Bruce Haynes - A History of Performing Pitch The Story of A PDF

A History
of Performing Pitch
The Story of "A "
Bruce Haynes
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.

Lanham, Maryland, and Oxford
2002
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Copyright O 2002 by Bruce Haynes
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Haynes, Bruce, 1942-

A history of performing pitch 1 Bruce Haynes.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-8108-41 85-1 (alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8108-4185-7
I. Musical pitch. 2. Musical temperament. I. Title.
e W ~ hpaper
e used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSIOIISO 239.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
For Susie
". . . Like t o the lark at break of day arising. . ."

Contents
List of Illustrations Xlll

...
List of Graphs Xv
Preface xix
Acknowledgements xxiii
Mechanics XXIX
Introduction xxxiii
0-1 T h e Idea of Multiple Pitch Standards xxxiii
o-la Sound Frequency, Pitch Frequency, Pitch Standard xxxiii
o-1b Pitch Variation in the Past xxxv
o-IC T h e Effects of Pitch Differences xxxvi
o - ~ dStudying Pitch Changes in the Past xli
0-2 Appropriate Frequency Tolerance xlii
o-za Fluctuation W i t h i n a Standard xlvii
o-2b A Terminology for Pitch Levels 1i
0-3 Transposition Iiii
o-ja Transposition Grids liv
o-jb Transposition and Temperament liv
o-jc T h e Autonomy of Church Pitches and
Secular Pitches liv
Notes lv
I T h e Evidence I
1-1 Paper Evidence: Pitch Names and Relationships 2
1-2 Original Instruments and Original Pitch Frequencies 3
1-3 T h e Most Useful Instruments 6
I-ja Cornetts 6
I-3b Renaissance Flutes 7
I-jc Traversos 9
Contents
I-3d Recorders 11
I-je Clarinets 12
I-jf Organs and Church Bells IS
I-3g Pitchpipes I8
1-4 Less Direct Evidence 22
I-4a Strung Keyboard Instruments and Lutes 22
I-4b Trumpets 25
I-4c Automatic Instruments 26
1-5 Unreliable Evidence 27
I-5a Double-Reeds 27
I-5b Bowed String Instruments 28
I - ~ cVocal Range 29
I-5d Xylophones and Glass Armonicas 30
I-ye Tuning Forks: Accurate but without Musical
Context 31
I-5f Length Standards as Indications of Pitch Standards 32
1-6 Factors That Determine the Accuracy and Credibility
of Evidence from Instruments 35
I-6a Temperature 35
I-6b Physical Alterations 36
I-6c Wood Shrinkage 36
I-6d Nominal Pitch 38
I-6e Locating and Dating 39
I-6f Quality of Information 39
I-6g Anachronistic Playing Techniques 40
1-7 Frequency Measurements in 17th- and 18th-Century
Studies of Acoustics and Vibration Theory 41
1-8 Cases Where Both Standard and Frequency Are Known 44
Notes 45
2 Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670 55

2-1 W h e n Pitch Standards Became Necessary 55
2-2 Italy 58
2-2a Venice 58
2-2a1 Mezzo Punto (A+I) 58
2-2a2 Tutto Punto (A+o) 62
2-2aj Tuono Corista (A-I) 65
Contents
2-2a4 Instruments Pitched Lower

T h a n Mezzo Punto
2-zb Rome
2-2c O t h e r Cities
2-3 Germany
2-ja Praetorius's Chorthon (A-I)
2-jb A t 1 Prior t o 1670: Praetorius's "CammerThon"
2-4 T h e Low Countries
2-5 England
2-5a Church Music and the Quire-pitch Grid
2-5a1 Religious Vocal Music in the 16th Century
2-5b Instruments O t h e r T h a n t h e Organ before 1642
2-5b1 T h e Court and Church Music
23b2 Consort-Pitch
2-6 France
2-6a Ton De Chapelle at A-2
2-6b Ton d'Ecurie
2-6c Lully's Pitch (Ton d'Opkra)
2-7 T h e Habsburg Lands
Notes
3 T h e Instrument Revolution and Pitch Fragmentation,

1670-1700
3-1 France
3-1a Ton d'OpCra (A-2)
3-rb Ton de la Chambre du Roy (A-11/2)
3 - I ~ Organ
I Pitch and the "Louis X I V
Parenthesis"
3-1bz T h e Coexistence of Ton de la Chambre du
Roy and Ton d'Opkra
3-IC Ton d'Ecurie ( A ~ I )
3-2 England
3-za French Influences o n Instrumental Pitch at
the Restoration 124
3-2a1 Consort-pitch (Q-3), Alias Ton de la
Chambre (A-11/2) 126
3-zb Church Organs and t h e Quire-pitch Grid 129
3-2b1 Quire-pitch (Az473) 130
Contents
3-2b2 Q-I (A=448)

3-zb3 "Chappell-pitch:" Q - 2 (A=423)
3-3 Germany
3-ja T h e Arrival of French Instruments in Germany
3-3b The Shift in Terminology
3-3c "Deutsche" as an Indication of Pitch
3-jd Pitches of Surviving Instruments
3-3dr Organ Pitch
3-3dra Exceptionally High Organs (A+2)
3-3dz Woodwind Pitches
3-jd3 A-2 in Germany
3-4 T h e Dutch Republic
3-5 T h e Spanish Netherlands
Notes
4 T h e General Adoption of A-I, 1700-1730

4-1 Italy
4 - ~ aVenice and Milan
4-1a1 A + I (Corista di Lombardia) and Its
Corollary, A-I
4-1a2 Corista Veneto/Venetianischen Ton, A t o
4-rb Rome
4-IC Elsewhere in Italy
4-2 France
4-za A-I in France
4-ja Woodwind Pitches
4-3b Organ Pitches
4-4 T h e Spanish/Austrian Netherlands
4-5 England
4-5a Consort-pitch (Q-3)
4-5a1 T h e Upward Movement of Woodwinds
to A-I
4 - ~ bOrgan Pitches
Notes
Contents
5 G e r m a n y , 1700-1730: Cammerton, Chorton, Cornet-Ton

5-1 Notation of Chorton and Cammerton W h e n Used
Together
5-2 Practical Considerations in Transposing Parts
5-za Voices
5-zb T h e String Band
5-2c T h e O r g a n
5-zd T h e W o o d w i n d s
5-2e T e m p e r a m e n t
5-zf Key Characters and Affective Associations
5-2g Sonority
5-3 Reconciling Pitch Levels
5-?a Kammerhoppel and K ~ m r n e r r e ~ i s t e r
5-jb T h e First Cammerton O r g a n s
5-3c Frequencies
5-4 Higher Pitches
5-4a T h e N a m e Chorton Used as a n Equivalent to
Cornet-Ton
5-4b A + I (Cornet-Ton, O f t e n Chorton)
5-4c A+2 (Hoch Chorton)
5-5 A-I as Cammerton o n G e r m a n W o o d w i n d s
5-6 T h e tief-Cammertons ( A - I K , A-2)
5-6a A-2
5-6b A-I%
5-6c W h e n tief-Cammerton Ceased to Be Used
5-7 O r g a n s at A + o
5-8 T h e Silbermanns
5-9 Specific Places
5-ga Dresden
5-9b Leipzig
5-gc Berlin
5-9d H a m b u r g
5-9e Nuremberg
5-9f Darmstadt
5-9g Frankfurt a m M a i n
5-gh O t h e r Cases
Notes
Contents
6 Sebastian Bach and Pitch

6-1 Surviving Instruments and Original Pitches
Linked to Bach
6-2 Weimar
6-2a T h e Pitch of the Weimar Organs
6-zb T w o Cammertons at W e i m a r
6-3 Cothen
6-4 Bach's Use of tief-Cammerthon at Leipzig
6-4a Cantata 194
6-4b T h e Magnijicat and Cantata 63
6-4c Cantatas 22 and 23
6-5 W o r k s by Bach in W h i c h Pitch Is an Issue
Notes
7 1730-1770:A "Diversity of Pitches"

7-1 T h e Pitch Descriptions of Quantz and Agricola
7-2 Traveling Virtuosos
7-3 Italy
7-3a Venice
7-3b Other Northern and Central Italian Cities
7-3c Rome and Naples
7-4 France
7-4a Ton d'Ope'ra and Ton de Chapelle
7-5 Germany
7 - ~ aA+I, Cornet-Ton/Chorton
7-'jb A t o as Chorton
7-gc Kammerregister and Organs at Cammerton
7-5d A-2, Franzosischer Thon/tief-Cammerton
7-5e Dresden and Berlin
7-6 England
Notes
8 Classical Pitches, 1770-1800

8-1 Italy
8-2 France
8-2a Organs and Pitch in Churches
Contents
8-2b T h e OpCra
8-zc Instrumental Pitches
8-3 Germany
8-3a Instrumental Pitch
8-3b Prussia and Saxony
8-jc Organs
8-4 England
8-6a Salzburg
Notes
9 Early Romantic Pitches, 1800-1830

9-1 Italy
9-2 France
9-2a T h e Pitch Affair at the Paris OpCra in the 1820s
9-3 Germany
9-4 England
Notes
10 Pitch Standards, 1830-2001

10-1 1830 t o 1860: Rising Pitch
1 0 - ~ aItaly
1 0 - ~ bFrance
10-IC Germany
1 0 - ~ dEngland
1 0 - ~ eAustria
10-2 1860 to 1900: T h e Pitch Rise Is Gradually Checked
10-2a Italy
10-2b Germany
10-zc England
10-2d Holland
10-ze Austria
10-3 1900 to 2000: A Universal Performing Pitch
Notes
xii Contents
11 Summary: Pitch Change by Country

11-1 Italy
11-2 France
11-3 Germany
11-4 England
11-5 The Dutch Republic
11-6 T h e Southern Netherlands
11-7 The Habsburg Lands
Graphs
Appendixes
Appendix I: Organs with Original Pitch Frequencies
That Are Known and with Pitches That Were Named
Appendix 2: Curved Cornetts
Appendix 3: Renaissance Flutes
Appendix 4: Traversos
Appendix 5: Recorders
Appendix 6: Clarinets
Appendix 7: Organs
Appendix 8: Pitchpipes
Citations in Original Languages
Index
About the Author

List of Illustrations
I. Conrad, David. Frontispiece to Geistreiche Gesangbuch, a collection

of music edited by Christoph Bernhard, Dresden, 1676.
Page 83
2. Pythagoras at the Forge, Discovering the Laws of Pitch. Engraving by

G.F. Schmidt, published with the Introduction to Quantz's Essai
(1752).
Page 158
3. Beginning of Cantata 71 by Sebastian Bach, autograph score, 1708.

Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin-PreuRischer Kulturbesitz,
Musikabteilung mit Mendelssohn-Archiv, BB Mus. Ms. Bach P
45, page 2'.
Page 250
4. Beginning of Cantata 132 by Sebastian Bach, autograph score, 1715.

Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin-PreuRischer Kulturbesitz,
Musikabteilung mit Mendelssohn-Archiv, BB Mus. Ms. Bach P
60, page 2'.
List of Graphs
I: Woodwinds, pre-1670 383
2: G e r m a n recorders and traversos by city (to 1 ~ 7 0 ) 384
3: Nuremberg recorders by maker 385
4: Organs, pre-1670 386
5: Organs, 1670-1700 387
6: Organs, 1700-1730 388
7: Organs, 1730-1770 389
8: Organs, 1770-1800 390
9: Incidence of black cornett pitches 391
10: Spread of black cornett pitches 392
11: Cornetts with 4 types of the mark !! 393
12: Woodwinds, Italy, t o 1800 394
13: Woodwinds, France, to 1800 395
14: Woodwinds, Germany, t o 1800 396
15: Woodwinds, England, to 1800 397

xv i List of Graphs
16: Woodwinds, Dutch Republic, to 1800
17: Woodwinds, southern Netherlands, to 1800
18: Italian organs, to 1800
19: French organs, to 1800
20: German organs, to 1800
21: Organs in Thuringia and Saxony, 1680-1750
22: English organs, to 1800
23: English chamber organs
24: Dutch organs, to 1800
25: Habsburg organs, to 1800
26: Woodwinds in Europe, 1670-1700
28: Woodwinds in Europe, 1730'1770
29: Woodwinds (including pitchpipes), 1770-1800
31: Profiles: Bressan, Stanesby Sr., Stanesby Jr.
32: Profiles: J. Denner, Oberlender, Heitz,
Eichentopf
33: Profiles: Quantz, Kirst, Tromlitz,
A. Grenser, H. Grenser
List of Graphs xvii
34: Profiles: Anciuti, Palanca, Castel 416
35: Possible levels described by Agricola and Quantz 417
36: Woodwinds, all countries together, 1770-1800 418

Preface
T
his is t h e first attempt t o offer a general overview of t h e pitch
levels of European art music in various periods, countries,
and musical contexts back as far as t h e 1 6 ' ~
century. It stands
o n t h e shoulders of great studies in t h e past such as those by Ellis and
Mendel, that had more modest (or cautious) pretensions.
T h e idea of writing this book came originally f r o m Bruce Phillips
in 1985, and I a m pleased that he is still its editor. After a n earlier pro-
posal for the book was accepted, Bruce very kindly shared with m e
some of the encouraging critiques that H o w a r d Mayer Brown had
made o n it, c o m m e n t s that I still cherish. In the mid-1990s the project
mutated into a Ph.D. dissertation, and from there was deconstructed,
revised, and reorganized in its present form.
Back in the early 80s w h e n I first started looking into this subject, I
was n o t aware that already a good generation before, Paul H i n d e m i t h
had formulated a manifesto for such a study. Hindemith's words were
prophetic and radical for the time they appeared; speaking of perform-
ing Sebastian Bach in 1950, he wrote:
W e can be sure that Bach felt quite comfortable with the vocal and in-
strumental types that were available to him, and if we care about per-
forming his music as he himself imagined it, then we ought to restore
the performance conditions of his time. And in that case it is not
enough that we use a harpsichord as continuo instrument. W e must
string our string instruments differently; we must construct our wind
instruments with the scalings of the time; and we must even recreate
the relationship between Chorton and Kammerton in the tuning of our
instruments.'
xx Preface
Since 1950, questions about the original levels of performing pitch

have become more frequent and more urgent. They are among the re-
curring themes in the study of the history of musical instruments, and
among the most lively. T o answer them is important t o makers and
restorers of what are (a little anachronistically now) still called "his-
torical" instruments, as well as to historians of the music of the ren-
aissance and baroque periods, and of course to both sing-
ers and players.
T h e early music revival represents the musical manifestation and
the audible result of the rise of music history as a separate discipline.
Since most of the art-music we play is at least a generation old, there
is a close interdependence between history and performance, and the
t w o activities are constantly teaching each other. T h e subject of pitch
is a good example of this interaction, because what distinguishes this
book from previous pitch studies-even Mendel's, as recently as
1978-is today's flourishing early music scene. W i t h the growing un-
derstanding of how "early" instruments work, a new source of empiri-
cal information has appeared that was not previously available.
It is worth wondering whether this information is really useful.
W h a t , in the end, are we accomplishing by reviving historical pitches?
I n the early 19th century, the composer J.H. Knecht wrote, "Of course,
the introduction of a general universal pitch, like so many other useful
things, will long remain devoutly to be wished."'
It was not to be achieved, in fact, until the end of Knecht's century.
H i s concern was already being expressed by Quantz in the middle of
the previous one:
The diversity of pitches used for tuning is most detrimental to music

in general. In vocal music it produces the inconvenience that singers
performing in a place where low tuning is used are hardly able to
make use of arias that were written for them in a place where a high
pitch was employed, or vice-versa. For this reason it is much to be
hoped that a single pitch for tuning may be introduced at all places.3
Contained in this comment is the seed of our present dilemma. O n

the one hand, we wish to perform at original pitches for the very rea-
son Quantz cites: to accommodate human voices by using the pitch at
which the music was originally conceived. But in the process of
Preface xxi
achieving this worthy goal, w e are also discarding t h e great conven-

ience of a universal pitch standard, for which m a n y musicians like
Q u a n t z and Knecht so eloquently campaigned.
T h u s history itself throws d o w n a n uncomfortable challenge t o t h e
historically oriented performance movement. If we are interested in
original sonorities, if w e w a n t o u r instruments t o act and feel as they
did w h e n they were first played and o u r voices t o function as they did
for the composers w h o conceived their parts, it seems w e have n o
choice but to renounce the luxury of a single hard-earned pitch stan-
dard. A s in so m a n y other issues of historical performance, w h e n t h e
outer layer of this onion is peeled away, it becomes evident that there
is more beyond A-415, waiting t o be revealed.
O n e of the rewards of exploring early techniques and instruments
is discovering new insights into musical performance that are un-
looked for and unexpected. T h e r e are facets that cannot be imagined
until they are actually played and sung. I hope this book will be useful
in a practical way t o performers and, w i t h luck, possibly serve as a n
aid in creating a bit of that musical serendipity.
B.H., 26 J u n e 2002
Notes
I. Johann Sebastian Bach. Ein vevpflichtendes Evbe (private printing, 1950), re-
printed in Tibia 4/2ooo:311.
2. Knecht 1803.
3. Quantz 1752, Ch. XVII/vii/&7 (tr. Reilly 1966:267). Quantz's book ap-
peared in both French and German. The French version was prepared for the
benefit of Quantz's patron, Frederick of Prussia, who had difficulty reading
and speaking German (see Mitford 1970:20, 205). Although Reilly in his
landmark English translation of Quantz considered the French version a
"translation" (1966:xxxv), it appeared in Berlin simultaneously with the
German edition and is therefore of equal authenticity. Since the German ver-
sion is more frequently quoted and better known, I have used the French to
give it more exposure. In some passages, as Reilly points out, the French text
is clearer, in others, the German.
Acknowledgements
ike a polyp in a vast coral reef, this book is built upon the labor
and competence of a great m a n y people in the past and present.
' T h e Bibliography lists nearly 600 published works on which
this study rests. But a considerable part of the material needed has not
yet been put into print; personal communications of all kinds have
contributed significantly t o it. T h e y have come from friends, scholars,
~ r ~ a n o l o g i s tmuseum
s, curators, instrument makers, collectors, deal-
ers, and performers (in various combinations). It is with gratitude that
I register their names here:
Cecil Adkins (Denton, T X ) Alan Curtis (Florence)

Jiirgen Ahrend (Leer-Logs) Lucy van Dael (Amsterdam)
Anthony Baines (Farnham) Sand N. Dalton (Lopez, W A )
Patrizio Barbieri (Rome) Alan Davis (Birmingham, Eng.)
Dodi Beardshaw (Beverly) Baldrick Deerenberg
Jean-Franqois Beaudin (Montreal) Daniel Deshayes (Mont Saint
Alfredo Bernardini (Amsterdam) Aignan)
Anner Bijlsma (Amsterdam) Bruce Dickey (Milan)
T o n y Bingham (London) William Dowd (Boston)
Ralph Bryant (Stafa) Laurence Dreyfus (London)
Frans Briiggen (Amsterdam) Ross W. Duffin (Cleveland, OH)
Geoffrey Burgess (Ithaca, N Y ) Marc Ecochard (Vindelle)
Gregory Butler (Vancouver) Nancy W. Edelman (Washing-
Giovanni Caviglia (Moncalieri) ton, DC)
RenC Clemencic (Vienna) Catherine Eden (Pickwick End,
Jeffery Cohan (Seattle) near Corsham)
Michael Collver (Boston) Stephen Escher (Half Moon Bay,
Jean-Pierre Couturier (MontrCal) CA)
William Cowdery (Ithaca, N Y ) T h o m a s van Essen (Rouen)
xxiv Acknowledgements
David Fallis (Toronto) Michael Latcham (The Hague)

Dominique Ferran (Poitiers) Colin Lawson (Middlesex)
Heidrun Fiedler (Ponitz) Eva L e g h e (Bloomington, I N )
Flentrop Orgelbouw (Zaandam) Joh. L e g h e (Delft)
Bernard Foccroulle (Brussels) Gustav Leonhardt (Amsterdam)
BarthClCmy Formentelli (Verona) T o m Lerch (Berlin)
Forster & Nicolaus Orgelbau Jean LeTourneux (MontrCal)
(Lich) Alec V. Loretto (Auckland)
Elsa Franc (Epinay sur Odon) Jean-Francois Madeuf (Toulouse)
Claude Girard (St. Jean de Sau- Jean-Christophe Maillard (Tou-
ves) louse)
Paul Hailperin (Riedichen-Hiit- John Pike Mander (Bethnal
ten) Green)
Toshiyuki Hasegawa (Utrecht) Willard Martin (Bethlehem, PA)
Steve Heavens (Chester) Bob Marvin (Maine)
Anders Hemstrom (Bandhagen) LukLs Matousek
Herbert Heyde (New York) William J. Maynard (Massapequa
Louise Hirbour (MontrCal) Park, NY)
Peter L. Hoekje (Cedar Falls, IA) John Henry van der Meer (Fiirth)
Eric Hoeprich (Amsterdam) Prof. W.M. Meier (Winterthur)
John Howard (Cambridge, MA) Marco Mencoboni (Macerata)
Edgar H u n t (Chesham Bois) Eric Mercier (MontrCal)
H. Iino (Tokyo) Scott Metcalfe (Watertown, MA)
Christopher Jackson (Montreal) Renato Meucci (Milano)
Jean Jeltsch (Paris) Joanna Millett (Quinton)
Harry Dennis Jones (Wrexham Hermann Moeck (Celle)
Clwyd) Jeremy Montagu (Oxford)
Ricardo Kanji (The Hague) A.M. Moonen (Maastricht)
Cary Karp (Stockholm) Stephen Morey (Victoria, AUS)
Beryl Kenyon de Pasqual (Brus- Margaret Murata (Irvine, CA)
sels) Giuseppe Nalin (Padova)
Larry Kiefer (Pittsburgh) Peter Noy and Courtney West-
Emma Kirkby (London) cott (Toronto)
Mary Kirkpatrick (Ithaca, NY) Ray Nurse (Vancouver)
Martin Kirnbauer (Basel) Paul OIDette (Rochester)
Dieter Krickeberg (Niirnberg) Nao Otake (Chigasaki)
Sigiswald Kuyken (Asse) Janet K. Page (Penarth)
Barbara Lambert (Concord, MA)
Acknowledgements xxv
JCrCmie Papasergio (Epinay sur Gerhard Stradner (Wien)

Odon) Stephen Stubbs (Bremen)
Andrew Parrott (Oxford) Kiyomi Suga (Tokyo)
Michel Piguet (Carouge) Michael Talbot (Liverpool)
Filadelfio Puglisi (Firenze) Edward T a r r (Bad Sackingen)
Martin Puhringer (St. Peter) Susan Tattershall (Rhinebeck,
Peter Reidemeister (Basel) NY)
Albert R. Rice (Claremont, C A ) Ivars Taurins (Toronto)
Hansheiner Ritz (Nordenham) Gilles ThomC (Paris)
Jean-Franqois Rivest (Montreal) Walter T h u t (Zurich)
Claudio Ronco (Venezia) G u y ThCrien (St Hyacinthe, QC)
David Ross (El Paso, T X ) J.-A. Villard (Poitiers)
Fratelli Ruffatti (Padova) Claude Wassmer (Geishouse)
H. Schaefer (Frankfurt) K. Watanabe (Tokyo)
Howard Schott (Boston) Yoshio Watanabe (Yokohama)
Eleanor Selfridge-Field (Sunny- William Waterhouse (London)
vale, C A ) Rainer W e b e r (Bayerbach)
Nicholas Shackleton (Cambridge) Alain Weemaels (Bruxelles)
D o n Smithers ( W e s t Nyack, N Y ) Bruce Wetmore (Berkeley)
John Solum (Westport, C T ) Roland Wilson (Cologne)
H a n s Rudolf Stalder (Zumikon) H e n r y Woledge (Beverly)
Janice Stockigt (Melbourne)
T h e following members of the staffs of libraries and museums have

also assisted this research in various ways:
Franqois ArnC (MusCe de la Musique, Paris)

Renee Barrick (Metropolitan Museum of Art, N e w York)
Sigrid Barten (Museum Bellerive, Zurich)
Oswald Bill (Hessische Landes- u. Hochschulbibliothek,
Darmstadt)
Margaret Birley ( T h e Horniman Museum, London)
Kurt Birsak (Salzburger Museum Carolino-Augusteum)
Clemens Brenneis (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin)
Jens-Uwe Brinkmann (Kustos, Stadt. Museum, Gottingen)
Marcoemilio Camera (Cons. "Giuseppe Verdi," Milan)
Conservatorio "Luigi Cherubini," Florence
Eszter Fontana (Hungarian National Museum, Budapest)
xxvi Acknowledgements
Veronika Gutmann (Base1 Historical Museum)

Sissel Guttormsen (Ringve Museum)
Hubert Henkel (Deutsches Museum, Munchen)
Wolfgang Hoffer (Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum,
Innsbruck)
Ann Inscker (Curator, Torquay Natural History Society Mu-
seum)
Gareth Jenkins (Museum, Bury St. Edmunds)
Michael Jessup (Snowshill Manor, Broadway)
Fiona Jewels (York Castle Museum)
David L. Jones (Ipswich Museum)
Ignace de Keyser (Instrumentenmuseum, Brussels)
John Koster (Shrine to Music Museum, Vermillion)
Mr Darcy Kuronen (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
Michael Ladenburger (Beethoven-Archiv, Bonn)
Michael Latcham (Haags Gemeentemuseum)
E. Lehmann (Kustos, Museum fur Regionalgeschichte und
Volkskunde, Gotha)
Laurence Libin (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
T h e Music Librarian, University of London
Elizabeth McCullough (Smithsonian Institution, Washing-
ton, DC)
Arnold Myers (Edinburgh Univ. Collection of Historic Mus-
ical Instruments)
Kaoru Ogi (Curator, Hamamatsu City Museum)
T. Oost (Museum Vleeshuis, Antwerp)
Annette Otterstedt (Staatliches Institut fur Musikforschung,
Berlin)
Silvana Pettenati (Museo Civico di Torino)
Ulrich Pietsch (Museum fiir Kunst und Kulturgeschichte der
Hansastadt Liibeck)
William Saade (Mushes de la Nihvre)
A. Schymalla (Stadt. Museen, Quedlinburg)
Robert E. Sheldon (Library of Congress, Washington, D C )
K. Snowden (Grosvenor Museum, Chester)
Josef Wagner (Wurttembergisches Landesmuseum, Stuttgart)
Friedrich Waidacher (Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz)
John R. Watson (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation)
Acknowledgements xxvii
Wolfgang W e n k e (Restaurator, Bachhaus Eisenach)

Brigitte W i e d (Oberost. Landesmuseum, Linz)
Maggie W o o d (Warwickshire Museum)
James Yorke (Victoria & Albert Museum, London)
T h e staffs of the Music Libraries at the UniversitC de MontrCal and

McGill University gave m e regular and considerable assistance. T h e
Interlibrary Loan system has been crucial in assisting m y research
here in MontrCal. I n addition, I have spent varying amounts of time
gathering materials in the libraries of the University of California,
Berkeley; Harvard University Libraries; Openbaar Bibliotheek, A m -
sterdam; Central Library of the University of Utrecht; Music Library,
University of N o r t h Texas at Denton; and the Biblioth6que Nation-
ale, Paris. For extraordinary generosity with advice, information, and
encouragement, may I single out for special thanks:
Masahiro Arita (Tokyo)

Philippe Bolton (Villes sur Auzon)
M.C.J. Bouterse (Alphen a/d Rijn)
Roderick Cameron (Mendocino, C A )
Reine Dahlqvist (Goteborg)
Henri Gohin (Boissy l'aillerie)
Dominic G w y n n (Worksop, Notts)
Pierre Hardouin (Paris)
Peter H o l m a n (Colchester)
Friedrich von Huene (Brookline, M A )
Douglas Kirk (Montreal)
Barthold Kujiken (Gooik)
David Lasocki (Bloomington, IN)
Ronald M. Laszewski (Champaign, IL)
G r a h a m Nicholson (Den Haag)
Ardal Powell (Hudson, NY)
Jesse Read (Vancouver)
Joshua Rifkin (Cambridge, M A )
Peter Spohr (Frankfurt)
Denzil Wraight (Coelbe)
Phillip Young (Victoria)
xxviii Acknowledgements
RCjean Poirier, Dean of the FacultC de Musique at the UniversitC

de MontrCal, is directly responsible for the existence of this study,
having acted as my research advisor when it was in dissertation form.
I am grateful for his support during that time.
Besides reading the dissertation and making critical notes on it,
T o n Koopman (Bussum, the Netherlands) generously put his remark-
able library and its extraordinary indexing system at my disposal,
which in the space of a week in 1993 expanded the Bibliography by
well over loo new sources.
I would especially like to thank my "spiritual advisor" in this pro-
ject, Dr. Herbert W. Myers of Stanford University. By extraordinary
good luck we found ourselves talking about pitch history during a long
orchestra tour in the early 80s) and have continued to discuss it ever
since. It did not take.me long to realize that Herb was probably the
single most knowledgeable person o n this subject on the planet. H e
has read many of my drafts and has significantly improved them, has
supplied me with valuable information and ideas for directions to ex-
plore, and has offered constant moral support. In an important sense
this book is his.
Research on the earlier dissertation was supported by scholarships
from the Fonds Les Amis de llArt, MontrCal, in the form of a "Bourse
Victor DorC" in 1993 and 1994, and successive Bourses d'excellence
from the FacultC des Ctudes supbrieurs, UniversitC de MontrCal in
1991-1994.A Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and H u -
manities Research Council (Canada) for the years 1992-1995 allowed
the time necessary to collect the instrumental pitch data at the base of
this study (most of which is summarized in the appendixes).
Finally, the person most profoundly responsible for the realization
of this book is my wife, Susie Napper, the best gambist I know and
the best cook. I began this research in the days just after our first child
was born (in November 15182)) and all during the adventures of par-
enthood and tasks of running a household that have followed, "pitch"
has persistently claimed a fair amount of time. Susie has shared me
with it in good spirit, and for that gift, and for my love which words
can only hint at, this book is dedicated to her with gratitude.
Mechanics
ince the levels of pitches changed with time, original terms can
easily be misleading. I therefore use a terminology based on
semitones starting with a1=440 (Ato). I explain the system
fully in o-2b.
T o indicate a relationship of key and pitch level, I use the symbol
"+"; for example, "Cammerton+Dn means "D-major at Cammerton."
Since I often mention the intervals of a major second and minor
third, I have adopted the symbols "M2" and "mj" for them.
Frequencies given as numbers are assumed to be for the note aI;
"440" is meant therefore to express "a1 = 440 Hz."
I have systematically rounded off Hz values to the nearest integral
number, since higher precision is meaningless in the context of this
study.
The single letter "c" sometimes stands for "cents," IOO of which
make up any semitone in equal temperament.
T h e spelling of many common pitch standards varies in different
sources. For the sake of clarity, I have selected a standard spelling for
some of them, as for instance Cammerton,' Chorton, Cornet-ton, Mezzo
punto, Tuono chorista, etc.
For this study I adopted a policy that accounts for wood shrinkage
and its effect on pitch level (see I-6c). Cornetts and ivory instruments
(as well as a few traversos made of porcelain, crystal, and glass) are
considered at their present pitch. Wooden recorders, pitchpipes, and
traversos are assumed to have been originally 5 Hz lower, and clari-
nets 3 Hz higher. That this correction factor reflects historical reality
is confirmed in the case of the Laurent traversos in crystal that are at
435, 430/435, and 425/435. These pitches are comparable to the wooden
instruments corrected down 5 Hz.'
xxx Mechanics
T h e term "Musick" is used here as it was used from the 17th cen-
tury to mean pieces performed by a group of instrumentalists. In
French and German, the word was "Musique." Thus certain churches
had organs and choirs, while others had Musick as we1l.j A related
term I have borrowed from German is "figural," to indicate orchestral
instruments used in church.
"Flute" does not necessarily mean "traverso." It is used that way
by some modern musicians because the recorder is a relative new-
comer. In the language and thought of the time, however, "flute"
could generally mean either recorder or traverso, and sometimes both.
"FlGte" is the modern French word for both transverse flute and re-
corder (one "Q bec," the other "traversikre"). When a distinction be-
tween the instruments is appropriate or necessary, I use the specific
terms.
Some of the information used in this study comes from personal
communications, which are identified with an asterisk (*).
All translations are mine except those explicitly marked. My gen-
eral principle in making translations has been to try to communicate
accurately the underlying sense of original texts in modern, un-
adorned language.
Abbreviations used in text:
T h e word "bass," sometimes abbreviated as "B," usually

means "continuo."
T h e letter "a" in italic before a date stands for "ante" (before);
"p" stands for "post" (after).
VF: Voice flute (recorder in d ~ )
T h e following are abbreviations used in the Bibliography:
AfMw Archivfiir Musikwissenschaft

AMZ Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung
BC Bach Compendium
BG J.S. Bach: Werke, ed. Bach-Gesellschaft
BIOSJournal British Institute of Organ StudiesJournal
BJ BachJahrbuch
EM Early Music
Mechanics xxxi
FoMRHIQ Fellowship of M a k e r s and Researchers of Histori-

cal Instruments Q u a r t e r l y
GSJ Galpin Society Journal
H BSJ Historic Brass Societylournal
HHA Hallische Handel-Ausgabe
IS0 I S 0 Information
JAMlS Journal of the American Musical Instrument Soci-
ety
JAMS Journal of the American Musicological Society
MGGz Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 2d
edition
ML Music a n d Letters
NBA N e u e Bach Ausgabe
NGI T h e N e w G r o v e Dictionary, 1st edition (1~80)
NG2 T h e N e w Grove Dictionary, 2d edition (2001)
NL I W a t e r h o u s e 1993
PRMA Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association
Notes
I. Used also by Mendel in 1955 and 1978. I have also distinguished three sepa-
rate kinds of "Cammerton" by spelling t h e m differently: "CammerThon" as
used by Praetorius, "Cammerton" in the early 18th century, and "Kammerton"
since the late 18th century.
2. Herbert W. M y e r s (*) writes "I'm a little uncomfortable with a single cor-
rection factor for all air-reed instruments-cylindrical, tapering, open, o r
stopped-all based upon the experience with recorders. (There are reasons t o
think t h e changes in bore shape-i.e., taper-might be greater for baroque re-
corders and baroque traversi than for the other forms.) However, in light of
the fact that there is n o scientific way t o quantify a n y differences at this
point, one should probably just let t h e single factor stand."
j. T h e word fell out of use at the end of the 19th century (see S h a w
Introduction
T
he history of pitch standards is actually simpler t h a n it first
appears. From t h e outside, it is a classic case of not being able
t o "see t h e forest for the trees:" there are s o m a n y seemingly
isolated and unrelated bits of information. But by combining material
f r o m various fields (history, written texts, and surviving original in-
struments), patterns emerge, and it becomes clear that there were a
limited number of fixed standards that look m o r e complicated t h a n
they were because they changed w i t h time. In a long and detailed book
o n Silbermann's organs, Frank-Harald G r e g writes (1989:11o),
I t is generally assumed that there were great regional differences

..
among historical pitch levels. . Yet in reality, in the various German
organ schools of the 18th century the usual pitches differed either not
a t all, or only slightly.
Pitch standards are n o t a phenomenon of nature, after all. T h e y are

created by musicians, and it is generally in t h e interests of musicians
for pitch levels t o agree.
0-1 T h e Idea of Multiple Pitch Standards
o - ~ aSound Frequency, Pitch Frequency, Pitch Standard
A pitch standard is a cluster of several notions: sound frequency, note-

name, and standard. Sound frequency is expressed in Hz (or hertz, also
xxxiv Introduction
known as cps or cycles per second). Pitch combines two separate coor-
dinates: not only a frequency value (such as 440 Hz, for instance), but
also the name of a note, such as "A," A-440 H z is a pitch. G-440 H z is
also a pitch. If G is 440 Hz, then A, a tone higher, will be 494 H z (in
equal temperament). But if A is 440 Hz, G will move down to 392 Hz.
I n this book, we will assume we are speaking of the note A when we
discuss pitches, so "440" will mean "a1=440."
Frequencies and pitches, being sounds but not yet music, have no
historical dimension by themselves. They become pitch standards
when they are placed in a musical context. A pitch standard is an
agreement among musicians at a given time and place that a particular
pitch will be used as a reference for tuning. T h e statement "Cammerton
was at A-415," for example, combines two concepts: that of a pitch
standard (Cammerton), and a pitch frequency (A-41s). Written sources
often mention pitch standards like Ton d'Opira without giving their
frequency, or they describe standards by their relationship to each
other (Cammerton is a M2 lower than Chorton, etc.). Original instru-
ments usually do the reverse, giving historical pitch frequencies that
have no obvious name. In its original state, most historical evidence is
thus usually separated into one of two types: either names or frequen-
cies. T h e goal of this book is to try to put these two categories of evi-
dence back together.
An example of this separation is the account by Burney of Han-
del's famous soloist Faustina Bordoni: "E was a remarkably powerful
note in this singer's voice, and we find most of her capital songs in
sharp keys."' Where was this E, in terms of pitch frequency? It could
have been anywhere from a modern D to a modern F. If we knew the
pitch standard at which Bordoni sang, however, it would be easy t o
determine that pitch frequency-and in fact we know that Handel's
opera pitch was about A-403, some 3/4 of a tone below 440. So this E
would have been between a modern D and E b.
Something this book is not about (except peripherally) is tuning, or
temperament. Temperament and pitch levels are related subjects, but
they are distinct. Temperament affects the tuning of a scale within an
octave, but (as I will discuss below) the degree of accuracy with which
it is possible to determine historical pitches is of another order, and is
larger than the variation in pitch between even the most extreme his-
torical temperaments. Although temperament is not an integral ele-
Introduction xxxv
ment of the study of pitch, it does interface with it on the subject of

transposition, clarifying why, for instance, the use of mean-tone tem-
perament makes semitone transpositions impractical (see Sections 0-3
and 5-2e).
o - ~ bPitch Variation in the Past
In the course of the last 400 years in Europe, the point that has been
considered ideal for a reference pitch has fluctuated by some 5 or 6
semitones. Before the Industrial Revolution it was also considered ac-
ceptable (or at least normal) that several standards could exist at the
same time and place. Quantz spoke, for instance, of "The diversity of
pitches used for tuning ... [that] produces the inconvenience that
singers performing in a place where low tuning is used are hardly able
to make use of arias that were written for them in a place where a high
pitch was employed, or vice-versa."
Quantz's period was particularly rich in pitch diversity. Rome was
a whole-step below Venice, for instance. In northern Germany, what-
ever Cammerton was, Chorton would be a whole-tone or more above it.
Chorton was usually the pitch of organs and brass instruments, while
Cammerton was associated with the woodwinds and other instruments.
There were logical reasons for these differences; instruments that had
been developed in one context were suddenly thrown together with
others that had worked in another. In every country, it was the con-
frontation of the traditional local instruments with the vogue for the
new import (Lully's music and the new instruments he used with
their low pitch) that was the root of the problem. A period of adjust-
ment was necessary that roughly coincided with the lifetime of Bach,
about 1685 to 1750.
In the meantime, the obvious interim solution was to transpose
some of the parts. Transposing systems, using two or even three dif-
ferent pitches in the same ensemble, were therefore common in the
18th century. And because some instruments sounded better at certain
pitches, the discrepancies were never resolved. As a result, we still
have instruments at different pitch standards, although we think of
them now in a different way.
xxxvi Introduction
Earlier, all the instruments were "in C" but their pitches could be
different. Nowadays, as heirs of the Industrial Revolution (one of
whose principal objects was standardization) we assume a common
universal standard. Accordingly, we think of all instruments as tuned
to the same pitch (A-440)) but describe some of them as "transposing"
and others as in "concert pitch." T h e standard modern clarinet, for in-
stance, is a transposing instrument "in B b " in relation to 440; as we
know, it could just as well be defined as a clarinet in C at 392. T h e
same principle applies to horns in F and saxophones in B b and E b.
(The phrase "concert pitch," by the way, comes down to us from the
century; it was used in England to mean something similar t o
"Cammerton," a secular instrumental pitch level. "Kammerton" is still
used in Germany to mean "standard musical pitch." Both "Concert-
[or Consort-] pitch" and "Cammerton" originally signified other fre-
quencies than they do now. As we will see, the modern Italian word
for pitch standard, "corista," has had a similar history.)
A pitch standard near A-440 is actually quite old. It is about the
same as Beethoven's Wiener-Ton, for instance. And because Viennese
music was influenced by Italy, Wiener-Ton was inherited from Corista
Veneto, which was itself derived from a standard known as tutto punto
that had been common in northern Italy since before Monteverdi's
time. All these names, used in different periods, referred to a pitch in
close proximity to A-440.
T h u s pitch fluctuations are at least partly in the mind, a question
of semantics, a choice of terminology. Often what really changed were
the names musicians gave to the stock of frequency references with
which they worked. Praetorius's "CammerThon," for instance, was a
whole-step higher than Bach's usual "Cammerton," and a semitone
higher than Strauss's "Kammerton."' All these frequencies were called
by the same name at different times because Kammerton did not really
refer to a specific frequency, but rather to a musical function (origi-
nally it was the pitch of secular music, usually instrumental).
o-lc T h e Effects of Pitch Differences
If pitch were nothing more than a protocol, an arbitrary convention

allowing musicians to perform together, performers reviving early in-
Introduction xxxvii
s t r u m e n t s could ignore t h e discrepancies of the past and play at o n e

standard like A-440 o r A-41s. But t o d o this would distort t h e sound of
t h e music, and seriously alter t h e performing techniques of voices and
instruments.
O n e of t h e most important and fundamental objects of reproducing
historical pitches is t o put voices at t h e level they were originally con-
ceived. Changing t h e pitch changes t h e tessitura of a voice, which af-
fects t h e generally quality of t h e sound. Besides that, w h e n pitch is
changed t h e breaks between t h e registers are shifted, and m a y fall at
awkward places in t h e vocal line.
A n even more basic issue is vocal fatigue caused by excessive vi-
bration of the vocal chords. Throughout this book w e will encounter
records of singers w h o complained o r refused to sing because t h e pitch
was too high. I n most of these cases, t h e singers involved were so-
pranos, and there is a physical reason for this. I n terms of vibration
frequency, t h e note ao, a n octave below a1 at 440, is at 220 H z . But a n
octave above 440 is 880 H z , so t h e difference in cycles per second is
twice as big. A n octave above that is 1,760 H z ! T h u s higher voices vi-
brate much faster than lower ones. A s Scotto di Carlo wrote,
For male voices, situated at the lower end of the sound scale, the dif-
ference between the two pitches in terms of the number of vibrations
of the vocal chords per second is minimal, but it is different for female
voices. Thus when the pitch is 445 Hz, for example, the vocal chords
of a bass vibrate a t an average of 41 times faster over the entire range.
.
. than when the pitch is 440 Hz; by contrast, a soprano's vocal chords
vibrate 160 times faster.'
It is clear w h y sopranos are more sensitive t o a higher pitch t h a n

basses. T h e high f3 in t h e Q u e e n of t h e Night's aria in The Magic Flute
(admittedly a n extreme case) vibrates 1,376 times per second at Mo-
zart's original pitch (A-43~),whereas t h e high fr of a bass voice a t t h e
same pitch standard vibrates at only about 344 H z . T h e Q u e e n of t h e
Night's vocal chords are t h u s vibrating 1,376 times for each second she
holds that note. In a more normal range, t h e t o p of Bach's soprano
lines was around a2 at A-415, o r about 830 H z ; the bass w i t h el would
have been 311 H z . T h u s pitch can be seen as a feminist issue! (Basses
are also concerned in t h e opposite direction, of course; if the pitch is
xxxviii Introduction
t o o low, their lowest notes m a y go o u t of range.) W e will discuss t h e

effects of transposition o n singers in 5-za.
A s for instruments, I have spoken w i t h modern woodwind players
for w h o m t h e differences between 440, 441, and 442 are vital issues in
their orchestras. Distinguishing such nuances is usually beyond t h e
means of a study like this, which normally deals in quarter-steps. But
such attitudes give a n idea h o w important these differences can be t o
musicians.
I n 1597 T h o m a s Morley (166) wrote,
take an instrument, as a Lute Orpharion, Pandora, or such like, being in

the natural1 pitch, and set it a note or two lower it wil go much heauier
and duller, and far from that spirit which it had before.
A t t h e beginning of the 17th century, Praetorius observed that raising

o r lowering pitch intensified t h e characters of different instruments.
H e wrote (1618:14):
For the higher-pitched an instrument (within its class and type) is

made, as with cornetts, shawms, and descant fiddles, the fresher they
sound.'
And this in spite of the fact that a t this [lower] pitch (as every experi-
enced instrument maker knows) harpsichords have a sweeter and
more resonant sound than is possible at [the higher] CammerThon; but
flutes and other instruments are also more beautiful at such a low
pitch, and give quite another timbre to the listener.'
Georg Muffat commented a t t h e e n d of t h e century,
The pitch to which the French usually tune their instruments is a

whole-tone lower than our German one (called cornet-ton6) and in op-
eras, even one and a half tones lower. They find the German pitch too
high, too screechy, and too forced. If it were up to me to choose a
pitch, and there were no other considerations, I would choose the for-
mer [of the French pitches], called in Germany old Chorton, using
somewhat thicker strings. This pitch lacks nothing in liveliness along
with its sweetness.'
Introduction xxxix
I n 1752 Q u a n t z (exaggerating misleadingly, i n fact) claimed t h a t
T h e result of a higher pitch would be that, though the outward shape

of the instruments would remain, the traverso would become once
more a German cross-pipe, the hautboy a shawm, the violin a violino
piccolo, and the bassoon a bombard. The wind instruments, which are
such a great ornament for an orchestra, would suffer too much. In-
deed, their very origin is due to the low pitch.s
I n 1826, w h e n Rossini began conducting t h e Paris OpCra, it h a d re-

cently dropped its pitch a s e m i t o n e (see 9-2a). Rossini w a s n o t pleased
w i t h t h i s pitch, w h i c h h e said w a s "used n o w h e r e else i n t h e world"
a n d "deprived t h e i n s t r u m e n t s of their brilliance a n d force."
A m o d e r n e x a m p l e o f t h e effect of pitch o n sonority is t h e use o f
different sizes of i n s t r u m e n t s in t h e s y m p h o n y orchestra: French
h o r n s in (F a n d B b ) a n d clarinets in E b , C, B b, a n d A. T o use several
differently pitched i n s t r u m e n t s is obviously impractical; a t t h e very
least it requires transposing parts. T h e r e m u s t be a good reason f o r d o -
ing so, a n d it is apparently because differences in pitch of t h i s degree9
have a n effect o n t o n e quality.'0 Roderick C a m e r o n (1986) has c o m -
m e n t e d o n traversos,
Looking at many hundreds of original flutes from the eighteenth cen-

tury, it is apparent that very few of them played at [exactly] A41y . . .
if we wish to be faithful to the sonorities of eighteenth century music
for flute, it will not work to play everything at ,4415. Yes, I know that
it is a bother, and it means problems for the harpsichord tuning, etc.
Yet if we are going to stick to A415, we should at least be willing to
concede that, by choice, the important parameter of sonority is left
unexplored.
O n string instruments, I a n H a r w o o d writes (1981:~70) t h a t t h e y
can with the help of modern technology [e.g., nylon strings and cov-
ered basses] be tuned over a wide range of pitch levels.. . . Tuning any
particular lute too high, or a viol too low, is like condemning a tenor
singer for ever to alto or bass parts. N o one would expect him to be
able to do either without strain, but we do it constantly to instruments
xl Introduction
with never a raised eyebrow. Yet the pitch of a stringed instrument is

perhaps the most important single factor in determining the way it
sounds, which in turns affects the sonority of the music it plays.
Fhtis (1830:210) tells the story of one of Paganini's secrets that involved
pitch:
.
It was . . by means of these varieties of tuning that he produced ef-
fects of sound which could not otherwise exist. Thus he played a con-
certo in E flat minor, in which he multiplied the difficulties of execu-
tion, so that it seemed almost supernatural; but the secret of this
wonder consisted in making the orchestra really play in E flat minor,
whilst the solo violin was tuned half a tone higher, and the performer
really played in D minor. The difficulty, therefore, disappears in part,
but the effect of the piece was not the less satisfactory.
T h e orchestra's sound must have been dull and subdued in e b-minor,

while Paganini was playing in one the violin's best keys with its open
strings, and naturally sounding more brilliant tuned up a semitone."
W h i l e pitch standards affected the way instruments sounded, in
some cases the physical nature of the instruments themselves proba-
bly acted as an influence o n where standards were placed. Herbert W.
Myers* draws attention to the ergonomics of wind instruments. Cor-
netts at around 440, for instance, are more difficult to play than those
a semitone higher (which was normal "cornett pitch") because of fin-
ger-reach and the wider placement of tone-holes. T h e same is true of
recorders and flutes, which sound rounder and more agreeable at
lower pitches, but it is not easy to design a keyless renaissance-type
tenor recorder as low as 440 without making the finger-stretches too
large for most players. As long as the designs of the smaller members
of the cornett and recorder families did not admit the use of exten-
sion-keys, this limitation may have been the most important reason
that these instruments were normally made at around 466, whereas
flutes (on which finger-reach was less critical) were usually pitched
lower.
There is another element which may be relevant: the effect the
music may have on the listener's psyche at different frequencies. I n
1713Johann Mattheson published his famous description of the Affects
Introduction xli
h e associated w i t h various keys. Since there were different pitch stan-

dards in Mattheson's day, if there was some intrinsic property of a to-
nality that gave it its o w n particular flavor, would D-major have ex-
pressed t h e same Affect in Chorton as in Cammerton, a M2 o r m j lower?
Mattheson gave us t h e answer. In introducing his c o m m e n t s o n
Affects, he says: "I a m thinking here principally of Cammerton, not
Chorton."" From this w e can conclude that in Mattheson's mind,
Cammerton was t h e primary standard and other pitches were transpo-
sitions. I n a n y case, t h e implications of his idea are startling. Put an-
other way, playing a piece at A-440 w h e n it was first conceived at 466
o r 415 could vitiate its ability t o move listeners, o r alter t h e intended
expression. W h e t h e r pitch levels really have such power is a moot
point. C.F. Michaelis wrote of a pitch rise in 1814 (774):"
Moreover, it is clear that the different characters inherent in the dif-

ferent keys must have quite disappeared as a result of the rise in pitch.
How different, for instance, is the character of E b-major (which ex-
presses a solemnity and seriousness) from that of E-major (in which is
announced cheerfulness and joy)? The higher intonation loses all these
distinctions in both vocal and instrumental music.
o-xd Studying Pitch Changes in t h e Past
T h e objective of a general study of pitch history is t o be able t o deter-

m i n e t h e original pitch of a n y given piece of music. I n order to d o
this, four kinds of information are relevant: t h e city where it was
played, t h e period in question, t h e genre and function of t h e music,
and which instruments were involved. Let us look at these four pa-
rameters more closely.
It was Mendel w h o taught us that conceptions of pitch could
change f r o m o n e generation t o t h e next, or o n e area t o t h e next.
Pitches were often localized, s o a standard in o n e country o r city could
differ from that of its neighbor, and they tended t o change gradually
w i t h time.
A s we saw in t h e case of Kammerton, t h e same pitch n a m e can rep-
resent quite different frequencies. I n a n y field, it is normal for "buzz-
words" o r jargon t o alter gradually in meaning (as can be seen now
xlii Introduction
with computers, where traditional words like "port" and "mouse" are
used to express new ideas). In the past, pitch names were often recy-
cled when their absolute levels moved. Chorton was generally about 415
for Praetorius but about 466 for Bach; by the 1730s there were German
musicians using the same word to mean a frequency of about 440, and
by the late 18th century that had become its value in most of Ger-
many. But in the Habsburg Empire in the 1750s and 60s, Chorton still
generally meant a pitch at about 415, hence the need for background
information on place and time.
Having narrowed a pitch down to a specific period and location,
another issue comes into play. For any given period and city, several
pitches could be current in different musical domains (chamber pitch
could be different from church pitch, for example, or military pitch
different from opera pitch). T h e names of most pitches derived from
specific musical functions or (related to that) from the locale where
they were used: choirs (Chorton, corista, Chapell pitch), chamber music
(Ton de chambre, Cammerton, Consort pitch), opera (Ton d'opha), cere-
monial music out of doors (Ton d J ~ c u r i eFeld-Ton),
, etc.
W h e n pitch names did not relate to a musical functions, they gen-
erally referred to instruments ("opra of fluyte toon," "netto Cammer
of Houbois-thoon," "Chor- oder Trompetenton," Cornet-ton). T h e in-
struments usually had associations with particular functions: organs
most often with church music, trumpets with the military, etc. Lutes,
viols, and harpsichords all had reputations for being lowish chamber
instruments, as did the newly invented French woodwinds. Other in-
struments maintained the older high renaissance pitch right through
the baroque period, like the trumpet, and as late as 1716 Bach was still
writing for violins at a semitone above modern pitch. In the case of
the cornett, a pitch reference emerged that was stable and reliable over
most of Europe for almost three centuries, because the instrument did
not change in basic design or measurement, and was made for the
most part in one place (Venice).I4
0-2 Appropriate Frequency Tolerance
W h a t tolerance should be considered realistic and appropriate in

studying the history of pitch standards? Given a gamut of historic
Introduction xliii
pitch frequencies from about A-380 t o A-500, how close does a particu-
lar frequency need t o be to a standard in order to be considered as be-
longing t o it? O r put another way, how specific were the frequencies
of pitch standards? What, for instance, did Praetorius mean by "The
English pitch, however, is a very little lower [than ChorThon], as the
instruments made in that country show, for instance cornetts o r
s h a ~ m s . " 'W
~ h a t is "a very little lower," and does it imply that
ChorThon was regarded as so specific that even slight deviations were
worthy of comment?
While tuning systems of the past were generally more refined and
versatile than our present equal temperament, the concept of cycles
per second had little relevance to musicians until recently. T h e small-
est unit used in 18th-century pitch discussions was the comma, which is
the 9th part of a whole-tone. T h i s was just under 22 cents wide, and
close to the so-called "syntonic comma" (at 21% cents).16 T h e comma
was one of the basic concepts used in tuning and temperament, but it
had a limited usefulness for pitch standards. T h e usual level at which
musicians described pitches was the semitone; this is not surprising
considering the degree of variation a pitch standard can encompass,
and that neither staff notation nor transposition made smaller distinc-
tions than a half-step.
Even at the same place and with the same instruments, pitch must
have varied, as indeed it does now. Because it is such a volatile ele-
ment, it would be unrealistic to expect to find an "exact" pitch corre-
spondence down t o the last Hz in historical sources. It could also hap-
pen in some cases that a historical pitch was not quite where it was
intended to be; nothing guarantees that pitch frequencies that have
survived are "in tune" to the exact cycle per second with the pitch
standard they represented. Marpurg (1776:66) wrote that "at places
where pitchpipes have the same standard, keyboards nevertheless dif-
fer from each other in reference t o that pitch, and the reasons for this
are several."
T o take an extreme example, seasonal conditions influence organ
pitch in large unheated churches, where theoretically a difference of 18
Hz is possible between winter and summer. Another example is a
modern study of pitch dispersion during an opera performance at
Paris: the variation was j Hz below and 5 above the base A." It seems
xliv Introduction
from this that a range of at least 8 Hz is acceptable as defining a pitch

standard.
It is meaningless and confusing to approach pitch variation too
specifically; a violinist plays an open string about 5c higher when
playing forte than when playing piano," an hautboist playing staccato
plays higher than when playing legato, and a modern singer's vibrato
has an undulation rate of 5-7 Hz, for instance. If our tolerance is this
fine, we will also have t o accept the relevance of Ellis's comment
(1880:15) that "In point of fact, the exact pitch of an organ cannot be
ascertained, for it is so large that various parts of it are constantly at
variable temperatures, and hence are constantly liable to be at dif-
ferent pitches, or out of tune with each other." A difference of less
than 8c is difficult for a musician to distinguish when heard alone (but
becomes clear when the difference is increased to 15-2oc).l9
Another factor that puts the question in perspective is that musi-
cians before the Romantic era distinguished between sharps and their
corresponding flats: a D#: was not the same as an E b. Quantz gave an
example in VXII/vii/g, where a held Ab on the violin is altered to
become a G a because the harmony changes. T h e difference between
these notes was a comma. If the voice and some instruments could
distinguish an A b from a G # or an E b from a D#,it means they were
able to change the pitch of notes by a comma at will. It is clear, then,
that determining pitch standards more specifically than the nearest
comma is meaningless. Over the range of a treble instrument, a
comma was equivalent to 4-7 Hz.Since weather changes alone could
cause pitch to vary as much as a '/--step, the unit that was sufficiently
accurate for most situations was a semitone, consisting of 4 or 5 com-
mas.
There is thus a small range of pitch frequencies that is sufficiently
flexible to allow for the inevitable variations that occur in perform-
ance but is still specific enough to distinguish the centers of pitch
standards. O u r modern pitch units, the Hertz and the cent, are usually
too specific to be appropriate and meaningful in musical context^.'^
They have their obvious uses in acoustics, but they are not based on
musical concerns like the overtone series; that a simple concept like
the comma is expressed as 21.5062896 cents illustrates the point."
Although the Hertz and the cent are often too specific for most
musical purposes, our conception of pitch is nevertheless conditioned
Introduction xlv
by the language w e use t o describe it. Karp ( 1 ~ 8 ~ : 1 6 5writes

) "There
are n o generally accepted units for t h e designation of pitch, w h i c h is a
subjective concept that relates t o frequency in t h e same way that
loudness relates t o amplitude." For lack of anything better, musicians
today use t h e language of acoustics w h e n they say they are playing at
"415," but there is something incongruous about the way this t e r m is
applied in a generic sense to mean a range of Hz values from, say, A-
4x0 t o 420. Musicians k n o w w h a t this means, and they also generally
k n o w that this number, o r a n y n u m b e r of Hz, is only a starting point.
A s Meehs asks (1987:27):
How long do you think a harpsichord remains exactly at the pitch and
in the temperament one purports to have set it to (especially when it is
played)? You may perhaps start playing at A.415 in Werckmeister 3,
but where will you be in the middle of the concert? And what about
wind instruments raising in pitch as they heat? And, if no instrument
of fixed pitch is involved, how fluctuating do you think the pitch of an
instrument or an ensemble is as they play?
It is t o t h e credit of Leipp & Castellengo (1977:24ff) that o n e of t h e

conclusions of their statistical study of pitch variation in Paris in 1965
was that in real performances "it is not possible t o identify a pitch
w i t h a single number; o n e needs [to know] t h e temperature, and t h e
statistical average for [all the] tonic a n d dominant notes." T h e i r gen-
eral observation was that "les fluctuations, avec des bons musiciens,
sont d e +5 Hz environ" ("with good musicians, t h e fluctuation is
about 5 HZ"). If this is true, then it is t h e unit used for measuring that
is inappropriate.
T h e well-known instrument restorer Rainer W e b e r commented
(1992:298):
If we approach [early instruments] with the numerical mindset of the

technologist, looking for absolute answers accurate to the last decimal,
we will deceive or disillusion ourselves. W e should consider if such a
literal, mechanical approach belongs to the methods used in the past.
While modern physics works with statistical "probabilities" and rela-
tive values, at the same time historical instruments are subjected to
xlvi Introduction
measurements to the hundredth of a m m and fractions of Hz or cents.

W e would do well to look less precisely.
Ellis (who was an eminent scientist but tone-deaf) went to the absurd
length of using Hz values reckoned to one decimal point in his well-
known pitch study of 1880; the numbers helped him calculate inter-
vals, but they gave an impression of accuracy that did not in fact re-
flect even Ellis's own perception of the real situation. Many of his
pitches were "educated guesses" that could easily have been a comma
higher or lower.
In this sense, music and acoustics are based on quite contrasting
premises. In acoustics, pitch frequencies are regarded as objective
physical phenomena, whereas musicians use pitches in a relative way
to create subjective impressions. W h a t is adequate and appropriate for
the musician can be hopelessly vague to the acoustician, whose preci-
sion often strikes the musician as needless and even occasionally de-
ceptive. T h e acoustician may reject evidence or measuring techniques
as too imprecise that will be perfectly usable by the musician." T h e
following passage appears in an acoustical study, for instance:
Common sense suggests . . . that good musical performance is charac-

terized at the very least by a n accurate rendition of the notes in the
written score. In fact, acoustic measurements of performances by well-
known artists indicate a high degree of variability, similar to that
found in speech. It is only because of the illusion of categorical percep-
tion that we are largely unaware of the gross pitch deviations that are
the norm in musical performance."
T h e words "accurate," "variability," and "gross deviations'' are

value judgments, and are relative to the fineness of the scale being ap-
plied. In this case, an acoustic scale is imposed on a musical meaning
that depends on perception. O n e could as well judge an automobile by
how well it fliesz4Neither the musicians nor their audience may even
be conscious of the "gross" pitch deviations that are regarded as sig-
nificant by the acoustician. This difference in viewpoint and goal has
been a regular source of confusion in many studies of pitch h i s t ~ r y , ' ~
and has often discouraged musicians (one thinks of Mendel) from
coming to conclusions because they were not verifiable using yard-
Introduction xlvii
sticks that (had they reconsidered) were anyhow inappropriate for a

subject where a certain tolerance in frequency variation is obviously
necessary.
Leipp and Castellengo (1977), for instance, show a degree of skepti-
cism and rigor that has led t h e m t o the conclusion that "we will never
know with certainty how a given organ was originally tuned." By this
gauge most, if not all the so-called "historical facts" that go into the
received body of musical knowledge known as musicology can be
brought into doubt. Intellectual doubts of this order, however well-
intended, d o not allow information t o be used that could lead t o con-
clusions that would be perfectly valid in musical terms. In studying
pitch standards, we are looking for parameters that have musical sig-
nificance and are relevant t o musical practice. Leipp and Castellengo's
characterization of the pitch information of "scientific researchers" as
the "most serious" source of information o n pitch history seems from
this perspective fatuous; for all its admirable precision, such informa-
tion can rarely be tied t o concrete musical situations (specific musi-
cians o r concerts) and is therefore of marginal importance for the sub-
ject at hand.
T h u s the opinion of La Fage, writing in Paris in 1859, seems rele-
vant: "just as for the weight of bread at the bakers', there are a certain
number of grams of 'tolerance,' there will be 'tolerance frequencies'
for musicians."
o-za Fluctuation within a Standard
O n e of the reasons for tuning at the beginning of rehearsals, and even

during concerts, is that the pitch of most instruments varies as a result
of changes in humidity, temperature, etc. Although these are differ-
ences of pitch, they are not differences of pitch standard. I n early
sources, that same distinction between adjustments of tuning within a
standard and outright differences of pitch standard is not always easy
t o see. T h e cornett player Bartolomeo Bismantova wrote in 1677, for
instance,
[One should] also endeavor first to listen to the tuono chorista of the
organ or other [strumento acuto]. In the event that the cornett should be
xlviii Introduction
higher than the organ, it will be necessary to attach one or more [tun-
ing] joints, and if, on the contrary, it should be lower in pitch, it will
be necessary to remove them.
I f it should be necessary to attach more tuning joints than usual to the
top of the cornett because the organ is quite low, it will first be neces-
sary to place into the bottom end of this cornett a joint of approxi-
mately one finger's width or possibly more. This joint must be made
of wood, it must be bored with a hole as large as the opening of the
cornett, its mouth must fit tightly into the opening of the cornett, and
it must be made and turned on a lathe. This lengthening of the cornett
above and below is done so that all the notes, especially the high ones,
will be in tune, just like that [lengthening] which you do on the re-
corder, but use good judgment in applying this advice. If, on the other
hand, there should be a long and movable silver ligature as an orna-
ment at the bottom end of the cornett, you can lengthen this, which
[lengthening] will have the same effect as that of a tuning j ~ i n t . ' ~
If w e take this extreme lengthening, that of "a joint of approximately

o n e finger's width o r possibly moreJ' t o be 2 cm, plus I c m a t t h e t o p of
t h e cornett, t h e total difference in pitch can be estimated at about 66
cents." Since both here a n d in w h a t follows, Bismantova c o u n t s o n
being able t o t u n e n o t only lower but higher, it would seem his in-
s t r u m e n t was normally tuned a t about the midpoint between t h e ex-
tremes. T h e differences h e discusses would therefore be o n t h e order
of 33 cents in either direction. If t h e average pitch of a cornett w a s
Az470, it could be lowered by these operations to A=461 o r raised t o
~ ~ ~ 8 T0h e. fineness
" of this tuning, w i t h a range of a third of a semi-
t o n e i n either direction, indicates h o w specific Bismantova ( w h o w a s
a cornett player himself) considered t h e instrument's pitch t o be.
T h i s would seem t o be a case of a n adjustment w i t h i n a single
pitch standard. But w e cross t h e line into a different standard in Bis-
mantova's next passage:
If by chance organs or harpsichords are found which are lower than

the Corista, and if the cornett can neither be tuned nor accommodated
in pitch to the mode in which Sinfonie or other [pieces] are being
played, it will be necessary to tune the cornett one step higher and
Introduction xlix
then to play one step lower. It is therefore necessary to know how to

play in all the clefs in order to be able to transpose, if necessary.
O n t h e face of it, Bismantova's statement is illogical; t o "to t u n e t h e

cornett o n e step higher and then to play o n e step lower" would be to
arrive where o n e started. But Bismantova probably means "tune t h e
cornett o n e step higher than the Corista and then play o n e step lower
than the Corista," in other words, t u n e u p a semitone and transpose
d o w n a whole-tone.29 T h i s m u s t have been a n approximate solution,
since (as w e have just seen) t h e player probably had a range of less
t h a n a semitone w i t h which t o work.
T h e development of alternate tuning joints o n the traverso also
demonstrates t h e distinction between tuning within a single standard
and changing t o a different standard. T h e earliest traversos were made
in three pieces w i t h a single long center joint. A new model developed
in t h e 1710s divided this center joint into t w o parts and usually pro-
vided a n u m b e r of alternate lengths o r corps de rechange for the upper
one. A m o n g t h e earliest traversos that had corps were those by Jacob
Denner, w h o began signing his w o r k in 1707. O n e of his surviving
traversos has corps showing a relatively large spacing. T h e highest
corps is at 413; there are t w o other corps at 403 and 393. According t o
Konrad Hiinteler, w h o plays t h e instrument regularly, t h e highest
joint shows t h e most wear but t h e o n e at 393 plays t h e "best" (i.e.,
probably has t h e best internal intonation). Because of t h e distance be-
tween t h e pitches of these corps, they appear t o represent different
pitch standards. Another D e n n e r traverso, Niirnberg 257, also has
multiple corps at 3 9 3 and 417, a semitone apart.'"
By t h e time Q u a n t z wrote his book in 1752, however, t h e principal
purpose of corps de rechange seems t o have changed: the emphasis is put
o n t h e ability of t h e player t o adjust for variations within a standard
(rather than t o switch pitch standards). T h e total range of a series of
corps was a large semitone, but t h e spacing was usually (according t o
Q u a n t z ) in increments of about a comma. Q u a n t z wrote,
But because in almost every province or city a different pitch for tun-
ing instruments has been introduced and is now more or less domi-
nant, and besides this harpsichords (although they remain in the same
place) are tuned sometimes higher or lower due to the negligence of
Introduction
those who must tune them, about thirty years ago the flute was given
more joints; that is, it was provided with corps de rechange."
A half-generation earlier, Michel Corrette (c1740:7) described essen-

tially the same principle:
All traversos are at ton de I'Ope'ra. But since in ensembles the harpsi-
chord is occasionally tuned too high or too low, there are usually sev-
eral Corps de Rechanges at different lengths in order to match the harp-
sichord. It is only the upper corps that is changeable. Changes of pitch
level are rare except among singers who contract colds, or who like to
impose their whims on others; but in such situations the corps are cer-
tainly useful.
W i t h a flute having several corps de rechange, one or two of the joints

(usually somewhere in the middle, but on flutes made by Quantz,
usually the longest joint) will have the best internal intonation." Ri-
bock in 1782 criticized flute makers for providing as many as six corps
de rechange, considering more than three "vollig unniitze Mobeln"
("quite useless furnitureJ'). On page 36 he points out that there are no-
ticeable playing differences even between the two joints o n either side
of the best one. If a difference of a comma already began to affect the
internal tuning of the instrument, changes as far apart as a semitone
(4 t o 5 commas) would have been used only as emergency expedients.
T h u s by this time, corps de rechange were evidently intended t o ac-
commodate smaller variations."
It follows that the corps de rechange were not intended for use at dif-
ferent pitch standards, since standards themselves did not vary by as
little as a comma; they are rather an indication of a pitch problem o n a
smaller scale: the difficulty of maintaining a consistent level even
when a pitch standard is generally recognized. Tromlitz confirmed
this when he said, "If one always lives in the same place, where the
pitch is uniform, one can make do quite well with a flute with five
middle joints .. ."j4 T h e five joints were evidently intended for ad-
justments within that pitch level. T h e corps de rechange were thus

backups for contingencies when a pitch standard vacillated as a result
of factors like temperature, variations between church organs at the
Introduction li
same nominal standard, the negligence of harpsichord tuners, differ-

ent breath pressures, etc.
T h e organist and scholar Jakob Adlung wrote in 1758:315, "It is well
known that organs are not all the same, so a musician needs always to
carry a number of shanks in his pocket, besides his trumpet, if he has
to play in different churches. It is the same for the horn. But how can
it be made t o work with flutes, hautboys, clarinets, and the like?""
From this it is not clear what order of pitch variation is meant. Few
organs were at Cammerton in AdlungJs day, however (he mentions the
fact when he describes them). So presumably he was thinking of
variations within the Chorton standard (which, as we will see, could be
quite large). Later in his book (p.376) he wrote that organ pitches were
"nicht allezeit iiberein sind in einer Stadt, geschweige in mehrern
Stadten" ("not always quite the same in one city, not to mention be-
tween citiesJ').
o-zb A Terminology for Pitch Levels
W i t h good reason, original terms for pitch standards have not been
revived in modern times. A word like "Chorton" that stood for differ-
ent frequencies at different times and places would for this reason be
confusing today. T h a t is why w e have ended up using numbers like
"46~"-unsatisfactory as they are-to represent pitch levels.
T h e growth of the history of pitch will depend on our ability t o
communicate and develop ideas, and will rely on a language that is
specific and yet flexible. I notice a tendency by a number of recent
writers talking of pitch levels to use a terminology based o n semitone
intervals from a given reference pitch. I have used that system here as
well. It starts at A-440, since that is the modern reference (and was
not uncommon in past centuries either), a '/2-step lower is A-I, a
whole-step higher is At2, etc. A-440 itself is A t o . Approximate pitch
levels are therefore identified throughout this study as follows:
lii Introduction
Pitch name H z value Frequency range Commas from

for A for A 440
These levels are generally at a distance of 9 commas (a whole-tone) or

13/14 commas (a minor 3d) from their neighbors, so that transpositions
would have been practical. Mattheson wrote that "Chorton is 9 t o 14
commas higher than opera pitch and ~ammerton."'~ If Cammerton was
A-I, then Chorton would have been A+I (9 commas higher) or A+= ( I ~
commas higher).37
Considering the tolerances discussed above, by identifying pitch
standards by semitones, I a m assuming a tolerance half that size (i.e.,
one-quarter tone, or about two commas). In the table, the column of
single Hz values for A is to be understood as the approximate center
of pitch frequencies that can vary about four commas from their low-
est to highest extremes.
T h i s system is serviceable for most historical pitch standards, but
breaks down in certain important cases like French Ton de Chambre,
for which I have resorted to "A-IV"" (Az403). I also use a different
system for English historical pitches (the reference being Quire-pitch
at A-473; see 2-58).
T h e problem with any system like this is that it works as a pro-
crustean bed, compelling a conformity that may not have been there
originally. As a way to test how well it conforms to the historical data,
let us disregard reestablished levels and consider the pitches of sur-
viving woodwinds in the period 1700-1730 only by Hz value. If we take
the total range of pitches, and assume that (at this level) a semitone is
about 23-25 HZ, Italy shows two woodwind pitch centers at 418 and
435; France three at 393, 408, and 462; Germany three at 392, 418, and
466; England one at 407; Holland one at 406; and Belgium one at 405:
Introduction liii
Range I 2 3 4 5
Italy 410-443 418 435
France 385-416 393 408
France 456-467 462
Germany 378'431 392 418
Germany 456-475 466
England 395-418 407
Holland 392-420 406
Belgium 395-415 405
These levels correspond closely to the levels we have postulated, and

all the woodwinds of this period fit in these categories, with a margin
of, at most, 5 Hz:
Pitch name Hz Country

A-2 392 France, Germany
A-I!~ 403 France, England, Holland, Belgium
A-I 413 Italy, Germany
A+o 440 Italy
A+I 464 France, Germany
W e can assume, therefore, that the pitch scheme proposed above accu-
rately represents the centers of historical pitch standards.
0-3 Transposition
Pitch and transposition can be viewed as two sides of the same coin,
since transposition is the corrective for an inappropriate pitch. Section
5-2 of this study deals with the practical considerations musicians had
to make when transposing.
Introduction
o-ja Transposition Grids
W h e n musical groups found themselves using different pitches simul-

taneously, those pitches had t o be "transposable;" they had, in other
words, to be separated by discrete diatonic intervals. T h e usual inter-
vals were the Mz and mj. These levels then formed a transposition
"system" of pitches at predictable intervals, or what I call a transposi-
tion grid. Transposition grids were common in most European coun-
tries (for instance Mezzo punto/Corista in Italy, Chorton/Cammerton/
tief-Cammerton in Germany and Holland, and various derivations of
Quire pitch in England).
o-jb Transposition and Temperament
While transpositions of a Mz and m j were common, those of a semi-

tone were rare. That is probably because until the end of the 18th cen-
tury a semitone transposition would have introduced tuning problems,
since in the unequal temperaments then in use, intervals were not all
tuned the same. Keyboards with split accidentals allowed both DILand
E b, or A#: and B b, but many keyboards had a single key for the two
notes, thus imposing limitations in key choice. For the same reason,
mixing instruments pitched a semitone apart would have produced an
extremely unsatisfying intonation. Transposing a Mz and m3, how-
ever, resulted in parallel intervals that corresponded fairly well, de-
pending on the type of tuning. Where transposition was necessary,
pitch standards that functioned together would have been at these in-
tervals, especially the MZ."
o-jc T h e Autonomy of Church Pitches and Secular Pitches
Since a semitone was usually the smallest unit used by 18th century
sources for comparing pitch levels, standards tended to be described in
terms of diatonic intervals such as a semitone, Mz, etc,, even when the
exact frequency difference between two standards was somewhat
more or less.j9 Using such descriptions, it is natural that we begin to
assume that all historical pitch standards were related to each other by
Introduction lv
transposable intervals: Cammerton was lower than Chorton by a M2 o r

m j , etc.
But pitches did not necessarily interact. T h e levels were associated
w i t h different functions, such as instrumental/chamber pitch and
choir/church pitch. W h e n t h e music of these places was separate a n d
never used together, there was n o reason for their pitches t o have a n y
reference to each other. A pitch standard at 403 (French Ton de la
chambre) could exist at t h e same period and in t h e same city as o n e at
about 392 (French Ton de Chapelle), both of which were within a span
of t w o commas or about a quarter tone,
A pitch could operate, in other words, without reference t o other
musical practices o r groups. T h e Paris OpCra in the 18th century, for
instance, long maintained a pitch level that had been abandoned eve-
rywhere else in France. A n d in most European countries by the end of
t h e 18th century, church organs seem seldom t o have been at t h e same
pitch as other instruments.
Notes
I. Cited in Dean 1980:?:47. Dean noted that half the arias Handel composed
for Bordoni were in A or E, major or minor.
z. The distinctions in spelling I make here between Praetorius's 17th-century
CammerThon and ChorThon, the 18th-century Cammerton and Chorton, and the
19th-century Kammerton correspond approximately to the different frequency
values associated with them.
3. Scotto di Carlo 1997:q.
4. Tr. Herbert W. Myers*.
5. Praetorius 1618:16.
6. In the German version, Muffat calls it "Cornett-Thon."
7. Muffat 1698, Preface (written in Latin, German, Italian, and French), p.48.
In Kolneder 1970:73.
8 . Quantz 1752,Ch. xvII/~ii/~.
9. Even smaller differences can be heard, as for instance the sound of the
oboes in the present Berlin Philharmonic, who are playing at about 446.
10. See also Leeson 1991.
Ivi Introduction
12. Mattheson 1713:236. Mattheson, it should be noted, was not making general
rules about the Affects, but simply reporting his own personal reactions (See
5-20.
13. For a further discussion of this question, see Section 5-zf.
14. See 2-za.
15. Praetorius 1618:r~ (Crookes tr.). Original text quoted in 2-sbr.
16. 21.5062896 cents. See Lindley 1980c:4:~91and Sorge 1758. Both these com-
mas were measurements of musical phenomena (the syntonic comma was
the difference between the major third in Pythagorean tuning and a pure
third).
17. Leipp and Castellengo 1 9 7 7 ~ 4 .
18. This is the conclusion of the author and the baroque violinist Michael
Sand, in experiments using a Korg tuner. See also Mendel's comments in
footnote 103 of 1978:90.
19. Wapnick-Freeman 1980:178.
20. An analogy -.
is the difference between the traditional clock face that can be
read at a distance and the digital readout. How often do we really need to
know that the time is 5:43, as compared with "a quarter to six?"
21 . Both Sauveur and Ellis, who had important roles in the history of acous-
tics, were said to be tone-deaf.
22. "Tonie" is a word used in the field of psychoacoustics to represent the
perception of pitch change caused by changes in timbre when frequency re-
mains constant. T h e existence of psychoacoustics alone emphasizes the dif-
ference between external quantitative measurement and internal perception
of physical phenomena. W h a t appears significant to humans contemplating
sound as a physical phenomenon is not always important to humans making
and listening to music.
23. Siegel & Siegel 1977:406.
24, Siegel & Siegel, in all fairness, are making an interesting and valid obser-
vation here about musical perception.
25. T h e two disciplines have always had a natural mistrust of each other. Ber-
lioz wrote on page 287 of his Trait; d'instrumentation (1856), "se conformant
ainsi B la doctrine des acousticiens, doctrine, entierement contraire B la prati-
que des musiciens" (cited in Burgess 1 ~ ~ 4 : ~ s ) .
26. Tr. based on that in Dickey et al. 1978:164.
27. This is based on the general relation between length and pitch discussed
in Haynes 1994c, section 3.
28. This is almost exactly the range of the middle cluster of curved cornett
pitches (see Graph ~ d ) .
29. T h i s interpretation was suggested by Bruce Dickey*, who added "In any
case I think it must be a whole step transposition, because half step transposi-
tions (especially in 1677 with cornetts playing mainly in D major. .. and C
major) would just be too impractical."
Introduction lvii
30. I n t h i s case, however, there is documentation that t h e i n s t r u m e n t pos-

sessed t w o o t h e r corps t h a t are now missing (Kirnbauer 1994:92); these m a y
have "filled in" t h e semitone interval.
31. Q u a n t z 1752:Ch.i/g.
32. According t o C a r y Karp*, f o r m e r curator of the Stockholm Musikhis-
toriska Museet, " O n all t h e transverse flutes I've seen w i t h lots o f joints for
multiple pitch use, only one of t h e alternate joints ever shows a n y real signs
of wear."
33. A n o t h e r element in t h e use of alternate middle joints is t h e use of a t u n i n g
slide in t h e head joint, as described in 515 of Q u a n t z ' s chapter I. T h e slide c a n
be used t o bridge t h e pitch gap between each corps. O n a surviving flute by
Kirst w i t h a slide, see W e b e r 1993.
34. T r o m l i t z 1791:1526, trans. Powell. See also 1517.
35. Original text quoted in 5-4c.
36. Original text quoted in 5-4c.
37. Mattheson's statement is ambiguous, however, as he m a y not have m e a n t
that opera pitch and Cammerton were t h e same. W e will discuss this question
later.
38. A semitone transposition is m u c h less practical t h a n a whole-tone in a
regular temperament like 1/6-comma meantone (which M o z a r t prescribed for
Lindley: see C h e s n u t 1 ~ 7 7 ) T. h i s is because a n organ tuned t o play t h e keys
E b B b F C G D at A-440 would o n l y be capable of playing t h e keys E B Fn
C n G n D n in t u n e a t 415. If t h e keys E b B b F C G D were available at 415,
switching t o 440 would produce D A E B Fn Dn.
39. C f . Nivers in 3-lb, o r t h e ambiguity about the relation between Venice
and Rome described in 2-zc.
Chapter I
The Evidence
" W h a t everyone knew then, no one knows now."'
here was n o particular reason in Monteverdi's or BachJs time

t o provide a record of absolute pitches for posterity. It would
probably have astonished people to know we would even be
interested.
N o r have pitch standards always been necessary. Until the late 1 6 ' ~
century church music was vocal, so pitch was a question of the range
of the human voice. Instruments were represented in church only by
the organ, and even then playing only alternatim passages, alternating
with the singers. W h e n secular instruments like the violin and cornett
did finally enter the church, the process of matching pitches produced
discussions that left records: although they were not intended for us,
such discussions represent valuable evidence for our study. And as
secular instruments tended to mutate more quickly than organs, more
discussion (= evidence) was produced.
T h e situation in the baroque period was especially complicated by
the quick dissemination over Europe of newly developed woodwind
instruments with pitches that were not only relatively fixed but dif-
ferent from that of traditional local instruments. A number of practi-
cal solutions t o the resulting pitch discrepancies were developed, but
being of an ad hoc nature, they were not completely documented. N o r
was the terminology consistent; the same name might be used for dif-
ferent frequencies, and the same pitch level might have different
names. As Bessaraboff wrote in 1941, "The elusiveness of some factors
[in researching historical pitch] was of such a nature that it seemed as
z Chapter I
if someone had devised the whole thing with devilish ingenuity to

mock and tease unfortunate twentieth-century ~ r ~ a n o l o ~ i s t s . " ~
But enough clues have now appeared to allow a picture to emerge.
Chance has left a number of written descriptions of pitches in relation
to each other, some usable scientific measurements and tuning de-
vices, and many original instruments that give direct evidence. T h e
written material clarifies the relationships between pitch standards
(such as the difference of a Mz or m3 between Chorton and Cammer-
ton). It also gives pitch standards their names. But it does not tell us
the frequency values of pitch standards.
Absolute frequencies come from original instruments (and to a
much lesser extent, reports of early research into acoustics). In a
sense, this information is the opposite of that supplied by written
sources, because it yields pitch levels without names.
It is by coupling these two types of evidence that the frequencies of
historical pitch standards can be discovered, and with them, insights
into the pitch levels at which particular pieces were played. It hap-
pens, rarely, that both kinds of information come together, as, for ex-
ample, when the original pitch frequency of an organ survives, as well
as an original contract or contemporary description that identifies the
pitch standard to which it was tuned (see Appendix I). W i t h these
few lucky pairings, a very strong case exists for matching a pitch
name to a Hz value. W h e n several such combinations occur, we begin
to be confident of the frequency level of the pitch (limited, of course,
to a particular time and locality).
In practice, instruments can often be plausibly associated with
named pitch standards (for instance, recorders made in Leipzig with
Bach's Cammerton). In these cases, the number of instruments exam-
ined and the consistency of the results are relevant (i.e,, how many
Leipzig recorders have survived and do they all give the same Pitch?).
1-1 Paper Evidence: Pitch Names and Relationships
Brief allusions to pitch and descriptions of how pitch standards related

to each other appeared fairly frequently in instruction books, theo-
retical works, dictionaries and other compendia, and documents by in-
The Evidence 3
strument makers such as letters, bills, and contracts. Normally they

were included incidentally as parts of more general discussions.
T h e r e are also many examples of music from the 17th and lgth cen-
turies notated in more than one key. German composers of the early
lgthcentury w h o were faced with the problem of writing in "German"
and "French" pitches simultaneously, for instance, were obliged t o de-
velop an informal system of notation t o accommodate instruments at
Chorton and Cammerton playing together. T h e interval between the
parts, either a whole-tone o r tone and a half, indicates the relation be-
tween the pitches involved.
Another strategy that can be used for locating and comparing pitch
standards is t o track the activities of wind instrument virtuosi whose
concert tours took them to many parts of Europe. Mendel (1978:91)
thought the traveling virtuoso was primarily a xgth-century phenome-
non, but we will see that many celebrated woodwind players in the
1 8 ' ~century continually crossed borders, both political and cultural.
Obviously, soloists would rarely have switched instruments merely t o
accommodate pitch standards.
1-2 Original Instruments and Original Pitch Frequencies
Pitch frequencies are the product of the physical nature of musical in-
struments. It follows, then, that a history of pitch standards will be
similar t o a history of how instruments adapted and mutated with
time. O u r knowledge of changes in pitch is related, then, to how much
o r little we know of the great and small revolutions in instrument de-
sign.
A new factor is used in the present study that was not available t o
researchers in the past like Ellis and Mendel. T h i s is the increased un-
derstanding of how historical instruments were played (that is, in-
struments that used t o be considered historical). Many of these in-
struments are once again being used in concerts, and not only d o we
now know enough about t h e m t o determine their ranges of pitch, we
can often distinguish stages of their evolution and their pitches at spe-
cific dates. T h i s new evidence signals a significant change in the way
this subject can be studied.
4 Chapter I
T h e pitches of original instruments are usable as evidence only if

they are credible. O n this question there are a number of factors to
consider, including the nature of the instruments (discussed in Sec-
tion 1-3 t o 1-5 of this chapter), their present condition, how their pitch
is measured, and the suitability of the techniques used to play t h e m
(discussed in 1-6). T h e credibility of evidence from original instru-
ments also depends on a sense of what degree of precision is appropri-
ate in studying pitch, a subject treated in Section 0 - 2 of the Introduc-
tion.
I n terms of numbers, I was able to consult the pitches of many
surviving original instruments, thanks to a grant from the Canadian
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. T h e present book
regularly refers to this information, which is included in summary
form in the appendices; these list the pitches of some 127 cornetts, 28
Renaissance flutes, 292 traversos, 317 recorders, 70 clarinets, 540 or-
gans, and 13 pitchpipes, for a total of 1,387 original instruments.' T h e
appendices include only instruments whose reliability I trust. O f these
instruments, about 222 are Italian, 208 French, 544 German, 192 Eng-
lish, IIO Dutch, 77 Belgian, and 31 A ~ s t r i a n . ~
Together with three automatic instruments, this makes a total ref-
erence base of 1,390 original pitches. T h i s is not a complete survey, as
it probably includes less than half the instruments of these types that
have survived and are still able t o give plausible pitches. But it repre-
sents a larger sampling than any previous study (Ellis, for instance,
based his work o n about 300 original pitches listed in his tables). M y
data is the result of several years of correspondence, reading, listening
t o recordings, and visits t o museums and private collections.' (I under-
stand Ellis's feeling when he wrote in 1880 of his collection of histori-
cal pitches: "I wish [these facts] were more complete, but the diffi-
culty of getting information is, sometimes, exceedingly great, and the
time spent over obtaining a single pitch has often been so long that I
should despair of living for years enough to render m y investigations
really complete."6)
It might seem that the foundation o n which we know the levels of
historical pitches can never be tested by direct experience, since we
cannot hear the music as it was originally played. But we can hear
some of the same instruments (the ones that survive), and measure
their pitches with the same accuracy we use in tuning modern instru-
The Evidence s
ments. T h e difference lies in t h e possible changes original instruments

