William Bailer wrote: > Ed Foote wrote: > > The increased inharmonicity of our modern pianos should be taken into > >account when deciding on temperaments. What was tolerably smooth on a > >harpsichord is usually harsher on the modern piano. Thus, a temperament in > >favor during a composers day, on the older instrument, becomes a lot more of > >a harmonic handful when their music is performed on a modern, high tension > >scale. > Increased inharmonicity of modern piano over harpsichord is true, but not true for big early 19th C. pianos. If you do some calculation you get quite astonishing inharmonicity constants, esp. with the unwound bass strings (e.g. 1.5mm sold brass). Inharmonicity is also higher on these pianos primarily due to the short scale (<300 mm), tensions notwithstanding. Treble inhamonicity is also extremely high. > ...what is different about modern music > is often more modern music that is written in key signatures of more > that three sharps or flats-- THAT may be what is heard as more harsh in > an historical temperament. What do you think? > Chopin (e.g.) was particularly fond of many-flat key signatures which would have been pretty spicy in a non-equal temperament. Stephen Birkett Fortepianos Authentic Reproductions of 18th and 19th Century Pianos 464 Winchester Drive Waterloo, Ontario, Canada tel: 519-885-2228 email: sbirkett@aps.uoguelph.ca
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