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By admin, 05.18.10

Over the years I have been asked many times to recommend a tuning recipe for ensemble keyboards, and occasionally (horrors) to tune them myself. Choosing a tuning system has always been problematic—the symmetrical sixth-comma temperaments that are so prevalent these days (Vallotti, Young, etc) have never been very satisfying, for several reasons. Firstly, they aren’t historical (both were published long after the Baroque era); secondly they are boring (a lot of the keys sound the same); and thirdly they create a number of ensemble problems, making it difficult for orchestra members to lock in to a resonance and pitch center.

The ubiquitous “Vallotti” temperament, published in 1779 by the Padua composer, theorist and organist Francesco Antonio Vallotti, has become the default tuning for many of today’s Baroque musicians who feel obliged to play in some kind of unequal temperament Continue reading 'Toward a sensible keyboard temperament for Baroque orchestras'»

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By admin, 04.29.10

Toward a tuning strategy for large Baroque ensembles

so we were rehearsing “Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft” (BWV 50) in Boston this week. This is a single-movement cantata which is probably not by Bach but is nonetheless spectacular, with chorus, strings, three oboes, three trumpets, and timps all blazing away in a stentorian fugue punctuated with fanfare-like outbursts. It starts out in D major but doesn’t stay there long, migrating at various times to E major, F# minor and major, B major and major, and C# major. The weather is changing every day, and as one might expect the tuning got a little suspect, especially in those remote keys. We worked on some of the most offending passages with varying degrees of success; and one point somebody asked about the temperament and somebody else said “it’s Vallotti” as though that solved everything. It might have been my imagination, but it seemed to sound even worse after that. Continue reading 'A modest proposal'»