m a y have undergone with time, and changes in performing technique.
These issues can be addressed by choosing the instrument types that
are the least flexible in pitch, and by an awareness of the variables that
affect pitch o n each instrument.
O n e pitch standard that was used continuously as a point of refer-
ence in written descriptions throughout the 1 6 ' I~~~' and
~ , 18'~ centuries
in both Italy and Germany is the so-called Cornet-ton or "tuon del cor-
netto di mezo punto." W e will discuss below why the pitch of cor-
netts acts as a reasonably reliable index for locating the pitch levels of
other standards that were described in relation t o it.'
There was also an important standardizing factor that we easily
overlook in this secular age: the organs. Organs tended to stabilize
pitch over relatively long periods in preindustrial Europe. As long as a
major proportion of art music was sacred, as it was in that period, it
was played alongside the highly elaborated organs of the church.
These instruments were made by men who tended to stick t o well-
known patterns and standards, and once made, an organ was too ex-
pensive and venerable for casual alteration. W e will see, for instance,
that Bach's organs at Leipzig were still using the pitch level described
over a century before by Praetorius.
T h e new French woodwinds, once they were established, also be-
gan t o act as a stabilizing factor. Organs were usually tuned so they
could function with other instruments, and harpsichords were often
tuned t o flutes. Adlung wrote o n tuning clavichords (1726:II:16~),"It
does happen that the weather causes the pitch t o fluctuate; in that
case, one should have a flute o r other instrument of invariable pitch
handy, so one can find the normal pitch again."
Sorge (1744:35) wrote, "One begins then o n f, and tunes in Chorton
or Cammerton (depending t o which the harpsichord is tuned) approx-
imately t o the pitch of a recorder o r traverse."'
A chamber organ by Kirchmann made Ca.1740 was "gei'ntoneerd na
de Fluyt Travers" ("tuned t o the t r a ~ e r s o " ) . ~
T h e history of pitch is thus integrally connected t o these two types
of instrument: the organ and the woodwinds. Praetorius, speaking of
pitch, cited "alten Orgeln und andern blassenden Instrumenten" ("old
organs and other wind instruments") as indicators.'" Organ makers of-
ten specified pitch in reference t o woodwinds, especially the "Flute"
Chapter I
(recorder): Fluytedou toon (1724), Hauboistoon (1721), and ordinaris Flute

dous toon (r727).11 Woodwinds tended to influence pitch because they
were unable to adjust very much. T h e lack of pitch flexibility in these
instruments makes them now the major source of evidence on histori-
cal pitch frequencies. The pitches of these instruments are easier to
visualize through graphs. I have included a number of graphs at the
end of the book that organize pitches by region and period: organs are
shown by country in Graphs 18-25 and by period in Graphs 4-8;
Graphs 12-17 show woodwinds by country and Graphs 26-30 show
them by period.
In addition, pitch has been measured by physicists since the 17'h
century, and some of these reports are useful for this study.
1-3 T h e Most Useful Instruments
Cornet-ton derived its remarkable stability from the simplicity and

perfection of the instrument's design. ( W e are speaking here of the
normal curved i n s t r ~ m e n t ,usually
'~ with a separate mouthpiece, that
gives a six-fingered A). T h e cornett's one-piece construction makes it
difficult to shorten without disturbing its internal intonation, so al-
terations are easy to detect. Its basic design remained stable over a
long period, and during that period the majority of cornetts (like other
woodwinds) came from one place: Venice. The available data shows
consistent patterns, suggesting that it is fairly accurate. Sounding
length can be roughly correlated to pitch, offering a cross-check on ac-
curacy."
T w o historical indications of just how specific the concept of
cornett pitch was are provided by Michael Praetorius in 1618 and Bar-
tolomeo Bismantova in 1677. Praetorius (35) wrote that "even a cornett
can be helped into tune by moving the mouthpiece in or out."I4
Bismantova's description of how the pitch of a cornett could be
minutely adjusted with the help of various small additional pieces was
discussed in o-2a.
Despite these early indications of how precise cornett intonation
was, the common wisdom nowadays is that differences in pitch be-
The Evidence 7
tween cornett is extreme, and therefore pitch data from the in-
strument is unreliable. I have found, however, that t h e present genera-
tion of practicing cornett players (those w h o Rainer W e b e r graciously
calls "wirkliche Zinkenisten"") do not share this attitude. Players w h o
use the most common historical embouchure (off t o the side rather
than in the center like a trumpet) find it relatively difficult t o bend
notes. And players can hear if a note is at the right pitch when it be-
comes brighter in tone, and when it stops "hissing" (which it does
when it is either too low or too high).I6 There are thus several checks
o n the plausibility and accuracy of pitch measurements in cornetts.
T h e pitches of 127 surviving original Italian and German cornetts
of the 1 6 ' ~and centuries are listed in Appendix 2." Included are
only those examples in reasonable playing condition. These pitches
indicate an unambiguous level that we can assume was considered
"cornett pitch:" although it was less specific in the 1 6 ' ~century, its
center was never far from A+I."
Comparing the lengths and pitches of surviving cornetts with the
instruments depicted in Praetorius's Sciagraphia of 1618, it is possible
to estimate that one of the cornetts at 58.3 c m would play at about 460
and the other (at 57.6 cm) at about 464.19 Mersenne's treble cornett de-
picted in the Harmonie universelle (1636-37) at one and three-quarters
pieds du Roy (or 56.8 cm),'" would o n this same basis yield A z ~ ~ ~ . ' '
T h e playing reports o n mute cornetts (Haynes 1 ~ 9 ~ : ~ 2 1 -are
2 8 )less
reliable, since few modern cornettists regularly play this type of in-
strument. T h e mute o r straight cornett also seems often to have had a
different musical role than the curved one. T h i s may be reflected in
the difference in pitch between curved and straight cornetts; the latter
are lower (see Graph ~band rc); most straight cornetts are at A+o.
I-jb Renaissance Flutes
T h e instrument known as the "Renaissance flute" is particularly reli-

able as a pitch indicator because of its physical properties. Like the
cornett, it is made in one piece, so its pitch is difficult to alter. Also, as
Herbert W. Myers* writes,
Chapter I
The scaling of Renaissance flutes is extremely consistent, due to

their acoustical simplicity: surviving examples were invariably cy-
lindrical. . . the influence of the player's blowing technique on pitch
tends to be rather small, because of the propensity of some notes to
be flat and others sharp. Specifically, g" [fingered 1231 overblows flat
and a" [fingered 1 2 456] overblows sharp, requiring extreme embou-
chure corrections in both directions; the average playing pitch is thus
"bracketed" by the natural, uncorrected pitches of these notes. That
is to say, the player has little choice but to play a t about that average.
T h e cylindrical bore of this instrument makes it possible t o com-

pare pitch based o n speaking lengths."
Renaissance flutes were probably used from the early 1500s t o late
in t h e Pitches of 28 surviving original Renaissance flutes
are listed in Appendix 3. T h e i r provenance is in most cases difficult t o
assess. By implication most are f r o m t h e Venetian Republic (except
f o r t h e flutes by Rafi, which are k n o w n t o be from Lyon). W h i l e t h e
Renaissance flute played in consorts, it is associated both i n pitch and
instrumental settings w i t h mixed groups involving t h e m u t e cornett
a n d strings.14 A m o n g surviving instruments, t h e predominance of
tenors (the size that corresponds t o t h e later baroque flute) suggests
that tenors m a y have had m o r e extensive use in mixed musical situa-
tions t h a n other sizes.
Myers* determined, o n the basis of dimensions, that t h e transverse
flutes depicted in Praetorius's Plate ix m u s t be about a minor jd below
A+o, o r about A-j. T h e first t w o instruments listed in Appendix j are
in A-3 if t h e six-fingered (lowest) note of t h e tenor is assumed t o be
dl." S m i t h (1978:27) suggests that these instruments were built s o low
for t h e beauty of their sound, and were meant t o be played i n consorts.
Praetorius wrote, "Flutes and other instruments are also m o r e beauti-
ful w h e n tuned below our normal pitch, and at t h e lower pitch give
quite another effect to t h e listener."26
T h e great majority of surviving Renaissance flutes are at about 400,
a n d a smaller number are at 425-435. T h e higher level corresponds t o
t h a t of most surviving m u t e cornetts.
The Evidence
I-jc Traversos
T h e r e is n o question that "different players can arrive at a different

ideal pitch for the same flute."" Q u a n t z wrote that "Depending o n
whether the embouchure is more or less open, a player can sound a
flute a quarter, a half a tone, and even a complete whole tone higher o r
lower."" T h i s is of course theoretical; as o n the cornett, the scope of
possible pitches produced when the player is actually making music is
considerably smaller.
T h e traverso maker Roderick Cameron* believes the instrument's
pitch "can be u p t o 25 cents different among good players depending
upon embouchure." O n a museum visit t o measure traverso pitches,
Barthold Kujiken* noticed that "I had a colleague with me w h o played
.
everything t 3-4 H z sharper . . and another w h o played 2 H z flat-
ter." T h i s is a range of 5-6 H z , o r 21-25 cents.19 In playing situations,
the modern Boehm flute certainly gives the impression of carrying a
specific pitch; Leipp & Castellengo ( 1 ~ ~ 7 3 determined
2) that the nor-
mal margin of intonation of a modern flute is 4 H z around its sup-
posed base-pitch, or about 17 cents.
T h e existence of corps de rechange (alternate joints) indicates the
traverso's limited flexibility in pitch; corps would not have been neces-
sary if such adjustments could have been made by the player (as o n
the bassoon and the early 18'~-centuryhautboy, where alternate joints
were less common). Traversos were designed so that only one o r t w o
corps were used regularly. For a pitch study, it is interesting to know
which these were. T h e corps were normally numbered, the longest be-
ing number I. In the late 1 8 ' ~century Ribock (178~34) compared
traversos in Berlin style with those of Saxony. T h e Berlin instru-
m e n t s were by Q u a n t z and Kirst and the Saxon were those of Au-
gustin Grenser and Tromlitz in Leipzig. Most were provided with six
corps de rechange, and Ribock was of the opinion that the Saxon flutes
were best towards the top of their range (with joints j and 4, in other
words), while those of Berlin were best at the bottom of theirs (joint
I). Modern makers and players have also reported3" that traversos
made by Q u a n t z play best with the longest middle joint, as the head
bore is quite large;" this joint also shows the most wear o n surviving
instruments.
10 Chapter I
As discussed in the Introduction, it seems that the narrowness of

the intervals between the corps on later 18'~-centurytraversos shows an
attempt to adjust pitch within a single pitch standard. The earlier in-
struments, such as those of Jacob Denner with fewer corps and wider
intervals between the joints (10 Hz or more), probably reflect actual
differences of standard (and if this is true, these early traversos are
particularly useful for showing the exact spacing between pitch stan-
dards). T o consider the pitches of all the corps de rechange would con-
fuse matters; the most accurate results probably come from referring
to the pitches of joints 3 or 4 on most traversos, with the two excep-
tions just mentioned: joint I of Quantz and Kirst flutes, and all the
joints of the earliest traversos."
Adjustments to the placement of a traverse's cork or the length of
its foot have to do with the internal intonation of the instrument," not
its basic pitch. T h e cork is moved when corps are interchanged to
compensate for changes in the instrument's sounding length.
Physical alterations to original traversos that would raise their
pitch are detectable. Enlarging an embouchure-hole affects the tone?
a better method of raising pitch is to shorten the (upper) middle corps,
but this can adversely affect the internal intonation and is visible
(there is normally a short blank section on the tenon at the extreme
end of the joint beyond the thread grooves-called the "tenon ledgev-
that would be missing on a shortened joint).
Some of the original traversos listed in Appendix 4 have recon-
structed embouchures. Given our present knowledge of the playing
characteristics of intact original instruments, these reconstructions
generally give accurate pitches and are as trustworthy for the purposes
of this study as restorations on other kinds of instruments. Each case
of this type was considered individually, however, and a few instru-
ments were excluded.
In sum, within a tolerance of 15-25 cents traverso pitch can be re-
garded as reasonably accurate historical evidence. While some traver-
sos may have been raised in pitch, there is no way to lower them, so it
is likely that the present pitch of early specimens cannot have been
higher, although it might once have been lower. Traversos can also
serve as a control on other instruments, such as recorders, by the same
maker.
The Evidence
I-jd Recorders
Mattheson (1721:43~),in discussing tuning, was of the opinion that

hautboys and bassoons were rather difficult t o "force" (that is, t o
modify in pitch by blowing), while "Recorders are absolutely intransi-
gent in tuning, which is why they produce the worst intonation prob-
lems, and increase the jangle with their regular howling. T h e y always
want the tuning higher o r lower. Traversos are much more tractable."
A more positive take o n this characteristic of recorders was offered
by Louis Mercy (1718): "But I must say something more in praise of
the Flute. .. [it is] never out of tune, nor can you well Stop [finger it]
out of Tune." Recorders can in fact be considered, as Friedrich von
Huene once said, relatively reliable 18'~-century"pitchpipes," since of
all the woodwinds (except perhaps the clarinet), they are the least
flexible in pitch. Even more than traversos, differences in wind pres-
sure are only ~ o s s i b l ewithin a narrow range.j5
A n original recorder has no separate parts (such as reeds o r mouth-
pieces) that might now be missing. If its scale is reasonably in tune, it
has probably not been shortened. A n enlarged window will raise a re-
corder's pitch, but such doctoring, if it is significant, is easy for an ex-
pert to detect.j6 And from a historical point of view, since the recorder
fell into disuse during the course of the 181h century, there would have
been no reason at the time t o alter the instrument in an attempt to
raise its pitch.
Praetorius showed eight sizes of recorder, intended t o be played in
consort. Consorts are less useful as pitch indicators, since they were
not necessarily played with other kinds of instruments and could
therefore have been tuned independently of any pitch standard. Re-
corders that are most interesting t o this study are those made in three
sections, of the type made after the middle of the century.
Both the recorder and t h e traverso were regularly used in typical
ensembles of their time, so their pitches can be taken as representative
of general pitch standards.
Chapter I
I-je Clarinets
A few pitches are available f r o m clarinets made in t h e early I ~ O O S ,but

t h e instrument is especially useful for t h e latter part of t h e century.
F r o m t h e point of view of pitch, t h e emergence of t h e clarinet coun-
terbalances t h e slow eclipse of t h e organ's influence in instrumental
music during the 181h century. I n a sense also, t h e clarinet filled t h e
gap left by the demise of t h e recorder. T h a n k s especially t o Mozart's
Viennese works, the clarinet took o n a n important role in ensembles.
A n indication of the time w h e n clarinets became a significant pres-
ence is t h e general edict of Louis X V in France in 1756 replacing haut-
boys w i t h clarinets in regimental music."
T h e clarinet is one of "the least tractable of the w o ~ d w i n d s " 'in
~ re-
gard t o t u n i n g changes. T h e r e are several reasons for this. It over-
blows a twelfth, making t u n i n g relationships unusually sensitive (the
o t h e r woodwinds over-blow a n octave). More important, because it
uses a single reed attached t o a mouthpiece, embouchure adjustments
are less effective at changing overall pitch t h a n o n t h e other wood-
winds. Eric Hoeprich* writes,
Pinching and relaxing the embouchure simply don't make very big
differences in pitch without a huge difference in sound quality. So if
one keeps the sound a t an "acceptable" level, then there won't be
.
much room for pitch change. . . [The clarinet] is by far the most
stable instrument among the woodwinds. I t has been shown that it
is possible to make a clarinet with nearly perfect intonation-very
difficult, but possible-and as a maker/player I must say that you
make the instrument as well as possible, figure out the fingerings
that play in tune and then just play. This doesn't apply to the other
woodwinds where embouchure flexibility is essential to playing in
tune since the instruments themselves are relatively speaking, out of
tune.
According to David Ross*,
Aside from the obvious expedient of pulling out a t the joints, the
clarinet's sounding length cannot be varied by much, pointing to-
wards stability. I have found that by varying the width and strength
The Evidence
and reeds, I could alter the overall pitch level by a bit, perhaps 5-8
cents, but the pitch on a functioning clarinet seems to be fairly
fixed.I9
Nicholas Shackleton* also points out that where changing t h e dis-

tance f r o m t h e top tone hole t o t h e sound producer (embouchure hole,
reed) o n a flute o r hautboy has "approximately twice t h e effect o n c
[i.e., o n hole I, t h e highest] as o n d [i.e., o n hole 7, t h e lowest]. O n a
clarinet t h e equivalent has three times the effect. . . ." Tolerances for
barrel-mouthpiece length are very small; in other words, a n inappro-
priate setup is easily n ~ t i c e d . ~Convincing
" internal intonation is
therefore the criterion that indicates if o n e is playing at the original
pitch l e ~ e l . ~ '
A number of early clarinets are n o w missing their original m o u t h -
pieces. M a n y "wooden mouthpieces are n o w unplayable because of
damage t o the end of t h e beak and others have been worn so thor-
oughly o n their lays that they are now ~ n p l a y a b l e . " ~Such ' instru-
m e n t s might still be reliable as indicators of historical pitch if they
could be made t o play in tune internally w i t h another mouthpiece. Al-
bert R. Rice writes," "Replacement mouthpieces often became neces-
sary for playing and are sometimes very difficult t o distinguish f r o m
originals." T h e use of new mouthpieces is considered valid for deter-
mining original pitches by most experts, since the principal criterion
for determining pitch is that t h e clarinet play reasonably in t u n e w i t h
itself.4J
Pitch levels of historical clarinets are useful information w h e n it is
k n o w n in w h a t nominal pitch they were conceived (e.g., in A, B b, C,
D, etc.). I t also gains weight w h e n compared to the pitch levels of
other contemporary instruments. T h e tone color of the clarinet varies
noticeably depending o n its fundamental Pitch; as a result, t h e stan-
dard modern orchestral clarinet is tuned to 392 rather than 440. Its
parts must therefore be transposed u p a step to sound in t h e same key
as the other woodwinds. Nowadays w e express this fact by saying
that t h e clarinet is "in B b." T h e clarinet i n C (the pitch of the other
woodwinds) has an unmistakable character and tone quality, brighter
and colder than that of the standard B b-instrument. M a n y clarinetists
also use a n instrument another semitone lower ''in A;" here, too, tim-
bre is a factor. Although the basic reason for the B b/A alternative is
Chapter I
t o avoid excessive n u m b e r s o f sharps, it is significant t h a t clarinetists

do n o t resort t o a C i n s t r u m e n t ( w h i c h would solve t h e s a m e prob-
lem) as m u c h a s t o o n e in A.
A s f o r accuracy, Shackleton believes t h a t
T o judge the pitch [of a clarinet] accurately within better than 20
cents the instrument must be in full playing condition with an ap-

propriate design and size mouthpiece, must demonstrably be inter-
nally in tune, and must be played long enough to have reached a sta-
ble pitch in a room of appropriate temperature.
A s a test o f pitch, Shackleton suggests beginning by checking t h e

t r a n s i t i o n across t h e break a n d t h e C below that.
T h e n judge the pitch on written C above the break, noting how the
rest of the clarinet register pans out. I say that because sometimes an
instrument is retuned upwards with some hole enlargement, but the
A b/E b hole is usually already so large that there is little scope for
bringing the note any higher; often they [i.e., a later tuner] were too
sloppy to bother with the Flt/C* hole either.44
Ross described his testing procedure as
quite straightforward, even somewhat pragmatic. . . . Once a general

pitch level was established (for instance in the upper register or be-
tween the octaves of c', c", and c'"), I then attempted to find suitable
fingerings to bring the rest of the range reasonably in tune.
Ross h a s f o u n d only a f e w i n s t r u m e n t s w i t h impeccable i n t o n a t i o n ;

m o s t h a d a workable upper register w i t h intonation problems i n t h e
l o w e r register. H e still considers these i n s t r u m e n t s usable, since " m o s t
18th c e n t u r y clarinet w r i t i n g e m p h a s i z e d t h i s upper register, a n d s u c h
i n s t r u m e n t s m i g h t h a v e served t h i s literature
S i n c e c o m p e t e n t players of t h e early clarinet a r e rare, n o t all t h e
pitches o f t h e approximately IOO s u r v i v i n g early i n s t r u m e n t s h a v e y e t
been measured.
The Evidence
I-3f Organs and Church Bells
In 1696 Sir Christopher W r e n referred t o Bernard Smith's (now fa-

mous) new organ at St. Paul's Cathedral as that "confounded box of
whistles."46 Many a wind player trying to match the pitch of an organ
has used even stronger language, since both types of instrument are
unyielding in pitch.
Pitch information from early organs complements that of other in-
struments. Organs are rarely moved, so their pitch, if original, can
usually be taken t o represent a standard for the place where they are
located. Because they are expensive and usually associated with in-
stitutions like churches, there is often comprehensive archival docu-
mentation (contracts, proposals, descriptions, etc.) o n their construc-
tion and modification over the years.47 These records sometimes
mention pitch standards; when they can be combined with surviving
pitches, they are especially useful in providing links between named
pitch standards and frequency levels.
U n t i l at least the mid-18'~century, the significance of the church's
role in daily life meant that organs were implicated in much of the
mainstream music that was performed. Since this music also fre-
quently involved other "figural" or orchestral instruments, there was
of necessity a direct relationship of some kind between the organ's
pitch and the pitch of other instruments. BCdos wrote ( 1 7 6 6 : ~ "Ton
~~)
de Chapelle is a fixed pitch in France; it best matches the range of both
the voice and all musical instruments .. ."48 Organs were thus in a re-
lation of whole intervals t o other instruments, and organists had often

to transpose (Cammerton was a discrete number of semitones from
Chorton, for instance). Organs were often higher-pitched than other
instruments, for the sake of tone quality and because the pipes were
shorter and thus less expensive t o make. By the late 1 8 ' ~century the
musical relationship between the organ and other instruments had
broken down, and there was a general trend in all countries for organs
to remain where they had long been, while the pitch of orchestral in-
struments went its separate way.
Of course, if it is still functioning, an instrument of the size, com-
plexity, and age of a baroque organ cannot have escaped being altered.
Organs were regularly repaired, retuned, rebuilt, and restored. As Pe-
ter Williams wrote, " T h e big organs of the great builder-families . ..
I6 Chapter I
were like living organisms, changing their shape and style from gen-
eration to generation."49It is therefore not enough to know the present
pitch of a historical organ.
T h e most reliable information on original organ pitches comes
from recently restored organs, because the process of restoration usu-
ally reveals the earliest state of an organ in at least a few pipes, and
consequently its original pitch. T h e organ-builder Dominic Gwynn*
writes that "The commonest way of changing pitch in an organ is to
move the pipes ... it is only possible to arrive at the original pitch by
tracing pipe movements, estimating cutting down, etc. Most of my
[pitch] evidence I have gained by examining the building history of
instruments." Evidence a restorer would use for determining original
pitch includes pitch marks on pipes (peculiar to particular builders),
changes to the keyboard or key mechanism, and archival records.';"
Physical changes to pipes could include cutting down or extending
open pipes (Gwynn writes that "it is difficult to gauge the amount,
but because of the option of transposing pipes, one can assume it is
less than a semitone. Sometimes there are pitch marks at the top of
the pipe which have been partially cut off."), repositioning stoppers on
stopped pipes, displacement of tuning ears on stopped metal pipes, and
soldering up or cutting down the tuning slots on front pipes. T o n
Koopman* points out that pitch was not the only reason pipes were
changed: in the rgth century the ideal organ timbre was much less bril-
liant, and since shortening a pipe makes it proportionally "fatter," it
tends to result in a "rounder" sound. There was thus a motive for
moving pipes even more than a semitone.
Many earlier organs survived in close to their original states until
well into the 1gChcentury. By that time, antiquarian interest had pro-
duced a number of pitch reports, so that the original pitches of some
important organs are known even when the instruments have since
disappeared.
T h e pitches of organs can sometimes be checked with the bells in
their churches, both "Cymbel Glocken" operated by the organist, and
the tower bells, which (for practical reasons) were normally tuned to
the same pitch.';' In a description of organs published in 1772, William
Ludlam commented,
The Evidence
If an organ was to be erected in S t . Margaret's church [in Leicester], its

pitch should by all means be made to agree with that of the bells; so
that if the organ should begin before the sermon bell is ceased, they
need not be a t variance. So noble a bell would add to the harmony of
the organ.*
* In this church is the noblest peal of ten bells in England, without
exception; whether tone or tune be considered."
A respected organist, Gustav Leonhardt*, warns that the pitches of

historic organs m u s t "be taken w i t h a grain of salt: conclusions often
have been made too easily, disregarding later changes o n pipes o r wind
pressure." T h i s warning is appropriate; there are a number of pitfalls
in considering historical organ pitches. Factors that need to be consid-
ered include knowledge of an organ's history, t h e effects of repeated
tuning, temperature, standard pipe-scaling and details of manufacture,
wind pressure, dust, the differences between flue pipes and reeds, be-
tween wooden and metal pipes, etc. T h e s e issues are addressed in de-
tail in Haynes 19~~:480-92.''
O n e problem w i t h data f r o m organs that have been restored is that
at restoration their pitch m a y be purposely brought t o a preconceived
level that the restorer believes is "historical." T h e levels commonly
considered to be in this class are 415. or 466, which are a n exact semi-
tone (in equal temperament) o n either side of 440; some restored or-
gans that were originally near these levels m a y have been rationalized
t o meet t h e m literally.
G i v e n a knowledge of these elements, a plausible (if approximate)
original pitch can be determined for m a n y historical organs. T h e r e is
n o doubt, however, that in specifying organ pitches, Jean-Albert
Villard, the organist of the famous Clicquot organ at Poitiers, is cor-
rect in saying* that an organ pitch is " A l'entour" ("around") a par-
ticular number of cycles per second.
In 1978, Mendel listed 48 "reliable" historical organ pitches. I
checked his data (some of which, inevitably, turned o u t t o be mis-
taken), and in H a y n e s rgg5:502-jg was able t o add 416 new organ
pitches (I had to exclude, for various reasons, about 200 others). Most
of this information came frorr. t h e m a n y recordings of historical or-
gans that have appeared in t h e last generation.
Chapter I
O n e particular category of organs that must be carefully considered

are those with original pitches that no longer survive. For those with
pitches that were reported prior to their destruction (in the cen-
tury, for instance), there is no ambiguity. But there are others for
which it is only possible to make deductions. The Gottfried Silber-
mann organ at St. Johannis, Zittau, for instance, was destroyed in
1757, but its contract is practically identical with the one for the
Frauenkirche in Dresden (which we know was at 4 ~ 4 )and it (like the
Frauenkirche organ) is described as in "Cammer-Thon." T h e 8' Ge-
dackt stop on the Jacobikirche main organ at Hamburg, replaced in
1761, was a minor 3d below the rest of the instrument, which is now at
489. T h e organ at Hohnstein (Schmieder, 1732), played by Sebastian
Bach in 1731 and 1732, is now at 437, but its action was shifted a whole-
step lower in 1935. At Weingarten, now at 440, the original contract
states that the lowest C of the organ was supposed to sound the same
as the large tower bell; that bell now gives 440 minus 130 cents. In
most cases like these, plausible original pitches can be deduced. These
pitches, like all the others in Appendix 7, are situated along a gamut of
probability.'4
O n the positive end of this gamut is an important list of the origi-
nal frequencies of 42 organs with pitch standards that were identified
by name (see 1-8 and Appendix I).
HOWdid instrumental ensembles find their reference pitch in the days

before electronic tuners? Where did the harpsichord get its note? T o
judge from considerable historical evidence, the pitchpipe was the
usual means of carrying pitch in the preindustrial music world."
Mendel (151~8:82)cites "a pitch-pipe which Handel constantly carried
with him," 6' and Hawkins recounted that John Shore in the early 1 8 ' ~
century used a fork to tune his lute; apparently it was a curiosity: "At
a concert he would say, 'I have not about me a pitch-pipe, but I have
what will do as well to tune by, a pitch-fork."'57 The implication of
Shore's remark is that a pitchpipe was the normal device used for tun-
ing.
The Evidence 19
T h e pitchpipe was like a small recorder fitted w i t h a movable

wooden plunger or piston, o n which a scale of notes w i t h a range of
about o n e octave was marked. Fontenelle (1700:1j7) indicated that such
a "Sifflet de bois" was used in France during the century:
T o determine the pitch at which voices and instruments should tune

in an ensemble, the performers use a kind of wooden or metal whistle
made to a particular length. Since they intend this pitch to be always
the same, they think the whistle always yields the same pitch.'R
But this is an assumption that is not always true. I. A 4' organ pipe
which is by its nature more accurate than a short whistle does not al-
ways produce exactly the same sound. 2. The material from which the
whistle is made is quite subject to alteration from being used over a
period of time, the weather, and one hundred accidents that can occur
change its pitch noticeably after a number of years. 3. There is no
question that by blowing harder or softer in the whistle, the pitch rises
or falls, and there is no way to be sure of blowing the same way every
time. Finally, if the whistle is lost, it is no longer possible to locate the
pitch that was used.
T o put Fontenelle's statement in context, he was presenting a par-

tisan position in favor of a n alternative t o the pitchpipe; he was also
applying t h e criteria of the acoustician rather than those of t h e musi-
cian. M o s t of his objections can be answered: it is quite conceivable
that a pitchpipe is less sensitive t o change than a n organ pipe because
the latter is thin-walled; certainly alterations t o the material in a pipe
might affect t h e pitch but not significantly in musical terms; blowing
at about t h e same pressure would probably (depending o n how t h e
pipe was made) be close enough for t h e practical needs of a musical
ensemble; and a n y sensible musician would have another backup pipe
at t h e same pitch. In other words, a pitchpipe was not required to give
a pitch t o t h e same exact Hz in order t o be ~ e r f e c t l yusable in musical
practice.
A n Italian source in 1774 indicates t h e general use of t h e pitchpipe
in instrumental groups,59and they are described as commonplace for
tuning pianos in a publication f r o m Vienna in I B O ~ . ~ "
Pitchpipes were often used to fix t h e basic pitch of keyboards.
T h e r e is evidence that Joannes Couchet, whose instruments have al-
20 Chapter I
w a y s been highly prized, w a s concerned t h a t t h e y be t u n e d a t a par-

ticular pitch f o r t h e sake o f their "resonantie," o r t o n e quality. H e ad-
vised C o n s t a n t i j n H u y g e n s , t o w h o m h e h a d just delivered a n e w
clavecimbel,
that if he will always tune it to the standard pitch, wherefore Your

Honor has a little flute, to which the G sol re ut should be tuned, then
the most satisfying sound will result, since if the instrument is too low
or too high, the tone quality will be spoiled and not as it should be,
and [the instrument] will not speak as it was made to do; but if it is
done in this way, I will have honor from my work.6'
For t u n i n g a harpsichord, Roger N o r t h w r o t e in ca.1710-1726:
Most begin on C; but following the example of some organ builders, I

have chosen F for an entrance. The first thing is to tune that F to its
consort pitch, which is done by the help of a pipe, usually made for
that end.62
A n d in 1739 V a n Blankenburg w r o t e of harpsichords:
T o tune the first string, if opera-toon [Opera-pitch] is desired, the

sound can be obtained from a flute at this pitch, or else, you can make
a square flute without finger holes, in which a sliding rod fits. O n the
four sides of the rod, different levels can be marked to test organs.
T h i s is called a pitchpipe. But since any pipe is unstable in sound be-
cause of warmth and cold, humidity and dryness, and because it can be
raised or lowered quite a bit by blowing harder or softer, the best ref-
erence for a stable pitch is a sounding metal [i.e., perhaps a tuning
f~rk].~'
T h a t pitchpipes were c o m m o n l y used f o r t u n i n g has n o t been gener-

ally k n o w n , a n d m a y be o n e reason t h e y have n o t previously been dis-
played in m o s t i n s t r u m e n t collections o r listed in catalogues.64 Pitch-
pipes operate o n t h e s a m e level o f accuracy as recorders, since t h e y u s e
t h e s a m e blowing technique. T h e y a r e t h u s well w i t h i n a usable r a n g e
o f tolerance f o r conveying musical pitch. T h e y usually include t h e
n a m e s o f each o f t h e n o t e s t h e y produce. U n l i k e forks, t h e y c a n offer
The Evidence zI
clues as t o how their pitches were used, such as the maker's stamp; oc-
casionally a date is added, and an identification of the name of the
pitch o r the place where the pipe was used.
De la Fage (r8s9:z9ff) noted that pitchpipes were commonly used
instead of tuning forks in France as late as the beginning of the xgth
century. A number of early pitchpipes have survived. Most can be
dated from the end of the t o the mid 1 9 ' centuries.
~
T h e Museo Civico in Bologna possesses a corista a fiato o r pitch-
pipe65that was apparently made in the 1 8 ' ~ century, and "has a sliding
device inside, producing three different tones. T h e y are indicated o n
the wooden plunger as t w o Milanese pitches (a' = 425 and 375) and one
Neapolitan pitch (a' = 4~1)."66
A pitchpipe with a plunger o n which there are marks in ink, going
chromatically from E through its octave t o G (skipping only the high
F natural) is described in Byrne 1966. T h e pipe is inscribed with the
date "July l 4 I h , 1774," and seems t o be of English origin. Careful meas-
urements by Byrne yielded a mean value of 425-+1Hz for A (because of
wood shrinkage, this pitch was probably originally about 5 Hz lower).
T h r e e pitchpipes preserved at the Paris Conservatory are especially
interesting. O n e , probably made after 1711, gives "Ton de I'opera" as 399
(probably originally jg4) and "Plus haut de la chapelle a versaille" as 412
(probably originally 407). Another is believed t o be by the maker Du-
puis (fI.1682), and is a t about 396 (probably originally 391). T h e third,
made in the late 1 8 ' century
~ by Christoph ~ e l u s s e , ~
gives
' two sets of
pitches, neither named, at 400 and 424 (probably originally 395 and
419).
Such small portable pitchpipes are distinct from the Stimmpfeife
used by organ makers, as described in Adlung 1726:11:56, Adlung
1758:j12, and Wolfram 1815:j28.~'T h e latter were usually made of metal
and were blown through the organ's wind-channel rather than by
mouth. A "Temperatur-Pfeeiffe," usable both for tuning and checking
the temperament of a previously tuned organ, is also described in
some detail in Sorge 1758:27-28. Using a pipe for tuning t o the fineness
of a temperament indicates how accurate pipes were considered. T h e
Temperatur-Pfeiffe was t o be operated by each individual instrument's
wind pressure, "but for each separate organ a special Stimmpfeife must
be made."69
22 Chapter I
T h e pitches of 13 surviving original pitchpipes are listed in Appen-

d i x 8.
1-4 Less Direct Evidence
I-4a S t r u n g Keyboard I n s t r u m e n t s a n d Lutes
I n 1965, Frank Hubbard wrote of harpsichord pitch:
Any sort of reasoning which attempts to deduce the pitch of harpsi-

chords from string length rests on very shaky foundations since it is
possible for a string of a given length to vary about a fifth in pitch and
still sound fairly well.'"
A s noted previously, Couchet was concerned about t h e pitch of his

clavecimbels and its effect o n tone quality and response. A t t h e t i m e
H u b b a r d wrote this, he was not considering t h e principle applied b y
recent researchers (such as H u b e r , OJBrien, Koster, W r a i g h t , a n d
M a r t i n ) that keyboard strings were tuned close t o their breaking
points.7' O'Brien, for instance, writes t h a t
The early builders of virtually all European traditions designed their

instruments so that the strings were, with a small safety factor, very
close to the breaking point of the material being used. Instruments de-
signed to sound at pitches different from one another would therefore
have string lengths which differed in a regular way."
D e n z i l W r a i g h t (1997:87-90, 164, 1 8 ~ - ~discusses

0) this s a m e principle,
a n d points o u t (164) that "the breaking length of a wire is, theoreti-
cally, independent of the diameter, which m a y not be intuitively ob-
vious." T h e "small safety factorJJ cannot be determined, b u t W r a i g h t
believes it was probably less t h a n a whole-tone. H e notes that
modifications to instruments often only changed the pitch by a semi-

tone (s80 cents) which shows that the scales were considered to have a
well-defined relationship to the intended pitch and that the safety fac-
The Evidence
tor was sufficiently narrow to make it imprudent simply to tune a

harpsichord a semitone higher."
A s O7Brien pointed out, if a consistent relationship is established be-

tween tension and string lengths, it is possible t o compare relative (if
not absolute) harpsichord pitches by reference to the ratio of their
string lengths.
Martin Piihringer* noticed that two harpsichords by the Dresden
organ and harpsichord builder J.H. G A b n e r show significant differ-
ences in their string length^.'^ I n examining the t w o instruments, he
found that their string lengths work especially well at A-2 and A-I, re-
spectively. As in the case of Venice, t h e frequency of those Dresden
pitches may be guessed from corollary information (in this case, nor-
mal Cammerton at A-I and tief-Cammerton at A-2).
Wraight was able t o compare the pitches of many Italian instru-
ments by determining what kind of stringing material was originally
used (iron or brass, a critical factor for pitch), and their original
string-lengths. In addition, he was able t o identify o r ascribe many
anonymous instruments, thus allowing them t o be dated. While
avoiding absolute pitch values, he could nevertheless observe which
string-lengths (each of which would correspond t o a pitch level) were
the most common, and how they related t o each other.
Wraight found that the most common string-lengths for the note
f 2 of Venetian instruments made between 1523 and 1594 were 235, 246,
255, and 265 m m , particularly 235 and 265 m m , which would
notes a whole-tone apart from the same key of the keyboard. Since at
that time there were two important Venetian pitches a whole-tone
apart, mezzo punto and tuono corista, it is logical t o associate the t w o
string-lengths with the two frequencies (about 464 and 413 Hz, respec-
tively).
Using the same principle, Darryl Martin has found that the "de-
sign-scale note" of century English virginals (i.e., the length unit
from which other string lengths are proportionally derived) can be
grouped into four pitches separated by semitones." These can, in turn,
be related to absolute pitch frequencies that correspond well with
other evidence o n English pitch levels (see 2-5a).
If string lengths can be equated t o pitch levels, length information
from original harpsichords might be used to extrapolate pitch frequen-
24 Chapter I
cies, and since strung keyboards are often dated or datable, their fre-
quencies might be related to specific places and periods. At the mo-
ment, these possibilities are speculative, but with positive correlation
arriving from several angles, they are quickly taking on a more impor-
tant status as usable evidence.
T h e string-lengths of lutes might also offer pitch information of a
parallel kind to that of harpsichords, although less is known about
stringing materials. The "breaking point" principle that is currently
accepted among harpsichordists and violinists is not as popular among
lutenists, who generally use strings well below breaking point.76
E.G. Baron (1727:116)mentions that Chanterelle lute strings had ear-
lier been tuned to gr in Chorton but by the time he was writing were at
fr in Cammerton. In Baron's time and place, these standards were
probably A t r and A-I, which suggests that lutes had gone down four
semitones. Hodgson (198558-60) calculated that the lute depicted in
Baron has a string length of about 68 cm, and would therefore have
sounded best at A-I. Hodgson nevertheless thinks that "The proper
and common size of Lute in Germany during the 18th.C. had a n open
string length of around 72cm and would usually be pitched at tief
Cammer-Ton (about a tone below modern pitch)."
W.L. von Radolt wrote in the introduction to his aller treueste
Friendin (Vienna, 1 ~ 0 1 )that, of the three sizes of lute for which the
music was written, the "Sopran" is very small and "is tuned at least a
half-tone higher than CORNET." T h e next size, somewhat larger, "is
tuned a whole-tone lower," and the third, the large common "Ordi-
nari" lute, "is tuned two and one-half whole-tones 10wer.O~~ If "COR-
NET" was normal Cornet-ton at A + I , ~ '"at least a half-tone higher"
would have been A t 2 to A t j , a whole-tone lower would have been
A t o to A t r , and two and one-half whole-tones lower would have been
A-3 (j70) to A-2. This latter pitch was for the "Ordinari" lute.
W h e n he was in Paris in 1712-1716,Friedrich von Uffenbach bought
a "Stimm-pfeife" ("pitchpipe") from none other than the woodwind
maker Jean-Jacques Rippert "damit er den T o n der Opera fiir seine
Laute allzeit hItte" ("with which he would always have Ton d'Ope'ra
for his lute").79 Ton d'Ope'ra would have been A-2.
The Evidence
I-4b T r u m p e t s
From about Praetorius's time, the trumpet sounded in C 4 A t 1 (which

= D+A-I). Brass instruments could adjust their pitch downward by
adding short lengths of tubing called crooks; otherwise, as Roger
N o r t h succinctly put it in ca.1710-28, "the T r u m p e t is confined to a
key."'" Pitch was t h u s a function of crooking, and t o change key was
t o change Pitch. Smithers wrote that " T h e standard trumpet was in D
and sometimes E flat, but was capable of 'crooking' d o w n to c.""AC-
cording to Majer (1732:40), trumpets could play as m u c h as a m3 below
their normal level: "There are different mouthpieces [ s i c , M u n d -
stiicke] available, whereby a trumpet can be tuned a half-tone, a
whole-tone, o r even a tone and a half lower, w h e n a crook [Krum-
Biigel], slide [Krum-Bogen], o r other kinds of accessories [Setz-
Stiicke] are added."
T h e pitch of a trumpet was also changed by muting, which raised
its pitch a tone. Muted trumpets were used until t h e end of the I~"'
century, but were rare thereafter until modern times."

V a n der Heide (1996:49) suggests that "most of t h e extant instru-
m e n t s have been altered m a n y times in order t o adapt to the pitch re-
quirements of following generations." But if it is unmodified and un-
crooked, and its lowest note is assumed to be C, a trumpet is a kind of
pitchpipe, carrying a historical pitch.
T w o remarkably early trumpets have been discovered recently, and
neither appears t o have been altered. O n e was salvaged from a sunken
ship near Texel Island in ~ o l l a n d . " It is signed and dated 1589, and
has been under water since just after it was made. A replica plays in D
at 466 (that is, its nominal G, the third note, sounds at 233 Hz, and its
61h at 466). T h e other, found d o w n a well in t h e Dordogne, is pre-
served in m i n t condition w i t h its original mouthpiece, and is signed
and dated 1 ~ ~ 2 It. 'plays
~ at the same pitch. T h i s is a whole-step higher
than t h e trumpets of t h e 1 8 ' ~century. Praetorius wrote that trumpets
began to be made at C - A t 1 rather than D 4 A + 1 in his o w n lifetime:
While the fundamental or bottom note up to now has been D, in

~ a m m e r - ~ h o n(military
~' trumpeters have retained this standard), over
the last few years in some princely and noble courts either the trum-
pet's dimensions have been increased, or a crook has been inserted at
Chapter I
the mouthpiece end, to give a fundamental of C, in the Hypoionian

mode.86
Brass instruments normally read their parts in C, so the pitch of the

instruments that played with them can usually be deduced from the
key in which they were written. In Leipzig, for instance, when the
trumpets were in C+A+r, most of the other parts were in D, showing
that (because they had to transpose up a tone to match the trumpets)
they were tuned a tone lower at A-I. It is curious that most surviving
music for hautboy band that involves trumpets is written in E b (ex-
cept for the trumpet parts, which are, as usual, in C). This probably
means that the composers of these pieces assumed that the hautboys
and bassoons involved were pitched a tone and a half below the trum-
pets, thus at ~ - 2 . ' ~
I-4c Automatic Instruments
Some automatic instruments give pitches that are probably original.

These are produced by open wooden pipes, open metal pipes that show
no traces of later tuning, and stopped metal pipes with caps soldered
into place. T h e problem with these instruments is again one of con-
text; playing alone, there was no particular reason to tune them to a
pitch standard. Still, examples given in Haspels (1987:122ff) are quite
plausible for their times and places:
Minerva carriage
Laqenbucher (Augsburg, ca.1620) 418
Bracket clock with organ
Jaquet-Droz (La Chaux-de-Fonds, ca.1780) 392
Serinette
Bourdot-Bohan (Mirecourt, ca.1820) 437
The Evidence
1-5 Unreliable Evidence
I-sa Double-Reeds
O n hautboys and bassoons, there are basic obstacles t o determining

original pitch. First, the reed is missing (no original reeds from before
about 1780 are known), and few original bassoon crooks are known
(even fewer can be connected to specific instruments). Second, o n the
same hautboy and reed setup, scales can be easily influenced by em-
bouchure to accommodate pitch levels as much as 40 cents apart. T h i s
flexibility increases o n larger instruments; on the bassoon, the differ-
ence can be a semitone. T h e bassoonist Walter Stiftner (of respected
memory) once told m e h e had played a concert with the same instru-
ment, bocal, and reed at 440 before the interval and at 41s after it (not
all have Stiftner's talent, of course). Some hautboys that are
normally played at A-I can be convincingly played by the same player
%-step higher and 1/2-step lower, and a n hautboy that normally plays
at A-2 can be played at A-1% by using reeds for an instrument at A-
88
1.
Surviving original hautboys are made in various lengths, and while
there is some correspondence between length and pitch, other factors
(the size of tone-holes, for instance, and the type of reed being used)
make a direct connection between dimensions and pitch difficult to
establish.
T h e existence of alternate top joints implies a certain decisiveness
of pitch, but unlike the corps de rechange o n traversos, hautboys did not
begin to use alternate joints regularly until after the m i d - 1 8 ' ~century.
T h i s is probably because so much more could be done to change pitch
with the reed setup. T h e same, presumably, was the case with bas-
soons. It is thought that the bottoms of the wing-joints of many sur-
viving original bassoons were shortened in the later 181h century t o ac-
commodate rising pitch.
T h e r e are ways to guess original pitches of double reeds, such as
comparing lengths and comparing other types of instruments by the
same makers.89
But based o n the physical qualities of the instruments themselves,
the only objective method of determining their pitches may be by a
method of measuring the acoustical impedance of resonant cavities
28 Chapter I
that was developed some years T h i s method makes it possible

t o determine t h e impedance and t h u s t h e resonance frequency of each
fingering of a n y woodwind instrument without playing it. I n t h e case
of hautboys and bassoons, a further calculation is necessary using a n
imagined staple or b ~ c a l . T
~ h' e process is still rather cumbersome, and
it has not yet been established whether it is capable of yielding results
that are specific enough to be useful.
I-lib Bowed String Instruments
Approximate estimates of the pitches of string instruments might be

m a d e based o n the breaking point of strings, but the physical prop-
erties of early strings are not yet completely ~ n d e r s t o o d Segerman
.~~
(19g3a:28) writes,
The highest pitch for the string band was governed by gut first-string
[e-string] breakage on the violin.
The small-sized violin (with string stop [ s i c ; = vibrating string length]
of about 30 cm, that was popular in the 17th and less in the 18th cen-
tury) could go up to about a semitone above modern pitch. The larger
size of violin (with string stop of about 33 cm, that was also used then,
and is the standard today) could not comfortably go much higher than
modern pitch."
But even for t h e larger violins, a t o p string limit of modern e2 is

probably conservative. Herbert W. Myers* points out that
the g-d'-a'-d"-g" tuning of the pardessus de viole and quinton (musi-

cally the same instrument, despite different body shapes) . . com-.
monly has a vibrating string length of about 33cm; even a t a'=392 the
top string would have sounded a modern f'.
I f at A-2 (Ton d'ophra), the t o p string sounded modern f2, at Ton de

chambre (A-IV'~)it would have sounded even higher. Strings m u s t t h e n
have been commonly available that allowed even t h e larger sizes of
violin t o be tuned at least as high as A + I , and possibly A t 2 . ( A s
The Evidence 29
Myers* notes, this assumes there were n o changes in string-making

technology between t h e and 1 8 ' centuries.)
~
T h a t wind instruments were considered more "constant" in pitch
than strings is demonstrated by this comment by Charles Butler
(1636:103):
becaus Entata [stringed instruments] ar often out of tun; (which soom-

time happeneth in the mids of the Musik, when i t is neither good to
continue, nor to correct the fault) therefore, to avoid all offence
(where the least shoolde not bee givn) in our Chyrch-solemnities
onely the Winde-instruments (whose Notes ar constant) bee in use.Y4
T h e r e are several examples of a distinction in the pitch of specific vio-

lins in earlier times. A n inventory of musical instruments at Krems-
miinster Abbey, drawn u p in 1739, lists 17 "Violin," including 2 A m a -
tis, o n e dated 1619, and 2 Stainers. Listed separately are "2 (Geigen)
franzosischen Tons," o n e by a "Francesco Amati di Cremona" dated
1640.~' T h e s e 2 violins were used in chamber music ("bey der C a m -
mer"). T h e differentiation in t h e list implies that the other 17 violins
were not at franzosischen T o n (which would have been A-I); presuma-
bly they were played, like most other instruments at t h e Abbey at the
time, at A+I.
A t t h e court in Wiirttemberg in 1736, members of the ensemble
k n o w n as the Bock-Musik used t w o kinds of violins distinguished as
"grot3e Violin" and " C h o r T h e latter were presumably at
Chorton.
I-yc Vocal Range
Of all musicians, singers are probably t h e ones w h o benefit most f r o m

performing at original pitches. Ironically, t h e numerous attempts to
establish historical pitch standards based o n vocal range and voice
types are quite undependable except as corroboration of information
found by more reliable means.
A n indication of t h e relative nature of conclusions based o n vocal
ranges was Mendel's attempt t o estimate Praetorius's CammerThon. In
1948:106ff, he suggested a level "a minor third higher than o u r stan-
30 Chapter I
dard" (A+3).97 I n two later publications he revised his opinion down-

ward: in 1955:477 t o A+2, and in 197843 he apparently accepted
Bunjes's conclusion (see 2-3b); in the end, it seems none of these
conclusions was a c c ~ r a t e . ~ '
More recently, articles appeared (remarkably, in t h e same book)
that are in disagreement by a m3 o n t h e pitch of vocal music in Eng-
land in the late 1 6 ' ~century.99O n e of the authors based his arguments
exclusively o n the overall compass of the parts and compared t h e m
with modern voice types; the other presented an argument that was
marginally stronger because it was based o n the little that is k n o w n of
organ pitch at the time.
I n fact, individual singers each have their o w n range, so that gen-
eralizations are meaningless. As long ago as 1511, Schlick (who ought
t o have known) commented that "people sing higher or lower in o n e
place than in another, according to whether they have small o r large
and Praetorius commented o n vocal ranges, "In this matter
n o firm conclusions can be drawn, and n o strict limits imposed. T h e r e
is so much variety about God's gifts, and one singer will always be
able t o go higher o r lower t h a n another."'"'
Based o n laryngology, Simon Ravens has made the interesting sug-
gestion that "the average h u m a n voice would have had a higher natu-
ral pitch in the 1 6 ' ~century than t ~ d a y . " ' "W
~ h e t h e r o r not his idea
will stand examination, it demonstrates the unreliability of arguments
for absolute pitch frequencies based only o n vocal ranges.
T h e most convincing use of vocal ranges is not for indicating ab-
solute pitch values, but for comparing ranges within a single medium,
as in different Bach cantatas o r Handel operas. If a Bach cantata writ-
ten for a certain venue has a higher average mid-range than one writ-
ten for a different place, for instance, it m a y indicate a pitch difference
between the locations.
I-5d Xylophones and Glass Armonicas
Xylophones probably preserve their pitch well. Until the century,

however, they were used mainly by itinerant musicians, so their con-
nection to other instruments is difficult t o establish.'"'
The Evidence 31
Although glass armonicas were often played together with other

instruments, those instruments were usually strings and voice, where
t h e pitch was not necessarily fixed.'04 T h e exact pitch of an armonica
can also be affected by the mounting of the cups.10' These instruments
are consequently not reliable indicators of historical pitch levels.
I-ye T u n i n g Forks: Accurate But without Musical Context
T u n i n g forks were probably in use by the beginning of the century

(indeed, possibly as early as 1 ~ 8 6 ' " ~But
) . most references t o them
through the 1 8 ' ~ century imply they were a novelty and not commonly
used.
Forks are little affected by changes of temperature or other real o r
imagined problems discussed in the section o n pitchpipes (1-3~).'"'
T h e y are therefore more trustworthy as frequency references. Tans'ur
in 1772 considered them superior t o "any tubical or stringed Instru-
ment whatsoever,"'08 and Adlung (1726:11:163), in suggesting a flute as
a normal tuning reference, mentioned, "In England they make rather
large steel forks for this purpose, which preserve pitch with great ac-
curacy, and are quite clear in sound."
T h e problem with tuning forks is to relate them with assurance to
a particular place, time, or usage. Unlike pitchpipes (which are often
stamped and which give note-names), forks offer few clues t o their
date of manufacture and use, o r even where they originated.
Mendel was dubious about the authority of the two most famous
historical forks: that of Handel, and the one associated with Stein and
Mozart (the pitches of these two forks are 423 and 422 H z , respec-
tively). I t seems the extreme accuracy of tuning forks is often cause
for incautious claims for how and when the frequencies they give
were used. T h e Stein fork (discussed in Haynes 1995, Section 9-2) is
the most flagrant example. It has even been suggested that a fork at
409, owned by Pascal Taskin in 1783 (see 8-zb), represented "Lully's
opera pitch."'09
Leipp & Castellengo (1977:9), as skeptical as Mendel, make some
appropriate comments o n the limitations of tuning forks: "A touch of
a file at the critical place can seriously alter the frequency," and " T h e
Chapter I
fact t h a t I personally o w n a t u n i n g f o r k t h a t gives 432 Hz does not

mean I use it t o t u n e my violin."
T h e a b o v e will e x p l a i n w h y e v i d e n c e f r o m historical t u n i n g f o r k s
h a s n o t been given m u c h a t t e n t i o n i n t h i s s t u d y . I t h a s been u s e f u l
m a i n l y a s c o r r o b o r a t i o n o f e v i d e n c e f r o m o t h e r sources.
I-5f L e n g t h S t a n d a r d s a s I n d i c a t i o n s of Pitch Standards
O r g a n builders talk of "5 1/3 f o o t pitch," etc., a s if p i t c h a n d l e n g t h a r e

a l m o s t s y n o n y m o u s concepts. A d l u n g w r o t e (1758376):
It could perhaps be . . . that on [someone's] organ, this would not be

the exact measurement; but I would answer briefly that the Foot
["Schuch"] is perhaps longer in one place than another,"" or perhaps
one organ is simply a bit lower than another. W e already noted above
(594, which mentions Sauveur's proposal to find a standard pitch that
would be recognized everywhere)(d) chat they are not always quite
the same in one city, not to mention between cities.
[Note (d)]: Once again, concerning such a uniformity of stan-
dard. Since if such pipes, if they have the same length and inner
diameter, and are blown with the same wind [pressure], would
necessarily have the same pitch level, would it not be surest
(since the German Foot is so variable) to use the constant and
therefore unerring Parisian Pied de Roi, when fixing the length
and diameter of the 8' Principal?"' If each organ builder accepted
this standard, all organs would be in agreement. If some makers
intentionally design their organs at a different [pitch] standard
(as for example the new organ being built in Dresden that will be
pitched in Camme~ton,"' C cannot be at the normal 8' length,
though I suppose it will have the same name. Since all [the pipes
of this organ] will be at this lower [pitch] standard, a larger Foot
must be employed in building it.
J u s t before 1829, I g n a z B r u d e r ( 1 ~ 8 0 - 1 8 ~ 5 a) , s t u d e n t o f a s t u d e n t o f
J.A. S i l b e r m a n n , w r o t e ,
The Evidence
Here in my book I have continued to use the scaling of the late great
Silbermann, and recommend it as exemplary, as well a s some from the
French organ. I should note however that the dimensions of the latter
are based on the Pied de roi, which causes organs to sound 3/4 of a tone
lower. T o have Chorton, one should systematically read 3,14 of a tone
higher or convert the Pied de roi into the Niit.nberge,. Fuj3."'
Bormann suggests that, assuming t h e same scaling, t h e difference in

pitch between pipes at t h e Pied de roi (324.8 m m ) and t h e Niirnberger
FUJI (303.9 m m ) would produce a "reichlichen H a l b t ~ n . " "(A ~ large
halfstep; "Chorton" in Silbermann's scheme was A t o , a whole-tone
above franzosischer Thon; see 7-5.)
Pipe-lengths are often used casually rather than literally. A n ex-
ample is the English "lo-foot" organ. It used to be that early English
pitch was calculated o n the assumption that original pipes were ex-
actly ro feet long, but the organ-builder Martin Goetze (199~:61)writes
"I can see n o reason to use loft (or 5ft) as a basis o n which t o calculate
pitch, unless pipes are discovered which are indeed that length; extant
pipes all seem t o be slightly longer.""'
Herbert Heyde (1986: Chapter 6) proposes a correspondence be-
tween the dimensions of surviving woodwinds and t h e logical subdi-
116
visions of the local ell, foot, inch, etc., of the place they were made."'
T h e r e are three factors that reduce t h e effectiveness of this idea.
First, it is difficult t o know which standard was being applied at a
given place. In some cases we k n o w as little about historical length
standards as w e d o of pitch; often more than one Foot-rule was in use
118
simultaneously. Mendel (1978:42-43) noticed that in Diderot 1765
Planche X I a proportion of 17:18 is given for a length called the "pi4
harmonique" (possibly a special length used by instrument makers) and
t h e standard Pied de roi. A direct correspondence between hypothetical
pitches and corresponding length standards m a y t h u s be difficult to
find. Also, as is evident from Heyde's study, a n instrument e n d its
pitch may be t h e product of a multiple o r a fraction of a standard
length unit. It is of course possible t o take almost a n y length and
match it to some standard o r other. It is t h u s difficult t o know
whether a maker was consciously following a given length standard.
Second, makers copied existing instruments that had sometimes
been made elsewhere. I t is a safe assumption, for instance, that Den-
34 Chapter I
ner and Schell, when they began to make the new "franzosische
Musikalischen Instrumenta," were modeling them on actual wood-
winds that had come from France and were thus presumably made to
French l e n g t h ~ / ~ i t c h e s .How
" ~ long they used those measurements is
unknown; if they functioned well, there would have been no reason to
change them. And which other makers outside of Nuremberg in turn
copied Denner's instruments?
Finally, a correspondence between length standards and pitch stan-
dards is frequently not borne out by surviving instruments. T o take
an obvious example, the pitch relation between Rome and Venice is
pretty well established as a rather large whole-step in the early 1 8 ' ~
century, with Rome being the lower, and similar to Paris. For a simple
Foot correspondence, then, we would expect Rome's foot to be similar
to Paris's and longer than that of Venice. But in fact, the three were
297.8, 324.9 and 347.4 mm, respectively. Venice, with the highest pitch,
had the longest Foot-rule, and Rome and Paris, with similar pitches,
differed considerably in length."'
I f we take the pitches of woodwinds made in different areas of
Germany during the same period (1700-1730),we can compare the pos-
sible relationship of Foot-rule to pitch standard. Graph 2 shows the
pitches of woodwinds made in this period in eight different towns.
W e would expect those of Berchtesgaden (317.6 mm, the Vienna
Foot)"' and Berlin (313.85 mm, the rheinische Fu&) to be the lowest,
since their Foot-length is longest. T h e shortest is the Saxon or Dres-
den Foot at 283.1 mm (used also in Leipzig), with the lengths of Butz-
bach, Munich, and Roding almost as short. Nuremberg (at 303.8 m m
for the WerkfuJ) is in about the middle. W h a t we see is that the in-
struments from Berchtesgaden and Berlin are not exceptionally low,
nor are pitch standards in places using shorter standards unusually
high. N o clear generalizations that link pitch and Foot-lengths are in
fact possible.
Another way to test the validity of the hypothesis that instruments
were made following local length standards is to compare the pitches
of individual makers. I f the instruments vary in pitch, we can con-
clude either that a length standard was not applied, or that a number
of different standards were used (which amounts to the same thing as
far as we are concerned). Graph 3, for instance, shows the pitches of
woodwinds made by a number of individual Nuremberg makers; the
The Evidence 35
spread is wide enough to make it impossible t o detect a particular

pitch that might be t h e result of a woodwind maker's Foot-rule used
there.
A one-to-one correspondence between length standards and pitch
standards t h u s appears difficult to find. Rather than match instru-
m e n t s t o given length dimensions, it seems this approach is more
fruitful in observing geometric proportions, as this will give insights
into general instrument design."'
1-6 Factors T h a t Determine t h e Accuracy and Credibility of Evi-

dence from Instruments
T h e t w o essential qualities of usable pitch information are accuracy

and relevance. T h e pitch frequency m u s t be plausible, in other words,
and must be linked to a specific time, place, and/or function. T h e tun-
ing fork usually satisfies t h e first condition well, for instance, but fails
t h e second, because it is difficult t o k n o w whether, when, and how
most forks were used.
Factors that can distort t h e accuracy of a pitch observation include
temperature, physical alterations, wood shrinkage, t h e nominal pitch
of t h e instrument, t h e place and date of origin, t h e quality of informa-
tion, and anachronistic playing techniques.
I-6a Temperature
Aside f r o m wind pressure (which has a relatively small influence o n

pitch), temperature is a major factor in organ pitch. It has been calcu-
lated that a difference of 7OC corresponds roughly t o a difference of 5
Hz. J.-A. Villard, organist at Poitiers Cathedral, wrote m e that
the organ was originally tuned by Clicquot in December 1790;for this

reason it is only 3/4 of a tone below the modern pitch of 435 [sic]. As a
result, it is noticeably higher in summer when it is 25 or 26 degrees
[centigrade] in the loft in July or August; a difference, therefore, of
more than 15" to 18"with the temperature in December.
36 Chapter I
T h i s means that the Poitiers organ, measured at 400 Hz, could vary
about 50 cents, or as much as 12 Hz between extremes."' Such a varia-
tion in flue pipes was probably normal in the 18Ih century, depending
o n the local weather.
Temperature is much less of a consideration o n woodwind instru-
ments, which are activated by the breath of the player rather t h a n a
bellows. Woodwinds play low when cold, but reach a "warmed up"
steady temperature after a few minutes of playing. Players w a r m their
instruments not only t o bring t h e m t o pitch, but because they d o not
otherwise respond or resonate as well as possible. If it is extremely
cold o r warm, the ambient temperature is a factor, particularly in lar-
ger ensembles where winds d o not play constantly. But in a room at a
moderate temperature, a woodwind instrument will begin t o speak
and sound normally after 7-8 minutes, and its Pitch will have risen
about 15 cent^."^ T h e pertinent question is really how long a wood-
wind instrument has been continually played when its pitch is meas-
ured; in other words, whether it is considered by the player t o be
warmed up."5 A t that point, ambient temperature measurements
(unless extreme) are irrelevant.
I-6b Physical Alterations
Later doctoring of woodwinds was usually for the purpose of raising

their pitch. Removing material was the most common method, either
by enlarging recorder windows and traverso embouchures, or shorten-
ing joints (as discussed previously). Alterations of this kind are usu-
ally detectable. Obviously, in measuring pitch, instruments should be
examined for possible modifications.
I-6c W o o d Shrinkage
W o o d is the primary material of most of the musical instruments t h a t

yield historical pitch evidence. But with age, wood shrinks, and this
affects pitch. Shrinkage (and cracking) of woodwinds is caused by wa-
ter loss as a result of ambient humidity. W a t e r content in living box-
wood (the wood normally used for smaller woodwinds until the early
The Evidence 37
century) is about 30 percent; by the time the wood is worked, it is

about 10-15 percent,"6 and an instrument made in the first half of the
18'~ century will probably now have a level of about 6 percent."'
T h e recorder maker Philippe Bolton* reports that bore shrinkage is
quite common o n recorders he has made and reserviced after 10 years.
O n a recorder o r traverso, a smaller air volume results in a higher
pitch. Mathiesen and Mathiesen concluded that a change of I percent
in the humidity of the wood of a recorder corresponds to a rise of 1/3
Hz (3.8,4 cents) in the tone ar."' Since the percentage of humidity loss
for instruments made in the 18Ihcentury-that have not been regularly
played since then-is on the order of 6 percent, this theory suggests
that an 18'~-centuryrecorder's pitch was originally about 23 cents (or
about 6 Hz at a ~ lower
) than it is now.
Because most woodwinds are made from quartered sections and
wood shrinks to a different degree in different directions, original
woodwind bores are almost always oval now rather than r ~ u n d . " ~
Cary Karp'IOhas estimated that the present bore diameter of an early
boxwood instrument is probably about 0.985 of its original one."' Ax-
ial shrinkage (i.e., length) is less: about 0 . ~ ~ 3 . " '
A common rule of t h u m b for calculating original bores is the re-
lation
where D is the original diameter and a and b are the present major and
minor axes.'" Thus, if a and b are different (in other words, if the
original instrument's bore is oval), D, the original diameter, was even
larger than the present m a x i m u m bore. Fred Morgan reported that if
he took the maximum axis of an original recorder, his copies played 5
Hz lower than the model had.IJ4 But considering the discussion above,
even the present maximum axis is not as big as the bore when t h e in-
strument was first made, as both axes have shrunk to some degree.
Ivory was also sometimes used for woodwinds. It does not react to
humidity in the same way as wood. In the short term, it is less stable;
an ivory instrument will change measurably in dimensions after an
hour of playing, but the changes are only temporary. Although ivory
does shrink somewhat with time,'" an ivory instrument is probably
closer now t o its original dimensions than one made of wood. It is
38 Chapter r
therefore instructive t o compare the pitches of instruments by makers

w h o worked in both material^."^
I n the case of cornetts, the amount of shrinkage would have an in-
significant affect on pitch because of t h e proportionally large size of
t h e bore."'
T h e effect of shrinkage o n clarinets and hautboys, whose bores d o
n o t contract, is the reverse of the "flutes;" re-reaming of new instru-
m e n t s after they have been played in causes t h e m t o go up in pitch. A
shrunken hautboy thus plays lower t h a n when it was new, not higher.
T h e factor of shrinkage also affects the internal intonation of
woodwinds, as Ronald Laszewsky* has observed.'" Because t h e pat-
terns of change to different sections of the range are complicated t o
analyze and no doubt vary in different kinds of instruments, they
have not been considered here, except in the effort to avoid taking a
general pitch based o n only a few notes o r a single note.
I-6d Nominal Pitch
Nominal pitch is an issue with recorders in different sizes. A n F-alto

recorder at A + o could also have been a G-alto at A-2, for instance: t o
which pitch was it in fact tuned? By the 1 8 ' ~century, the treble o r alto
w i t h fr as the 7-fingered note had become the standard size. I n ca.1732,
T h o m a s Stanesby Jr. indicated that recorder players played any in-
strument as if it were in F (i.e., recorder parts were normally trans-
posed):
when the size of the Flute is chang'd, tho' the Performer is told by the
Tone of the Flute that the lowest Note speaks B, or C, or D, yet he
still calls it F, and so every Note is call'd F, in its turn, tho' a t the same
time it is insensibly to the Performer Transpos'd to its proper Note by
help of the Flute."'
MontCclair used the same system in his opera Jephte' (1732x64). All t h e
various sizes of recorder were notated "comme si o n joiioit de la taille"
("as if one were playing the a l t ~ " ) . ' ~T"h i s same notational device is
seen in Sammartini's concerto for "fifth flute," notated in F for the
other instruments but in B b for the recorder (which, if played o n a
The Evidence 39
fifth flute, i.e., a soprano recorder, but read as o n an alto, would sound
in F, the key of the other instruments).
For the sake of comparison, all recorders used in this study have
been assumed in principle t o be in either F o r C except the following:
I. Voice Flutes in dl;

2. Those that would end u p in pitches beyond the range of A-2 o r
A +2 . 1 ~ ~
I-6e Locating and Dating
If pitch changed at various times and places, it is important t o know

the date and location of an instrument's manufacture. In general we
can assume that the pitch of an early instrument represents a standard
in use in the place where it was made. Although well-known makers
like the Denners probably received orders from outside their region, it
is reasonable t o assume they worked with standard model^.'^"
Establishing exact dates of surviving early woodwinds is problem-
atic. T h e instruments are rarely dated, and woodwind makers' stamps
could sometimes represent the work not of individuals but of work-
shops run by family members o r successors. Woodwind stamps could
therefore indicate company names just as "Ford" does for automobiles.
Indications of period (if not date) are often present, however. Ex-
amples are the style of turnery and the numbers of keys. Some work-
shops, like that of Jacob Denner, operated under special permission
from the relevant guild, and authorization t o use the master stamp
would not have been transferable after a master's deathsr4'Some of the
uncertainty in dating is also balanced by approaching pitch history in
short periods as is done here, since active workshop dates seldom ex-
ceeded this span by much.
I-6f Quality of Information
All t h e instrumental pitch information listed in the Appendices came

from named sources w h o were aware that the data they supplied was
t o be used in a pitch study. Most sources are professional players and
40 Chapter I
makers. When possible, instruments were tried by more than one

player. T h e range of pitch of the early woodwinds when played by
professional players was about 15 cents, about the same as differences
on instruments of the modern orchestra.
As discussed above, since the concern here is with Pitch standards,
which in practice vary around a center depending on many factors, the
degree of exactness is considerably less than what is normally used in
the science of acoustics. That difference in tolerance is conscious and
deliberate (cf. 0-2 on appropriate frequency tolerance).
Because musicians tend to think in terms of standards rather than
cycles per second, some instruments get classified according to pre-
conceived pitch "frequencies." A generic concept like "415," for in-
stance, used approximately (exactly as we use the term "A-I" here) is
sometimes applied to instruments that are more specifically at, say,
410 or 422. As in the case of organ restorations, there is a tendency to
gravitate towards the reference points musicians know, especially 440
and 415, and these values are probably represented more commonly
than they deserve.
I-6g Anachronistic Playing Techniques
T h e data used for this study obviously depends on the playing tech-
niques of modern musicians. T h e last generation has seen the devel-
opment on a large scale of professional performers on historical in-
struments and copies of them. T h e pitches used by these players are
not necessarily reliable historically, and may be influenced by anach-
ronistic techniques or preconceived notions of pitch standards. But the
variation is limited by the inflexibility and general playing tendencies
of the instruments they play, especially the winds.
In m y own experience, the natural tendency of players trained on
modern instruments is to use more pressure and tension on early in-
struments than necessary (in the form of tenser stringing, faster air-
streams, tighter embouchures, and heavier reeds). T h e longer players
work with 18'~-centuryinstruments, the more relaxed their technique
seems to become. This is, I think, a measure of the distance they are
gradually able to take from their original training. Since higher ten-
sion and pressure normally result in higher pitch, the logical conclu-
The Evidence 41
sion is that, coming from a matrix of modern technique, contempo-

rary players are more likely t o play early instruments higher than they
were originally meant to be ~ l a y e drather
, than lower.
1-7 Frequency Measurements in and 1 8 ' ~ - ~ e n t Studies

ur~ of
Acoustics and Vibration Theory
Frequency measurements in studies of acoustics and vibration theory

f r o m the and 1 8 ' ~ century resemble the information available from
tuning forks; it is of great exactness and accuracy, but is usually diffi-
cult t o associate with real musical situations. As with forks, its main
use is for corroborating other evidence. Here is a short survey of sig-
nificant developments:
J o h n Wallis established the existence of vibration nodes in 1677. As
Dostrovsky wrote,144" T h e basic ideas of vibration theory were formu-
..
lated during the seventeenth century. . T h a t pitch can be identified
with frequency was a major discovery of the seventeenth century, and
this identification made possible very precise measurements of rela-
tive f r e q ~ e n c i e s . " ' ~ '
In about 1682, Christiaan Huygens developed an instrument using
rotating wheels that a sound against which another could be
compared, thus allowing him t o measure frequency. Using this
method, he measured the D of his harpsichord at 547 cps (= A-409, or
A - I ~ / ~ ) . ' is
~ ~ notes also contain a sketch that may depict a siren that
could have been used to measure frequencies.
T h e writings of Joseph Sauveur o n music, published by the
AcadCmie Royale des Sciences at P a r i ~ , ' ~ dealt
' with, among other sub-
jects, standard frequency, including specific pitch indication^.'^^ Sau-
veur made important advances in the study of frequency in relation to
H i s report in 1700 ( P . ~ j of ~ ) the pitch of a harpsichord, accu-
rate t o within a few percent,"0 yields an a1 at 404 Hz, o r A-1!/2."' Sau-

veur seems to have been the first t o determine frequency by means of
beats."' As Dostrovsky explains, " T h e absolute frequencies of a pair of
tones can be calculated from their frequency difference (given by the
beat rate"') and their frequency ratio. .. Newton used Sauveur's re-
sult for his check o n the velocity of sound .. ."'" Sauveur later used
another method for determining frequency based on the properties of
Chapter I
a string. Dostrovsky writes, "In 1713 Sauveur ingeniously derived

Mersenne's Law with a constant of proportionality for the ideal string
.
that was [nearly] correct. . . In the same year Brook ~ a y l o r also '~~
gave a derivation. His style of analysis belongs to the 1 8 ' ~century,
Sauveur's to the I ~ ' ~ . '"" Sauveur's recorded measurements of the pitch
of a harpsichord in 1713 can be calculated to yield an a1 at 404/405
HZ.'" Other indications of pitch found in Sauveur's writings yield alps
at 421, 415 and 410 Hz.159
Although Ellis (1880:36) observed that "Sauveur mentions no par-
ticular clavecin, or organ, or opera, so that his results can only be
looked upon in the light of experiments," it can be reasonably as-
sumed that his frequent mention of ton de chapelle and ton d'opira refer
to the standard pitches in Paris in his day.
Sauveur was well-known in his time as an advocate of pitch stan-
dardization; both Adlung and Mattheson mention him in their writ-
ings.16" T h e son fixe that he proposed in 1701 as a standard frequency
reference was loo cps. In 1713 he revised this and proposed instead a
new theoretical pitch for use in physics (still known as "Sauveur pitch"
or "philosophical [i.e., scientific] pitch"). Middle CI was to equal 256 Hz,
making a1=431.The attraction of this frequency to Sauveur and later
physicists was its mathematical logic: it was based on C calculated by
powers of two. It seems to have had no particular reference to the mu-
sical practice of Sauveur's day, h ~ w e v e r . ' ~
Rasch
' comments, "It was
never applied in musical practice, but it has been and is being used
from time to time in papers of a scientific or pseudo-scientific na-
t~re.'"~~
In 1706 the physicist and mathematician V.F. Stancari, building o n
Sauveur's work, reported experiments with a toothed wheel of his in-
vention that he believed made it possible to measure the vibration fre-
quencies of sound. T h e experimental method involved appears to have
been valid,16' and Stancari measured the pitch of the organs at S
Petronio in Bologna. His results can be calculated to give an A at 386
Hz. Since Bologna was at the time politically under the control of the
Vatican, and Corista di S Pietro was A=384, this pitch is quite plausible.
But Barbieri notes that the organist L.F. Tagliavini is certain that the
B o l o p e s e organs were never that low (Barbieri reluctantly concludes
that Stancari's measurement was in error).'64
The Evidence 43
In 1712 t h e English mathematician Brook Taylor (of w h o m w e pos-

sess a portrait holding a recorder and another beside a harpsichord)
first published t h e correct derivation of a vibrating string equation (f =
1 / 2 ~ 2J T / ~ ) , ' ~ 'which later became k n o w n as "Taylor's Formula" and
served as t h e basis for further experimentation in acoustics during t h e

18'~ In 1713 Taylor reported experiments indicating pitches
for a harpsichord at 383 and about 390.'67
Leonhard Euler, working with Taylor's theories, measured a pitch
of A-395.7 for a n instrument in chorali mod0 (sic) in 1727, a "keyboard"
in ca.1731 at 392.2, and a n "instrumentis musicis" at 418.168Euler worked
at various places during his lifetime, including Berlin, Basel, and St.
~etersburg.'~~
In a letter written in 1742, t h e physicist Giordano Riccati stated
that t h e C of the organ at S Antonio, Padua sounded at 146 vibrations
per second (= A-493 o r A+2), whereas t h e C of a French organ sounded
at 122 vibrations per second (= A-409 o r A-1V2; perhaps from Sauveur's
measurement). From this he concluded that Italian organs were a m3
higher than those of France.I7O
Robert S m i t h published his Harmonics in 1749. S m i t h used a
weighted monochord to measure t h e pitch of the T r i n i t y College or-
gan at Cambridge built by B. Smith, which had originally been ex-
actly a tone higher.I7' T h e results are calculated in Ellis under 395.2 and
441.7.
In 1762 Daniel Bernoulli described experiments o n t h e sound and
pitch of organ pipes, using t h e French "pied de roi" and "pouce de
Paris.""' H e reported that the note he called " C choral" was "environ
116 vibrations dans une seconde d e temp^,"'^' which translates t o a n A
of about 390 HZ."*
Heinrich Lambert, working at Berlin, reported in 1775 that his flute
produced a n at at 415.25 Hz.I7' H e concluded that
the pitches on my flute are about a semitone higher than those pro-
duced by the instruments that were used for terms of comparison in
the experiment by Messrs. Euler and Bernoulli. . . . Such differences
are frequently observed in instruments made in different countries
and by different maker^."^
44 Chapter I
I n 1787 Ernst Chladni at St. Petersburg is said t o have recorded cer-

tain frequencies in terms of musical pitches.'77 Also at St. Petersburg,
t h e composer Giuseppe Sarti repeated in 1796 Sauveur's famous ex-
periment published in 1 ~ 0 1 . "Sarti
~ recorded an A at 436 c ~ s . ' ~ ~
Chladni in 1802 talked of a gradual pitch rise since the earlier re-
ports of Euler in 1727 and Marpurg in 1752. Euler had given pitches of
396, 392, and 418. A report in 18-5~""claimed that Marpurg had given
t h e Berlin opera pitch in 1752 as about 422, and in 1776 Marpurg had es-
timated the Berlin A as 414 HZ.'" According t o Chladni, certain or-
chestras (presumably in Germany) had already risen above his pro-
posed pitch of 427.'82
1-8 Cases W h e r e Both Standard and Frequency Are Known
Forty-two organs survive from Austria (2), England (2), France (2),
G e r m a n y (27), and Holland (9)18' with original pitch frequencies that
are known and with pitches that were also identified by name in con-
tracts o r reports at the time they were built. T h e y are listed in Appen-
dix I. T h i s evidence has obvious authority, and indicates the following
relationships:
I. T h e r e are 12 organs at Cornet-ton within a range of 450-467, aver-

aging 462. T h i s level agrees well with the pitch of cornetts (see
I-3a).
2. T h e r e are 10 examples of Chorton which, although they average
465, range over three levels ( A t o , A ~ I and, Atz), and are
pitched as high as 487 and as low as 437.
3. Cammerton (12 examples) is remarkably consistent with a narrow
range from 408 to 416 and an average of 4~4.'84
From this, it is apparent that Chorton was a general concept rather

than a specific frequency; in the 1 8 ' ~century it could have been any
pitch from A t o t o At2. Cornet-ton and Cammerton, by contrast, were
specific and consistent in frequency even over several periods, and can
therefore be used as reference points for finding other pitches. W e
will discuss all these standards in more detail in the chapters that fol-
The Evidence
Notes
I. Boyden 1965:2.
2. Bessaraboff 1941:357.
.
3 T h e data is given in a more complete form in the appendices of my doc-
toral dissertation (Haynes
4 . These lists include more instruments than the ones I used in my disserta-
tion.
5. I sent at least one letter (and often several follow-ups) t o every owner of
traversos, clarinets, and recorders listed in Young 1993. 1 have also corre-
sponded with a number of organists, builders, and organ experts. Information
is difficult to collect, however, because (beyond failure to respond at all)
many individual owners and small museums lack the expertise to measure
instrument pitches.
6. Ellis 1880:32.
7. T h i s is true on the Continent. English pitch being different, instruments
made there (including cornetts) must be regarded as an exception.
8. As late as 1801,a handbook written by Johann Andreas Streicher and put
out by the Stein piano company, then in Vienna, sternly instructed its clients
to tune "allezeit nach der Stimmgabel," and that this latter "muss auf das
richtigste mit den Blasinstrumenten, wie sie in dem O r t e iiblich sind, gleich
stehen."
9. Gierveld 1977:183.
11. "Toon" in Dutch is pronounced approximately like "tone" in English. See
further examples in 4-?a.
12. Praetorius (1618b:III:lzz) used the word "Schwarz" to distinguish the
curved cornett ("Cornu buccina") from the straight "Gelbe" mute cornett.
13. For a more detailed discussion, see Haynes 1994c, section 3.
14. Tr. Crookes 46. I am indebted to Herbert W. Myers for this reference.
15. Mendel 1978:24.
16. Graham Nicholson*.
17. See also Haynes 1994b and Haynes 1991;:421-28.
18. Cf. also 2-2a1.
19. Mersenne stated in Proposition XXII that he had been careful to give the
cornett's dimensions very exactly.
20. Length calculations made by Herbert W. Myers*.
2 1 . Cornett pitch is discussed further in 2-2a1.
22. Filadelfio Puglisi*; in determining pitch, he states "For Renaissance flutes
I very much prefer to go by speaking length." Pitches and speaking lengths of
surviving instruments correlate well.
23. Puglisi 1988:76.
24. Cf. Haynes 1995:418 and Thomas 1975.
25. For a discussion of nominal pitch on Renaissance flutes, see Haynes
1995:430+
26. Praetorius 1618:16.Tr. based on Crookes.
Chapter I
27. J o h n Solum*.
28. Quantz 1752, Ch. IV 515.
29. Kujiken also reports playing a Bizey traverso at the Horniman Museum
(Ex Dolmetsch M43-1982) on two different occasions, once at 392 and once at
402 (a difference of about 43 cents); this was, however, an exceptional case.
30. Roderick Cameron*; Friedrich von Huene*; Jeffery Cohan*; Oleskiewicz
1998a:144.
31. Cohan points out that the bore of the longest joint appears shinier (from
swabbing), the tone holes are a little rounded, and the tenons are compressed
o n the outside much more than the other joints (although the bore has been
re-reamed to remain as big as the other joints).
32. Heyde (1986:175) suggests that when a traverso has alternate joints, it is
possible to determine which is the main one because the spacing of its tone
holes are in a logical geometrical proportion, while those of the others are ex-
tensions. Cf. Bouterse 2001:473, who finds that with Dutch traversos, the
longest corps was probably the best; I have accordingly given this pitch in
Appendix 4.
33. By convincing "internal intonation" I mean that standard fingerings pro-
duce notes reasonably close to a 55-yart octave (approximately $4- t o 1/6-
comma meantone), as described by 18"-century sources on non-keyboard tun-
ing such as Tosi, Telemann, Quantz, and Mozart (see Haynes 1 ~ ~ 1 ) .
34. Embouchure shape is discussed in Powell 1995e in connection with a re-
construction of a traverso whose embouchure hole was replaced.
35. T h e differences in recorder pitch noted by Bouterse (too1:226-z7) are diffi-
cult to understand unless the players were inexperienced or untrained.
36. On most recorders, the sidewalls of the window are close to go0 with re-
spect to the labium slope (with a few exceptions, such as Van Aardenberg;
see Bouterse 2001:219). The pitch is raised when these walls are opened up, so
original instruments with open sidewalls may have been altered.
37. Fleurot 1984:129.
38. K. Ridley quoted in Mendel 1978:22n17.
39. Cf. Ross 1985. Nicholas Shackleton* points out that other factors that may
not be obvious can affect pitch, such as a barrel, mouthpiece, or top joint that
has been shortened. Shackleton showed me a clarinet made by Hale (succes-
sor to Collier soon after 1785) with small dots marked on the tenon ledge that
would have been removed if the instrument had been shortened; another
Hale at the New York Metropolitan Museum has the same dots. Their exis-
tence is a guarantee that the instruments were not shortened.
40. Nicholas Shackleton*. Shackleton adds that most late 18th-century clari-
nets can be pulled apart a little between the joints, making the effect of an in-
appropriate mouthpiece a little less evident.
41. Shackleton finds that in order to achieve good intonation over the range,
instruments often require tuning rings in the lower socket of the barrel that
extend the instrument's length, and he surmises that such rings were used in
the 18"' century as well.
The Evidence
42. Albert R. Rice*.

