In a message dated 4/13/00 7:28:00 AM Central Daylight Time,
remoody@midstatesd.net (Richard Moody) writes:
<< Did N'Kaoua request 1/7 Meantone? If so just wondering why he chose that
over the 1/6. Mark Lindley wrote in New Groves, "..Romieu in 1758
expressed preference for 1/6 comma mean-tone because he liked the relative
amount of tempering that it allots to 5ths and 3rds." ("Temperaments"p666).
1/7 comma wasn't mentioned. Sources? >>
Quite frankly, Mr. Farley avoids "using the 'T' word" as he puts it. He
never asks anyone what they want anymore, he gives them what they will take.
If Monsieur N'Kaoua had complained about the tuning during his rehearsals the
entire week before the concert, Mr. Farley would have changed it but there
was never any complaint.
Ravel lived from 1875 to 1937 so he might really be considered an early 20th
Century composer. ET is the most obvious choice but Mr. Farley long ago
rejected the path of least resistance. He discovered the 1/7 comma Meantone
when he asked Owen Jorgensen what the mildest Meantone temperament ever
published was. The answer was the 1/7, published by Romieu in 1758. It is
found in Owen's first publication, Tuning the Historical Temperaments by Ear.
(Sorry, not in the big red book).
He tried it and was fascinated with its properties beyond anything he had
ever tried before. Remember, he and all of us are working with the modern
piano, not the harpsichord, organ, fortepiano or even late 19th Century
pianos but Steinways, Yamahas, Kawais, Baldwins, Mason & Hamlins, etc. He
and we need to make these kinds of instruments express whatever music is to
be played on them as best possible regardless of which kind of instrument, at
whichever pitch or temperament may have been preferred by any particular
composer.
The imposition of ET on virtually every kind of music may be viewed really as
the most extreme and unnecessarily harsh compromise of all. That is the way
Mr. farley and I view it and that is why we never choose it. It alters all
music much more than is necessary.
Mr. Farley chooses the 1/7 Comma Meantone now almost exclusively and has for
several years now. It is his answer to ET. He gets very little complaint
about it. My own opinion of it is that it is a bit too strong to use on just
every piano because I have done as he has, used it indiscriminately and have
had a few complaints about it. I do use it occasionally but only when I feel
that the customer and situation is sure to accept it.
In short, Mr. Farley chose the temperament because of the way it makes his
pianos sound in general, not because of any particular music that is to be
played on them. He has found through experience that most artists have very
little or no knowledge about the various kinds of temperaments, only the
myths and irrational fears that are the most commonly held by musicians and
technicians alike.
He feels that the artist must concentrate on the music, not on some new
concept which has just been presented right before performance time. This
would only be a distraction. The artist must adapt to the inherent
differences of each piano in any case. His experience has revealed that an
artist adapts to the kind of temperament and octaves tuned quite the same as
he or she adapts to touchweight, regulation and voicing. As many have often
expressed, a good artist can make good music under most any circumstances.
Many have often expressed that choosing a temperament without consulting the
customer or artist would be unethical because ET is "Common Law practice".
We feel quite the contrary, that to choose ET is imposing the will of the
piano tuning profession upon the music and musician. To this degree, the
insistence of the major piano manufacturers on the exclusive use of ET at the
Convention, where ideas should be tried and developed is foolishly timid and
unnecessarily restrictive. The words, dumb, backward, ignorant and bigoted
also readily come to mind.
Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC