sm24-3_EN_p30_Tuning_V2_sm23-5_BI_pXX 2018-10-30 5:40 AM Page 30
BAROQUE SPECIAL
WE DO NOT HEAR WHAT THEY HEARD
(PART I) TUNING AND TEMPERAMENT THROUGH THE AGES
T
he practice of using period instruments in
Early Music has facilitated a general
awareness of how Baroque pitch is about a
semitone lower than modern pitch. Less
commonly known are developments in
temperament, tuning and pitch over the course
of history. Their implications go beyond the
concert experience. In many profound and sur-
prising ways, they have influenced why com-
posers wrote the music that they did.
DEFINITIONS
Tuning, temperament and pitch are not in-
terchangeable.
Pitch is the simplest to understand. It is the
frequency at which sound waves move, when
referred to in a musical context. Pitch can be
measured in the SI unit Hertz (Hz). The mod-
ern definition of “A” is defined as 440 Hz.
Tuning can refer to a specific pattern or sys-
tem of tuning or, secondarily, to two or more
pitches that are perfectly synchronized. “When
this happens,” as Robert Kerner, period instru-
ment builder and retired keyboard curator at the
Eastman School of Music, explains, “any dis-
cernible tuning beats are eliminated.”
Temperament is closely related to tuning.
When intervals are purposely de-tuned, they are
“tempered” from their pure form.
PYTHAGOREAN TUNING
Pythagorean tuning, the first major tuning sys-
tem used in Western music, is based on math-
ematical ratios found in the natural world.
Perfect fifths sound gloriously pure in this tun-
ing as they are the favoured tuning interval
(the only interval used while tuning). Triads,
however, are only possible in a few keys. Be-
yond those few keys, the thirds that result from
the tuning of the contiguous fifths that make
up the octave become unbearably out of tune.
Pythagorean tuning only works in music
consisting of a single melody, parallel fifths
and a few triads in a limited number of keys.
Accompanied early chant, also known as mon-
ody, fits like a glove with this tuning.
MOVING ON TO TEMPERAMENTS
The idea of purposely de-tuning intervals just
a little here and there became more attractive
30 NOVEMBER 2018
by CAROL XIONG
as musicians tried to transcend the constraints
of Pythagorean tuning. Kerner explains: “Mu-
sicians and theorists began experimenting
with tuning systems that require the temper-
ing of one or more of the otherwise pure fifths
in the tuning scheme in order to increase the
harmony range of the system and allow the
music to modulate into more useable keys.”
MEAN-TONE TEMPERAMENT
The first historically significant temperament
is mean-tone temperament. It came in count-
less versions through the three centuries of its
popularity, and its use even overlapped with
later temperaments well into the 19th century.
Mean-tone temperament favoured pure thirds
at the expense of perfect fifths. Every usable triad
thus sounded the same. By focusing on thirds,
however, another interval became unbearable:
tweaking all those fifths created intervals called
“wolf tones,” so named because its out-of-tune
sound evoked the howling of wolves. Furthermore,
just as before, not all keys were usable.
Many Renaissance and early Baroque key-
board pieces were conceived using this tem-
perament. The thirds-centric approach of this
temperament directly influenced the upsurge
of thirds and sixths in place of the parallel
fifths that were more prevalent in the music
of the preceding era. Modern listeners can get
a taste of mean-tone temperament from
recordings of Buxtehude or Italian music on
period organs.
WELL TEMPERAMENT
Many musicians and theorists experimented
with developing beyond mean-tone tempera-
ment.
“What we call well temperament nowadays
was better known as ‘new temperament,’ of
which there were many [types],” Kerner says.
“This is a generic phrase referring to any of the
unrestricted and irregular ‘unequal’ tempera-
ments of the late Baroque and Classical era.
“In these systems, the circle of fifths is
‘closed’ [all the fifths are usable and either pure
or slightly tempered], and the major thirds of
the various keys are of differing sizes – some
are pure and others much wider than pure. As
a result, no two triads in well temperament
sound exactly alike. This is what gives each in-
dividual key its distinct character.
“We also know that Bach and others were
well aware of the system of equal temperament
[the common temperament from the 20th cen-
tury until present day], and that it was not pre-
ferred, probably because all of its major thirds
were equally wide or pure, and there was no dis-
tinguishing character of any particular triad.”
All high Baroque music favored equal tem-
perament. Interested readers can hear this
temperament in most harpsichord recordings
of Baroque music. The booklet notes usually
state which temperament is used.
EQUAL TEMPERAMENT
Many more temperaments were developed
through the ages, leading eventually to equal
temperament at the turn of the 20th century.
This temperament is perhaps the easiest to un-
derstand. Simply take a pure octave and divide
it into twelve equal parts. Whereas earlier tem-
peraments were based on a pure tuning which
then got adjusted here and there, equal tem-
perament throws everything out the window.
It has no basis in naturally occurring overtones
and requires no adjustment of old models. In-
stead, it just calculates everything cold.
The compositions that resulted from equal
temperament no longer have tendency tones,
so composers could truly compose in any key
equally. Atonality, which would not have
worked with earlier temperaments, burst
forth. To hear what this temperament was
conceived to facilitate, listen to how dreamy
and ambiguous the whole tone scales feel in
say, Debussy’s piano works.
FUTURE
The future is an exciting time as music and
tuning systems across the world cross-polli-
nate with Western models. Whatever happens,
it is important to keep in mind that the mod-
ern temperament that we take for granted is
actually very young and still open to change,
just as so many tuning systems have been
through the ages. It’s not as absolute as one
might think! LSM