43. Eric Hoeprich*.
44. Nicholas Shackleton*.
45. David Ross*.
46. Hopkins 1880:594.
47. Archival evidence can include churchwardens' accounts, vestry minutes,
organ builders' books, diary entries, and letters.
48. Original text quoted in 7-4a.
49. Williams 1980:loo.
50. Domenic Gwynn* writes that "What one looks for is evidence of the
building history, to give the provenance of the pipes, pipe movements, and
the odd reference to a type of pitch."
51. For more discussion on this point, see Haynes 1995:384ff.
52. Quoted in Barnes & Renshaw 1994:312.
53. A good account of methods of assessing historical organ pitch can also be
found in G w y n n 1985:65-66.
54. In order not to weaken confidence in actual reported pitches, I distin-
guished deduced pitches from direct measurements.
55. Cf. Mersenne 1636:169, Fabricius 1656, William Turner, 1697 (Tilmouth
1 ~ 5 ~ : 5 8John
), Shore (Hawkins 1 ~ ~ 6 : 1 I : ~Petit
~ t ) , ca.rjrqo:j~ and 33, Tans'ur
1746:57 quoted in Haynes 1995:540, a Hofkapelle inventory from Darmstadt
made in 1765 (Noack 196~:269),Dom Bedos 1766:35, Tans'ur 1767:71, Schulz
17713465,and Kiesewetter 1827:146, quoted in Haynes r995:542-43.
56. In W.S. Rockstro's The Life of George Fredet-ick Handel (1883).
57. Hawkins 1853/R1963:11:75z.
58. This passage is cited by Mattheson 1721:428.
59. G. Mancini (177~:82:n). T e x t quoted in Haynes 1995, Section I-5d.
60. Gall 1805:66.
61. W o r p 1915:IV:489.
62. North 1959:208.
63. Van Blankenburg 1739:11o.In 7-4a, there is mention of a "MCmoire" in the
archives of the OpCra reporting that in 1755 "le sieur Lot, maitre lutier," pro-
vided the OpCra at Paris with "nine bellows-blown [pitchpipes], needed to
fix the pitch of the OpCra's harpsichord."
64. Ellis, whose sense of precision led him to list his pitches to the tenth of a
Hz, was not enthusiastic about pitchpipes compared with tuning forks (cf.
1880:15). Cf. also Mendel 1~55/1968:188.
65. Inv. no. 1845. It is described by Dr. J.H. van der Meer* as a duct flute.
66. 1 am grateful to Rainer Weber for sending his measurement notes. T h e
side of the plunger that gives the Naples pitch also gives a whole octave scale.
T h e pitches were obtained by using a wind machine, and "the first note was
the same pitch as when blown with the mouth."
67. E.244.
68. Cf. Barbour 1951:85-87.
48 Chapter I
69. Cf. also Jean Baptiste Clicquot's "diapason ambulant" of 1746 and van
Heurn's "Stemfluit" (1804:z93), mentioned in Haynes 19953~46.
70. Hubbard 1965:64.
71. T h e concept of "critically stressed strings" seems to be accepted among
violinists as well (cf. Segerman in I-5b below).
72. O'Brien 1990:56. Darryl Martin (zool:~,note 2) believes that strings sound
best just below their breaking point because of a reduction of inharmonicity
in the string.
73. Wraight 1997:190.
74. 1722, now in the Villa Bertramka (Mozart Museum), Prague; and 1739,
now in SchloR Pillnitz near Dresden. Cf. also Kinsky 1940:15. T h e bigger in-
strument was probably played by W.A. Mozart at the Nostitz Palace in Pra-
gue in the Fall of 1787 when Don Giovanni was premiered.
.
75 Martin zoor:z7ff.
7 6 . Ray Nurse*.
77. Original text quoted in Hodgson 1985:59.
78. See 3-6.
79. PreuRner 1949:128.
80. North rgy9:zjo.
81. Smithers 1988:204.
82. Smithers 1988:96-97.
83. Van der Heide 1996:47,49,51.
84. Graham Nicholson*. Cf. Madeuf, Madeuf, and Nicholson ( I ~ ~ ~ ) .
85. As will be discussed in 2-jb, Praetorius used the word CammerThon here to
mean A + I .
86. Praetorius 1618:jz-33. Trans. based on Crookes.
87. T h i s principle does not always work, as for instance in the zd Branden-
burg Concerto, apparently written for a trumpet a whole-step higher than
normal (see 6-3).
88. Cf. also the observation by Michel Piguet ( I ~ on ~ his
~ )experience playing
the same instrument at 415 in 1963 and 405 in 1982.
89. Cf. Haynes 2001:93-99 on "Hautboy pitch," which distinguishes four gen-
eral lengths among surviving instruments and suggests corresponding pitch
levels.
90. Gibiat and Laloe 1990.
91. Escalas, Gibiat, and Barjau 2002.
92. Cf. Segerman 1985e and Segerman 1988a.
93. See also Thomas and Rhodes 1971:63 on Praetorius's illustration of a violin
with string length of 30.5 cm.
94. Butler used a articular English orthography he had himself invented.
95. Kellner 1956:357. Amati would probably have thought of his instrument as
at tuono corista.
96. Owens 1995:330.
97. Not "somewhere between 466.16 and 493.88," as Bunjes 1966:731 thought.
The Evidence 49
98. Mendel (1978) states his basic principles in using voices in a section start-
ing on page 47.
99. Roger Bowers and David Wulstan in English choral practice, 1400-16~0,ed.
John Morehen.
loo. Schlick 1511,"Das Ander Capittel."
101. Praetorius 1618:18.Tr. based on Crookes.
102. Ravens 1998:126.
103. See Blades 1980:20:564.
104. Mozart's Quintet KV 617 was an exception.
105. I am obliged for this information to Prof. Dr. W . M . Meier of the Institut
fur Kristallographie und Petrographic, ETH-Zentrum, Zurich.
106. Mendel 1978:80, Stradner 1994.
107. See Lloyd 1954:797-98. Cf. also Ellis 1880:15,although the degree of accu-
racy he discusses is meaningless in a musical context: "As forks are tuned by
filing, which not only heats them, but unsettles their molecular arrange-
ments-at least, in part-it is necessary to let them cool and rest for several
days, sometimes for weeks, before their pitch can be depended on for scien-
tific accuracy."
108. Quoted in Mendel 1978:80 n.90.
109. Thomas & Rhodes 1980:14:782. For another view of Lully's pitch, see 2-6c.
110. Dshnert (1985:71) points out that Adlung used the Rhenish Foot in his
measurements. H e was also able to determine by a comparison of pertinent
documents that Saxon organ builders, including G. Silbermann, as well as
organists and cantors responsible for organ examinations, reckoned according
to the Saxon Foot.
111. Adopting the French length measurement would presumably imply
adopting French pitch as well, a prospect that seemed not to have bothered
Adlung at all in 1758.
112. T h e Catholic Court Chapel organ by G. Silbermann and Z. Hildebrandt,
completed in 1754.
113. See Bormann 1968:102.
114. It is difficult to judge how literal Bormann's transcription of Bruder's
original is; length measurements, for instance, are converted to mm.
115. See 2-5a.
116. T h e metric system was not in general use until about the middle of the
19th century.
1x7. This assumes occasional rounding off and tolerance, the degree depend-
ing o n the instrument and its condition. Other mitigating factors include
wood shrinkage (usually more relevant for diameters than lengths) and a lack
of sufficient documentation on early length measurement standards. See also
Ellis 1885:511.
118. See Heyde 1986:70.
119. Cf. Kirnbauer & Krickeberg 1987:272, who found little evidence that Den-
ner and Schell followed the length standards at Nuremberg.
SO Chapter I
120. See Coates 1985322, which suggests

-.
that the Brunswick inch was common
in many places, including Venice.
121. These figures are taken from Heyde 1986:71ff.
122. Cf. Coates 1985 and Adkins 1999.
123. 394 to 406.
124. Leipp & Castellengo ( 1 ~ ~ 7 : 1 6determined
) that the air-column of modern
woodwinds stabilizes after only about 3 to 4 minutes of normal playing. T h i s
seems short to me. J. Mollenhauer & Sohne wrote that a clarinet that plays at
A-435 at a temperature of I ~ O Cwill rise to A-443 at 2y°C (see Zopf 14).
125. T h e same question is discussed in Rousseau 1768:57.
126. Karp 1978:14 gives "usually IZVO." A.M. Moonen* reports that the recorder
maker Hans Coolsma in Utrecht has found the ideal water content to be 12
percent.
127. Mathiesen and Mathiesen 1986. There is disagreement about the amount
of shrinkage that has occurred on 18"'-centur~boxwood woodwinds.
128. Mathiesen and Mathiesen 1986. O n the effect of bore diameter on the
m itch of cylindrical and conical woodwinds, see Myers 198x47-48.
129. I use the word "oval" in a general
- sense; as Paul Hailperin* observes, the
deformity caused by drying is not regular. I do not mean to imply here that
all ovality is caused by shrinkage, although shrinkage is no doubt a factor in
one way or another on any woodwind two to three centuries old.
130. 1978:16-17.
131. Based on his correction factor of 1.015 for an unshrunken bore; cf. his For-
mula z in Appendix 4, p.26. Many factors are involved in extrapolating
original bores from existing ones: among others, wood-type, current humid-
ity of the wood, place of manufacture, current age, details of manufacture
(windway on flitch or rays), etc. A.M. Moonen*, in studying the process of
woodwind bore measurement, has concluded that boxwood shrinks initially
but remains relatively stable thereafter.
132. Mathiesen and Mathiesen 1986:177.
133. This formula was kindly passed on to me by Ronald M. Laszewski*. Paul
Hailperin* writes that he was told about it by Bob Marvin and has used it
since 1970 or 1971.
134. Morgan 1982:17-18.
135. Cf. von Huene lggy:108.
136. T h e highest pitch of three wooden traversos by Jacob Denner averages
about 5 H z higher than his surviving ivory instrument, which suggests that
the wooden instruments were originally about 5 H z lower than they now
play.
137. Graham Nicholson*.
138. Cf. also Bouterse ~001:~28-29, 232.
139. Quoted in Higbee 1962:57.
140. Cf. Eppelsheim 196~75.J.G. Walther, also in 1732, gives the range of the
"Fldte i bec, oder FlBte douce" as fr to g3 without mentioning any other sizes
or ranges. In France, the "flite ii bec" had this same range at least as early as
T h e Evidence 51
Freillon-Poncein's Veritable manihre ( 1 ~ 0 0 ) .Cf. also Hotteterre's Principes

(1707). O n t h e fingering of Dieupart's suites for "fourth flute" and more o n
t h e general question of nominal pitch o n t h e recorder, see Lasocki 198j:ylzff.
T h e same principle applied t o t h e tenor hautboy in a hautboy band, often
w r i t t e n i n C2 clef s o it could be fingered as if it were a normal treble hautboy
(see T i l m o u t h 1 ~ 5 ~ : 2 0 2 ) .
141. T h e result of this method, of course, is t o exclude t h e possibility o f in-
s t r u m e n t s built in pitches more e x t r e m e t h a n t h e major third discussed i n
this study.
142. C f . Kirnbauer & Krickeberg 1987:251 and Kirnbauer & T h a l h e i m e r 1995:91.
143. See Kirnbauer and T h a l h e i m e r 1995.
144. 1975:169-170.
145. Clear overviews and explanations o f 17th- and 18th-century indications of
t h e pitches of musical i n s t r u m e n t s by physicists are given in Karp 1984:9-16
a n d Karp 1989:1ygff.
146. Dostrovsky 1975:zo1. T h i s harpsichord may have been t h e Couchet
bought by his father, C o n s t a n t i j n H u y g e n s , in about 1648, which w a s tuned
t o "corista" or "den rechten toon" (see 2-3 and I-4a).
147. Sauveur was a m e m b e r of the AcadCmie. For a general assessment of
Sauveur's work related t o music, see C o h e n 1981:zqff.
148. Sauveur was a t u t o r at t h e court of Louis XIV, and held t h e chair of
mathematics at t h e C o l k g e Royal (Dostrovsky 1975:zor). See also M e n d e l
1978:89 and T h o m a s & Rhodes 1980:782.
149. See Truesdell 1980:16:~24.
150. Dostrovsky 1975:zo1.
151. Barbieri 1980:19n6. A detailed list o f t h e weights and measures used by
Sauveur can be found in Rasch Introduction (see Sauveur), p.24. C f . also Lind-
ley 1987:219 and Ellis 1880:36 under 406.6.
152. Dostrovsky, Bell, and Truesdell 1980:665.
153. Defined by Dostrovsky 1975:202, as "periodic fluctuations of loudness
produced by t h e superposition of tones of close, but not identical, frequen-
cies." Dostrovsky points out that "there is n o indication that beats were un-
derstood before Sauveur."
154. Fontenelle 1700 (which is a n introduction and resum6 of Sauveur 1701)
explains the method concisely and clearly. H e points o u t there ( p . ~ j 9 )that
Sauveur was, for a n u n k n o w n reason, unable t o repeat his experiment for a
c o m m i t t e e appointed t o test it. M a t t h e s o n (1721:~28ff)discussed Sauveur's
and Fontenelle's articles.
155. See Rasch 25.
156. See below.
157. Dostrovsky, Bell, and Truesdell 1980:666. Karp 1984x6 analyzes Sauveur's
report.
158. See Rasch 26. Ellis 1880:36 gives 408.
159. Reported in Rasch 25-26.
160. A d l u n g 1758:376, Mattheson 1721:428ff.
52 Chapter I
161. This fact leads one to wonder if Sauveur's other Son f i x e at loo cps was
determined with any more relation to practical music. Sauveur was, in fact,
deaf (Bardez 1975:31).
162. Karp (1989:161) comments, "It may be worth noting that many tuning
forks have been made to the scientific scale (i.e., "Sauveur pitch"), and it may
not always be possible to distinguish them from tuning forks made for musi-
cal reference."
163. Barbieri 1980:17.
164. This is confirmed in Barbieri 1987:225.
165. Where f = frequency, L = length, T = tension, and m = linear mass or
weight per unit of length.
166. Sauveur in 1713 had published similar observations (see Dostrovsky
1975:189).
167. See Cannon and Dostrovsky 1981:19, Karp 1984:10,and Karp 1989:160.
168. Ellis 1880:36 under 418.0. Marpurg 1776:65 cites Euler's pitch at 392.
169. Anonymous article "Leonard Euler," NGr 6:292. See also Ellis 1880:35 un-
der 392.2.
170. Quoted in Barbieri 1987:11:141. Cited also in Barbieri 1980:2jn14. Barbieri
writes that a new organ was commissioned by Pietro Nacchini in 1743, so the
pitch in question would have been that of the organ built by Michele Colberz
in ca.1718-22,which replaced a Casparini (cf. Oldham 1980d:j:81i9).
171. Smith 1749:202: the D on the Trinity College organ gave 262 vibrations:
an octave higher would be 524; modern C = 523. This was measured in Sep-
tember (Smith 1749~04).In November it was 254, on a hot day in August,
268. This is a range of about 380 to 403 Hz. See Ellis under 441.7.
172. See Cohen 1981:j4 for comments on this paper. Bernoulli had published
other reports on transversally vibrating rods (1742, pub. 1751) that measured
pitch frequencies, though not of specific musical instruments.
173. Pages 34-35.
174. See Karp 1984.
175. Karp 1984:14-15.This value is almost exactly a modern g#r in equal tem-
perament.
176. According to Ardal Powell*, Lambert also left Ms measurements of his
flute, with notes on its tuning.
177. According to Dostrovsky, Bell, and Truesdell 1980:669. I was not able to
locate these indications in the copy of Chladni 1787 that I examined.
178. Sarti 1796. See Barbieri 1986.
179. Barbieri 1986:225; also reported by CavaillC-Coll 185g:170. Sarti is men-
tioned by Ellis 1880:17: "his result is uncertain." See also Ellis 1880:42. T h e
experiment was also reported in Gerber 1812:11:21. A complete report of the
experiment can be found in Baroni and Tavoni 198j:zzj-9.
180. Probably CavaillC-Coll.
181. See Ellis 1880:?6 under 414.4. Chladni 1802:28 gave C-125, or the same as
Euler's A-418.
T h e Evidence 53
182, T h e copy I examined was published in 1809; the pages in that edition
were 28-30. C h l a d n i had measured C at W i t t e n b e r g in 1802 as 128 (according
t o Kiesewetter 18z7:148) and, sometime near 1827, C h l a d n i informed Kie-
sewetter of pitches he had measured at C-136 t o 138 (the latter about A + I ) .
T h e musical world had t h u s already gone beyond Chladni's ideal "scientific
183. In addition t o these, there are a n o t h e r 20 organs w i t h pitches t h a t were

n a m e d and frequencies t h a t can be deduced (2 English, 2 French, 12 G e r m a n ,
and 4 Dutch); see Appendix 7.
184. T h i s is w i t h t h e exception of t h e earliest example (1606), still a t A t 1
(Praetorius's CamrnevThon; see 2-3b).
Chapter 2
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of

ca. 1670
2-1 W h e n Pitch S t a n d a r d s Became Necessary
n t h e early 1 6 ' century,

~ c h u r c h choirs usually s a n g alone; instru-
m e n t s were actually forbidden i n t h e Sistine C h a p e l at Rome.
Singers simply set their pitch f o r each piece s o that its range
m a t c h e d comfortably their voices. A n d given t h e ranges of surviving
pieces in t h e vocal repertoire, it is apparent t h a t t h e y could n o t all
have been performed at t h e s a m e pitch level. T h i s m e a n s t h a t t h e
pitch reference for vocal groups performing w i t h o u t i n s t r u m e n t s w a s
n o t p e r m a n e n t l y fixed in t e r m s o f a n y absolute frequency level.'
I n 1765 G i u s e p p e Paolucci, w i t h unusual historical insight for h i s
time, w r o t e i n his Arte pratica di contrappunto (III:173):
Of composers even older than this [158~],'compositions can be seen in

which the parts are higher, but i t should first be said that these pieces
were sung without organ or any other instrument, and the singers
were consequently free to take a lower pitch if they wished, depending
on whether the parts went higher or lower, exactly as present-day
choirs do when they sing a Cantus Firmus, the pitch being chosen for
each piece. I t became the practice later for the organ and singers to an-
swer each other, that is, the organ interjected now one, now another
versetto, and thus being obliged to be at the organ's pitch, it was nec-
essary that composers adapted to the pitch of the organs.
By t h e first decade of t h e 1 6 ' c~e n t u r y , o r g a n s s e e m t o have been used

t o a c c o m p a n y choirs at St. Peter's i n Rome.] I n t h i s period, t h e organ
56 Chapter 2
alternated verses with the choir as Paolucci described. But for this
function, it had no need to be calibrated to a standardized pitch; it had
only to match the natural ranges of voices, and for the sake of practi-
cality, the pipes needed to be connected to the keyboard in a way that
allowed the organist to use simple tonalities. T h e "pitch" of the organ,
that is, the frequency of the note sounded by the key A, was simply a
function of vocal ranges.
An early indication of an appropriate pitch for church organs was
given by Arnolt Schlick in 1511. In his book Spiegef der Orgefmacher und
Organisten, Schlick printed lines in the margins to indicate the various
pipe-lengths he recommended. H e considered that
The instrument has to be pitched for the choir [dem Chor gemeB] and
.
be tuned suitably for playing with singers. . . However, people sing
higher or lower in one place than in another, according to whether
they have small or large voices.'
Schlick's term "Chor geme13" looks similar to the later terms "Chor-
ma&" and "ChormaJig/Cormesig," and his phrase "suitable for playing
with singersw sums up the meaning of these words. They appear to
represent the same idea as the reference in 1507 cited in 2-2a3 to "co-
risto a voce de homo over da coro" ("coristo, at [the level ofl a man's
voice or that of a choir") and Barcotto's organ "in voce umana, e si
chiamano corristi" ("corresponding to the human voice, which is
called corristi").'
Schlick's concern was not specific itch frequencies, since he added
that voices varied in their range. T h e length of his lines was based on
an estimate of the average range of choirs, a pitch that would usually
be appropriate. The issue was still where to place the keyboard in rela-
tion to the sound of the pipes, and apparently had no relation t o the
pitches of other instruments; it was an extension of the singers's con-
cern t o match the range of the piece to the range of their voices.
It must have been in this way that the pitches of organs were de-
cided in the generations before it became customary to use other
instruments in church besides the organ. Whether this can be called a
pitch standard is debatable, as 16'~-century organs (all presumably
"Chor gemell" or corristi) varied in absolute pitch (compare Graph 4a,
Italian organs built before 1670). Even into the 1 8 ' ~century, organs de-
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670 57
scribed by contemporaries as at ChormaJ3 could be a semitone aparta6

ChormaJ3 (and often Chorton, apparently) seems t o have been used to
describe an organ's relation t o the voices w h o sang with it rather than
a specific frequency. T h e need for a pitch standard in church did not
arise until other kinds of instruments began to be used there.
Instrumental ensembles began t o be commonly used in certain Ital-
ian churches in the early 1560s. "The regular use of [string] instru-
ments in sacred music may have originated with Lassus in the Bavar-
ian Court in Munich" by the 1560s o r slightly earlier.' A n account of
church music in Rome in the 1570s mentions the use of organ, cornett,
and sackbut, with the latter t w o used "among the quyre"8 (thus not in
alternatim Gioseffo Zarlino wrote of combining other in-
struments with the organ in 1588 (1V:31:212).~Niemoller found records
of the use of sackbuts in church services in Emden in the 157os, and
cornetts at the Catharinenkirche in Hamburg in 1592 (or earlier), Kiel
in 1570, etc.1° W e may assume t h e n that by the second half of t h e 1 6 ' ~
century agreements o n pitch standards had become necessary in
church.
W r i t i n g in 1618, Praetorius tells us in Syntagma musicum that "First
of all it should be said that pitch frequently varies in organs and other
instruments. T h i s is because playing together with all kinds of in-
struments was not a common practice among our ancestors."" T h e
phrase "playing together with all kinds of instruments" evidently re-
ferred t o a different practice from the usual one of playing in consorts
of like instruments often made at the same time by a single maker.
A description in ca.1571 of an "instrument chest" of 45 winds, in-
cluding large shawms, "Pfeiffen" (flutes), cornetts, a fife, and record-
ers made by members of the famous Bassano family included the re-
mark "they are all tuned with one another at the standard organ pitch
and are intended t o be played together."" T h i s appears t o be an exam-
ple of what Praetorius meant: diverse types of wind instruments ("all
kinds of instruments") designed t o play together at a single pitch
standard. It seems that t h e fact that all the instruments were at the
same pitch standard was unusual enough that it was worth noting; in
other words, instruments were not always at the same pitch. T h e
phrase "standard organ pitch" implies a generally recognized system
by the I570S, and perhaps also that organs and wind instruments were
normally tuned t o the same reference pitch in order t o be able t o per-
58 Chapter 2
form together. T h i s pitch may have been mezzo punto, the first pitch
name I have seen mentioned (in 1559, see below).
2-za Venice
Woodwind instruments, being less flexible, often turned out to be the

decisive factor in agreements o n pitch. For the whole of Europe in the
1 6 ' ~and centuries, Venice was the most important source of the
best woodwinds. Anthony Baines wrote,
Among the [cornett] survivors in the big collections, those of Ve-

netian manufacture predominate, which is appropriate, since Venice
seems to have been the principal focus of design during the period.
German courts, for instance, frequently bought their wooden wind in-
..
struments from Venice. . This, and the constant migration of play-
ers from one country to another, led to some degree of standardization
in instrumental playing-pitch.'l
Cornetts made in Venice were frequently exported to other parts of

Europe: a contract with the Bassanos in 1559 speaks of customers "qui
dela cita come de fora" ("here in Venice as well as abroad").I4 Vin-
cenzo Galilei (1581:146) said in his Dialogo della musica antica et della
moderna that the best cornetts of his day were made in Venice. After
describing a standard set of recorders, Praetorius (1618:34) mentioned
that "a whole consort of them can be bought in Venice for about 80
thalers." I n 1596 Archduke Ferdinand of Schloss Ambras owned "4
curved cornetts bought in Venice ...
one new doltana, bought from
Venice ...
one large consort recorder bought from Venice."" T h u s (as
it was t o do again from the late 1 8 ' ~century up until the present rno-
ment) Venetian pitch set the standard in the countries of Europe.
2-2a1 Mezzo Punto ( A + I )
I n 1577 the Cathedral organ at Feltre was repaired by the Federici firm,
in order "that the said organ be put in its regular pitch, that is, in the
cornett pitch of mezo ponto."'6 T h e t e r m "mezo ponto" was also associ-

ated w i t h cornetts in a contract d r a w n u p in 1559 between three Ve-
netian wind players in t h e service of the Doge of Venice and t w o in-
s t r u m e n t makers of t h e Bassano family:" "Loud [curved] cornetts,
both at mezo ponto and tuto ponto, four lire di piccoli each, m u t e cornetts
at all pitches [or sizes], 2 lire and 8 soldi each."
Mezzo punto and tutto punto were evidently widespread concepts in
t h e north of Italy by at least the end of the 1 6 ' ~
century, as a large or-
der made by the city of Genoa in April 1592 shows. T h e order was for
musical instruments f r o m Venice, and t h e instruments were described
as follows:
First, six mute cornetts, together in a case, in the pitch of tutto punto,
and made of boxwood; [then] six [non-mute] cornetts, whose pitch
should if possible be precisely mezzo punto, together in a case[,] of
boxwood, part for right-handed, part for left-handed players; [then]
six fiffari [shawms?], the pitch of which should be precisely mezzo
punto, in boxwood, in a common case; [then] eight recorders together
in a case, they should consist of two small sopranini, four larger, and
two tenors, lower than the four [previous] but without keys a t their
[bottom] ends, they should be at the pitch of mezzo punto and made of
boxwood. All the above instruments should be of quartered, well-
seasoned wood, and above all correctly pitched, and to obtain the best
quality one should go straight to Gianetto da Bassano of Venice, or
else "Instrument" Gerolamo, or Francesco Fabretti and brothers, be-
cause all of them are the most knowledgeable in these kinds of in-
struments.'8
It appears from these references that mezzo punto was t h e most com-
m o n pitch at t h e end of t h e 1 6 ' century
~ and t h e o n e associated w i t h
most woodwind instruments, though not with m u t e c ~ r n e t t s .If~
mezzo punto was t h e most c o m m o n cornett pitch, its frequency can be
determined f r o m surviving instruments, of which there is a reasonable
sample. G r a p h rd shows t h e pitches of 101 16'~-
and ~ , ' ~ - c e n t ucurved
r~
cornetts still in reasonable condition.'" It is presently impossible t o
distinguish G e r m a n f r o m Italian instruments, o r t o date t h e instru-
ments, but most of t h e m were probably made in Venice between
about 1570 and 1630, and used all over Europe.
60 Chapter 2
Always bearing in mind that to reduce the pitch of a woodwind in-

strument to a single H z value is a physical absurdity, and that mar-
gins are in order, the range of pitch shown in Graph ~d for curved cor-
netts is 415 to 504.
T h e central core ranges from 460 to 471, accounting for 520/0of the
total and averaging 466 = A ~ I W . e assume this, or something close,
was the principal cornett pitch. Graph 9 gives an idea of the pitches of
the greatest number of curved cornetts. Graph 10 takes a sample of
curved cornett pitches from all periods. Each column going to the
right shows a greater incidence. T h e most common pitches are
464/465, the next most common are 463-467, etc.
Pitch estimates by Herbert W. Myers based on the dimensions of
the cornett illustrations in Mersenne and Praetorius also shows a pre-
dominance of A+I (see I-ja and 2-jb). T h e same level (though centered
a bit lower) is shown by contemporary recorders (cf. Graph la). T h u s
i t is very probable that mezzo punto was Atr."
Confirming this is Herbert W. Myers' observation that the finger-
reach on cornetts at lower pitches, even a semitone lower at A+o, be-
come noticeably more difficult. And people were generally smaller in
the 1 6 ' century.
~
At a much later time, in 1765, Giuseppe Paolucci implied that most
Venetian organs had been at A t 1 when he wrote that "the already
celebrated organ maker Master Pietro Nacchini was the first to lower
organs in those countries by about a semitone . . . l Y Z 2 Organs by Nac-
chini for which original pitches are known are at A t o (4j3, 436, and
437).2' This would make earlier Venetian organ pitch, "about" a semi-
tone higher, = 462 = A t 1 (or again mezzo punto). This in turn clarifies a
report from the end of the l 7 I h century by Giovanni Andrea Bontempi,
who had been employed as a singer at S Marco from 1643 to 1650. H e
reported in his Historia musica (16~5:188),that the organs at S Marco
"sono un tuono intero piu acuti degli altri dell'altre Chiese" ("are a
whole-tone higher than the organs of the other churches"). Since we
know that Nacchini lowered many organs a semitone to A+o in the
18Ih century, most Venetian organs must have been at A+I in Bon-
tempi's time. "Un tuono intero piu acuti" than A t 1 would have been
A t j . This pitch may have been a relic of the past. The organ "in cornu
EpistolaeWat Bologna built by L. da Prato in 1475 was also apparently
at A t j . In 1521Giovanni Spataro, then maestro di cappella, complained
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670 6I
of its high pitch, and in 1531 it was lowered a whole-tone t o A + I by

G.B. Fachetti.
Although he did not use the t e r m mezzo punto, Antonio Barcotto in
his manuscript Regola e breve raccordo of 1652 apparently regarded A t 1
as typical not only for the cornett, but for t h e violin as well:
[The organs] of Venice are among the highest used in that state, and
must be tuned to the pitch of cornetts. Chamber organs, though, a t
Venice, Padua, Vicenza, and other cities, are a tone lower, [corre-
sponding to] the human voice, which is called corristi. This difference
of pitch is used to accommodate voices and instruments, since organs
that are high work well with lower voices and violins, which are for
this reason more spirited."
Instrumental works like those by Fontana, Neri, Trabaci, Rossi, the

sonate and symphonie of Marini, and t h e canzoni of Marini and Merula,
all produced in Venice in t h e l,Ih century, were presumably played at
mezzo punto, o r A t ] .
T h e other surviving cornett pitches are both above and below A+],
w i t h peaks at 448-452 and 480-484; together these levels, which are t h e
only other significant ones, make u p some 20010 of t h e k n o w n cornett
pitches. Although neither of these levels is a complete semitone from
467 (A+I), they m a y have been regarded that way."
A t 2 may have represented a n older pitch level that fell o u t of use
by t h e 17'h century. T h e r e are surviving organs at A+2, made in t h e 161h
century: S Maurizio, Milan (155~)and t h e Silberne Kapelle, Innsbruck
( 1 6 ' ~century). I n early Spanish sources, "punto" sometimes meant
"pitch" and sometimes "tone."26 Nassare wrote in his Escuela rnisica
"[it] is noticed in t h e musical chapels where dulcians, cornetts, and
s h a w m s are used, these are usually pitched a punto higher than natural
By "natural," Nassare meant a specific pitch level that was
determined because it was comfortable for a man's voice. Since dul-
cians, shawms, and especially cornetts were normally at A+], and ideal
vocal pitch was generally considered corista at A-I, "punto" may well
have been a whole-tone.
If punto originally meant "whole-tone," A+2 would be the level to
which mezzo punto and tutto punto refer. Mezzo punto would then origi-
nally have meant "a half-tone below A t 2 " (A+]), and tutto punto "a
62 Chapter z
whole-tone below A+2" (A+o). T h i s might be checked by investigat-

ing t h e possible age of t h e few surviving instruments at A+2.
2-2az T u t t o P u n t o (A+o)
A proposal submitted in 1582 for lowering t h e organ at C r e m o n a pro-

duced a n interesting discussion of pitch standards. I n that year, t h e ca-
thedral's organist, Camillo Mainerio, together w i t h t h e maestro di cap-
pella at Cremona, MarclAntonio Ingegneri ( w h o was also t h e music
teacher of a 15-year-old named Claudio Monteverdi), recommended
lowering t h e organ "approximately a semitone, so that t h e pitch of t h e
organ in question will agree w i t h t h e choir and t h e ensembles t h a t per-
f o r m both now and in t h e future w i t h a!! kinds of musical instruments
t h a t play together in choirs and e n s e r n b l e ~ . " ' ~
G.B. Morsolino, was consulted about t h i s
A n organist and builder,
proposal. Morsolino (also Morsselino) had worked w i t h O r l a n d o di
Lasso at Munich.19 Part of his reply was t h e following:
As for lowering [the organ], I see no advantage for playing with other
instruments, since all the organs I have seen in my lifetime, either in
Italy or elsewhere, that are normally used to perform with the greatest
performers, are in the cornett pitch of mezzo punto, a note higher than
ours that we are presently discussing at the cornett pitch called tutto
punto, which is a note lower than the other that is called mezzo punto.'"
This situation obtains because, not wishing to hinder the organs when
playing with the wind instruments, they leave them in the above-
mentioned mezzo punto pitch, which is however too high for the chapel
singers. Because of this practice, organists are always (or at least usu-
ally) compelled to play lower than the written key in order to accom-
modate the singers. This is what is done at St. Mark's in Venice; I do
the same on mine [in Bergamo], as is done on most organs played by
organists of any merit. For this reason it can be concluded that lower-
ing [the Cremona organ] is not required for concerted playing, since
organs used that way which are played by the best men in the pro-
fession are a note higher than ours at Cremona."
A further opinion o n the question was requested of the distinguished

organ builder Graziadio Antegnati (who had built t h e organ at Santa
Barbara in Mantua at A+I; see 2-2~).Antegnati sided with Ingegneri
and Mainerio. H e thought that lowering the pitch "render8 esso or-
gano pi& comodo al choro et alla musica" ("would make this organ
more practical for use with choir and mixed vocal-instrumental mu-
sic").
Morsolino placed tutto punto "un tuon" below mezzo punto. Since
both a whole-tone and a semitone could be a "tuon,"" it is unclear
from Morsolino's testimony whether he considered tutto punto A t o o r
A-I (and consequently whether the proposal was t o lower the organ t o
A-]--two semitones below mezzo punto-or t o A-3, which would have
been two whole-tones below mezzo punto).
I n order t o answer this, it helps t o consider why, in fact, Ingegneri
and Mainerio would have made this proposal. Their stated purpose
was t o get the pitch of the organ in "correspondence" with the choir
and ensembles of instruments. If tutto punto had been a whole-tone be-
low mezzo punto, thus at A-I, lowering the organ further would not
have been necessary, and A-3 would seem an absurdly low and im-
practical pitch. But if tutto punto was a half-tone below mezzo punto, at
A t o , t h e organ might well have been considered too high for the
choir. I n addition, most of the instruments a t mezzo punto would have
had difficulty transposing down a semitone (transposing down a
whole-tone is much easier). T h u s we may safely assume Morsolino
also equated A + o with tutto punto.
Several sources indicate that tutto punto was sometimes a cornett
pitch: Morsolino, the Bassano contract of 1559 cited previously, and
the Genoa order of 1592 that relates tutto punto t o cornetti muti. T h e
most significant cluster of surviving mute cornett pitches is at 430-446
(see Graph rc). T h e second most important cluster of surviving
curved cornetts extends from 434 t o 452 with an average of 444 (Graph
~ d ) . "Original curved and mute cornetts also exist at A-I, but they are
much fewer.j4
There was a good reason for cornetts t o be made at pitches a semi-
tone apart: transposing a semitone would have been problematic. First,
there is the difficulty of unequal temperaments and semitone transpo-
sitions (discussed in o-3c). Besides this is the question of finger tech-
nique. Semitone transpositions were impractical because simple scales
64 Chapter 2
like C would turn into B and C# with a high percentage of cross-

fingerings or half-holes. For both these reasons, whole-step and minor
third transpositions were much easier and more practical o n wood-
winds without key systems. It is conceivable that players owned two
or even three instruments pitched in consecutive semitones, allowing
whole-step transpositions in various combinations to produce any re-
quired scale. While cornetts were predominantly at Atx, instruments
a semitone lower would have been useful in Rome (where most organs
starting about 1600 were tuned to A-2) and in the north where some
organs were at A t 2 (like the Antegnati at S Maurizio in Milan), since
in both cases the necessary transposition would have been a simple
whole-step.
Since transposition was common for organists, it seems the levels
under discussion were at distances of integral semitones from each
other. T h e relationship of these pitches would thus have been as fol-
lows:
A+I Mezzo punto

Ato Tutto punto; pitch of the Cremonese organ
A-I The higher of two pitches for "choir and mixed vocal-
instrumental music" (= tuono corista)
A-2 The lower of two pitches for "choir and mixed vocal-
instrumental music" (= tuono corista)
Once it is apparent that clear and distinct pitch standards a semitone

apart are involved, the seemingly apathetic wording of a number of
authors from this period takes on a new significance. Costanzo
Antegnati writes in his directions for tuning in L'Arte organica (Bre-
scia 1608:72) that one may "stabilire la cordatura come si vuole Corista
di tutto ponto, o di mezzo, o alta, o bassa come si vuole, & 6 com-
moda" ("fix the tuning as one wishes at tutto ponto or mezzo [ponto],
higher or lower, as is wished and is comfortable"). Antegnati's phrase
"corista di tutto ponto, o di mezzo" can thus be understood to offer a
choice between two specific pitch standards; by "commoda" he would
have meant the standard that was most appropriate for a specific
church organ and choir. The same may be said of Bartolomeo Bisman-
tova's comment on tuning keyboards in his Compendio musicale
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670 6s
(Ferrara, 1 6 7 ~ ) "You
: will need first t o tune all the C's in perfect oc-
taves, at t h e pitch standard you wish.""
A t least one organ at A t o is known t o have been built at this time,
though only one stop survives (Costanzo Antegnati, Cathedral of Ve-
rona, ca.1610).
2-za? T u o n o Corista (A-I)
T h e first reference t o the concept "corista" of which I a m aware is

from a contract for the organ at S Maria di Monteortone, Padua ( 1 ~ 0 7 ) '
which specifies "Item sea coristo a voce de homo over da c o r ~ " '(at
~
[the level ofl a man's voice o r that of a choir).
"Corista" quickly came t o have a more general meaning, but i t
seems originally t o have been associated with mixed groups of singers
and instrumentalists. Its name makes its connection t o choirs obvious.
A t first, it was probably produced by simply transposing downward,
as Morsolino described; Zacconi noted in Prattica di musica utile et ne-
cessaria (1sgz:fz18v):
And observe, that just as the human voice can sing a piece a tone
higher or a tone lower, depending on how well it works and is satisfy-
ing; so the instruments can play a composition sometimes in one key,
sometimes in another because they are all without exception high
compared to the voices. Thus, when it happens that instruments wish
to accompany singers, most of the time, to oblige them, they play a zd,
jd, 4th, etc. [lower]."
Although most sources put tuono corista a M2 below mezzo punto, it was
sometimes lower, as Zacconi wrote. In 1609 Girolamo Diruta
mentioned in 11 transilvano "trasportationi ...
u n Tuono, & una Terza
bassa." At least part of the reason for this was that tuono corista at
Rome was at A-2 (see 2 - ~ b ) ,a m j below mezzo punto. Diruta distin-
guished between the common transpositions of chiavette (or clef-code)
notation3' and "another kind of transposition that allows a response in
a comfortable pitch for the choir."j9
T h e intervals between the organ's pitch and this chorus pitch, a
whole-tone and a (minor) third, are smaller than those fdr chiavette,
66 Chapter z
and are the same as those that would be made from most organs going
down to the pitch Antegnati had said was "more practical for use with
choir and mixed vocal-instrumental music." "And since most organs
are pitched high, beyond tuono corista, the organist must accustom
himself to playing otherwise, a whole-tone and a [minor] third
lower."40
In the course of the 1 6 ' ~and centuries, there are signs that or-
ganists in northern Italy were finding it increasingly impractical to be
constantly transposing in order to match the compass of church
choirs. There are indications that many organs were lowered in pitch,
presumably to tuono corista. Some examples:
1546 Bergamo, S Maria Maggiore

Lowered 2 semi tone^.^'
1571 Ravenna Cathedral
Put "in tono corista un tono piu basso del
s o l i t ~ " ~(in
' tono corista, a tone lower than
normal).
1609 Reggio Emilia, Collegiata di S Prospero
"di dieci piedi, un tuono pih basso del
s or net to"^' (i.e., a tone lower than cornett-
pitch).
1626 Salb, Duomo
G.B. Facchetti, "arbasar uno tono 1 0 r ~ a n o . " ~ ~
1628 Arezzo
Originally at A+I; pitch lowered a semitone,
and in 1723 a further semitone.
1645 Padua S Antonio
Lowered a tone by Graziadio A n t e g ~ a t i . ~ '
In the passage cited above, Costanzo Antegnati in 1608 was using the
term "corista" not as a specific pitch level different from "tutto punto"
and "mezzo punto," but with its modern meaning of "the general pitch
standard."46 The majority of sources in this period associated tuono co-
rista with a specific frequency level, however. As quoted previously,
in 1652 Barcotto wrote that chamber organs were pitched at "corristi," a
tone lower than the pitch of cornetts; since the most common cornett
pitch was mezzo punto, corristi would probably have been A-I (depend-
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.16~0 67
ing o n w h a t Barcotto meant by "tone"). H e went o n t o say that " T h e

lower-pitched organs are m u c h better at meeting the needs of choirs,
as well as those of higher voices. But the lower and deeper voices have
m o r e trouble w i t h them, and they d o not work as well w i t h violins as
the high organs." T h i s is reminiscent of Morsolino's argument for
keeping the Cremona organ at A+o; organists were caught between
t h e differing pitch demands of instruments and choirs.
Sabbatini (writing o n keyboard tuning in 1657) also considered "co-
rista" a specific frequency: " N e x t you will have t o decide t h e position
o r pitch in which you wish to tune t h e instrument, whether in corista
or something else."47
Barcotto in 1652 made another reference that might have been t o co-
rista:
The Most Rev. Father Maestro Antonio Tavola, Maestro di Cappella

at the hallowed Basilica of S Antonio in Padua, has had the organs of
his church tuned to the most comfortable pitch that can exist for
voices as well as instruments, having kept a limit neither too high nor
too low, so that every voice and instrument can adjust comfortably.
Seven years earlier, in 1645, the organ in question at S Antonio had

been lowered "a tone" (which could have been either a semitone o r a
whole-tone) by Graziadio ~ n t e ~ n a t i . "
Adriano Banchieri in Conclusioni nel suono dellJorgano (Bologna,
1609:46,66) noted:
[The note Fz], called by instrumentalists and organists corista; it can

be in the natural pitch of the instrument, voce corista, or alternately a
tone lower or four higher, or lower.
I would add that the organ is a keystone, since being tuned in tuono co-
rista, every other musical instrument needs to take from it its proper
pitch.
W h i l e Morsolino in 1582 had considered tuono corista a level achieved

o n the organ through transposition, here Banchieri a generation later
appears t o make it by definition t h e pitch of organs.49
68 Chapter z
2-2aq Instruments Pitched Lower Than Mezzo Punto
T h e mute cornett was generally considered to be at a lower pitch than

the curved cornett at A+I. How much lower is unclear, however. Most
surviving mute cornetts are a semitone below most surviving curved
cornetts; 57010of mute cornetts are at an average of 442 (A+o) and 2 5 ~ 0
average 420, a high A-I (see Graph IC and ~ d ) . ~ "
But there are indications that the mute cornett was normally
thought of as a whole-tone lower than the curved cornett. Praetorius
noted in two different plates (viii and xiii) that the mute cornett was
in G (the cornett is normally thought of as in A). Myers calculated
that Praetorius's mute cornett in Plate viii no.9 with a length of about
66 cm suggests a pitch of about 409." A court inventory made at
Stuttgart in 1589 indicated that while curved cornetts were at Cam-
merThon/Cornettenthon, mute cornetts and flutes were at ChorThon
(thus presumably a whole-step lower, as we will see in Section 2-3 o n
Germany)." O n e possible explanation for this discrepancy between
A+o and A-I is that, just as curved cornetts were built a semitone apart
at both mezzo punto and tutto punto, mute cornetts were also common at
levels a semitone apart.
Surviving Renaissance flutes are also pitched about a semitone
apart (Graph ~ b ) The
. majority (s90/~) are at 400, and the others cluster
around 430.
Flutes were sometimes noted for their low pitch. The Stuttgart in-
ventory of 1589 listed tenor and bass Zwerchpfeifi "not agreeing with
the Chor but a tone lower," and at Graz in 1577 there were "2 big
Zwerchpfeiffen used in the ~oncert."~'
These instruments would have been used for different musical
functions than those at mezzo punto. Prince Ferdinand0 de' Medici
wrote in 1708 that "it does not appear possible to me that straight cor-
netts can produce the same effect as curved ones, because the curved
ones ... sound more like the trumpet, while the straight ones are
softer, and are played at funerals and similar occasions, which is why
we call them ~ o r n i m u t i . " ~ ~
T h e order from Genoa to Venice in 1592 mentioned above specified
that curved cornetti, shawms, and recorders were all to be at mezzo
punto, while the mute cornetts were to be at tutto punto, so evidently
they were not intended to be played together. Smith (1978:26) noticed
that m u t e cornetts and flutes were often scored together in 16'~-and

century music."
Praetorius (1618:16) indicated that certain instruments were tuned a
m3 lower than his standard CammerThon (which, as we will see, was
equivalent t o mezzo punto at A+I). H e wrote that "Flutes and other in-
s t r u m e n t s are also m o r e beautiful w h e n tuned at such a low pitch, and
give quite another timbre t o the l i ~ t e n e r . " ' ~T h e r e were certain other
w i n d s that Praetorius considered t o be typically built at a lower stan-
dard." T h e s e include t h e gedact dulcianra and cornamuse. Sackbuts
could be crooked lower, and were also apparently made lower (cf. t h e
Secund- and Terz-Pusonen in t h e Stuttgart inventory of 1589, presuma-
bly a M 2 and m3 below the gemeine t e n ~ r ) . ' ~
For strings, t h e pitch question is somewhat less rigid, since they
can be retuned. W h e n concerted pieces performed in church were
tuned lower for t h e sake of t h e singers, it would have been absurd for
t h e strings, playing in keys like G and D with all their open strings, t o
transpose d o w n to F and C, I n such cases they would presumably have
tuned d o w n a w h o l e - ~ t e ~Praetorius
.~" advocated this practice:
This pitch [CammerThon] is often found too high-and not only for
singers, but also for string players. Violins, viols, lutes, pandoras, and
so on require extraordinary strings to cope with such high tuning.
Thus it happens that the top strings break in the middle of the per-
formance, and one is left in the mire. Really, to let the strings hold
their tuning better, stringed instruments like these must commonly be
tuned about a tone deeper, with the other instruments also playing a
second down. This does not come easily, by any means, to unskilled
musicians; but it is a great relief for the singers to be able to sing a t
this pitch, a tone lower.61
W h e n violins functioned as a n accompanying orchestra rather than as

soloists, being tuned "a tone lower" might also have been an advan-
tage as they would have had a less individual and aggressive sound.
2-2b Rome
Barcotto wrote in 1652:

Chapter z
The pitches of organs are very different from one city to another,
since there are those who use very low organs, and others very high,
such as those in Rome, which are among the lowest used in ~ t a l ~ . ~ '
Roman pitch was often seen as a contrast to that of Venice. In 1640

(180-82), G.B. Doni devoted several pages in his Annotazioni t o the no-
tion that natural vocal ranges corresponded to latitude, and that
northern people sang lower than southern. H e therefore found it re-
markable that the "Tuoni artificiali de gl'instrumenti" were just the
reverse, at least in Italy: the organ pitches of Naples, Rome, Florence,
Lombardy, and Venice, he said, formed a series of ascending semi-
tones.
Starting from Naples, it is known that organ pitch there is semitone

lower than that in Rome; the latter is another semitone below that of
Florence; that of Florence the same distance below that of Lombardy;
and the latter equally a halftone lower than that of Venice. So that,
adding these differences together, Venetian pitch is a ditone, or M3,
higher than ~ e a ~ o l i t a n . ~ '
Mendel called this description "suspiciously neat,"64 but it is interest-

ing t o compare it to the 27 available Italian organ pitches prior t o 1670
shown in Graph 4a. They break down into five distinct pitch levels at
fairly precise semitones, averaging 387 (Rome or environs6'), 415 (Tus-
cany, and south of ~ a ~ l e s435~ ~(mostly
) , in the ~ o r t h ~464
~ ) (mostly
,
the veneto6'), and (higher than anything Doni mentioned) 495 for
~ i l a n . ~ ~
I n his Compendio of 1635, Doni mentioned this same relation but in-
cluded only three of the five pitches; in describing a harpsichord by
.
Iacopo Ramerino he wrote ' I . . in which, ingeniously, just by moving
the register the same strings will give you the pitch of Rome, that of
Florence and that of Lombardy . . ."'"
Again, the implication is that
these pitches were at equally spaced semi tone^.^' If Rome was the low-
est at A-2, the other pitches would have been A-I and A+o. Doni thus
associates "Lombardia" with A+o, and apparently leaves Venice t o
claim the pitch a semitone higher (A+I, which was in fact mezzo
punto).
If organs at Rome were at A-2, according t o D o n i they would have

been at A-3 at Naples. T h e r e is some support for this. T h o u g h made in
t h e 1 8 ' ~century, there is o n e Neapolitan organ ( M o r a n o Calabro,
Carmine) at 375. Barcotto (writing just 12 years after Doni) considered
Roman organs a m o n g t h e lowest used in Italy. But he did n o t cate-
gorically rule out low organs at other places. T h e explanation may be
that Naples, like m a n y other places, used more than o n e pitch level.
I n 1618 (16), Praetorius reported a low Italian pitch:
The lower pitch of which we have spoken (a minor 3d down) is used a

great deal in different Catholic chapels in Germany, and in Italy.
Some Italians quite rightly take no pleasure in high-pitched singing:
they maintain that it is devoid of any beauty, that the text cannot be
clearly understood, and that the singers have to chirp, squawk, and
warble at the tops of their voices, for all the world like hedge-
sparrows.7'
Since (as w e will see below) Praetorius's reference was CammerThon-

Cornettenthon at A+I, t h e low level would have been A-2. H e was t h u s
probably referring t o Roman pitch.
Mendel reported that three years previous t o t h e appearance of
Praetorius's book, t h e French theorist Salomon d e C a u s had recorded
t h e dimensions of a n organ pipe that (using t h e most likely standard
of length measurement, the pied de roi) would produce A-2." Athana-
sius Kircher published a translation of de Caus's text in 1650 "without
a n y adjustment for the fact that Kircher lived and wrote in Rome,"74
t h u s by implication confirming that Roman pitch was A-2.
Mendel (15178:77) cites a letter by G.B. Mocchi written in 1675 that
also probably indicates this level. Mocchi wrote that G e r m a n organs
were tuned "fast zwei T o n e hoher" (= between a m j and major third
higher) than Roman ones. If Mocchi's G e r m a n reference was standard
CammerThon/Cornettenthon at A + I , a m j lower would have been A-2; a
little more would put Roman organs into t h e 380s, which is indeed the
level of those that survive.
According t o Doni, writing in 1640, t h e pitch of m a n y Roman or-
gans began t o be lowered in about 1600:
Chapter z
having been lowered by a half-tone in the last 40 years (as people say,
and demonstrate by a comparison with some old organs)."
I have heard these matters about the pitch of Rome discussed in di-
verse ways by the experts. For some, its lowness is to be attributed to
the weakness and sloth of the singers; for others, to the many castrati
who, once they are more advanced in years, are no longer able to sing
with the same high-pitched voice as that of real boys; and finally for
still others, to the large number of bassi profondi found here more than
elsewhet-e.76
A s for t h e castrati, it was indeed a t t h e e n d of the 1 6 ' ~century that

t h e y became a n important presence in t h e Sistine Chapel (they had
been part of the choir from about 1565, and the Munich chapel under
O r l a n d o di Lasso had included t h e m b y at least 157~)."
T h a t there was a Roman "corista" is reported by a n u m b e r of
sources dating f r o m ca.1562 t o 1 ~ 0 2 . ~Since' these dates are o n b o t h
sides of t h e change in Roman organ pitch in about 1600 described by
Doni, it is likely that "corista" in Rome w a s used as elsewhere t o m e a n
something similar t o "Chormiij3ig," o r "suitable for playing w i t h sing-
ers," n o t a specific pitch frequency.
Barbieri (1991b:p-sj) points o u t t h a t t h e interval for d o w n w a r d
transpositions as indicated b y high-clef (chiavette) notation gradually
diminished at Rome as a result of a general lowering of t h e pitches of
organs. H e cites a n u m b e r of pieces t o show that at t h e end of t h e 1 6 ' ~
century t h e transposing interval was a 5'h o r 4'h downward; at t h e be-
rh
ginning of t h e century, it was only a 4 ; at t h e e n d of t h e I ~ ei-~ ~ ,
t h e r a 4'h o r a jd; and in t h e 1 8 ' ~century, only a 3d. T h e transposed in-
terval in t h e north never got smaller t h a n a 4'h, probably because
absolute pitch ended u p a t o n e above Rome (19~1b:ss). Barbieri
( 1 ~ ~ 1 b : gcites
~ ) three surviving versions of Palestrina's Tu es Petrus,
written "per la basilica vaticana." T h e earliest, f r o m t h e century, is
notated in high clefs, and requires a transposition "alla qa bassa"; t h e
second, f r o m t h e 1 8 ' ~century, still in high clefs, requires "alla ja"; a
third copy is in chiavi naturali but is transposed downward by a 3d.
Palestrina was maestro di cappella of t h e Cappella Giulia at S t Pe-
ter's f r o m 1551. From 1555-1560 he was maestro at S Giovanni in Later-
ano, after which he moved t o S Maria Maggiore. From 1571-1594 h e
w a s back at t h e Cappella Giulia. Barbieri (1980:22) cites a report in
1885 by Monsignor Bartolomeo Grassi-Landi79 that states that the

pitches of the organs at the Cappella Giulia, S Maria Maggiore, and S
Giovanni in at era no'" were at A=384, o n the low side of A-2. Grassi-
Landi called this pitch "Corista di S Pietro." If Doni's information is
correct and Roman organs were lowered "per mezza voce, cioh mezzo
tuono" in about 1600 (after Palestrina's time, in other words), Pal-
estrina would have been performing his masses at a rather low A-I.
T h e same pitch would presumably have applied to the masses and mo-
tets of Victoria, working in Rome in t h e 1570s and 80s. T h e composers
active in Rome after 1600, like Landi (from 1620) and Carissimi (from
about 1630) would probably have been working with the new, lower
pitch of A-2.
By 1666, the castrato Antonio Cavagna, engaged for an opera
performance at Venice, insisted that the orchestra tune t o Roman
pitch: "and I intend to sing accompanied with the instruments of the
orchestra tuned t o proper Roman pitch and not as I did in Statira, in
Teseo, and in other works; this will be advantageous for m y voice, and
I bring u p the subject now, so that no one will complain about it.lf8'
2-2c O t h e r Cities
T h e organ at the Basilica of Santa Barbara in Mantua was built in 1565

by Graziadio Antegnati. T h i s instrument was recently restored t o its
original pitch, A+I, which suggests that this was also the pitch of the
Mantuan court cappelfa. Mantua was very active musically. Palestrina
wrote masses for S Barbara and it would be interesting t o compare
their ranges with those he wrote for Rome, a whole-tone lower in
pitch. Salamone Rossi worked at the Mantuan court, and Lodovico
Viadana was maestro di cappella from 1593 t o 1597. Monteverdi held this
post from 1601t o 1612. Presumably, both L'Orfeo of 1607 and the Vespro
della Beata Vergine (1610) were originally performed at A+I." TWO
parts of the Vespers, the "Lauda Jerusalem" and "Magnificat a 7," are
among many late 1 6 ' ~ and
- early ~ ~ ' ~ - c e nvocal
t u r ~pieces that use chia-
vette, and are thus meant to be transposed downward, normally by a
4th.8' W h e n down a 41h and at A-+I,these pieces are indeed placed in a
proper range for both singers and instruments. O t h e r theatrical works
74 Chapter 2
performed at court included Monteverdi's Arianna and I1 ballo delle in-

grate, and Marco da GaglianoJs Dafne.
As Antonio Barcotto wrote from Padua in 1652, "Organs in Rome
are also larger, unlike the church organs of this area, since they are
three notes lower, for which reason they sound bigger."s4 Since it is
unlikely that Padua's general pitch level was three whole-tones above
Corista di S Pietro at A-2, we can assume Barcotto, like Morsolino
speaking of the organ in Cremona, meant three semitones," making
Paduan pitch a plausible A ~ I .
There is a piece of evidence linking Naples to Ferrara (in the Ve-
neto): in the late 161hcentury, when the Ferrarese court was interested
in hiring a Neapolitan bass singer, they wanted to know "what is the
lowest note he can sing, which can be measured by means of a flute.
T h e note or number on the flute that corresponds to the deepest note
of the voice should be written in the letter.'986This method of com-
municating a note would have been accurate only if the pitch of flutes
at Naples was the same as those in Ferrara. Thus at the end of the 1 6 ' ~
century in these two cities in the north and south, instrumental pitch,
or at least flute pitch, was assumed to have been equivalent.
T h e Cathedral at Milan has been called the "principal church of
~ o m b a r d y . " ~Its
' organ, like a number of others in Milan, was made
by Gian Giacomo Antegnati of Brescia. In Milan, however, the lay-
ing of instruments other than organ was forbidden in church, so the
organs were not necessarily required to be tuned to match other pitch
standards. Surviving pitches of organs by the Antegnati family are
generally at A t 1 and A+o (a few are at A+2). Barbieri (1980:23n14) cites
a chant manual published by G.M. Stella in Milan and Rome in 1665
that states "The pitch at Rome is about a tone and a half lower than
that of ~ o r n b a r d ~ . " "Stella uses the word "quasi," confirming other
indications that the relation between the two pitches was not a pure
interval.89 Surviving organs from the Veneto in this period average
464; a tone and a half lower is 392, whereas surviving Roman organs
are at about 384.
Although Crema and Cremona are in the Lombardy region, they
were politically a part of the Venetian Republic until the 181hcentury.
Cremonese violins were thus probably designed to be played at the
prevailing Venetian pitch standards, anywhere from mezzo punto to
twono corista (At1 to A-I or A-2). It is well known that string instru-
m e n t s resonate best when they are tuned at certain pitches; as Har-

wood wrote ( 1 ~ 8 1 : ~ 7 0"the
) , pitch of a stringed instrument is perhaps
the most important single factor in determining the way it sounds."
Barcotto, w h o was a contemporary of Nicolo Amati and the young
Antonio Stradivari, wrote in 1652 that t h e high organs tuned t o "tuono
dei Cornetti" (presumably A + I ) "work well with lower voices and vio-
lins, which are for this reason more spirited." W i t h the type of strings
used at the time, violins could have been tuned at least as high as A + I ,
and possibly A + z . ~ T
" h u s the most common pitch of Cremonese vio-
lins of the century was probably mezzo punto, A+I.
I n Bologna, the t w o organs at S Petronio "in C o r n u Evangelli" and
"in cornu Epistolae," as well as that of S Martino, were tuned at A + I ,
so the sonate da chiesa of Legrenzi and Vitali, written in the second half
of the century, were presumably conceived at that pitch, as indeed
were the famous pieces for trumpet and strings by Cazzati, Perti, and
Torelli.
I n a letter from Florence dated 6 October 1612, Marco da Gagliano
wrote that "in Roma si canta un tono pi& basso di q u i " ("in Rome
they sing a tone lower than here").9' Since we d o not know whether
Roman pitch had descended from A-I t o A-2 by 1612, and whether by
"tono" da Gagliano meant a whole-tone o r semitone, the Florentine
pitch could have been anywhere from A-I t o A+I. A n organ that was
built in Florence in 1571, SS Trinita, was preserved until 1939, at which
time it was raised a half-step by shortening the upper ends of the
pipes.92 Since the rise was presumably t o 435/440, the original pitch
must have been approximately a %-step lower. Doni had already as-
sociated Florence with A-I in his writings of 1635 and 1640. T h e r e is
thus reason t o think that the intermedi and early operas of the 1590s by
Cavalieri and Peri, as well as Caccini's Nuove musiche, were originally
performed at A-I, and this pitch may also have been used in Cesti's
Florentine productions of the late 1660s.
Chapter z
2-3 Germany
2-ja Praetorius's ChorThon (A-I)
In his Syntagma musicum (Part I, 1618; Part 4, 162o), Praetorius provided

a great deal of information on contemporary pitch levels both in Ger-
many and in other parts of Europe. His comments are not always
clear, but with the background of the situation in Italy, it is easier to
understand them. Contrary to 18'~-centurycustom, Praetorius often
used the term ChorThon (choir-pitch) to mean a pitch a whole-tone be-
low most instruments, which were at CammerThon. ChorThon used in
that way was thus analogous to tuono corista, and a system that used
two instrumental pitch standards a whole-tone apart was parallel to
the one used in northern Italy.
Praetorius began by using the name ChorThon to designate a pitch a
M2 lower than CammerThon, but halfway through his book his concep-
tion of ChorThon seems to have become ambiguous,9' which has
th
caused 2 0 -century readers major confusion. Fortunately, however,
there was no doubt about CammerThon. H e described CammerThon as
"Our normal present-day pitch, to which nearly all our organs are
tuned . . ."94 The SchloR at Schmalkalden preserves an organ that was
renovated in 1606 by Gorge Weisslandt and was described as in "rech-
ten Zimberthon" (i.e., presumably Zimmer- or Cammer-th~n).~'T h e
original wooden pipes are pitched at 477. Since instrument making in
the 1 6 ' ~and centuries was concentrated in relatively few places,
and the principal one for woodwinds was Venice, it can be assumed
that Italian woodwinds were in regular use in Germany (as mentioned
previously, Praetorius indicated Venice as a source of instruments). It
is thus likely that Cornettenthon in Germany was similar to the most
common Venetian cornett pitch, mezzo punto at A+I. And Praetorius
explicitly equated his CammerThon with "rechte or net tenth on."^^
T h e reason for Praetorius's ambivalence about the meaning of
ChorThon was that the term was in process of changing its meaning in
north Germany in his day. H e described how ChorThon was "earlier in
the time of our elders a tone lower than it is now .. From this we
can take it that composers like Lasso at Munich were performing at
that lower level, about A-I (whatever its name). Praetorius described
organs that had originally been at ChorThon but had been raised a step
("umb ein Thon") so that by his d a y they were mostly at Cammer-
Thon.
A n example of this deliberate raising of pitch is t h e famous organ
at St. Johannis, Liineburg, originally built by Niehoff in 1553 at A-I,
and described by Praetorius in 1618. T h e organ was rebuilt in 1652 by
Stellwagen, w h o raised it a whole-tone to A + I , calling this pitch
"Chormiissig" (suitable for use w i t h singers).9s
I n his o w n day, Praetorius considered that instruments were (as
Zacconi had put it99) "tutti universalmente alti rispetto alle voci" ("all
without exception high compared t o t h e voices"). H e did not approve
of t h e rise in ChorThon, and considered t h e older, lower level better for
voices and string instruments.'"" W i t h prophetic insight (considering
t h e situation in G e r m a n y a century later) he wrote that "it would n o t
be a bad thing if all organs were tuned a tone [i.e., a second] lower:
w h i c h is now, however, wholly impossible t o change in o u r G e r m a n
lands, and so w e shall have to keep t o o u r usual CammerThon ..
."'"' A s
noted above, for the comfort of t h e choir, Italian organists transposed
downward a whole-tone o r m3 t o Tuono corista in "ensembles that per-
.
f o r m . . with all kinds of musical instruments that play together in
choirs and ensembles."'02 For the same purpose, Praetorius and other
organists suggested adding low-pitch, transposing stops o n high-
pitched organs:
Calvisius once wrote me (and I was already of the same opinion, for
which reason I had wanted to have two separate stops in the organ of
the Castle Chapel here tuned a half-tone lower) that he had often con-
sidered, since some organists would not be familiar with the new keys
on the organs, whether it would not be better to have installed in or-
.
g a n s . . one or two soft stops, open or gedackt, of 8-foot pitch, tuned a
whole tone or a minor third lower than the rest of the organ, to be
used in concerted music.'"'
Praetorius, w h o was a frequent visitor to Prague, pointed with ap-

proval t o the practice there "and certain other Catholic chapelsv of
pitching church music a tone lower t h a n CammerThon.'04 T h i s was ap-
parently w h y h e set o u t at t h e beginning of his book to call this lower
church pitch ChorThon.
78 Chapter z
Nor apparently was he alone in using ChorThon to designate a

lower pitch. T h e inventory of instruments at Cassel in 1638 listed "6
old flutes (Zwerchpfeifen) longer than the above ones and thus in Chor-
t~n.'~'T " ' h e organ of St. Annen, Annaberg-Buchholz was tuned in 1652
"im ChorThon," but by use of a "Kammerkoppel can be put a M2
higher, or in other words, in CammerThon." Urban Vielhawer von
Hohenhaw, writing in 1660 in Neisse, described a harpsichord also
mentioned by ~ r a e t o r i u s , ' "a~"Clavicymbalum Universale, seu perfec-
tum" with 19 keys to the octave. Hohenhaw implied that ChorThon
was a M2 below CammerThon when he wrote that this instrument was
capable of playing at three different pitches each separated by a whole-
tone, "alR Chor-Cammer-vndt ein Thon, piu alto" (hence Chorton,
CammerThon, and one tone higher).'"'
But in a book on organ building written in 1656, Werner Fabricius
associated ChorThon with "Zinken, Posaunen, Dulcianen und andern
c h o r m ~ s i s c h e nInstrumenten":
I t would be reasonable to begin this chapter by considering Chorton or

Chormaj3, and if in tuning it has been determined whether the organ
can be used together with cornetts, trombones, dulcians, and other in-
struments in Chormaj3 pitch. An organ maker must be able to deter-
mine this accurately with the aid of a pitch pipe that has been care-
fully tuned.
ChorThon remained an ambiguous word throughout the 171h century,

sometimes referring to A-I, other times t o A+I. In Germany it could
still mean a pitch a whole-tone lower than CammerThon as late as the
1680s (cf. Haka in 3-3). T h i s usage may seem strange t o those familiar
with the later 18'~-centuryuse of the terms, where their relationship is
reversed. T h e switch in terminology was the result of a major instru-
ment revolution in the 1680s and 90s, when the newly invented
French woodwinds were adopted all over Europe (see 3-3b).
2-jb A + I Prior to 1670: Praetorius's "CammerThon"
Praetorius used other names for CammerThon, like rechte Thon (stan-
dard pitch) and Cornettenthon (cornet pitch). Despite the latter name,
which makes its pitch obvious, there has been recent debate about the
level of CammerThon.
T h e source of confusion is the apparent discrepancy between t h e
four different indications Praetorius provided for the value of Cam-
merThon. T h e first of these is the synonym "Cornettenthon." T h e sec-
ond is his "Pfeilflin zur Chor-maj3," a scale diagram of a set of organ
pipes provided in his book to indicate the absolute frequency of Cam-
merThon. T h e third is t h e pitch of surviving original instruments that
Praetorius said were pitched at CammerThon. And t h e fourth are the
scale drawings of the same kinds of instruments, included in his book.
T h e first is straightforward, as we have seen: CammerThon and
"rechte Cornettenthon" were identical.'"' A s we have seen, the majority
of cornetts, both Italian and German, were tuned at A+1.'09 Cornetten-
thon can be regarded as a constant, since cornetts had a single principal
pitch center that did not change from the 1 6 ' ~t o the centuries, o r
even from the t o the 18'~.T h e y were thus an ideal reference for
pitch frequency, and were commonly used that way in Italy, Ger-
many, and Austria. I n 1608 a project was undertaken t o make the
pitches of the organs in t w o churches in Nuremberg the same, for in-
stance, and the reference was the pitch of "Cornet und Dulcian."""
W h e n Gottfried Silbermann's Jacobikirche organ at Freyberg was fin-
ished in 1717, one of the ways it was tested was described as follows:
"to check if the organ was in normal Cornet-ton o r Chorton, some of
the municipal musicians played trumpets and cornetts with the organ
as accompaniment, and found that they were well in tune t o g e t h e r . .
.""I T h e pitches of 12 German organs originally identified as in Cornet-
ton survive, and are quite consistent at an average of 462 (see 1-8). Cor-
net-ton at A t 1 emerges, in fact, as one of the two most reliable German
pitch standards. Janowka wrote in I701:43 "AS a matter of fact, [re-
corders] match the German o r Bohemian organs, tuned t o t h e Zinck o r
cornetts at this
As t o t h e second of Praetorius's indications of the level of Cam-
merThon, a number of reconstructions of the Pfeifpin diagram have
results varying between about A-424 and 433; these are all a
good semitone and a half below A+I."] T h e evidence appears therefore
to be in conflict. Praetorius had described CammerThon as the pitch "to
which nearly all of our organs are now tuned." If the reconstructions
of t h e PfeiffZin diagram are valid, at least a few extant organs should
80 Chapter 2
therefore be in the area of 424 to 433. In fact, Graph 4c shows no or-

gans near this pitch; there is a gap between 415 and 442, and the major-
ity of organs are clearly at Atr.
T w o recent articles have suggested explanations for this disparity.
After examining the accuracy of the evidence based on the paper in
original copies of the book, Karp (1989:156ff) concludes that Praeto-
rius's performance pitch could have been in a range "anywhere be-
tween A-410 and about A-450 ... T h e uncertainty of the paper dimen-
sions would provide further room for arguing the pitch higher or
lower, as one might prefer." More recently, John Koster has pointed
out other factors that suggest that the diagram represents A + I . " ~Mak-
ing his own reconstruction of the Pfeifflin pipe, Koster arrived at an A
between and 454 and 468, depending on various factors. Previous trials
using Praetorius's pipe measurements used lower wind pressure and
smaller mouth dimensions, based on earlier rgth- and 2oth-century as-
sumptions (now disproved) about the nature of early organs. Koster's
article plausibly resolves the conflict in the e ~ i d e n c e . " ~
T h e third and fourth of Praetorius's pitch indications are in agree-
ment with the first, and their evidence is consistent and abundant.
Much of it is reviewed in Haynes 1995:157ff, and some of it will be
noted here.
Graphs I and 4c show the pitches of surviving flutes, cornetts, and
German organs of the period. Both curved cornetts and organs cluster
at A+I. Renaissance flutes and mute cornetts are lower, and some of
them do show a level in the low 430S, the pitch suggested by earlier re-
constructions of the PfeiJflin diagram. But these instruments were ap-
parently used for a different function and not normally expected to be
at the usual high instrumental pitch. Weber (1975:8) wrote that
"Transverse flutes and mute cornetts are ... those wind instruments
which appear together with strings in the so-called 'Stille' or 'Broken'
Consort," and (as noted previously) these instruments often appeared
togethersU6
O n e surviving organ built by Esaias Compenius in 1616 is particu-
larly relevant because Praetorius himself acted as the consultant in its
building and was its first organist.l17 T h e instrument is unusual in be-
ing all of wood, which permits less leeway in voicing. It was origi-
nally built for Castle Hessen in Braunschweig, and survives in a more
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670 8I
or less unchanged state now at Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark. Its

pitch is 470."8
A complete set of instruments, described in three separate invento-
ries from the years 1658, ca.1720 and 1728, survives at the Musikin-
strumentenmuseum in Berlin. These instruments were used at the St.
Wenzel Stadtkirche in Naumburg. Krickeberg (1978:15) established
that they probably originated in Leipzig, were collected from 1625 to
1630 onward, and were brought to Naumburg by the new Kantor in
1658. T h e present pitch of several of them (recorders and mute cornet)
is 465.1'9This seems a good indication that as early as 1625 instrumen-
tal pitch at Leipzig was At1.""
Herbert W. Myers recently did a thorough analysis of the dimen-
sions of all of Praetorius's winds as depicted in the Theatrum instru-
mentorum (the pictorial supplement to the second volume of the Syn-
tagma musicum, containing scale illustrations of instruments)."' H e
reported that the dimensions of the alto and tenor sackbuts, the mute
cornett (in G at A+I), the cornettino, the tenor cornett, most of the re-
corders (c2 sopranos, altos, and tenors), and the shawms indicated a
pitch of Atr. This was a more careful backup study of conclusions he
had already published in 1984, in which he wrote, "With very few ex-
ceptions (in particular, the transverse flutes) the lengths of the wind
instruments depicted are very close to those of surviving examples
that play a t about a'=460. . ."Iz2
In addition, the combination cornett-sackbut is a time-honored one
in both texts and music;I2' the two instruments must usually have
been pitched identically. Praetorius used the sackbut as another check
on the Pfeifflin diagram, writing "I also am personally of the opinion
that no better instrument exists for representing rechte Thon [ = Cam-
merThon] than a sackbut, especially those made formerly and still
presently at Nuremberg. If the slide is pulled out two finger's width
from the end, it will produce A lamire in rechte Chormasse absolutely
correctly and in tune." T h e reason Praetorius specified that the slide
was not pushed in completely may have had to do with the original
sackbut hand position;"4 it was also probably necessary to avoid sud-
den jolts to the embouchure. In this position, the sackbut gives its
normal pitch for A. Myers (1984:370) writes
Chapter 2
Several [sackbuts such as those Praetorius indicates] are extant and

playable, and they confirm a consistency of pitch on the part of Nur-
emberg makers of Praetorius's era. Completely closed, the majority
produce a pitch slightly above modern b flat;"' pulling out the slide the
recommended distance (say, 45mm) thus gives a pitch slightly below
that, equivalent to a at about a'=460."~
Myers also found that the sackbut dimensions in Mersenne were

"very close to Praetorius's tenor (and to the length of most surviving
Nuremberg e ~ a r n ~ l e s ) . " ' ~ '
T h e end result of the recent discussions about the level of Praeto-
rius's reference pitch has been a clearer understanding and more cer-
tainty (at least among most of the people who have examined the
question) that this pitch was A t r . Praetorius called this Cammer-
Thon/Cornettenthon. As might be expected from a region that imported
many of its instruments from Italy, CammerThon was equivalent t o
the analogous Italian pitch, mezzo punto.
T h u s German music, especially instrumental music, written from
Praetorius's time until the adoption of Lully's new instruments
(roughly the first 80 years of the century) was performed against a
background of this reference pitch, A+I. There is no indication that
instrumental pitch changed in Germany before the arrival of French
instruments, nor would there have been any motivation for a change
during those troubled times (which included the Thirty Years War).
CammerThon was no doubt used by Rosenmiiller in the 1640s and sos,
and by Biber for his violin music. Schein's collection of instrumental
suites, the Banchetto musicale, published in 1617 (a year before Praeto-
rius's book appeared) was probably conceived at CammerThon/A+~,as
were his sacred concertos with continuo called Opella nova (1618 and
1626). Scheidt's Tabulatura nova for organ (1624) were likewise proba-
bly at this pitch. Scheidt worked with Praetorius at Halle in the 161os,
and was a friend of Compenius's.
Heinrich Schiitz would also have used CammerThon at A + I at
Dresden from 1625~."~ There is indirect proof of this: the Fritzsche or-
gan at the SchloRkirche, built in 1614, was lowered in 1737 a whole-step
to "Cammer Ton" (by that time, A-I), so it must originally have been
at A + I ; " ~this is the organ shown in Conrad's well-known engraving
) Schiitz in the royal chapel (see Illustration I, page 83).
( 1 6 ~ 6 of
Illustration I. Conrad, David. Frontispiece to Geistreiche Gesangbuch, a
collection of music edited by Christoph Bernhard, Dresden,
1676.
Chapter 2
2-4 T h e Low Countries
I n 1618 (16)) Praetorius reported that
Formerly in England; and up to now in the Netherlands, most wind

instruments have been made to sound a minor jd lower than our pre-
sent-day CammerThon, so that their F is in CammerThon our D, and
. .
their G our E . This is true of the excellent maker Johannes Bossus
Uan Bos] of Antwerp, who uses this pitch in most of his harpsichords
and virginals, as well as the organs built into them."'
If Praetorius's CammerThon was A+I, these instruments would have

been at A-2. Koster (1998:89) cites several clavecimbels from this gen-
eration, including one by Bos himself, that have an appropriate scaling
for A-2. Van Biezen (1990:239) comments that organs made in the
Netherlands in the 1 6 ' ~and early 17th centuries were often low, al-
though closer to A-I than A-2. Since Praetorius speaks of Antwerp, it
may be that he was thinking of the pitch of the influential school of
Flemish organ makers that included the Langheduls and Carlier, w h o
built many important instruments in both Spain and France in the 1 6 ' ~
and early centuries. Of what survives of their work, the indica-
tions are that they normally worked at A-2.'"
Pitch terminology in the Low Countries just 30 years after the ap-
pearance of Praetorius's book included words that are by now familiar:
"corista" and "den reghten toon" (standard pitch). T h e Flemish
reghten toon was apparently about a whole-step below Praetorius's
rechte Thon, however. In 1648 Constantijn Huygens, a well-known
Dutch musician and man of letters, ordered a clavecimbel from Joan-
nes Couchet of Antwerp (successor to the famous Ruckers work-
shop).'" Huygens was assisted by a mutual friend who lived in Ant-
werp, Gaspard Duarte, a diamond merchant and amateur musician.
Duarte says in one of his letters t o Huygens that an instrument "acht
voet" (8') long plays at "den thoon corista." Corista was evidently thus
a specific pitch frequency, and one thinks first of a parallel t o the Ital-
ian and German meaning of the word as a pitch a whole-tone below
instrumental pitch, i.e., A-I."'
Koster (19~8:88-90) argues that the thicker strings used by the
Ruckers led them to shorten their scalings while maintaining the pitch
of t h e A n t w e r p makers of the generation before. T h i s was t h e pitch

described by Praetorius, apparently A-2. For lack of evidence, w e are
unable t o consult other kinds of i n s t r ~ m e n t s , "so
~ this question must
remain open.
Duarte mentioned smaller instruments that played "gemeynelick
eenen thoon hooger" ("generally o n e tone higher"). H u y g e n s had pro-
posed a clavecimbel t w o tones lower than "Mevrouwe swan'^;"'^'
Duarte advised Huygens,
That could be bad and quite out of style, and unsuitable for playing
with voices; [I would rather advise] the natural pitch of this country,
which is called corista, exactly one tone lower than that of Madam
Swan, [a pitch that] serves well for normal voice [ranges]. The pitch
of the said Madam [i.e., a tone higher than corista] is suitable for ex-
traordinarily good voices that sing high, and for playing allemanden
and cout~anten[i.e., solo music]. At this same [higher] pitch I have
four or five [instruments?], unlike my clavecimbel and organ (which
are at rechten thoon), the one I would recommend to Your t on or."^
It is surprising that M a d a m Swan's instrument is taken as a reference

pitch, as if a harpsichord remained at a constant level;"' perhaps it too
was regularly tuned f r o m a "fluijtien" (pitchpipe) like t h e o n e Couchet
provided to Huygens (see ~ - ~ a I) n. a letter dated 19 July of t h e same
year, Duarte indicated that the clavecimbel was t o be made "in uni-
sono van den leegsten ordinarisen thoon chorista" ("in unison w i t h
t h e lowest normal pitch, or corista"), presumably t h e o n e h e had ear-
lier recommended. Couchet himself called t h e pitch of this instrument
"den reghten toon" (standard pitch). A s t o whether this would have
been A-I, A-1'/2, o r A-2, w e saw in 1-7 that, in about 1682, Huygens'
s o n Christiaan developed a method of measuring pitch, and reported
that his harpsichord (which may have been this same Couchet that his
father had bought in 1648) was at A-409, o r A-I!~."'
I n t h e N o r t h , a number of organs built in t h e early century
were apparently at A-I. T h e s e included:
Haarlem, St. Bavo, small organ (J. van Covelens, a1629)

Wijk bij Duurstede, St.-Jan Baptist (A. Kiespenning, ca.1615?)
Leiden, St. Pieter (Jacobs, 1628, recently restored)
Chapter z
Rotterdam, St. Laurents (H. Goldfuss, 1641)

Maastricht, O.L. Vrouwekerk (1652).'~~
I n Groningen, Schnitger's contract made u p in 1692 for the rebuilding

of the organ in the Martinikerk stated that the organ at that time was
"1% toon te hooch" ("1% steps too highw) in relation to the pitch he
eventually gave it (A+1).I4" T h e organ had existed from 1479. O t h e r
organs from this period were at A+I, including most of the important
organs in Amsterdam.I4'
Bouterse (1995:81-85, zoo1:1g5) reported the pitches of five small
one-piece recorders of Dutch provenance from the 1 6 ' ~and centu-
ries. T h e fact that all of them are close to A+o suggests that in the
Low Countries at least, this pitch level may have been quite ancient. It
is difficult t o know how far to generalize from these "hand-fluytjes"
to other kinds of music-making o n other instruments, however. T h e
one-piece keyless traverso left o n the island of Nova-Zembla by a
Dutch expedition in 1596 and rediscovered in 1871is also at A+o.I4' A + o
continues to be seen on a few Dutch woodwinds and organs in Hol-
land through the 1 8 ' century
~ (Graphs 16 and 24).
Much of the pitch evidence from the 1 6 ' ~and centuries that might
have come from English organs was erased by t w o widespread annihi-
lations of existing instruments. T h e first of these disasters was the re-
sult of Henry VIII's break with Rome and the so-called "English Ref-
ormat ion:"
For the period between 1526 and 1600 no [organ] contracts have yet
come to light; by the fourth quarter of the century it is clear that or-
gans had been removed or destroyed across large parts of the coun-
try.14'
M a n y organs were taken from churches after 1547, and others ceased
t o be used. " N o new organs are known t o have been built in London
churches during Elizabeth's reign ( 1 ~ 5 8 - 1 6 0 ~ ) . " ' ~ ~
After a brief but impressive flowering of organ building in the

163os, t h e Civil W a r of 1642 to 1649 and the subsequent C o m m o n -
wealth systematically abolished musical activities in churches and at
court. Hopkins & Rimbault (1855:19o) wrote, "In 1644 church organs
were ordered to be demolished by Act of Parliament, and s o implicitly
was t h e nonsensical decree obeyed that very few organs escaped the
general destruction." By the time of the order of parliament, in fact,
few church organs remained. Even later, after the Restoration in 1660
and the Great Fire of 1666, organs "were rarely purchased out of parish
expenses, as they were not considered necessary for worship."'4'
All that remains of the pitches of organs made before 1660 are a
few pipes from T h o m a s Dallam's instrument for King's College
Chapel, Cambridge, 1606; the largest sounds about G2 at 433-440, mak-
ing A = 487-494.'46 Another Dallam organ at Christ Church, Oxford,
was probably at 484 (see 3-4). There are also early pipes at about 473
from a Robert Dallam instrument originally built ca.1632 for Magdalen
College, O ~ f o r d . ' ~ ~
By the mid-19'~century, organ experts had already surmised that
organs had been pitched higher in the past. Hopkins & Rimbault
(1855:189) wrote,
If we read the notation of the old services a tone higher, the average
compass of the treble parts will then be made to the extent from mid-
dle b or c1 up to eZ or P; and the bass parts, as a rule, not lower than
Gamut G or FF; precisely the ranges which are known to be the best
for the corresponding voices in church music.
Ellis (1880:3~)measured t h e fork used by Hopkins & Rimbault as their

reference "Philharmonic" pitch; it was 433.2. T h u s "a tone highern
would have been about 484. E.H. Fellowes (1921:71ff) estimated,
mainly o n the basis of voice ranges, that sacred vocal music in Eng-
land in t h e early 171h century was "more than a tone higher than mod-
ern pitch" ("modern pitch" equaling 435).
N o n e of these figures is very specific, but they are probably indi-
cating a level known as Quire-pitch.
88 Chapter 2
2-=ja Church Music and the Quire-pitch Grid
English church organs from the Tudor period through the late cen-
tury were normally built from a bottom pipe of five- or ten-foot
length, which the organist called a C. Based on this length, with a di-
ameter given by Nathaniel Tomkins in 1665 (7V2 inches, see quotation
below), such a pipe has been calculated to play at about 50.1 H Z , ' ~ or
'
midway between modern G and Ab. O n this basis, a1 would have been
at about 508 Hz. For some time, it was widely accepted that that was
the pitch implied by a 10-foot pipe. But Goetze (1994:61) reports recent
measurements of unaltered early English organ pipes generally called
"10-foot," and finds that in reality they are consistently somewhat
longer and yield a lower pitch than A-508. They are, in fact, at what
works out to be about A-473, sharp to A + I by about 3 ~ c . A
l ~pitch
~ at
somewhere between A + I and A + t is therefore the most likely fre-
quency for the 10-foot organs of this period.
T o match this pitch to the ranges of choirs, organists evidently
found it necessary to use a transposing scheme that involved shifting
the names of the keys on the keyboard. T h e note that was normally C
was transformed into an F. T h u s when playing alone, an organist con-
sidered his bottom note a C, but when he accompanied a choir, he cus-
tomarily changed it to an F, thereby effectively performing a transpo-
sition. T h e untransposed system (where the key C was called C) is
now sometimes called "Organ-pitch." T h e other system, where the key
C became F, was called "Quire-pitch." As it was expressed at the time,
an organ was in "Gamut in Dsolre," which meant that when the organ
key D (Dsolre) was played, it would produce G (Gamut) in Quire-
pitch."" Because the keys were nominally a 4th lower than Quire-pitch,
Organ-pitch sounded a 4th higher than Quire-pitch (or a =jth lower).
T h u s in discussing the organ at Worcester Cathedral, Nathaniel
Tomkins in 1665equated the pitch of a 10-foot pipe (activated from the
"key" on the keyboard that we would call C) with two different notes
in different nominal pitches:
The great Organ wch was built at Worcr consisted of 2 open diapa-
sons of pure and massy metall double F fa ut of the quire pitch & ac-
cording to Guido Aretines scale (or a s some term it double C fa ut ac-
cording to ye keys & musiks) an open pipe of ten foot long ye
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670
diameter 7 inches & an half. (at St. Pauls Lond. ye diameter was 8
inches).
T h e difference between these "pitches," Quire-pitch and Organ-pitch

("according t o ye keys & musiks"'"), was not one of frequency (since
they were produced by one and the same pipe) but of nominal pitch,
since the key o n the organ keyboard had two different names.'"
I t is logical that this kind of organ is now known as the "transpos-
ing organ." It was apparently common in the 161h and early centu-
ries, and may be a remnant of a tradition that was widespread in
Europe; 16'~-centuryorgans o n the continent were sometimes in C/F
(cf. Schlick). T h e ramifications of the system are explained in detail
in Clark (1974:2~-37).
If Quire-pitch was A=473, Organ-pitch a fifth lower'" (or fourth
higher) would have been A=317/634. T h e approximate frequencies of
note names in these t w o pitches would be:
T h e four highest of these frequencies are remarkable. Instrument for

instrument, they reflect almost exactly the pattern of pitches of sur-
viving English church organs from as far back as there are records up
until the lgth century (Graph 22). T h e same is true of chamber organs
(Graph 23).
As we will see below, the most common I ~ ' ~and - 1 8 ' ~ - c e n t u rfre-
~
quency for A was +423, a M2 below Quire-pitch and a fourth above Or-
gan-pitch. T h e two semitones immediately above 423 were also com-
mon: A=448 and A=473. Such a consistent relation is unlikely t o have
been a matter of chance.
Although original organs are pitched at what appear t o be integral
intervals t o both Quire-pitch and Organ-pitch, the relation t o Quire-pitch
is more practical for transposition (a semitone, M2 and m3) than that
of Organ-pitch (an augmented fourth, perfect fourth and major third).
90 Chapter z
It would seem, then, that Quire-pitch was the reference point, and sur-
vived (sometimes in transposed forms) on organs right through to the
igth century.'54 T h e consistency of these levels is a retrospective
confirmation of the original frequency of Quire-pitch.
It is possible, then, to construct a transposition grid based on
Quire-pitch, and identify its pitches as follows:
Pitch symbol Approximate value Interval from Quire-pitch
(Quire-pitch)
Semitone below
M2 below
m3 below (= A - I Y ~ )
Q-I is a semitone below Quire-pitch, Q - 2 is two semitones below, etc.

