1799 if ET was in common use? If anybody could have solved the
problems in tuning an ET, at least enough to propose a method of tuning it,
it would
have been Thomas Young, and he did't.
>>The assumption is also that it was the nature of the sound of the
>>"piano" or
like tempered instrument that guided compositional key choices. <<
I can think of no other guiding force that would have created the
results of the compilation already displayed above. I would be interested
in any other explanation for the pattern among these three major composers,
individually
and communally.
>>Beethoven seems to have thought of his piano music
in orchestral terms where the tempered scale again has little meaning. Much
of Schubert's music was written without the benefit of a piano because he
couldn't afford one and are similarly orchestral in structure. <<
Interestingly, in orchestral music, the various keys were regarded as
having distinctly different "characters." Nobody composed serene, calm
music in F#, B, or E, nor tense, dreary passages in the simpler keys. The
Classical era was built upon the Baroque, and following the "Doctrine of
Affections,"
composers beyond the Baroque sought to create an emotional response in the
listener. That is easier to do when you have some keys that are sedative
and others that are stimulative. During the Baroque, (meantone era), this
couldn't have been done with tempering, unless you consider the occasional
wolf that comes snarling in the front door a suitable stimulus for
excitement.
>>It's quite easy to construct an after the fact interpretation of key
selection based on subjective viewpoints about contrasting sounds. I just
don't think the evidence really supports the claims. <<
This is where we differ, I cannot find more than scant evidence that ET
was considered, and most of that is the written accounts of theorists that
objected to it. However, there is copious documentation that WT was in
popular use. I also doubt that anything like ET can be produced by anyone
other than professionals that do it a lot. I have seen part-timers try, but
they don't come close. Montal's instructions of 1832 will give a very close
approximation of ET, but you better be really good to succeed, (how many of
us can tune four contiguous equally tempered m3rds in the octave and get it
right?)
What are the odds that the tradition-bound musical workers of the
1700's would have taken the trouble to be avant-garde when the status quo of
the time was modified MT and well publicized WT? Look at how intransigent
we, as a profession, are today? Our Guild has no teeth today, but 200 years
ago, it was very different.
>>The selection of key, I would suggest, was a response to WT's only in
>>the
sense that the self
limiting choices of keys with relatively few sharps and flats were an
attempt, consciously or not, to not drift too far from what ET eventually
offered. <<
I don't see "self-limiting" in these choices. In fact, the WT offers
far more musical resources, in terms of harmonic qualities, that ET. The
choice of the most consonant keys for the majority of the music argues
against ET being in use, and the sonata form, with its usual foray into the
remote keys for "expression," seems to make great use of the contrasts. The
wild modulations usually found in the second movement, (see
http://www.lsu.edu/faculty/jperry/virtual_textbook/sonata.htm), go to the
extreme keys. This harmonic exploration is hollow if all keys possess the
same harmonic quality.
>>And if we are going to use empirical evidence, while there are a few
>>concert
level musicians who argue for the use of WT's for a musical and historically
accurate interpretation of 18th and 19th music, there are many more, if not
nearly all, who, not inclined to sacrifice musicality or historical
faithfulness, choose to play the music in ET.<<
The vast majority of concert level musicians I have had dealings with
are totally ignorant of temperament history,(beyond the difference between
meantone and Et). The several well known performers I have tuned for didn't
notice that the tuning was different until I told them. The general
consensus has been that the piano was in a very resonant state of tune.
Several of them have told me that during performances, they are too busy to
pay attention to the tuning at all, and while on the road, feel fortunate
enough to have a competent tuner that can render stable unisons. Seeking a
non-standard temperament is beyond them. That is changing, though.
>>When I talk with musicians who possess
perfect pitch, they all describe different keys as having different
characters, moods, feelings, colors whatever you choose to call it. Many of
these musicians are not pianists and probably have no experience, or
possibly even knowledge, of various kinds of temperaments. <<
Yes, and if you tune a piano 1/2 step flat in ET, they will ALL ascribe
those characteristics to a key 1/2 lower than what you are really playing
on.
The "feelings" are pitch dependant. I believe that the attribution of
certain "feelings" or moods to a given key are the result of the historical
record of how those keys were traditionally used. If Ab had been used
mainly for "expressive" passages, it makes sense that modern performers
would have integrated that "use" with their recognition of the key. ( you
will never hear a piece of calm, serenity in the key of B or F#).
>>Many of the more famous composers of the 18th and 19th century, in
>>fact,
had perfect pitch.
I would suggest that key selection had more to do with certain innate key
characteristics than temperament.>>
And what would those "certain innate key characteristics" be? If you
have 88 exactly equal steps, there is no change in relationships from one
key to the next, and there are no differences between keys except pitch.
Those that have pitch recognition have no trouble ascribing familiar
conventions to those keys.
I have repeatedly said that any tech familiar with a varity of tunings
can make a inarguable value judgement, since taste is subjective and
unassailable. I personally don't think there is such a thing as a superior
temperament.
Every temperament has its strengths and weaknesses, and none of them work
perfectly for everything. ET is very valuable for its flexibility. It is
the simple way for us to make money, but is a terrible compromise for music
composed before its widespread use. For the uncompromising, it is simply
too coarse of a solution to appeal to the epicurean sensibility.
With the ease of recreating the earlier temperaments today,(SAT, VT,
RCT, Tunelab, etc.), there is no reason for the modern tech to rely on one
and only one way to tune. Having a familiarity with several WT's is the
same as having more tools in our kit. That cannot be a bad thing.
Regards,
Ed Foote RPT
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
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