Pitch and brightness

[Robert A. Anderson]

The story I have read more than once is that the rise in orchestral
pitch in the 19th century was due to brass instruments. In the quest for
a "brighter" sound, instruments were made to give increasingly higher
pitches. This phenomenon was largely responsible for the standardization
of pitch. I may have read this in Helmholtz. I seem to remember that he
(or probably Ellis, in one of the appendices) notes the pitch of various
orchestras and manufactures, and that it rose to about 468, maybe in the
1860s or '70s. Perhaps someone better informed can tell whether or not
that's accurate. I have never understood why a higher pitched brass
instrument would sound "brighter", though. The explanation about the
violins deadening under stress sounds plausible, at least. Anyway,
Mozart's A was in the 430s, which is a long way from the 460s. So that's
a much larger spread than 440 to 444. But the change happened
gradually.  Maybe the "brightness" was a psychological
(psycho-acoustic?) phenomenon. What do you brass players have to say?

Bob Anderson
Tucson, AZ