In what follows, I will use these symbols to indicate approximate
pitch frequencies.'" It will be noticed that they fall between the nor-
mal grid encountered on the Continent (A+I, A-2, etc.). This suggests
an independent English pitch system. There are other indications of
this difference that will be discussed below: Robert Dallam's "quarter
of a note" for the organ at New College, Oxford; Praetorius's (1618:15)
English wind instruments "umb etwas, doch ein gar geringes, nie-
driger" ("somewhat, but only a little, lower"); Rousselet's hautboys
and bassoons for the Queen's Theatre "environ d'un Car de T o n plus
h a ~ t . " "T~h e inventory from Kremsmiinster Abbey of 1739 also men-
tions "I Paar [Flautten] englischen ton^"'^' (one pair [of recorders] at
English pitch), as if theiritch was unusual.
An apparent confirmation of these levels is an analysis by Darryl
Martin of the pitches of ~ ~ ' ~ - c e n English
t u r ~ virginals. As mentioned
in I-4a, Martin has found that virginals built between 1638 and 1684
fall into four pitch groups at his reference pitch (pitch V), V-IS, V-zs,
and V-3s (i.e., in descending semitones). Most instruments are at pitch
V. Martin believes that if these virginals were strung in iron, and
based on the string lengths of other keyboard instruments outside of
England, pitch V would have been between 459 to 497 Hz. T h e center
of these numbers is 478.'58This may well be an indication that Quire-
pitch, centered on 473, was already established by the 163os, along with
its derivatives Q-I,Q-2, and Q-3.
Quire-pitch can be observed o n organs from 1660 t o 1730, but disap-

pears after that (see G r a p h 22); QIpersisted until at least t h e m i d - 1 8 ' ~
century but is absent after 1770. Q-2 was regularly used by Renatus
Harris and was t o become t h e dominant organ pitch in England in t h e
1 8 ' ~century and into t h e lsth, identified at least once as Chappell-pitch
(see 3-2bj); w h e n it was later adopted by orchestral instruments it was
called "new Consort-pitch."'59
A m o n g t h e memoranda of Dr. Woodward, W a r d e n of N e w Col-
lege, Oxford, under the date "March loth, 1661," occurs t h e follow-
ing:160
Some discourse was then had with one Mr. Dalham, an organ maker
[presumably Robert Dallam], concerning a new fair organ to be made
for our college chapel. The stops of the intended organ were shown
unto myself and the thirteen seniors, set down in a paper and named
by the organist of Christ Church, who would have had them half a note
lower than Christ Church organ, but Mr. Dalham supposed that a
quarter of a note would be sufficient.
A s it happens, the original pitch of t h e new organ (made by Robert

Dallam in 1665) can be calculated f r o m surviving pipes at t h e College:
it is Az470, which is of course Qgire-pitch.'6' W i t h this information w e
can deduce that t h e older Christ C h u r c h organ (presumably a ?A-step
above Dallam's organ) would have been at about 484.
T h i s compares interestingly w i t h t h e "trebill cornets for the quire,"
t w o exceptionally fine instruments still preserved in t h e Christ
C h u r c h Library, which are pitched "a little higher than [ A - ~ ~ o ] . " ' "
T h i s m a y t h u s have been Q-I(448). T h e cornetts were "bought for t h e
choir of Christ C h u r c h Cathedral in preparation for t h e visit of James
I and his Q u e e n t o t h e House o n 27 August 1605. T h e King and Q u e e n
heard excellent voices mixt with instruments at a service in t h e Cathe-
dral."'6' T h e cornetts have silver m o u n t s that fit over their upper ends,
and lower t h e pitch t o somewhat below 4 4 0 . ' ~T~h e s e m o u n t s may
have lowered t h e cornetts to a whole-step below t h e organ, t h u s allow-
ing the instruments t o play together through transposition.
D r . Woodward's m e m o r a n d u m gives evidence that organs could be
only a '/4-step apart; since transpositions m u s t necessarily be based o n
integral semitones, these t w o instruments could not have been part of
92 Chapter z
the same transposition system. Christ Church's organ had been built
by Dallam's father. By building at Quire-pitch, Dallam must have been
doing so purposefully, as it was necessary to overrule the suggestion
of the organist of Christ Church, who wanted it lower. Dallam was
thus deliberately choosing the Quire-pitch system, which he used (as
far as we know) for all his other English organs.I6' H e had built organs
in Brittany, however, in another grid (cf. ErguC-GabCric at j89).'66
2-5a1 Religious Vocal Music in the r6Ih Century
Lacking the evidence of organs, determining the pitch standards of re-

ligious vocal music in England before the century can be only
speculative. Wulstan (1966) combined the notion of Qire-pitchn67with
"clef codes" (in which clef choice was used to indicate specific trans-
positions), and extrapolated backwards from the Quire-pitch evidence
of the early 171h century. While reasonable, the question is how far
back the principle can be applied. It is now generally believed o n the
basis of a number of surviving fragments of organs as well as con-
tracts (e.g., Duddyngton) that the lo-foot pipe represented the normal
church organ pitch at the time.Ibs Other bits of evidence presented in
Caldwell I970 and Bray 1980 (the ones not based on vocal ranges and
voice types) indicate that the system of transposing from Organ-pitch
to Quire-pitch was in use by 1519, and perhaps earlier.Ib9
Bowers's competing argument, which implies that Tudor music
was at 440, is less convincing because it is based exclusively o n vocal
rangesn7"Ravens' suggestion that "the average human voice would
have had a higher natural pitch in the 16Ih century than today" was
mentioned in I-sc, and underlines the problems of using vocal ranges
and voice types to determine historical pitch levels.
2-sb Instruments Other T h a n the Organ before 1642
2-ybr The Court and Church Music
Henry VIII maintained several "consorts" of foreign musicians. Of

the two groups of shawms and sackbuts at court, the first he inherited
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of c a . 1 6 ~ 0 93
from his father and the second was imported from Italy in the 1520s.
T h e t w o groups were kept distinct, possibly because the Italians
played at a different pitch level than the older g r o ~ p . ' A
~ 't the end of
t h e 153os, Henry also engaged a recorder consort from Venice consist-
ing of five brothers of the famous Bassano family. H e also imported a
consort of six French musicians associated with his private chamber,
w h o in 1543 were described as "the flutes." By 1561, this group probably
included cornetts (the instrument was t o have an important place in
the en~emble).'~'
Originally these court groups played in closed consorts. T h e r e is n o
record of the use of instruments in church services at court until t h e
1 5 ~ 0 s . ' Agreement
~' with organ pitch was therefore not necessary until
then.
T h e foreign consorts either came from Venice o r very likely got
their instruments from there. T h e Bassanos arrived in London from
Venice "with all their instrument^."'^^ Since wind instruments are not
easily altered in pitch, it is probable that the pitch o r pitches these
consorts used (at least at first) were standard in Venice. As mentioned
in 2-za, there is documentation of members of the Venetian side of the
Bassano family using "mezo ponto" and "tuto ponto," pitches with levels
we determined t o be A + I and A+o. Strumenti coristi also existed at
tuono corista (A-I o r 11/2), used both with voices and in small broken
consorts. T h e "instrument chest" mentioned in 2-1 was made by the
London Bassanos and described in ca.1571 as including 45 winds all
tuned t o "den gemeinen T o n u m der Orgel" ("the standard organ
pitch"). There are records of other instruments the Bassanos made for
musicians o n the Continent, presumably at the appropriate pitches.'7'
T h e large recorders Mersenne depicts (1636:111:239) "sent from Eng-
land" may have been made by Anthony I1 ~ a s s a n o ;they ' ~ ~ form only
part of a set, the others presumably made in France o r Italy; all were
probably at the same pitch. T h u s the Bassanos almost certainly con-
tinued t o make and play instruments at Continental pitch levels (of
which t h e most common was A + I ) when they moved to England.
But there are indications that, early on, they were also able t o
accommodate the English system. I n the larger cathedral and
collegiate choirs, wind instruments regularly played with choirs from
as early as 1525.'~' References t o the use of wind instruments in church
become frequent from about 1600. T h e cornett is often mentioned in
these performances, and while w e would normally expect the
94 Chapter z
formances, and while we would normally expect the Continental

cornett pitch at A t 1 to apply, it is likely that the English instruments
were pitched a little lower, for several reasons. T h e first is of course
the Quire-pitch system, suggesting that organs in English cathedrals
would have been at pitches a little above or below Continental cornett
pitch: either Quire-pitch (473) or Q-I(448). Praetorius (1618:15) tells us
which:
ChorThon among our ancestors was about a tone lower than it is today.
(The examination of early organs and different wind instruments con-
firms this.) Over the years it was raised to its present level in Italy
and England, as well as in the princely chapels of Germany. The Eng-
lish pitch, however, is a very little lower, as the instruments made in
that country show, for instance cornetts and shawms (or 'hoboys', as
they call them there).'78
As Myers (1983:3) observes, "'a very little bit lower' must be taken t o
mean lower by rather less than a semitone, since the rest of his discus-
sion relates pitches by semitones and larger intervals."
It was also true that the Bassanos were fine makers and could eas-
ily have adapted their instrument designs t o the English pitch grid. It
has been suggested that the "rabbit's feet" or "silkworm moth" mark
(!! in various multiples) found o n many renaissance woodwinds was
the Bassano's workshop mark.'" While this cannot be proven, it ap-
pears probable.'80 In her careful study of the general !! mark, Maggie
Lyndon-Jones has distinguished nearly 2 0 forms, with the implication
that they represent individual makers. Since the Bassanos worked in
both Venice and London, if the mark was theirs, the pitches of surviv-
ing instruments under each mark type could indicate a relationship be-
tween makers and locations. Some of these mark types (Lyndon-
Jones's Type C and Type K) include cornetts at both mezzo punto
(A+I) and Quire-pitch, suggesting they were made by individuals
working in both Continental and English systems (see Graph XI).
T y p e B, o n the other hand, shows curved and mute cornetts at only
mezzo punto and tutto punto, despite the clear association of some T y p e
B cornetts with ~ n ~ l a n d . "Types
' A and G recorders at Verona are a t
450 and 452,'82thus most likely Q-Iand suggesting English prove-
From this, then, it would seem that Quire-pitch o r one of its deriva-
tives (most likely Q-I)was an available level for wind instruments as
far back as the 1520s when wind instruments began t o be played with
choirs. T h e instruments that frequently played together were cornetts,
sackbuts, shawms, and recorders. There is no reason to think that this
wind-instrument pitch was abandoned in the course of the 161hcentury
and u p through the time of the Civil W a r in 1642 (or even at t h e Res-
toration in 1660). Talbot gave measurements for the cornetts of "Mr.
Shore" in the 1690s that would theoretically produce pitches'8' of
A = 4 y and A=467 (which are Q-Iand A+I).
Q-Imay also have been the level of secular vocal music in England
in the early r71h century. Based mainly o n voice ranges, both Fellowes
(1921:71ff) and Wulstan (1966:105) suggested that secular vocal music
would have been performed at about A+o. T h i s falls between two lev-
els of the Quire-pitch grid, Q-Iand Q - 2 , and being only a quarter step
f r o m either one, could as well line up with either (cf. also the pitches
of the earliest chamber organs that survive in G r a p h 23a). Without
further evidence, this is only speculation.
2 - ~ b 2 Consort-Pitch
Praetorius's wistful discussion of A-2 (1618:16, quoted in 2-4 above) as-

cribed it t o the Netherlands, some Catholic chapels in Germany, and
Italy (meaning, presumably, Rome). H e also said it was used for wind
instruments in England "formerly," which would probably have
. .
meant in the 1 6 ' ~century. "Formerly in England . most wind in-
struments have been made to sound a minor jd lower than our pre-
sent-day "CammerThon," s o that their F is in CammerThon our D, and
their G our E .. ."'84 It is surprising that he said it was used o n "most
wind instruments," since n o other evidence from that period has so

far turned u p to indicate such a pitch, either A-2 (392) or Q-3 (400).
Q-3 was probably the pitch T h o m a s Mace identified as "Consort-
pitch" in 1676 (pages 207, 216-7), and it m a y have had a long and vener-
able history, especially in secular music. Mace's clearly conservative
bent and dislike of the new French ideas that were becoming popular
in the late 171h century suggest he was referring to an English standard
long established. W e may be justified in extending Consort-pitch
96 Chapter 2
backwards into the 161h century through t h e history of t h e paramount

English consort instrument, t h e viola da gamba. Peter H o l m a n writes
(1993:265):
I t used to be thought that the destruction of England's main musical

institutions, the royal music, the cathedral choirs, and the collegiate
foundations, together with the disruption of the [Civil War] and the
establishment of Parliamentary government, produced conditions that
were wholly detrimental to its musical life. But Percy Scholes pointed
out in the 1930sthat the Puritans were not against music as such, only
against elaborate church music, and the public exhibition of plays and
dancing. Some types of music, notably those that could be cultivated
at home, actually flourished.
Viol playing, then, may well have continued through the 1 7 ' ~century
virtually without disturbance."' I n that case, presumably, so would
have its pitch. Pitch has a natural tendency t o stay where it is unless it
has a reason t o alter; it is in everyone's interest that it remain stable.
A s Segerman observed (1985b:60), a prime factor in establishing a
string pitch standard is top-string breaking point,'86 and since that de-
pends o n the size of the instrument, and viols did not change in design
f r o m t h e 1 6 ' ~t o the 1 7 ' ~centuries, t h e standard probably remained ap-
proximately the same. Evidence of t h e level of Consort-pitch i n t h e
ch
later 17 century, in other words, would probably be indicative o f
w h a t had been practiced before.
T h a t Consort-pitch probably had a n interface w i t h t h e Quire-pitch
grid is likely. Current information o n viol strings at t h e time (which
should be taken as approximate, since o u r knowledge of the subject is
still relatively limited) suggest that Mace's viol pitch was about 382-
392.'87 By that indication, Consort-pitch could have been Q-j at 400 o r
Q-4 (if it existed) at about 377. Q-3 is clearly t h e more likely, since its
vigor in t h e late r7Ih century (see 3-4) and its persistence i n t o t h e lach
suggests it had an established history extending back earlier.laa
2-6 France
2-6a Ton de Chapelle at A-2
Since pitch evidence for this period in France is not plentiful, t h e

question to ask is if there are any indications that the situation was
different from the rest of the continent. For wind instruments, the
short answer is "no;" the woodwinds shown in Mersenne's books pub-
lished in 1635-37 are similar in dimensions to those in Praetorius a
half-generation earlier. All of t h e m were at A+I, the normal pitch of
Venetian woodwinds used all over Europe at the time.
But the normal organ pitch in France and Flanders was indeed un-
usual; in the mid-16'~century it was considerably lower than in Italy
and Germany. T h i s difference was t o become an issue of importance
by the late century, because by then it had been transmitted to
other instruments, the designs of which France began exporting to the
rest of Europe.
T h e classical French organ seems t o have appeared in about the
middle of the 1 6 ' ~century, in the general area of the Low Countries,
Normandy, and the Ile de ~ r a n c e ; ' 'by ~ that time, the concept of "ton
d u choeur" was already in e x i ~ t e n c e . ' ~As
" mentioned in z-2b, Salomon
de Caus recorded the dimensions of an organ pipe in 1615 that (using
the pied de roi) would have produced A-2. A number of original organ
pitches are known from the century, all in the region of A-2:
Paris, St. Gervais, 1601

Soissons, Cathedral, 1621
Meaux, Cathedral, 1627
Rodez, Cathedral, 1629
Lanvellec (Bretagne), 1647
LJIsle-sur-la-Sorgue, 1648
OrlCans, Cathedral, 1657
Bourges, Cathedral, 1663
Lille, St. Sauveur
T h i s was the principal pitch associated with organs in France right

into the century (see Graph 19). It was presumably the one
Mersenne in the 1630s called "Ton de Ch~pelle."'~'
98 Chapter z
There may have been other organ standards, as implied by a min-

ute dated 17 August 1612 from the organ builder Pierre Marchant. H e
requested the Chapter of the Cathedral at Aix to inform him "en quel
ton ils dCsirent que le grand orgue soit mis" ("at which pitch they
wish to have the large organ tuned") in order "that it be tuned at the
most comfortable and appropriate pitch for the music of this church.
T h e question was duly debated and after all arguments and opinions
were heard by the gentlemen, it was resolved and commanded to the
..
said Master Pierre that it be put in Ton de Chapelle ."'92
A confirmation of the connection between A-2 and Ton de Chapelfe
is Mersenne's description of cornetts, instruments he said were used
"together with voices in churches, cathedrals, and chapels" and "in
vocal concerts and with the organ."'93In his musical example he calls
the cornett's lowest note ao, which was the lowest note of the instru-
ment at its normal pitch, A+I. But in the text and in his range chart,
Mersenne starts the instrument on C I instead of ao. As Herbert W.
Myers points out (*), ao at A + I (say, mezzo punto) is the same sound-
ing pitch as C I at A-2 (the level of French organs). Thus if Mersenne
had been using A-2 as a standard, he might have considered the
cornett as in CI.
2-6b Ton d ' ~ c u r i e
While the cornett may have been used in church, and could be trans-
posed in order to plug into the Ton de Chapelle grid, most of the in-
struments depicted in Mersenne's books were never heard in ecclesias-
tical settings. They were the woodwinds current at the French court,
and had no need to be in a pitch relation to church organs. Many of
them, particularly the "haut" instruments, were at a level similar to
Italian mezzo punto and Praetorius's CammerThon/Cornettenthon, A + I . ' ~ ~
Indeed, considering the connections between the French court and
northern Italy at the time, the woodwinds described in Mersenne
might have been made there. T h e story (perhaps apocryphal) of the
famous shawm player from Siena named Filidori comes to mind, who
in about 1620 had impressed Louis XI11 with his playing.'95 In any
case, Myers writes that "certainly Mersenne's dimensions for wood-
winds of Renaissance type do not differ significantly from those of
surviving examples from e l ~ e w h e r e . " ' ~Myers~ calculated that

Mersenne's treble cornett was 56.8 c m long, for instance, which (com-
pared to extant early cornetts) should yield A=469 (A+I). T h e cornett
is still present in French artistic representations of wind instruments
in t h e late 1 6 6 o s , ' ~although
~ the instrument was soon t o disappear
from most musical contexts. Mersenne gave the treble shawm a n
acoustic length'98 of 241.2 rnm, and its total length was 2 pieds = 649.7
m m , not significantly different from the total length of the treble
s h a w m Praetorius depicted (at 653 mm), as well as extant museum in-
strument~.'~~
T h e court's wind players were part of the Grande curie (or Royal
Equerry), and a group like the Douze grands hautbois probably per-
formed at A+I. There is in fact a later mention of a standard called
Ton d ' ~ c u r i ethat was probably A+I. It appears in an inventory drawn
u p o n October 17, 1708, at the death of Jacques Danican Philidor (a
court musician w h o joined the "Chambre du roi" in 1690). It lists a
number of instruments, including "2 hautbois dont l'un vieux et
l'autre d'un tond descurie"'"" ("two hautboys, one old and the other in
Ton dY~curie").O n the death of Philidor's wife Elisabeth Hanicque a
few months later, a second inventory of the estate mentions instru-
ments (presumably the same) as "2 hautbois, dont l'un vieux et l'autre
de ton diffCrentV'"' ("two hautboys, one old and the other in a differ-
ent pitch"). T a k e n together, these statements imply that "tond des-
curie" (= "Ton d'~curie") was different from the pitch of most of
Philidor's instruments (which would presumably have been at lower
pitches).
Wind-band instruments, often used for ceremonial and outdoor
occasions, have a tradition of being in higher keys, which sound more
exciting ("son timbre a ~ l u d'Cclat")'02
s and carry further. Hautboys,
like trumpets, were sometimes used o n the battlefield and o n parade.
A pitch associated with the curie would for these reasons probably
have been high.
It is possible, then, that Ton d ' ~ c u r i ewas the pitch standard at A + I
that existed in Mersenne's time and was associated with wind instru-
ments. T h e well-known maker Jean-Jacques Rippert is survived by a
number of recorders at this level. W e have n o means of making a di-
rect link between A + I and Ton d ' ~ c u r i e ,but by default it seems prob-
able. T h a t A t 1 existed is certain, however (whatever its name), and it
100 Chapter 2
is probably the reason the woodwinds underwent radical changes in

the mid-^,'^ century that made them suitable for use in the OpCra (see
3-1).
In comparing the fife and the traverso, Mersenne ( 1 6 3 6 - 3 7 : ~ ~im-
~)
plied a difference in pitch between wind ensembles and "concerts:"
"mais l'on ne fait pas ordinairement toutes les parties de Musique avec
les Fifres, comme avec les Flustes d'Allemande, que l'on met au ton de
chapelle pour faire des concerts" ("but it is not usual to put fifes o n all
the parts of an ensemble, as is done for German flutes, which are
made at Ton de chapelle so they can be played with other instru-
ments"). It would be very interesting t o know the circumstances and
instrumentation of these concerts in which German flutes played.'"' In
any case, fifes would probably have been pitched at Ton d ' ~ c u r i e(the
Fifies et Tambours was one of the official groups in the royal curie).
2-6c Lully's Pitch (Ton d'ope'ra)
Lully's major opera productions, begun in 1672, were performed at a

pitch that came to be called Ton d'Ope'i-a. B y the 1690s (when Lully was
n o longer alive), it was at A-2 (see 3-~a).It is unlikely to have changed;
Lully's influence remained strong and his works continued t o be regu-
larly performed for nearly a century after his death. T o have altered
the pitch level of performances of his works would have disturbed the
ranges of the vocal parts, and since it was the singers who had the up-
per hand at the OpCra,'04 pitch there showed no sign of change from
the 1690s until at least 17ljo.'~~
Indeed, Ton d'Ophra was so stable that it
became the common reference pitch in France.
Although it is not enough evidence o n which to base a conclusion,
there is an indication of the respective pitch levels of'the Grande Bande
(the Vingt-Quatre Violons) and Petite Bande (the "petits violons") in the
early 1660s.
Cavalli's opera Ercole amante was commissioned by Cardinal Maza-
rin t o celebrate the marriage of Louis X I V and Maria Theresia of
Spain, and Cavalli wrote it in Paris, probably in 1660 or 1661. Lully
wrote instrumental ballets, or entractesZo6that were interspersed
throughout the opera and danced by the king, queen, and other mem-
bers of the court. It is curious that Lully's entractes were systematically
and consistently notated a m j below each of the pieces they followed

in Cavalli's opera (C-A, g-e, etc.). T h e logical explanation for this dif-
ference in key is that Lully's pieces were played by another ensemble,
pitched a m j above the opera orchestra. T h e only plausible combina-
tion of pitches would have been A-2 and A+I.
Ercole Amante was performed from February t o May 1662. Lully at
this point had the petits violons (an orchestra created for him), but had
not yet consolidated his power at court and had not begun working
with the Vingt-Quatre Violons, the established orchestra of the court.
T h a t would not happen until t w o years later in 166~.'"'
T h u s it seems Lully performed these entractes (and the Ballet des
sept Planites that followed the opera) with the petits violons, while the
opera itself was played by the Vingt-Quatre, probably conducted by
Cavalli. T h e r e was certainly space enough for the t w o bands in the
cavernous theater built by Vigarani in the Tuileries, and money was
n o object for this performance (Mazarin had spoken of "jetter l'argent
par les fenttres" t o astound all of Europe with the wedding celebra-
tions). Indeed, several later pieces included the two ensembles playing
in conjunction (one on the stage, the other in the pit, for
T h i s could explain the difference in pitch: the Vingt-Quatre Violons
would have been at A-2 for the sake of the singers; the fact that organs
(used t o accompany voices in church) were already at A-2 indicates
that it was considered a singer's pitch. Georg Muffat's association of
A-2 and "Teatralischen Sachen" (see o-rc) m a y well have been refer-
ring back to the years 1663 to 1669, which he had spent in Paris study-
ing music: " T h e pitch t o which the French usually tune their instru-
ments is a whole-tone lower than our German one (called Cornet-ton)
and in operas, even one and a half-tones lower." Muffat's reference,
Cornet-ton, was A+1.'09 T h u s pitch "pour les Operas" would have been
A-2.
T h e petits violons o n the other hand, playing instrumental dances
without voice, would still have tuned to the traditional Ton d 9 ~ c u r i e
( A t l ; see 2-6b). Later, when t h e two ensembles began t o merge in
1664, the petits violons would have had some major refitting t o d o t o
come down t o the low pitch; the string instruments (which might well
have been Italian, where pitch was high) would probably have been
replaced, and the pitch change affected the design of the winds so fun-
damentally that it may have precipitated the process of developing the
102 Chapter 2
n e w models that appears t o have taken place between 1664 and about
1670.~~"
A dual pitch system was practiced in t h e Habsburg Lands as early as

1513. Mendel (1949:178) describes a contract made in that year for a n
St. Jacob Pfarrkirche in Innsbruck w i t h a
additional small organ at t h e
G that was t o be the same pitch as t h e large organ's F (in other words,
it was a n organ pitched a whole-tone below t h e large organ).
The reason given is: "in order that when His Imperial Majesty's choir
sings in the said church, they shall have in the two organs two differ-
ent pitches [chormass] side by side . . ." i.e., in order that the organist
may have two manuals at different pitches at his disposal, and avoid
difficulties of transposing.
T h e use of pitches a whole-tone apart was of course parallel t o t h e sys-

t e m outlined b y Morsolino in 1582 for northern Italy, in w h i c h t h e or-
ganist transposed d o w n a whole-step for t h e sake of t h e singers (to
"Tuono chorista," called "ChorThon" in Prague) f r o m a high instrumen-
tal pitch (called "mezzo punto" in Italy and "Cornet-ton" in t h e H a b s -
burg Lands). Praetorius, as w e have seen, would have liked t o see t h e
s a m e relationship adopted in northern Germany. H e cited Prague as
a n example (1618:15):
Thus I find very appealing the distinction drawn between ChorThon

and CammerThon employed at Prague and at a number of Catholic
chapels elsewhere. Our normal modern pitch, to which nearly all of
our organs are now tuned, is there called "CammerThon" . . . "Chor-
Thon," however, which is a whole-tone lower, is used only in the
churches, primarily for the sake of the singers, on whose shoulders
rests the greatest responsibility in church . . . it allows their voices to
hold out better, and saves them from becoming hoarse through operat-
ing at high
Vienna also used this system, regarding ChorThon as a tone below

Cornet-ton (i.e., t h e general instrumental pitch)."' Poglietti's instruc-
tions for tuning t h e harpsichord, published in Vienna in 1676 (p.100)
include t h e c o m m e n t "Cornetton ist u m b ein T o n hocher, als C h o r -
ton" ("Cornetton is a tone higher than ChorThon")."'
T h e same terminology is found in other places in Austria. A con-
tract dated 7 M a y 1621 for the organ in Brixen called for a n organ in
ChorThon w i t h a movable keyboard that "auf Cornetthon zu rucken
ist" ("can be shifted to C ~ r n e t T h o n " ) . ~A' ~
n inventory of instruments
at Kremsmiinster Abbey made in 1606 lists "2 Fleuttl die Cornetthoch"
made that year by H a n s Feichtinger of Gmunden."'
ChorThon was evidently a low pitch in at least some parts of south-
e r n Germany. A n inventory f r o m Stuttgart, 1589, listed curved cor-
netts at CammerThon/Cornettenthon and m u t e cornetts and flutes at
ChorThon (presumably a whole-step l ~ w e r ) . ""A.S.,"
~ t h e writer of t h e
Instrumentalischer Bettlermantl (p1633), spoke of "gerechter" Cornet-ton
as t h e pitch of most instruments, including t h e trumpet, while Chor-
ton, evidently lower, was used for certain others like t h e clavichord "or
similar i n ~ t r u m e n t . " ~A" clockwork organ survives, built by Langen-
bucher in Augsburg in about 1620; it is at A - ~ I ~ . ' "
T h u s in t h e south (Austria, Bohemia, and southern Germany), t h e
t e r m ChorThon was used t o mean a vocally-oriented lower pitch than
instrumental pitch. It was also called "franzosisch T o n " and " T o n o
Gallico." A s we will see in 3-6, this terminology was c o m m o n until
well into t h e 1 8 ' ~century, and was in direct opposition to the usage in
northern G e r m a n y at t h e same time.
Notes
I. Cf. Jander, Harris, and Fallows 2001:4jo-j1.

2. Paolucci is speaking of a motet by Andrea Rota, probably from his collec-
tion published in 1584.
3. O'Regan 1995:124.The first indication in an Italian treatise of the liturgical
use of organs dates from 1529, according to Barbieri 1994:587.
4. Schlick 1511,"Das Ander Capittel." Tr. based on Barber 1980.
104 Chapter 2
5. See 2-2a1 below.

6. For instance: Hamburg, Jacobikirche and Freyberg, Dom, at 489 and 467,
respectively.
7. Bonta 1ggo:52off.
8. Sherr 1994:607 (quoting Gregory Martin [Rome, 1969, written in 1581],
Roma sancta, ed. G.B. Parks, p.96). Cf. also O'Regan 1~~5:108ff.
9. Quoted in Ratte 1991:332.
10. Niemoller 1969:206ff.
12. Inventory made by J.J. Fugger. Quoted in Lasocki 1983:633n70.
I). Baines 1957:241.
14. Ongaro 1985:393.
15. See Lyndon-Jones ( 1 ~ ~ 6 a : l ofor
) other documentation of the purchase of
Venetian instruments in Italy, Germany, and the Habsburg Lands.
16. Cited in Mischiati 198~74.
17. Ongaro 1985:396.
18. Quoted in Moretti 1gg2:zo from Ferretto.
19. This observation is thus in disagreement with Mitchell zoo~:~oo, who sug-
gested (citing Haynes 1995,for an unclear reason) that tutto punto was more
common than mezzo punto.
20. Tarr's categories 1-3(see Tarr 1981).
21. This level was posited some time ago by Anthony Baines, and reported by
Mendel (1955/1968:222).
22. Paolucci 1765:174 note (d).
23. See Haynes 1995, Appendix 7-ga.
24. It is true that for 17th-century instrumental music, violins tuned lower
than A t o are less effective and have less bite and character than wind in-
struments of the same period (small recorders and cornetts).
25. T h e Cassel inventory of 1613 described by Baines (1951:jt) lists one case of
curved cornetts im thon (at pitch, presumably Cornet-ton) and another "nearly
[sic] a tone higher than the above." Roland Wilson* suggests that some of
the lower instruments were alto (G-) cornetts at A+2.
26. Beryl Kenyon de Pasqual* and Nelson 1994:255n3and 254.
27. Nassare 1723:IV:455.
28. T h e text is cited in Cesari & Pannain 193g:xvi. This organ (made by G.B.
Facchetti, 1546) was replaced in 1937 (Lunelli 1956:~8ff)and again in 1985.
29. See Haar 1989:249. (I am grateful to Douglas Kirk for this reference.) Ac-
cording to NG2 (17:15o), a player named Morsolino became organist at Cre-
mona in 1591.
30. I have been advised by Douglas Kirk on information from Andrew Par-
rott that the "non" found at this point in the text as transcribed in Cesari &
Pannain (and which renders the sentence nonsensical) does not exist in the
original document. Morsolino used "tuon" to mean both "pitch" and "tone"
when he described mezzo punto immediately above; the "tuon" that he used
here could thus be either. T h e present phrase might also have meant "which
is a lower pitch than the other, mezzo punto."
31. Quoted in full in Cesari & Pannain 19jg:xvi-xvii. A more literal transla-
tion into English appears in Herbert Myers, " T o the editor," GSJ LV (2002,
forthcoming).
32. At least two other authors use "tuon" to mean "half-step." Cf. Barcotto
1652 9 13 on Paduan organs in 2-zc. G.B. Facchetti I1 (a descendent of the
builder of the organ in question) wrote, in 1626, in a proposal for the organ at
Sa16: "Item ancora come obligo a riazonzer bisognando una cana mazor che
non sono quele che sono in opera ziove di stagno e questo si fara per arbasar
uno tono lorgano per far chel sia conform0 come lo coro de li preti" (quoted
in Podavini 1973:18-20)."Una cana" (one pipe) implies a semitone.
33. As Graph ~d shows, Mitchell 2001:101 is in error when he states that "Prac-
tising players have searched in vain for such an instrument [a cornett at
A+o] amongst European collections."
34. Six of the seven stamp-type "B" !! cornetts, dated by Lyndon-Jones
( 1 ~ ~ ~ : 2to
4 6~1559-1608,
) are at 430-443, averaging 438.
35. Quoted in Barbieri 1987:247.
36. (Mendel 1978:37n35 citing R. Lunelli, Studi e documenti di storia organaria
Veneta [Florence, 19~31, 37).
37. This is paraphrased in Spanish by Cerone (Naples, 1 6 1 ~ : 1 o 6 ~ ) .
38. Many interesting articles deal with the origins and use of chiavette. Cf. for
instance, van Heyghen 1 ~ ~ 5 : z 1 fKurtzman
f, 1994, McGowan 1994, Kreitner
1992:279, Barbieri 1991b, Kurtzman 1985:75, and Parrott 1984. T h e latest is by
Barbieri in NG2 (5:g97-600).
39. Cf. Barbieri 1991b:56. Virgiliano (~1600)categorized transpositions of a
third or less as associated with chiavi natxcrali rather than chiavette.
40. Page 4.
41. Originally built 1498; see Lunelli 1956 cited in Mendel 1978:37.
42. Jeppesen 1960:31.
43. Mischiati 1981:9.
44. Podavini 1973:18.
45. Lunelli 1956:112-13.
46. In modern Italian, corista has also come to mean a tuning fork.
47. Galeazzo Sabbatini, Regola secura per accordare a orecchio conforme I'uso
moderno, gl'organi, cembali, o altri simili instromenti da tasti (Pesaro, 1657), quoted
in Barbieri 1987:243.
48. See Lunelli 1956:11z-r3.T h e pitch of this organ was measured by the physi-
cist Giordano Riccati in 1742 as A-493, but it had been virtually replaced twice
between Antegnati's work and Riccati's measurement.
49. Banchieri was from Bologna, where organs were generally tuned at A + I ;
at S Petronio from 1531.
yo. 14010 average 470 (Atl). T h e Cassel inventory of 1613 described by Baines
( I ~ ~ I : lists
~ Z ) mute cornetts at three different pitches: the zd pitch a tone
higher than the first, the 3d a fourth higher than the zd. Four of these instru-
106 Chapter 2
ments have apparently survived at Leipzig (see Heyde 1982:51-55); two are
pitched at A-2 and two at A+o.
51. T h i s is of course if it is considered to be in A. Praetorius's depiction of the
mute is more than 13% longer than the curved cornett; a whole-tone is about
1 2 ~ 0 It
. is also about 5.6% longer than a good modern cornett that plays at 440
(Herbert W. Myers*). See also Myers 1997a.
52. Ardal Powell (*).
53. Baines 1951:jy.
54. Ferrari 1994:207.
55. Listed on pp.56-57. Among other examples, she indicated works by Schiitz
and Schein. Myers (*) points out that there are other pieces that mix flutes
with instruments characteristically at high pitch, such as Schein's Vater Un-
ser, which has "Violino, cornetto, voce" on the top part, "Traversa, cornetto,
voce" on the second, and violone+trombone on the other three lines. It is thus
possible that flutes at higher pitches did once exist; indeed, a tenor survives
at Vienna at A+I (museum no. 185).
56. Original text quoted in o-IC.
57. Myers 1997a:44.
58. Cf. the Cassel inventory of 1613, which includes "Ein groRer Fagott ins C.
octaf, Ein groaer Fagott ins B. octaf" (one large dulcian in low C , one large
dulcian in low Bb). Lyndon-Jones 1996a:16. These instruments were often
used to accompany choirs and help keep the pitch level, and would have been
useful pitched at the low ChorThon.
59. Baines 1951:34.
60. Pace Barcotto 1652; see above.
61. Praetorius 1618:15.Tr. based on Crookes 1986:31.
62. Barcotto 1652, 516.
63. Doni 1640:181;text and translation from Mendel 19g5/1968:236. A certain
A.D.V. (see Bibliography; quoted in Barbieri 1980:z4nr4) paraphrased this
passage in 1702: "En Italie [les Orgues] varient suivant les Villes. Celles de
Florence sont plus hautes d'un Demi-ton que celles de Rome, qui de leur cot6
..
sont plus basses d'un T o n qu'a Venise . De sorte que les Orgues de Venise
sont plus hautes de deux Tons entiers que celles de Naples." According to
Scharlau 1969x49, Kircher left notes in a M s ( M U B 370) that indicate a simi-
lar series of pitches, but in reverse, so that Naples was a major third above
Venice (sic).
64 . Mendel 1978:75.
65. This is the average pitch of Rome: St. Peter's (Cappella gregoriana and
Cappella giulia), S Maria Maggiore, S Giovanni in Laterano, Orvieto.
66. This is the average pitch of Montepulciano: S Maria delle Grazie; Firenze:
SS Trinitd; Nicastro: S Domenico.
67. This is the average pitch of Casalmaggiore: Chiesa di S Chiara; Verona:
Cathedral, L'Aquila; Piacenza: Chiesa abbaziale di San Sisto; Fanano: S
Giuseppe.
68. This is the average pitch of Carpi: S Bernardino; Brescia: S Giuseppe, S

Carlo; Bologna: S Petronio "in Cornu Evangelli," "in cornu Epistolae," S
Martino; Arezzo: Cattedrale, Colognole; Bolzano: Castel Coira.
69. This is the average pitch of Milan: S Maurizio and Innsbruck: Silberne
Kapelle.
70. Doni 1635:70. Thomas and Rhodes 1980:14:783 state that Doni gave this
same information in a Ms at F-Pn (fonds fr.19065) entitled Nouvelle introduc-
tion de musique. Walther (1732:511, citing Kircher VI:461) also refers to
Ramerino (although he calls him "N. Ramarinus"), mentioning his harpsi-
chord with 9 [sic] manuals, the first of which he says is "nach der Romischen
Music eingerichtet, und wird insgemein Tonus chorista, oder der chor-Ton
genennet."
71. The 1537 Miiller harpsichord at Rome transposes one whole-tone.
72. Tr. based on Crookes.
73. Caus, Les raisons des forces mouvantes.
74. Mendel 1978:43. Kircher's book was Musurgia universalis (Rome, 1650).
75. Tr. Mendel 1968:236. There is a surviving record that in 1627 the pipes of a
portable organ at the Cappella Giulia were lengthened "per abbassarlo mezzo
tono b poco meno" (cited in Hammond 1983:110,365).Barbieri 1980:24n15notes
numerous records of a sudden lowering of organs in the region of Rome in
subsequent years.
76. Tr. Barbieri 1991b:54.
77. Barbieri (1~~1b:38) reports that "In the Cappella sistina, castrati began to
be regularly engaged only from the year 1599 for soprano parts and from the
end of the seventeenth century for alto parts."
78. According to Mendel (1955/R 1968:192), Athanasius Kircher wrote in 1650
that "Roman music" was at "tonus Chorista." The Chiesa della Minerva
(~1562)was at "tono choristo," and S Maria in Aracoeli (1586) was "in tono
choristo, come quello della chiesa della Minerva" (Cametti 1919:449-50). Lu-
nelli (1~56:~5ff) also reports a contract for the Cathedral at Anagni (1702)
specifying "von 7 FUR und im romischen Chorton." T h e organ at San Luigi
dei Francesi was lowered a semitone to "tono choristo" in 1617 (Barbieri
1991b:54).
79. L'armonia dei suoni col vero corista o diapason normale (Rome, 1885), p.19.
80. A curious aspect of the history of the pitch of the organ at S Giovanni in
Laterano is the existence of organ parts notated a semitone below the other
parts in certain works by Girolamo Chiti, who was maestro di cappella there
from 1726 to 1759. The Dixit Dominus, C H W V 678, for instance, is in Bb ex-
cept for the organ in A. That would imply that the organ sounded a semitone
above the other parts, which is difficult to explain if it was indeed pitched at
As384. Cf. Gmeinwieser 1968:161.
81. Letter 17 Oct 1665. Quoted in Rosand 1991:238.
82. A contemporary letter includes the statement "Mr Graciadio ha fornito
I'organo di tutto ponto, con gli 12 registri . . . l'organo c i riuscito tanto buono
che io non saprei dimandar meglio" (quoted in Fenlon 1980:188). "Di tutto
108 Chapter 2
ponto" does not here refer to the organ's pitch but means rather "completely,
thoroughly," as in "Mr. Graciadio has quite finished the job of supplying the
organ." I am grateful to Herbert W . Myers (*) for help in understanding this
passage.
83. See Parrott 1984:490-516,Kurtzman 1985:75, and van Heyghen 1995:1gff.
84. Translation adapted from Picerno.
85. "Tono" was also used to mean semitone in a proposal for the organ at Sa16
written in 1626 by G.B. Facchetti I1 quoted above.
86. Quoted in Wistreich 1994:9.
87. Lunelli 1956:74ff.
88. Breue istrutione aifi giovani per imparare con ogni facilith il canto fermo, pp.126
and 124, respectively. Margaret Murata* writes that on p.48 Stella also wrote
"voce Chorista di Lombardia, ch'h una voce [el mezza quasi pi& alta di questa
di Roma."
89. Margaret Murata* notes further "That the practical differences [between
the pitches of Milan and Rome] are ingrained and entrenched, see p.14off
where tables of modes for ordinary chants are re-given to accomodate
Lombard use, and p.149, which discusses reconciling local organ pitch to the
chants." She also points out a passage in Giulio Cesare Marinelli's V i a retta
della voce corale (Bolopa, 1671) that cites Stella on organi Lombardi and states
that Roman organs are pitched "quasi, o senza quasi" a m3 below others (pre-
sumably organi Lombardi).
90. Segerman 1983a:28.
91. Quoted in Vogel 1889:103-4.
92. Lunelli 1956:58.
93. As Herbert W . Myers put it (*), this was "from p.121 onwards." Cf.
Myers 1998:260.
94. Tr. Crookes 1986.
95. Hart 1977:rz~-28.
98. T h e instrument was subsequently lowered a half-step in the 19th century.
Cf. van Biezen 1990:671.
99.1592, quoted above.
loo. T h e organ at the Martinikirche, Braunschweig (where Praetorius lived)
was lowered about two semitones in 1630 (Mendel 1978:37). Praetorius's lower
ChorThon had apparently been preceded by organs often tuned higher. Fock
( 1 ~ 3 ~ : 3 1writes
~) "In der Zeit zwischen 1540 und 1600 findet sich in den
Kirchenrechnungen sehr oft der Ver-merk, daR die Orgel "ummegestemmet"
ist, das heist: die friiher in hoherem Tone stehende Orgel wurde auf eine
niedrigere Stimmung, eben den Chorton, gebracht."
102. Ingegneri and Mainerio 1582 (see 2-2az).
103. Syntagma III:81-82. Translation from Mendel 1948:183.
105. Baines 1951:36.

106. Praetorius 1618:63f.
107. Quoted in Ratte 1 ~ ~ 1 : ~ 8 o f f .
108. Praetorius 1618:41. T h e specification in the contract for the organ at
Mainz Cathedral, finished in 1627, was for "Cornett Thon" (Bosken 1967:80).
109. Cornetts did of course exist at lower pitches but were less common. Cor-
netts made in Venice were frequently exported to other parts of Europe (cf.
the Bassano contract cited in 2-za~),and since the pitches are similar to Ger-
man instruments, a national distinction is unnecessary.
110. Harrassowitz 1973:21.
111. Quoted in Muller 1982:428.

112. See also Janowka 1701:93, quoted in 3-6. 1 am indebted to Jean-Pierre Cou-
turier for help in translating the passages in Janowka used in this study.
113. Ellis 1880, Bunjes 1966, Thomas & Rhodes 1971,G w y n n 1981, and Karp
1989. These conclusions have been the base of a series of articles on Praeto-
rius's pitch by Ephraim Segerman starting in 1983 (see Bibliography). Despite
arguments from various quarters, Segerman has remained loyal to the +qjo
level. T h e question was further discussed in Myers 1998 (which points out
numerous errors in Segerman's use and understanding of the relevant evi-
dence) and Koster (1999, see below).
114. In a paper presented at the Symposium "Stimmton und Transposition im
16.-18. Jahrhundert," Hochschule fur Kiinste, Bremen, 9 October 1999.
Proceedings are in press.
115. An article and related responses by Segerman, Myers, and Koster ap-
peared in GSJ 2001 (200-18, 420-z4), none of which alters their former posi-
tions. Segerman's general survey of pitch history in that issue is fundamen-
tally flawed by using as a general reference ("P") a value for Praetorius's
pitch at As430 that is no longer credible.
116. Smith 1978:56-57.
117.Cf. Vogel 1986:34.
118. Mendel 1948:123 suggests that the additions of CavaillC-Coll in 1896 could
have lowered the pitch a small amount. See also Williams 1 ~ 8 ~Mendel : ~ ~ ~ ;
1978:30; T. Schneider 1937:32; Lottermoser 1983:70.
119. According to Krickeberg. Tarr 1981:58 gives cornett ct662 as at 470, and a
mute cornett, n661 as at 409.
120. There is also a connection between Naumburg and Heinrich Schiitz, who
was honorary court Capellmeister at Zeitz, a city closely connected with
Naumburg.
121. Myers 1997a.
122. The unsupported statement in Thomas & Rhodes ( 1 ~ 8 0 : ~ 8 2that ) the
woodcut illustrations in De Organogr.aphia generally depict instruments "a
significant portion of a semitone lower than a9=440HZ" seems to have been
based on their conclusions about the Pfeifflin diagram rather than on any real
comparison or measurement.
110 Chapter 2
123. Cf. Galilei 1581:142,Baines 1983:501.

124. McGowan 1994:457.
125. Segerman 1993 confirms this pitch with careful measurements of the
sackbut illustrations.
126. Segerman (1985:262) suggested that a shank could have been added to this
sackbut, lowering it a semitone to about 435 and thus reconciling the pitches
(this is repeated in Segerman 1993, although he seems now to have retracted
it). I t is difficult to imagine that Praetorius, attempting to be quite specific
about the pitch frequency he wished to convey, would not have mentioned an
added shank, since its role would have been critical in fixing that pitch. Both
the shank and crook illustrated with the Posaun could have been used, of
course, to lower the instrument to accompany choirs (cf. 2-ta3). T h e standard
crooks were used "to create two principal new pitch levels: a single coil to
play a tone lower, or two to play a major 3rd below" (McGowan 1994:459).
Praetorius included with his tenor sackbut a "Krumbbiigel auff ein ganz
Thon," probably for playing a tone below CammerThon. Shanks were used for
smaller adjustments of tuning within a standard, much like the cornett's
"Giunte," as described by Bismantova (see o-ta). The Instrumentalischer Bet-
tlerrnantl (~1633)also mentions crooks for sackbuts (see Kite-Powell 1997:7).
127. Herbert W . Myers*.
128. Cf. Moser 1959:316, 521.
129. Flade 1931:114-15;Wolf 1738:69 (orig. p.178).
130. Praetorius appears to be indicating claviorgana here.
131. Pierre Hardouin*.
132. See W o r p 1915:IV:465,477,486,489and O'Brien 1990:180,197,~2'j.See also I-
4a.
133. Van Biezen 1990:240 suggests the same thing, since this pitch favored
singers. O'Brien (rg90:62) tentatively suggested that Ruckers and Couchet
worked at a reference itch (which he calls "R") of 413-419 (A-I). H e based
this on a similarity of scaling and a link to Taskin's 1783 tuning fork at 409.
How consistently, and when Taskin used his tuning fork, and whether he
had others now lost, are all open questions, and O'Brien's suggestion for the
frequency of "R" was not meant to be proven (nor could it be, based solely on
scaling).
134. T h e nearest we can come are recorders made in Brussels in the early 18th
century, which are relatively consistent at an average of A-11/2 (406).
135. Lady Utricia Swan, nee Ogle, wife of Sir William Swan, who corre-
sponded with Huygens. Howard Schott*, O'Brien 1990:305.
136. 3 May 1648. Quoted in W o r p 1915:IV:477.
137. Cf. Wraight's comment quoted in I-4a that "scales were considered to
have a well-defined relationship to the intended pitch and that the safety fac-
tor was sufficiently narrow to make it imprudent simply to tune a harpsi-
chord a semitone higher."
Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.16~0 111
138. Christiaan Huygens inherited his father's musical compositions, and had
apparently visited Duarte and possibly Couchet in Antwerp when the harpsi-
chord was being made (see Worp 1915:486).
139. Cf. van Biezen 199o:zgo.
140. Dorgelo 1985:67,71.
141. Van Biezen 1ggo:j8on61. Cf. also Peize, N H K (A. Verbeeck, 1631), and
Zeerijp, Jacobskerk (T. Faber, 1645).
142. Bouterse zoo1:197, 295.
143. Bicknell 1996343.
144. Temperley 11:147.
145. Temperley 1~147.
146. This pipe was probably intended to be at nominal @ire-pitch Fz. See
Clark 1974:36. Ellis's evidence (1880:4z) on the Worcester Cathedral organ (T.
Dallam, 1613)and that at St. John's College, Oxford (T. Dallam, ~1619)is too
vague to be usable.
147. Now at Tewkesbury Abbey and Stanford-on-Avon (Bicknell 1996:80).
For this pitch, see Goetze 1994:61.
148. See Mendel 1978:65n66.
149. Cf. Ellis 1880:48 under 474.1.
150. Bicknell (1996:82) expressed this idea, but got the relation between the
two backward. If a keyboard C produces a Quire-pitch F, it is a keyboard D
that will produce a Quire-pitch G. A keyboard G will produce a Quire-pitch C.
151, "Keys and musiks" probably means "white and black keys" (Clark
1974:z7). Cf. Mendel 1978:64 and Wulstan 1966:107-08.Gwynn ( 1 ~ ~ 2states : ~ ~ )
"The solo pieces were played on 'the keys', and the ranges indicate that they
were played untransposed."
152. Gwynn 1985:67 reports that there are 17th-century organ pipes marked
with both names.
153. See Mendel 1978:64-65.
154. Cf. for example the chamber organ at Canons Ashby, Lowered in 1851to
about 425.
155. This system of notating English pitches is different from the one I used
in my dissertation.
156. See 4 - ~ a .
157. Kellner 1956:357.
158. Brass stringing would pitches of about 389, 367, 346, and 327. Evi-
dence supports the use of iron, however ( ~ . ? ~ f f ) .
159. The transposition system used by organists seems no longer to have been
used by the end of the 17th century (Clark 1974:48; Bicknell 1985:Bo). A n
analogous move to a non-transposing organ keyboard was made on the conti-
nent during the 17th century (van Biezen 1990:286).
160. Quoted in Hopkins & Rimbault 1855:1go.
161. The organ was lowered a whole-tone by R. Harris in (? 1713) to *4z5
(Gwynn 1985:68-69; Goetze 1g95:62). A chamber organ survives at Bethnal
Green that was formerly also at New College, made in about 1680. It was dis-
112 Chapter 2
covered in the mid-19th century by Sir John Sutton and was "originally be-
low concert pitch" (the latter being in the low 450s; see lo-ld). The wooden
pipes had been cut, however, and the pitch is presently 11/2 semitones above
440 ( J o h n Pike Mander*).
162. Drake 1981:44. The cornetts may have been made by Arthur or Anthony
I1 Bassano. They are shown in Parrott 1978:183.
163. Quoted in Drake 198x44.
164. T h e mounts "slightly worsen the intonation, which is otherwise excel-
lent." Drake 1981:44-45.
167. Dallam built Prestbury, St. Peter (1663) at Quire-pitch; Oxford, Magdalen
College (1630s) was at Q-Iand Cambridge, St. John's (1635) was apparently
Q-2.
166. Lanvellec, 1647, at 388, may have originally been built higher than it now
sounds and had its pipes shifted. T o n Koopman* noted in playing it that the
semitone tuning suggests this.
167. Which he thought at that time was about 503; it can be corrected down-
ward to 473 without affecting his argument.
168. Cf. Goetze 199460, 1995:61. Goetze makes clear here he is speaking of
"church organs (as opposed to the few extant chamber instruments)."
169. See Mendel 1978:65 and G w y n n 1985:66-67.
170. Bowers 1995:10-15,43ff. Bowers also questions the clef code theory when
applied to that period.
171. Lasocki 1995b:174.
172. Lasocki 1ggyb:r75-76.
173. Parrott 1978:183.
174. Lasocki 1995b:g.
175. Lasocki 199-jb:216.
176. Lasocki 1995b:zz1.
177. Parrott 1978:183.
178. Tr. based on Crookes 1986.
179. See Kirk 1989x9-20, Waterhouse 1993:20-21,and Lasocki lgg~b:zz3-28.
180. Lyndon-Jones 1999:243, 261-62.
181. Lyndon-Jones 1999:246-47.
182. Weber 1975:7-8.
183. Following the method described in Haynes 1994.
184. Original text ¶uoted in 2-4.
185. Praetorius (1618:~4)mentioned a practice among English viol consorts of
transposing the music down a fifth by pretending to play different sizes. H i s
wording suggests a pitch change, but like the transposing organ, the actual
sounding pitch did not change, merely the nominal pitches of the strings. Cf.
Myers 2oo1:6.
186. Although the breaking point is a useful reference, there are indications
that strings were not always tuned up to it; see Myers ~ O O I : I ~ - 1 5 .
187. Segerman 1991:14.
188. Jones (1~89:157-69) uses lutes to propose pitches for the period 1610-70.O n
the basis of string length and composition, he suggests "Consort-Pitch" was
"between a semitone and a tone below modern standard pitch." This is Q-3,
which is quite plausible.
189. Dufourcq 1957:70.
190. Rokseth 1930:353.
191. Mersenne 1636:I:iii:gVI, p.169.
192. Dufourcq 1971:I:zoz.
193. Mersenne Proposition XXII.
194. See 2-2a1 and 2-3.
195. Thoinan 1867:398.
196. Myers 1989:3.
197. Gobelins tapestries L'Air and Printemps, which probably depict the in-
struments used in the curie. See Haynes 1988b and Haynes 2001:jo.
198. T h e distance from the top of the instrument to the middle of hole 6.
199. Myers 1997a. Mersenne's shawm played a six-finger dl, whereas Praeto-
rius's was at el for the same fingering and (apparently) pitch frequency. This
suggests there was a pitch standard for French shawms that sounded a whole-
step higher than the one used in Germany.
200. Dufourcq and Benoit 1963:195. I am indebted to Marc Ecochard for point-
ing this passage out to me.
201. 7 February 1709. Benoit and Dufourcq 1966:206.
202. Cf. this mid-19th-century advertisement (Verroust 185~:[last "Au
point de vue du progrhs des musiques militaires ... notre nouveau hautbois
en R i b est incontestablement prCfCrable B celui en Ut; son timbre a plus
d'hclat, et il permet d'exhcuter dans les tons les plus favorables les passages
les moins accessibles H ce dernier."
203. Mersenne included detailed dimensions of a traverso that he called "one
of the best flutes in the world," but there are serious questions about the
placement of the tone-holes and the total length of the instrument. Trevor
Robinson's reconstruction of it (reported in Robinson 1973:84-85) plays close
to "modern," i.e., A+o. But, as Powell comments (2002:58), Robinson was
obliged to interpret Mersenne's dimensions too freely to be sure they accu-
rately represent the instrument he described.
204. Rousseau 1768, S.V. "Orchestre" observed that in French music "c'est tou-
jours I'acteur qui rhgle l'orchestre tandis que l'orchestre devrait rigler
I'acteur."
205. T h i s is when major reworkings and additions began to appear in produc-
tions of Lully's works. Before then, alterations "tended to be relatively small
in number and modest in scope." See Rosow 1989:217, 228.
206. L W V I ~ / I - I ~ .
207. H e had been appointed surintendant de la musique et compositeur de la
musique de la chambre in May 1661 and was naturalized in December of that
year. H e added the title of maitre de la musique de lafamille royale and married
Lambert's daughter in July 1662.
Chapter z
208. Beaussant 1992:128.

209. Cf. the next section, 2-7.
210. See Haynes zoo1:56-$9.
211. Tr. based on Crookes 1986.
212. Vienna and Prague were connected both politically and culturally as parts
1 6 ) "Ferdinand I 1 made
of the Habsburg sphere. Antonicek ( 1 ~ 8 0 : 1 ~ : ~wrote
Vienna his capital and place of residence, although neither he nor later mon-
archs liked to reside there permanently; other towns such as Prague, Regens-
burg . . . and Graz shared Vienna's reputation as one of the places where the
imperial Kapelle gave outstanding performances."
213. T o distinguish this pitch from the northern Chorton at A+I, I will write
this southern name for the lower pitch as "ChorThon."
214. Senn 1974:39.
215. Mandorfer 1977:29.
216. Ardal Powell (*).
217. Kite-Powell 1997:s. See also Campbell 1995 (who believes the dialect used
in the text indicates a south-German or Austrian provenance).
218. Haspels 1987:123.
Chapter 3
The Instrument Revolution and Pitch

Fragmentation, 1670-1700
hile France was emerging as a strong power and cultural

role model, Germany and England in 1670 were just re-
covering from the devastations of long wars. All over
Europe, musical institutions were being reorganized and were ready
for changes, and French music was in vogue.
T h e r e were also urgent reasons for a number of French musicians
t o move out of France. O n e was the virtual expulsion of all Protes-
tants in 1685 by the French government (through the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes); many Protestants, especially in Poitou, were wood-
wind players and makers. T h e other reason was Lully's monopoly of
power within the musical sphere, which by the 1670s was so oppres-
sive that it forced a number of musicians to leave for other courts.
T h e new French strings and woodwinds, playing at lower pitches,
quickly spread all over Europe. T h e y were adopted in London, Turin,
Amsterdam, and Madrid by the 1670s~at various German courts and
cities by the 80s, and at Venice and Vienna by the 90s.' By the 1680s~
French woodwinds were being made in Holland and England, and by
the 169os, in Germany.
T h e first French instruments t o arrive in foreign lands were natu-
rally at the usual French pitches: Ton dlOpkra at A-2, Ton de la chambre
du Roy at A-11/2, and Ton d ' ~ c u r i eat A+]. W h e n organs at their tradi-
tional pitches were combined with the new instruments, transposition
was sometimes necessary. I n some cases, accommodation was easy;
Ton d l ~ c u r i eat A t 1 was known in Germany as Cornet-ton, and in Italy
116 Chapter 3
in this period, as Corista di Lombardia. In London, French Ton de la

chambre du Roy at A-1% coincided with English Consort-pitch at Q-3.
3-1 France
3-la Ton d'Ophra (A-2)
Indications in this period of the connection between the name Ton

d'Ophra and the frequency A-2 are sparse. LouliC wrote of recorders
pitched at Ton d'Ophra in 1696 (77). Recorders survive at A-2 by Du-
puis, Rippert, and L. Hotteterre; they were probably made in this pe-
riod.' There is also a pitchpipe made by "Dupuy" (Dupuis?) at 391.~
Many other French woodwinds were made in the course of the 1 8 ' ~
century with an average pitch of +390. Ton d'Opha, as we will see be-
low, was regularly considered the lowest pitch in France until late in
the 1 8 ' ~
century. Since it is also the lowest observable woodwind pitch,
a connection between the two is implicit.
At the end of the century, A-2 or Ton dJOphra was also called
Ton de Chapelle. The acoustician Joseph Sauveur wrote of the two in
the singular, as one (approximate) level: "Musicians consider the ref-
erence note to be C, which ..
Ton de Chapelle or Ton d'Ope'ra . this
frequency is not precisely determined .. ."4 And Bernard le Bovier de
Fontenelle did the same: "If there is no fixed frequency, one has to
rely on Ton de Chapelle or Ton d'Ophra, which 5 defined only ap-
proximately."' That the two pitches could have been at the same fre-
quency but distinguished by name probably had to do with their sepa-
rate functions. Instruments and churches were long kept separate in
France by the Caeremoniale Parisiense of 1662,~a strict ecclesiastical
code that discouraged the use of orchestral instruments in church
through much of the century. Le Cerf de la ViCville reported that
Campra was the first to introduce violins in church in about 1680 at
N8tre-Dame.7
Charpentier used instruments extensively in his sacred works writ-
ten in the 1670s through 169os, but the circumstances may have been
exceptional, as most of his patrons were independent of the normal
The Instrument Revolution and Pitch Fragmentation, 1670-1700 117
government of t h e Church. From 1688 t o 1698, Charpentier worked at

t h e Jesuit church of St. Louis in Paris, and it is conceivable that h e
regularly used instrumentalists f r o m the OpCra; w e k n o w singers
f r o m t h e OpCra sang there, and that t h e instrumentalists were "parmi
les meilleurs de Paris" ("among t h e best in paris").' M a n y of the
pieces Charpentier wrote in this period include i n s t r ~ m e n t s ,and
~
would t h u s probably have been performed at A-2.
3-1b Ton de la Chambre du Roy (A-19'2)
In 1701 Sauveur wrote of "the differences between Ton de Chapelle, Ton

d'Opkra, and the pitch of private concerts."'" Sauveur makes a distinc-
tion between Ton de Chapelle/Ton d'Opdra and t h e pitch for "des C o n -
certs particuliers," which sounds like a chamber pitch. In 1703
Brossard also seems t o have distinguished a Ton de la chambre du Roy
used in t h e "Chambre d u Roy," a Ton de Chapelle, and a Ton de
I'Opkra." LouliC in 1696 also used the t e r m Ton de la Chambre." A n d as
w e saw in o-IC, Muffat spoke of t w o c o m m o n French instrumental
" T h e pitch to which the French usually tune their instru-
m e n t s is a whole-tone lower than o u r G e r m a n o n e (called Cornet-ton)
and in operas, even o n e and a half tones lower."
T h e first mention of a "chamber pitch" different f r o m Ton de
Chapelle is a remark published in 1683 by o n e of t h e royal chapel organ-
ists, Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers, in his Dissertation sur le chant grkgorrien.
Nivers wrote:
By organs, I mean those at the pitch of the Royal Chapel, which is also
that of all the best-known organs of Paris and elsewhere: this is why
this pitch is called "Ton de Chapelle," to distinguish it from the "Ton de
la Chambve du Roy," which is a semitone higher. . . . The latter pitch is
normal (or should be so) for convent organs, since the range of the
female voices is usually somewhat higher than an octave above the
average male voice.''
Nivers' wording makes a categorical distinction between Ton de

Chapelle and Ton de la Chambre du Roy. Since he placed Ton de la Cham-
bre du Roy a semitone higher than organs, which were at A-2, it seems
118 Chapter 3
Nivers was giving a name to the pitch Muffat had identified as the
one "to which the French usually tune their instruments."
Describing pitches in semitones is of course somewhat approxi-
mate, and if we look at other evidence from the period, it looks as if
the semitone between Ton de Chapelle and Ton de la Chambre dw Roy
was pretty narrow, so that the pitch to which the French "usually
tuned their instruments" was rather lower than generic "415."
First, there is the evidence of the surviving French instruments of
this time, which are at A-2 but rarely at A-I. Looking at Graph 13, if
we except the four higher pitches in the period after 1730,'~the ex-
tremes of pitch in French woodwinds are virtually identical between
1670 and 1770. The range is 382 to 417 Hz, which is bigger than a semi-
tone; at least two pitch centers must therefore have been involved. If
we divide the frequencies down the middle, 382-400 and 401-417, the
averages of each are 393 and 409.'~These could be regarded as the ten-
ters of the two separate pitch standards. T h e difference between them
is only 69 cents, which to the ear still sounds like a semitone.
It may seem like quibbling to distinguish between 409 and 415 (A-
I), but 409 is an average, and another look at Graph 13 shows how rela-
tively few of the surviving instruments built before 1730 are above 410.
If 415 had been an important pitch standard, there would be more sur-
viving woodwinds at that general frequency, and some examples
above it.
As for organs, other than the most common level, A-2, organs built
in France in the period 1670-1700are pitched as follows:
406 Lorris-en-GLtinais, probably between 1607 and 1681

410 Le Petit Andely, St. Sauveur (Ingout/Quesnel, 1674)
408 Tarbes, Cathedral (Delaunay, 1682)
408 Roquemaure-du-Card (Frhres Jullien, 1690)
407 Lille, St. Maurice (M. Le Roy, 1 ~ 1 1 ) ' ~
T h i s works out to an average of 408.

Next is the evidence of a pitchpipe preserved at the MusCe des In-
struments at Paris. It records two pitches: written on the pipe's piston
are "Ton de l'opera" (at A-394) and "Plus haut de la chapelle a ver-
saille" (at A-4o7).I7 Here, too, is the distinction between opera and
court pitch. Since the organ in the chapel at Versailles was finished in
1711, this pitchpipe was presumably made after that date. It is not cer-
tain that these pitches are exact, but the relation between t h e m is
probably accurate (i.e., an interval of 57 cents). If "Ton de l'opera" was
actually 393 (as attested by surviving woodwinds), then the pitch of
the Versailles chapel would have been 406, very close t o the level
found o n the higher group of contemporary woodwinds and organs.
W e will see below that the King had his church organs tuned up to his
court pitch, so Versailles chapel pitch was probably the same as Ton de
la Chambre du Roy.
A-r'/z was also described as a pitch standard by the physicist Jo-
seph Sauveur ( I ~ o o : I ~ Iand
) , probably for chamber music, since it was
the pitch of a harpsichord. T h e frequency, accurate t o within a few
percent, was 404 HZ.'' Sauveur's later measurements of a harpsichord
pitch in 1713 the same f r e q ~ e n c y .I' n~ 1713 he reported that he
had measured organ pipes "chez le sieur Deslandes tr2ls-habile Facteur
d'Orgue"'" at the equivalent of about A-406."
T h u s the frequency of Ton de la Chambre du Roy was probably about
404-409 H z , only about 60 cents higher than Ton d'Ope'ra, enough to be
considered a semitone but not a full loo cents above it. There was of
course n o reason for the two pitches t o have been in a transposing re-
lationship of an exact semitone (in fact, even had they been a semi-
tone apart, transposition would have been impractical in the general
tuning schemes of the period based o n meantone).
T h e king to w h o m Ton de la Chambre du Roy referred was Louis
X I V , as it was the primary French instrumental pitch of his reign,
used at court and for the royal organs. It is observable in France from
about 1680 and extended as far as 1800, but probably was predominant
only until the 1720s (Louis died in 1~15).After 1780, A-11/2 seems t o
have become the favored pitch at t h e OpCra (see 8-2b). T h e same fre-
quency was dominant in England from at least the 1670s (and perhaps
long before) until about 1730, and was probably the level known as
Consort-pitch (see Graph 15b, c, and d). In Germany, it existed as a spe-
cies of tief-Cammerton (see 5-6b). It was apparently still being used at
Salzburg in Mozart's day." As can be seen in Graphs 14, 16, and 17, it
was a significant pitch in Germany, the Dutch Republic, and the
southern Netherlands.
IZO Chapter 3
3 - ~ b rOrgan Pitch and the "Louis XIV Parenthesis"
T h e prevailing court Ton de la Chambre du Roy apparently affected or-

gan pitch in the royal chapels. While there was a general ban on fig-
ural instruments in churches, the royal Chapelle employed concerted
music from the 1660s." That was possible because music in the
Chapelle was governed separately from churches in the rest of France.
At court, the various musical groups were often combined, and
royal wind players, carrying the pitches of their instruments, played
in the chamber, the chapel, in ceremonial music, and in the theater.24
T h i s constant intermixing implies that pitch at court was at a single
level. If Ton de la chambre du Roy was the preferred pitch of the players,
organ pitch at Versailles and the other royal residences would have to
have been raised to match it."
And indeed, there is documentation of this process. Alexandre
Thierry, organ maker to the King, requested payment on lo July 1687
"for having raised the pitch of the chamber [organ] and that of the
chapel [at Les Invalides], for [raising] another at Fontainebleau and
the chamber organs I am presently making, for [raising the pitch ofl
the Saint-Cyr organ and others, orders I have carried out for [Mgr
.
Louvois] . .''26
O n e of the organs Thierry raised was at the famous convent of
Saint-Cyr. Nivers, writing just a few years before this, had pointed
out that Ton de la Chambre du Roy was a more appropriate pitch for
convent organs. It may well have been Nivers himself who requested
that the Saint-Cyr organ be repitched, as he was music master there
from 1686 (the year before Thierry's note).
Although Louis XIV had his organs raised from their original
pitches (Ton de Chapelle at A-2) to Ton de la Chambre du Roy (A-11/2) in
the 1680s," after his death they were all gradually restored to Ton de
Chapelle, like other organs in the kingdom. T h e organ expert Pierre
Hardouin calls this the "Louis XIV parenthesis." Hardouin wrote in
1963 "Between the beginning of the 1 8 ' ~century and the end, Ton de
Chapelle in France went down, therefore, about the amount of a semi-
tone. But this appearance is deceptive, because it was in fact a return
to a former situation-say, that of 1660, and moreover, the pitch raised
to B natural [A-1/A-11/2] was not rampant everywhere ... It seems
plainly linked to the strong influence of the King's musicians."
The Instrument Revolution and Pitch Fragmentation, 1670-1700 IZI
T h e Versailles chapel organ is an example of this process. T h e

pitchpipe mentioned above, probably tuned t o this organ shortly after
it was completed in 1711, gave its pitch as A-407 (A-1%). Yet Ellis
(1880:36) reported the pitch of this organ (based on a fork that was
claimed t o represent it in 1789) as 396 (= A-2). T h e reason for this ap-
parent discrepancy is probably that the Versailles organ was originally
built at Ton de la Chambre du Roy, = A-1V2, and only later lowered t o A-
2 (probably during the restoration of 1~62)."Hence the pitch reported
by E l l i ~ . ' ~
Another example of a temporary pitch rise in organs is F r a n ~ o i s
Couperin's organ at St. Gervais. Built in 1601 by Langhedul at A-2, it
was raised a semitone in 1676 by Thierry. In 1768 (long after Cou-
perin's death), it was reconstructed by Bessard and Clicquot, at which
time Hardouin thinks it was lowered t o its original early century
pitch of A-2.
Support for Hardouin's hypothesis is the fact that organs built be-
fore 1670 and after 1700 were often pitched between 390 and 400,
whereas the last three decades of the 171h century saw almost all organs
built at higher pitches (see Graph 19a-c). There is also evidence of or-
gans lowered a semitone t o A-2 in t h e second half of the 1 8 ' ~century.
St. Pierre des Chartreux at Toulouse was lowered to A-2 in 1750-60,
and many newly built organs, such as those of Dom Bedos, were at
that pitch. There is in fact already a prevalence of organs at A-z after
1700, suggesting that the "Louis X I V parenthesis," like the glory-days
of court musical activities, was relatively short-lived.
It is interesting t o note that since the court, including its organs,
was at Ton de la Chambre du Roy at A-11/2, it seems that all Couperin's
music with organ, written either for St. Gervais o r for the royal or-
gans, as well as all his chamber music written for the court, was con-
ceived at A - I V ~ T
. h e same is probably true of all the music associated
with the court in Louis XIV's lifetime.
3-1b2 The Coexistence of T o n de la Chambre d u Roy and T o n d'OpCra
According to Muffat, Ton de la chambre du Roy was the level at which

t h e French usually tuned their instruments. I n other words, it was the
primary French instrumental pitch from sometime before the 1660s
122 Chapter 3
(when Muffat was in Paris) until at least 1698 (when he published this
comment). H e also expressed a personal preference for it over Ton
d9Opira at A-2 (see o-IC).
Ton de la chambre du Roy would not have appeared out of thin air; t o
be accorded its primary role, it m u s t have had an important history.
Nothing is yet known of that history; precedents for A-IV" include
most surviving Renaissance tenor flutes and the organ at Lorris-en-
Gstinais, whose pitch m a y date from 1501 (but is probably
century3").
W h i l e Ton de la chambre du Roy at A-195 prevailed at court, A-2 was
maintained at the OpCra because it was important for voice ranges,
particularly the haute-contre, which was a high tenor chest-voice like a
contralto that extended upwards often as far as gl o r even a1 at A-440,
about a third higher than t h e regular tenor; this was not t h e falsetto
(or head-register) voice that came t o be called "countertenor" in the
2oth century. T h e principal male role in eight of Lully's 14 operas was
for haute-contre. Raising the pitch would probably have made these
roles unsingable.
I n any case, after Lully's death t h e OpCra had become an institu-
tion dedicated to preserving a French national tradition, thus inher-
ently conservative. As late as t h e 1770S, Burney wrote,
The style of composition is totally changed throughout the rest of

Europe; yet the French, commonly accused of more levity and caprice
than their neighbors, have stood still in music for thirty or forty years:
nay, one may go still further, and assert boldly, that it has undergone
few changes at the great opera since Lulli's time, that is to say, in one
hundred years.1'
W h e r e t w o pitch standards functioned side by side like this, were they

used by different players, and was one associated with Paris and t h e
other with Versailles? In both cases, the answer is apparently no.
Location was not an issue. T h e court musical establishment did not
officially move from Paris t o Versailles until 1683, the same year Ni-
vers described Ton de la Chambre du Roy as a semitone higher than Ton
de Chapelle. T h e distinction between the pitches was thus already valid
w h e n both were used at Paris. (And indeed, Nivers made clear that
Ton de Chapelle was then the pitch of t h e "Chapelle d u Roy" as well as
"the best-known organs of Paris and elsewhere.") T h e bill Alexandre

Thierry presented to the king for raising the pitch of royal organs was
dated four years later, in 1687. T h e pitch distinction was thus one of
function, not place.
It is also clear that there was n o systematic demarcation of person-
nel between the court music and the OpCra. I t is true that as part of
the order establishing the OpCra (the AcadCmie Royale de Musique),
the King had explicitly forbidden Lully from using royal musicians at
the OpCra in Paris. His Permission of 27 J u n e 1672 contained the phrase
" N o r in the performance of these pieces may he make use of musi-
cians in our employ . . ."" Despite this, royal musicians sometimes
had leading parts in the productions Lully performed at court." A t
least 18 wind players, many of them prominent in the service of the
court, took part in Lully's productions at Saint-Germain-en-Laye in
the 1670s and 80s.j4 By the turn of the century, a number of wind play-
ers (Julien Bernier, Jean Rousselet," the ChCdeville brothers, and later
Jean-Franqois DesprCaux, Franqois Bureau, and Nicolas-Benigne
Monnot) combined careers at the OpCra with active court appoint-
m e n t ~ . Playing
'~ at both the court and the OpCra, these players would
have been obliged t o use different instruments or setups, rather like
the British woodwind player at the beginning of the 2ochcentury de-
scribed by Baines ( r 9 ~ 7 : ~ 0 w) , h o "had t o possess two instruments, one
~ h a r ~ - ~ i tthe
c h ,other flat-pitch, and when engaged for a concert was
notified which to bring."
3-IC Ton d l ~ c u r i e(A+I)
T h e other pitch standard that survives o n French flutes is A+I. W e

speculated in the last chapter that this level was called Ton d ' ~ c u r i e .
T h e r e are a dozen recorders made between about 1670 and 1730 by the
Hotteterres and Rippert," and a traverso by Lissieu with an average
pitch of 461-62. I t is possible that all these instruments were made be-
fore 1700.
There are two ways t o look at instruments at A t r : we can take
t h e m at face value. O r , by switching their nominal pitch upward a
step (i.e., turning F-flutes into G-flutes, C-hautboys into D-hautboys,
etc.), they can be regarded as pitched at A-I.
124 Chapter 3
But there is no sign that musicians of the time thought in this way.
It is our generation that assumes a single pitch standard and looks at
instruments that do not fit it as "transposing" (B b-clarinets, F-horns,
etc.). Among the sources of the time that indicate the name of the
lowest note, it is consistently C I for the hautboy (Talbot ca.16gz-q5,
Freillon-Ponqein 1700, Hotteterre 1707), and f l for the recorder (LouliC
ca.1685, Freillon-Ponqein, ~ o t t e t e r r e ) . " There is also documentation
of hautboys (and indeed violins) in Cornet-ton ( A + I ) . ~ Since
~ the con-
cept of multiple pitch standards was common, we may assume that
the instruments in question were indeed thought of as pitched at a
higher standard. (This surely did not prevent players from using them
as "transposing" instruments, however, when the need arose.)
3-za French Influences on Instrumental Pitch at the Restoration
At the Restoration in 1660, when Charles I 1 returned to London, sur-

viving musicians who had been in royal service before the war broke
out in 1642 were reappointed.40 T h e 17 to 2 0 positions in the royal
"Wind musick" were on traditional instruments (cornett, dulcian,
flageolet, flute, recorder, shawm, and ~ a c k b u t ) . ~The
' Broken Consort,
also a continuation of a group from before the war, "may initially
have played prewar fantasia suites until new music became available,
just as the revived Chapel Royal relied at first on old anthem^."^' As
discussed in 2-5b1, the principle instrumental pitch at court had proba-
bly been Q-I(448), and this level was presumably revived at first.
But there are indications of a shift in musical styles and instru-
ments during Charles' reign. Gradually, the traditional ensembles
(and their pitch) seem to have faded away. By 1679, the traditional
"Wind musick" was down to five members4' (probably through attri-
tion), and the group apparently ceased to exist when Charles died in
1685.~~
T h e cause of this change was the arrival of newfangled instru-
ments from France. Roger North (1~28)gives the impression that the
French influence ("Babtist's [Lully's] vein") was quite marked in

England:
But during the first years of Charles 2d all musick affected by the
.
beau-mond run into the French way . . and all the compositions of
the towne were strained to imitate Babtist's veim4'
After the manner of France, [Charles 11] set up a band of 24 violins to
play a t his dinners, which disbanded all the old English musick at
once.46
T h e new French instruments were at first novelties, but they soon be-
gan t o take root. Talbot in t h e 1690s gave a clue as to when this hap-
pened: "Chief use of Sackbutt here in England is in consort with o u r
W a i t s o r English Hautbois. I t was left off towards the latter e n d of
K.Ch. 2d & gave place t o the Fr. B a ~ s o n . " ~T' h e second half of
Charles' reign would have begun in 1673, precisely the year the first
French woodwind players, together w i t h a number of French dancers,
arrived in England in t h e company of t h e composer Robert Cambert,
an erstwhile rival of Lully's.
Cambert had probably used t h e new French hautboy (at the time
n o more than seven years old, and possibly brand new) in t h e operas
he had performed in Paris in 1671. I t is now thought that Louis X I V
himself may have been behind Cambert's move to England, and that
Cambert was meant t o observe the English monarch at close quarters
through his role as t h e Maitre de musique to Charles' mistress, a Breton
noblewoman named Louise de KCroualle. Cambert was in charge of a
group of French musicians, including three of Louis' singers ( w h o
m a y have had secondary jobs as spies) and "five o r six m e n w h o play
very well o n flutes."48
Lully's music did n o t circulate in England until t h e 1 6 8 o s , and
~ ~ the
first performance of a Lully opera did not take place until 1686.'" But
King Charles had a taste for French music, and already in t h e 1670s
C a m b e r t and his musicians were entertaining h i m and members of his
court w i t h snippets of Lully's latest productions that had been o n the
Paris stage less than a year.5' In the process, they also introduced Lon-
d o n to t h e latest, most up-to-date woodwinds being used at the Paris
OpCra, together with their pitch level.
126 Chapter 3
Four of the "flutists" in Cambert's band took part as "French Ho-

boyes" in several other stage productions and were hired by one of the
two London theaters, the King's Company, in 1674-75. Although at the
time there were strong anti-French feelings, the English public evi-
dently liked the new instruments." From then on, there are regular
references to public performances on French woodwind^.^' And if the
woodwinds were at French pitch, the rest of the band (which could
more easily change pitch) would have had to tune to them.
Influences from abroad apparently made little impression on the
pitch system of organs, however. Several authors have pointed to the
connection with France through the Dallams, who had lived in Brit-
tany during the I n t e r r e g n ~ m .But
~ ~ the pitch of Dallam organs that
survive now in Brittany has nothing to do with the Quire-pitch sys-
tem, conforming instead to the usual organ standard in France, A-z.~'
3-zar Consort-pitch (Q-j), Alias T o n de la chambre du Roy (A-rY2)
Although the viol consort that had been important earlier in the cen-
tury seems to have gone out of fashion by this period, Consort-pitch
continued to be the name for Q-3 (see 2-sbz). In function if not exact
frequency, it appears to have been the English analog to Cammerton in
Germany, a secular pitch associated with "chamber music" (i.e., in-
strumental music in general). T h e term "Concert pitch" was also
used, evidently as a variant of Consort-pitch and identical to it; it is
unlikely that two distinct standards would have had such similar
name^.'^
Roger North used the name Consort-pitch in connection with tun-
ing a harpsichord in his Theory of sounds (ca.1710-26; 1959:208): "The
first thing is to tune that F to its consort pitchSn5'In his Treatise ofMu-
sick ( I ~ z I ) , Alexander Malcolm described Consort Pitch as "neither too
high nor too low, for the Accompaniment of other Instruments, and
especially for the human voice."" Prelleur, in his instructions for tun-
ing the harpsichord (1730:~8),recommended "First set your Instru-
ment to Consort Pitch by a Pitch-Pipe or Consort-flute." "Consort-
flutes" were thus at Consort-pitch. "Flute" was the normal name for a
recorder, an effective instrument to use as a pitch reference.
T h e London recorder maker Peter Bressan, w h o on t h e death of

James Paisible executed an inventory of his possessions (19 August
1721), listed "two voice flutes, one consort flute and two small ones, an
old hautboy and an old cane f l ~ t e . " 'In
~ this context, "consort flute" is
a size of recorder between the voice flute (in dl) and the "small ones."
A similar distinction is made in the phrase "Voice Flutes and Consort
Flutes" in a record of new instruments bought by the court of George
I1 in 1 ~ ~ 2T. h~e " well-known recorder maker Thomas Stanesby Jr.
( I ~ ~ ~ described
: I ) the "Concert Flute" as "the lute,"^' meaning what
is now called the treble o r alto recorder, and Tans'ur in 1746 wrote that
" O f flutes there are many Sizes, as a Concert Flute; a Third Flute; a
Fifth, and a Sixth, and an Octave lute."^' T h e pitch of these latter
flutes were intervals upward, reckoned from the standard "Concert"
o r "Consort" Flute.
Organs were sometimes made t o Consort-pitch and at least t w o
documents specifically associate the recorder with the pitch:
(I) Renatus Harris' contract in 1722 for his last organ for St.
Dionis Backchurch specified "Consort flute Pitch."6'
(2) T h e contract for St. George, Hanover Square, London,
( 1 ~ 2 soriginally
) specified "Concert Flute pitch."64
(3) T h e organ at St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol (Harris & Byfield,
1726) described by its makers as at "Consort itch."^'
(4) T h e organ at Vicar's Hall, Wells was lowered by Swar-
brick in 1719 "a lesser third t o bring i t nearer to Con-
cert pitch."66
(s) T h e restoration by Parker in 1766 of the organ at Univer-
sity Church, Cambridge, involved lowering it t o "con-
cert pitch." T h i s was done by shifting the pipes down
one semitone (one rank survives with note-names
marked).67
English recorders should thus give us the frequency of Consort-pitch.

T h e pitches of 48 English recorders from this period are known.
Thirty-three range from 395 to 40s at an average of 402, and fifteen are
pitched from 408 to 418, averaging 411. T h e majority of these recorders
are thus at Q-3, which would logically have been Consort-pitch, and the
others at A-I. It is not possible to date these instruments exactly; the
working dates of the major makers (Bressan, Bradbury, and Stanesby
128 Chapter 3
Sr.) all span a period from about 1690 to 1730. Graph 15 shows only o n e
woodwind (a traverso by Urquhart) above 410 until the period 1700-
1 ~ 3 0 . ~But
' there is n o way t o be certain of the chronology here.
Stanesby Jr., w h o did not begin work until after 1713, is represented by
instruments at A-I, whereas his father, w h o worked until 1733/34, is
not (see Graph 31). Thus, although it is probable that higher-pitched
instruments appeared later, it cannot be absolutely determined.
Q-3 was apparently still standard in I712 (see Rousselet's letter
quoted in 4-Sa2), and Stanesby Jr. is survived by t w o traversos at Q-3
(these would have been made after I ~ I ~Evidently
) . ~ ~ Q-3 continued t o
be used well into the 181h And between 1670 and 1700, it was
apparently the predominant instrumental standard.
T h a t English woodwinds should have been made in some kind of
pitch relation t o English organs and the Quire-pitch grid is not surpris-
ing. But (apparently fortuitously) Q-3 happened t o have been equiva-
lent t o French Ton de la chambre du Roy (see 3-~b).T h i s coincidence
must have been of great practical benefit.
Bressan had probably begun making instruments w h e n he was still
in F r a n ~ e ; when
~' he arrived in England in 1688, he may simply have
continued t o use his models of recorders at Ton de la chambre du Roy.
Since many of the influential players of woodwinds in England at this
time were French, Consort-pitch at A-I'/z/Q-J was probably reinforced
by their presence.
Consort pitch was probably used in places where instrumental pitch
was decisive, such as in operas and semi-operas, incidental music t o
plays, and chamber music. A single organ survives from this period
that retains almost all of its original pipework and mechanism. Built
in ca.1693, it is at Adlington Hall in Cheshire. "This instrument be-
came unplayable before 1800, and survived without alteration until its
restoration in I ~ s ~ . "AS
~ ' would be expected of an organ used in a pri-
vate house, probably with other instruments, it is pitched at A-11/2
(406).7'
Using a pitch lower than A-I affects vocal parts. As Bruce W o o d
observes, reviewing a recording of Purcell made (interestingly) at A-2:
[The parts now done by countertenors] were actually conceived for

two distinct types of voice, which in some early sources are distin-
guished by the use of different clefs: the alto, for parts requiring a light
The Instrument Revolution and Pitch Fragmentation, 1670-1700
but full-voiced tenor, and the mezzo-soprano, for parts demanding fal-
setto production (a technique which seems not to have been common
in England before the late 1680s). Acceptance of this dichotomy causes
the lower type of countertenor line, when performed a t an appropriate
pitch [i.e., lower than 415], to spring into focus: its bottom notes, in-
volving falsettists as they do in awkward changes of gear, lie perfectly
for tenors, while in those duet passages in which both types of voice
interweave lines often a third apart, the problems of balance, intracta-
ble if both singers are falsettists, simply melt away."
W o o d suggests that A-2 is "arguably a shade too low" for Purcell.

W h e t h e r A-2 was ever adopted in England is indeed questionable.
English recorders are very specific in pitch, and only o n e original f r o m
this period is below 4 0 0 . ~ ~
3-zb C h u r c h O r g a n s and t h e Quire-pitch Grid
In this period, the k n o w n organ pitches fit consistently into t h e grid

of Quire-pitch, Q-I,Q - 2 , and Q-3 (see G r a p h 22 and Appendix 7).76 Q-I
and Q - 2 are the most common.
T h e old transposing system, where t h e C-key was used both as a C
in "Organ-pitch" and F in Quire-pitch, w e n t out of use in this period,
and organs were altered t o function in " G a m u t proper" (i.e., the G-
key sounded t h e choir's G) instead of " G a m u t in Dso11-e."77T h e key-
board now reflected the notes in Quire-pitch. ( T h i s was a question of
how the keyboard lined u p w i t h t h e pipework, of course, not a change
of pitch frequency.)
Bernard S m i t h (ca.1630-1708), o n e of the most important English
organ makers, described the organ h e built at St. Mary-at-Hill, Lon-
d o n in 1693 as in the "Toane of t h e C o m m o n C h u r c h itch."'^ T h i s in-
teresting n a m e was presumably o n e of the Quire-pitch frequencies.
Surviving organs associated w i t h S m i t h are generally a t Quire-pitch
and Q-I.
Chapter 3
Dominic Gwynn (r985:71) writes of a "ferment in the English organ

world" at the Restoration. A number of new organs were built at pre-
war pitch but later converted. Many organs newly built after the Res-
toration were almost immediately rebuilt or repla~ed.'~ Most of these
organs were either lowered to ~uire-pitch'ofrom something higher
(such as Canterbury Cathedral, built 1663, lowered a semitone in
16B4), or new-built at Quire-pitch (like Durham Cathedral made by
Smith in 1683, and instruments by Loosemore and Robert alla am).''
As long as traditional English winds at Q-Iwere in use (see 2-5b1),
organs would have had to be at the same pitch or a whole-tone higher
( Q + I ) to accommodate transposition. But to play with the newer
French woodwinds that were coming into fashion and were pitched at
Q-)," organs had to be positioned no higher than @ire-pitch itself to
be within reach by transposition of a m3. An example of this is the or-
gan at Whitehall, built in about 1662.
In Purcell's day, this was the only permanent organ used by the
Chapel Royal. It took part in the "symphony anthems" of the 1670s
and 80s, which were performed when the king was present at the
Chapel. Symphony anthems, at first, used the older instruments: cor-
netts, sackbuts, and violins." O u r deductions in 2-5b1 suggest their
pitch was probably Q-I.'~
All this apparently changed in 1678 with the appointment of three
French woodwind players to the This event suggests a mod-
ernization of the instrumental forces, and a revision in pitch relation-
ships, as the Frenchmen were no doubt using instruments at Q-3. Pe-
ter Holman describes two anthems by John Blow from the early 1680s
that call for winds, one with recorders and the other for both recorders
and tenor hautboy^.'^ If they ~ l a y e din these, of course, the French
woodwinds probably played other pieces, doubling the string parts in
"symphonies."87
Already at some time before 1676, Smith lowered the Whitehall
organ "half a note."" It is difficult to imagine any other reason for a
pitch change on an organ that was only 14 years old than an adjust-
ment to the new pitch orientation of the i n s t r ~ m e n t s . ' ~T h e actual
pitches of this organ are unknown because it was burned in 1698, but it
is likely Smith lowered it from Q+Ito Quire-pitch, in order to put it
w i t h i n transposing reach of t h e instruments at Q-3. ( H a d it already

been at Quire-pitch o r anything lower, S m i t h would have had n o need
t o lower it.)90
Purcell's music of the 1690s appears t o have been written for a
lower pitch than previously. Burrows noticed that Purcell took the vo-
cal bass parts t o his secular music of t h e 1680s regularly d o w n t o D,
whereas in t h e O d e s of the 1690s he never required notes below FS9'
Andrew Parrott cites a confirmation of this drop:
to be found in Purcell's writing for William Turner, practically the

only solo singer named in works from both before and after the intro-
duction of oboes; the later writing lies exactly a tone higher. The shift
also offers an explanation for [the singer John] Gostling's apparent
loss of low notes around this time."
T h e rise in voice ranges suggests t h e use of a lower pitch level for

these works, which included trumpets and hautboys, and were per-
formed elsewhere than Whitehall. T h e largest interval involved in
these range changes in t h e voices, a m3, happens to correspond t o the
distance that would have separated hautboys at Q-3 from organs in
Q u i r e pitch, such as t h e organ at Whitehall (if indeed S m i t h lowered it
to Quire-pitch). T h e presence of hautboys, h e suggests, may have been
t h e cause of this difference in pitch.
In a sense this is probably true, although as w e have seen French
woodwinds had been integrated into t h e Chapel Royal o n an ad hoc ba-
sis more than 10 years before. T h e vocal parts of t h e 80s that were no-
tated lower were n o doubt at t h e organ pitch. After Charles 11's death
in 1685, "Musick" (that is, concerted symphonies of instruments) was
n o longer performed at t h e Chapel,9' and the big works with trumpets
of t h e 90s were performed in different circumstances where transposi-
tion was evidently n o longer a n element (except perhaps for the or-
ganist). T h e parts (both for singers and instruments) were notated
differently, but their sounding ranges were not affected.
It is unlikely that Purcell performed his early anthems at W e s t -
minster Abbey at a different pitch t h a n at Whitehall. T h e pitch of the
organ at t h e Abbey is k n o w n only f r o m 1730 (when it was at Q-I), but
it was presumably at Quire-pitch before that. T h u s all of Purcell's mu-
sic prior t o 1690 that involves organ was probably performed by t h e
132 Chapter j
singers at Quire-pitch (A=473) and (except for the organist) transposed

upward by any instrumentalists who accompanied.
Bernard Smith's nephew Gerard Smith, in contracting to make the
organ at St. George, Hanover Square in 1725, spoke of a "Church pitch
of f [as in] the Organ of St. Paul London."94 "Church pitch of f "
would probably have meant "the F in Quire-pitch," referring to the
name of the bottom pipe, which as Tomkins had written in describing
the organ at Worcester Cathedral in 1665was F in "quire pitch" and C
in "ye keys & musiks" (see 2-sa). This was not in itself a specification
of absolute pitch frequency, although if the pipe was 10-foot, the organ
would have been at 473, or Quire-pitch.
T h e organ at St. Paul's Cathedral had been built (or rebuilt) by
Bernard Smith in 1696 and its pitch was A=449 (Q-I), his usual lower
pitch. In 1665 the pitch of St. Paul's was mentioned by Tomkins as be-
ing at about the same as the organ at W o r ~ e s t e r , which
~' was probably
Quire-pitch, a semitone above the level that Smith gave it in 1696.
Smith would probably have lowered it by shifting pipes.
Praetorius had said in 1618 that "the English pitch ...

is a very little
lower" than his own reference pitch, meaning, presumably somewhere
between A+I (464) and a semitone lower, or 440. As we saw in 2-5b1,
Q-I(centered on 448) was associated with English wind instruments
of the older type (cornetts, sackbuts, and shawms). It is perhaps for
this reason that organs at Q-Iappear to have been most common be-
fore 1700 (see Graph na-b). Here are the ones known to me:
Pitch Date Present location

450 1623 "Sevenoaks, Knole House
45Of early 17C *New York, St. David's School
448 1666 Gloucester, Cathedral (Harris)
450 t ca. 1680 "Canterbury Cathedral chamber organ
442 1690 London, Hampton-Ct. Palace (Smith)
449 f 1696 St. Paul's Cathedral (Smith)
445-52 1698 Cambridge, Univ. Church (Smith)
452+ late 171h C "Canons Ashby, chamber organ
446-47 late C "Nottingham, Wollaton Hall

443-+ 1708 Cambridge, Trinity College (Smith)
448+ 1730 London, Westminster ~ b b e y ~ ~
T h i s pitch seems t o have been especially favored for chamber organs

(marked here w i t h an *).
G r a p h 22 shows the pitches of English organs f r o m 1500 t o 1800. T h e

most striking characteristic of this graph is t h e predominance in all
periods of a pitch between 420 and 430. T h e average of all English or-
gans in a range of 413-436 is 425 (the average for this particular period
is 426). Q - 2 was the pitch associated with o n e of the leading English
organ makers of the late century, Renatus Harris, w h o built new
instruments and altered older ones t o this pitch.
I n his M s notes, made apparently in the early gas, James Talbot
gave lengths and circumferences for three organ pipes at what he
called "Chappell-pitch": "Cz," "CI," and "C." G w y n n (1985:70) calcu-
lated that these pipes would yield pitches of 426 to 432, which seems to
be Q - 2 .
3-3 G e r m a n y
It is unclear how long Praetorius' pitch terminology was used in Ger-

many. T h e D u t c h woodwind maker Richard H a k a made u p a bili in
1685 for m a n y instruments and accessories. T h e bill was directed t o a
certain Johann O t t o and is written in a combination of D u t c h and
G e r m a n 9 ' I t includes pitch-names that make the most sense if they
are seen as similar t o Praetorius'. H a k a included:
6 maple "bas dulsians Coor mes"

13 boxwood discant "Schalmeyen klarin trompettentoon."
134 Chapter 3
T h e s e were in the section called "teutsche Schalmejien." "Coor mes"

meant "Chormassig" (i.e., suitable for playing w i t h singersgs),
since "bas dulsians" o r curtals were often used to accompany choirs.
"Klarin trompettentoon" is clearly A + I and appropriate for instru-
m e n t s called "teutsche" (see 3-3c). If H a k a called A + I "klarin trompet-
tentoon," "Coor mes" was evidently another level. T h e next section
was "franse Haubois," and included:
4 boxwood discant Haubois "alle Coortoon."
Since French hautboys were almost always pitched at A-I o r lower,

and H a k a probably wished t o distinguish their pitch f r o m that of t h e
"teutsche Schalmeyen" at A+I, "Coortoon" probably meant they were
at A-I, as it usually did for Praetorius. A s late as the 172os, Chorton was
still sometimes used exceptionally in G e r m a n y t o mean t h e lower
pitch (see 5-3). I n the Habsburg Lands, of course, Chorton was t h e
n o r m a l t e r m for A-r until well into t h e 1 8 ' ~century (see 3-6). But w e
k n o w that (for unclear reasons), t h e word Chorton was migrating up-
ward f r o m A-I to A + I , and indeed while Praetorius was writing in t h e
years before 1619 its meaning was becoming ambiguous. W e also k n o w
of t w o organs built in t h e 1680s at A + I t h a t were described at t h e t i m e
as in C h ~ r t o n . ~ ~
3-ja T h e Arrival of French I n s t r u m e n t s in G e r m a n y
O n t h e tide of t h e orchestral innovations f r o m France first inspired b y

Lully, a n e w pitch orientation arrived in Germany. Along w i t h t h e
n e w stage works came a n orchestra incorporating t h e latest designs of
French woodwinds that had been developed t o play w i t h strings. Ac-
cording t o Q u a n t z (using 18'~-centurypitch terminology),
The unpleasant Chol-ton prevailed for several centuries in Germany, as

the old organs indicate. Other instruments, such as violins, bass viols,
trombones, recorders, shawms, bombards, trumpets, clarinets, etc.
were adjusted to it as well. But after the French, with their lower and
more agreeable pitch, had changed the German cross-pipe into the
traverso, the shawm into the hautboy, and the bombard to the bas-
soon, the high Chorton began to be replaced by Cammerton in Ger-

many, as some of the newest and most famous organs of the present
time testify. '"
A t the time of the arrival of French instruments during the 1660s-

169os, Germany was just recovering from the devastation of the
T h i r t y Years W a r (1618-16~8),while France was emerging as a strong
power with immense cultural influence. T h e r e was a keen interest in
French style, both in Catholic courts like Dresden and in the many
Protestant principalities where Huguenots could find refuge after the
revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
These new instruments were n o more flexible in pitch than the ex-
isting organs, and being French, they were tuned more than a tone be-
low the usual pitch of German organs. In the south, some woodwinds
began t o be made by German craftsmen at organ pitch, but they were
exceptional; most German woodwinds were made to play a tone be-
low the organs, so they could interface through transposition. As the
lower-pitched secular instrumental music gradually prevailed and
eventually dominated music making in the 1 8 ' ~century, so did its
pitch.
T h e first French instruments heard in Germany were direct im-
ports that accompanied their players, and were pitched at Ton d'Ope'ra
at A-2 and Ton de la chambre du Roy at A-r'/z. German courts began
employing French musicians and dancers in the 1660s. In 1664 the
reigning Duke at Schwerin, Christian Louis I, married a French duch-
ess, and hired string players w h o had worked under Lully. A t Celle,
Duke Georg Wilhelm also married a French duchess and hired a
Frenchman, Philippe La Vigne, as his C a ~ e l l m e i s t e rin 1666. By the
168os, several other courts and cities (including Stuttgart, Hannover,
Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, and Darmstadt) had adopted Lully's music
and the new instruments t o play it. T h e r e were performances of
Lully's operas at Regensburg in 1683, Wolfenbiittel in the mid-168os,
Ansbach before 1686, and Hamburg and Stuttgart in the 1690s.'"'
After 1685, Berlin was especially receptive to Huguenots; "by the
end of the 1,'" century every fifth person in Berlin was of French ex-
traction."'"' T w o players of the new French hautboy were already en-
gaged at the royal Prussian court in 1681.'"' Dresden's Hofcapelle evi-
dently switched from renaissance t o baroque winds in the mid-169os,
136 Chapter 3
according to court records (cornetts are listed in 1694 but are replaced
by hautboys in 1697).'04 It was presumably during the last two decades
of the century that instrumental pitch in German courts shifted
from A t 1 t o some form of French pitch. There were pockets that re-
mained at the old high level, however; strings at Weimar, for in-
stance, were still at A+I in the 1710s (see 6-2).
German makers were soon copying and adapting French wind in-
struments. Christoph Denner and Johann Schell in Nuremberg were
possibly the first. Denner began his career about 1678,'"' just as the
new instruments began t o appear. It was not until 1696, however, that
he and Schell applied for permission from their guild to make and sell
the "French musical instruments, that is, Hautbois and Flictes douces ...
that were invented about 12 years ago in France." '06 Twelve years be-
fore 1696 is 1684; why this date was cited is a mystery, as the hautboy
was developed in France in the 1660s (the chronology of the baroque
recorder has yet t o be established), and French hautboys were being
played in Germany before then. It could be that Denner or Schell
were in communication with the players at the court in Munich w h o
had been sent t o Paris in that same year, 1684, to studY woodwind-
playing with Hotteterre. In any case, by the year of this official re-
quest, 1696, orders were already being made to Nuremberg for "fran-
zosische S ~ h a l r n e y e n , "and
' ~ ~ Denner had been commissioned by the
town Council t o make two "frantzesische Fletten" in 1694.
3-jb T h e Shift in Terminology
In Praetorius' day, in Germany as in Italy, organs were usually built

t o play in the same pitch as most other instruments, A+I. Praetorius
called this pitch CammerThon. But he reported that some organs at A-I
had been raised to A t r and were still being described as in ChorThon
(see 2-3a). Like "ChormaR," "Chorton" has always been an ambiguous
category of pitch, having a meaning associated less with a particular
frequency than with a level suitable for playing with singers.
"CammerThon" was always a more specific frequency, since it was
the pitch associated with instruments that played "chamber music,"
Cammer-Musique. Until recently, the term "chamber music" covered
the idea of secular music in general. CammerThon would therefore
have been the usual pitch for any instrumental ensemble, large or
small, that was not playing in a church o r a theater.
T h e arrival in Germany in the 1680s of the new instruments from
France and their low pitch began t o affect German pitch terminology.
Since CammerThon was a name associated with the orchestral instru-
ments first played at courts (that is, "chamber" instruments), when
the new instruments started to be adopted their lower pitch took o n
the name Cammerton. There were makers like Denner and Schell w h o
worked in both periods and had made instruments at both pitches,
"CammerThon" ( A + I ) and "Cammerton" (A-I).
But as we have seen, A-I had also been a standard in Praetorius'
day; it was the pitch Praetorius himself often called Chorthon. Thus,
the names of pitch standards (Chorthon, CammerThon) and their fre-
quencies (A-I, A + I ) both existed in Germany in Praetorius' time as in
Bach's. T h e difference was that their names were interchanged. Musi-
cal practice had reversed itself, so the terminology became inverted.
Between the time Praetorius' book appeared and the careers of com-
posers like Telemann and Bach, instrument design and liturgical mu-
sical practice had both undergone a fundamental revolution. As is of-
ten the case when relationships change, jargon or "buzzwords" within
the field were retained, but applied t o other concepts. CammerThon
was still the pitch of instruments, ChorThon still that of church music.
But the pitch of instruments and choirs had traded positions, so the
level of CammerThon in the 1 7 ' ~century became that of Chorton in the
108
181h,and vice-versa. Thus, the musical revolution caused by the arri-
val of French "chamber" instruments did not actually introduce A-1.'09
It merely brought it into the chamber.
A good century after the appearance of Praetorius' book, Adlung
(1~26:2:55) wrote, "Organs are tuned t o Chorton, as it is now called,
which is I o r 1'/2 tones higher than Cammerton. Formerly it was the re-
verse, and Cammerton was higher than Chorton; organs were tuned to
what was then called Cammerton." Adlung then referred t o Praetorius
1618:14."O
Cornett pitch was the exception t o this switch. Praetorius had used
the terms "CammerThon" and "Cornettenthon" as synonyms. So while
the names CammerThon and Chorthon had traded places by the end of
the century, Cornettenthon and Cornet-ton remained the same level,
since the cornett stayed at the same pitch. W h e n Georg Falck (1688)
138 Chapter 3
recommended using a pitchpipe tuned to "Cornetthohe" as a reference

for determining the appropriate pitch for a choir to sing, he was im-
plying that composers notated their music assuming the general use of
A+I. A document written before 1681at Corvey (Detmold) prescribed
that "The organ should be at Cornet-ton, so that its pitch will agree
with every [other] musical instrument." "'
T h e situation can be summarized as follows:
Early century CammerThon (Chorthon)

Cornet tenthon
(Chort hon)
Late rTth and 1 8 ' ~ Chorton Cammerton

centuries Cornet - ton
3-jc "Deutsche" as an Indication of Pitch
As might be expected, the older instruments in the German renais-

sance tradition did not vanish overnight. The Chorist-Fagott or dulcian
long continued its traditional role as a discrete accompaniment to
choirs,"' and the cross-flute, in the form of a military fife, even sur-
vived into the lgth century."' T h e kind of shawm described by Praeto-
rius was probably still in use as late as 1726 (though it had disappeared
by 17?8)."~
Since the new instruments were French and the old ones were Ger-
man, the word "German" was sometimes used to identify what we
would now call "renaissance" instruments. These "German" in-
struments were normally at the old high CammerThon-Cornettenthonat
A ~ I But
. the hereditary words for A t 1 were no longer appropriate;
Cammerton had become associated with a low pitch, and cornetts had
become rare enough to convey little about pitch. Another term was
therefore needed to identify the older instrument types at A+I, so
"deutsche" gradually developed a secondary connotation as an indica-
tion of instruments at high pitch. Not that the word referred only to
pitch, but the implication was that a "German" instrument was at
A + I , as renaissance instruments normally were. T h i s usage can be

seen, for instance, in Majer (1732:32, par.6), w h o described chalumeaux
as: "theils mit d e m Franzosischen, theils mit Teutschem T o n " ("some
in French, some in G e r m a n pitch"). Eisel (1738:104) described t h e old
"Teutschen Basson" (apparently the dulcian) for "Liebhaber des Alter-
thums" ("lovers of antiquityM) as "nicht m e h r i m Gebrauch" ("no
longer in use"). Fuhrmann wrote in 1706, "Fagotto, o r Dulciano, a n 8-
foot dulcian at Chorton. Bassone, a French bassoon but at Cammerton."
"'Bach consistently distinguished t h e "Fagotto" from t h e "Bassono"
by key/pitch (cf. Prinz 1981; also 6-zb), the former being at Cornet-ton
and t h e latter a m j lower. Heinichen actually used both instruments at
a distance of a m j in t h e cantata Herr, nun lassest du deiner Diener (see
y9a). A m o n g t h e instruments owned by t h e Stuttgart court in 1718
were "2 franztiisischer [sic] Fagots" as well as "I Teutscher ~ a ~ o t , " " ~
t h e instruments presumably distinguished by pitch. T h e "Dul-
cian[enIn listed in t h e 1658 inventory of the St. W e n z e l Stadt-kirche
in N a u m b u r g are termed "teutsche Fagott" in a later inventory of
ca.1720; the "Floten" of t h e list made in 1658 are called "teutsche
Floden" in the inventories of ca.1720 and 1728. W h a t had previously
been normal had n o need of special designations; w h e n it became ex-
ceptional in the 172os, it needed t h e qualifying label implied by t h e
word "teutsche."
Janowka (1701:4z) wrote under "Fagottum": " W e can find t w o
kinds: o n e is German, the other French, determined by their relation
w i t h t h e organ. T h e first is called Zinck-thon [Cornett-pitch]; t h e sec-
o n d Chor-thon." Janowka used "Chor-thon" in t h e older w a y as a pitch a
whole-tone below Zinck-thon (see 3-6). H e also wrote ( I ~ o I : ~ ~ ) :
"Fletna" (in French, "Flute"). There are moreover four different sizes
of flute: some, smaller in size, are called Quart-Fletten and sound (as
their name implies) a fourth above the Treble flute, and are thus an
octave above the size commonly termed Tenor; in present-day music
this instrument is seldom usable. The others, however (Trebles, Ten-
ors, and Basses), are commonly used."' All are twice as loud."* As a
matter of fact, they match the German or Bohemian organs, tuned to
the Zinck or cornett a t this pitch. Because they are in the same tonality
[as these organs], they are called German, or C-flutes. Flutes with
French or Italian fingering, since they are tuned a tone lower, will be
140 Chapter j
in unison with our fingered B b when they play fingered C, and in

unison with French and Italian organs. And these French flutes, or
"Fletuse" [= "FICtes douces" or recorders], are said to be in Bb.
By 1718 an inventory of instruments at the court at Wiirttemberg

listed renaissance-type instruments like flutes, curved and mute cor-
netts, and a dulcian ("alter teiitscher Fagot") among those that were
"ohnbrauchbahr und nicht zutractiren" ("useless and not playable")."9
T h i s list was probably typical in early 18'~-centuryGerman courts,
and is evidence of the change that had taken place.
3-3d Pitches of Surviving Instruments
3-3dr Organ Pitch
Despite the success of the French instruments at a lower pitch, Ger-

man church organs, new and old, remained at their traditional high
pitch; only a few organs were made lower, beginning in the second
decade of the 1 8 ' ~century (see Graph zoc). As in all other periods, the
main cluster of organ pitches was at A+I, with a spread of higher
pitches (the latter to be discussed next). O f the organs made in this
period whose pitch is known, none are lower than the mid-450s. T h u s
most church music was presumably conceived at A+I. T h a t would
have included pieces like Krieger's sacred concertos and cantatas writ-
ten at Weiaenfels in the 1680s and 90s, as well as the works of Erle-
bach.
W h y did organ pitch remain high? For one thing, the Thirty Years
W a r destroyed many German organs and organ-making schools, and
left Germany at the beginning of the 1 8 ' ~century with early I,'~-
century organs."" For another, the organ, as the symbolic religious in-
strument and the one on which the music director normally played,
had a privileged position. Besides that, the organ builder's art was, as
Mendel put it, ''of ancient lineage, and their traditions tenaciously
clung to."'2' Some people preferred the sound of an organ at high pitch;
as late as 1756, Mittag wrote:
[Chor-ton] is the most natural [on an organ]. I t makes the organ sound
so much fresher and pleasanter than when it is tuned in Kammer-ton. I t
[Chorton] stands a second higher than Kammerton and is especially
pleasant in chorale singing and preluding. One does not need to trans-
pose all those chorales whose ranges lie a bit low. With concerted mu-
sic, especially with oboes and flutes, one can easily transpose down a
tone."'
Probably t h e most important reason older organs were not lowered,

though, was t h e expense involved. T o bring the pitch of a n organ
d o w n meant adding pipes at t h e bottom e n d of each register, and these
pipes were t h e largest. N o t only were large pipes more expensive, they
would not fit into existing (and often highly prized) old organ cases.
It was cheaper and simpler t o hire an organist who, w h e n necessary,
could transpose at sight."'
Schnitger built a transposing 8' Gedackt stop at a lower pitch into
t h e H a m b u r g Jacobi organ, which was generally at 489 (called by
Adlung "ChormaRig"). T h e stop was a minor third lower (thus at
about 407) and was called "Cammerton" by both Mattheson and Ad-
lung."' Adlung explained its purpose as follows: "in cases where en-
sembles involving other instruments [i.e., Musick] is performed, re-
writing o r transposition can be avoided whenever Cammerton is
used."'26 T h e most interesting thing about this stop is its date: it was
included w h e n t h e instrument was built in 1693. T h i s indicates that
Cammerton was already being used occasionally at t h e Jacobi in H a m -
burg (and thus perhaps other G e r m a n churches) in the 1690s."'
3-jdra Exceptionally High Organs (At2)
A number of surviving organs were pitched higher than A + I (see

G r a p h zob), most of t h e m from this period made by A r p Schnitger
( 1 6 ~ 8 - 1 ~ 1 ~It) . is
' ~ cpestionable
~ whether they represented a n y pitch
standard. Schnitger made nine surviving organs at approximately
A t 2 , with a range f r o m 489 to 501; a m o n g t h e m are a number of well-
k n o w n and loved examples.'29 But in fact, he made twice that m a n y
organs (19) at an average pitch of 467 (with a range from 460 to 476).1'0
142 Chapter 3
Although Schnitger was well known for his use of older pipes in
rebuilding, there must have been other reasons for his use of At2,
since at least half the organs he made from scratch are at that pitch.
Harald Vogel (1986:38) offers a plausible explanation: "These organs
[made by Schnitger] served mainly to accompany congregational
singing, a function based largely on improvisation." Some church con-
sistories actually frowned on Musick (works that included other in-
struments) for liturgical reasons. So where an organ was not used to
perform Musick, it did not need to be built or maintained at a pitch re-
lated to outside standards (and there was a distinct monetary advan-
tage to a higher organ pitch). A case in point is the Jacobi organ's
Cammerton stop; by providing a special device to allow playing with
instruments, the implication is that the rest of the organ was not ex-
pected to perform Musick.
Most organs in a city like Hamburg were at A t r , but a few were at
At2."' O n e solution to the problem of matching an A t 2 organ to other
instruments was a transposing stop, as at the Jacobi church. Another
was for the church to have its own set of instruments tuned to its or-
gan. Buxtehude's organs at St. Mary's in Liibeck were at A t 2 (a later
organist a t this church called this " h o ~ h - C h o r t o n " ' ~ ~Documents
).
from St. Mary's in the century comment that the pitch of its or-
gans was different from the normal performing pitch of the time,'"
and the church purchased a number of instruments for use with the
organs (three shawms in 1679 and two flutes in 1685 "adjusted to this
organ9'). Buxtehude several times made a point of noting that their
pitch agreed with the organs. T h e purchase of a "Bombard" in 1685 in-
cluded an extra expense for a special "Messings Es oder Rohr" (brass
crook) "umb selben Orgelmissig zu bringen'' ("to make same match
the organs").'34 Buxtehude's soprano and alto parts do not go particu-
larly high, as would be expected with organs at At2, and are well
within the reach of adult male falsettists; his bass parts, by contrast,
often extend down to E or D, and, in one case, to C.I3'
German organs at A+2 (i.e., at 480 or above) are not frequent
among organs where the original pitch is known; they account for 31
instruments out of 240. They are fairly evenly spread over all histori-
cal periods, including Praetorius'. Sixteen are in the extreme north of
Germany (Ostfriesland, Schleswig-Holstein, and Mecklenburg), and
13 are somewhat further south (e.g., Thuringia).
Already in 1618, Praetorius (IS) had reported with disapproval a

pitch level at A+2: "Some people, then, took it upon themselves t o
raise our current pitch [CammerThon] even more, by a ~ e m i t o n e . " ' ~ ~
T h e obvious reason for this would have been to save money o n tin.
Ellis (1880:49) quotes the organist at Liibeck Cathedral in 1878, H e r r
Jimmerthal, as expressing the opinion that "the old organs in Lower o r
Northern Germany are tuned thus high out of economy t o save large
metal pipes." T h e additional lower notes of Cammerton organs cost as
much in tin as some other entire registers.'"
Another reason organs could have been at A+2 was due to careless
tuning. Repeated tuning, if done carefully, does not affect pitch sig-
nificantly,"' but it is possible to gradually shorten the pipes. For an
organ used with other instruments, this would have been disastrous.
T h e situation at the Sophienkirche at Dresden must have been excep-
tional; a new Silbermann organ was ordered for the church because
the old one, while still a "very good and fine sounding organ, was
gradually raised in pitch during earlier renovations and tunings, so
that for use in figural music it can scarcely be tuned with the instru-
ments .. ."'j9 Organ tuning in churches that regularly used other in-
struments was thus probably done with much care t o avoid raising the
organ's pitch.
3-3dz Woodwind Pitches
O f German recorders that were made-or could have been made-in

this period, the pitch range is from A-2 t o A t 2 (see Graph 14b).
A number of French-type recorders made in Germany in these
early days (until about 1730) were at A ~ I like , certain surviving re-
corders by Hotteterre and Rippert (presumably at Ton d'~curie).These
would have been useful when playing with church organs. T h e Ger-
m a n makers of these instruments were Christoph Denner, Herbst,
Oberlender Sr., Schuechbauer, and Plaikner, all working in southern
Germany (Nuremberg, Munich, and Berchtesgaden). There is also
documentation of hautboys in Cornet-ton, and several remarkably
short hautboys survive; this evidence, too, is associated with southern
Germany and A ~ s t r i a . ' ~In" outward turning details, these instruments
appear t o be products of the late o r beginning of the 1 8 ' ~
centuries.
144 Chapter j
Denner is also survived by two "short" bassoons (as are I.F. Roth and
J.W. Kenigsperger-one each) that may have been at A+1.I4'
T h e bassoons would probably have been seen as baroque versions
of the Chorist-Fagot. And an explanation for the many surviving
Denner "G-bass recorders" at A-I is that in reality they were F-basses
pitched a tone higher-at A+I-and made for use in churches to ac-
company choirs, serving the same function as the Chorist-Fagot. In
that case, it would have been convenient to have them at "Chorton"
like the organ; the smaller size would have allowed the tone holes to
be placed closer together, making them easier to finger (they could
have been played by one of the choir members). Their sound would
also have carried better. These might then have been called "Chorist-
Floten."
Steffani's Alarico was performed in Munich in 1687, and contains
the earliest known solo for hautboys, "Care soglie a voi mi porto." It
was probably written for the court woodwind players who had been
sent to Paris in 1684 to study with Hotteterre. There is reason to think
this performance was at A+I. A number of Rippert's recorders at A+I
have ended up in Munich museums and were probably made for the
court, and all the surviving recorders of the court woodwind-maker
Franz Schuechbauer, who began instruments at the end of
the century, are at that pitch.
About as many woodwinds at 392-430 survive as those in the high
bracket (450-489). This period is thus probably showing the influence
of the new low-pitched imports together with new instruments at the
traditional CammerThon level of earlier generations.
A n interesting feature of woodwind pitches in this period is that
although A-I appears to have existed, it is less well-represented than
A - ~ ' / z(cf. Graph 26b, c, d, and e). Woodwinds at A-I would of course
have been useful in Germany and Holland for playing with organs at
A+I. But A-195 was, after all, probably the most important French in-
strumental pitch in this period, when French instruments were serv-
ing everywhere as models.
j-?d3 A-2 in Germany
Praetorius had documented the use of a pitch a m j below CammerThon

that was "used [he said] a great deal in different Catholic chapels in
Germany."'42 T h i s would have been A-2, and may have been derived
from the Vatican "Corista di S Pietro." It shows that the A-2 level that
came in at the end of the century as French T o n d 9 0 p b a was not a
complete innovation in Germany.
Before 1700, Friedrich Zachow at Halle (a Protestant city) was ap-
parently working with t h e new French instruments, including the
hautboy; hautboy parts were written a minor 3d higher than the others
(see ygh), indicating that they were pitched at A-2, while the organ
and other instruments were at A+1.I4'
I n France, T o n d'Ope'ra kept steadily t o A-2 until the second half of
century. T o n de Chapelle had also been at A-2, but since it was
the 1 8 ' ~
less consistent in frequency (cf. Louis' retuning of his organs), t h e
clearest way of expressing the level at A-2 was t o associate it with the
OpCra. German musicians, having imported the French system, would
presumably have made the same distinction. Christoph Denner in
1694 referred t o two recorders he had made as both "frantzesische Flet-
ten" and "Opera-F10ten."'~~
A-2 is represented in this period by at least two German recorders
by Denner and Walch.
Because of Holland's unique position as an international crossroads

open to musical influences from other parts of Europe, and because it
was most likely a supplier of woodwind instruments t o other place^,'^'
the pitches of its woodwinds probably acted as a kind weather vane
for pitch tendencies in Europe in general. G r a p h 16 is therefore of par-
ticular interest.
O n Graph 16b, A-19'2 is well-represented, but what is surprising is
t h e clear presence of Dutch woodwinds at A-r at the end of the 1 7 ' ~
century (see also Appendix 5). A recorder by J.J. van Heerde at 416,
for instance, is datable t o about 1 6 ~ 5 . Tl ~h e~ two recorders at A-1 by
146 Chapter 3
Haka could have been made later by his son.I4' But there are five other
instruments at 410, apparently made in this period. All of these can be
considered too high to fit into the prevailing A-1% category.
W e noted above in 3-3 Haka's use in 1685 of a pitch terminology
that may have been standard vocabulary in Holland at the time. If we
understand it correctly it was:
Coor mes (Chormiissig ?) A t o or A t 1

klarin trompettentoon At1
Coortoon A-I
Dutch organs in this period were mostly at A t 1 (see Graph z4b). T h e

Martinikerk organ at Groningen was described in 1692 as "choorma-
tisch," and in 1728 as "netto Chor Thon;" its pitch was 467.'48
Productions of several of Lully's operas took place in Amsterdam
and the Hague in the late 168os, probably performed by an itinerant
"bande f r a q o i s e de musiciens et d ' o p C r i ~ t e s , " ' and
~ ~ playing, one
imagines, at Ton d'ope'ra. T h e term "Opera-Toon" was used in a Dutch
newspaper announcement of an English harpsichord for sale in 1690,'~"
but there is no way of knowing whether this was Ton d'Ope'ra at A-2
or the level called "opra offluyte toon" in 1701, which was A-I (see 4-3a).
3-5 T h e Spanish Netherlands
As we saw in 2-4, "corista" (or, as Couchet called it, "den reghten

toon") was the lowest normal pitch level used by the Antwerp
clavecimbel makers in the mid-lTthcentury, and it was probably either
A-11/2 or A-2. N O woodwind pitches are known from before 1700. T h e
only known organ pitch from this period (in Leuven, the Be-
gijnhofkerk, 1692) is A-403.'"
Brussels was very active as a center of productions of Lully's works
from 1682 until the 1740s; as Schmidt wrote "Clearly one of the
strongest bastions of Lully performance outside France existed in
B r ~ s s e l s . " 'Most
~~ of his operas were performed there, as well as a
number in Ghent in the 1690s. These were supported by Maximilian
I1 Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, who was governor of the Spanish
Netherlands f r o m 1691 and lived in Brussels from 1692. A n u m b e r of

French musicians were probably involved in these productions, n o
doubt performing at Ton d'Ophra.
T h e concept of ChorThon as a lower pitch continued to be used by Ja-

nowka (Prague, I ~ O I ) , w h o distinguished Zinck-thon and Chor-thon. A s
noted in 3-3c, the t e r m Chor-thon was associated w i t h French and Ital-
ian wind instruments. Janowka confirmed t h e M2 relation in another
passage:
Organs can be found that are tuned higher and lower; organs every-
where in Germany and Bohemia are tuned to the pitch commonly
called Zinck- or cornett pitch; the other, a whole-tone lower, is used in
Italy and France and is called choral pitch or Chor-thon, and is the
pitch of French flutes or recorders, mute cornetts,'" and all instru-
ments that are in unison with the Bb of our organ when they play
H e further cited an important organ that used a transposing keyboard

(or Kammerkoppel), t h u s implying that t h e interval relation was a n ex-
act whole-tone: "There is a remarkable organ at t h e Cathedral of Pra-
gue that can play equally well in either Chor- o r Zinck-thon. T h i s is
done by sliding t h e keyboard a certain a m o u n t t o the left, and is pos-
sible o n both the manual and t h e pedal. T h i s lowers t h e instrument
t h e a m o u n t needed t o produce C h o r - t h ~ n . " " ~
T h e pitch concepts explained by Janowka were apparently gener-
ally understood in the Habsburg Lands. A Vesper-psalm, a Dixit
Dominus, and a Canticum Magnificat b y the Passau court Kapellmeister
B.A. Auffschnaidter (successor to Georg Muffat), now preserved at
Dresden, include "2. Hautb: in T o n o ~ a l l i c o " '(two ~ ~ hautboys in
French pitch). Another inventory at K r o m e r i i , compiled during t h e
reign of Prince-Bishop Liechtenstein in about 1695, included t w o
"Hautbois e x B" and t w o "Flautae ex B" (i.e., French "B b " hautboys
and flutes)."' T h e g r o h Orgel at t h e Stiftskirche in Schlagl was built
148 Chapter 3
It w a s rebuilt by J.C. Egedacher in 1708

in 1634 at '404 ( A - I Y ~ ) . " ~
"sowohl C h o r als Cornett Ton"'59 ([to play] in both ChorThon and
Cornet-ton).
Georg Muffat, writing in Passau in 1698 for the Habsburg Emper-
ors, had also put French instruments a M2 below Cornet-ton:
The pitch to which the French usually tune their instruments is a

whole-tone lower than our German one (called Cornet-ton), and in op-
eras, even one and a half tones lower. They find the German pitch too
high, too screechy, and too forced. If it were up to me to choose a
pitch, and there were no other considerations, I would choose the for-
mer [of the French pitches], called in Germany old ~ h o r t o n ,using
'~
somewhat thicker strings. This pitch lacks nothing in liveliness along
with its sweetnes~.'~'
A n o t h e r a n o n y m o u s source f r o m this region written in 1718, describ-

ing t h e 1st Psalm tone, instructs: "If t h e organ is in Cornet-ton, t h e
prelude should be in d-minor. But if it is in ChorThon, it can be trans-
posed a tone higher t o e - m i n ~ r . " '"Chor-Ton"
~~ here was a whole-step
below "Cornet-Thon," as it was for Janowka and Muffat.
T h e r e are signs of t h e adoption of French woodwinds toward t h e
e n d of t h e 17chcentury in other regions of the Empire. Kremsmiinster
Abbey ordered "ein ganzes Spill H u b u a " ("a complete set of French
hautboys") f r o m Jacob Fux, and three "franzosische Schalmeyen"
f r o m Stephan Meli3hamber of Nurernberg in 1 6 ~ 6 . ' ~A' n u m b e r of
documents f r o m Kremsmiinster noting deliveries in t h e period 1697-
1710 m a k e t h e same pitch distinction as had Janowka:
One Fagott in French pitch.

12 Hautbois reeds from Vienna, 6 in Cornet-ton and 6 in French itch,
2 f7.
TWOnew recorders from common wood [box ?] in French pitch
were also purchased at jfl.
Received from Vienna, 24 hautboy reeds and 12 "Fagot" reeds, in
Cornet-ton and French pitch, 6 f 1 . 1 ~ ~
O n 16 July 1708, t h e Abbey took delivery of "2 buxbaumene Hoboa,

Cornetton 6 fl" ("two boxwood Hautbois in Cornet-ton, 6 flu). Paul
Hailperin* believes an hautboy by the Viennese maker Deper (early

18Ihcentury?) that survives at Melk Abbey is pitched n o lower than A-
460.
Janowka leaves little doubt about absolute frequency with his
phrase "organs everywhere in Germany and Bohemia are tuned t o the
pitch commonly called Zinck- o r cornett pitch." T w o well-playing
cornetts survive from Schlof3 Ambras that were made some time be-
fore 1596 at venice;16' their pitch is 464 (A+I). T h e same level is found
o n a number of surviving Austrian organs from before 1670:
Baumgartenberg (1662): 460

Innsbruck, Hofkirche (Franziskanerkirche; 1~61):460
W i l t e n bei Innsbruck, Stiftskirche (ca.16yo): 464
K l o s t e r n e ~ b u r(1642):
~ 471
T h e level of woodwinds "ex B" is also a straightforward whole-tone

lower, A-I. But if this is associated with Italy and France, things seem
a bit too straightforward. Italian woodwinds might well have been at
A-I in 1701 when Janowka published his book, but (as we saw in 3-lb)
in this period woodwinds made in France were very rarely at A-I, be-
ing more commonly at A-1% (see Graph 13b). A whole-step higher
would have put the organs at AiV2, about A-453. Interestingly, there
are reports of organs in t h e Habsburg Lands a t about this pitch (see
Graph 25). Of course, "French" woodwinds did not necessarily come
from France; in at least some cases, t h e new design of woodwinds
played in the Habsburg Lands were obtained from makers in the south
of Germany, where, from early on, French-style instruments ("Fran-
zosische Musikalischen Instrumenta") were indeed being made at A-I
(see y j a ) .
I n Salzburg, Heinrich von Biber's Missa S a l i ~ b u r ~ e n s(performed
is
in 1682?) included "Hautbois," the French name indicating they were
hautboys rather than shawms. T h e parts were in G2 clef in C major,
the same key as everyone else, including the trumpets; this indicates
hautboys in A+I. Egedacher's organ for Salzburg Cathedral (1705, a
year after Biber's death) was at A+I, a pitch similar t o other Salzburg
organs (Kajetanerkirche, ~ e t e r s k i r c h e ) . ' ~Biber's
~ connections with
Munich suggest the possible use of instruments by Schuechbauer or
t h e Nuremberg makers of the time (Christoph Denner, Schell, and
150 Chapter j
G a h n ) . All these makers are k n o w n for their high-pitched instru-

m e n t s at A + I . ' ~J' o h a n n Joseph Fux, already engaged by t h e court in
Vienna, published a "Niirnberger Partita" in 1701 for hautboy,
"Flauto" (recorder), and continuo; t h e trio's title may refer t o Chris-
toph D e n n e r o r o n e of his fellow Nurembergers as the maker of t h e
woodwind instruments for which it was written.
Reine Dahlqvist* points o u t that t h e Salzburg Cathedral archives
contain m a n y chamber pieces w i t h woodwind parts notated a t o n e
higher than t h e other parts. A n example is a Sonata b 5 by C a r l
Heinrich Biber for 2 Obue bahse ex C. 2 Violini. Organo con Violoncello.
Violone e Fagotto discussed by H u b m a n n (1994:378). All t h e parts t o
this piece are in G except t h e "Obue bahse," (which, as t h e title says,
are in C). A s H u b m a n n explains, these are probably hautbois d'amour
at A-I, sounding in A-major; had t h e other parts been for instruments
at A-I, they too would have been notated in A. T h e fact that they are
in G indicates that they were for instruments at A+I, a whole-step
higher, while t h e hautbois d'amour were at A-I. T h i s piece is dated
1736, and suggests that strings normally played at A + I at this t i m e at
Salzburg even in chamber w o r k s (the "Fagotto" would presumably
have been a dulcian at A+I).
Notes
I.Cf. Haynes 2001, Chapter 3.

2. Rippert had been working "a long time" by 1696. About the end of his ca-
reer we only know that it was between 1716 and 1723. If he worked for 40 or 45
years, he could not have started before about 1675. An educated guess would
put his career between about 1680-1720.Byrne ( 1 ~ 8 3 : ~
estimates
) he was born
ca.1665. The only date we have for Dupuis is 1692.
3. Paris E.980.2.99. This is the (corrected) average of the eight notes that
function.
4. Sauveur 1701:303. Underlining mine.
5. Fontenelle 1700:129. Underlining mine.
6. By Martin Sonnet. See Schneider 1995:71j.
7. According to Le Cerf (1~05/06:111:1~8), 2 0 years before his book was writ-
ten.
8. Met-cure Galant, 1695. This idea is suggested by Thomas van Essen*.

9. Van Essen lists H.536 with H.432 (H.537).
10. Sauveur 1701:347. T h e same three pitches are named in the Me'moire of
1713:345.
11. Brossard 1703:zoz S.V. "Tuono."
12. LouliC 1696:77.
13. Nivers 1683:108. A large and important body of music was written for
nunneries by composers like Charpentier, Nivers, DaniClis, Brossard, Lully,
Couperin, and Campra. See Schneider 1995:713. Niver's comment is poten-
tially important, as it suggests that music written primarily for female voices
would tend to be performed at a higher pitch than music for male voices. T h e
female voice became important in the second half of the 16"' century (Jander
1980:341) and may have influenced pitch choices.
14. And of course the instruments at A + I .
15. For each separate period, the averages are almost identical to this.
16. There are reports of organs at A-I in this period (Auch, Cathedral; Tou-
louse, St. Pierre des Chartreux; Rouen, St. Vivien; Gap, Cathedral), but none
of them are reliable.
17. E.230. T h e pitch measurements were made by the author on two different
occasions in 1984 and 1993.
18. Dostrovsky 1975:201;Barbieri 1980:1gn6.
19. See Rasch 26. Ellis 1880:36 gave 408. See 1-7 for more background on Sau-
veur.
20. Pierre-Fran~oisDeslandes (1667-1710).
21. Cf. Mendel 1955/1968:211.
22. T h e pitch that was general for traditional wind instruments up until the
1914 W a r , generally known as "le la ancien," was about 404 Hz, = A-I%
(Claude Girard*). Cf. the recording France: cornemuses du centre. Unesco Col-
lection (Audvis), 1989, D 8202 (played by Jean Blanchard and Eric Montbel).
Montbel's chabrette attributed to Louis Maury ( 1 8 ~ 2 - c a . ~ ~is~ described
o) as
"en la 415" but is pitched on the recording at 406.
23. Fleurot 1984:102.Cf. also Benoit 1971:46-47,61.
24. Benoit 1971:221-22.
25. Hardouin 1963: "Faut-il y voir une influence de Delalande cumulant les
charges de la chambre et de la chapelle, ou des organistes du roi? En tous cas
les Cglises suivirent."
26. Dufourcq 1971:1:532. Fran~ois-MichelLe Tellier, marquis de Louvois, was
Louis' most influential minister in the period 1677-1691.
27. Hardouin 1963.
28. Hardouin thought either 1762 or 1787, but Cugnier in 1780 already talks
about the pitch as very low (see 8-za), so we may assume the earlier date is
right.
29. T h e history of the pitch of this organ is actually even more complicated,
as explained in Dufourcq 1934 and summarized in Haynes 1995, Section 4-5.
152 Chapter 3
This organ was totally remade recently, but the surviving original materials
gave no pitch clues (Gustav Leonhardt*).
30. Chausson and Koenig 2001.
31. Burney 1771:30.
32. This is reproduced in Beaussant 1992:461 (I am grateful to Geoffrey Bur-
gess for pointing this out to me).
33. Benoit 1971:73. Benoit notes that "certains [artistes] appartiennent aux
deux troupes."
34. Including F r a n ~ o i sBuchot, RenC Pignon Descoteaux, Michel Herbinot dit
Destouches, six members of the Hotteterre family (Jean I, Martin, Colin,
Nicolas, Jean 11, and Louis), "de La Croix," Philippe Philbert, AndrC and
Jacques Philidor, three Piiches (Joseph, Pierre, and Pierre-Alexandre), Fran-
qois Arthus dit Plumet, and Jean Rousselet. Cf. LaGorce 1989:loqff.
35. See LaGorce 1989:103.
36. Bouissou ( 1 9 ~ ~describes
~3) the mixture of musicians living at Versailles
and Paris for the rehearsals in 1763 of Rameau's Les Borhades.
37. Although several of Rippert's A t 1 recorders were made for Munich and
might have been special orders, others also exist at the same pitch (Paris
E.2136, Paris C.1387/E.1515, Basel H M 1956.633).
38. Cf. Semmens 1980:131. All the English recorder tutors starting with
Hudgebut (1679) treat exclusively the recorder in fr. As Eppelsheim ( 1 ~ 6 r : ~ r )
reasons, since these books were dealing with a "French" instrument, the cus-
tom was probably also common in France.
39. See Haynes zoo1:9~.
40. Holman 1993:275.
41. For a detailed survey of the personnel of the royal Wind Musick and their
instruments, see David Lasocki's forthcoming Woodwind instruments in Brit-
ain, 1660-1740.
42. Holman 1993:275.
43. Lasocki 1983:115.
44. Halfpenny 1951:109ffdraws attention to the depictions of three members
of the King's Music playing cornett and flat trumpets for the coronation of
James I1 in 1687.
45. From The Musicall Gramarian, 1728.
46. North 1959:300. North's statements exaggerate. There had in fact been a
strong French presence at court before the war, and the posts of a number of
French musicians were taken over at the Restoration by Englishmen
(Holman 1993~83,~ 8 ~indeed, ) ; every member of the famous "24 violins" was
English. Further, although Charles had stayed in France during the Interreg-
num (he was actually present at the French court for a total of less than two
years), at the time he returned to England in 1660, Lully had only just begun
to influence developments in French music (see below).
47. Baines 1948:19.
48. "Cinq ou six hommes qui jouent fort bien de la fluste." Buttrey 1995:zo5.
49. Holman 199j:j13.
T h e Instrument Revolution and Pitch Fragmentation, 1670-1700
50. Schmidt 1989:208.

51. Buttrey 19gy:zog.
52. For background, cf. Ashley 1971(especially page 234) and Chapter XVII of
Lasocki 1983.
53. Cf. Lasocki 1983:33off.
54. Hopkins & Rimbault 1855:190, Owen 1986.
55. Lanvellec (1647) is at 388 and ErguC-GabCric (1680) at 389.
56. The first reference to "Concert pitch" is 1719.
57. Cf. a more complete quote in I-jg.
58. Quoted in Strahle 1995:88.
59. Lasocki 199x61.
60. Daub 1985:274 citing the Lord Chamberlain's papers (Public Record O f -
fice), 5/18-5/21, passim.
61. Quoted in Higbee 1962:57.
62. Quoted in Griscom and Lasocki 1994:216-7.
63. Segerman 1992b:54.
64. Gerard Smith, the maker, later crossed this out and replaced it with
"Church pitch o f f [as in] the Organ of St. Paul London." See Platt 1993:36.
65. This organ was replaced in 1866. See Carrington 1992:117,121.
66. G w y n n 1985:69,76.
67. Thistlethwaite 1978.
68. A traverso by Urquhart (Edinburgh 1908.252) is at 418; this maker's dates
th rh
are uncertain (late 17 century or early 18 ).
69. Modena: Museo Civico and Horniman 241.
70. A traverso by Cahusac, London, ca.1780 (Frankfurt: Spohr 149) has a long-
est corps at 402 (the other two are 428 and 433).
71. Waterhouse ( 1 5 3 ~ 3 : ~
suggests
~) that certain features of his instruments in-
dicate a Parisian background. Having come from Bourg-en-Bresse, he proba-
bly had some connection with the woodwind maker Perrin, mentioned by
Borjon in 1672.
72. Bicknell 1996:144.
73. John Pike Mander*. Mander notes that the date is only an assumption.
74. Wood 1990:496.
75. In 1713the English physicist Brook Taylor measured the pitch of his harp-
sichord at 383 and 390 or slightly higher (see 1-7). But it is not known if Tay-
lor's harpsichord was tuned to a reference pitch.
76. There is one organ a semitone above Quire-pitch ( Q ~ I B. ; Smith, 1673):
presently Walton on Thames, earlier in the private chapel, Windsor.
77. Bicknell 1996:119.
78. Freeman & Rowntree 1977:33.
79. Cf. also Bicknell 1996:117.
80. Cf. G w y n n 1985, Table 2.
81. Cf. Goetze 1994:61.
82. I t is possible that the front C pipe of the organ at St. Botolph Aldgate in
London (B. Smith, ca.1674) that has "aux ton de Fransz" written on it has
154 Chapter 3
something to do with an organ adjustment to the new French wind instru-

ments. T h e date is right. John Pike Mander* writes that "there is now no
means of telling what the exact original pitch was."
83. Holman 1993:394.
84. Peter Holman noticed in 1993:397 the purchase in 1664 of some special
string instruments for use in the chapel, and also noted that "The members
of the Twenty-four Violins who played in the chapel seem to have used spe-
cial instruments there." ("Purcell and pitch;" Correpondence, Early Music,
May 1996:366). H e suspected a connection to the organ's pitch, and I suggest
the organ was at Q+I and the violins at Q-I,for reasons that will be clear fur-
ther on.
85. Lafontaine 1909:322, Ashbee 1986:1:179.
86. Holman 1993:408.
87. Cf. Haynes 2001:168-70.
88. Freeman and Rowntree 1977:13.
89. It is true the French woodwind players were not officially appointed until
1678, but they may already have been playing earlier, as they had arrived in
England in 1673.
90. Burrows suggested that the pitch of this organ (of which Purcell was the
organist) could have been the reason that wind instruments are almost never
specifically required in his anthems. But there was no technical reason wind
instruments (and strings as well, for that matter) could not have played the
Chapel Royal repertoire with this organ at an interval of a m3 between Quire-
pitch and Q - 3 (Bach used this interval at Weimar-see 6-zb).
91. Burrows 1981:135ff.
92. Parrott 1995:416.
93. Holman 1993:411.This became official in 1689 when the new King William
111 ordered "That there shall be no musick in the Chappell, but the Organ."
94. Platt 1993:36.
95. Mendel 1978:64.
96. Made by Schreider and Jordan.
97. See Bouterse zooo:243-50.
98. See 2-1.
99. Corvey (Hoxter), 1681, at 462 (Chorton) and Norden (Ostfriesland), St.
Ludgeri, 1688, at 474 (Chor-thon). See Appendix I.
loo. Quantz 175z:Ch XVII/vii/§6.
101. Schmidt 1989:208.
102. Encyclopedia Britannica, ed., to:49. As a result, "the Berlin dialect still
employs many terms of French derivation."
103. Schneider 1852348, 52; Sachs 1910:61,172.
104. Landmann 1989:21. Friedrich August I became Elector in 1694 and in 1698,
the Saxon court Capelle was reorganized, making the switch to French in-
struments. Volumier (Woulmyer) did not arrive in Dresden until 1709
(Landmann 1982:49), but the hautboist Franqois La Riche was there by at least
1700 and perhaps earlier.
T h e Instrument Revolution and Pitch Fragmentation, 1670-1700
105. Nickel 1971:206.

106. Nickel 1971:206.
107. These may have been baroque Schalmeys (see Haynes 2000).
108. N o trace of 16"'- or ~ ~ ' ~ - c e n German
t u r ~ organs tuned at A-I appears to
survive.
109. Even A-2, which became known as "tief-Cammerton," already existed in
Germany in Praetorius' time. See 3-jdj.
110. T h i s switch of names and meanings was also mentioned by Fritz (1756:12-
3) and Sponsel ( I ~ ~ I : ~ o - I ) .
111. Reuter 1965:324.
112. Christoph Weigel's picture of a woodwind maker (1698) shows promi-
nently both a French bassoon and two dulcians.
113. Brown 198ob:6:541.
114. Haynes 2000.
115. Fuhrmann 1706:92. Quoted in Prinz 1981:11o. Cf. Walther 1732:219 s.v.
"Dulcino." Adlung (1726:1:92) cites Fuhrmann.
116. O w e n s 1995:206.
117. These are the common renaissance sizes (cf. Praetorius).
118. T h i s phrase is difficult to understand; Herbert W. Myers (*) suggests
that these may have been recorders of renaissance design, which sounded
louder than baroque recorders not only because of their pitch but because of
their fatter bore and more open voicing.
119. O w e n s 1995:399.
120. Flade 1953.
121. Mendel 1978:91.
122. Mittag 1756:7, cited in Jackisch 1966.
123. A practice generally expected of a competent organist (see 5-zc). See also
5-ja o n Kammet-register and Kammerkoppel.
124. Ellis 1880:49.
125. Mattheson 1721:176. Adlung 1758:386; 1726:I:loo, 193. It was replaced by a n
8-foot Gamba at 489 in 1761.
126. Adlung 1726:1:100.
127. O n this stop, see also 7-yc.
128. For a list of the pitches of Schnitger's extant organs, see Haynes 1995:198-
99.
129. Cf. Vogel 1986:38.
130. T h e group at A t 1 dates from 1680-1710;that at A t 2 from 1687-1721 (with
the exception of Stade, 1 6 ~ ~ ) .
131. T h e well-known organ at Cappel bei Bremerhaven (Schnitger extensive
rebuild, 1680) is at 461. It was originally built for the Johanneskirche in Ham-
burg and is one of his best-preserved organs. T h e Schnitger now at Grasberg
bei Bremen ( 1 6 9 ~ )was originally built for Hamburg's Waisenhaus. I t is at
468+. T h e Pankratiuskirche organ at Neuenfelde (near Hamburg) by Schnit-
ger, 1688, is at 490.
156 Chapter 3
132. Snyder 1987:468, citing J. von Konigslow, writing some time between 1773
and 1833. The pitch of the large organ in this church was measured by Hop-
kins and Rimbault (1855:189) at 487. It had been replaced in 1851.Three other
organs at Lubeck at St. Jacobi (small organ), St. Jacobi (large organ), and the
Cathedral were also at At2.
133. Snyder 1987:85.
134. Snyder 1987:476. The St. Annen-Museum in Lubeck possesses three cor-
netts, one at A t 1 and two at At2.
135. Snyder 1987:367.
136. Tr. from Crookes 1986.
137. Sumner 1952:289.
138. Dominic Gwynn*.
139. Wolf 1738:63 (orig. p.~60);quoted also in Flade 1953:107.
140. See 5-4b. Christoph Denner and Oberlender did not make exclusively
short instruments; they are both survived by a number of long hautboys.
141. White 1993:121n93.
143. See further ygh.
144. Nickel 1971:199.
145. See Haynes 2001:63.
146. Edinburgh University, 257.
147. Haka died in 1705; in an advertisement in 1700, he stated that he would
continue making instruments with his son (Bouterse 2001:~5).
148. Fock 1974:273,215-26; Vente 19~8:187ff;Edskes 1968:37; Jiirgen Ahrend*;
Dorgelo 1985:67,71.
149. Schmidt 1 ~ 8 ~ : l ~ ~ f f .
150. Gierveld 1977:414.
.
151 Organ Yearbook, 1988, 19:43.
152. Schmidt 1989:202.
153. T h e translation of "clarini humiliati" is not certain, but "humiliati"
means soft, and the mute cornett would probably make sense in this context,
being normally a tone lower than "Zinck-thon." (One wonders if the term
"clarino" could refer to cornett rather than trumpet in other contexts.)
154.Janowka 1701:gj.See also 315.
155. Janowka 1701:94.
156. Koch 1980:55, Horn 1987:130.
157. O t t o 1 9 7 7 : ~ ~ - x v i .
158. This pitch is an estimate, being about a Mz below the "Cornett Ton" in
1708, which was 451.
159. Freiberger (n.d.):34.
160. In the German, "den sogenannten Chor-Thon." Mendel 1978:lsnro con-
fuses Muffat's "ton du Cornet" and his "ancien ton du choeur," mistakenly
suggesting that Muffat did as well.
161. Muffat 1698. Also quoted on p. xxxviii.
162. Transcribed in Walter 1971a:170.
T h e Instrument Revolution and Pitch Fragmentation, 1670-1700 157
163. Kellner 1956:291.

164. These citations are from 1697 KRB 350, 1710 KRB 270, 1708 KRB 324, and
1709 KRB 256, cited in Kellner 1956:285, 299, 303, and 304.
165. Now at the K H M in Vienna. See Haynes 1995, Appendix 2-za.
166. A report on the great Cathedral organ in 1841, just before it was retuned,
said it was half a tone higher than "normal pitch," which would then have
been A t o (Reine Dahlqvist*).
167. O n Denner and Schell, see Haynes zoo1:143.
Chapter 3
Illustration 2. Pythagoras at the Forge, Discovering the Laws of Pitch. En-

graving by G.F. Schmidt, published with the Introduction to
Quantz's Essai (1752).
Chapter 4
The General Adoption of A-I, 1700-1730
4-ra Venice and Milan
layers of the new French woodwinds arrived in Venice by the

1690s' against a backdrop of the three pitch standards that had
been common there: mezzo punto at A+(, tutto punto at A+o, and
tuono corista at A-I (and occasionally A-2).' In the early 1 8 ' ~century
these levels continued to be current, although their names changed;
the words mezzo punto and tutto punto were no longer used, and corista
had probably taken o n its modern meaning, that of a general "pitch
standard."
Italian woodwinds from this period show a spread from 410 t o 443,
which must represent at least t w o standards, since it is larger than a
semitone (see Graph 12c). These pitches fall into the ranges of A-I and
A+o. T h e r e is very little information o n organ pitches in this period;
one instrument made in 1730 in Torino is at A-I,' and another at Bolo-
gna made in 1726 is at A+o."
Pier Francesco Tosi's Opinioni of 1723 alludes briefly t o Italian
pitch, and in fact sums u p the basic issue of the difference between
Venice and Rome. Tosi was a renowned singing teacher, and his book
reflects vocal practice in the late 1 7 ' ~century and the early 1 8 ' ~it; re-
mained current enough to be translated into English by J.E. Galliard'
as late as 1742 and into German by J.F. Agricola in 1 7 ~ 7Tosi's
.~ com-
ment, as translated by Galliard ( 1 ~ ~ 2 : 2was:
6)
Chapter 4
Let him always use the Scholar to the Pitch of Lombardy (Tuono di
Lombardia), and not that of Rome; not only to make him acquire and
preserve the high Notes, but also that he may not find it troublesome
when he meets with Instruments that are tun'd high; the Pain of
reaching them not only affecting the Hearer, but the Singer.
T h i s passage inspired commentaries f r o m both translators, w h i c h are

discussed in Chapter 7.
4-la1 A t 1 (Corista di Lombardia) and Its Corollary, A-I
T o s i did not specify a value for " T u o n o di Lombardia," but h e proba-

bly m e a n t A t r , which was the primary pitch of church organs at Ven-
ice in t h e early 18Ih century, as can be deduced from t h e following
c o m m e n t by Paolucci (1765):
Venetian pitch [I1 Corista Veneto] used to be the same as Corista di

Lombardia, and is preserved in a few organs still, but the already cele-
brated organ maker Master Pietro Nacchini was the first to lower or-
gans in those countries by about a semitone,' and his students follow
their master's example; indeed some organs have been lowered more
than a semitone, and all the organs they make there [in the Veneto]
now are like that compared to the organs in Lombardy.
Surviving pitches of organs by Nacchini (1694-1765) and h 'IS successor

8
Callido (that have not been raised since t h e 1 8 ' ~
century) average 435.
Nacchini probably started making church organs lower b y "about a
semitone" in t h e 1740s. Before that time, they m u s t therefore have
been at A+I.
About this d r o p Paolucci w e n t o n t o say, "This makes things easier
for t h e singers. I t is n o small benefit t o the composers, t o k n o w in
which pitch they must compose, so that they can arrange their pieces,
and t h e same especially for theater composers, w h o can adjust their
arias according to the range of t h e singers for w h o m they are written."
I f composers did not "know in which pitch they had t o compose" be-
fore organs were lowered to A t o in t h e 1740S1 then they were obvi-
The General Adoption of A-I, 1700-1730 161
ously not always composing at t h e single prevailing pitch of A+I. A n d

that would mean that orchestral instruments, probably for t h e sake of
t h e singers, m u s t sometimes have played lower than A + I (higher
seems unlikely). T h i s would have been done especially in t h e Teatri
for operas, where composers had not been able t o "adjust their arias
according t o the range of t h e singers," which is another way t o say
that they had not k n o w n whether the orchestra was going t o play at
A + I or at some other pitch. W o u l d this lower pitch have been
achieved by transposing, o r by changing t h e instruments (tuning the
strings and replacing t h e winds)? Probably t h e latter, as transposing
was a special skill that could not have been assumed of all orchestral
and would have brought risks of accidents with it. Besides,
w i n d s were available in Venice at lower pitches (both A + o and A-I),
and string retuning was a fairly c o m m o n practice (see 5-2b); Vivaldi
even asked for it in t h e aria w i t h flautino described below.
A-I and opera in Italy were associated. In about 1740, J.C. Petit
wrote:
The fixed tone is higher or lower in different Countries. In Italy it is

much higher than in France, in England i t is between both. But ob-
serve, that in Italy the Church Tone is almost always a whole Tone
higher than that of the Opera, or of Chamber M u ~ i c . ~
W h e n Petit wrote this, Nacchini had probably n o t yet begun lowering

organs to A+o, so we are safe in assuming that t h e Italian "Church
T o n e " to which Petit refers was A+I. Opera and chamber music a tone
lower would therefore "almost alwaysMbe performed at A-I.
T h i s would tie in also w i t h t h e pitch of opera performances in Eng-
land, for which Handel imported m a n y Italian soloists. T h e Queen's
Theatre orchestra was at A-11/2 in t h e early part of t h e century, and
apparently went u p t o A-I in about 1720 (see 4-5a and 4-5a1). It would
surely have been more practical for singers moving back and forth be-
tween Venice and London if t h e pitch between t h e t w o places was t h e
same, or within a quarter-step of the same.
T h a t A-I was in use at Venice is also indicated by Paolucci's state-
m e n t that "indeed some organs have been lowered more than a semi-
tone [below A+I]." Woodwinds, as we have seen, were available at A-
I; Anciuti is survived by t w o recorders and a traverso dated 1725 at A-I.
162 Chapter 4
Italy was associated with A-I by several foreign sources. Janowka,

lumping French and Italian pitch together, wrote in 1701:
Flutes with French or Italian fingering, since they are tuned a tone
lower [than "Zinck seu Cornetti tonurn"], will be in unison with our
fingered B b when they play fingered C, and in unison with French
and Italian organs.'"
Bach implied a connection between Italy and A-I: he called the haut-
boy in his first group of Weimar cantatas by the Italian name "Oboe,"
when the instrument was at A-I. In his later cantatas starting at the
end of 1714,the hautboy was at A-2 and he just as consistently called it
a n "Ha~tbois."~l
A n occasion that may have involved A-I was the visit t o Venice in
1716 of a number of court musicians from Saxony. T h e Dresden play-
ers, who must have created a small stir in the city during their year-
long visit, would probably have been using instruments at Dresden
Cammerton, A-I (see yga).
It is unclear when this lower pitch began to be used in theaters.
Cavagna, quoted in 2-zb, had clearly implied that in 1666 operas were
performed at Venice at a higher pitch than at Rome. Stephen Stubbs*
has noticed that the ranges of soprano parts in operas of the second
half of the 171h century are generally notated a jd higher in Rome."
T h i s suggests that pitch at Rome was a 3d lower than at Venice, and
since Rome was at A-2, Venetian soprano parts at that point would
have been conceived and performed at A+I.
T h e hautboy part in the aria in Perti's Furio Camillo discussed be-
low was probably transposed down a step. Plausible pitches a whole-
step apart would have been A+I+A-I or Ate-A-2. In either case this
is a n indication that operas at Venice in the 1690s were (at least some-
times) being performed no higher than A-I and perhaps at A-2.
Opera pitch was not necessarily consistent, however. There are
still indications of a higher theatrical pitch at Venice at the turn of the
century. Ivars Taurins made a comparison of the averages of vocal
ranges of pieces by Handel and Vivaldi from the first decade of the
18'~ century:"
Handel: Almira (Hamburg 1 7 0 ~ ) Dx/E

Handel: Dixit Dominus (Rome 1706/07) D/D#

Handel: La Resurrezione (Rome 1708) D#
Handel: Aci, Galatea e Polifemo (Naples 1708) D#/E
Handel: Agrippina (Venice 1709) C#/D
Vivaldi: Gloria (RV 588, p1708) C#/D
Vivaldi: Magnificat C#/D
Vivaldi: Gloria (RV 589, ~ 1 7 0 8 ) C#/D
Agrippina, performed at the Teatro S Giovanni Grisostomo in Venice

in 1709, is notated about a M2 lower than the works written for H a m -
burg, Rome, and Naples. Since we know that La Resurrezione was per-
formed at A-2, the pieces for all three cities were probably conceived
at similar pitches. More is involved in comparing average ranges than
pitch, of course; choice of tonalities also influences the ultimate mid-
range. T h e basic tendency is plain, however: pieces written for Venice
were probably performed at a higher pitch. T h u s A-I may have be-
come common in Venetian opera after about 1710.
A n interesting feature of this list is that Agrippina, performed at
Venice, has the same exact midrange as Vivaldi's church pieces, sug-
gesting that in Venice at the time, pitch was the same in church and
theater.
There were also woodwinds at A + I in Venice in the 1 8 ' ~century.
T h a t is not surprising, since when the hautboy took over the cornett's
functions at S Marco in Venice in the course of the 169os,'~ it probably
inherited the cornett's pitch.
Woodwinds at A + I were being made just over the mountains in
both Munich and Nuremberg (see 5-4b). T h r e e recorders by
Schuechbauer of Munich survive at A+r,'' and t h e hautboy by
Schuechbauer preserved at the Venetian Conservatorio Benedetto
Marcello is unusually short and plays well at this pitch.'6 Some of t h e
first hautboists t o perform in Venice were German and could have
brought instruments at this pitch o r ordered them from Germany;
Ludwig Erdmann, w h o taught "Salamuri" and hautboy at the Pieti
from 1706 to 1708, had been at Ansbach (near Nuremberg) in the 1690s.
There are no explicit indications in Vivaldi sources that the
woodwinds, organ, and strings were at different pitches.'7 But there is
implicit documentation of a discrepancy of a semitone-not a whole-
tone-between the strings and a woodwind in opera orchestras in
164 Chapter q
Mantua and Venice. This is found in an aria by Vivaldi that survives

in two versions. T h e aria is called "Sempre sopra notte" in Tito Manlio
(RV 738, Mantua, 1719) and "Cara sorte di chi nata" in La Veritd di
Cimento (RV 739, Venice, S Angela, 1720). Both versions are in F-
18
major. The woodwind instrument in this aria was a type of recorder
that Vivaldi called a 'tflautino."19
In the earlier Mantua version, "Sempre sopra notte," the flautino
part is marked "come st;" ("at pitch, as written"), but this is crossed
out; next to it, also crossed out, is the instruction "Mezzo Tuono pi4
Basso" ("a semitone lower"). In the Venetian version, Vivaldi in-
structed "ViolD Solo sempre, e mezzo tuono pi& alta anco il Soprano,
m i il Flauto come st;" ("always a single violin, and a semitone higher,
the soprano as well, but the flute at pitch as written").
From these instructions, we can tell that the flautino was pitched a
semitone higher than the other parts for both performances. In the
first version, there was a reluctance to change the flautino part (indi-
cated by the "come st;"); this is understandable, since the instrument
would have had to transpose down a semitone to E-major, an awk-
ward key with four cross-fingerings in each octave. Since both solu-
tions were eventually crossed out, it is unclear how the pitch discrep-
ancy of a semitone was solved at Mantua.
For the second version, produced at Venice the following year, the
same problem existed. In this performance, however, the flautino re-
mained in key and the rest of the group performed "mezzo tuono pih
alta."zO
T h e problem in both cases was that the flautino was pitched a
semitone higher than the strings. Although the absolute pitches are
not known, the flautino is not likely to have been higher than A+I,
and was probably at A t 1 or A t o , so the strings would have been at
A t o or A-I.
Whatever the absolute pitch levels were, it is plain that orchestral
did have to deal with instruments at varying pitches in the
same ensemble, at least occasionally.
T h e hautboy parts to Vivaldi's Concerto in d-minor, RV 566, for
two recorders, two "Hautbois," bassoon, two solo violins, strings, and
continuo suggest that the hautboys played this piece a whole-tone
lower than the general group. In the first movement (bar 54), there is
an e b j in the first hautboy part; that is already a semitone higher than
Vivaldi took the hautboy in any of his solo concertos. But in the third
movement (bar j ~ ) ,the first hautboy goes even higher t o e h j . In addi-
tion, there is an extremely uncharacteristic passage in t h e second haut-
boy part of the third movement that would be much easier if played
d o w n a whole-step."
T h i s concerto survives in d-minor, but if the hautboys involved in
its original performance had been pitched at A t ] , a tone above the
strings, they would have played in C-minor, thus resolving these aber-
rations of range and finger technique. T h e strings, pitched at A-I,
would have played in the notated key, d-minor."
T h e aria "Lega virtir quest'alma" in Giacomo Antonio Perti's Furio
Carnillo, in 1692," is the earliest known appearance of the
hautboy in Venetian opera. T h e aria, which is in D-major, also ap-
pears t o have involved transposition. It calls for several unprepared
high cnj's, one in a piano echo phrase. T h i s is not a note that is en-
tirely sure of response, and since the aria is placed at a critical point in
the drama,24it is unlikely the composer would have purposely written
so inappropriately. T h e problem would have been resolved if the
hautboy had played in a lower key, the obvious o n e being C, a whole-
step lower.
These examples suggest the possibility that other individual parts
to Venetian music were sometimes transposed. T h e Marcello hautboy
concerto, for instance, survives not only in its published form in d-
minor, but in a manuscript in Schwerin in c-minor." Aside f r o m other
interesting differences of detail, in bars 49, 106, and 126 of the third
movement of the manuscript, the hautboy goes up quite logically and
musically t o c?. In the printed version in d-minor, these three cj's
would have been dj's, difficult notes for amateurs, and they were in
fact replaced with bz, g2, and g2, respectively. It seems likely from this
that the piece was originally conceived for the hautboy in c-minor, not
d-minor. Like RV 566, it might originally have been performed in
Venice o n an hautboy pitched at A + ] (perhaps even the surviving
Schuechbauer), and a manuscript copy of this version found its w a y t o
the Schwerin library.
I n both the Vivaldi and Marcello, the transposition in question
was a whole-step; this means the pitch difference between the instru-
m e n t s was also a whole-step. W h a t about Albinoni's famous O p u s 7
and O p u s 9? Might they also originally have been played in Venice o n
166 Chapter 4
higher-pitched hautboys a step lower than they are now known? This
is less probable, as downward transposition would in some cases pro-
duce unlikely keys, unless hautboys in both A t o and A t 1 were used.
As Alfredo Bernardini noticed, the usual evidence for transposition of
hautboy parts (of the kind found in Handel's Roman works discussed
below and some of Bach's cantatas) is missing for these Venetian con-
certos: original parts to the same piece in different keys.z6
4-la2 Corista Veneto/Venetianischen Ton, A+o
T h e popularity of At1 and A-I at Venice did not exclude the use of
A+o. There are several indications of its existence at the end of the 171h
and beginning of the 181hcenturies.
As can be seen in Graph IZC, about half the surviving Italian
woodwinds from this period (although the sample is very small) are
between the limits of 430 and 444, or A+o.
W e know from Vincenzo Coronelli (1706)" that at the beginning
of the century Venetian hautboists obtained instruments from Milan.
T h e foremost woodwind maker in Milan at the time and "the earliest
Italian to make French-style woodwinds"" was Giovanni Maria An-
ciuti ( a 1 ~ o ~ - p 1 7 ~Anciuti
0). often added a winged lion holding the tes-
tament of St. Mark to his trademark, suggesting that these instru-
ments were made for some Venetian institution. T h e pitches of
Anciuti's surviving flutes and recorders are A-I and A t o . T w o of his
dated instruments at A t o survive; a traversoZ9 with corps at
4~o/420/435 dated 1725 and a bass flute at 435 marked with the Ve-
netian lion and dated 1739.
J.D. Heinichen, the distinguished Capellmeister at Dresden, who
worked in Venice from 1710 to 1716, described a Venetian pitch that
may have been A+O.~O In his book Der General-Bass in der Composition
he spoke of "Chor-Cammer-und Franzosischen, item des extravagan-
ten Venetianischen tons" ("Chorton, Cammerton, French, and the ex-
travagant Venetian pitch''). T h e implication is that "Venetianischen
ton" was different from the other standards. By Chorton, Heinichen
meant A + I (see y4), Cammerton was A-I, and "Franzosischen ton" was
presumably a semitone lower. By default, "Venetianischen ton" would
have been A+o.
4-xb Rome
At the beginning of the 1 8 ' century,

~ Popes Innocent XI and Innocent
XI1 forbad the use of "timpani, horns, trumpets, oboes, recorders,
flageolets, modern harps and mandolins" in churchS3'Quantz, who
made no secret of his disapproval of high Venetian Pitch, mentioned
this interdiction by the Popes in his Essai (Ch. XVII/vii/7): "In
Rome, wind instruments were once banned from the church."
Whether it was because of their unpleasantly high pitch, or the man-
ner in which they were played, I am not in a position to say." Of
course, it is quite possible that this ban had nothing to do with the
or their pitch, but was imposed because all these instruments
were associated with theatrical productions. Quantz went on to say
"For although the Roman pitch was low, and good for the hautboy, the
hautboists at the time played on instruments that were a whole-tone
higher, so they had to transpose. And against the other instruments
that were pitched low, these high instruments gave the impression of
being s h a ~ m s . " ~ '
Quantz must have gotten this story from someone else, as he was
not in Rome at the time. But he was right about the transposition.
Both Handel and Caldara considered "the manner in which the haut-
boys were playedo agreeable enough that they each wrote a number of
hautboy solos in Rome. These solos were indeed notated a M2 lower
than the rest of the orchestra, indicating that the hautboys were
pitched (as Quantz reported) a M2 higher than the prevailing Roman
pitch. Since Roman pitch was evidently the Corista di S Pietro, or
A=384, this would have put the hautboists at about 435.
T h e papal ban apparently meant there were no resident woodwind
in Rome competent to play Handel's hautboy parts. It seems
that players were hired from the North, but with instruments pitched
at A+o.I4 T h e hautboys in the cantata Laudate Pueri Dominum ( H W V
237, part of the Carmelite Vespers), for instance, are notated a whole-
tone below the other parts; this piece was performed in the church of
the Madonna di Monte Santo in July 1707.~'"10 sperai trovar," number
17 in 11 Trionfo del tempo e del disinganno ( H W V 46a) is not credible on
hautboy in b-minor (the key of the other parts); it must have been in
a-minor.I6 T h e opening hautboy solo to !I Trionfo in 1707)
was also used for the spectacular Resurrezione (HWV 47).17 Although
168 Chapter 4
the original parts are lost, its exceptionally high range suggests that it
too had hautboy parts notated a tone lower.
These pieces were written for private concerts put on by noble
Roman families like the Pamphilis and Ruspolis, who employed "Sig.
Ignazio" as principal h a ~ t b o y , probably
'~ Ignazio Rion. Rion had been
in Venice in 1704-05 and possibly earlier. (The first violin in these
concerts was usually none other than Arcangelo Corelli, who had been
active at Rome since the 167os, and apparently composed all his works
at the low Roman pitch, A-2.) A certain "MonsG Martino" was also
employed on recorder and hautboy in I707 and 1709;'~this was proba-
bly AlCxis Saint-Martin, a Frenchman based in Milan (and father of
Giuseppe and Giovanni Battista Sammartini).
T w o pieces that call for hautboy in an oratorio by Alessandro Scar-
latti entitled Giardino di Rose that was performed at the Ruspoli palace
in 1707 are marked "un ton piu basso." They are written in C-major.40
Antonio Caldara was employed as maestro di cappella by the Mar-
quis of Ruspoli from 1709 until 1716, and apparently used the same ex-
pedient in writing his hautboy parts. His music often featured haut-
boy solos, including the cantatas La costanza vince il rigore, Clori mia
bella Clori, La lode premiata, and three arias in C~nfitebor.~'Those
known to me have hautboy parts notated a tone below the rest of the
group.
There is confirmation of a Roman pitch at A-2 in "about 1720"
from the Cambridge scientist Robert Smith, writing in 1749. Smith
wrote (148, 192) that he had the pipes of the chapel organ at Trinity
College shifted to play a M2 lower; he called this "Roman pitch," "as I
judged by its agreement with the pitch pipes made [in Rome] about
1720." Smith (1749:202-204) measured the Trinity organ at various
temperatures in a range of about 380 to 403 Hz; in September it was at
about 393. Ellis reported in 1880 that this organ was at 395.
4-IC Elsewhere in Italy
As in Venice and Rome, there is evidence of transposing hautboys in

Naples. Alfredo Bernardini* found a Sinfonia that is part of a collec-
tion of Neapolitan music from the first quarter of the 1 8 ' ~century held
now at the conservatory in Palermo with an hautboy part in C notated
a tone below the strings in D. T h i s suggests that instrumental music

was performed as in Rome at A-2; in this period, organs, as we saw in
2-zc, could be as low as A-3. If A-2 was current, it would explain how
Scarlatti was able t o move his operas back and forth between Naples
and Rome in the 1680s and gos, and how easily he moved between t h e
t w o cities u p until 1721. Leonardo Vinci also virtually commuted be-
tween Rome and Naples in the late 1720s~putting o n operas in both
cities.
Giuseppe Torelli's instrumental pieces and his trumpet concertos
were written in Bologna between 1686 and 1692, when the prevailing
pitch was A + I , the pitch of the organs at S Petronio until 1708. Stan-
cari's report in 1706 of measurements he had taken of the pitch of the
organs at S Petronio is discussed in I-&. Traeri lowered the organ "in
cornu Epistolae" t o about 439 in 1708.~'T h e organ facing it, "in C o r n u
Evangelli," remained at A+I. O t h e r organs at Bologna include S
Martino (G. Cipri, 1556) at A + I and the Collegiata di S Maria
Maggiore at Pieve di Cento (Traeri, 1726) at A+o. T h u s old B o l o p e s e
pitch had been A+I; the one current in the 1 8 ' century
~ was A+o.
T h e hautboist Ludwig Erdmann played in the Cappella of S
Petronio in about 1700, in 1708, and in later years;43 Erdmann was
based at Venice in the years 1706-1708 and Lucca from 1709 t o 1757. If
he was able t o perform at all these places, presumably without chang-
ing his instrument because of pitch, they must have had a pitch in
common; that pitch was presumably A+o. Torelli's later pieces from
1701may thus have been composed for performance at A+o. Smithers
(1988:100) notes that while 81 of Torelli's trumpet pieces are in D, one
is in E b; this piece may have been written after the organ "in cornu
Epistolae" was lowered a emito one.^^
4-2 France
Graphs 6b and 13c show surviving French organs and woodwinds in

the period 1700-1730. Organs in the lower group average 391.77, in the
higher about 410. Most traversos are at an average of 393 with a few
centered on 404. Recorders are equally divided in this period into cen-
170 Chapter 4
ters averaging 391, 407, and 461. These data suggest that things
changed very little in France with the new century.
T h e lowest pitch (averaging almost exactly 392) whether it was
called Ton d'Ope'ra or Ton de Chapelle, was evidently still very much in
use. Andreas Silbermann, Alsatian maker of a number of famous or-
gans, studied with Franqois Thierry in Paris from 1704 to 1706. Sil-
bermann described his model organ, an instrument at St. Germain des
PrCs in Paris made by Thierry, as in "Operathon;" it was at A-z.~' H e
also called a design he made for an organ at Weingarten that was
never built (similar to St. Germain) "Disposition Eines Orgel Wercks
in ~ ~ e r a t h o n The
. " ~ organ
~ he built in 1716 at the Cathedral in Stras-
bowg (also a copy of St. Germain4') was damaged in the war of 1870,
but was measured by Hopkins and Rimbault in 1855 at a whole-tone
below London "Philharmonic" pitch (the latter was 433 48); Hopkins
measured it in 1870 at 388. Eight of Silbermann's extant organs made
after his stay in Paris are at A-2, all thus presumably at Operathon (or
Ton d'Opdra).
4-za A-I in France
T h e fact that A-I was an important level in other countries leads us t o

look for it in France as well. Evidence for the existence of this pitch in
France is not clear, and firm conclusions are not possible. It is as fol-
lows:
There are three recorders at A-I: a SouvC bass at 410, a Naust

voice flute (that has been shortened and may originally have
been lower), and an Hotteterre alto. All appear to have been
made before 1730.
Of French traversos from this period, six have a highest corps
at A-I and are made by T. Lot probably after 1730. Twenty-one
others are exclusively or principally at A-1: makers are M. and
T. Lot, Villars, Bizey, Delusse, Prudent, Clapisson, Saget, and
Biihner & Keller; all were probably made after 1730, and about
half were probably made after 1760.
T h e first convincing evidence of organs at A-I comes from the
1740s and continues until 1807-1808.
The General Adoption of A-1, 1700-1730 171
There are two pitchpipes, one at 410 by "[Thomas?] Lot" o n

front and "Prudent Paris" on back; Paris [end of the 18lh cen-
tury], the other at 418 by C. Delusse, Paris, 1772.
There are two clarinets at A-I, a Geist made ca.1770 and a
Mousseter ca.1800.
From this we can observe that A-I must have begun tentatively before
1730, but was a pitch that appeared mainly after that date, was not un-
common on traversos such as those by Thomas Lot, and persisted into
th
the early 19 century.
As for the beginnings of the use of A-I, after Louis XIV's death in
1715there was a new interest in foreign music, especially Italian. T h i s
brought many foreign players to Paris, and with them came their in-
struments and pitches. Since A-I was a common Venetian pitch, Pari-
sians began to be introduced to it, probably starting in the 1720s. T h e
level at A+o that became important in Venice in the 1740s had not yet
affected Paris, however; no French woodwinds higher than 415 survive
from this period, and very few from the next (see Graph 13c and d).
T h e evidence shows that A-I did not supplant A - I Y ~until the end
of the 181h century. A - I ! ~is found in France in all periods up to 1770.
In recorders it is about equally common in the periods 1670-1700 and
1700-1730.T h e pitchpipe that gives a pitch "Plus haut de la chapelle a
versaille" ("higher, from the chapel at Versailles"), made presumably
after the completion of the organ in 1711, is at 407.
4-3a Woodwind Pitches
In the Dutch Republic, woodwinds were evidently considered reliable

pitch references; organs were described as at opra offluyte toon ( I ~ o I ) ,
Hauboistoon (1721)~Fluytedou toon (1724), ordinaris Flute dous toon ( 1 7 2 ~ ) ~
ordinaire toon ( 1 7 3 9 ) ~ordenaare
~~ Fluijte toon (1758)) Fluyt of Kamer Toon
(x771), etc. T h e famous organ in the Laurenskerk in Alkmaar was at
"Cammer of Houbois-thoon" in 1723.'"
172 Chapter 4
After the first decades of the 1 8 ' ~century, enough organs survive
with intact pitch to establish that these names were referring to A-I.
O n woodwinds themselves, this pitch is indeed observable in the same
period (Graph 16c) and even extends back prior to I700 (Graph 16b).
A - I M was in fact more common in Holland; a large group of wood-
winds range from 398 to 408 and center on about 405 (see Graph 16b, c,
and d and Appendices 4 and 5).
There is also evidence of woodwinds at A-2, both in this period and
those before and after it. Finally, there are four instruments by Beu-
kers, van Heerde, and Deppe pitched above 420. Considering Hol-
land's possible export activities, these instruments might have been
made for English customers and have been at Q - 2 (one of them is a 61h
Flute, a recorder type known to have been used in England). As might
be expected of exporters of musical instruments, Holland was produc-
ing woodwinds in all the standard pitches of the time, including A+o,
Q - 2 , A-I, A - I Y ~and
, A-2.
4-3b Organ Pitches
T h e pitches of Dutch church organs and other musical instruments

were not necessarily part of the same network, because (as Van
Blankenburg wrote in 1 7 ~ in~ )Holland "there is seldom if ever any
concerted music in churches" (see below). Despite this, Graph 24
shows a prevailing pattern of A + I and A-I that would have allowed
woodwinds to plug into the organ pitch grid when necessary, the or-
gans playing either at pitch or, as in Germany, transposing down a
whole-step.
Organ design in Holland had much in common with Germany (a
number of Dutch organs were built by German makers like Schonat
and Miille~-).~'
T h e higher organ pitch was often called Cornetten toon. T h e organ
at the Grote- of Jacobijnerkerk at Leeuwarden (Christian Miiller, 1727)
was, according to its contract, "Cornetten toon, dat is een toon hoger
dan erato to on"^^(Cornetten toon, i.e., a tone higher than Operatoon).
T h e instrument was apparently at 463. By deduction, Operatoon would
have been A-I. T h e Martinikerk organ in Groningen was at a similar
pitch, 467; it was described in 1728 as in "netto Chor Thon."
O t h e r well-known Miiller organs confirm the relationship of Cor-

netten toon and Operatoon. T h e organ at the Waalse Kerk in Amster-
d a m ( 1 7 3 ~ )at~ 466, was built t o "Cornettentoon of een geheelen toon
hogrr als operatoon"" (Cornetten toon, o r a whole-tone higher than
Operatoon).
It has often been stated that Schnitger's sons, w h o finished the or-
gan at Zwolle's Grote- o r Michiielskerk in 1721, tuned it at about A-
490.'4 I n the report prepared by the examiners in September 1721,they
were specifically asked "of hetselve bequamelijk onder de musicq
soude konnen gebruykt worden" ("if [the organ] would be appropriate
for use with musicq [other instru~nents]"). T h e examiners were organ-
ists, and compared the new organ's pitch with their o w n organs in
Amsterdam, Den Haag, and Rotterdam. Noting that the new organ
was tuned in a temperament that made it difficult t o make the cus-
tomary transposition when playing with other instruments," they
recommended that t w o stops be separately tuned t o the pitch of mu-
sicq, which they called Hauboistoon. T h i s was not done, probably partly
because F.C. Schnitger objected that the organ was tuned to a pitch
(which he called choor toon) that worked perfectly well with instru-
ments. A demonstration had already been made, using "Fiolen,
Fluiten, Bassons, Hautbois etc." that proved that it worked well, pre-
sumably by using an organ transposition of a M2.
It would seem from this that the original level of the Zwolle organ
was A t 1 rather than A-490. This is in fact confirmed by Joh. Leghe*,
w h o examined it in 1946; he found that it was "*j/4 toon boven nor-
maal" (somewhat above A+I, in other ~ o r d s ) . 'Also,
~ J.C. van Apel-
doorn, organist at Zwolle around 1900, wrote in an undated book on
the instrument (pages 19, 29) that it was only "een halve toon te hoogn
("a half-tone too highw), presumably in relation t o the standard of his
time, A-43s. It would seem, then, that this organ was closer t o A t 1
than A t 2 . As van Biezen (199o:j81) points out, this makes the pitches
of the organs to which the examiners compared the Zwolle organ
more believable: the Nieuwe Lutherse Kerk in Amsterdam would then
have been at A+o, the Groote Kerk in Den Haag (built 1629 n.b.) in
the 42os, the Nieuwe Kerk in Den Haag at A+o, and St. Laurents Rot-
terdam at A-I. T h u s although Arp Schnitger made organs at A t 2 , all
the Dutch instruments by the Schnitgers were evidently at At1."
174 Chapter 4
Some organs in the Dutch Republic were pitched at Kamer-toon (A-

I) in the early 1 8 ' ~century (see Graph z4c). There are records of this
pitch on organs prior to 1670 (Graph 24a), and it continued to be
common through the early 1 9 ' ~ century.
Van Biezen (1g90:379) notes that in this period many new organs
were built at A t o , which he finds remarkable, since the organ pitch
had traditionally been A-I. H e notes the common explanation of extra
cost expressed by van Blankenburg (1739:109) "The organ builders,
knowing that here at home there is seldom if ever any concerted mu-
sic in churches, find profit in making the organs a whole-tone or tone
and a half higher." But if that were the whole story, he wonders why
many organs, by the Duyschots for instance, were only one semitone
higher (Ato) rather than two or even three (A+I or ~ t 2 ) . " H e sug-
gests that since other instruments were rarely used in church, A+o
may have been seen as a compromise that best suited the ranges of the
congregation in hymn singing.
4-4 T h e Spanish/Austrian Netherlands
From 1703 to 1709, Maximilian I1 Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, was

resident for a second time in Brussels, and actively supported opera
performances.59T h e famous ThCttre de la Monnaie, still in use today,
had been opened in 1700 with a performance of Lully's Atys. As in the
late l 7 I h century, the repertoire was heavily weighted toward ~ u l l y , ~ '
and in sacred music, the French style was predominant. This reper-
toire may have influenced the performing pitch standard, but the ex-
act level is not known.
Brussels housed the important woodwind workshops of the Rot-
tenburgh family. Johannes Hyacinthus Rottenburgh worked from
about 1700 until about 1735, and was succeeded by his three sons, who
continued to use his stamp, "I.H. Rottenburgh," until about I ~ ~It is ~ . ~ '
difficult to sort out which instruments using this stamp are by the fa-
ther and which are by the sons. Lower-pitched instruments account
for close to three-quarters of the survivors and show a range from 387
to 405; we would expect these to be the earliest. There is reason to
think the Rottenburgh shop derived its designs from French models,62
and it m a y be that it had a French clientele, for w h o m these pitches

would have been appropriate.
W e have direct evidence f r o m January 1712 63 that the opera in London

was at Q-j. I n a letter written f r o m London t o a n intermediary in
Paris, t h e French hautboist Louis ~ o u s s e l e tordered
~~ t w o bassoons
f r o m t h e Parisian maker Jean-Jacques Rippert. T h e instruments were
destined for friends of his w h o were members of t h e opera orchestra at
t h e Queen's Theatre in t h e Haymarket. Rousselet specified that, for
London, t h e bassoons had t o be "environ d'un C a r de T o n plus haut
q u e C e u x quJil fait apressantn6'. ("about !A tone higher than those he
presently makes"). H e w e n t o n t o say,
Have the kindness to try [the bassoons] yourself, because it is for per-
sons who know how to draw out of them all that one must when they
are in their hands. I t is necessary that the bassoons and the oboes be
the same pitch we play here, almost 1/4 tone higher than the pitch of
the OpPra in paris."
T h e OpCra in Paris was at A-2 (see 4-2). Since a half-tone consisted of

either four o r five commas, "almost 1/4 tone higher" would have been
about t w o commas higher, o r t h e equivalent of 403 H z , which was n o t
only A-1% but Q-j. Rippert is survived by instruments at various
pitches (see Appendix -j),but at least four of his recorders are at A - I Y ~ .
T h i s must then have been t h e approximate pitch of t h e Queen's T h e a -
tre orchestra. Rousselet wrote his letter less t h a n a year after H a n d e l
had produced Rinaldo there in 1711, t h e first opera he produced in Eng-
land.
T h e r e are other indications of t h e currency of Q-3 in this decade.
T h e Utrecht Te Deum was performed at St. Paul's Cathedral o n 7 July
1713, where t h e organ was at Q-I,
a M 2 above Q-3, so t h e latter (using a
176 Chapter 4
whole-tone transposition) would have been the most practical pitch

for the orchestra.
There is also the situation at Cannons, where Handel worked be-
tween 1717 and 1720, during the break in his opera productions in Lon-
don. The opening Andante of a piece written there, the Chandos A n -
them rjA (HWV zrjoa), is an hautboy solo in the improbable key of A-
major.67But this movement exists in several other versions, including
the 3d Concerto in Select Harmony ( H W V 302a, published in 1740) and
the "Sonata a 5" (ca.1707). In these alternate versions it is in the more
natural key of B bS6' It seems likely that at Cannons also, the hautboy
played in Bb, while the organ played in A (the key in which the Can-
nons version survives). T h e cause would have been a difference in
pitch. As it happens, the original organ that Handel used at Cannons
survives at Gosport. It is at 424 (= Q-2). The hautboy, on the other
hand, would most likely have been at Q-3. If the two instruments
were thus pitched a half-step apart, they would have had to be written
in different keys (intonation may have been dubious at a semitone
distance).
4-5a1 The Upward Movement of Woodwinds to A-I
Graph 15b shows most English woodwinds tuned to Q - 3 at the end of

the 17chcentury. This was convenient because it worked with or-
gans and happened to match many French woodwinds of the same pe-
riod. A t some point between 1700 and 1730, however, some recorders
also started being made a quarter-step higher at A-I, as can be, seen in
Graph ISC. By the next period, as Graph 15d shows, A-I and higher
pitches had become predominant on English woodwinds (A-I seems
not to have made inroads into organ pitches in any period: see Graphs
6, 7, and 8, where England is alone in showing virtually no pitches in
this area).
O n e surviving treble recorder by Bressan (Paris C.394, E.283) actu-
ally plays at both Q-jand A-I. T h e instrument is covered (like several
other contemporary recorders) with a sheath of tortoiseshell. This par-
ticular instrument has two sets of tone-holes ingeniously placed on
two separate lines on the center joint. T h e sheath is made so it can be
turned to uncover one set of holes, thus closing the other set. T h e in-
strument effectively plays at either 402 o r 415, Q-3 or A-I. It was pre-
sumably made during this period, when the two pitches also over-
lapped.
Since the highest woodwind pitch from this period is 418 and the
average was somewhat lower, it appears that "new Consort-pitch" at Q-
2 (about 423) was not yet in general use. W e will discuss new Consort-
pitch in 7-6. Dating of woodwinds in these periods is conjectural, how-
ever, so it is not possible t o rule out categorically the existence of new
Consort-pitch before 1730.
T h e r e are indications that the Opera orchestra went up t o the Con-
tinental standard of A-1 by the early 172os, probably when the new op-
era company, the Royal Academy of Music, was formed in 1719. T h e
reasoning behind this theory takes some time t o explain. T w o arias,
Guido's "Amor, nel mio penar" in Flavio and the 2d version of
"Sh la sponda del pigro" in Tanierlano ( 1 ~ 2 ~are ) in the unusual key of
b b-minor.'" T h i s key was probiibly chosen for its dramatic effect; the
scenes in question are highly charged dramatically. A n hautboy is in-
volved in both aria^,^' and in both cases, its part was originally notated
in a-minor, a semitone lower than the rest of the band. For these arias,
then, the hautboy must have been tuned a semitone higher than the
string^.^' But these arias are exceptional, as the rest of both operas
were all written in the same key, and were thus evidently performed
with hautboys and strings at the same pitch level. W h o changed? I n
the case of Flavio, and probably Tamerlano as well, the strings could
have tuned down for this scene only and the hautboy could have con-
tinued ~ n c h a n g e d . ~But
' that would have required t w o long general
tunings hardly calculated t o enhance t h e dramatic pace of the opera. It
is more likely that an hautboy a semitone higher was played in these
t w o arias only. If that was the case, a good guess is that the parts were
played by the hautboy virtuoso Giuseppe Sammartini, w h o (it is
thought) was visiting London at this time.74 As for the pitch frequen-
cies, if Sammartini had been playing at the common north-Italian
pitch of A t o (which Paolucci called Corista Veneto; see 4-~az),the or-
chestra a semitone lower would have been at A - I . ~ Th~ e transposition
would not have worked if the orchestra had been at the older Consort-
pitch level at A - I ! ~ ,SO~ this
~ serves as an indication that the orchestra
had raised its pitch t o A-I. A possible reason for this change was that
(as suggested above) it would have been expedient for the Opera t o
178 Chapter 4
have been at the pitch that was apparently being used in operas at
Venice, A-I, since the great singers Handel hired for his London
productions came from northern Italy.
Instruments at the Chapel Royal were also probably at A-I by the
early 1720s. Burrows (1~81:136)notes that the pieces Handel performed
at the Chapel Royal in that period were revisions of works written at
Cannons. At the Chapel Royal they were usually set in a lower key,
implying a higher pitch there.77T h e organ Handel had used at Can-
nons was at 424 = Q - 2 , whereas his organ at the Chapel Royal in St.
James' Palace was built by Smith in 1708 and was measured by Ellis
(1880:48-49) at a semitone above 442, which would have been 468 (=
A+I). Handel's cello, lute, and voice parts are all notated in the same
key as the organ in the earliest sets of surviving Chapel Royal parts
(dating from the first two decades of the 1 8 ' ~~ e n t u r y ) . ~Since
' the or-
gan was at A+I, and the likelihood of lutes or cellos at that level is re-
mote, the organist probably transposed his part down a tone at sight,
as was common in Italy and Germany. In this same period, Handel
added a note to his copyist in the Ms for the Air "Sing unto the Lord
and praise His name'' in the Anthem 0 Sing unto the Lord a new song
(HWV 249a)79that confirms that the other parts played at a different
pitch from the organ. H e wrote, "Dieser vers wird einen thon tieffer
transponiert in allen Partien. in den Orgel Part 2 thon tieffer'"" ("This
movement should be transposed down one tone in all parts-in the or-
gan part two tones lower"). Handel's instruction indicates that the or-
gan was a "thon" higher than the other parts, since it had to be notated
a "thon" lower. Since we know it was at A+I, the strings and voices
must have been pitched a M2 lower, which would have been A-I."
4-sb Organ Pitches
Gwynn's Table 2 in 1985:69 lists a number of downward retunings of

organs in the period 1 6 ~ 6 - 1 ~ Although
~~." most of them were already
in the Quire-pitch grid, almost every organ that was changed ended up
at Q-2.
Graph 22c shows the pitches of organs made in this period. Quire-
pitch is represented (here and also in Graph 23C, chamber organs), as
well as a semitone above, and both Q-Iand Q-2.
The General Adoption of A- I , I 700-1730 179
G e r a r d S m i t h rebuilt t h e organ a t Ely C a t h e d r a l between 1689 a n d

1691, b u t t h e organist f r o m t h e n u n t i l 1729 "had t o transpose t h e m u s i c
h e played t h e r e because, as h e said, ' t h e organ h e r e is 3 q u a r t e r s of a
n o t e higher t h a n t h e pitch of t h e o r g a n s a r e n o w [sic]."'" Since stan-
dard o r g a n pitch in t h e period 1700-1730 w a s Q-2 at 423, t h e Ely in-
s t r u m e n t would probably have been a t A+I.
Notes
I. See Haynes 2001:133.

2. See 2-za.
3. Caluso, S Grato Vescovo a Vallo.
4. Pieve di Cento, the Collegiata di S Maria Maggiore.
5. See Tosi, Obsetvations on the Florid Song.
6. See Agricola 1757. Most of Agricola's pitch observations are in the form of
footnotes to Tosi's text.
7. See Barbieri 1980:26.
8. T w o other organs by Callido are at 420 and 421.
9. Petit ca.1740:31. Petit was music director to the Duke of Saxe-Eisenach and
the Margrave of Baden-Durlach before 1730. His book appeared in both
French and English. T h e ca.1740 version was published in London (cf. Zaslaw
rg80:14:580). In French it reads, "Le T o n fixe est selon les Pays, plus haut, ou
plus bas: En Italie le Tonfixe est beaucoup plus haut qu'en France, en Angle-
terre il est entre les deux: mais il faut remarquer qu'en Italie le Ton de
I'Eglise est presque tottjours un Ton plus haut que l'Opera, ou la Musique de
Chambre."
10. Original text in 3-3c.
11. See 6-2b.
12. He cites for example Marazzoli's La Vita Humana (1655). Stubbs suggests
checking the roles of particular singers, such as for example Atto Melani,
who sang in both places (Melani also sang in Rossi's Orfeo in Paris in 1647).
13. Ivars Taurins*. Taurins used the same technique as Mendel (1955/R
1968:203) for arriving at an overall midrange.
14. Selfridge-Field 1987:118.
15. Bogenhaus 6a (ivory, with original case); Nuremberg MIR 210 (tenor);
Washington: Miller 328.
16. Alfredo Bernardini*.
180 Chapter 4
17. Michael Talbot, * March 2000. H e adds that "Vivaldi wrote the parts en-
tered into his scores always in untransposed form, some horn parts ex-
cepted," and that surviving sets of parts are rare.
18. Thalheimer 1998:98-99, Thalheimer zooo:t~o.
19. Experts have not yet been able to determine if this was a French flageolet
or a sopranino recorder. See Thalheimer 2000.
to. That Vivaldi had only one violin play the aria ("Violo Solo sempre")
suggests he did expect the group to be tuned up a semitone rather than trans-
pose up to F#-major.
21. Bar 39. T h e notes are g # ~ - f t t ~ - e ~ - f w - b ~ - a ~ - b ~ - c z .
22. It is also possible, but less likely, that the strings were at Roman pitch, A-
2, and the hautboys at Ato. A-2 is not otherwise known in Venice.
23. W0lff 1937:102; D U ~ O 2000:132.
W ~
24. D U ~ O 2000:134.
W ~
25. Schwerin, Ms 3530.
26. T h e case of the flautino described previously indicates, however, that
pitch discrepancies between woodwinds and strings did sometimes exist at
Venice.
27. Cited in Bernardini 1988:383.
28. Waterhouse 1993:43.
29. This instrument is attributed to Anciuti.
30. Heinichen 1728:84.
31. Selfridge-Field 1988:508.
32. T h e Ruspoli concerts described below were private, and so could include
hautboys.
33. Quantz used the words "deutsche Schallmeyen" (German shawms) in his
German text.
34. Bernardini 1988:385n51. It is odd that Quantz does not equate the high
Roman hautboys with Venetian pitch, if this was indeed their tuning. See
Kirkendale 1967 and Kirkendale 1966:3?4-55.
35. Boyd 1993:4z, Shaw 1994:62.
36. In the autograph score of this work (which I saw in August 19a9), the
hautboy part to "Fido specchio" is in the same key as the other parts.
37. It exists separately in an earlier form as H W V 336.
38. Ignatio was paid the most of Ruspoli's four hautboy players.
39. Marx 1983:109 and 114.
40. This information was kindly supplied by Stephen Stubbs*.
41. T h e present information updates Haynes 1992a:85.
42. Recordings made before its restoration in 1982 are at 445, 433 and 438. Cf.
Barbieri 1980:25 and 28.
43. See Haynes 2001: 307-08.
44. Another Sinfonia a 4 Trombe is in C , implying the use of an organ at At3;
the organ "in cornu Epistolae" was probably at that pitch until 1531when it
was lowered to A+I. Other organs at S Petronio may have retained A t 3 until
Torelli's time.
45. Hohn 1970:12.T h e present organ at St. Germain des PrCs dates from 1854
and is now at 454, but according to Pierre Hardouin*, surviving old pipes in-
dicate an original pitch of A-2.
46. H o h n 1970:13. Mathias & Worsching 120 quote the entire proposal. Sil-
bermann also built an organ at Niedermorschwihr that was modelled on St.
Germain. Originally built in 1726 for Colmar, it was put into modern pitch in
1892 (the saw marks are visible).
47. See Hohn 1970:lz.
48. Cf. Ellis 1880:35.
49. Used in a document on the organ at St.-Jacob, Utrecht in 1739 that relates
it to A-I (van Biezen 1990:706 and 683).
50. T h e contract by F.C. Schnitger is included in Fock 1974:z55.
51. Cf. van Biezen 1ggo:j8on61.
52. Quoted in Jongepier I ~ ~ o : [ ~ ~ ] .
53. Quoted from the contract of 17 August 1733 in Baard 1961:38.
54. See, for instance, Vente 1971:33.
55. See Vente 1971:33and Fock 1974:251,277.
56. For the restoration, he suggested it should be put at a whole-tone above
440 for practical reasons.
57. Schnitger rebuilt the organ at the Martinikerk, Groningen, in 1692 at 467;
the contract specifies "alle registers ... [moeten] choormatisch gestemt
worden."
58. Cf. Den Haag, Nieuwe Kerk 0. Duyschot, 1702), at A + o (Vente 1 ~ ~ 8 ) .
59. See Munster 1993:jOO.
60. See Schmidt rg89:zozff.
61. Ottenbourgs 1989:9. T h e second son, Godfridus Adrianus ("G.A. Rotten-
burgh"), began a separate workshop using his own name, probably after 1740.
62. This is based on the similarity of outward turning profiles, the use of the
French Type E hautboy by the Rottenburghs, and the similarity in "acoustic
signature" of Rottenburgh's hautboys to those of Rippert and Naust. Rotten-
burgh Sr. was also connected to the court, which had close connections to
France.
63. "January 1711"old style.
64. (F1.1~07-12).Cf. Giannini 1993:45, Lasocki 1988:348. Rousselet was the son
of Jean Rousselet (a well-established hautboist in France) and godson of
Louis Hotteterre (ca.16~~/j/l;o-1~16).
65. Giannini 1987:10-11.
66. Giannini 1ggj:45.
67. See Hendrie 1985:154.
68. Other hautboy solos written for Cannons were probably written in key
(see Haynes 19gza).
69. I am obliged to Bruce Wetmore for bringing this aria to my attention.
182 Chapter 4
70. H G 153-54. There is an added part for "Les Hautbois transposhe in A" [a-
minor]. N o other pieces surviving in autograph are written for hautboy in
bb-minor, according to Moller 1993:15.
71. The original performing score and an Ms dated "ca.1730~" both specify
"Hautb" and are notated in a-minor. T h e part is for "Flauto" (in a-minor) in
the version used for the revival in 1732 (Knapp 19933226).
72. Moller 1993:15noticed these arias and came to the same conclusion.
73. It should be pointed out that the hautboy part to "Amor" for the most part
doubles the violins at the octave, which would have created a delicate tuning
situation with instruments tuned a semitone apart.
74. See Haynes 2001: 346-47.
75. Sammartini is likely to have played instruments by Anciuti, whose
(dated) instruments of the late 20s and 30s are at A t o (one traverso has three
joints at 410, 420, and 435).
76. Sammartini might have played another aria that was performed in the
same period, "Nel tuo seno" from Giulio Cesare (20 Feb 1724), which is in f-
minor. Sammartini would have played it in e-minor, a much better key for
the hautboy.
77. Burrows' conclusion that the works were probably originally performed at
A t o does not follow from this, however; he was unaware of the Gosport or-
gan.
78. Burrows 198r:ljq.
79. H H A 1992, ed. G. Hendrie, p.53. T h e piece was written for the Chapel
Royal in 1712-1714.This movement includes traverso, and is in e-minor. T h e
voice part lies very high and the entire piece was set down a step for the later
Chandos version, though this movement was abandoned there.
80. Hendrie, Critical Report, H H A 1992:334. Burrows (1~81:1~8) transcribes
"transponiert" as "transposiert."
81. Cf. Burrows 1981:138ff.
82. Cf. also his less certain speculations on p.71.
83. G w y n n 1985:77n35, citing earlier sources.
Chapter 5
Germany, 1700-1730: Cammerton, Chorton,

Cornet ton -
itch was not an issue in G e r m a n Protestant cantatas until t h e

n e w French instruments began t o be generally used. T h e s e in-
struments, often at lower pitches t h a n t h e organs, appeared in
G e r m a n churches at t h e end of t h e 171h century, a period w h e n the can-
tata was developing new patterns.
T h e usual solution t o t h e pitch discrepancy was t o transpose some
of the parts, just as is d o n e for "transposing instruments" of today like
t h e B b-clarinet. Since Cammerton instruments sounded lower in pitch,
t h e c o m m o n factor in a n y transposing scheme was that their parts
were written higher than t h e organ's. But t h e methods varied, and
were sometimes complicated. J o h a n n Kuhnau, Bach's predecessor as
Kantor at the T h o m a s - and Nicolaikirchen in Leipzig, wrote t h e fol-
lowing instructions for performing his cantata Daran erkennen wir, daj3
wir in ihm verbleiben, for instance:'
I. NB This piece is in Chorton for the violins, voices, and continuo in

Bb.
2. The trumpets are written in C tl to make everything work properly,
so they should add a crook at the mouthpiece so they sound a tone

lower, that is, in Cammerton. ...
3. The hautboys and bassoon should be in Cammerton, and their parts
are already written out transposed up a step, so in this way every-
thing will be in accord.'
Chapter 5
5-1 Notation of Chorton and Cammerton W h e n Used Together
Considering how often in this period woodwind players were doublers

(even on string instruments),' it is surprising to observe that players
were not apparently expected to transpose at sight.4 T h e survival of
many separate parts copied out solely for the sake of their written key
seems to indicate this. Of course, these parts are very useful to us now
for studying pitch relationships.
While separate parts were often in different keys, original scores to
the same pieces could be either transposed or rationalized to a single
key. Bach's Weimar scores are not consistent, for example; some parts
in the autograph score of B W V 152 are in g-minor, others in e-minor;
B W V 182 also shows dual pitch notation.' In B W V 12 the hautboy is
untransposed in the score but for technical reasons the part (now lost)
must have been played a M2 higher. Bach's Leipzig scores use the
same keys as the individual parts.6 T h u s it is not always possible to
learn from an original score whether individual parts were transposed.
5-2 Practical Considerations in Transposing Parts
In composing, the choice of keys was circumscribed by a number of

interrelated factors: how appropriate a particular key was to a given
instrument, what kind of challenge it would make to the techniques of
performers, the effects on sonority, how keys might interface given
the use of meantone temperament, and the emotional theme or affect
and its possible relation to specific keys.
Four performing categories are affected by transposition: voices,
the string band, the organ, and the woodwinds. W e will examine each
in turn.
5-2a Voices
For a singer, the effects of altered pitch can be striking. T h e most ob-
vious issue is that a part can be moved into the range of another vocal
type. T h e standard voice-types (such as female soprano, castrato,
Germany, 1700-1730:Cammerton, Chorton, Cornet-ton 185
haute-contre or high tenor, falsettist [countertenor], and boy soprano)

each had a fairly specific range. G o i n g out of range b y using an inap-
propriate pitch is a concern especially with parts that used relatively
large compasses, like Bach's. In 1732, W a l t h e r suggested that Cammer-
ton was used "mainly o n account of t h e adult sopranos [falsettists],
w h o cannot well sing in t h e highest range."' Few falsettists today can
sing comfortably beyond about f 2 o r frt2 at A-I, whereas t h e soprano
lines probably w e n t u p t o a2. A lower pitch would have helped these
"adult sopranos," and in fact Bach switched from a Cammerton at A-I
to o n e at A-2 while h e was at W e i m a r .
"Comfortable" was a word used by Friedrich Agricola in discussing
t h e question of pitch (Agricola, whose comments o n pitch will be dis-
cussed later, was "the best organ-player in Berlin, and t h e best singing
master in Germany," according t o Burney.) Agricola wrote of t h e
problems singers faced w h e n dealing w i t h the difference in pitch be-
tween Rome and Venice:
Roman arias are difficult for almost every singer to perform in Venice,
and the Venetian are equally difficult in Rome. In one place they are
too high, in the other too low. . . . Singers who like to sing high are
fond of low pitch, and those who enjoy bouncing around the low notes
prefer the higher pitch. This of course appears to give each respec-
tively an extra tone. One would think that it could not make such a
difference to a singer whether an aria had to be sung a tone or m j
higher or lower, but experience proves the reverse is true with many
arias. Besides the consideration of the notes divided between the head
voice and natural voice, many breaks and many sustained notes, as
well as many notes sung on a single word, are much more comfort-
able, or quite uncomfortable, depending on the pitch.s
Agricola raises the issue of vocal registers, which normally break f r o m

chest to head voice around ex o r fr; female voices also break again a n
octave higher. In t h e ITth century, register breaks (known as "passagiV)
were avoided by remaining as m u c h as possible in t h e natural chest
register. In the 1 8 ' ~century, with t h e increasing use of a wider range,
techniques were developed for concealing breaks. But until t h e classi-
cal period, even w h e n t h e breaks were obscured, t h e tone quality of
each register was consciously distinguished and emphasized. O t h e r
186 Chapter 5
aspects of vocal production were influenced by the principle of sepa-

rating the registers, such as relative volume and the use of ~ i b r a t o . ~
T h e placement of register breaks was thus critical to a singer's tech-
nique. And this obviously depends on pitch standards.
There are other issues in vocal transposition. Tessitura (which is
the average of the length of time all the notes of the range are held)
goes up or down with pitch changes. T h i s affects general tone quality
as well as endurance.
Johann Mattheson, who was a well-known singer in his younger
days, mentioned another problem: "I know people who are used to
singing in Chorton who cannot find a single interval in Cammerton."'"
Section 5 of Chapter 6 discusses a number of Bach's cantatas that
are generally known now in keys different from the ones in which he
wrote them. Although it is gradually being replaced by a new edition,
the most commonly available form of the cantatas is still the old Bach
Gesellschaft edition (BG) published in the latter part of the cen-
tury. T h e editors at that time were not in a position to make critical
decisions that depended on matters of pitch and key. It is only in the
last generation that Bach's orchestral instruments have brought the
question to the attention of since original instruments are
highly sensitive to key changes. But questions of tonalities and pitches
have always affected singers. Ellis wrote in 1885:544:
Instruments can be tuned or manufactured a t almost any required

pitch. The human voice is born, not manufactured. Although by skil-
ful training its compass can generally be somewhat extended, both
upwards and downwards, yet it must in general be considered to be an
instrument beyond human control.
5-2b T h e String Band
Transposition on strings was rare because retuning as much as a

whole-step up and down appears to have been common. W h e n
Kuhnau did not want to transpose his organ parts to remote tonalities,
for instance, he had his string players tune up a step to play in the key
of the organ." There are also three cantatas by Kuhnau with violins
notated a m3 above the organ (tuned, therefore, in tief-Cammerton).
Germany, 1700-1730: Cammerton, Chorton, Coi-net-ton 187
Bach also several times requested the strings to tune down a semitone
to "tieff-Cammerthon."
T h e violin solos of Heinrich Biber (1644-170~)are an example of
the flexibility of string tuning. Aside from the many pieces Biber
wrote in scordatura, two of his Sonatae violin solo (1681) require new
tunings of a whole-step in the middle of pieces.
Adlung, explaining how to reconcile Chorton and Cammerton, wrote
in 1758, "Either the organist can play a second lower, or the director of
the music writes the organ part a tone lower, and tunes the string in-
struments down a tone so as not to have to rewrite everything.""
Elsewhere he wrote, "normally the organist transposes, and the string
instruments are simply retuned .. ."I3
T w o pieces by W.A. Mozart from the end of the 1770s call for
retuning the viola, one a semitone and the other a M2 higher, probably
to achieve a more brilliant tone.I4
Examples of string instruments tuned to Chorton are common in
the early 1 8 ' ~
century. Many of the instruments in general use were of
course made in an earlier period when standard instrumental pitch
was A+I. Walther (1732:130) noted that one of the advantages of using
Cammerton was that the strings would hold their pitch better than in
Chorton (thus indirectly substantiating the use of Chorton on string in-
struments).'' Adlung (1726:1:193) commented that this was especially
true in humid weather. As late as ca.1780 in Salzburg, string sections
were tuned up to the high brass (and presumably organ) pitch, while
hautboys and bassoons sounded a step lower.I6
String retuning was probably preferred to transposition because it
did not shift open-string resonances. Open-stringed chords (used for
example by Bach in Cantata 161 ") would not have been transposable.
Transpositions also affected the sonorities of specific notes, and up-
ward transpositions took the players out of first position.
W i t h a band of strings, the effect of any change was of course
multiplied by the number of players.
5-2c The Organ
Transposing stops did exist, but the usual method of dealing with a
higher organ pitch is explained in the statement by Adlung just
188 Chapter 5
quoted. Transposition to accommodate a choir's range was a tradi-

tional skill of organists, and is well-documented." As late as 1815,
Wolfram (171) suggested that "No one should be allowed to be an
organist who cannot t r a n s p ~ s e . " 'Even
~ in 1880, Ellis reported ( 2 5 ) that
"the organists of St. Jacobi and St. Catherine, at Hamburg, have al-
ways to transpose a Tone or a semitone at sight."
5-zd T h e Woodwinds
Woodwind instruments were not usually able to adjust their intona-

tion as much as a semitone.'" T h e recorder's pitch range was very
small," that of the traverso was smaller than a comma (as indicated by
the common use of corps de rechange spaced a comma apart), and that
of the hautboy and bassoon was somewhat larger, mostly in the
downward direction. But in order to play with a convincing sound and
credible internal intonation, a woodwind part that was not in the right
key normally needed to be transposed.
Transposition on woodwinds brings with it several problems,
however, mostly caused by fingering technique. Tonalities with m o r e
than four accidentals were avoided because the woodwinds of Bach's
time were essentially keyless; that is, they were designed with an ab-
solute minimum of keywork. All the semitones could be produced
without keys except I11 b (E b on the traverso and hautboy, A b on the
bassoon): for this note there had to be a closed-standing key. T h e
other key on the hautboy and bassoon was an extension to the reach of
the fingers." The recorder had of course no keys, except for the largest
sizes. Chromatic notes that were not part of the natural seven-hole
scale were obtained with cross-fingerings (also called "forked-finger-
ings") and half-holing. These fingerings were more difficult to play,
responded with more resistance, and produced a more covered, veiled
timbre. T h e placement of cross-fingerings along the scale gave each
tonality its own particular character, technique, and intonation. In ad-
dition, trills and other ornaments on woodwinds were often played
with special fingerings (many instruction books of the period gave
special fingering charts for ornaments). Some were easy, others nearly
impossible." The different tonalities had therefore an important influ-
ence on fingering technique. Transpositions had therefore to be con-
Germany, 1700-t730:Cammerton, Chorton, Cornet-ton 189
sidered w i t h these factors in mind, especially w h e n woodwinds had

solo parts to perform.
A n o t h e r m o r e obvious issue t o be considered in transposing wood-
winds was that of range. I n t h e BG woodwind parts in some pre-
Leipzig pieces are sometimes transposed d o w n a M 2 o r m j f r o m their
original keys. W h e n this occurs, they often include notes below t h e
compass of the instruments (in some cases, modern as well as original
ones).
W h e n Kuhnau (1722) spoke of "Cammerton, which is a second o r
m i n o r third lower [than Chorton], depending o n which is most con-
~ e n i e n t , " ' he
~ was probably thinking of appropriate woodwind keys.
A s W a l t h e r (1732:162-63) commented,
When a choral piece is in g-minor and an hautboy is involved . . . , the

.
hautboy plays in a-minor . . and when this instrument plays a minor
third below Chorton," for instance in a church piece in d-minor, the
.
hautboy must be in f-minor . . It must be thus admitted that two dif-
ferent Genera modulandi can be placed and heard together.I6
A piece notated in Chorton4a-minor, for instance, would be in b-

minor at t h e usual Cammerton (i.e., sounding a M2 lower and t h u s no-
tated a M z higher). A t tief-Cammerton it would be written in c-minor.
O f these t w o possibilities, c-minor (i.e., a m3) would be preferable for
recorders, hautboys, and bassoons. O n the other hand, a piece notated
in Chorton-F would work better for t h e woodwinds in G-Major (i.e.,
a M2 higher) rather than in A b-major.
Although Kuhnau evidently felt free to retune his strings, he was
careful t o select keys without too m a n y accidentals. In Nicht nur allein
am frohen Morgen ( I ~ I ~ ) , the
" voices, brass and organ were in A, while
t h e hautboys and strings were in C. I n Lobet ihr Himmel t h e hautboys
are also a m j higher in E b , and t h e other parts are inc." A variant of
this is represented by Welt hdieu, in which t h e strings were in A and
t h e continuo in G. But since A was not appropriate for t h e recorderz9
and hautboys, they were notated in B b.'" T h e strings in this case can
be said t o have been in "hoch-Cammerton" while t h e winds were in tief-
Cammerton. In the cantata Daran erkennen wir, daj;: wir in ihm
verbleiben," by contrast, Kuhnau put t h e strings, voices, and continuo
in B b , while t h e hautboys and bassoon were in C: this time, instead of
190 Chapter 5
being written a m3 above the continuo, their parts were only a M2

higher. Since woodwinds were apparently available in both pitches,
Kuhnau was able to choose the tonality that was most practical; key
choice seems t o have taken precedence for him (and indeed for musi-
cians generally) over the absolute sounding pitch.32
Since tonalities with open strings sounded better o n the string in-
struments, and appropriate tonalities were critical for cross-fingered
woodwinds, the presence of instruments tuned a semitone apart was
extremely practical; it offered Kuhnau a choice of many more tonali-
ties in which to c ~ m p o s e . ' ~
5-2e Temperament
T u n i n g systems have always been attempts to reconcile the dilemma

of choosing between practicality and pure intervals. In the centuries
immediately prior to the Industrial Revolution, the usual solution was
meant~ne.'~ But meantone uses both flats and their enharmonic sharps:
a Gzt, for instance, was tuned at least a comma lower than a n A b. A
keyboard without split accidentals can produce only one of the t w o
notes, Gzt or A b , so a choice is demanded. Where only 12 notes were
available to the octave (as o n most keyboard instruments), meantone
implied a limited choice of tonalities. For this reason, and others men-
tioned previously, instruments of the period did not usually play ef-
fectively beyond about four sharps and flats. If transposition took
them beyond these limits, it created problems of the type that inspired
Mattheson's comment in 1721:426:
But consider the abomination when instruments tuned in Cammerton

such as horns, bassoons, etc., are sometimes expected to play with oth-
ers that are in Chorton, so that either one group or the other must be
transposed; is that sound any different than if the composer or Cantor
wished to portray the quarrel of the hounds over the fallen body of Je-
sabel?
O n the next page, Mattheson described the problems of tuning caused

by combining a horn in Cammerton with an organ in Chorton, and
added, "The trumpets in Chorton must of necessity make a n equally
disagreeable effect with a Continuo o r Bass in Cammerton." Sorge

(1748:13), when discussing organ temperaments, was less than enthusi-
astic about the effect of such transpositions: " H o w many pieces are
not written in the beautiful key of B b-major? These have t o be played
in t h e [keyboard] continuo in A b major" (few organs were probably
tuned with A b instead of G x , and fewer still with D b in place of C#).
Lustig suggested in 17~5:28-9that the reason organs were sometimes
tuned to Cammerton, despite the extra expense of larger pipes, was be-
cause " N o matter how handy he is at transposing between keys, the
organist will not be able t o make C# sound quite the same as D b , for
instance." T h e problem of choosing the identity of the accidentals
C # / D b, D#/E b, and G#/A b would have come up frequently, as for
instance in Cammerton+g-minor = Chorton +f-minor.
For these reasons, a number of modern writers have concluded that
Bach and his contemporaries must have used a tuning close t o equal
temperament. But the potential problems caused by different keys
were not -insurmountable in the standard tuning of early 18'h-century
instruments. T h e usual tuning model distinguished flats and sharps
by the distance of a comma. As Telemann wrote in 1743 of this tuning
system, it "is not based on any keyboard temperament; rather, it dis-
plays the sounds found o n unrestricted instruments like the cello, vio-
.
lin, etc., that can play purely (if not always entirely, nearly so) . ."j5
Reduced to the fixed-pitch limitations of a keyboard instrument, the
distinction of a comma between flats and sharps produces an octave
with yj parts, which translates into 1/6-comma meantone. T h i s is a
"regularn temperament (that is, all the fifths except one are the same
size). T h e usual transpositions were a M2 or a m3, among either the
instruments at different pitch standards o r the transposing "d'amore"
instruments. I n regular temperaments the intervals in tonalities
spaced a Mz o r m3 apart run parallel t o each other; the same degrees of
the scale are inflected higher or lower in the same way. T h u s keys
spaced at these intervals would have sounded well together when
tuned in any regular meantone.j6
192 Chapter 5
y2f Key Characters and Affective Associations
Several writers like Mattheson and Quantz associated the "Affects"

they wished to conjure in pieces of music with specific tonalities." If
tonalities were associated with certain emotions, were the emotions
the result of the absolute pitch frequencies of the notes, or were they
intrinsic to the tonality, regardless of its pitch?
Mattheson (1713:236) related the affective properties he associated
with certain keys to Cammerton; it seems then that Cammerton was
Mattheson's reference O n the other hand, Kuhnau and
Volckmar (see 5-9) considered their Cammerton instruments transpos-
ing, so the "real" pitch for them must have been Chorton. In one piece,
Heinichen also provided a "Continuo transpos." part notated a m j
above C h ~ r t o n , 'indicating
~ that (at least in this context) he, too, con-
sidered Cammerton to be a transposition from a reference Chorton.
Heinichen, as can be seen by the following (1728:84), was dubious
about key characters:
Indeed, if these imagined [affective] properties [of the keys] had any
inherent validity, shipwrecks would be occurring continuously with
every small change o f temperament (instrumental parts are never
completely accurate in this regard in any case) as well as changes of
Chorton, Cammerton, French, and the extravagant Venetian tuning.
In o-IC,we quoted the opinion of C.F. Michaelis (181477~)on the rela-

tion between key character and pitch frequency, a relation he consid-
ered of extreme importance. Yet there are examples of pieces that
Sebastian Bach rewrote for other instruments or situations, in which
the key was changed for what often appear to be functional rather
than aesthetic reason^.^" That suggests that Bach did not take the af-
fective properties of keys very seriously. But he did write in E-major a
number of times, as for instance when he arranged a concerto ( B W V
10-53) from an original thought to have been in D into E-major for
harpsichord.4' Why, if it was difficult for all the instruments and
pushed the limits of the tuning system, did he bother with a key like
E-major? Knowing how he worked, there must have been a compel-
ling reason for him to have asked for such trouble. W a s it the affec-
tive or allegorical connotation of the key? That this question is hardly
Germany, I ~ o o - I Cammerton,
~?~: Chorton, Cornet-ton 193
straightforward is indicated by t h e fact that b-minor, called by o n e

expert Bach's "Lieblingstonart" ("favorite key"),42 is described by
Mattheson (1713:z~o)as "bizarre, repugnant, and melancholy; which is
w h y it is seldom seen."
Handel's attitude t o keys in t h e m a n y revisions of his operas was
~avalier:~'
The evidence that any of these [the tendency of a character to gravi-

tate towards certain keys, the framing of a scene or an act with pieces
in the same key, or the association of tonality and affect] were more
than casual practices or, at most, by-products of Handel's extreme
sensitivity to the ranges of his singers is slim. For revivals, key was
his least sacred cow. He would transpose an aria at the drop of a hat,
often crudely adjusting the linking recitative, assuring only that each
act have tonal variety.
Although Mattheson's description of t h e affective qualities of keys is

frequently cited, a complete reading of his text indicates that he never
intended it as a universal prescription. In the conclusion to his discus-
sion of the subject he wrote that people of different temperaments
perceived t h e same tonalities quite differently. A s Buelow (1983:~02)
comments, "In other words, Mattheson's list is at best a table of key
Affections corresponding to his o w n temperament, and he wisely ad-
m i t s that its relevance t o other composers is small if at all valid."
D.G. Tiirk (1~89:~81-82)argued that the frequent transpositions
made necessary by pitch differences showed that specific key charac-
teristics did not exist: "And does not t h e organist play almost always a
M2 o r m3 lower than t h e violinist, etc., in church music? W h y is t h e
organist allowed t o play at all, w h e n by doing so t h e piece receives a
double character?"
Finally, in t h e considered opinion of a later generation, Raphael
Georg Kiesewetter remarked (1820: Sp.354) o n transposing a capella
works that were originally conceived at a different pitch:
There is no need to be concerned that by putting the composition in

another key its particular character will be lost. I t is only in reference
to the accompaniment, or the instruments playing before and after the
movements, and only for their sake, that a choice of key is important
Chapter 5
for an entire work. For a choir by itself, the basic key is chosen with
regard only to the range and tessitura of the vocal parts, and pitch in
and of itself (in the above sense) is an entirely indifferent matter. A
singer has no open or stopped strings, no covered notes produced with
forked fingerings or choked fake fingerings (as on woodwinds), no
fixed temperament that proscribes sharpened thirds or narrowed
fifths, e t ~ . ~ ~
5-zg Sonority
If the special sound of a particular key is a consideration, H u b m a n n

( 1 ~ ~ ~ : 3 8suggests
2) that a special color is also produced by the combi-
nation of two different keys played simultaneously. T h i s effect is lost,
of course, when the piece is reduced to a single key.
Yet in editing earlier works (like, for instance, most volumes of the
Neue Bach Ausgabe), the anachronistic assumption continues nowa-
days that all the instruments (modern or original) will be at the same
pitch-which also means, of course, in the same key. If for a modern
edition a choice must be made for one universal tonality, the editor is
faced with a decision whether to "un-transpose" the music, and in so
doing, change the original sonorities. T h i s is an inappropriate task t o
expect of an editor, and should rather be on the heads of performers
based o n specific performing situations.
Hubmann points out that most distinctions of key are valid within
blocks of instrumental groups, so that (for instance) the strings have a
"darker" sound and the woodwinds a "brighter" one. If the key rela-
tionships had been otherwise, composers might actually have used dif-
ferent instrumentations. Hubmann concludes that "At all events,
maintaining the original key-relation should by definition be assumed
in historically faithful performances." T h a t the use of original keys is
a significant factor in the sound of an ensemble, especially a large one
where the effect is multiplied, is clear. If one of the primary reasons
for playing on original instruments is the sound they produce, using
them in a performance that fails t o reproduce the original key rela-
tionships appears to be a contradiction.
Germany, 1700-1730:Cammerton, Chorton, Cornet-ton
5-3 Reconciling Pitch Levels
By the 1 8 ' ~
century, A-I had become known in Germany as Camrnerton.
W h e n instrumental pitch had descended because of the new French
influences, the organs were left "high and dry" at A+I, now called
Cornet-ton or Chorton. T o play together with the new instruments, es-
pecially the woodwinds, organs had to transpose down a step. Vocal
parts could be notated at either standard. In some cases, it was simpler
(as for Bach at Weimar, who may have been following a custom al-
ready established) to notate the voices with the organ, since the
strings were also still tuned high. As time went on, it became more
common to write voice and string parts at the new low Cammerton, A-
I (as Bach did at Leipzig), leaving only the organ and the brass (the
latter representing a stronghold of tradition) at Chorton/Cornet-ton.
It is clear from the following list of organs, on which both pitch
frequency and pitch name have survived, how the new frequencies
were associated in this period with the old pitch names:
408 Cammerton Hamburg, stop on Jacobikirche, 1721

416 Cammer-Thon Dresden, S ~ ~ h i e n k i r c h1720
e,
437 Chorton Rhaunen, Ev. Kirche, 1723
464 Chor-Thon Rotha, St. Marienkirche, I722
467 Cornet oder Chor-Tono Freyberg, Dom, large organ, 1714
T h e term Chorton, which as we have seen was used ambiguously in

the century, continued to be a vague and general concept in the 1 8 ' ~
century, and there were even instances where it could still mean A-I.
An organ builder's estimate in 1713, for example, proposed lowering
(sic, not raising) the pitch of two old organs in Wiirzburg to Chor-Ton
or, "if you would rather have it made for two pitches, Chor- and Cor-
netthon," it could be done for an additional fee.45 T h e contract for
Frankfurt Cathedral in 1721 also distinguished between Chorton and
Cornet-ton (the latter at A+:): "The organ will be tuned to Chorton, but
provided with a 'transposition slide, so that it can also be played in
cornet-ton."'46
196 Chapter .j
5-ja Kammerkoppel and Kammerregister
T w o expedients for using a Chorton organ in a Cammerton context

were quickly developed. T h e simplest was a "Kammerkoppel," or trans-
posing keyboard, that involved shifting the keyboard to the left, thus
"transposing" the entire organ "down" a M2, m j , or both.47A number
of examples of Kammerkoppel are listed in Haynes 1995:493ff.
T h e other solution, as we have discussed with the Jacobi organ of
1693 in Hamburg, was the use of "Kammerregister," or "Gedackt zur
Music:" specific stops tuned at Cammerton for use with Musick (other
instruments). W h a t may be a description of a Kammerregister appears
in a n organ reconstruction Bach supervised at St. Blasius in Miihl-
hausen in 1708: "Stillgedackt 8 FuQ, so da vollkommen zur Music ac-
~ordieret."~'(Stillgedackt 8 foot which is thus perfectly in tune with
the Musick [i.e., other instruments] ..
.). T h e organ maker Heinrich
Gottfried Trost, who built in Chorton, noted in 1722, "It is also worth
considering having two or three stops, o n whichever keyboard it is de-
sired, tuned t o Cammerton. Such stops would be useful for M ~ s i c k . " ~ ~
But J.C. Wolfram in 1815was impatient with them:
Cammer. When this word stands beside a register, it signifies a stop

tuned a tone lower, in order to obviate the need to transpose. There
are, for example, "Cammerfloten," "Cammergedackte," etc. A most
superfluous affair! Either the entire organ should be in Cammerton, or
no one should be allowed to be an organist who cannot transpose.'"
Since the Riickpositiv was normally used "bey der Music," i.e., for ac-
companying singers and instrumentalists, Kammerregister would nor-
mally be found there, or in the Brustwerk, which would be spatially
close t o a choir and orchestra.
Examples of Kammerregister are listed in Haynes 1995:492ff.
5-3b T h e First Cammerton Organs
According to Praetorius, A-I was not an uncommon pitch for choirs

and organs in 1618 (see 2-3a). But the earliest surviving organ at a low
pitch (410) was not built until 1706; it is by Schnitger and is in the
Eosander Chapel in Charlottenburg." Schnitger had also built the

Kammerregister stop that existed for a few years in the Hamburg Jacobi
organ.
Many musicians preferred the sound of an organ pitched higher
than Cammerton. Even Gottfried Silbermann, famous for his Cammer-
ton organs, seems t o have shared this preference; in a request for extra
payment for the Sophienkirche organ in Dresden (1720), he said it "auf
anderweites Begehren in Cammer-Thon gesetzet" ("was desired by
others than myself t o be tuned t o Cammerton") and therefore had to
consume "ein weit mehreres an Materialen" ("a much greater quantity
of materials")." Silbermann did not apparently change his view, as in
1737 he declined t o build an organ in Friedrichstadt because "I have
understood that ... they want the new organ at Cammerton."
As M.A. Vente wrote, organ pitch is the relation between the fre-
quency produced and which key is depressed o n the keyboard. It
would seem that an organ could not, logically, have a different tone if
built at a different pitch, since the pipes would be identical in scaling:
where the keyboard intervenes in a set of pipes is arbitrary, and at dif-
ferent pitches it would merely activate different pipes for different
note names (a Cammerton organ would have 2-3 lower pipes than a
Chorton one, of course).
But there is a difference, because the same piece (unless trans-
posed) sounds lower and more subdued o n a lower-pitched organ." A
proposal dated 4 December 1748 for building an organ at Franken-
stein'4 included the remark "Cammerton, at a difference of two semi-
tones, sounds graver, more valiant, and sweeter." (Silbermann, by the
way, did eventually build a Cammerton organ here in 1752.) But the or-
gan builder Heinrich S t u m m in I770 agreed with his colleague Mittag
( 1 ~ 5 6 quoted
, in j-jdl) that "Cornet-ton is the only proper and normal
pitch for hymns, and is prized everywhere that a regular instrumental
ensemble is not involved ... an organ tuned to Cornet-ton has more
freshness and liveliness .. ."" As S t u m m suggested, the only reason
for building an organ in Cammerton, aside from the question of sound,
would be to use it with other instruments. T h e original contract for
the D o m at Paderborn (J.P. Moller, 1754) specified that it should be in
Cammerton with some stops in Chorton, but someone later commented
"I must entirely oppose the notion that the organ be tuned to Cammer-
ton, o n the grounds that [this organ] is generally used with the choir
198 Chapter 5
and seldom with ~ u s i c k . " ' T

~ h e assumption here is that a higher
pitch is desirable unless there are reasons to make it lower. Hulphers
wrote (1~~3:319):
I find no other reason for the introduction of Cammerton to the organs

other than commodite for performances of Musick [i.e., concerted mu-
sic] and perhaps for some melodies in the chorale-book that are set too
high, in both cases to avoid transposing. Cammerton may be more com-
mod0 for Musick, but it is not more pleasant than Chorton, because it
can rightly be called brisker if it is one tone higher."
It seems clear that there was a general preference for organs at higher
pitches. But lower-pitched instruments began to appear. From 1711, at
least one keyboard of the new organ at the Schlof3kirche at Darmstadt
built by Vater must have been pitched at Cammerton (see s-9f).58O t h e r
early examples include the organ at the Marienkirche, Halle, probably
at Cammerton from 1712.'~T h e new organ built by Contius in 1716 at
the Liebfrauenkirche in Halle was in Cammerton. Herbst had built a
Cammerton organ at Halberstadt Hohenstiftskirche in July 1 ~ 1 8 . ~ T "h e
organ at the Sophienkirche, finished in 1720, was the first in Dresden
of several large ones in " ~ a m m e r - ~ h o n . "Another
~' city with a n ex-
ceptional number of organs at Cammerton or with Cammerton stops was
Breslau (now Wroclaw in Poland). Adlung (1726:1:204-205) listed
four.6' Eugen Casparini included Cammerton stops in the organ at the
cloister of the Jasna G6ra (Hellen Berg) in Poland built in 1 ~ 2 s .T~h' e
political connections between Poland and Dresden at that time may
have been the reason.
5-jc Frequencies
T h e most explicit pitch evidence we have for Germany in this period

are the organs listed in Appendix I, where both the original frequen-
cies are known and the pitches were given names. T w o were in Cor-
net-ton/Chorton and are at 464 and 467, three were in Chorton and are
at 437,464, and 489, and one was in Cammerton and is at 416.
Germany, 1700-1730: Cammerton, Chorton, Cornet-ton 199
Another important source of information are the surviving traver-

sos of Jacob Denner ( f 7 1 7 0 ~ - ~ 1 7some
~ ~ ) , with multiple corps. T h e y
give the following pitches:
xBerlin (ypiece, ca.1~18) 397

Ditzingen 415
Nuremberg 257 393 417 64
Hiinteler 393 403 413
Brussels 1056 397
Nuremberg 566 415
Because the spacing between the pitches of these corps is quite large,
they probably represent the real distance between pitch standards. It is
tempting t o look o n them as carriers of the precise frequency values of
A-2, A-195, and A-I in the period 1 ~ 0 0 - 1 ~ ~If0 that
. ~ ' is true, those stan-
dards would have had the following values:
Jacob Denner's recorders are very close t o the traverso levels, and fall
into the following limits:
T h e r e are t w o Jacob Denner clarinets at 418 and 420,66
Denner's pitches (shown in Graph p a ) generally agree with t h e 131

other known pitches of surviving German woodwinds from this pe-
riod (see Graph I+):
Pitch Average
A-2 (381-397) 391
A-11/2 (398-409) 403
A-I (410'427) 416
Chapter 7
Almost half of these instruments are at A-I, a quarter are at A-rYz,

about a fifth at A-2, and the rest are at higher pitches (mostly A+I).
It is unclear whether the 13 woodwind pitches from this period at
420 to 427 are simply high examples of A-I (which has a theoretical
range of 410-427), whether they are anomalies not meant to play at any
standard, or whether they represent another pitch standard as yet un-
noticed (they correspond, of course, to the English Q - 2 ) . They were
made by Jacob Denner, Eichentopf, Gahn, Oberlender, David Denner,
and Staub; all these makers except Eichentopf were from Nuremberg.
All told, there are 28 German recorders in this range from all periods
with an average pitch of 423, and there is evidence of this range in
other countries as
5-4 Higher Pitches
5-4a T h e Name Chorton Used as an Equivalent to Cornet-ton
At the time they were in use, the words "Cornet-ton" and "Chorton"
sounded so similar, and the concepts they described coincided so
closely, that it would be surprising if they had not sometimes been
confused. But while Cornet-ton referred to a specific frequency based
on an objective reference, Chorton was a general concept meaning
"church-organ Pitch," and was often comparable to "Chormiissig,"
"suitable for singers." It was thus less specific in frequency than Cor-
net-ton; by the early 1 8 ' century,
~ it was being used to mean A-I, A t o ,
A ~ Iand
, At2.
Phrases like "Cornett- oder Chor-Tono" indicate that the two
terms were sometimes considered identical, or at least overlapping.
Since the pitch frequencies of a dozen original organs at Cornet-ton fall
within a specific range that averages A-462 (see 1-8) and agree with
the principal pitch of original cornetts, we can be fairly sure that when
Chorton was used together with Cornet-ton it indicated A t ] . In his Gu-
tachten iiber die Freiberger Domorgel ( 1 ~ 1 ~ ) , ~for ' instance, J o h a n n

Kuhnau wrote, " T o hear if [the organ] was in proper Cornet- o r Chor-
Tone, some of t h e Stadtpfeiffer came w i t h their Hautbois and trumpets
and played several tunes, and it was found that w h e n t h e organ ac-
companied them, it was perfectly in t u n e w i t h t h e instruments . ."69 .
Since t h e French n a m e "Hautbois" implied a n instrument in Cammer-
ton, and it is k n o w n that t h e organ was at 467, t h e issue here was pre-
sumably whether this "Cornet- oder Chor-Tone" could accommodate
Cammerton by means of transposition. T h e contract for this organ also
specified that it was t o be "ChormaRig gestimmet worden." Silber-
mann's Jacobikirche organ in t h e same city, Freiberg, was also de-
scribed as in "richtigen Cornett- oder Chor-Tono."
T h e organ at St. Maximi, Merseburg, was provided in 1722 w i t h
five "Kammergedackte" for use w h e n playing w i t h other instruments;
t h e remaining registers were all at "Chor- oder C ~ r n e t t o n . " ' ~
T h e trial in 1727 for t h e Silbermann organ at Rochlitz stated:
Last of all, in order not to have forgotten the most important thing
about this organ, namely, if it stood in proper Cornett- or Chor-Thono,
it was compared with the instruments of the municipal musicians and
found to be exactly a t Chorton, or even a little sharp, so that it accom-
panied the instruments without problem."
Finally, J o h a n n Gottfried W a l t h e r , in his Lexicon ( 1 ~ ~ 2 : 1 ~wrote

o ) , of
"Chor- oder Cornet-Tone" as equivalent pitches.72
5-4b A+I (Cornet-ton, O f t e n Chorton)
W h a t e v e r its name, A + I was a significant presence in G e r m a n y in t h e

early 1 8 ' ~century. It was t h e pitch of not only t h e majority of organs
and brass, but not infrequently t h e strings as well. Kuhnau com-
mented o n o n e of his cantatas, "This piece is in Chorton for t h e vio-
lins, voices, and continuo in B b."73 Bach also notated his singers a n d
strings in t h e key of t h e organ at W e i m a r (see 6-2).
In t h e case of strings, this is not surprising. Baroque string instru-
m e n t s had been invented and developed in a context of A + I (see 2-za);
Barcotto wrote in 1652 that "organs that are high work well w i t h lower
202 Chapter 5
voices and violins, which are for this reason more spirited," and
"lower and deeper voices have more troubles with [lower-pitched or-
gans], and they do not work as well with violins as the high organs."
By "high," as we have seen, Barcotto meant mezzo punto, or A+I. Thus,
violins tuned down to A-I or lower were as much a novelty in Ger-
many as the new woodwinds at these pitches. Their sound was un-
doubtedly quite different; Muffat had said that for a lower pitch, vio-
lins used "somewhat thicker strings."
Woodwinds were normally considered Cammerton instruments.
Mattheson ( 1 7 2 1 : ~ jand ~ 436) spoke of the "Frantzosischen Blas-
Instrumenten, als Hautbois, Flutes, Bassons" ("French wind instru-
ments, such as Hautbois, Flutes, Bassons") as examples of instruments
in Cammerton, and in his articles on "Flauto traverso," "FlGte A bec,"
and "Hautbois," Walther (1732) added to each entry "nach Cammer-
T o n g e r e ~ h n e t " '(considered
~ in Cammerton). In Weimar, Bach trans-
posed only the "Oboe" part in his cantatas, keeping all the other parts
in the organ key. In fact, Mattheson (1713:74) even suggested that
"Chorton ... [is] so much more difficult for singers and unsuitable for
Hautbois, Flutes, and other new instruments than the low and comfort-
able Cammer-Thon and Opern-Thon."
There were exceptions, however. Some nine percent of the surviv-
ing woodwinds made in Germany in this period are at A+I, by among
others Schuechbaur, Christoph Denner, Schell, Gahn, and Oberlen-
der. These makers were located in southern Germany; there is similar
evidence from the Habsburg Lands. There is also documentation of
woodwinds in Cornet-ton in southern Germany. A list of instruments
at the court at Stuttgart in 1718 included " 2 hautbois [sic] von Cornet-
thon" as well as three others7' (presumably at another pitch). A n in-
ventory of instruments at Ulm in 1744 lists, among other instruments,
a "Cornet Hautbois;" this name suggests an hautboy at cornet-ton.76
T h e Munich court also purchased a "Cornet Fagot und HoboC" in
1~50.~ At' least one such hautboy, MI 15s in Nuremberg, that appar-
ently plays at A+I, is thought to have originally been used at St. Se-
bald-Kirche in ~ u r e m b e r g ; "many high-pitched woodwinds may thus
have been supplied to churches to be used with organ.
Another use for woodwinds at A+I was for export to the Habsburg
Lands and Italy. Christoph Denner apparently supplied high-pitched
hautboys to Prince Ferdinand0 de' Medici of F l ~ r e n c e . ' Denner
~ re-
ceived an order from the Prince at the very end of his life, in 1707, and
finished building and repairing a set of instruments (probably haut-
boys and bassoons) for Ferdinand0 only three days before his death.
T h e Prince's agent in Nuremberg wrote "Instead of a single treble . ..
the maestro has made m e another in the same pitch as the consort, and
t w o others that are higher.'"
Having begun his career as a maker in the late 1670s~Christoph
Denner was also a cornett maker, and as part of that same order, Fer-
dinando had requested cornetts. As it happened, Denner died before
the cornetts were completed. T h e rest of the story suggests that by the
early 1 8 ' ~century Cornet-ton o n woodwinds had generally gone out of
style. Later when one of Denner's t w o sons (who were also well-
known makers) was asked to take over the order, he explained that the
cornett was by then "in poco uso," and would be difficult "a farli in
quei toni cosi differenti" ("to make it in this so different pitchJ'). T h e
younger Denner eventually succeeded in producing satisfactory in-
struments, but it is clear from his comments that by 1708 this was an
unusual order.
Brass instruments, by contrast, were normally in Cornet-
ton/Chorton (A+I) in this period. Trumpeters thought of their instru-
ments as in C, but in terms of Cammerton they were D instruments.
Mattheson wrote (1713:267) "All trumpets are in Chorton, so that to
make everything work properly a piece written in Cammerton that has
accompanying trumpets must always be set in D, since D in Cammer-
ton is C in ~horton."'' Mattheson equated the terms Chorton and
"Trompeten-Ton" ~n ' 1721:431-37.
T h e average pitch for German organs at A + I in this period (see
Graph 2oc) is exactly 466. As in every other period, A + I was the
dominant level of organs; in 1700 to I730 it accounts for 86 percent of
the known organ pitches.
Bells in churches were often tuned purposely t o the organ." Lin-
nemann ( I ~ J ~ : I I I )described three bells in the Celle Stadtkirche that
had been made in 1664, 1701, and 1723. T h e y sounded the notes A#, Ctt,
and D # at Linnemann's A-435, and were thus probably originally
tuned in Cornet-ton as A, C, and D.
204 Chapter 5
5-4c A + z (Hoch Chorton)
T h e r e were, as w e have noted, m u n d a n e reasons for building organs a t

higher pitches. J.J. Seidel wrote in 1843 (10) "Chorton tuning w a s m o s t
c o m m o n l y employed because t h e costs of such a n organ were less t h a n
o n e tuned t o Cammerton, as t h e latter required longer pipes o n account
of its low pitch, making it necessary t o use more material." T h e r e are
m a n y similar remarks in sources of t h e time."
A m o n g the lo organs where t h e original pitch is k n o w n and w h i c h
were originally identified by t h e general concept of Chorton (see I-8),
pitch is in a range of nearly a whole-tone, f r o m 437 to 487. N o wonder
a writer like Adlung, thinking of t h e pitches of organs, could com-
ment,
Where do we look for the basis of tuning? How, in other words, do we

decide how high to make the C? It is well known that organs are not
all the same, so a musician needs always to carry a number of shanks
in his pocket, besides his trumpet, if he has to play in different
churches. I t is the same for the horn. But how can it be made to work
with flutes, hautboys, clarinets, and the like? Not without reason, one
wishes that organ makers were agreed on this matter, and could have a
common standard by which to arrive at the same level. So far, this has
failed to happen, and Sauveur's proposal has yet to be implemented.84
A n y source that reported a difference of a m j between w h a t appears t o

be normal Cammerton (at A-I) a n d Chorton was probably describing
Chorton at A+2. A n example is t h e chart T e l e m a n n gave in his H a r -
monische Gottesdienst (begun in 1725), showing h o w to transpose t o ei-
t h e r of t w o levels of Chorton. T e l e m a n n wrote in t h e introduction:
The pieces in this liturgical year are conceived at Cammerton, which

means that it is always necessary for organists to transpose the con-
tinuo part in churches where the instruments are tuned at Cammerton.
T o this end, it is easiest to use the following chart, which includes
most of the keys used in the present works.
T h e chart gave t w o different intervals, a M2 and a m3, implying that

these were t h e usual distances t o Chorton f r o m Cammerton.
Mattheson wrote in 1713:74 "Der Chor-Ton ist 9 bis 14 Commata

hoher als der Opern- und Cammer-Thon" ("Chorton is 9 t o 14 commas
[ = a M2 to a m j ] higher than opera-pitch and Cammerton").
H o w many pitches was he describing? H e clarified things some-
what o n page 1713:267 by adding "D in Cammerton is C in ~horton."'' In
this case, Cammerton was a M2 below Chorton. In 1721:431-37,Matthe-
son discussed at length the difference between the tuning of "Chor-
ton/Trompeten-Ton" and the "Kammer-Ton" instruments (meaning, be-
sides the "Waldhorn," hautboys, flutes, and b a s s o ~ n s ) , 'and
~ it is plain
that the interval between Chorton and "Kammer-Ton" was a M2. In
1731:11o, Mattheson again discussed "Kammer-ton" and "Chor-ton" as
pitches separated by a M2.But what were the absolute frequencies?
Mattheson, like Telemann, was writing in Hamburg. W e know
the original pitches of eight Hamburg organs (all dating from 1670-~3):
three were at A + I and five at A+2. In other words, Hamburg used t w o
levels of Chorton. It therefore made sense to describe the distance t o
Cammerton as both a M2 and m j lower.
5-5 A-I as Cammerton o n German Woodwinds
As we saw, A-x was not a common pitch in France and England until
at least 1715. But in Germany (as in Holland), woodwinds at A-I were
made early and often. Both Christoph Denner and Benedikt G a h n ,
w h o died in 1707 and 1711, respectively, left instruments at A-I. Chris-
toph Denner is survived by 11 recorders pitched between 409 and 427 at
an average of 414; G a h n is survived by 10 recorders in the same range
that average 418. And of German woodwinds probably made before
1730, by far the largest number (46 percent) are at A-I (even when
their pitches are corrected downward t o compensate for wood shrink-
age). T h u s considering these makers' working dates, A-I was appar-
ently in common use by the last decade of the 17"' century.
I t may also be this level, A-I (rather than A-1'/2), that was used by
Schnitger on organs at Hamburg Jacobi ( 1 6 ~ 3 )and Charlottenburg
( 1 ~ 0 6 pitched
)~ at 408 and 410, respectively. T h e Kammerregister stop in
the Jacobi organ was provided in order to make the organ playable
with other instruments, presumably tuned at A-I.
206 Chapter 5
T h e reason for the early presence of A-I was probably that German
woodwind players frequently had to play with church organs, so their
instruments had to be usable in a transposition grid with A+I.
5-6 T h e tief-Cammertons (A-I%, A-2)
Adlung in 1758 spoke of two types of Cammerton a semitone apart: "In

this region it is normal to call that pitch hohe Kammerton ["high Cam-
merton"], which is a M2 lower than Chorton; tiefe Kammerton ["low
Cammerton"] is a tone and a half lower than ~horton."'~Walther also,
in discussing Cammerton, mentioned two levels:
Chamber pitch means: when a piece of concerted music is performed

not a t the old Choir or Cornet Pitch, but rather, mainly on account of
the adult sopranos [falsettists], who cannot well sing in the highest
range, and also for the sake of the instruments so that the strings may
hold better, a whole-tone or even a minor third lower.88
Graph 14c shows woodwind pitches concentrated between the low ex-
treme of the A-2 range and the high extreme of A-I, confirming that
this was the pitch area in question.
T h e sound and character of instruments at A-1% and especially A-
2 was richer, darker, and more intimate than those at A-I, but their
sound did not carry as well, nor were they as agile and bright as in-
struments at A-I. I n 1698, Muffat stated his preference for a higher
Cammerton, which according t o him lacked "nothing in liveliness
along with its s ~ e e t n e s s . " ' These
~ words put in a nutshell the oppos-
ing advantages of the higher and lower Cammerton levels.
Names for pitches lower than A-I included "tief-Cammerton," "fran-
zasischer Thon," and "Operathon." Operathon corresponds t o the French
pitch at A-2, Ton d'Ophra. Christoph Denner was commissioned by
the N u r e m b e q town council t o make t w o "frantzesische Fletten" or
"Opera-FIBten" in 1694.~"Operathon was used early in the 1 8 ' ~century
by the organ maker Andreas Silbermann to describe an organ at A-2,
and his son Johann Andreas later described his organ at Soultz, also at
A-2, as in "Opera oder franzosischer Thon," apparently (like Denner)

equating the t w o names.
Just as it is sometimes not feasible t o distinguish references t o A-2
from references t o A-19'2 because they were so close together, it is also
impossible t o discern a distinction between the terms "tief-
Cammerton," "Operathon," and "franzosischer Thon." "Tief-Cammerton,"
taken literally, has the most general meaning, presumably referring t o
any pitch lower than Cammerton at A-I.
A-2 was useful for the same reason as A-I; it could be plugged into the
transposition grid based o n Cornet-ton. Being at a distance of a m3, its
intervals (like those of a M2) were compatible in the meantone com-
monly in use, so that playing A + I and A-2 simultaneously was un-
problematic.
T h e r e are many references t o a pitch a semitone below A-I, which,
if taken literally, apparently describe A-2. Kuhnau (1722), for instance,
placed t w o Cammerton levels a semitone apart: "Almost from the mo-
ment I began took over the direction of church m u ~ i c , I~ eliminated
'
the use of Cornet-ton and introduced Cammerton, which is a second o r
minor third lower, depending o n which is most c o n ~ e n i e n t . " ~ ~
Walther in 1732:130 (quoted in 5-6) wrote of Cammerton as "a whole-
tone o r even a minor third lower [than] Chor- o r Cornet-ton."
Reports involving keyboards that describe a pitch lower than A-I
must necessarily indicate A-2, because t h e distance between notes is in
integral semitones. Adlung, describing harpsichords, wrote (1758:s70):
"Usually they are tuned t o tief-Cammerton, for the sake of f l ~ t e s ; but
~'
by shifting the keyboard they can be instantly raised a half tone and
even a whole-tone. ... Transposition from tief-Cammerton t o the
higher ones is even easier than o n the clavichord." Adlung described
an organ in 1726:260 with "TWOKammerkoppel, one for "Gross-
Cammerton," the other "Klein-Cammerton," throughout the entire in-
strument."
Another indication of the existence of a lower Cammerton in Ger-
many are the individual parts t o church music, which were normally
notated in the key of the instrument; in this way, they explicitly re-
208 Chapter 5
flected the pitch differences among the instruments. Sections ~ - and

~ h
6-2 through 6-4 discuss music of this kind, notated in Chorton and
Cammerton simultaneously. T h e most frequent transposition was a
M2, the higher notation going to the Cammerton instruments, since
they were pitched lower. But transpositions of a m3 were also com-
m ~ n . ~ ~
Transposition would not have been possible with the other French
pitch, T o n d e la chambre d u Roy at A - I Y ~because
, it could not be fitted
into the transposition grid based on Cornet-ton at A+I. T o n de la cham-
bre du Roy was thus not a Pitch that could have been used in a church
context, but only in instrumental music (such as "chamber" music at
courts). There seems t o be little or n o documentation of it in written
sources, and yet we know it existed; 403 is the average frequency of a
major share of German woodwinds of this period (some 25 percent;
see Graph 14c). T w o Nuremberg traversos have corps that include A-
1Y2: the Hiinteler Denner traverso has corps at 393, 403, and 413, and a n
Oberlender at Vermillion has corps at 400, 410, and 415.
g-6c W h e n tief-Cammerton Ceased to Be Used
T h e known examples of Cammerton notated a m3 higher than Chorton

appear fairly early in the century: Weimar until 1716, Halle until 1712,
Hirschberg in 1723, Zerbst in ca.1722, Grimma in 1714, Darmstadt in
1709-11, Frankfurt in 1712'21, and Leipzig until 1 7 2 4 . ~Kuhnau's
~ wood-
wind notation and Bach's use of "tief-Cammerthon" in his first year
and a half at Leipzig-and his apparent abandonment of it after
that96-give some indication of the date when the higher of the t w o
general Cammerton levels became predominant. Indications for tief-
Cammerton in wind parts disappear by the mid-1720s. A-2 remained in
use in other German musical contexts, however, as we will see in 7-sd.
Germany, 1700-1730: Cammerton, Chorton, Cornet-ton
5-7 Organs at A+o
It was in this generation, 1700-1730, that organs began t o be made at

A+o, and that the term Chorton began occasionally t o be applied t o this
level. J.M. S t u m m plainly distinguished Chorton and Cornet-ton.97
Stumm's organ at Trarbach was tuned in "Cornetton und nicht Chor-
ton." His organ at Rhaunen (1723) was in "Chorton," as opposed to
"Cornet-Ton" a semitone higher, and was pitched at 437.98
5-8 T h e Silbermanns
For several reasons, the works of the Silbermann family in Alsace and
Saxony are of special interest in a study of pitch. T h e family produced
three famous organ builders. Andreas (who trained his brother
Gottfried and his son Johann Andreas) had learned from Eugen Cas-
parini in the east and Franqois Thierry in the west, thereby absorbing
traditions of organ making from Italy, Germany, and France.
Gottfried began working in France and went o n t o become famous in
Saxony. Johann Andreas had a long and successful career in and
around Alsace, and left five volumes of notes on organs made by him-
self and others, known as the "Silbermann Archive;" these volumes
contain extensive information o n pitches.99 T h e original pitches of at
least 61 Silbermann organs have survived o r can be deduced. O f those
o n which direct evidence of pitch is available, eight are identified by
pitch name. T h i s information, together with other indirect evidence t o
be discussed below, is of great value in linking pitch frequencies to
standards, especially as it is entirely consistent.
Andreas Silbermann (1678-1734) was employed at Gorlitz in 1697 t o
work o n the new organ by Eugen Casparini.'OO Casparini had long
worked in Venice, Padua, and later Vienna. A number of Andreas' in-
struments were built at high pitches probably similar to C a s p a r i n i ' ~ : ' ~ '
Strasbourg, St. Margarethen, I703 [*466*]102

Strasbourg, St. Niklaus, 1707 [*466+]'03
Strasbourg, St. Pierre-le-Vieux, 1709 [*466*]104
Oberehnheim, 1713 'Or
Chapter 5
Strasbourg, St. Aurelien, 1718 [*466+]106

Basel, St. Leonhard, 1718 lo'
Andreas built the first three of these organs together with his brother
Gottfried. T h e pitches of all of them were described as either:
"1V2 thon hoher als der franzosische thon,"

"Cornet Thon," or
"~horton."~~~
Andreas Silbermann's organs built after his years studying with Fran-
~ o i sThierry from 1704 to 1706 (see 4-2) "show a strong influence of
the contemporary Parisian Eight of them are at A-2:
Marmoutier, 1710
Strasbourg, Cathedral, 1714-1716
Strasbourg, Chiteau des Rohan, 1719
Ottrott, 1721
Bischwiller, 1729
Altorf, St. Cyriaque, 1730
Ebersmunster, 1732
Rosheim, 1733
A direct connection exists between the Alsatian Silbermanns and

northern Germany (whence the family had originally come).
Gottfried Silbermann (1683-1753)~brother of Andreas and the most
famous of the three builders, later returned to Saxony."" T h e pitches
of many of his organs have survived, and a number of them were also
identified by name:
Freyberg, Dom"' 1714

Pfaffroda 1715
Niederschona 1716
Freyberg, St. Jacobi"' 17x7
GroBkmehlen 1718
Freyberg, Dom, form. Johanniskirche 1719
Dresden, Sophienkirche"' I720
~ 6 t h ;St.
~ Georg 1721
Germany, 1700-1730:Cammerton, Chorton, Cornet-ton
Bad Lausick
Rotha, St. Marienkirche'I4
Dittersbach
Forchheim
Oederan
Lebusa
Helbigsdorf
Lichtensee
Glauchau
Reinhardtsgrimma
Mylau
Dresden, Frauenkirche"':
Ponitz
GroRhartmannsdorf
Fraureuth
Zoblitz
Burgk bei Schleiz
Nassau
Ringethal
Frankenstein
Dresden, ~ o f k i r c h e " ~
At least five of Gottfried Silbermann's instruments were at A-I; of

these, three were identified as in Cammerton."'
O f his 24 instruments at A + I , one is reported as at "Cornet oder
Chor-Tono" and "ChormaRig," another at "Cornett- oder Chor-
Tono," and a third as at "Chor-Thon." For Gottfried Silbermann's or-
gans, no pitches other than A t 1 and A-I have survived.
T h e important information given by Andreas Silbermann's son
Johann Andreas will be discussed in the introduction to Section 7-5.
Chapter I.
5-51 Specific Places
5-ga Dresden
T h e Dresden court music seems to have been divided into two pitch
spheres: the French musicians, probably playing at A-2, and the "Ital-
ian" camp (that was to prevail in the early 173os), playing at A-I.
T h e French element was older. A troop of French actors, dancers,
and musicians was in residence at the court from 1709, and nine of the
court's woodwind players were ~renchmen."' T h e orchestra was led
by Jean-Baptiste Woulmyer (Volumier, who was educated and grew
up in Versailles), and Pierre-Gabriel Buffardin was the principal
traverso. Although he did not play in the orchestra, Franqois La Riche
taught the hautboy to some of its players.
Quantz probably started his service at Dresden with a flute at A-2,
as he was studying with Buffardin. This was Quantz's pitch of prefer-
ence for woodwinds (his surviving traversos are at a somewhat low A-
2 ' I 9 ) . Yet later, looking back on his years of service at Dresden, he
wrote, "I do not wish to argue for the French chamber pitch which is
very low, although it is the most favorable for the traverso, the haut-
.
boy, [the bassoon,] and certain other instruments. .""O O n e wonders
what scruple prevented him from advocating the pitch he obviously
for his own instrument. His reason for proposing "A-
Cammerton" (A-I) was that both string and wind instruments could
"produce the desired effect." H e may have been implying that strings
worked better at the Venetian itch that he described as "very high."
In any case, A-I was presented as a compromise, "neither too high nor
too low," and the mean between extremes. It seems this was also the
general opinion of the Dresden court in the years after Heinichen's
appointment as Capellmeister in 1717 and the court festivities of 1719.
Already in 1720, the Sophienkirche organ was built by Gottfried Sil-
bermann in "Cammer-Thon" (4~6).It was the first of several large
Dresden organs at that pitch.
T h e city was in fact well-known for its Cammerton organs at A-I.
In 1726, Adlung wrote that "[such organs] exist now not only in
Dresden, but more and more in other places.""' GreR (1989:109) sug-
gests that the influence of the court musicians could be the explana-
Germany, 1700-1730:
Cammerton, Chorton, Cornet-ton 213
tion for the low organs. Wolf's "Dresdner Handschrift" (1738) tells us
that J.H. Grabner had already built a positiv in Cammerton in 1716 for
t h e Kreuzschule in the Kreuzkirche."' Sebastian Bach played his fa-
mous organ recitals in Dresden o n the Cammerton Silbermanns; his re-
cital in 1725 for the musicians of the Dresden orchestra was o n the or-
gan at the Sophienkirche; he played there again in 1747. H e also played
the dedication of the great Cammerton organ at 414 built by Silbermann
in 1736 at the F r a ~ e n k i r c h e . ' ~Quantz,
' who wrote that "some of the
newest and most famous organs of the present time" were at Cammer-
ton, saw the inauguration of the Cammerton organs at the Sophien-
kirche and Frauenkirche, organs with which he may have regularly
played.
O t h e r organs were built at Cammerton at Dresden:
t h e Fritzsche at the Schloakirche was lowered t o Cammerton

(and moved t o Friedrichstadt bei Dresden) by Hahnel in
1737;'~~
the Silbermann/Hildebrandt at the Catholische Hofkirche,
1754;
Hildebrandt's at Dresden-Neustadt, 1757;
the positiv in the Catholic chapel "am Taxhenberg," moved
to Dresden-Neustadt in 1751 and missing since 1813;'''
and the one at St. Anna built by Kayser Sr. in 1 ~ 8 2 . " ~
A large organ at Cammerton was planned in the 1750s for the Kreuz-
kirche,"' but the church was destroyed by the Prussians in 1760 before
the organ could be built.
W h e n the court musicians w h o accompanied the C r o w n Prince o n
his Grand T o u r returned in 1716, they probably brought back instru-
ments. It is quite conceivable that Christian Richter, who became
principal hautboy in the G r o a e Capell- und Cammer-Musique, came
home from the extended stay in Venice with woodwinds made by
Anciuti. Many of Anciuti's surviving instruments are at A-I, which
would have matched the level of Dresden's ~ a m m e r t o n . " ~
From about 1720, court musicians regularly performed for services
in the Hofkirche (Catholic court These were accompanied
also by organ, and the building that served this chapel from 1707/08
until 1751contained at least one small organ built by Grabner in 1709.
214 Chapter 5
A mass by Zelenka ( Z W V j) written ca.1719for the Hoflrirche has an

organ part transposed down a step, suggesting that the organ involved
was at A+I. There is a record that in I722 Zelenka had the organ at the
chapel tuned to Cammerton; his later works for the Hofkirche do not
have transposed organ parts,''' suggesting that the organ was indeed at
Cammerton.
Some of Heinichen's cantatas preserved at Dresden have parts in
differing keys."' These pieces were not necessarily written for per-
formance in Dresden, however. Gelobet sei der Herr (E-509) is in F for
all parts except the Organo/Violone, which is in E b . Lobe den Herrn,
meine Seele (E-506) is in B b except two "Hautbois" and a "Basono" in
C. Another cantata, Gelobet sei der Herr (1707 and 1724; Eq04) is in F
with two "Hautbois" and "Bassoun" in G. Here the difference be-
tween the woodwinds and the organ was a M2, with the strings tuning
either up or down depending on the key.
Heinichen's Herr, nun liissest du deiner Diener (E-soo), written for
Grimma and performed in 1714, 1720, 1723, and 1729, is more compli-
cated. It is in A, but Heinichen provided parts for two "Hautbois,"
"Bassone," and a "Continuo transpos." in C. These instruments, no-
tated at a distance of a m3, were probably at tief-Cammerton, since a
"Fagotto" part in A (the Chorton key) also survives ("Fagotton nor-
mally designated a dulcian at Chorton).13' Here, evidently, two bas-
soon-type instruments were used in the same piece, one in "French"
and the other in "German" pitch.
5-9b Leipzig
Next to Dresden, Leipzig was the largest city in Saxony, and it used
the Dresden foot. It was therefore logical that pitch levels between the
two cities were related. T h e Leiprig Opera, for instance, was origi-
nally established in 1693 as a possible training school for musicians
who could subsequently be employed by the Dresden court."'
Kuhnau's description of the tonalities of the various parts to one of
his cantatas, quoted at the beginning of this chapter, had the violins,
voices, and continuo in Bb at Chorton, the trumpets written in Ch to
be crooked down a tone to Bb, and the woodwinds in Cammerton
transposed up a step. Kuhnau was here describing a Chorton at Leipzig
a whole-step above Cammerton. A s quoted in 5-6a, he wrote that h e had

begun notating his church music in Cammerton rather t h a n Cornet-ton,
and h e described Cammerton as a M2 o r m j lower t h a n Cornet-ton, "de-
pending o n which is most ~ o n v e n i e n t . " "I~n comparing Cammerton t o
Cornet-Ton instead of Chorton, Kuhnau was apparently using t h e terms
Chorton and Cornet-ton interchangeably (Kuhnau had equated t h e t w o
pitches in his Gutachten iiber die Freiberger Domorgel, 1714, quoted in 5-
4a). Cornet-ton is of course a whole-step above Cammerton in t h e or-
gans listed in Appendix I.
T h u s in 1722 Kuhnau provided a specific pitch reference for t h e
Leipzig organs. Cornet-ton, as w e have determined, was consistently
A+I. T h e small organ a t the Thomaskirche had been rebuilt by C o m -
penius in 1630 (Compenius had built t h e famous Frederiksboq organ
a t A-470). W e k n o w that t h e organs at t h e T h o m a s - and Nicolai-
kirchen o n which Kuhnau (and later Bach) alternated Sunday per-
formances were both pitched at t h e same level;'" in 1741J.A. Silber-
m a n n confirmed that the pitch of the Nicolai organ was "Cornetthon,
wie ~ r f u r t . " ' ~ ~
O r g a n pitch at Leipzig was interconnected to other musical activi-
ties in t h e city through the Stadtpfeiffr and Kunstgeiger. T h e s e mu-
nicipal musicians made u p the core of Kuhnau's and Bach's instru-
mental forces for performances at t h e T h o m a s - and Nicolaikirchen.
By ancient and jealously guarded right, they also provided most other
forms of professional music in t h e city, including t h e Opera and t h e
Collegia musics.'"
It is clear that Kuhnau used t w o levels of Cammerton, choosing the
tonality that was most practical for different key combinations. Like
Kuhnau, Bach used tief-Cammerton several times w h e n h e first arrived
in Leipzig (see 6-4). It is quite possible that tief-Cammerton (since it
was sometimes called Operathon) was also used at the Opera in Leip-
zig.
Leipzig is survived by only a few woodwinds, which represent A-2
(average j9r), A-19'2 (405), and A-I ( 4 1 ~ ) .
Chapter 5
5-gc Berlin
T h e only known woodwind maker working at Berlin at this time

( ~ 1 ~ until
0 0 1737) was Johann Heitz, who is survived by a number of
recorders and one t r a v e r ~ o . " ~
T h e pitches of eight Heitr recorders
range from 397 to 405 and average 401, = A - I ' / ~ . " ~
This low "French" pitch is not surprising, given the large Hugue-
not population in Berlin, the French orientation of the court, and the
history of French wind players at court going back to the early 1680s.'~"
Sachs noted, in fact, that the court had ordered recorders from Paris in
1700.'~'Heitz added a fleur-de-lys to some of his instruments, suggest-
ing a connection with France;I4' he also supplied the Munich court in
1719/21 with recorders made by the Naust workshop in Paris.I4'
5-9d Hamburg
As noted in 5-zc, Hamburg had organs at both A + I and A+2, low and
high Chorton.
Mattheson (1713:7~)spoke of "Cammer- Chor- oder Opern-Thon."
H e himself was closely connected to the Hamburg Opera for many
years, where the pitch might well have been A-2. Arias from Octavia
(1705) and L'Inganno Fedele (171~)by Keiser lie quite high for the voice,
suggesting a low
Mendel (1955:~75)suggested comparing the vocal compasses of op-
eras written by Handel for Hamburg and later performed in Venice.
Handel's only Hamburg opera that survives is Afmira (1704); the score
is in Mattheson's hand, so it is probably the Hamburg version. Ac-
cording to Alan Curtis*, some arias were reused at Florence and pos-
sibly at Venice. Another comparison suggested by Curtis is possible
key changes in Rodrigo and Agrippina, written originally for Florence
and Venice, but later used at London.
5-ge Nuremberg
As Graph 2 suggests, most of the woodwinds produced in Germany

before 1770 came from Nuremberg. Because of its reputation as the
most important German center of woodwind and brass instruments, it

can be assumed that many orders came from a d i ~ t a n c e ,and
' ~ ~ that the
pitch levels of Nuremberg instruments influenced (and perhaps re-
flected) practices elsewhere as well.
All the woodwind makers from Nuremberg are survived by some
instruments below 400 (Graph j), especially Schell and Oberlender.
Most of the instruments at A-1% are by Christoph Denner and Schell
(the two earliest Nuremberg makers of French-type woodwinds). A-I
is the predominant pitch of most of these makers, however, particu-
larly of Oberlender and Jacob Denner. A few instruments are in the
low A t o range, the highest being by David Denner (these were proba-
bly made after 1730). Recorders at A + I survive by Christoph Denner
(exclusively basses), Gahn, and Oberlender (exclusively altos). High-
pitched woodwinds may have been one of the specialties of these
makers. Denner is also survived by "short" bassoons, and there are
unusually short hautboys by both Denner and ~ a h n ; all ' ~these
~ in-
struments were probably intended to play at Cornet-ton ( A ~ I ) .
T h e recorders at 489 are exceptional, being 10 Hz higher than any
other woodwinds of the period presently known. They are marked
only "S" and it has been suggested they are by Schell, but this is not
certain.
5-gf Darmstadt
W h e n Christoph Graupner first arrived at Darmstadt in 1709, the or-

gan at the Schlol3kirche was apparently ~ n u s a b l e ; ' ~a ' new organ was
built by Vater but was not finished until 1711. During the interim pe-
riod, Friedrich Noack (1916:jx) wrote, "the continuo parts of the early
cantatas, especially those from the cycle of 1709, are nearly always
transposed a tone." In other words, Graupner would have notated all
the parts in Cammerton except the continuo. Koch (1980:6~ff) reports
that (Cammerton) woodwinds are notated a Mz higher than (Cornet-
ton) trombones in Cantatas 1712/34 and 1713/4.
In cantatas written during this period preserved at the Darmstadt
library, woodwind parts (recorder, hautboy, bassoon) differed from
continuo parts not only by a M1 but also a m3.148This suggests the
presence of woodwinds at two levels of Cammerton. Graupner wrote a
218 Chapter 5
number of operas in his first decade at Darmstadt which might have

been at a low Cammerton. Some cantatas used both transpositions, but
may have involved later performances not limited to the
Schl~gkirche.'~~
From the time the new organ was finished in 17x1, the continuo
parts show no further transposition^.'^^ Since earlier works did involve
transposition, at least some stops on the new organ must have been
pitched at Cammerton.
5-gg Frankfurt am Main
Schlichte (1979) lists the astounding number of some 700 (sic) cantatas
by Telemann preserved at Frankfurt. Telemann's cantatas were per-
formed at the Barfiisserkirche and the Catharinekir~he.'~' Telemann
was at Frankfurt from I712 to 1721, but after he left he continued to
send cantatas there."' Many of these pieces had multiple performances
at various times; none was performed before 1716, but some were per-
formed as late as the 1750s. They may thus have had checkered per-
forming histories involving different pitches.
There is indirect evidence of pitch levels at Frankfurt. A t the
nearby court of Darmstadt, the woodwind virtuoso Johann Michael
Bohm had the title of Concert-master from 1711 and sometimes played
for Telemann at Frankfurtl'j (using, one assumes, the same instru-
ments as at Darmstadt and therefore playing at the same pitch). W e
have seen that the relation between Cammerton and Chorton at Darm-
stadt apparently varied from a Mz to a mj, suggesting the existence of
two Cammertons.
I n a letter to his former employer, Count Ernst Ludwig of Hesse
(30 May Bohm included information on the instruments he
owned, and they were probably pitched at A-I%, French Ton de Cham-
bre. They included a traverso probably by the Berlin maker Johann
Heitz, whose recorders range from 397 to 405 and average 401.'~'Bohm
also played English recorders, which, as we have seen, average 406 in
this ~ e r i o d These
. numbers suggest that the frequency level of one of
the Cammwtons at Darmstadt and Frankfurt was A - I V ~ .
T h e original contract for the Frankfurt Cathedral (St. Bar-
t h o l o m ~ u s )organ, drawn up in 1721, specified that the instrument
Germany, 1700-1730: Cammerton, Chol-ton, Cornet-ton 219
would be in "Chorton" but provided with a "shifting keyboard o r

Transposition ... so it can also at the same time be used at Cornet-
t ~ n . " l ' ~ ~ hthis
a t "Chorton" was is difficult t o guess. Charles Burney,
w h o played the organ in 1772, wrote of it, "There has been a contriv-
ance in this organ for transposing half a note, a whole note, o r a flat
third, higher; but it is now useless .. ."I5'
5-gh O t h e r Cases
T w o cantatas written by Vincent Liibeck for the city of Stade were

notated with a difference of a m3, and we know that the Chorton
Liibeck used was at ~ + 2 . " ' There are no other known pieces at a dif-
ference of a M2, so Cammerton was presumably the higher type at A-I,
a m j below A t 2.
Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow's cantatas written for Halle between
1684 and I712 were also usually notated with the difference of a m3.'"
But at the very end of his life, contrary t o his normal practice, Zachow
wrote a cantata in which all the parts were notated in t h e same key.'60
A n organ in Cammerton was apparently available at Halle starting in
1712; there may be a connection with the new Cammerton organ Con-
tius was building at the Liebfrauenkirche at this time.16'
Six of the pieces in Tobias Volckmar's cantata collection called
G o t t gef2illige Music-Freude (Hirschberg, 1723), written for Breslau, have
hautboy parts that vary between a M2 and m j above the other parts.
I n every case, just as with Kuhnau (see 5-zd), the keys for the Cammer-
ton hautboy are chosen for their appropriateness; sometimes a M2,
sometimes a m j , "depending o n which is most convenient." T h e to-
nalities are as follows:
Number Hautboy key Key of other parts

IV C A
VII C Bb
IX a g
XI c a
XI1 F D
220 Chapter 5
A s can be seen, a distance of a M2 is n o t always practical: I V could

n o t be in B, XI in b-minor, n o r XI1 in E, as these are n o t practical
keys for t h e hautboy. I n these cases, presumably, a n hautboy a semi-
tone lower would have been available, so that t h e parts could be in C,
c-minor, and F, respectively. O t h e r solo wind parts in this collection
are transposed.'62 Volckmar wrote in his introduction: " T h e instru-
m e n t a l [parts] transposed t o Cammerton demonstrate that [this music]
is written in o u r normal and preferred Silesian Chorton; amateurs of
Cammerton, however, can easily adjust their parts b y changing t h e
clef." By calling the Cammerton parts "transposed," Volckmar indi-
cated that he considered t h e other parts (in Chorton) t o be in t h e "real"
key of t h e piece.
T h e best-known piece for organ and hautboy is the Fantasia a 4, F b
in g b y J o h a n n Ludwig Krebs, generally k n o w n now in f-minor. T h e
organ part is indeed in f-minor, but t h e hautboy part (as t h e title indi-
cates) was originally i n g-minor. T h i s Fantasia is published i n t h r e e
m o d e r n editions, t w o in f-minor and o n e in g. N o n e of t h e m accu-
rately reproduces the original situation, of course, as they all involve
transposing o n e o r the other part. Fourteen works by Krebs for haut-
boy and organ survive, written for Zwickau and Zeitz, all at t h e inter-
val of a M2.
J o h a n n Friedrich Fasch's Concerto in G (K.44, F W V L:Grr), writ-
ten at Zerbst, includes t w o "Hautbois d e silve" notated in E b. If these
had been F-instruments, they would have been notated a gth higher
t h a n t h e "concert" key of G, t h u s in D. Since they are i n E b , t h e y
m u s t have been pitched a semitone lower t h a n t h e other instruments.
Notes
1. (D-B 12260/2). Cited in Mendel 1978:13 and Prinz 1981:115.

2. The transcription of this piece in Rimbach 1966:II:1:81 confirms Kuhnau's
description.
j. Cf. the standard Stadtpfeifer regulations, requiring competence on many
kinds of instruments. This subject is discussed in Haynes 2001:166-68.
Germany, 1700-1730:Cammerton, Chorton, Coi-net-ton 221
4. Praetorius (1618:15) mentioned that unskilled players sometimes had diffi-

culty with transposition.
5. Cowdery 1989:29, 281 (Cowdery also cites Brainard 1 ~ 8 ~ ) .
6. Spitta 187j:II:807. Cf. Diirr 1955:36n26.
7. Original text quoted in 5-3.
8. Agricola 1757:45 and 46 bottom.
9. Harris 1989:1oo, 103-5; Fallows, Jander, and Harris 2001:~3:430-3~.
10. Mattheson 1717:83.
11. T h i s is the case in at least three of his existing cantatas: Erschrick, mein
Herz, Ich hebe meine Augen auf, and Und ob die Feinde. Cf. Spitta 1884:II:677.
12. Adlung 1758:327. Trans. Mendel 1955:346.
13. Adlung 1758:226.
14. KV364 (320d) and KV Anh.104 (32oe) respectively. See C.-H. Mahling,
Vorwort to NMA V:14,ii, p.xii. Anner Bijlsma* says there are other pieces by
Mozart with the viola tuned higher (presumably indicated by a lower nota-
tion of the part).
15. Original text quoted in 5-3. Heyde 1985:79 indicates that most of the vio-
lins played at Weimar in Bach's time (where the strings played at A + I ) were
of the type made at Cremona and by Stainer. By contrast the strings at Leip-
zig (where the strings played at A-I) were made by local makers, notably Jo-
hann Christian Hoffmann.
16. See 8-6a.
17. Cf. Mendel 1955:340.
18. See, for instance, Samber 1704:174, Gasparini 1708 (cited in Chafe 1991:75),
Kellner 1732:53, Telemann 1725 Introduction, Powers 1980:1z:414-15,Mendel
1978:53, Mattheson 1740:114,Mittag 17567, Adlung 1758:654, and Halle 1763:366.
At Leipzig, where Bach used Cammerton as his general standard, the organ
part was copied down a step.
19. Original text quoted in 5-ja.
20. Corps de rechange on traversos made a change of as much as a semitone
possible, but only as an emergency solution, since their normal purpose was
to accommodate smaller variations.
21. Cf. the statement by Mattheson (1721:434) in I-3d.
22. Quantz added a second key to the traverso to distinguish d # from ~ e b but
~
his idea did not catch hold.
23. Cf. Haynes ~ o o I : ~ o ~ - 1o 0n "false trills."
24. See 5-6a.
25. Walther 1732 in at least two places referred to "Chor- oder Cornet-Tone"
and "dem alten Chor- oder Cornet-Tone" as synonymous. Presumably then,
his use of 4 c C ~ ~ ~here - refers
T ~ to ~ a" level at A+I.
26. Walther 17jz:162-63under the term "Chromatico."
27. Mendel 1955:343 citing Spitta II:771f. Transcribed in Rimbach 1966 in ra-
tionalized keys. A difference of a m3 could have to do with Hautbois d'amour
(whose presence in Leipzig is documented from before Bach's arrival there),
222 Chapter 5
except that the factor of pitch makes the actual distance between these in-
struments and the continuo a fourth.
28. Rimbach I:r73. Here again, the difference of a m3 does not, presumably,
indicate Hautbois d'amour, as Rimbach assumed. The only question here is
why the violins and the organ are in the same key, since Kuhnau reported
adopting Cammerton (also for the strings?) when he became Cantor. (Nicht
Nur allein is dated 1718; the violin/hautboy part to Ende gut und alles gut [also
1 ~ 1 8is
1 in the same key as the continuo; and Spitta II:677 reports three other
Kuhnau cantatas with string parts in Chorton, at least one of which, Erschrick
mein Hertz, is considered "later" [Rimbach I:lo7].) Bach at Weimar in the
same period was notating strings at Chorton, although when he got to Leipzig
he always notated them at Cammerton.
29. This part has a range extending from about ao to f3 (i.e., too big for any
contemporary wind instrument); but all notes below fi are doubled and on
weak parts of the beat, indicating that the part is practical on a normal F-
treble recorder.
30. Rimbach I:205ff; she transposes the continuo to A. There are also parts for
2 Corni in C. Cf. also Spitta II:677.
31. D-B 12260/2. See Rimbach 1966:1:81. Although no original material now
survives, the cantata Ich habe Lust abzuscheiden (1717-31),preserved in an edi-
tion by Max Seiffert, indicates a probable transposition of a M2, since it is
published in the uncommon key of f-minor; hautboys and violins were thus
probably notated in g.
32. Cf. Mendel 1978:~)and Mendel 19$$:343-4$.See also Price 1988:97 quoted in
5-2f on similar cases in Handel's hautboy parts.
33. Cf. Cowdery 1989:jo.
34. For a good historical survey of keyboard temperaments, see Lindley 1987.
For discussions of non-keyboard tuning, see Barbieri 1991aand Haynes 1991.
.
35 Telemann 1743/44:~16.
36. There is a slight difference in pitch: for the interval of a Mz, the differ-
ence is 4 cents, and for a m3 about 5.5 cents. Keyboards would of course still
have had to be tuned to the appropriate accidentals.
37. Mattheson 1713:231;Quantz 1752:Ch.14/56. Quantz's vehemence in discuss-
ing the subject suggests there were disagreements.
38. See o-lc. In the index to his book, "Cammer-Tohn" is referred to the same
page as "Tohn" (pitch); "Chor-Tohn," however, is on a different page.
39. Herr, nun lassest du deiner Diener (see 53).
40. A n appropriate example is the hautboy Aria B W V 102/3, once in f- and
once, in 233/4, in c-minor. The violin concertos, B W V 1041-43 and 1049, are
transposed down a step in Bach's arrangements for harpsichord ( B W V 1058,
1054, 1062, 1057) because of the harpsichord's range (see Siegele 1~~5:118-21).
41. Although this is a strong theory, it is not proven (see Haynes ~ggzd).
42. Diirr 1977:80.
43. Price 1988:97.
44. This text appeared also in Kiesewetter 1827:1~2-53.
G e r m a n y , 1700-1730: Cammerton, Chorton, Cornet-ton 223
45. " W a n n Sie aber U f Zweyerley als C h o r , und C o r n e t t h o n zu richten,"

quoted in M e n d e l 1978:15. Wiirzburg w a s a Catholic area, which m a y explain
this terminology (cf. 3-6).
46. A n o n . (n.d.):245.
47. Adlung describes both low-pitch stops and transposing keyboards in
1758:386-87 and 1726393-94. See Ripin 1980:19:1zo,also G e r n h a r d t 1985.
48. N e u m a n n and Schulze 1963:I:qz-53.
49. Friedrich 1989:48 citing Trost's contract for Waltershausen.
50. W o l f r a m 1815:171.
51. Fock ( I ~ ~ ~ : said ~ o Ithis
) organ w a s "fast einen G a n z t o n unter heutiger
N o r m a l s t i m m u n g , " but a reissue o f a prewar Telefunken recording of t h e in-
s t r u m e n t ~ l a y e dby Fritz H e i t m a n n p u t s it a t A-410.
52. Miiller 198x344.
53. I a m grateful t o Cecil A d k i n s and Herbert W. M y e r s for discussions clari-
fying these distinctions.
54. Q u o t e d in GreR 1989:109.
55. Bosken 1967499; original text quoted in 7-lib.
56. W u l f h o r s t 1967:41,56.
57. I a m grateful t o Anders H e m s t r o m for help in translating this passage.
58. V a t e r is k n o w n t o have built at least one organ "auf Cammerton gestim-
met" (Klosterkirche, Marienrode, 1 ~ 4 ~See ) . Skupnik 1976:146, 365.
59. See 5-gh.
60. Adlung 1726:1:239.
61. Adlung 1758:387 writes that entire organs i n Cammerton "schon 12ngst
gebauet worden" in H a n n o v e r "im Schlosse und in der Stadt." Flade
(1~5~:1~ writes,
8) " M a n wird Silbermann d e n R u h m lassen miissen, daR er
seine e r w z h n t e n vier grogen O r g e l n als erster in K a m m e r t o n - s t i m m u n g
erbaut hat." Dresden continued t o build organs at Cammet-ton (see 5-9a).
62. C f . also Burgemeister 1925.
63. Gembalski 1983:154-55,166.
64. T h e r e were originally at least t w o other corps (see Kirnbauer 1 ~ ~ ~ : ~ 2 ) .
65. T h e Hiinteler traverso, discovered i n 1991 in m i n t condition, has a f o u r t h
"d'amour" corps that plays a m j below t h e highest and a M2 below t h e lowest
(it is t h u s in D a t A-4 or in B at A-I). T h e joints at A - I (the 1st and 4th) s h o w
t h e most wear, but t h e one at A-2 plays best.
66. Jacob Denner's hautboys c a n be sorted i n t o three acoustic lengths (i.e., t h e
distance f r o m t h e t o p of the instrument t o the middle of hole 6) that suggest
that there is one probably at A t o , six are probably at A-I, and o n e is probably
at A-I~/z.
67. H a k a is survived by o n e recorder a t 422 and Beukers made recorders a t
420, 424, and 430. Anciuti also made recorders a t 422, 425, and 430, and
Schlegel made t w o at 425 and t w o at 427. Clarinets possibly in this range are
the Jacob D e n n e r a t 420 and a Boekhout a t 428 (both in Brussels). T h e r e is a n
early flhte d'amour by D u m o n t at 428.
68. Staatsarchiv Freiberg, A a II/I, 60a, Bl.59f. Cited in G r e g 1989:109.
224 Chapter =j
69. Miiller 1982:157n875points out that a similar comparison was made for the
Johanniskirche organ in Freyberg (cf. also the comments on the Jacobi organ
above).
70. Dahnert 1962:71 and 76. T h i s is specified in Adlung 1726:1:256-57. Accord-
ing to Dahnert, Hildebrandt was commissioned by Romhild (the organist)
and G.F. Kauffmann to add two further Gedackten in the Riickpositiv at
Cammerton, but it is unknown whether they were ever supplied.
71. Theodor Gerlach: Abnahmebericht uber die Rochlitzer Petriorgel; Staatsarchiv
Leipzig, Amt Rochlitz, Nr.261, Bl.201b. Quoted in Miiller 1982:441 and G r e g
1989:109.
72. Zedler copied the passage in 1~32[1~35]:~39.
73. Original text quoted in the introduction to this chapter.
74. Pages 248, 250, 304.
75. Owens 1995:206.
76. Krause-Pichler 1991:214, 232. The same list contains "Zincken," so the
"Cornet Hautbois" was probably not a type of cornett.
77. Nosselt 1980:95. Many other instruments bought in the same period were
destined for chamber use, while these were probably used for playing with a
church organ.
78. Kirnbauer 1994:128,209.
79. Ferrari 1994:206ff.
80. Letter from Cristoforo Carlo Grundherr to Ferdinando, 4 May 1707,
quoted in Ferrari 1994:211.Italics are mine.
81. Quoted in Altenburg 1973:I:zz9.
82. See further examples in Appendix 1-2 of Haynes 1995.
83. See Haynes 1995, Section 5-4f.
84. Adlung 1758:315. O n Sauveur, see 1-7. Agricola 1757:45 also referred to Sau-
veur. Sauveur's proposal was mentioned in 1-7; it was possibly the first of a
long series of suggestions by non-musicians for a universal pitch standard.
Sauveur suggested 256 H z for middle C (cI), making a1=431.Like most of the
others, this proposal was universally ignored by musicians, though recog-
nized by some scientists as "philosopl~ical[i.e., scientific] pitch".
85. Quoted previously in 5-qb.
86. Walther 1708, under "Corne de Chasse second," wrote that "die kleinen
Waldhorner gehen aus dem b, die grogen aber aus dem f, nach
Frantzosischen Thon gerechnet."
87. Adlung 1758:387.
88. Walther 1732:130. Tr. Mendel 1955:337. This definition was repeated by
Zedler in 1 ~ ~ 2 [ 1 ~ 3 5 ] : 4 ~ 9 .
89. Original text quoted in o-IC.
90. Nickel 1971:199.
91. At Leipzig in 1701.
92. This was written in 1717 and published by Mattheson (1722:2:235). Kuhnau
was responsible for the maintenance of the two organs at the Thomaskirche
and Nikolaikirche. See Buelow 1980:1o:zgg. As we saw previously, however,
several cantatas by Kuhnau written after 1701have the strings and continuo
in the same key, implying they were in Cornet-ton. But not all of them.
Terry's statement "At Leipzig, during the Cantorate of Bach's predecessor
Kuhnau, the flutes and hautboys were at low Cammei-ton pitch, a semitone be-
low high Cammerton" ( 1 ~ ~ 2 is : ~not
~ )entirely accurate.
93. Cf. a number of traversos at A-2 in this period listed in Appendix 4.
94. T h e existence of a "B-Cammerton," as suggested in Mendel 1978:75 and
Haynes 1995:zro-12, is not historically documented. In the case of Haynes
1995,it is based on a mistranslation of Mattheson (1713:74).
95. Cf. 5-9, 6-2, and 6-4.
96. T h e Pergolesi Stabat M a t e r adaptation was much later, but uses only
strings (see 6-4).
I O )W. Stiiven, Orgel und Orgelbauer im halleschen Land
97. Greg ( I ~ ~ ~ : Icites
(Wiesbaden, 1 ~ 6 ~129 ) ,and Bosken 1960:53 suggesting that the terms were in-
terchangeable for the S t u m m family, but the citations in this section indicate
that they were consistently distinguished.
98. Organ restoration report.
99. Cf. Schaefer 1994.
loo. J.A. Silbermann wrote of the Gorlitz organ "stehet wenn ich mich noch
recht besinne im Cornet Thon" (Silbermann M s p.170).
101. For more detail on the organ pitches listed below and a list of sources, see
Haynes 1995, Appendix 7-9b.
102. "Der thon ist 1'/2 thon hoher als der franzosische thon" (Schaefer 1994,
vol. V).
103. T h e contract states "alle obgemelte Register im Cornet Thon zu
verfertigen." "Alles steht im Cornet Thon" (Schaefer 1994, vol. V).
104. "Alles im Cornet-Thon gestimmt." Lobstein: "Diese noch enistirende
Werk ... ist in dem sogenannten Cornet-Ton, den man gewohnlich auf alten
Orgeln antrifft, gestimmt."
105. "Diese Orgel ist ... im Chorton gestimet." "Fast im Chorthon
gestimmet . .. also ein T h o n hSher als franzosischer."
106. "Cornet-Thon" (Schaefer 1994, vol. V : I ~ I ) .
107. "Alles im Chorton gestimbt" (Schaefer 1994, vol. V:43).
108. T h e latter is described as "ein T h o n hoher als franzosischer."
109. Klotz and Schott 1980:17:j14.
110. Gottfried Silbermann may have known or even worked on certain French
organs that were at A-I, such as those at Meaux, Tours, Auch, and Rouen.
Kuhnau (1722:235) wrote that Silbermann "nicht nur in Stragburg, sondern
auch an unterschiedenen Orten in Franckreich, herrliche Orgelwerck und
Clavecins verfertiget."
111. Tuned in "Cornet oder Chor-Tono" (Kuhnau 1714:59). "ChormlRig
gestimmet."
112. "in richtigen Cornett- oder Chor-Tono."
226 Chapter 5
113. T h e contract specifies that the organ was to be "Cammer-Thon ein-

gerichtet seyn." Wolf: "im Cammer-Thon." Silbermann also described it in a
letter (16.xi.17~0)as "Cammer-Thon."
114. "Alles in Chor-Thon gestimmet."
115. The contract specifies that the organ was to be tuned "nach dem Cam-
mer-Thon." Wolf: "stehet im Cammer-Thon." Attest des Rates zu Dresden,
1736, also describes "das gantze Werck in Cammer-Ton." See also Adlung
1726:193.
116. Adlung 1758:376, 1726:1:211: "Im Kammerton." Contract specifies "nach
dem anbefohlenen Thon zu stimmen."
117. Muller 1982:159,161,261. In addition to these organs, the contract for the or-
gan at Zittau (1741; destroyed in 1757) specified that it was to be built in
"Cammer-Thon" (Hess 1774; Muller 198~299;Flade 1~53:178).
118. Cf. Landmann 1982 and Oleskiewicz 1998a:38-49.
119. Recent reports on the pitches of Quantz flutes by Jeffery Cohan* and
Mary Oleskiewicz (1998a:413 and 1998b:116n13)indicate that they are generally
pitched at about 387, which with corrections for shrinkage for ebony instru-
ments would probably be about 383. This is about 5 H z lower than previous
reports by Bart Kuyken, Jean-Francois Beaudin, and Eberhard Dehne-
Niemann (among others; see I-jc). Dehne-Niemann (1g97:365) reported the
lowest pitch of Oleskiewicz A I as 394 (she guessed it to be 385). Oleskiewicz
ascribes this pitch difference to her more scrupulous use of Quantz's instruc-
tions on the amount of lip placed over and into the embouchure hole and the
movements of the chin; another factor that may be relevant is that both Co-
han and Oleskiewicz preferred the internal intonation when the slide was
pulled out a good M-inch.
120. Original text quoted in 7-1.
121. 1726393.
122. Wolf 1738:44 (orig. p.109). Greg 1989:109.
123. Wolf 1738:57 (orig. ~ . 1 ~ 6 ) .
124. Flade 1931:114-15;Wolf 1738:69 (orig. ~ . 1 ~ 8 ) .
125. Probably at Cammerton; see GreR 1989:109.
126. Flade I ~ ~ I : I I O .
127. Flade 1931:106.
128. Cf. the two harpsichords by Grabner probably at A-2 and A-I, respec-
tively ( ~ - ~ a ) .
129. See Horn 1987:109.
130.Janice Stockigt*.
131. I am grateful to Janice Stockigt* for information on these pieces.
132. Cf. 3-jc and 6-zb.
133. Buelow 1993:z19.
134. Kuhnau 1722:235.
135. Schering 193638; Terry 1932:156.
136. Silbermann Ms p.173. See Dahnert 1980:184-6; the Thomaskirche organ
was replaced in 1889.
137. See Schering 1926:11:257ff.

138. T h e latter is an attribution (Young 1~9j:rzj).Seventeen of Heitz's record-
ers are extant, although I have ascertained pitches for only nine.
139. A ninth instrument in ivory is at 413.
140. See Haynes 2oo1:141.
141. Sachs 1910:67.
142. Heyde 1994:55.
143. Waterhouse 1993:170citing Schmid.
144. This is the opinion of the soprano Emma Kirkby*. Performing these
pieces at A-2 has proven to work well.
145. Gundling in 1712reported that "Hautbois" came to Berlin "aus Niirnbergl'
(Heyde 1 ~ 9 ~ : 5 6Jacob
). Denner did considerable traveling, and was regularly
in Frankfurt (see Kirnbauer & Thalheimer 1995).
146. Nuremberg M I 155 and Milan: Cons.
147. For this section, I am grateful for advice and information from Dr.
Oswald Bill*, head of the Hessische Landes- u. Hochschulbibliothek, Darm-
stadt. Information o n the organs can be found in Wicker 1987:378. Dr. Bill
writes "Von Briegel [Graupner's predecessor] sind uns keine (hand-
schriftlichen) Kantaten iiberliefert. In seinen gedruckten Werken werden in
der Regel nur Violinen genannt."
148. Noack (1~16:31)is inaccurate, according to Bill, in writing "gelegentlich
kommt auch eine Transposition urn eine kleine Terz vor ... in Fallen, in
welchen nur Streichinstrumente begleiteten"; winds were also present.
149. Oswald Bill*.
150. Oswald Bill*. Dr. Bill adds, "Jedenfalls lassen sich die wenigen Transpo-
sitionen aus spaterer Zeit durch die jeweiligen besonderen Umstande (2.B.
Trauerkantaten, die vermutlich in einer anderen Kirche aufgefiihrt wurden)
erklaren."
151. Dr. H . Schaefer*. I am grateful to Dr. Schaefer, of the Stadt- und Uni-
versitlts-bibliothek in Frankfurt, for an interesting discussion o n these canta-
tas and help in examining some of them. Most of the cantatas preserved now
at this library were copied by J.B. Konig, who had worked with Telemann
from about 1718 and later became the Capelldirector of the two churches
(Cahn 1995:3:650).
152. Ruhnke 1980:18:649.
153. See Noack 1967:176, 177, 18of, 188, 190, notes 46, 192, 206, 208, 213, 214.
154. Now at D-DS: HA I V , Konv. 356.
155. This includes only recorders where the pitch is known; see 5-gc.
156. Anon. (n.d.):qy.
157. Burney 1773:1:78. W o r k done in 1754 o n the organ had included "Das
gantze Pfeiffen-werck auf andere Arth zu intonieren, zu stimmen . . ." (see
Peine 1~~6:80-122).
158. See Fock 1974:zo.
159. See Haynes 1ggza:j48-49.
160. Nun abet gibst du, Gott (17 June 1~12);in DDT 21/22:275-7~.
228 Chapter 5
161. Perhaps the interim instrument was pitched at Cammerton. Serauky

(193~:11:487) quotes Dreyhaupt (I:1019) as saying that from 1716 the organ
could "zur Musik durch einen Zug in den Cammerthon gestimmet werden."
See also Flade 1g.jj:178. Bach and Kuhnau later served as experts for the test-
ing of this "great new organ" (David & Mendel 1966:23) from 29 April to 2
May 1716 (Cowdery r989:104). Cowdery (1~8~:111ff) suggests that Bach may
have performed an earlier version of B W V 63 on May 1 for its dedication.
162. Recorder, "Tromba," and traverso parts up one step; French horn down a
third. T h e clarino parts, by contrast, are both untransposed (in C ) and down
Chapter 6
Sebastian Bach and Pitch
aving reviewed the German pitch picture in Bach's time, we

are now able t o consider his circumstances more specifi-
cally. I n his o w n time, Bach was dealing with practical
problems that were the result of the convergence of traditional Ger-
m a n and French standards, with an overlay of Italian influence. T h u s
Bach's particular case in Thuringia and Saxony reflected a larger
European pitch situation.
W h e n Bach's music first began t o be revived in the lgth century, at
least some musicians were aware of the causes of the pitch anomalies
in his works.' T h e Christmas Oratorio was first played in the 1850s by
the Singakademie of Berlin (where pitch by this time was at A+o); a
report o n the performance included the remark (curiously modern in
its moralistic overtone) "The entire Christmas Oratorio was [origi-
nally] played a half-tone lower. T h i s is most important, not only as it
is of great use and comfort for the singers, but because the general ef-
fect of the piece is much improved, since it restores the proper pitch of
Bach's period."2
6-1 Surviving Instruments and Original Pitches Linked t o Bach
Few surviving instruments can be directly connected t o Bach.' W h e n

he was a student in the north of Germany between 1700 and about
1702, he played or heard several organs that have survived. Although
the pitch of the organ played by Georg Bohm during Bach's student
230 Chapter 6
years at Liineburg has not survived, the Stellwagen/Richborn at St.

Mary's, Liibeck, played by Buxtehude, was intact until 1851, and was
measured just before then at + 4 8 ~Bach
. ~ heard this organ in 1705-1706.
T h e organ Schnitger built at Liibeck Cathedral in 1699 was at a similar
pitch, 484; this instrument was played by Handel and Mattheson in
1703 and probably by Bach in 1705. Bach went several times to hear
Reincken play at the Catharinenkirche in Hamburg, which was at 481;
he never forgot this organ, and considered it "excellent in every way."
Graph 21 (organs in Thuringia and Saxony, 1680-1750) gives an idea
of the organ pitches Bach would have known in the regions where he
worked. Not surprisingly, it shows a healthy predominance of in-
struments at A+I, = Cornet-ton, the pitch Kuhnau associated with the
Thomas- and Nicolaikirchen in Leipzig.
Dfhnert (1980) provides the pitches of nearly three dozen surviv-
ing organs from "Kreis Leipzig." O f these, the following were built
before 1750:
Bad Lausick, Stadtkirche (Silbermann, 1722).

Grimma, Klosterkirche
Hohnstein, Stadtkirche (J.C. Schmieder, 1 ~ ~ 2 ) .
Jesewitz, Dorfkirche (J.J. Donati, 1722).
PomRen, Dorfkirche (Anon, [ca.1600?]).
Ponitz, Dorfkirche (G. Silbermann, 1737).
Rotha, St. Georg (Silbermann & Hildebrandt,
1~21).
Rotha, St. Marienkirche (G. Silbermann, 1722).
Steinbach, Dorfkirche 0.E. Hahnel, ca.1724).
Stormthal, Dorfkirche (Z. Hildebrandt, 1723).
Thonhausen, Dorhirche (T.H.G. Trost, 1746).
Zschortau, Dorfkirche 0. Scheibe, 1746).
T w o of these are at A+2, one at A-I, and nine at A+I. T h e organ built
by Scheibe at Zschortau, which is well preserved, was tested and ap-
proved by Bach in 1746.
Bach performed Cantata 19qa in November 1723 for the dedication
of the organ built by Zacharias Hildebrandt at Stormthal (near Leip-
zig). It was pitched at 464.> Hildebrandt moved to Leipzig in about
1734, and made at least one instrument for Bach. In the 1740s he rebuilt
Sebastian Bach and Pitch 231
the St. Wenzel organ at Naumburg, which has been called "one of the
outstanding examples of late Baroque organ buildingv6 and was offi-
cially examined by Silbermann and Bach in 1746 (Peter Williams
speculates that Bach may have designed it as his ideal organ7). Its
pitch was 465, the same as the set of instruments (recorders and a
cornett) from Naumburg that survives at Berlin; these instruments
were used at the church and had probably been made in Leipzig in the
century (see 2-3b). Hildebrandt was at Leipzig until 1750, when he
went to Dresden to build together with Silbermann the Cammerton or-
gan at the Hofkirche.
Although the majority of these "Kreis Leipzign organs are at A+I,
two are at A+2. As discussed in 5-4c, an organ at a higher pitch is sig-
nificantly cheaper to build, so when it was not used to perform
"Musique," i.e., works for organ together with other instruments, it
could be built higher than A+I. The organ at Hohnstein was originally
built for Stontzsch near Pegau, a village on the outskirts of Leipzig. It
was apparently admired by Bach, who played it twice in the early
1730s.This organ was pitched quite high (492).
Leipzig was one of the principal German centers of woodwind
8
makers and dealers in the early 18'~ century. O n e assumes the instru-
ments for which Bach wrote in Leipzig were made there. There are ar-
chival records linking some Leipzig woodwind workshops to Bach's
principal hautboist at Leipzig, the Stadtpfeifer Caspar Gleditsch. A
few instruments by Leipzig makers are extant, and some, notably by
Eichentopf, Poerschman, and SattlerJ9 are in sufficient condition to
give reliable pitches. W i t h the exception of one Eichentopf traverso at
A-2, these instruments are all at A-I or A-1%:
J.H. Eichentopf
Traverso (ca.1715?), Leipzig Bachmuseum 1244 391
Tenor recorder, Stockholm Musik Museet 165 410
Alto recorder, Nuremberg MIR zoo I' 420
Alto recorder, Tokyo, Dr. Iino 411
J. Poerschmann
Traverso, St. Petenburg 453 405
Alto recorder, Claudius 417 404
J.C.E. Sattler
Traverso, Tokyo: T. Yasui (ex Joppig) 415
Chapter 6
Recorder, Stockholm 162

C. Hartwig
Traverso, Leipzig 1250
There is also potential data from several surviving cornetts. T h e core

of Bach's orchestral forces at Leipzig were the four Stadtpfeifer and
four Kunstgeiger of the city, who were under his direct supervision as
"Director Musices Lipsiensis."12Guild law required that each Stadt-
pfeifer be proficient on a variety of instruments, including the cornett.
Gleditsch, Bach's principal hautboist, is known to have owned
Bach used the instrument in a number of cantatas,I4 once together
with hautboys in B W V 95.'' Bach's cornetts must therefore have been
in a pitch transposable with his other instruments.I6
Among the cornetts now in the possession of the instrument mu-
seum in Leipzig are four curved trebles of the type played by the
Stadtpfeifer in the late x71h and early 181hcenturies; they may be the in-
struments used by Bach." Not surprisingly, all four instruments are at
the same pitch, 466, = Cornet-ton. According to Herbert Heyde, three
of these cornetts belonged together originally, with four others now in
other museums. 18 These others are pitched a t 465,460,465, and 465.
Bach approached the question of notating Cornet-ton and various levels

of Cammerton in different ways at Miihlhausen, Weimar, and Leipzig.
T h e most complex situation was the one at Weimar.
Concerning the organ pitch with which Bach worked there, Alfred
Diirr wrote in 1977, "the legend of the very high tuning of the Weimar
Schlot3 organ which is found throughout the Bach literature since
SpittaJs time is entirely without foundation."'' As we will see in 6 - ~ a ,
there are a number of reasons for thinking that the pitches Bach used
at Weimar were the usual ones at the time, and that the organs with
which he worked sounded at standard Cornet-ton, A+I.
6-za T h e Pitch of the W e i m a r Organs
Diirr went o n t o observe that "evidently the W e i m a r woodwinds used

for performances at a transposition of a third were in so-called 'tiefen
Kammerton.' But if that is true, then the organ at the SchloR must
have been at the normal tuning of the time, more o r less-an assump-
tion that, unfortunately, can n o longer be checked." T h i s organ, used
by Bach for cantata performances from the end of 1714, has since dis-
appeared. It had been built by Ludwig Compenius in 1658, and its
pitch was described at the time as "chorm%Rig."" Spitta claimed,
without indicating how he knew, that this organ was tuned at Cornet-
ton, which (as we have seen) would have securely positioned its pitch
at A+I." W e d o know, however, of a positiv built at the church by
Samuel Bidermann in the same year as Compenius' full organ, 1658,
and this instrument is documented as in "Cornet Thon."" It was in
use until at least the middle of the 181h century. Since it would have
been unlikely that the t w o organs at the SchloRkirche were at differ-
ent pitches, we may assume that Bach's organ pitch at W e i m a r was
A+I. But there are other ways t o check if this assumption is justified.
6-zb T w o Cammertons at W e i m a r
T h e pitches of the woodwind parts of Weimar-period cantatas are as

follows:
Number Inst. Performed Cam. Cornet-t
I Oboe, [FagottoIZ4 xii.1713? c? c?

I Oboe, [Fagotto] 17.vi.1714 d? c?
3 Hautb., Bassons 1713; latest 1716 [F] F
Fiauto 25.iii.1714 Bb G
I Oboe, Fagotto zz.iv.1714 gZ5 f
~a~otto'~ [zo.v.171~?] D C
I Oboe, [Fagotto] 1z.viii.171427 d c
I Hautb., ~ l a u t . ' ~ 3o.xii.1714 g e
3 Oboi, Bagcno [sic] 1714/15 C
I H a ~ t b . , 'Fagotto/Ch.
~ 14.vii.1715 a f#:
234 Chapter 6
BWVIJ~ I Htb, Fagotto/Ch. 22.xii.171~ c $0 A 31
BWV8oa ? 1s.iii.1716I2 [F] [Dl

BWVy 3 Hautb.,Taille,Basson 12.iv.1716 Eb C
BWV208 3 Hautb., Bassons, ? rg.iv.1716 [F]
BWV161 [Recorder] 27.ix.1716 34 Eb C
W i t h two exceptions to be discussed in a moment, a pattern emerges

in the hautboy parts: the use of a single "Oboe" (Bach's original name)
from the first cantata, B W V 21 (December 1713?), through Cantata 199,
performed the next August. T h e pitch distance between the "Oboe"
and the organ was a Mz.From 30 December 1714 onward, however, the
hautboy parts were consistently marked "Hautbois," and instead of be-
ing written a M2 above the organ, were without exception at a dis-
tance of a m3." It is interesting to compare Heinichen's use of "Haut-
bois" and "Bassone" at Grimma in 1714, notated at a m3 from the other
instruments (including a " ~ a g o t t o " ) . ' ~T h a t the distinction between
the two names could have been significant is shown by an anonymous
cantata in D-SW1,17 Sich in Gliick und Ungliicksfiillen, that has separate
parts for both "Oboe" and "Hautbois."
T w o cantatas, B W V 208 and B W V 63, were probably performed
elsewhere or under special conditions at Weimar, because not only do
they fail to use the regular instrument names, they show a different
pitch relation: all the parts are in Cammerton. T h e same is true of a St.
Mark Passion by Reinhard Keiser that Bach copied out and evidently
performed in I ~ I ~ .All
" the parts are in the same key and the continuo
is marked "Cembalo." This would suggest the performance was at

Cammerton for the entire band.39
T h e change in the relation between the hautboy and organ in late
1714, from a M2 to a mj, means that one of the two instruments was
suddenly at a different pitch: either the hautboy itself was different
(as implied by the consistent difference between the designation
"Oboe" of the earlier set and the "Hautbois" of the later), or the organ
was changed.@
As it happens, Bach was indeed forced to use another continuo in-
strument during the Mz period, because the regular organ at the
SchloB was rebuilt by H.N. Trebs between June 1712and about August
1 ~ 1 ~other
; ~ ' major repairs to the SchloBkirche were carried out in the
same period,42 so it is unlikely that services were held there. It has
been suggested that BachJs performances during that time took place
at the S t a d t k i r ~ h e .T
~ h' e pitch of the Stadtkirche organ is not known.
Trebs was paid for his work on the organ on 15 September 1 7 1 4 , ~ ~
about a month after the last cantata with a hoch-Cammerton "Oboe"
part was performed, and some three months before the first of the tief-
Cammerton cantatas appeared. This coincidence requires us to consider
the possibility that the hautboy's pitch remained constant while the
organ was altered. Could the hautboy have remained unchanged,
while the newly rebuilt organ at the SchloR was tuned from Septem-
ber 1714 a semitone higher than whatever continuo instrument had
been used until then? There are problems with this hypothesis.
First, a change of Chorton would have affected all the parts (vocal,
string, continuo), so it would have been in the general interest for the
keyboard continuo instrument to remain at the same pitch.45 Second,
the different names used to identify the hautboy ("Oboe" and "Haut-
bois") are without exception consistent in reference to their pitch dis-
tance with the organ, suggesting a difference of instrument type as
well as pitch.46 Third, the "Fagotto," notated in Chorton, appears in
both periods (see below). Like the organ, it is notated a M2 below the
Oboe and a m3 below the Hautbois. Unless there were two Fagotti
pitched a semitone apart that were switched at the same time as the
changeover from Oboe to Hautbois, Chorton must have remained the
same in both periods. A fourth problem is that the recorder part to
B W V 182 is at m3 notation from the organ, just as it is in B W V 152
and B W V 161. But B W V 182 was performed in March 1714,before the
hypothetical organ pitch change, whereas the other two works were
performed afterwards. If the organ's pitch changed, so did both the re-
corder's and the Fagott's. The compounded number of unlikely
changes argues against a shift of organ pitch.
It therefore seems more likely that the organ remained at A t 1 and
that the "Oboe" was pitched at A-I while the "Hautbois" was at A-2.
Just as with the hautboy, Bach makes a consistent distinction be-
tween the names of his types of bassoon, and the names are related to
pitch.
17.vi.1714 BWV 21 Fagotto (same key as organ)

zz.iv.1714 BWV 12 Fagotto (same key as organ)
[zo.v.1714?] BWV 172 Fagotto
Chapter 6
12.viii.1714 B W V 199 Fagotto

1714/15 BWV 63 Baacno (sic)
1q.vii.171~ BWV 185 Fagotto (same key as organ)
22.xii.1715 BWV 132 Fagotto (same key as organ)
1z.iv.1716 BWV 31 Basson
19.iv.1716? BWV 208 Bassons
As can be seen in the previous table, the three "Bassono" or "BassonJ'

parts are notated in CammertonJ4'and are presumably for a French "ba-
roque" bassoon. Everything else is for "Fagotto," most if not all in the
same key as the organ.48T h e "Fagotto" was thus evidently at the pitch
of the organ, while the "Basson" was pitched a m3 lower.49 W e have
had occasion to mention the "Fagotto, or Dulciano" in 3-3c, and it
seems clear that the distinction in name implied a difference in Pitch.
As Dreyfus points out," Bach's Weimar Chorton parts could have been
played on a dulcian, as none of them descends below C."
6-3 Cothen
From the point of view of pitch, Cothen was exceptional in Bach's ca-
reer; the separate parts to his music written there are all in the same
key." Evidently there was no pitch discrepancy between the instru-
ments.
Bach had been working with woodwind instruments at A-2 just be-
fore his move to Cothen, as we have seen. T h e available evidence does
not allow a definitive conclusion about pitch at Cothen when Bach
was there, but it tends toward A-2 or A-195 rather than A-I.
First, the emphasis of Bach's work at Cothen was chamber music
that involved neither organs at Chorton (the court at Cothen was Cal-
vinist and thus had no church music) nor the need for brilliance and
projection (one of the advantages of the higher Cammerton pitch, A-I).
Second, the fact that the ranges of vocal parts written at Cothen
are unusually high suggests they were conceived at a lower pitch than
Bach's other vocal works. A number of secular cantatas were written
at Cothen, but only a handful survive; Mendel noticed that the Sere-
nata "Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht" (BC Gs/BWV 134a) and the
Serenada "Durchlauchtster Leopold" (BC G9/BWV 173a) both have

unusually high vocal parts.5' T h e vocal tessitura of Cantata 194/194a
(discussed in 6-4) is also about a semitone higher than the average at
Leipzig.54
Third, when he used material from Cothen later at Leipzig, Bach
sometimes performed it at "tief-Camrnerth~n."~~
Fourth, there were regular and steady influences on Cothen from
where there is evidence that Cammerton was low (see 5-51c).
Several of Bach's principals at Cothen had come from Berlin after
Friedrich Wilhelm fired his band in 1713.
T h e exact dates and places of composition of the Brandenburg
Concertos is unknown, but all six must have been completed by
March 24, 1721, when they were presented in a fair copy to the Mar-
grave of Brandenburg at Berlin. Whether they were composed for
Weimar, Cothen, or Berlin, there is a good chance they were con-
ceived at tief-Cammerton, since that was probably the prevailing Cam-
merton at all these places. And the trumpet part to the second concerto
( B W V 1 0 ~offers
~ ) a confirmation. It is generally agreed that this part
is exceptionally difficult-more so than any other piece in the baroque
trumpet repertoire. This may be due to the pitch at which it is usually
performed. Every early trumpeter I have spoken with agrees that if it
were played at tief-Cammerton, the 2d Brandenburg would be signifi-
cantly easier to play than it is at 415.
There were a number of standard trumpet types that could have
served for the 2d Brandenburg if it was conceived to be played at tief-
Cammerton. Since the concerto was in F, the instrument would have
been at tief-Cammerton+F, or (high-)Cammerton+E, a whole-step
higher than the normal German trumpet in Cammerton+D. Graham
Nicholson's copy of an original tromba da caccia plays at this pitch.57
T h e tromba da caccia was wound into a small coil, which would have
allowed the player to hand-stop in order to correct out-of-tune har-
monics; Smithers (1~88:jo-31)associates this form of trumpet with
chamber music. T h e "French" trumpet was also at this pitch. In his
Abbildung of 1698, Christoph Weigel referred to this type, which he
said was "einen Thon hoher ... . .als . Teutsche, und so genannte O r -
dinari-Trompeten" ("a tone higher... than... the German so-called
Ordinari [or court] trumpets")." Many of the trumpets played in this
period in France were made in Nuremberg, so the French trumpet
238 Chapter 6
would have been commonly accessible in G e r r n a n ~ Another

.~~ trum-
pet at this pitch was the old German "military trumpet" mentioned by
Praetorius (see 1-4b) that, as he wrote, had been in "D, in Cammer-
Thon." Since Praetorius' Cammer-Thon was the equivalent of BachJs
Chorton, this trumpet would have been at Chorton-D or tief-
Cammerton+F. There are a number of other German works from this
period that feature F-trumpets, some of which are known to have been
performed at tief-~ammerton,~"so this aspect of the scoring of the 2d
Brandenburg was apparently not exceptional.
Tief-Cammerton recorders for playing the 2d and 4'h concertos were
also common. Four German recorders from this period survive at A-2
in frequencies between 381-397 Hz, averaging 393, including one by a
maker who might well have supplied instruments to Cothen, Johann
Heitz of Berlin. There is also documentation of French recorders im-
ported into Berlin and Munich, and Bohm in Darmstadt wrote that he
had English recorders, so there is no reason to limit this list to Ger-
man makers. Fifteen F-Altos in this pitch range (385-397) survive; see
Appendix 5.
There are also many surviving F-alto recorders at A-1'/2. Thirteen
were made in Germany, including 6 by Heitz, with a range of 398-408
and averaging 402. There are also four Rottenburghs at this level, 18
English recorders mostly by Bressan, and 37 (sic) Dutch recorders that
have a pitch near 403 (the latter number is surprisingly large).
There has been considerable discussion about what kind of instru-
ments played the Flauti d'echo parts in the 4'h rande en burg.^' That F-
alto recorders were available at A-2 or A-1'/2 is clear from the above. If
the 1st part was for a G-recorder, a dozen surviving recorders made in
this period with G+A-2 (= F+A+o) could have served, made by
[Martin] Hotteterre, van Heerde, Anciuti, Schlegel, Jacob Denner,
and Oberlender (see Appendix 5). T w o double recorders in ivory by
~ n c i u t i (which
~' may be examples of Flauti d'echo) are at F+A+o (=
G+A-2); these would have been ~ e r f e c tfor the 4'h Brandenburg,
which is written in G-major.
If the piece was performed at A-1% and the 1st part was for a G-
recorder, a few original instruments exist at G+A-I'/~ by Plaikner,
Schuechbauer, and Rippert.
Sebastian Bach a n d Pitch
6-4 Bach's Use of tief-Cammerton at Leipzig
As discussed in s-gb, organ pitch at A t 1 was a constant at Leipzig. T h e

organs at the Thomas- and Nicolaikirchen with which Bach worked
(and Johann Kuhnau before him) had been built in the 1 6 ' ~century.63
Kuhnau specified in 1722 that these organs were at Cornet-ton, which
(as we have repeatedly seen) is a reliable indication that they were at
A+I.
T h e performing materials for the great majority of Bach's vo-
cal/instrumental works at Leipzig are notated a M2 above the organ
parts, so that the strings, voices, and woodwinds must have been at A-
I.
But during his first year and a half at Leipzig, Bach took advantage
of Kuhnau's practice of occasionally using figural or melody instru-
ments pitched a semitone lower at tief-Cammerton. Bach used tief-
Cammerton in Cantatas 22, 23, 63, 194, and the first version of the Mag-
nificat. In the late 1740s he performed a Stabat Mater by Pergolesi and a
motet by Johann Christoph Bach at tief-~ammerton.~~ In the course of
Bach's second year at Leipzig, the woodwinds at tief-Cammerton with
their darker, more introverted character seem to have been phased out,
and there is no sign of their use after 4 June 1724.
6-4a Cantata 194
Bach performed Cantata 194 (BC B ~ I at) Stormthal in November 1723

for the dedication of Hildebrandt's new organ. It was based on BC G I I
(now lost), which had probably been written at Cothen. The range of
the vocal parts to Cantata 194, both choral and solo, is on average
about one-half step higher than u ~ u a l . ~Hildebrandt's
' organ was
pitched at 464 (Atx). A few months later Bach performed this piece
66
again at Leipzig, noting at that time on some of the parts "tiefen
Cammerthon." A fragment of a continuo part in Chorton+G survives,
prepared for this performance67(this is the requisite interval, since the
other parts in tief-Cammerton-*B b sounded a m3 below the organ).
Bach's experience at Stijrmthal using the original keys but a higher
pitch (Atr/A-I) apparently caused him to lower most of the parts for
the Leipzig performance by one-half step (A+I/A-z), probably for the
240 Chapter 6
sake of the voices. This option was available because woodwinds at

tief-Cammerton were still being used in I723 and 1724; he had simply to
ask the string band to tune down. H e might have used tief-Cammerton
at Stormthal if woodwinds had been available (or brought along).
Later performances of this piece at Leipzig were evidently at high
Cammerton, since the organ part for the versions of June 1726 and May
1731 (A91b) is at Chorton-A b. For these later performances, Bach re-
68
worked the piece to make the high vocal parts easier.
6-qb T h e Magnificat and Cantata 63
T h e Magnificat exists in two versions, the first in Eb-major

( E I ~ / B W V243a), the later revision in D ( E I ~ / B W V243). T h e earlier
form is presumed to have been written for Bach's first Christmas in
Leipzig in 1723; the revision was made in 1732-1735.
It seems the first version was at tief-Cammerton, perhaps because
parts of it were conceived at Cothen at A-2. Another reason was that
it was performed on the same day as the Christmas cantata "Christen
Itzet diesen Tag" ( B W V 63/BC A8 in c ) .This ~ ~cantata was written
at Weimar, although probably not for the Schlofikirche, since the un-
usually high vocal writing, combined with the fact that its parts are all
notated in the same key,70suggests that it was intended for a continuo
instrument pitched at tief-Camrnert~n.~' Bach may have performed the
piece for the organ dedication at the Liebfrauenkirche in Halle in
1716."
Another indication that the first version of the Magnificat was con-
ceived at tief-Cammerton is the aria "Quia respexit humilitatem,"
number 3. In the first version in c-minor, it was written for hautboy
and soprano with the voice entering on an ebz; the later version is in
b-minor for hautbois d'amour, which has d2 as the first note. An ebz
at tief-Cammerton is the same as a d2 at hohe-Cammerton; thus the voice
would have stayed at the same sounding pitch in the two versions.
N o contemporary parts survive for either version of the Magnificat.
Diirr ( 1 ~ 5 s : ~ qwondered
) if the trumpets "could actually have been in
D and the woodwinds in 'tiefen Kammerton,' while the strings tuned
down a semitone and the transposed organ continuo was notated in C
rather than D b? As we have no surviving continuo parts, there is no
way to test the soundness of this hypothesis." For the performance in

1732-1735, Bach would have had to revise the piece because tief-
Cammerton woodwinds were apparently no longer available; Chorton
stayed the same, but the Cammerton parts had to be written out in D.
Typically, he reworked other details at the same time.
6-qc Cantatas 22 and 23
Bach wrote Cantata 23 at Cothen for his audition for the position of
Kantor at Leipzig, and performed it there (together with Cantata 22,
BC A48) on Estomihi Sunday, 1723.~'H e apparently arrived in Leipzig
only a few days before the performance, and the surviving parts indi-
cate that he decided on a last-minute change of key/pitch.
Bach's strategy was fairly complex. His goal was to perform the
piece a semitone lower than his parts indicated. T h e strings could be
tuned down a semitone to tief-C~mrnerton.~~ In terms of hohe-
Cammerton, the piece then sounded in b-minor rather than (as origi-
nally notated) in c. Hautboys were not happy in b-minor, but at Leip-
zig he had hautbois d'amour at his disposal; in hohe-Cammerton their
parts could be in written d, which sounded as b-minor. Bach had not
yet copied out the doublets of his continuo parts. H e instructed the
copyist at Leipzig to transpose the organ part "Eine 3 minor tieffer, als
Chorton" ("a m j lower: in other words, Chorton") from the cello part.75
W i t h the piece sounding in tief-Cammerton+c-minor, the organ part
had to be in Chorton+a-minor, and in fact a non-autograph organ part
does survive in that key. A new bassoon part was prepared in b-minor
(indicating, incidentally, that no bassoon was available at tief-
~ammerton).~~
Several suggestions have been put forward for the cause of this
elaborate itch change, none of which is entirely convincing.77A pos-
sibility is that the inspiration was the idea of substituting hautbois
d'amour for normal hautboys because the instrument was especially
associated with the city of Leipzig (where Bach was a ~ d i t i o n i n ~ ) . ~ '
Modern singers find the parts uncomfortably low in b-minor at A-
suggesting that the I723 performance (which is dubbed BC Aq7b)
was a stopgap solution. In any case, Bach himself seems not to have
been satisfied with it, as Cantata 23 went through at least one other
242 Chapter 6
mutation. It was performed in 1724 and again between 1728 and 1731.
T h e later performances (BC A47c) were evidently back in the original
c-minor (at hohe-Cammerton), with revised vocal parts for the fourth
movement and a continuo part altered to read in the unfortunate key
of bb-minor; it was perhaps because of this that the cornett and trom-
bone parts were abandoned.'" Since these expedients would probably
not have been Bach's preferred ones, it would seem that the tief
Cammerton option was no longer open to him by the end of the 1720s
(this conjecture is reinforced by the performing histories of Cantatas
194, 63 and the Magnificat, noted in 6-qb).
Cantata 22 was first performed before the sermon at the same ser-
vice as Cantata 23. If Cantata 23 was at tief-Cammerton, it is unlikely
that the band was tuned to hohe-Cammerton for Cantata 22. There are
no surviving parts to Cantata 22.
Bach's reworking of G.B. Pergolesi's Stabat Mater (originally writ-
ten 1735/36) as Tilge, Hochster, meine Siinden (BC B26), was performed
in the late 174os, also probably in tief-Cammerthon. T h e organ part is in
d-minor. Joshua Rifkin* suggested that since the strings were in f-
minor, tief-Cammerthon may have been used to avoid an organ part in
e b-minor. N o winds were involved.
Bach performed the motet Lieber Herr Gott, wecke uns auf by Johann
Christoph Bach (Eisenach, 1672) at Leipzig with an added double cho-
rus of instruments, including a double-reed band and a string band.
O n the basis of handwriting, the performing material is datable to
I ~ ~ ~ All- the
I instrumental
~ ~ ~ . parts
~ ~except the organ include the in-
struction "tief~ammerthon."''
6-5 Works by Bach in Which Pitch Is a n Issue
W h e n different pitch levels were involved, choosing appropriate keys

depended on a number of factors (as we discussed in 5-2). W h e n
Bach's cantatas first came to be published at the end of the 1 9 ' ~century
by the BG, these factors were no longer obvious. T h e editors solved
the question of part-transpositions in a way that must have seemed
reasonable at the time. They assumed first that all the parts needed to
be in the same key. This was achieved by choosing the key of the
Sebastian Bach a n d Pitch 243
greatest number of parts. T h e result, of course, was that the other

parts were transposed out of their original keys.
T h e BG has remained the definitive edition of Bach's cantatas until
recently, and as a result, his earliest cantatas are often misunderstood
and difficult to perform because of these key changes. This section
will review pitch and tonality questions in these pieces.
Bach himself reworked a number of his early cantatas for later use
at Leipzig. Where the difference in notation between the parts was a
M2 (i.e., Cantatas 12, 21, 172, and 199)) he did the obvious and switched
the voice and string parts to Cammerton by transposing them up a step
to the same key as the woodwinds (which had already been notated at
Cammerton). In this way, the sounding pitch remained unchanged,
since the organs were the same and the pitch of the band was a step
lower at Leipzig.
Converting the cantatas that involved a difference of a m3 was
more complicated. Bach adapted five of them for Leipzig (31, 155, 161,
182, and 185)~adjusting the parts so they were all notated in the same
key (except, of course, the organ). But in the process much transposi-
tion was necessary, and some parts had to be eliminated or replaced by
other instruments.
T h e following table lists all the works in which pitch is an issue. It
includes their dates of performance, their original Cammerton and
Chorton/Cornet-ton keys, and Bach's solutions for later performances.83
Comments on each piece follow the tableaa4
Table 6-1. Works by Bach in which pitch is an issue
Number Performed Cammerton Cornet-ton
B WV15o/B24 [summer I ~ o ~ ? ] ~ ' d b

244 Chapter 6
B WV1o6/B18 [early June I ~ O ~ ? ] ~ ' F Eb
BWVZO~/GI/GJ 1713?;latest 1716 v-1 F

1~.iv.1~16?~~ [Fl F
j.viii.1742 F [FI
B WV172/A81a [~o.v.I~I~?] C
After 1717(Cothen) [Dl CDI
A81b 28.v.1724 D [cl
A81c 13.v.1731 C [B b l
After 1731 C [Bbl
BWV6j/A8 1714/15 C C [sic]

zs.xii.1723 C [A?]
ca.1729& later C Bb
B W V I ~ , / A J(2:
~ Aria) 19.i.1716 [a or c?]
16.i.1724 ?
B W V I ~ I / A I J ~ ~ 27.ix.171690
Before 17)g?
A135b ca.1735?
[E b?]
C
246 Chapter 6
Cantata 12 = BC A68. Cammerton+rr, Chorton-f.

Only part of the Weimar material of this piece is extant.
T h e original hautboy part does not survive, but like the other "Oboe"
parts from this period, it would presumably have been a whole-step
higher in Cammerton (i.e., in g-minor for the 1st m ~ v e m e n t ) . ~
F-minor
'
is awkward on the hautboy, whereas g-minor is one of its best keys;
Bach performed the piece in Cammerton+g at Leipzig?' Both the BG
and the NBA (Neue Bach Ausgabe), however, based their editions on
the Weimar score, ~ u b l i s h i nthe
~ cantata with all parts in Chorton-f.
T h e editor of the NBA edition of this piece cites Diirr (1977:~s)~
who observed that in the fourth movement, measure 31, Bach has the
hautboy cadence in the upper octave when the lower is suggested by
analogous passages in measures 2, 10, and 19. T h e cadence in measure
31 avoids a low (and unplayable) bbo if the piece is in c-minor, but
would be unnecessary if it were in d. T h e implication is that d-minor
was not the original key. An objection to this reasoning is the fact that
Bach evidently avoided low CI in all his "Oboe" parts at Weirna~-.~'
Considering that the original key was not apparent to the editor of
the NBA,94 it is unfortunate that a version in g-minor was not sup-
plied. A performing edition in this key has yet to appear.
T h e trumpet part to the aria written in g-minor would have

sounded originally in C h ~ r t o n + ~Since
. the trumpet would normally
have sounded in Chorton+a, it would have been a tone too high. T o
play in C h ~ r t o n + ~
it ,had to add "ein Aufsatz bey dem Mundstiick" (a
whole-tone crook) as Kuhnau suggested for one of his cantatas (see
the introduction to Chapter 5).
Cantata 18 = BC A44a-b. Cammerton-a, Chorton+g.

T h e original Weimar version of this cantata did not include recorder
parts; they were added at Leipzig. Bach performed the piece in the
second version in Cammerton-a. T h e four "viola" parts must have
been played on instruments tuned at Cornet-ton because, as Dreyfus
points out (1987:248n34), they were not transposed to a-minor. T h e
"Fagotto" part was in Cornet-ton-g at Weimar, so a new continuo part
was prepared in Cammerton-a for the Cammerton continuo instru-
ments at Leipzig. The NBA published both versions.
Cantata 21 = BC A99a-c.
T h e genesis and performing history of this piece are complicated and
as yet not entirely clear. Two Cammerton versions of the work survive.
Bach performed it in the Weimar years (presumably in Cornet-ton+c
as well as Cammerton+c), at Cothen (in Cammerton-d), and at Leipzig
(in Cammerton+c/Cornet-ton+b b). For a review of current thoughts
on the piece, see Haynes 1gg~:3oqffand Rifkin 1999.
Cantata 31 = BC A.j5a-b. Cammerton+Eb, Chorton-C.

T h e Leipzig performing material for this piece, using parts of the ear-
lier Weimar material, indicates that the tonality of C was retained for
the voices and strings; but since these parts had been notated at Cor-
net-ton in Weimar and were at Cammerton at Leipzig, Bach effectively
moved the sounding pitch of the cantata down a whole-step.
A set of parts for five double reeds in E b survives (3 "Hautb," a
"Taille" and a "Basson") made during the Weimar period.95 The in-
struments have no independent musical functions, mostly doubling
other parts. Internal evidence suggests the hautboy band parts were a
248 Chapter 6
last-minute addition for a special occasion on which an hautboy band

at A-2 was available.96
T h e 4'h part must have been for F-tenor hautboy because it de-
scends to Chorton-do (= tief-Cammerton+fo). Bach probably used a
tenor hautboy (also called a "taille de hautbois") at A-2 in, apparently
first performed on March 15, 1716 (see under B W V 80a). T h e use of a
tenor hautboy in B W V 80a suggests that the performance of Cantata
31 that included an hautboy band was in the same period, probably on
April 12 of that year.97
W h e n B W V 31 was performed in Leipzig in 1724, a new first haut-
boy part was copied out in C, a m3 below the original part. T h e Wei-
mar parts for second and third hautboy could have been played on the
two hautbois d'amour regularly used by the Stadtpfeifer (reading E b,
sounding C). There is no indication if this is what happened in 1724,
but the note "d'Amour" was added to the second hautboy part for the
1731performance.98
T h e two lowest band parts must have been omitted at Leipzig. T h e
part for tenor hautboy was for an instrument in F; at Leipzig the part
would have required an instrument a m3 lower, in D. Such an instru-
ment was not standard and is not likely to have been available.99
Since the continuo descends to low G I in the Leipzig version, and
the lowest note of the standard French bassoon of the period is B br,
several authors have conjectured the use of a special low bassoon for
this piece (the Quart-Fagott-Praetorius' term for a form of dulcian
with GI as its lowest note-has been suggested). But, in fact, no range
problem existed. Since in the original Weimar version the part was in
E b rather than C, the Basson part originally only descended to B b ~ its
,
lowest note. The BG published the part in Chorton+C, thereby sowing
confusion that still persists.'oo For the reworked Leipzig version, Bach
solved the potential problem by eliminating the Basson and replacing it
with a new, separate cello part.'o'
Cantata 7oa = BC A4.

W h e n this piece was performed again at Leipzig (as BC A165), the
Weimar string parts in C were used. Since the strings were in Cornet-
ton at Weimar and Cammerton at Leipzig, the sounding pitch must
have been a M Z lower at Leipzig. T h e hautboy in the Leipzig version
is in C ; if the instrument was included in the Weimar version, it

would have been in CammertondE b.
Cantata 71 = BC BI. Cammerton+D, ChortondC.

T h i s piece was written for Miihlhausen. T h e woodwinds (2
"Flutti"/"Flauti" [recorders], 2 "Obboe"/"Hautb.," "Bassono"/"Basson")
and cello are notated in Cammerton+D, everyone else in ChortondC
(see Illustration 2, page 250). T h e BG edition transposed all the parts
in CammertondD t o C (thereby taking the 1st hautboy to bo, a semi-
tone below its range). Given the M2 interval between Chorton and
Cammerton, the only reasonable guess as to the original absolute pitch
is A+I/A-I; a shift upward or downward a semitone would require one
of the two standards t o have been A+o, a rare level among surviving
instruments. Strings (except cello) were written here, as in Weimar,
in Chorton. T h e piece is now published by the NBA in both keys, C
and D.
Cantata 80a = BC Al;z.

Cantata 80 was apparently first performed on March 15, 1716 (in the
"A-2" period at Weimar). N o music from this early version survives.
There are some parts of a later adaptation written in 1727'1731 for Leip-
zig (BC A18~a).'"'T h e only completely surviving version was one pre-
pared in 1744'1747 (BC A183b).
I n the Leipzig version of this piece, one of the original arias, num-
ber 7, includes obbligato parts for violin and oboe da caccia, the latter
in fingered D-major (sounding G-major). T h e part is unconvincing o n
oboe da caccia in D-major; there are numerous awkward fingering
combination^'^' and there are two low c#I's, a note that is only obtain-
able by artifice. But the part plays easily and is without missing notes
a semitone higher in E b-major.
Considering its date, this piece was probably originally conceived at
A-2, i.e., a semitone lower than in Leipzig. T h e original oboe da caccia
part, then, would have had to have been fingered a semitone higher at
Weimar to have sounded at the same pitch. It is unlikely that the
original instrument was a n oboe da caccia, which was an unusual kind
of curved, leather-covered tenor hautboy especially associated (like
250 Chapter 6
Illustration 3. Beginning of Cantata 71 by Sebastian Bach, autograph

score, 1708. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin-Preui3ischer
Kulturbesitz, M ~ s i k a b t e i l u n mit
~ Mendelssohn-Archiv, BB
Mus. Ms. Bach P 45, page zr.
the hautbois d'amour) with Leipzig. Straight tenor hautboys, however

(also called tailles de hautbois) were commonly played in this pe-
riod.'"' As w e saw above, Bach used just such an instrument (in A-2 as
well) in a performance of Cantata 31 during the W e i m a r period, as a
member of an added hautboy band; it played the 4'h part. Cantata 31
was in fact performed o n 12 April 1716, less than a m o n t h after Cantata
80. T h e Leipzig version of this aria is in sounding Cammerton+G; in
order for the tenor hautboy part t o have been in fingered E b (= sound-
ing A b), and for the vocal part to have remained at the same sounding
pitch, the lost W e i m a r version would have been in Cornet-ton+F.I0' It
is possible, then, that the Leipzig oboe da caccia part in fingered D at
A-I is a less-than-satisfying adaptation of a straight tenor hautboy part
originally notated at W e i m a r a semitone higher in fingered E b.
T h e extant solo violin part to this aria, in Cammerton+G, has a
range of go-gz (a 2d above the oboe da caccia part, whose range is fo-
f2). If the aria was originally in Cornet-ton+F, the violin (if it was a
violin) could not have played it as it stands, since it would have de-
scended t o fo. T h e range would have worked if the violin had been no-
tated in Cammerton+A b, like the hypothetical tenor hautboy. But A b -
major is n o more typically violinistic than the range of go-g2. T h e vio-
lin appears t o be a stand-in for some other instrument in the original
version; in Cornet-ton+F, viola would have worked.
Thus, o n the basis of pitch and dating considerations, this aria was
probably originally written for viola in Cornet-ton-F and tenor haut-
boy in tief-Cammerton+A b (fingered E b).
Cantata 106 = BC B18. Cammerton+F, Chorton+E b .

O n l y the "Flauti" [recorders] are in F, the other parts being in the bi-
zarre key-for strings-of ChortondEb. BG published this piece in
Eb; the NBA has published it in Cammerton-F. Neither published
version can capture the flavor of the original, as both of them trans-
pose parts originally in different keys. It is interesting that among the
early sources, one dated ca.1800 ("Quelle C") already transposed the
recorder parts to E b. Another source, "Quelle E," which comes from
t h e estate of Felix Mendelssohn, did t h e same thing t o the recorder
parts, so we may assume that the problems of pitch and bitonal nota-
tion in Bach's works were unknown t o Mendelssohn.
252 Chapter 6
BWV 106 is often performed nowadays with recorders at A-2 (tief

Cammerton-+F) and everyone else at A t o (Chorton'E b), although, as
in the other Miihlhausen works (Cantatas 71 and I ~ I ) , the original
pitches were probably a semitone higher. T h e recorders would thus
have been at A-I and the other parts at A+I.'"~
Cantata 131 = BC B25. Cammerton-+a, Chorton-a.

T h e "Obboe" and "Fagotto" are notated in a-minor in the autograph
score. A performance of this piece in Chorton+g (as printed in the
BG) will take the solo part on the hautboy below its range by one
note, and will include low C#I, which is virtually unplayable. T h e
original notation in Cammerton-+a exactly fits the range of the haut-
boy (CI to d3). Presumably the pitches in question are A-I and A+I as
in Cantatas 71 and 106.
Cantata 132 = BC A6. Cammerton+C, Chorton-+A.

T h e "Hautbois" part appears in double-clef in the score (CI in A-major
and G2 in C-major); see Illustration 3, page 253. T h e "Fagotto" part was
originally notated at Cornet-ton-+A. Performance in A at A-I is possi-
ble (using an hautbois d'amour in fingered C), although at Weimar it
must have sounded a tone higher (in Cornet-ton+A, with an A-2
Hautbois in C). Bach did not apparently reuse this cantata at Leipzig.
Cantata 147a = BC A7.

Only the first chorus of the Weimar version of this cantata survives.
It is in C and includes a Fagotto but no Cammerton instruments.'"' T h e
parts were redone for Leipzig (BC A I ~ ~ ) . ' Aria
"' 3 (in Leipzig for the
transposing hautbois d'amour in fingered c-minor = Cammerton-*a)
would have been for hautboy at Weimar also in fingered c-minor,
sounding Cornet-ton-a. Since Cornet-ton was the pitch of the strings,
this aria needed no particular adaptations for Leipzig. But although
the key did not change, the sounding pitch effectively dropped a M2.'09
I .- -
~lstration4. Beginning of Cantata 132 by Sebastian Bach, autogt
score, 1715. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin-PreuRischer
~ Mendelssohn-Archiv, 1
Kulturbesitz, M ~ s i k a b t e i l u nmit
Mus. Ms. Bach P 60, page 2'.
254 Chapter 6
Cantata 150 = BC Bz4. Cammerton+d, Chorton+b.

All the parts to Cantata rso were originally written in b-minor except
the "bassoon," which was labelled "Fagotto ex D" (in d-minor). BG
published the cantata in b-minor, leaving the Fagotto part in d-minor.
T h e style of this beautiful work suggests it was written prior to
Weimar, and the name of the instrument, "Fagotto," does not follow
the pattern of Bach's other bassoon parts written in Cammerton at
Weimar, all of which are called "Bassono." That the relationship of
Cammerton and Chorton is a m3 casts doubt on whether it was written
for Miihlhausen, since the pieces known to have been written there
are separated by a M2.""
T h e Fagotto ex D must have been a m3 lower in pitch than the two
violins and the continuo instruments, suggesting it was not a dulcian,
which was normally at Cornet-ton, but rather a low-pitched bassoon
presumably at A-2. The organ would have been at A+I."' T h e vocal
parts are within normal range at this pitch (the highest note of the so-
prano is g#2). A lower pitch than A+I for the parts in b-minor would
imply a Fagotto pitched lower than A-2, which is unlikely.
In performance, the two usual priorities in problematic cantatas are
to keep the voice-parts at absolute pitch and to retain the fingerings
(that is, the tonality) of the woodwinds. I n the case of this piece, how-
ever, the string parts with high-lying violin parts must take prece-
dence over the bassoon, whose part is less a solo than a reinforcement
of the cello, especially in the bass obbligato in number 5, the aria
"Cedern miissen von den Winden." T o transpose this aria from b-
minor up to the bassoon's d-minor would render it unplayable on the
cello or gamba. This aria is pivotal and (despite the fact that to play
the piece in b-minor at A-I lowers the voices a whole-step below their
original pitch) the whole cantata is probably more musically success-
ful when played in b-minor. T h e vocal parts are still singable, and o n a
period bassoon, the Fagotto part is playable if not ideal in b-minor,
with certain minor changes of octave."'
Cantata 152 = BC A18. Cammerton4a,- Chorton+e.

T h e parts for "Flauto," "Hautb.," and "Viola d'Amourn are notated in
the autograph score in Cammerton+g-minor, the other parts in Chor-
ton4e. BG published it with all the parts in e-minor. In e, many notes
are out of the range of both the hautboy and the keyed Conservatoire
oboe. T h i s cantata was printed in g-minor by Breitkopf in 1949 (ed.
Neumann); t h e soprano is high but singable in that key.
Cantata 155 = BC A32.

T h e alto-tenor duet with t h e "Fag." (= Fagotto) solo is notated in a-
minor in the BG, the NBA, and BC. T h i s takes the Fagotto part down
t o GI, a fourth below its normal range. O n e would therefore suspect
that this part, like Cantatas 150 and 31, was originally for Bassono at
Cammerton, so its lowest written note was within range as a Cammer-
ton+B b ~ T. h e name of the instrument might imply a dulcian at Chor-
ton, but Cantata 150 was also for "Fagotto." T h e question of the iden-
tity of the intended instrument must remain moot as individual parts
do not survive, and in the score the Fagotto part is written, like the
other parts, in a-minor."' Cowdery (1989:32) cites Harnoncourt's solu-
tion of extending the bell t o obtain the lowest notes. Cf. also the
Quart-Fagott hypothesis mentioned in connection with B W V 31.
Cantata 161 = BC A135a-b. Cammerton*E b, Chorton-*C.

T h e sources for the W e i m a r version of this piece are not original. BG
printed it in ChortondC except the "Flauti," which were notated in G I
clef (French violin clef) and in E b. A later performance at Leipzig was
in Cammerton4C with traversos. Since the string parts could not be
transposed, as they feature a "bell-imitation for which Bach chose, for
the four final chords, the four open strings of the violins and viola^,""^
and they were at Cammerton in Leipzig and not Chorton as in Weimar,
the Leipzig performances sounded a tone lower. A transposed con-
tinuo part for Leipzig survives in Chorton*B b , confirming the use of
Cammerton+C for the strings."'
Cantata I72 = BC A81a-c.

T h i s cantata was originally in Chorton'C. T h e later Leipzig version is
in Cammerton*D. Mendel's theory that at Leipzig Bach first per-
formed this piece in C t o avoid rewriting the string parts, and later
had it transposed t o the key of the woodwinds, is not supported by
256 Chapter 6
dates.'I6 Bach's two last performances were in C, probably for the sake
of the voices.
Cantata 182 = BC A53, A172. Cammerton+B b, Chorton+G.

T h e autograph score and the separate part originally written in 1714
both notate the recorder ("Fiaut.") in B b, a m3 above the band (which
was at Chorton-G); in later versions at Leipzig (1724 and 1728/31), the
piece was performed at Cammerton-G (i.e., a M2 lower in absolute
pitch), and the recorder part was probably taken by a traverse."'
Cantata 185 = BC AIOI.Cammerton+a, Chorton+f#.

Material in both g-minor (cello and violone parts) and f#-minor sur-
vives from Weimar, indicating two different performances. T h e piece
was first performed on 14 July 171s; Hofmann 1993 suggests a revival
o n 4 p.Trin. the following year, which was 5 July 1716. Original haut-
boy parts survive in both a- and g-minor (the latter from Leipzig
only). T h e third movement lies more naturally on hautboy in B b, es-
pecially mm. 5-6. In C, there is an awkward d3 in m.6. This suggests
that the original Cammerton key was g-minor, which is the key Bach
used in two later performances at ~ e i p z i ~ . "It' is therefore possible
that one of those performances (probably the first, as suggested by the
hautboy part) was at Cammerton+g, somewhere else than the
SchloRkirche. T h e piece was also performed (at the SchloRkirche?) in
Chortondf# with the "Hautb." (only) at Cammerton+a. There is also a
"Fagotto" part in fa-minor. T h e Schloi3kirche version would then have
been an adaptation; at Leipzig, Bach would have been able to restore
the original key of C a m m e r t ~ n ~
using
~ , materials from his original
performance."9
BG published the piece in f#-minor. The new NBA edition pre-
sents the "first" version in Chorton+f# with the hautboy in Cammer-
ton-a as well as the fourth Leipzig version in Cammerton+g.
Cantata 199 = BC Axzoa. Cammertondd, Chorton+c.

This piece is notoriously difficult on both the hautboy and the Con-
servatoire oboe in c-minor, the key it is generally known in its modern
published f o r m (BG).I2O W i t h o u t exception, however, t h e original

"Oboe" parts in Bach's t h r e e versions performed at W e i m a r , C o t h e n ,
a n d Leipzig w e r e i n d-minor, w h i c h m a k e s it m u c h m o r e playable.
Notes
I. Felix Mendelssohn, who revived the St. Matthew Passion in 1829, seems not
to have been aware of these questions; cf. the discussion in 6-5 on B W V 106.
2. From a letter by a Herr Seyffart to J.R. Smalt in Holland, 8 Dec 1862, cited
in Asselbergs 1966:313.
3. In 1741,when J.A. Silbermann examined it, the organ at the church in Eis-
enach where Bach was baptized and his father worked, was in "Chor-Thon"
(Silbermann Ms p.150).
4. Hopkins and Rimbault 1855:189.
5. Mendel 1955:221-22; Mendel 1978:31 (citing its restorer, H. Eule); Dahnert
1962:158; Flade 1953.
6. Dahnert quoted by Klotz 198ob.
7. Williams 1980:116.
8. Rubardt 1966:411;Schering 1926:11:393ff; Heyde 1993a:593.
9. For background information on these makers, see Waterhouse 1993.
10. Reconstruction reported in Powell 1995e.
11. Another alto recorder was sold at a Christie's auction, 13June 1990 (lot 8);
(reported in EM Feb I ~ ~ I : I o ~This
). may be Dr. Iino's.
12. Schering 1926:261; Terry 1932:7-22.
13. Schering 1926:34.
14. Neumann 1947:278; MacCracken 1984:80.
15. The part is for "Corno." Harnoncourt 1979 believes it is for cornett, al-
though it is not listed in MacCracken 1984.
16. The cornett parts in Bach's cantatas (all from Leipzig) are sometimes
transposed and sometimes not; see MacCracken 1984:68, 80-81. A whole-tone
transposition at sight should not have been difficult for a Stadtpfeifer or an
advanced apprentice.
17. Catalogue numbers 1564, 1566, 1569, and 4030. They are apparently of
th
Saxon origin, probably 16 -century, exact dating unsure. See Tarr 1981:136-38.
18. Stadtisches Museum, Braunschweig (no. 62), Historisches Museum, Base1
(no. 160), and Hohenzollern-Museum, Sigmaringen (nos. 4958 and 45~59).
19. This and the following parts of this chapter have benefited from discus-
sions with Joshua Rifkin.
20. Diirr 1977:76.
258 Chapter 6
22. I:381 and 628-29 (German I:j8o and 794-95). This claim was repeated by A.
Schweitzer in J.S. Bach p.105 as well as Dahnert (19867-8), who is generally
careful with pitch questions. Although he was probably right, Spitta's word-
ing suggests that he simply assumed Cornet-ton because it was a m3 above
"Kammerton" rather than because he found any historical indication of it. It
is true that Walther (1732:130, writing in Weimar) wrote of "Chor- oder Cor-
net-Tone" as if they were identical.
23. Schrammek 1985:loy.
24. A Fagotto part does not survive from Weimar, but the Cammerton bassoon
part copied during the Cothen period shows transposing errors indicating an
original a M2 lower and is labeled, curiously, "Fagotto," suggesting the prior
existence of a Fagotto part in Chorton from Weimar. See Brainard 1984:127.
25. T h e u O b ~ e "part in the score was notated in Cornet-ton-f, like the other
parts, but was probably played by the hautboist in g. See the discussion of
this piece in 6-5.
26. BC suggests there may have been a recorder part, but since the Cammerton
is a M2, the instrument would have been at A-I; this is unlikely as all other
Weimar recorder parts are at A-2.
27. Hofmann 1993:lo notes that Yoshitake Kobayashi suggests in a forthcom-
ing publication that this work was first performed in 1713.
28. Hautboy and recorder at a mj.
29. T h e part for "Hautb." is not preserved.
30. The original part does not survive; the key is based on range.
31. Cf. also the discussion of B W V 147a/A7 in 6-5,probably written for an
hautboy at m3 Cammerton in zo.xii.1716.
32. This date follows the suggestion in Hofmann 1993.
33. See Cowdery 1 ~ 8 ~ : 1 0 3 f f .
34. Cf. Cowdery 1989:8jff.
35. Cowdery 1989:318 points out: "In the extant sources of Bach's Weimar
cantatas, the term 'Oboe' appears up through B W V 199, in August 1714;after
that time, i.e., beginning with B W V 152 in December 1714, the term 'Haut-
bois' replaces it completely."
36. See 5-ga.
37. Kade Anonyma A.c.4.
38. See Beiswenger 1992 (I/K/I). Keiser's autograph is lost.
39. A further indication of this is the existence of an organ part transposed
down a Mz prepared for a later performance in 1726 at Leipzig (Glockner
1 ~ ~ ~ : 7indicating
8), that there too the performance was in the same written
keys at Cammerton.
40. It is interesting that Klaus Hofmann (19~3:1s)points out a break in Bach's
approach to cantata texts at the same time.
41. If the organ at the SchloR was rebuilt by Weishaupt shortly before Bach's
arrival, it is odd that it was found necessary to rebuild it again in 1714.
42. Schrammek 1985:ioz.
43. Jauernig 1950:75.
44. Jauernig 1950:75.

45. If Chorton had been subject to change, the voice parts written before and
after might show a difference of range.
46. If pitch is implied by these two terms, "Oboe," being Italian, would
probably be higher than "Hautbois."
47. Although it is not noted in BC, both B W V 208 and B W V 63 have bas-
soon parts in Cammerton (Prinz 1g81:117,121; Cowdery 198~:31).Besides this,
there is a motet by J.C. Schmidt with Fagotto 6 Basson Concert and hautboy
parts that Bach copied out in Cammerton. Dreyfus 1987:120 reports Bach's
autograph score and parts to this motet, Auf Gott hoffe ich (D-B Mus.ms.
lg9tr/l). T h e score is notated in D for everyone except the brass and wood-
winds, which are in C. T h e autograph parts for hautboy and bassoon, how-
ever, are in E b . See also Beigwenger 1992:128, where the brass key is not men-
tioned. BeiRwenger dates Bach's copy to l7l4/17; the difference of a m3
suggests it was not made until 1715, when he began writing for Hautbois at a
m3 from Chorton.
48. Cf. Prinz 1981:116ffand Dreyfus 1987:119.
49. Cf. Prinz 1981:1o8-110and Cowdery 1989:31. Cowdery (33) points out that
three of Bach's Muhlhausen cantatas that use bassoon mix the two terms. At
Leipzig in the 173os, Bach copied out a double-chorus mass (by J.L. Bach?),
B W V Anh.167, that had 2 violins, 2 violas, "Fagott i. Viole" in the first chorus
and "j Hautb. Taille Basson e B Cont." in the second (see Beigwenger 1992:136).
50. Dreyfus 1987:120.
51. See also Prinz 1981:115.
52. This includes a cantata by F. Conti to which Bach added hautboy parts
(see BeiRwenger 1~~2:128). But it excepts the trumpet part to the Brandenburg
Concerto in the well-known score Bach presented to the Margrave, which is
in C . O n continuo parts at Cothen, see Brainard 1984:137.
53. Mendel 1978:78. Schulze & Wolff point out in BC 1448: "Als Ausfuhrende
kommen bis 1723 fast ausschliefllich die zustandigen Hofmusik-Ensembles in
Betracht und als Auffuhrungsorte vorwiegend die entsprechenden Schlosser
und Residenzen." Other vocal works probably written at Cothen are
G 8 / B W V 184a and G41/BWV 202.
54. See Mendel 1955:346.
55. See Cowdery 1989:35.
56. According to Heyde 1986:71, Mecklenburg and Anhalt/Cothen used the
same length standard as Brandenburg-Pomerania-Prussia (including Berlin),
the rheinische Fuj3 at 313.85 mm.
57. Nicholson (*). Cf. Smithers 1988:150.
58. A t least five other 18'~-centurysources confirmed this description. Cf.
Cron 1996.
59. Cf. Haynes 1997.
60. Dahlqvist 1993:33 mentions works by Telemann, von Wilderer, Erlebach,
Stolzel, and Endler.
260 Chapter 6
61. For recent discussions, see Marissen 1991,Power 1994, and Marissen 19gsb.
Marissen 1991 argues convincingly (especially on page 18) that both the 1st
and 2d flute parts to the fourth concerto ( B W V loq9) were conceived for re-
corders in F. Without original parts, the question can never be definitively
answered.
62. Paris E.106 and Paris C.416, E.107. I have examined E.106, which is in ex-
cellent condition. It consists of two recorders, one in F (at 437), the other a
major 3d higher. C.416, E.107 is at 443.
63. Mendel 195~:471-2.See also Schering 1926:108-111.Schering (1941:346) specu-
lated that the so-called "Trauungspositiv" used at the Thomaskirche from
1720 was probably at Cammerton, but was generally used for events outside the
church.
64. T h e Pergolesi involved only strings. T h e Bach motet included colla parte
Hautbois I., Hautbois 2., Taille, Basson parts in Coro I; the strings doubled Coro
11. T h e comment "tief Cammerthon" is in Bach's hand. The instrumental parts
are in g-minor except the two organ parts (presumably in e). T h e performing
situation was obviously exceptional for the Thomas- and Nicolaikirchen,
suggesting a performance elsewhere.
65. Mendel 19yj:347; Diirr 1955:35.
66. O n 4 June 1724; this version is now classified as B C A y a .
67. B C I:368.
68. Mendel 1978:78.
69. A number of other pieces were performed with the Magnificat during the
same Christmas period in 1723. AIZ/BWV 40 had its first performance on the
second Christmas day, apparently at normal Cammerton. AIS/BWV 64 like-
wise had its premier on the third Christmas day, and was at normal Cammer-
ton and included hautbois d'amour. This would represent a similar situation
to that of Weimar, in which a single Chorton is related to two levels of Cam-
merton.
70. Joshua Rifkin* remarked that the combination of trumpet and woodwind
parts in the same key is surprising, and trumpets would have played in two
different keys in the two pieces. But adding crooks would have been a simple
and plausible answer. Majer (1~3z:~o) wrote, "Es gibt verschiedene Mund-
stiicke, womit man eine Trompette um einen halben, ganzen, ja bisweilen
anderhalb T o n tiefer stimmen kan." Kuhnau's instructions for transposing
his cantata Daran erkennen wir, daj3 wir in ihm verbleiben (D-B 12260/2) calls for
trumpets with added crooks "dass die trompeten einen T o n niedriger big in
den Cammerton klingen."
71. Cowdery 1989:34.
72. Cowdery 1989:115. Its only surviving organ part, transposed a M2 below
Cammerton, is of later date than 1723. Cowdery (1989:j4) suggests that the part
was "written to replace an earlier unusable organ part. T h e most likely reason
for an earlier organ part to be superseded by a newer one is a change of trans-
position interval, which suggests that the hypothetical 1723 organ part was in
minor-third Cammerton."
73. Wolff 1978:80.

74. See Durr 1955:35.
75. T h e NBA published this piece in both b- and c-minor. T h e version in b-
minor assumes strings tuned in the same pitch as the winds, an assumption
not made by Bach, who used strings playing in c-minor but pitched a semi-
tone lower at tief-Cammerton. As a result, both the viola and cello parts in the
NBA contain B's that are below the ranges of the instruments. This edition
also contains many wrong notes (presumably modern misprints) in the b-
minor version.
76. T h e part is labelled "Baj3on C Cembalo," the "C Cembalo" added later (Wolff
1991:134;cf. Figure 10.3, also 136).
77. Mendel (rg78:15) thought Bach wanted to avoid awkward keys in the
transposed organ part, but the part was later played in those awkward keys
(see Wolff 1~~1:138). Wolff (1978:83 and 1991:134) suggested that there were
transposition problems in the cornett and trombone parts (these instruments,
like the organ, were pitched at Chorton, a Mz above Cammerton, so c-minor
would become bh-minor; b-minor would become a-minor). T h e extant
cornett and trombone parts date from the 1724 performance, however (Wolff
1991:41ociting Kobayashi 1 ~ 8 8 ) .
78. Cf. Haynes zoo1:370.
79. Both Joshua Rifkin and I have noticed this in performing the piece.
80. Cf. BC I:212.
81. Schulze 1984:179.
82. I am grateful to Scott Metcalf for pointing out this motet to me.
83. There are three other pieces with minor pitch questions. Schering
1gj6:6on1 notes continuo parts a Mz and m j below the main key in B W V
102/A11~,B W V 97/A189, and B W V loy/A114. T h e part in e-minor for B W V
102 was copied for a by Emanuel Bach, according to BC I1:507.
T h e organ part in G for B W V 97 was for a performance between 1740 and
1747, evidently for a different organ at A - e ~B. W V 105 was also performed af-
ter 1750 by Emanuel Bach, which may explain the transposed continuo part.
H e might have used the rnj continuo part in Hamburg at St. Catherine's (at
A-481) or the Jacobikirche (48rj).
84. Cantatas 22, 23, 63, 194, and the Magnificat are discussed in 6-4.
85. Cowdery 1989:42.
86. Cowdery 1989:42.
87. Cowdery 1989:42.
88. See Cowdery 1 ~ 8 ~ : l o j f f .
89. This chronology follows the suggestions in Hofmann 1993.
90. Cf. Cowdery 1 ~ 8 ~ : 8 j f f .
91. Diirr 1 9 7 7 : makes
~~ the point that the range fits in either tuning.
92. Emans 1989:21.
93. It is difficult to be positive of this, as it is unknown if an hautboy part was
written for B W V 172 (probably not), and the playing circumstances of B W V
21 are obscure. In the lower version of the latter piece, in c-minor, the final
262 Chapter 6
cadence of movement 3 is on CI. Since he avoided this note in B W V 12 and

did not use it in B W V 199, this might be an indication that the note was un-
available on his "Oboe," and that the version in Cammerton-c was per-
formed elsewhere than Weimar. Bach avoided also the low db1 in bar 14 of
the opening Sinfonia to B W V 21 in its version in c-minor; db1 is virtually un-
playable. There could also have been a technical reason for avoiding CI, as on
many original hautboys the note is tuned quite high so that it can also serve
for dhr (see Haynes ~ O O I : Z O Z - O ~ ) .
94. Emans 1989:21.
95. Diirr 198g:155.
96. Durr 198655-6.
97. Diirr 1985:157 considered the band parts a later addition.
98. Diirr 1986:36,56-57.
99. Cf. Diirr 1985:1g8n6. Don Smithers' suggestion (1~8~:122) that a set of tief-
Cammerton double reeds were used again at Leipzig for cantata As5a/[BWV
3 ~ ]cannot be sustained, because the piece at Leipzig sounded a M2 lower.
100. Diirr 1977:47. This information was already published by Schlenger
1931:93.
101. Durr 1977:48. Heyde 1987:34 notes that when Kuhnau became Cantor of
St. Thomas' Leipzig in 1701, the church possessed a "Quart-Fagott," which
would probably have been at A+[. Diirr (1986:55, 57) still considered the ques-
tion of the use of bassoon in later performances open, but since a new part
would have had to be written to accommodate the problems of low range
(and no such part survives), whereas a new cello part in C was especially
prepared for the 1724 performance (Ab 10 in KB), it seems that a bassoon was
not used in the Leipzig performance.
102. There may have been another lost version performed on 31 Oct 1724.
103. Fingered D-major is unusual (it is used in only one other piece for oboe
da caccia solo, none for hautbois d'amour, and three of the five times it ap-
pears for hautboy involve arrangements).
104. Cf. Haynes 2001:378-83.
105. As to the potential problem raised by the range of the hautboy parts to
movement 5, according to BC I:229 (Acjz), the movement did not yet exist in
the Weimar version. Nor do there appear to have been hautboys involved in
that version.
106. A recording of B W V 106 and B W V 131on Oiseau Lyre uses A-I and A+I.
107. Joshua Rifkin*; Rifkin 1989:83.
108. T h e trumpet would have been in the same situation as that described by
Kuhnau for one of his cantatas (see 5-~3b):"The trumpets are written in Cti,
so they should add a crook at the mouthpiece so the trumpets sound a tone
lower, that is, in Cammerton."
109. Joshua Rifkin* notes that the vocal parts are very high in the Leipzig
version, so they would have been even higher at Weimar.
110. Durr pointed out that the transposition of a third suggests Weimar, but
Cowdery 1989:37 reasons that if both the M2 and m3 transpositions existed in
Weimar and Leipzig, they could also have existed in Muhlhausen.
111. T h e continuo does not specify organ, but the part includes some doubling
of the soprano as well as figures, both suggesting a keyboard instrument.
112. In 2:26, 31, 41, and 51, and 6:22 and 32.
113. Clemens Brenneis* (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin). Terry 1932:155 mistak-
enly reports that the bassoon part is in c-minor in the autograph score. In the
score of B W V 12 the hautboy is untransposed but was probably played a Mz
higher, whereas in B W V 152 some parts in the autograph score are in g-, oth-
ers in e-minor. It is thus possible that the separate Fagotto part was trans-
posed, even though it is not transposed in the score.
114. Mendel 1955:jqo.
115. Marissen 1991:16nj1.
116. Mendel 1955:352; see Durr 1977:75 and NBA Kritischer Bericht v.
117. Rifkin 1989:84. Cf. also Marissen 1991:34-5.
118. T h e use of an hautbois d'amour at A-I instead of an hautboy at A-2, as in
Harnoncourt's recording for Teldec (Das Kantatenwerk, ~01.43) gives the
work a different color than Bach apparently intended.
119. Cowdery (1989:183) speculated that the continuo parts in g-minor were
used in a performance at Weimar a semitone higher: such a performance
would require an "Oboe" at A-I, the presence of which is documented only for
the period April-August 1714. See Dreyfus 1987:248n34 and 124, and Marissen
1991:34for further comments on this piece.
120. In a somewhat disguised form, it is the subject of a very funny satirical
recording by Peter Ustinov, who manages to convey its difficulty by singing
the voice and oboe parts.
Chapter 7
1730-1770: A "Diversity of Pitches"
r o m the vantage point of t h e present, t h e period 1730-1770

shows t h e most pitch diversity of any studied in this book. A s
t h e descriptions by Agricola and Q u a n t z that follow demon-
strate, t h e period 1730 to I770 is marked by a bewildering variety of
pitch standards. T h e best part of the evidence indicates that t h e most
c o m m o n level was still A-I 0 . A . Silbermann in 1772 called it "Cam-
merton o r Italian pitch," and said it was "the normal pitch used every-
where nowadays," and in Holland it was called "d'ordinaire toon" or
normal pitch'), but A+o, often k n o w n as "Venetian pitch" o r Corista
Veneto was quickly overtaking it, and was to become t h e predominant
European standard by 1770, a position it has held t o this day.
Nacchini began lowering Venetian organs to Corista Veneto at A + o
in t h e 1740s. Considering t h e wave of players that issued from Italy in
this period, it is not surprising that this level made such inroads. It
was as if a consensus was reached everywhere at about the same time
that, as Q u a n t z put it, "the diversity of pitches used for tuning is most
detrimental t o music in general," and that a compromise was in order.
A + o was not new in the D u t c h Republic (see G r a p h 16), but m a n y
countries began t o adopt it during this period: France by at least 1750
(see 7-4) G e r m a n y (where it was called "Chorton" by J.A. Silbermann;
see 7-5b), England, and the Habsburg Lands.
Chapter 7
7-1 T h e P i t c h Descriptions o f Q u a n t z a n d Agricola
T h e t w o classic descriptions of European pitch in mid-century w e r e

t h o s e o f Agricola a n d his colleague a n d s o m e t i m e teacher Q u a n t z . Ag-
ricola w r o t e in 1757:
I n Lombardy, and especially in Venice, harpsichords and other in-

struments are tuned very high. Their pitch is close to being only a
half-tone lower than the ordinary Chorton or trumpet-pitch, so that
what is C on the trumpet is about C# for them. In Rome the pitch is
very low, almost like the former French pitch, a major third lower
than Chorton; so that C on the trumpet almost coincides with E on the
other instruments. This pitch is a half-tone lower even than the so-
called A-Cammerton that has been introduced in many places in Ger-
many, in which the A of the Chorton instruments sounds the same as
the C of the chamber-pitch ones. In Naples they keep to a middle path
between this low and very high tuning.'
Like Agricola, Q u a n t z compared t h e pitches o f various parts o f Eur-

ope. Q u a n t z had been in Italy i n 1724-1726, t h e greater part o f t h e t i m e
i n Rome. H e t h e n m o v e d o n t o Paris, arriving t h e r e i n A u g u s t , 1726,
a n d stayed f o r seven months.' H e w r o t e i n 1752:
I d o not wish to argue for the French chamber pitch [ton de la Cham-
bre des FranGois4]which is very low, although it is the most favorable
for the traverso, the hautboy, the bassoon,' and certain other instru-
ments; neither can I approve of Venetian pitch which is very high, be-
cause when tuned to it, the wind instruments sound too disagreeable. I
therefore consider that the best chamber pitch is the one generally
known as German A-Cammerton, which is a minor third lower than
the old Chorton. It is neither too high nor too low, but represents the
mean between the French and Venetian; and if the string and wind in-
struments are tuned to it, they can produce the desired e f f e ~ t . ~
In t h e s a m e section, Q u a n t z added t h e following: " V e n e t i a n p i t c h is

c u r r e n t l y t h e highest, a n d a l m o s t t h e s a m e as o u r old Chorton. T w e n t y
y e a r s a g o t h e pitch at R o m e w a s low, a n d t h e s a m e a s t h a t o f Paris. A t
present, however, t h e Parisian pitch7 is beginning a l m o s t t o e q u a l t h a t
1730-1770:A "Diversity of Pitches" 267
of Venice." W h e n he wrote "twenty years ago," Q u a n t z was probably

referring t o the mid-1720s when he himself was in Italy.
T h e r e is a great deal of information here. Q u a n t z and Agricola
were highly qualified t o write about this subject, and were in close
contact each other, so they probably discussed it together. T h e y are
the only t w o sources that mention A-Cammerton as a concept. But de-
spite their credentials, their proximity, and the fact that their com-
ments appeared within five years of each other, these two statements
seriously contradict both themselves and other historical evidence.
T h e y also disagree about the level of Chorton, which Agricola put a lit-
tle more than a semitone above Venetian instrumental pitch; Q u a n t z
said the t w o levels were almost the same.
If we assume these authors were describing whole intervals, it was
not possible both for Chorton t o be A t 1 and A-Cammerton t o be A-I,
because they claimed that French pitch was a M3 (four semitones) be-
low Chorton and A-Cammerton was a semitone above French pitch as
well as a m3 below Chorton. T h u s either Chorton would have had t o be
A t 2 , o r French pitch was A-3 (making A-Cammerton A-2). Neither of
these options satisfies what we know of these pitches from other
sources. In fact, it is clear from the evidence of surviving instruments
that Chorton at A t 1 and French pitch at A-2 were a m3 apart.
It is true we are not dealing in pure intervals; Agricola liberally
uses words like "close to," "about," and "almost," suggesting that cor-
ners are being rounded off. If the reports by Mocchi and Grassi-Landi
are accurate, Roman organs were o n the low side of A-2; in the 38os, in
other words. Agricola might have been describing Corista di S Pietro
here, at 384.
W e have t o assume that Agricola's "ordinary Chorton o r trumpet-
pitch" was At1; he knew singers and church organs, and trumpets had
long been at A+I. If we take a fairly high Chorton at, say, 470, the in-
terval with Corista di S Pietro does just barely make a M j (though a
sour-L'alm~~t"-~ne).
But Agricola and Q u a n t z were both adamant that A-Cammerton
was by definition a m3 lower than Chorton ("in which the A of the
choir-pitch instruments sounds the same as the C of the chamber-
pitch ones"). Because it was a transposing pitch, corners could not be
rounded off for A-Cammerton; it was precisely a m j lower than A+I,
thus A-2.
268 Chapter 7
But Agricola said A-Cammerton had "been introduced in many

places in Germany," and that it was a half-tone higher than French
pitch. Both these descriptions fit A-I, not A-2. A-2 was not a common
pitch in Germany compared to A-I (see Graph 14c and d). And the
lowest pitch current in France was A-2, not A-3 (see Graphs 13c and d,
and 19c and d).
I have spent many hours over many years trying to find a way to
reconcile these contradictions, and have not so far succeeded.
Considering the weight of other historical evidence, it cannot be
accepted that A-Cammerton was A-2, and it is difficult to believe these
authors would have thought of Chorton as A t 2 (as Graph 2od shows,
the great majority of German organs built in the period that Agricola
and Quantz were writing were at At]).
Agricola observed that Naples kept "to a middle path" between
Rome and Venice. There are two surviving organs from the region of
Naples built in the 1750s at 405 and 409, and the pitchpipe at the
Museo Civico in Bologna gives 411 as a Neapolitan pitch. Naples
would then have been at about 408; if it was more or less equidistant
from Rome and Venice and Rome was 384, Venice would have been
about 432, which corresponds well with what we know of Nacchini's
organ pitch. It also corresponds to Quantz's statement that Paris was
almost equal to Venice; Parisian pitch in the 1740s and 50s ("at pre-
sent" for Quantz) was apparently on the rise and the highest wood-
winds were in the 420s and up to 443 (see Graph x3d).
This gives us three reference points with which to compare the
other pitches mentioned by Agricola. If Venice was in the mid-43os,
Chorton or trumpet-pitch would have been A+I. If Rome was 384, "der
ehemaligen franzosischen Stimmung" ("former French pitch") would
have been similar ("fast gleich"), and Agricola's A-Cammerton a half-
tone higher would have been a lowish A-I. This fits the other evi-
dence, although it makes A-Cammerton a M2 below Chorton or trum-
pet-pitch, not the m3 it was supposed to be by definition. Accepting
these levels acknowledges a contradiction in the statements of both
Agricola and Quantz.
These levels are represented in Graph 35, interpreted very literally
(as concerns midway points).
A "Diversity of Pitches"
1730-1770:
7-2 Traveling Virtuosos
Musicians in the and 181hcenturies traveled frequently, but the age

of the "wandering minstrel," the traveling virtuoso, really began in
t h e 1750s and increased in the following decades as travel became a
regular feature of the job. T h i s is an important factor in understanding
pitch standards, because in order for musicians t o be able t o travel,
pitch must be similar wherever they go. T h i s is as critical for singers
as it is for instrumentalists.
A n example of instrumentalists performing in several countries
within a short space of time is the escape from Dresden of Antonio
Besozzi, perhaps the most celebrated hautboist in Germany at the
time, and his son Carlo. Besozzi had been the solo hautboy at Dresden
under Hasse since 1738. T h e Prussian king Friedrich I1 attacked and
bombarded Dresden during the Seven Years W a r of 1756-1763, which
caused the breakup of the Dresden Capelle. T h e Besozzis fled t o Lon-
don in early 1757 and went o n to Paris, where they performed in De-
cember; they then spent the season 1758-1759 at Ludwigsburg (Stutt-
gart), playing under Jommelli. It is possible they afterward waited in
T u r i n for the war to end.
Pitch in Dresden was A-I, so the Besozzis were presumably travel-
ing with instruments at that pitch (or, if they had alternate top joints,
a comma o r so above o r below). Many of the singers in the opera at
Ludwigsburg were probably Neapolitan, and pitch at Naples was also
A-I (see 7-jc). Besozzi had played at Naples before going to Dresden
in 1738.
Famous singers in this period must also have had circuits between
various opera theaters, thereby tending t o standardize pitch. A study
of cast lists would clarify such circuits and probably yield valuable in-
formation o n pitch levels at t h e important European opera centers.
7-3 Italy
Giuseppe Paolucci wrote of pitches in Italy in 1765: " T h e highest pitch

we have in Italy is the Corista Lombardo (Lombard pitch), advanced
about a third over that of Rome, which is the lowest, so that if a singer
270 Chapter 7
in Lombardy sings for instance a D, the same note would be about an

F in Rome. Between the one and the other are the coristi di mezzo [in-
termediate pitch standard^]."^ Paolucci's coristi di mezzo, between the
extremes of the Roman Corista di S Pietro (A-2) and Corista Lombardo
(A+I), are probably the levels shown on Graph 35: Naples, Lombardy
and Venice. As we have seen, both A-I and A t o had been common in
Venice and elsewhere.
7-3a Venice
It was Paolucci who most clearly distinguished Corista Lombardo and

Corista Veneto. H e described how Nacchini had lowered organs about
a semitone from Corista Lombardo (see 4-ral), and added "all the organs
they make there [in the Veneto] now are like that compared to the or-
gans in Lombardy." As we have seen, Nacchini's organs are consis-
tently in the 430S, as are his successor Callido's. The organs built in
Venice and the Veneto in this period (1750s and 60s) whose pitches are
known are in the mid-430s. Evidently by Paolucci's time, the 1760s~
Corista Lombardo at At1 was rare in Venice.
As Graph 12d shows, woodwinds built in Italy between about 1730
and 1770 were pitched between 400 and 440, ranging from A-19'2 to A-I
to A t o (the pitches Paolucci called coristi di mezzo). It is unclear which
of these levels was predominant or how they were used. As we learned
from J.C. Petit (ca.1740; see 4 - I ~ I )A-I
, was being used at Venice in this
period in opera and chamber music. W e have confirmation of this
from J.E. Galliard, who was a celebrated composer and the English
translator of Tosi's Observations on the florid song (1742). Galliard added
a comment in his translation to the effect that "The Pitch of Lom-
bardy, or Venice, is something more than half a Tone higher than at
Rome." If Corista di S Pietro was 384, "something more than half a
tone higher9' would have been A-I.
7-3b Other Northern and Central Italian Cities
Paolucci's distinction between Corista Lombardo and Corista Veneto

was probably approximate. T h e line between Lombardy and the Ve-
netian Republic is not always easy t o draw; "Venice" was a state that
included Padua, Verona, Vicenza, Udine, Treviso, Brescia, and Ber-
gamo. And indeed, a number of pitch sources in the mid-18'~century
make n o distinction between the areas. Galliard spoke in 1742 of "the
Pitch of Lombardy, o r Venice" in the same breath. Tans'ur (London,
1756:83) did the same ("The Lombardy, and Venice Pitch, is a T o n e
higher than ours.") Agricola (1757; see 7'1) used the phrase "In Lom-
bardy, and especially in Venice."
W h i l e many organs in Lombardy m a y have remained at A + I , ~it
looks as if music from this period that involved woodwinds was being
played lower, at the coristi di mezzo. Italian traversos and recorders of
this period were being made in T u r i n and Milan, among other places.
Both Palanca's and Castel's instruments show a range from A-19'2 t o
A+o; Deiardin was at A-I, and in this period Anciuti was at A+o (see
Appendices 4 and 5). In fact, most of the organs built in this area were
also at A-I and A t o (see Graph 7a).
T h e r e is evidence of the use of A-I at Padua in the 1730s. In 1856,
FCtis wrote'" that J.-B. Vuillaume, t h e greatest French violin maker of
t h e day, had told h i m he believed the pitch used by Giuseppe Tartini
in 1734 was a semitone lower than t h e one current in Paris in 1856.
Since t h e latter was somewhat above 440, if Vuillaume was right,
Tartini's pitch would have been around 420. Tartini lived in Padua at
t h e time.
Barbieri cites a letter from Luigi Tagliavini that suggests that a n A
between 430 and 435 "appears valid also for [the area ofl the Marche,
where innumerable organs by Nacchini and Callido have remained in-
tact.""
7-3c Rome and Naples
T h e pitchpipe mentioned in 1-4a,I2datable only t o the r71h o r 181h cen-

tury, gives two "Milanese pitches" at 425 and 375 and a "Neapolitan"
pitch at 411. 425 has little t o d o with other indications of
Lombard/Venetian pitch; 375 could be Neapolitan, and 411 is also simi-
lar t o other data from Naples. O f the three organs built in this period
in the area south of Naples whose pitch is known, one (Morano
Calabro, Carmine) is at 375, and two are at A-11/2. O n e of these is the
272 Chapter 7
organ at Crotone dated 1753 by De Martino, builder by appointment to

the King of Naples; its pitch is 409.
T h e close connection between opera performance in Rome and
Naples continued, as indicated by the careers of Pergolesi in the 173os,
w h o worked alternately in both cities, and Piccinni in the 1750s. De-
spite this, Agricola in 1757 clearly distinguished the pitches of the two
cities: "In Naples they keep to a middle path between this low [Ro-
man] and very high [Venetian] tuning." Since Rome was on the low
side of A-2 and Venice at A t o , the mean would have been A-I."
Roman pitch in 1765 (at least some form of it, such as church or-
gans) is approximately placed by Paolucci in his statement quoted
above: "if a singer in Lombardy sings for instance a D, the same note
would be about an F in Rome." T h e extremes are bracketed here as a
minor 3d, so they must have been in the A + I and A-2 range.
A n anomaly is the description in 1746 by William Tans'urI4 of a
pitchpipe he had had made "by an ingenious Workman, in Northamp-
tonshire," that with the dimensions he specified:
sounds the note C Solfaut, Concert, or Opera Pitch, for a Vocal Per-
formance, &c. from which all other Notes may be proportioned. The
Lombardy, and Venice Pitch, is a Tone higher than ours, or theirs at
Rome."
Tans'ur seems to set a number of relations here:
Concert- (or Consort-) Pitch, Opera Pitch, and Roman pitch

were all at the same pitch level.
"Lombardy and Venice Pitch" was a M2 above them.
Tans'ur makes the distance between Rome and Venice a Mt, not the
usual m j (A-2 t o A+I). H e may have been referring t o the movement
toward A t o in Venice represented by Nacchini's lowering of Ve-
netian organs to A t o (a M2 above Rome at A-t). It is odd, however, t o
see Consort Pitch placed a t the same level as Roman pitch, unless
Tans'ur was referring to some other kind of Roman pitch (opera, per-
haps) that had gone up, while the famous organs of Rome stayed at
their lower level. Considering the connection between opera perform-
ances at Rome and Naples, Rome could well have adopted Neapolitan
pitch out of practical necessity.
Tans'ur's "Concert o r Opera pitch" reminds us of t h e statement by
J.C. Petit in ca.1740:
The fixed tone is higher or lower in different Countries. In Italy it is

much higher than in France, in England it is between both. But ob-
serve, that in Italy the Church Tone is almost always a whole Tone
higher than that of the Opera, or of Chamber Music.
In 4 - I ~ w
I e reasoned that t h e pitch of "Opera and C h a m b e r Music" at
Venice could have been (on t h e authority of Petit's statement) A-I.
T h u s opera all over Italy m a y have been at A-I o r A-195 by t h e 1740s.
7-4 France
T h e pitches of French instruments in t h e period 1730-1770 are s h o w n

in G r a p h 19d (organs) and G r a p h 13d (woodwinds). O r g a n s show t h e
same centers as they d o in all t h e other periods, A-2, A-I, and possibly
A-IY~w , i t h A-2 predominating. W o o d w i n d s , o n t h e other hand, are
scattered f r o m 382 t o 442, probably representing four standards.
I n light of this, it is curious that in about 1740 Michel Corrette
claimed that "Toutes les Flutes sont d u ton de 1 ' 0 ~ ~ r a "(All ' ~ traver-
SOS" are at Ton d'ope'ra). Corrette appears t o have been oversimplify-
ing somewhat. In fact, T h o m a s Lot, o n e of t h e best-known of t h e Pa-

risian woodwind makers at t h e time Corrette published his book, is
survived by a number of traversos at 414, and t h e o n e owned by Ma-
sahiro Arita originally played with its five corps at 394, 402, 410, 422,
and 428. Curiously, Hotteterre le Romain also gave t h e impression of
a c o m m o n standard w h e n in 1737 h e commented o n t h e drone box of
t h e musette, "If this drone is tuned at Ton ordinaire, you will t h u s be in
tune w i t h t h e other instruments that play in D. T h i s can be useful in
ensembles . . ."I8 T h i s term, "Ton ordinaire," o r "normal pitch," implies
t h e existence of o n e single c o m m o n standard. Looking again at G r a p h
13d, it is difficult t o guess which cluster of woodwind pitches
Hotteterre meant by Ton ordinaire.
274 Chapter 7
A clue as t o t h e most c o m m o n pitch for instrumental music is a

remark by Willard Martin (1994:13), w h o points out that surviving
harpsichords by H e m s c h and G o e r m a n s made in Paris in t h e 1750s-
1760s "had a m o n g the longest scales in t h e French tradition, strongly
suggesting that harpsichord pitches were not creeping higher in m i d
c e n t ~ r y . ' "T ~ h i s suggests that harpsichords, which were of course used
f o r chamber and orchestral music, were still generally at A-2.
T h e woodwinds at A+o s h o w n in G r a p h 13d are all traversos m a d e
b y T h o m a s Lot (fl.1734-1789?), M a r t i n Lot (fl.1743-1785), and a n u n -
k n o w n maker;" all of t h e m m a y have been made prior t o 1752, w h e n
Q u a n t z ( w h o kept in contact w i t h flutists in Paris) commented t h a t
"at present, t h e Parisian pitch is beginning almost t o equal t h a t of
Venice" (which, as discussed in 7-3a, w a s most probably in t h e mid-
430s). T h e existence of A + o is also implied by a remark b y Carbasus
( 1 ~ 3 ~ : 1 2w ) , h o listed a m o n g his accomplishments o n t h e harpsichord,
"I c a n perform and transpose at sight, a semitone higher o r a semitone
lower." Since integral semitones are involved o n a keyboard, if h e was
speaking here of pitch standards t o which h e had t o adjust, A + o would
have been t h e highest one.
By 1746, Bollioud-Mermet (24ff) was criticizing French instrumen-
talists for "la hauteur excessive d u ton" ("their excessively high
pitch"). Bollioud-Mermet saw t w o disadvantages t o this rise:
Because very high voices are rare, and on their highest notes are rarely
beautiful, musicians who raise instrumental pitch higher than is natu-
ral . ..cause the most defective limit of ordinary voices to be revealed
.. . in this way, one no longer sings; one shouts.
This same excess also harms instrumental music. The laws of Physics
teach us that the tighter a string is stretched, the less it is able to pro-
duce the vibrations needed to produce a beautiful sound. The elevation
of the pitch thus causes more violent shocks, sharp jerks, and frequent
beats. But [because of the high pitch], the sounding body [of the in-
strument] receives less effect from the tight string, and the more it is
tightened beyond the laws of nature, the less the string can cause the
body [of the instrument] to sound, which is accordingly less efficient.
O n e upward influence o n pitch was undoubtedly t h e n u m b e r o f for-

eign virtuosos w h o played at t h e prestigious Concert spirituel, a n d w h o
1730-1770: A "Diversity of Pitches" 275
brought with them their instruments and their pitches. A number of

well-known wind soloists played there starting in t h e 173os, and most
o r all of t h e m would have been playing at A-I or A+o. T h e great inter-
est of the French in foreign music, especially Italian, is indicated by
Garsualt's dictionary of 1761, which used Italian terminology for in-
struments, including "Organo," "Tromba," "Flauto," violin^,'^ etc."
7-4a Ton dJOphra and Ton de Chapelle
I n 1757, Agricola described "French pitch" as a thing of the past. If by

this pitch he meant A-2 (the lowest pitch of surviving French wood-
winds and organs), his testimony is once again problematic. Even in
Germany this seems t o have been untrue (see 7-sd and Graph r4d);
and in France, Ton d'Ophra in this period was alive and well (cf.
Graphs 13d and ~ g d ) .Part of the reason was that the OpCra had by this
time taken o n the role of a national icon; it was thus essentially con-
servative. "Since the Paris OpCra was such an exceptional institution,
and its orchestra and chorus so numerous, all French writers felt
obliged t o treat it as a special case."" Pitch at the OpCra was fixed by
its repertoire, which still regularly included works by Lully; a change
in Ton d'Ope'ra would have affected voice ranges (at least male ones;
cf. Nivers), and was therefore out of the question. As mentioned in 3-
1b2, the haute-contre voice, often used by Lully for male leads, would
have been vulnerable t o a rise in pitch, since it was already extremely
high. Rameau also frequently used the haute-contre," a voice type that
(since it was natural and not falsetto) depended for its existence o n a
pitch lower than A-I.
I n order t o maintain its Pitch level, t h e OpCra may have owned its
o w n orchestral instruments and lent t h e m t o its player^.'^ A "MC-
moire" in the archives of the OpCra for 22 September 1755 noted that
"Mr. LotJZrmaster instrument maker of Paris, has delivered t o the
AcadCmie Royale nine tuyeaux organisez [bellows-blown flutes o r
pitchpipes],26 needed to fix t h e pitch of t h e OpCra's harpsichord .. .""
T h e fact that pitchpipes were needed (each presumably giving a single
tone) suggests that the opera's working pitch frequency was less than
common by 1755. ~ o u s s e a u ~in' 1768 was critical of the quality of the
276 Chapter 7
instruments used at the OpCra; he may have been hearing old instru-
ments maintained only because of their pitch.
It was thus probably of Ton d'Opkra that Leopold Mozart was
thinking when he wrote in 1764 that "sonderlich in paris der thon oder
die Stimmung nieder und sehr t i e r 9 ("exceptionally in Paris, the
pitch or tuning [is] low and very deep"). The pitches at the OpCra
would have seemed "sehr tief," especially compared with pitch at
Salzburg or Vienna in the same period, where woodwinds were at
about 435.
But already by this period it is likely that the leading edge of Pari-
sian woodwind playing had abandoned instruments tuned at Ton
dJOpkra. As woodwinds at A+o became common, they were probably
used at the OpCra as transposing instruments within a prevailing
standard of A-2. This is suggested by the keys and ranges of wind
parts in Rameau's operas, which are remarkable (and therefore suspi-
cious) for their use of extreme sharp keys and difficult high notes. If
wind used high instruments and transposed their parts down a
whole-step to the level of the voices, they would have eliminated two
sharps in their parts and rescued notes that would in some cases have
extended above the reasonable range of instruments of the period.3o
Most of Rameau's hautboy solos written for the OpCra3' between 1739
and 1749, for instance, are easier and sound better when played down a
tone." By way of confirmation, the obbligatos Rameau wrote for other
purposes than the OpCra (as, for instance, motets and cantatas) are
written in more typical tonalities and ranges for hautboy."
A number of prominent wind players who played for Rameau at
the OpCra were also involved in the Concert spirituel.34This series was
probably using a higher pitch some time before the bassoonist Pierre
Cugnier, writing in Laborde's Essai (1780:329), singled it out: "The
pitch that is used nowadays in all kinds of situations, especially at the
Concert spirituel, being much higher than the standard that was used
when bassoons were first used, the instrument must of necessity be
proportionally shortened."
It may well have been that the OpCra-Comique and ComCdie-
Italienne, with their Italian orientation and repertoire of opCras-
comiques by Duni, Francois-AndrC Danican Philidor, and Monsigny,
were already using the higher pitch at A+o beginning in the late 1750s.
I n 1736, Michel Pignolet de MontCclair wrote that, "Le ton de cha-

pelle est plus haut que le ton de l'OpCra."Js ("Ton de Chapelle is higher
t h a n Ton d'ope'ra."). As noted previously, the organs shown in Graph
19d are mostly at A-2, with about a quarter at A-I. T h e three-quarters
at A-2 average 391. If we take this t o be Ton de Chapelle, then MontC-
clair's Ton d'Ope'ra would have been still lower. MontCclair's state-
ment may be explained in a comment made by Dom BCdos de Celles
30 years later: " W e have ton de Chapelle and ton de I'Ope'ra. T h i s latter
is not a fixed pitch; it is raised and lowered a quarter-tone and more,
depending o n the range of voice^."'^ T h e mobility of Ton d70pCra was
mentioned also by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and later by Cugnier (see 8-
2b). T w o years after BCdos' comments, Rousseau (1768516) wrote,
"For music, we have Ton de Chapelle & Ton d'Opkra. T h e latter has n o
fixed reference; but in France it is usually lower than the former." S o
although it varied, it seems in this period Ton d'Ope'ra was often lower
than A-2.
It is curious that neither BCdos nor Rousseau registered the higher
pitches of woodwinds that existed in their day. BCdos was evidently
preoccupied with church music, Rousseau with the theater. BCdos
showed his bias by commenting that "Ton de Chapelle is a fixed pitch
in France; it best matches the range of both the voice and all musical
instruments."" Like Corrette in Ca.1740, BCdos made a claim here for
the supremacy of one pitch, in this case T o n de Chapelle. Since i t is
clear from surviving instruments that there were a number of pitch
standards in operation, neither of these comments can be taken as
wholly objective observations.
7-5 Germany
Jacob Adlung spoke frequently in his two erudite books (Musica

mechanica organoedi, 1726, and Anleitung zu der musikalischen Gelahrtheit,
1 ~ 5 8 )of the pitch standards in Germany in his day. As a keyboard
player, Adlung tended t o think in transposable semitones, so his
pitches all fit into neat slots exactly a semitone apart. But certainty
ends there; although it is clear that both Cammerton and Chorton were
at more than one level in Germany, Adlung always defined t h e m in
278 Chapter 7
reference to each other, so that no absolute values can be derived. In

1726:2:55, for instance, he wrote: "Organs are tuned to Chorton, as it is
now called, which is I or 1% tones higher than Cammerton." Adlung is
thus saying that there were two varieties of Chorton (as noted previ-
ously, Saxon organs of this period confirm this: 69 percent are at A t 1
and 12 percent at A+2). This is probably what he meant when he
commented that "It is not possible to report how high our Chorton is,
however, because it ~ a r i e s . " 'As
~ mentioned before (page 204)~Adlung
spoke of hohen Kammerton ["high Cammerton"] a M2 lower than Chor-
ton, as well as tief-Cammerton ["low Cammerton"], a tone and a half
lower than Chorton.
T h e fact that there were two levels of both Chorton and Cammerton
is not news to us by now, however, and there is little room for ques-
tion about the frequencies to which the names were attached. In any
case, we have other ways to orient these pitch names to Hz values: the
most convincing are the German instruments that survive from this
period.
O f German organs built in this period of which the original pitches
are known and their pitch names were recorded in contracts or re-
ports, three are at Cammerton:
414 Cammer-Ton Dresden, Frauenkirche, 1736

415 Kammerton Dresden, Hofkirche, 1754
408 Cammerton Hamburg, Michaeliskirche, 1762
one is at Cornet-ton and one is at "Chorton" a half-step higher:
464 Cornetton Eisenberg, Schofikirche, 1733

486 Chortonig Cadenberge, St. Nikolai, 1750
Graph 7c shows the pitches of German organs in this period. Ger-

many was still building a small number of organs at At2.j9 T h e prin-
cipal organ pitches were A + I and A-I, however, and a small percentage
were at A t o .
Surviving German woodwinds in this period (Graph 14d) are
grouped fairly clearly in three areas: A-2, A-I, and A t o . (This pattern
continues into the next period, after 1770, although A-2 virtually dis-
appears). Woodwinds came from the following places:
1730-1770:
A-2
Roding (Kiinigsberger 2x)
Berchtesgaden (Walch 3x)
Dresden/Berlin (Quantz qx)
Butzbach (Scherer zx)
Nuremberg (Oberlender)
A-I
Leipzig (Eichentopf, Crone, Poerschmann, Hartwig)
Butzbach (Scherer 7x)
Nuremberg (Oberlender, Schell, Denner, Engelhard)
Dresden (Grenser, Lott ZX?)
[south-Germany?] (Strehli)
Berchtesgaden (Walch zx)
A+o
Nuremberg (Denner ZX, Schell, 8 c l )
Berchtesgaden (Fische, Walch)
Dresden (Grenser, Lott?)
Leipzig (Hirschstein)
? (Klenig 2x)
Except for Konigsberger1s and Klenig's, all these workshops made in-
struments in a t least two pitches, and several are represented by all
three levels, suggesting all were current. T h e Scherer workshop is
survived by a clarinet with alternate middle joints at both 415 and 430,
indicating the popularity of these two levels in this p e r i ~ d . ~ "
Finally, we have the testimony of the organ-builder Johann An-
dreas Silbermann (1712-1783),son of Andreas Silbermann and nephew
of Gottfried Silbermann. Silbermann left a wealth of information o n
organs in the five volumes of the "Silbermann Archive" (ed. Marc
Schaefer, 1 9 9 ~ ) These
. reports are both clear and consistent, and ap-
pear to be thoroughly reliable.4' Although they were finished in 1772,
Silbermann's notes on organ pitches and pitch standards refer back to
many years of organ making starting in the 1730s.
Silbermann began making organs at the low pitches of his father,
which he used irregularly until 1766:
Marbach 1738 ("Opera-Thon")

Chapter 7
Strasbourg, St. Thomas4' 1741 387

Wasselonne 1745 E*392*1
St. Q u i r i n 1746 402
Strasbourg, Temple Neuf4' 1747 385*
Soultz, St. Maurice 1750 392
Weiler (VillC)44 1757 [*395I
Mulhouse, St. Jean 1766 C*403I
I n t h e early 174os, Silbermann made a study trip t o Saxony t o w o r k

for his uncle G ~ t t f r i e d . ~A' s w e have seen, most of Gottfried Silber-
m a n n ' s organs were in Chorton. But t h e few h e made at Cammerton (A-
I ) were a m o n g his most famous. J o h a n n Andreas adopted A-I soon af-
ter t h i s visit, a n d used it for m a n y of his later organs, calling it "that
Cammerton that is V"-tone higher t h a n frantziisische t h ~ n . "By ~ ~t h e
1770s) h e was calling it "the normal pitch used everywhere nowadays,
Cammerton o r Italianischen T h o n (Italian p i t ~ h ) . " ~ 'Silbermann's
pitches were n o t exceptional; a n u m b e r of other Alsatian organs m a d e
in t h e s a m e period give similar pitches t o those of his surviving in-
strument~.~~
I n 1772, in a letter t o t h e respected musical scholar M a r t i n Gerbert,
Prince-Abbot of St. Blasien, Silbermann described various pitch stan-
dards and t h e relation between them:
O n the subject of the pitches in which the organ should be tuned, no

doubt the so-called Cammerthon is the one to choose. Although Cam-
merthon is quite frequently confused with Chorthon, to explain the dif-
ference, there are four pitches in which the organ is tuned. All over
Germany, the most common used to be Cornetthon. This was espe-
cially popular among organ builders because the largest pipes took up
less room, requiring no unusual lengths. But since this pitch was trou-
blesome to singers because it was so high, it was lowered V" step and
called Chorthon. This was again lowered 1/2 step and called Cammer-
thon. This pitch appears to be generally and completely accepted, as all
musical instruments are tuned to it. I t is also called Italian pitch, as it
is common throughout Italy. In France, the pitch was yet again 2 '
9
step lower than Cammerthon and was called French pitch, but is seldom
used anymore.49
Silbermann had written a similar letter (reversing the order of the

pitches, though with similar remarks) t o the Superior of the Predi-
gerkirche in Base1 in 1766:
I n different past times, they used t o e m p l o y four different pitches.

T h e lowest w a s French pitch (der franzasische T h o n ) . 92' tone higher
t h a n this came Cammer-Thon, o r so-called Italian pitch, t o which
nowadays all ensembles are tuned. T h e organ a t Arlesheim is also at
this pitch, a n d t h e y would like it also for t h e o n e in Miihlhausen. A n -
o t h e r pitch '/z tone higher t h a n this is Chor-Thon. A n d yet another '/z
tone above this is Cornet-Thon. All t h e old organs were tuned in t h e
latter, but it is not c o m m o n now.'"
T h e pitch relationships described in these letters are confirmed in

other descriptions Silbermann made of organs. As a reference pitch,
Silbermann used "der franzosische Thon," presumably because he had
begun making organs at that pitch. His "model organ" was the one he
had made at Marbach in "Opera-Thon" in 1738. I n various writings,
he used the phrase "Opera oder franzosischer Thon," indicating that
he equated the two terms.
T h i s organ is . . . tuned t o Chorton . . . T u n e d about t o Chorton . . .

therefore a tone above franzosischer.''
. . . in that Cammerton t h a t is 1/2-tone higher thanfrantzosische thon."
T h e church shall be tuned t o t h e normal pitch used everywhere
nowadays, Cammerton o r Italianischen Thon."
T h a t these standards represented specific pitch frequencies is further

indicated by Silbermann's comment o n the organ at the Abbey of
Schwarzach, whose pitch he described as "zwischen d e m franzoschen
[sic] und Kammerthon" ("between French pitch and Camrnert~n").'~
Because so many original organ pitches by the three Silbermanns
survive o r can be deduced, and so many are identified by name, it is
not difficult t o attach frequencies t o the pitch names used by Silber-
mann. T h e y are simply A + I , A t o , A-I and A-2. T h e relevant Silber-
m a n n organs are the following:
282 Chapter 7
Frequency Location Description
Strasbourg, St. Margarethen 1'/2thon hoher als der

franzosische Kam-
merton
Strasbourg, St. Niklaus Cornet -Thon
Strasbourg, S Pierre-le-Vieux Cornet-Thon
Strasbourg, St. Aurelien Cornet-Thon
Freyberg, Dom Cornet oder Chor-Tono
Freyberg, St. Jacobi Cornett- oder Chor-Tono
Rotha, St. Marienkirche Chor-Thon
-
A-I
416 Dresden, Sophienkirche Cammer-Thon
415 Dresden, Hofkirche Kammerton
414 Dresden, Frauenkirche Cammer-Thon
C*WI Zittau, St. Johannis Cammer-Thon
418 Arlesheim, Cathedral Cammer-/Italianische
Thon
-
A-2
387 Strasbourg, St. Thomas Ton der alten Oper,
einen Ton tiefer als
[= 4351
38~+ Strasbourg, Temple Neuf Opera oderfianzosischer
Thon
[*395I Weiler (VillC) Frantzoschem Thon
T h e levels of the standards J.A. Silbermann described were thus as

follows:
A+I Cornet-ton
A+o Chorton
A-I Gewohnlichen Kammerthon/ltaliiinischen Thon
A-2 Operathon/franzosischer Thon
W e are now in a position t o examine other evidence o n these different

standards.
G r a p h 2 0 shows h o w prevalent A t 1 was as a n organ Pitch. Although

in this period a scattering of organs at higher pitches existed, A t 1 was
by far t h e most c o m m o n pitch (Graph 2od).
"Cornet-Thon" continued t o indicate A ~ Ias, s h o w n by t h e relation
between t h e original pitches and the descriptions of Silbermann's or-
gans. T h a t is n o surprise. But even this late, organs were not t h e only
instruments at this pitch (cf. the "Cornet Hautbois" and "Cornet
Fagot u n d HoboC" mentioned in 5-4b, probably used for playing w i t h
church organs).
I n 1752 Q u a n t z considered t h e "very low French chamber pitch" to
be t h e "most advantageous for t h e traverso, the hautboy, the bassoon,
and some other instruments." W i t h such a bias, it is difficult t o be-
lieve that Q u a n t z ( w h o finished instruments himself) was being en-
tirely objective and sincere w h e n h e w e n t o n t o say,
Instruments could be made smaller and narrower for the sake of the
high pitch, but most instrument makers work from model designs
they are used to, with proportions appropriate for low pitch. Only a
few craftsmen would be able to reduce their dimensions in a correct
proportion that would produce higher-pitched instruments that played
well in tune. And even if a few succeeded, the question is whether in-
struments adjusted to high pitch would produce the same effect as
they do with their present dimensions, which appear to be the most
natural."
It may be Q u a n t z was writing in ignorance of the fact that G e r m a n

woodwind makers had made good instruments at A t 1 in t h e genera-
tions immediately preceding his own. But it was disingenuous of h i m
t o also write as if woodwinds at A t o were a n imaginary thing, w h e n
h e must have k n o w n that this was t h e principle pitch of both Grenser
a n d G r u n d m a n n working at t h e time in Dresden, where he himself
had played. O n e begins t o realize that Quantz's statements o n pitch
284 Chapter 7
were n o t meant t o be entirely objective reports. Indeed, w h e n h e used

phrases like "I d o not wish t o argue for" and "neither can I approve
of;" h e was being quite candid in advocating his personal preferences.
7-sb A + o as Chorton
Adlung, perhaps reflecting t h e general usage of the t e r m in G e r m a n y ,

had attributed Chorton t o t w o different levels. But Silbermann w a s
dealing w i t h his o w n instruments, and for h i m (as for others, as w e
saw i n 5-7, as early as t h e 1720s) Chorton meant A+o. Kleemann, f o r in-
stance (1977:102), reports o n a n organ lowered from "Kornetton" t o
Chorton in 1747 in Baden-Wiirttemberg. Petri (1767x38) mentioned a
"Feld-Ton" a semitone higher t h a n his Chorton. It is quite possible
that t h e t w o standards in question were A + [ and A+o, as for Silber-
mann.
T h e organ builder Philipp S t u m m asked a client in a letter of Feb-
ruary 1770 if a certain instrument should be pitched "Chorton o r Cor-
net-ton; t h e latter is usual, and most organs are tuned t o it."56 S t u m m
w a s clearly thinking of t w o specific pitch levels, presumably A + o and
A+I. H i s brother Heinrich repeated t h e proposal for Cornet-ton in
m o r e detail t o the same client in a letter t h e n e x t month, clarifying t h e
relation between the standards:
From your Reverence's second kind letter I note that you have ex-
pressed a wish that the organ be adjusted to Chorton, for the reason
that Cornet-ton is too high for singing and not every organist is able to
transpose when necessary. Yet Cornet-ton is the only proper and nor-
mal pitch for hymns, and is prized everywhere that a regular instru-
mental ensemble is not involved, since, as they say, hymns at Chorton
seem too low and lethargic. This certainly makes sense, as an organ
tuned to Comet-ton has more freshness and liveliness than one at Chor-
ton; besides, it gives the organist more options when he is obliged to
arrange and tran~pose.~'
It m a y o r m a y not have been relevant that it was in S t u m m ' s interest

t o use t h e higher pitch, since t h e organ w i t h its shorter pipes was less
expensive t o make. In a n y case, S t u m m ' s opinion of the advantages of
Cornet-ton over Chorton appears diametrically opposed to that of an-

other organ builder, Christian Vater. Vater mentioned building an or-
gan at Burgdorf in 1732 "einen halben T o n iiber dem ~ h o r t o n . " " H e
was not happy with this higher pitch (which was presumably Cornet-
ton at A+I): "This is also one of the greatest failings of the organ: that,
contrary t o reason and practical use, they are tuned a half-tone higher
than Chorton. T h e result is that the entire congregation will be most
uncomfortable when singing h y m n s this high, not to mention the
other instruments that might be i n ~ o l v e d . " ' ~
7-sc Kammerregister and Organs at Cammerton
W e discussed Kammerkoppel and Kammerregister in 5-3a. As Cammerton

continued t o be the usual instrumental pitch, more and more organs
were adapted t o it. Adlung commented, "If the situation demands it,
Kammerregister can be fitted to an organ, i.e., stops that are tuned I o r
11/2 tones lower than the main organ (which should normally be at
~horton)."T ~ "h e situation that would demand Kammerregister would be

the regular use of other instruments with the organ. N o t that the
whole organ should be low, Adlung hastened t o add. Interestingly, he
considered it necessary t o have a substantial amount of pipework
available t o play with the other instruments, and apparently consid-
ered a single stop, like the famous one Schnitger built in Hamburg in
1693, too soft: "At St. Jakobi in Hamburg, only the Gedackt is in Cam-
merton. For concerted music that would not be ~ u f f i c i e n t . " ~ '
T h e first Cammerton registers in Leipzig were apparently the "4.
Registern auf C a m m e r T h o n " o n a new Positiv acquired for the
Thomasschule by Bach's successor, Friedrich Doles, in 1 ~ ~ 6 . ~ '
Adlung also gave examples of entire organs tuned t o Cammerton,
citing, for instance, the organ in the Frauenkirche in Dresden. Zacha-
rias Hildebrandt's last organ at Neustadt bey Dresden was in Cammer-
ton, and he apparently overlooked the difference in cost when first
making up the contract. H i s son, w h o finished the instrument, re-
quested a supplementary payment as a result, a request supported by
G.A. Homilius, music director of Dresden's three principal churches
(two of which had Cammerton organs). Homilius wrote that "the dif-
ference between an organ at Cammerton and Chorton is significant
286 Chapter 7
from the point of view of expense, since an organ must be set a whole-
tone lower, demanding pipes in the bass that are proportionally lar-
ger."6' Hildebrandt Jr. went on to build the impressive new organ for
the Michaeliskirche in Hamburg in 1762-67, subsidized by Johann
Mattheson. It was also tuned in ~ a m m e r t o n . ~ ~
7-5d A-2, Franzosischer Thon/tief-Cammerton
Despite Agricola's wording ("the former French pitch"), A-2 remained

an important pitch level in Germany during this period. Graph 14d
shows that woodwinds were still being made to it. In 1749 J.P. Moller
even built an entire organ for the Ev.-lutherische Kirch at Kleve "in
tieffen ~ a m m e r t o n , and
" ~ ~another one shortly afterward for the Ab-
dingho&irche at ~ a d e r b o r n Adlung
.~~ spoke several times of "tiefe
Kammerton" in his books of 1726 and 1758, even once referring to a
pitch 11/2 semitones lower than Chorton as "der rechte Kammerton"
("the real ~ a m m e r t o n " ) . ~ ~
Several sources from this period implied the existence of a Cam-
merton at A-2 by placing it a m j lower than A + I (this had been the
definition of the concept of A-Cammerton described by Agricola and
Quantz). A letter from a bell founder written in 1739, for instance, de-
scribed a sample he had sent: "The enclosed pipe is the lowest pitch,
and is called 2-foot C in Cornet Thone; in Cammer Thone, however, it is
a D# .. . T h e other pipe is C I in Chor ~ h o n . " ~This
' letter placed "Cor-
net Thone" a m3 above "Cammer hone."^^ I.F.X. Kiirzinger's Getreuer
Unterricht (Augsburg, 1763) defined Cornet-Ton as "the highest pitch
that produces C on a trumpet without crooks or slides. ...
Cammerton
is a m j or 11/2 tones lower than Cornet-ton."70 Since both "the highest
pitch that produces C on a trumpet" and Cornet-ton were well-
understood references to A+I, Kiirzinger must here have been speak-
ing of Cammerton at A-2.
By 1772 Silbermann was writing that "French pitch ...
is seldom
used anymore" on organs. As for other kinds of music, Graph 14e
shows that after 1770 woodwinds were rarely made at A-2.
1730-1770:A "Diversity of Pitches"
7-se Dresden and Berlin
A musical revolution took place at t h e Dresden court around 1730. T h e

concertmaster, W o u l m y e r , had died in 1728, t h e Capellmeister
Heinichen in 1729, and the Elector himself, Friedrich August I, in 1733.
Hasse arrived in 1731, and was appointed Capellmeister in 1734. Hasse
and his new Neapolitan opera style were t o hold sway at Dresden, and
indeed most of G e r m a n y , for the next jo years.
Dresden's main court pitch had long been A-I, and there are several
indications that it continued t o be used. Besides t h e organ at t h e
Sophienkirche built in 1720, Silbermann built the Frauenkirche organ
in 1736 at 414, and he and Hildebrandt together made t h e organ at t h e
Catholische Hofkirche in 1754, pitched at 415. In 1862, Fiirstenau wrote
of Hasse's time, " T h e tuning of the orchestra then was m u c h lower
t h a n now; the difference a m o u n t s t o almost half a tone. W h i l e t h e
Capelle's tuning fork in Hasse's time gave 417 (850) cycles, that of to-
day's theater indicates 443 (892)."7'
I n Dresden, Chorton and Cammerton were a M2 apart (as Homilius
in ca.1757 had indicated in t h e passage just quoted). According t o W o l f
(1738:69; orig. p.~78),w h e n t h e SchloRkirche organ was moved in 1737
t o Friedrichstadt bei Dresden, "Since it stood previously at Chorton,
[ H e r r Hahnel] set it in Cammerton, making t h e C into a D , and in
consequence adding a new C in t h e bottom octave." I n his Gutachten
for t h e "Glocken" of t h e Frauenkirche (13 O c t 1734), Gottfried Silber-
m a n n also described t h e difference between Chorton and Cammerton as
a M2.71
A s for Berlin, t h e organ at t h e Schlofl Capelle (the Eosander
Chapel) at Charlottenburg, built in 1706 by A r p Schnitger, was
pitched at least as low as 410 (the only organ he pitched so low).7' T h e
pitch of this organ was mentioned in 1730 by t w o organists, Heine and
Lutterodt: "That Cammerton is indeed [the pitch of] t h e cathedral and
t h e castle chapel, but is [used] nowhere else in B r a n d e n b ~ r ~ . "S'o~m e
years later in 1763, Halle confirmed this report o n Brandenburg or-
gans:
Stringed and blown instruments are all tuned to Cammerton; the Ca-
thedral organ a t Berlin, and the organ of her Royal Highness Princess
Amalia are also tuned this way." Other church organs commonly ob-
Chapter 7
serve Chot.ton, in order to save tin; for that reason organists using en-
semble Musick have always, for the sake of the fiddles, to transpose.76
Heine and Lutterodt were involved in discussions on a new organ for

the Reformirten Parochial-Kirche in Berlin, to be built by Joachim
Wagner. In the course of these discussions the difference between
Chorton and Cammerton was described several times by Wagner as "1%
Thon." If Wagner's Chorton was the usual A+I, his Cammerton would
have been A-2. But Wagner made the following comment in 1731: "it is
easier to make an instrument lower [in pitch] than higher. For that
reason, I always tune new organs somewhat lower than Chorton, so
that the Cammerton instruments do not have to be transposed one and
a half tones, but only a whole-tone, and the Chorton instruments can
all be adjusted to play the same amount lower." If Wagner considered
Chorton to be A+I, "somewhat lower than Chorton" would have been
A+l/z, in which case his organs would have been a whole-tone above
A-11/2. This is the pitch of most of the instruments of the Berlin
woodwind maker Johann Heitz.
Berlin had been virtually without civilian music under the "Bar-
racks King," Friedrich Wilhelm. But as soon as his son Friedrich I1
was crowned in 1740, he ordered the construction of an opera house
and established a large court orchestra. In 1752, according to F.W.
Marpurg, Berlin opera pitch was about 4 ~ 2 . ~According
' to Michaelis
(1814:774), Berlin's pitch during the time of Hasse and Graun (i.e.,
into the early 1760s) was similar to Dresden's.
As for the court, Friedrich 11's personal music making operated in-
dependently, and evidently at a lower pitch. Quantz made a number
of traversos for the King. Those that are extant consist of up to six
corps with a range from A-2 to A-I (as Quantz himself wrote, the
spacing between each one was about a comma, and the six corps "form
an interval a little larger than a major ~ e m i t o n e . " ~ ' A
number of inves-
tigators have found that "the greatest number of [Quantz] flutes have
survived with the longest joint. ... As these invariably show the
greatest amount of wear on the tone holes ... it would seem that the
lowest pitch was most desired and that the longest joints were pre-
ferred."79 T h e longest joints give a pitch of 385-387,80which, adjusted
for a slight shrinkage, was roba ably originally about j83.8'
1730-1770: 289
Using this pitch, Friedrich would probably have needed keyboards

w i t h devices for transposition. Adlung (1726:2:107) wrote that, "Sliding
the keyboard of such a harpsichord produces Chorton, either a half- o r
whole-tone; as well as also 1952 tones lower (which is the real Cammer-
ton); also '/2 tone above Chorton." T w o Silbermann pianofortes survive
w i t h sliding keyboards that allow for playing at t w o different pitches
a semitone apart, o n e in the Neues Palais in Potsdam (probably the
one Friedrich bought from Silbermann in 1747), the other now in Nur-
emberg, dated I ~ Such~ keyboards
~ . would
~ have
~ accommodated in-
struments at normal Cammerton, and (as Oleskiewicz observes) the
highest and lowest corps of Quantz's flutes."
Friedrich's court musicians, w h o included Emanuel Bach, C.H. and
J.G. G r a u n , Franz and Johann Benda, Christoph Schaffrath, and J.G.
Janitsch, n o doubt performed for (and with) the king at this low court
pitch, A-2. Since musical activities in Berlin were at A-I, however
(evidently the level Agricola and Q u a n t z called "A-Cammerton"), it is
quite possible that m a n y of their surviving compositions were con-
ceived and first performed at that pitch.
7-6 England
T h e links between Italy and England being as strong as they were in

the 18Ih century, it is worth considering how Italian pitches might
have influenced English music. T h e obvious transmitters would have
been the Italian virtuoso wind with Giuseppe Sammartini be-
ing the most celebrated in this period. Sammartini had probably vis-
ited London during 1723-1724,84and settled there in 1 ~ 2 H~e was
. ~ a~so-
loist at the King's Theatre in the 30s and 4os, and music master of the
family of the Prince of Wales from 1736. London audiences were cap-
tivated by this remarkable player, w h o was "thought t o be the finest
performer o n the hautboy in ~ u r o ~ e . "Sammartini's
'~ presence proba-
bly contributed t o the adoption of higher woodwind pitches in Lon-
don.
Italian pitch in this period was hardly uniform, although the most
c o m m o n levels, the coristi di mezzo, were A + o and A-I (see 7-3). In
England by this time, the Quire-pitch system survived mainly in the
290 Chapter 7
form of Q - 2 (called new Consort pitch), while the Continental system

was increasingly adopted in the form of A-I and A+o. T h e great ma-
jority of English instruments from mid-century whose pitches are
known are at either A-I or Q - 2 , with a small number at A+o.
Looking at Graph ISC, the previous period shows woodwinds
concentrated at Q-3 and A-I. In the next period, however (Graph 15d),
most woodwinds have moved upward." O f English organs (Graph
22d), 12 of the 16 were apparently at Q-2."
But Q - 3 still had some currency. An original pitchpipe that sur-
vives at the Royal Northern College of Music in ~ a n c h e s t e r , ' ~
stamped 1747 and made by Samuel1 Bennet, gives a pitch of 407. There
is also a traverso by Schuchart made after 1731 90 with multiple corps at
403/4~o/4zz, apparently at Q-3, A-I, and Q-2.9'
Q - 2 had been called "Chappell-pitch" by Talbot in the early 1690s.
It was to be the dominant level for organs throughout the 18lhcentury,
and organs carried it into the 1 9 ' ~century as the only survivor of the
traditional Quire-pitch grid. In 1746 William Tans'ur (57) called it by
another name: "Our new Consort-pitch is more fitter for Vocal Per-
formance than the old Consort Pitch, which is half a Tone lower."
T h a t Tans'ur's new Consort Pitch was Q - 2 is indicated by the present
pitch of the University Church, Cambridge, lowered to "concert pitch"
in 1766; it is 420. But as early as 1719, T h e organ at Vicar's Hall, Wells,
was lowered "to bring it nearer to Concert pitch"; it is presently at
42sk. This seems to indicate that Q - 2 was already being called "Concert
pitch/Consort Pitch" in 1719.
T h e popularity of Q - 2 is attested not only by organs. Ellis noted
the existence of forks probably made about 1750 in London that sound
424. T h e famous tuning fork left by Handel at the Foundling Hospital
when the Messiah was performed in 1751 is at 423, and is supposed to
represent the pitch of the organ.92
In 1740, Snetzler built a new chamber organ for St. James' (Chapel
Royal) at Q-2. The organ by Smith that was already there was at
Quire-pitch (473). The instrumentalists, including orchestras, who oc-
casionally played at the Chapel Royal later in the 1 8 ' ~centuryJg3were
probably tuned to Q - 2 (new Consort-pitch), in unison with the Snetzler
and an easy whole-step below the Smith. (It is less likely they would
have been at Q-3-"old" Consort-pitch-because they would then have
been a semitone from the Snetzler and transpositions would have been
awkward.)
As for the Opera orchestra, the solos written by Handel for Sam-
martini offer clues. If our speculation about Flavio and Tamerlano in 4-
5a1 is right, Sammartini was playing at A+o in the early zos, while the
orchestra was a semitone below him at A-I. But by the 173os, there are
indications of a change.
Like the earlier arias, the hautboy obbligatos in Handel's oratorios
Deborah ("In Jehovah's awful sightw) and Athalia ("What scenes of
horror round m e rise!") are both in the unusual key of f-minor. These
pieces appeared in 1733, played by Sammartini. It is a good guess he
played t h e m o n an hautboy pitched at A+o, a semitone higher than the
orchestra, in which case he would have been playing in e-minor.
But the relationship had changed by 1737. In that year, Handel fea-
tured Sammartini in three virtuoso opera arias at Covent Garden:
"Quella fiamma" in Arminio in J a r ~ u a r y ) ,"Quel
~~ torrente
che s'innalza sulla spondaV in Act 2 of Giustino (February), and "Chi
t'intende?" from Berenice (May). These three arias were in C, D, and
B b, and Sammartini's parts were not transposed. O n e wonders then
what had changed: did he play t h e m o n a lower-pitched hautboy, o r
had the orchestra come up t o his pitch between 1733 and 1737? T h e an-
swer is probably a little of both.
Handel's orchestra was playing at Q-2 (about 423) by 1751 (see
above). But orchestral pitch was n o higher than that-thus not all the
way u p to Sammartini's hautboy at A+o. W e also know that Sammar-
tini had an instrument with multiple top joints by at least 1735.~'
Sammartini probably played hautboys by the Milanese maker Anciuti,
and in fact one of Anciuti's surviving hautboys dated 1722 has alter-
nate top joints.96 T h u s it seems Sammartini played the arias at Covent
Garden in 1737 with his longer top joint at Q - 2 , the pitch of the orches-
tra.
I n 1739 the organist, composer, and poet Quirinus van Blankenburg

wrote of pitch (lo9), " O n this subject, a standard is accepted by every-
292 Chapter 7
one, which has the name Operatoon (opera pitch); the wind instru-
ments such as flutes, hautboys, and even trumpets and horns are made
to it, since they must be in tune together even when they come from
different countries." Operatoon, as well as other pitch names, was used
in contracts and descriptions of a number of organs in this period that
can be linked to surviving original pitch levels:
410 opra of fluyte toon 1765 Tilburg, HK9'

415 operatoon 1733 Amsterdam, Waalse ~ e r k ~ '
415 volkomen Kamertoon 1767 Sexbier~m~~
416 opera Toon 1738 Haarlem, St. Bavo, large organ
441 een halve Toon lager 1738 Haarlem, St. Bavo, large organ
als Cornette Toon
466 Cornettentoon 1733 Amsterdam, Waalse Kerk

467 Cornette Toon 1738 Haarlem, St. Bavo, large organ
T h e information can be summarized as follows:
A-I "Opera toon," "fluyte roon," "Kamertoon"

Ato A half-tone below "Cornette Toon"
At1 "Cornette Toon," "Cornettentoon"
T h e original contract for Miiller's famous organ at St. Bavo, Haarlem

(1738) specified "The pitch of the organ [will be] Cornette Toon, i.e.,
one tone higher than Opera Toon" but before delivery the pitch was
revised to "A half-tone lower ... than Cornette T o ~ n . " 'The
~ ~ organ is
at 441, = A t o . From this it appears that as of 1738 no name was com-
mon for A t o .
Van Blankenburg had written, "The organ builders ... find profit
in making the organs a whole-tone or tone and a half higher" than Op-
eratoon.'"' Surviving organ pitches from this period are shown in
Graph 24d. None are at At2, but (as in the previous period) A t 1 (Cor-
nettentoon), A+o, A-I (Opera toon), and A-2 are all represented.
T h e fact that chamber organs were advertised in newspapers of the
1740s as pitched in "Opera T o ~ n " ' "suggests
~ that it was a selling point,
and that this pitch was popular for chamber music. Woodwinds ap-
pear in a range from just below 400 t o above 440, with the majority at
A-1'/2 and A-I. Instruments above 420 are all traversos (see Appendix
4) made by Eerens (d.1750) and Beukers (presumably the son, w h o
worked until 1816).
I n 1739, a contract was made u p for the "vermaken ende
repareeren" ("alteration and repairn) of the Jacobikerk organ in
Utrecht.'030ne section read, "The organ is pitched a m3 too high with
reference to the ordinaire toon, so it will be necessary t o add t o each
register below the two largest pipes, and t o have the organ tuned at the
same pitch as the one in the Dom." If the organ was "a m3 too high,"
it would have needed three extra pipes added below the two largest ex-
isting pipes (disposed o n opposite sides of the case). From 1709 (and
perhaps as early as 1571), the pitch of the organ in the Utrecht D o m
was A-1.'04 T h u s in this period another term for A-I was "ordinaire
toon."
7-8 T h e H a b s b u q Lands
W e noted in I-sb that in 1739 Kremsmiinster Abbey owned violins in

both "franzosisch Ton" and apparently Cornet-ton. T h e same list in-
cludes "12 Hautboen unterschiedlichen Tons" ("12 hautboys at differ-
ent pitches"). A number of recorders from Kremsmiinster survive at
the Linz Schlo13museum,'05and most of them are at either A + I or A-
106
I. As we saw in 3-6, "franzosisch Ton" was one of the traditional
terms in the Habsburg Lands for A-I; the other name for this pitch
was Chorton ( s i c ; note the older usage, as in Praetorius). A + I was called
Cornet-ton. T h e Abbey's musical activities included both church and
chamber music, and it apparently used different pitches for the two,
probably because the organs were at Cornet-ton.
By 1752-1768, this "southern" pitch terminology appears to have be-
gun t o undergo a change. T h e Austrian theoretician Joseph Riepel was
using the north-German wording, in which Chorton is higher than
Cammerton, when he wrote that "French pitch, the so-called Cammer-
ton, is a whole-tone lower than Chorton."'"' But Riepel was evidently
aware of the continued use of the older H a b s b u q terminology, as he
wrote elsewhere, " O n e must however take into account a distinction
294 Chapter 7
here, since in some places they think of Chorton as a whole-tone lower

than Cornet-ton." T h e older wording was still used in Salzburg in 1786,
when a n organ builder named Schmidt proposed lowering a small or-
gan in the Empore of the St. Blasius church down a tone from "Kornet
Stimmung" to "Kor ~ h o n . " ' " ~
Another interesting point about Riepel's terminology is that
"Cammerton" was a whole-tone below "Chorton," and was thus still at
A-I. It was just during the period Riepel was writing, 1752-1768, that
"Kammerton" generally went up to about 435.'09This is indicated by the
few Habsburg woodwinds made in this period whose pitches are
known (traversos at 410 and 430, and three clarinets at 433). Consider-
ing the close connections between the Habsburg court and Italy, it is
not surprising that something close to Corista Veneto should have be-
come the principle standard in Vienna more quickly than elsewhere.
In some cases, Kammerton may already have meant A+o before 1720.
M.J. Vogt (Prague, 1719) asked in discussing a new organ: "whether
the organ should be tuned to Chorton,franzosischen Ton, Kornett-Ton, or
Kammerton?" "Chorton," 'Yranzosischen Ton," and "Kornett-Ton" seem
clear from other sources (at A-I and A+:), but "Kammerton," if it was
none of these, was probably the level in-between, A+o. Vogt probably
needed to know this because the organ might have had to be tuned dif-
ferently if it was to be played with other instruments.
For an organist with an instrument at A t 1 wishing to play with in-
struments at A+o, one solution was to transpose down a half-step. But
because of unequal temperament, only a few tonality combinations
would have been effective. As Stradner noticed, pieces from this pe-
riod are frequently in those very keys: Kammerton F, B b , and E b ,
which on the Cornet-ton organ would be E, A, and D.
Another solution would have been to tune the organ down a semi-
tone (as Nacchini was doing in the Veneto). There are indeed reports
in 1735, 1752, and 1753 of organs being lowered a half-step."O Three of
the organs at Kremsmiinster Abbey were retuned a semitone lower in
1776, presumably to A+o, since Cornet-ton had been used prior to that
time."' And in the 1740s and sos, a number of new organs were built at
A+o."' W e may take such tunings as a sign of the presence and impor-
tance of Kammerton at A+o.
O n 5 December 1766, Josef Haydn wrote in a letter to Prince Ester-
hlzy:
Furthermore the two hautboists tell me (and I myself must take their
part) that their 2 hautboys are disintegrating with age, and no longer
possess the proper pitch, wherefore I would like to report, that there is
a craftsman named Rockobauer in Vienna,"' who in my opinion is the
most skilful in such things. Because the master always has a waiting
list for such work but would take time on special occasion to make a
pair of good durable hautboys with an extra joint to each set (in order
that all the necessary pitches can be played), for which, however, the
minimum price would be 8 Ducats. I therefore hope for your Ex-
cellency's permission to obtain the above-mentioned z sorely needed
hautboys a t the stated priceaU4
T h i s letter gives clues t o t h e pitch situation at t h e end of the 1760s:
Haydn's wording "no longer possess the proper pitch" con-

firms t h e idea that t h e pitch standard had changed sometime
before 1766, presumably upward.
H a y d n was probably using a pitch (or pitches) c o m m o n in Vi-
enna, since it was not suggested that Baur make instruments
at a special level particular t o Eszterhiza.
H a y d n was obliged t o deal w i t h t w o different pitches, since he
needed "an extra joint ... in order that all t h e necessary
pitches can be played."
T h e t w o pitches could have been A-I and t h e new higher Kammerton

pitch in t h e 430s. But it is also possible that the t w o joints were nu-
anced versions of t h e higher level. T h e maker that H a y d n recom-
mended as "the most skilful in such things," Rocko Baur, is survived
by three clarinets at 430,"~ and his traverso with corps is a t
4~o/4~rj/425/430. Since during this period organs were often not quite
as high as A t 1 at 464 H z , but rather in t h e 450S, woodwinds made t o
play a semitone below t h e organs also tended t o be o n the lowish side
of A t o , and not yet (as they were later t o be) pitched right u p t o 440.
T h e Stadtpfarrkirche in Eisenstadt was at 450, for instance, and
Haydn's hautboys were probably expected to play a semitone lower, at
425.
Considering its prevalence, it seems that Viennese instrumental
pitch m u s t have been close t o A + o and called Kammerton by t h e late
296 Chapter 7
1760s if n o t earlier. T h e gradations h a v i n g t o d o w i t h slightly l o w

c h u r c h o r g a n s could have been a c c o m m o d a t e d w i t h longer joints t h a n
t h e o n e s a t "normal" Kammerton,
Gluck's theater w o r k s i n t h e late 1750s w e r e t h u s probably per-
f o r m e d a t t h i s pitch. G l u c k included c o r n e t t s in his Orfeo ed Euridice,
w h i c h h a d its d e b u t at t h e Burgtheater i n V i e n n a i n O c t o b e r 1762.
C o r n e t t s w e r e still c o m m o n l y used i n V i e n n e s e c h u r c h m u s i c i n t h e
m i d d l e of t h e 1 8 ' ~c e n t ~ r y , "a n
~ d t h i s w o u l d h a v e been a n a p t u s e o f
c o r n e t t s m a d e a t A+o (see 2-za2).
Notes
I.Jacobikerk organ contract, Utrecht 1739.

2. Agricola 1757:45.
3. Reilly 1966:xvii-xviii.
4. Quantz's use of the term "ton de la Chambre des Fran~ois"is probably his
own invention. T o n de la chambre du Roy in France was A-11/2 (see 3-~b),not as
low as Quantz's own flutes, which were at A-2. There were, of course, many
French flutes at A-2 (which in France was called T o n d'Ope't-a).
5. T h e bassoon is mentioned only in the German version.
6. Quantz 1 ~ 5 z : C h X vI/vii/§7.
I
7. T h e wording here is ambiguous in the French text, as it is not clear
whether Parisian or Roman pitch is being compared to Venetian. But the
German text leaves no doubt: "Anitzo aber fangt man an, den Pariser T o n
dem venezianischen fast gleich zu machen."
8. Paolucci 1765:174 note (d). My thanks to Giovanni Caviglia for help in
translating the passages from Paolucci.
9. O n e was built at 465 in 1742 at Susa (TO), Madonna del Ponte.
10. Cited in Barbieri 198~:29-30.
11. Barbieri 1980:27nzo.
12. Bologna C M 1845.
13. It is of course plausible that at least two pitches were used at Naples for
different functions, one at A-3 (cf. Doni, who put Neapolitan pitch a semi-
tone below Roman) and another at A-I.
14. Tans'ur 1756:83 (first edition 1746).
15. Later editions of Tans'ur ( 1 ~ 61 ~~ , ~ repeat
2 ) this passage.
16. Corrette (attr.), ca.1740:~.
17. T h a t the author was speaking of traversos and not recorders is indicated
by the title of his work: Mdthode raisonnhe pour apprendre aishment i jouer de la
fliitte traversiere.
18. Jacques Hotteterre 1737:73.
19. Martin adds that this also assumes that iron wire tensile strength was not
th th
improving during the 17 and 18 centuries, as indicated by extant original
samples.
20. See Appendix 4.
21. Eppelsheim 1985:72n23.
22. Charlton 1993:346.
23. Jander and Harris 2001:11:154.
24. There are indications that court Capellen often owned large collections of
instruments. See for example Noack 1967:268ff and Meyer 191j:38. A n inven-
tory dated 1780 for the King's library at Versailles lists many wind instru-
ments (Marcuse 1~61:3~-jy). T w o inventories of instruments owned by the
C r o w n in 1673 and 1729 document that theorbos, guitars, gambas, and harpsi-
chords were the kinds of instruments kept there (Benoit 1971:~rz);wind in-
struments and smaller strings were evidently owned by their players at court.
25. Several members of the woodwind-making Lot family were active in Paris
at this time; see Waterhouse 1gg3:zqrff and Giannini 19gjb.
26. As Herbert W. Myers points out (*), "organisC" means literally "provided
with an organ."
27. Quoted in Pierre 18gj:1og.
28. Rousseau 1768, "Orchestre."
29. Mozart, postscript to a letter dated 27 November 1764.
30. Cf. the b~ in the upper bassoon part to Bordades (first Gavotte, m.16). A
contemporary Prudent bassoon (a typical "tenor" instrument perfect for
Rameau's upper bassoon parts, that often double the violas) goes as high as a1.
31. Rameau's dramatic works were normally performed at the OpCra (see C y r
1~80a:r5:570).
32. W i t h the exception of "Je ne sais quel ennui m'opresse," II/vi in Naij,
this is true of all ten solo arias in Rameau's operas. (For titles, see Haynes
rg9za:~6~ff). Traversos, already at home in D, would not have had the same
problem, as they played higher notes and sharps more comfortably than
hautboys.
33. Cf. "Cum sancto sanctus" in Diligam te, Domine (whose authcrship is un-
certain) and "Beaut&, qu'un sort heureux destine" in cantata Thdtis. Cf.
Haynes 1gg2a:261ff.
34. Jean-Francois DesprCaux, Joseph-Gregoire Bureau, and Nicolas Sallantin.
35. MontCclair 1736:45.
36. BCdos de Celles 1766:432. BCdos' organ at Ste. Croix, Bordeaux ( 1 7 ~ 8 has
)
been recently restored and plays at 389. A reconstruction built in 1967 at
Saint-Georges de Bouquenom in Sarre-Union by Koenig, carefully following
BCdos' detailed instructions for making an organ at Ton de Chapelle, produced
298 Chapter 7
a pitch of 386. Cf. Caliope CAL 1900. See also Ellis 1880:35, Meyer-Siat 1985
4374, and Mendel 1978:43.
37. BCdos 1766:432.
38. Adlung 1726:2:55.
39. Schroter 1772:21described an organ at "hohen Chortone" that "vor etlichen
Jahren" was used with other instruments at a distance of a mj.
40. Eric Hoeprich *.
41. Pace Mendel 197834.
42. Lobstein 56: "im T o n der alten Oper, d.h. einen T o n tiefer als der heutige
Diapazon" [= 4351.
43. I n J.A.S.'s contract of 1747: "stens. Sol1 alles in dem Opera oder
franzosischer Thon gestimmet werden."
44. (Toussaint/Silbermann/BesanCon). "Alles in Frantzoschem Thon."
45. Johann Andreas describes a number of the organs he saw on this
"Studiereis" in volume I1 of the Silbermann Archive, written in 1741.
46. Walter 1971:17o.Original text follows immediately below.
47. Used to describe the organ at St. Margen (177~).Walter 1971:174, 184.
None of the other four organs actually reported by Johann Andreas to be at
this pitch (Villingen, 1752; St. Blasien, 1772; St. Margen, 1777, Lahr bei Baden,
1781) have survived.
48. T h e pitches of 14 organs made by other makers in Alsace survive at A-2
(1702, 1763, 1766, 1769), A-1 (1735, 17541 1759, 1766, 1768, 1777, 1783, 17911, A t 0
(1790) and A + I (1668). See Haynes 1995, Appendix 7-9b and 7-gc.
49. Quoted from Mathias & Worsching 58; the text in Mendel 1978:34, n.23 is
apparently corrupted.
50. Staatsarchiv Basel, Privatarchiv 141 C I. Quoted in Walter & Schaefer
198j:8j.
51. Silbermann Ms V : ~ Idescribing
, Oberehnheim, 1713.
52. Used to describe Villingen, 1752; St. Blasien, 1772; Lahr bei Baden, 1781.
53. St. Mxrgen, 1777.
54. Silbermann Ms, p.230.
55. Quantz 175z:Ch XVII/vii/&7.
56. Bosken 1967:499.
57. Bosken 1967:499.
58. Skupnik 1976:105. Vater would not have meant A-I by Chorton, since he is
known to have built at least one organ (Klosterkirche, Marienrode, 1749) "auf
Cammerton gestimmet." See Skupnik 1976:146, 365.
59. Skupnik 1976:259, 262, 264. Vater's final bill includes an item for "Ma-
chung des Chor-Thons."
60. Adlung 1726:193-94.
61. Adlung 1726:193-94.
62. Banning 1939:55. T h e new Thomaskirche organ built in 1773 was still at
Chorton, however (Schering I ~ ~ I : ~ ~ ) ,
63. In the Dresden Ratsarchiv; quoted in Dahnert 1962:133and Muller 1982:380.
64. Williams 1966:126. Shortly after its completion, Charles Burney was taken
to see this organ by Emanuel Bach; Burney was most impressed. The organ
was destroyed in a fire in 1906.
65. Wulfhorst 1967:44,95.
66. Wulfhorst 1967:60.
67. 1726:II:x07. See original text in 7-5ez. See also 1758:387 quoted in the intro-
duction to 7-5.
68. Friedrich 1989:95n340.
69. T h e bells were intended for the SchloRkirche at Altenburg, which was
built at 465 by T.H.G. Trost in 1739.
70. This relation is repeated in the 4"' edition in 1803.
71. Fiirstenau 1862:11:289. Furstenau's simple and double vibrations do not
quite agree.
72. Flade 1953:131njso,178.
73. Reports on the original pitch of this organ are conflicting; the prewar re-
cordings by Fritz Heitmann are at 410, and an article by F. Hamel in 1944
(cited by Mendel 1978:30, 34) gave 411.3. Fock 1974:20I gave "fast einen
Ganzton unter heutiger Normalstimmung," which corresponds to the 18'~-
century descriptions.
74. Steves 1939:342. I am grateful to the present organist of the Eosander or-
gan, Klaus Eichorn, for bringing this source to my attention.
75. It is unclear whether this is the Eosander chapel organ or another organ
built in Berlin-Carlshorst.
76. Halle 1763:366.
77. Mendel 1955:215; Delezenne 1854:15, quoting from the report (probably by
CavaillC-Coll) of the French Commission of 1859. See Ellis under 421.9.
78. Quantz 1752, 159. A major semitone is five commas. Five commas below
A-I at 413 is 387, so "a little larger" would be 383.
79. Oleskiewicz 1998b:123. Cf. I-jc.
80. This pitch is confirmed for the instrument in the Miller Collection
(Oleskiewicz A4) by Jeffery Cohan; he notes that it works best with the slide
pulled out a good !A-inch.
81. Oleskiewicz (1gg8b:13gn73) believes that the traversos numbered I to I V
were made "prior to or just after Friedrich 11's succession to the throne in
1740.'' These instruments may thus have been made in Dresden; their pitches
are not known.
82. Heyde 1994:40. Cf. Oleskiewicz 1998a:416.
83. Cf. the two Grabner harpsichords mentioned in 5-ga, with string lengths
that appear to work especially well at A-2 and A-I, respectively.
84. Haynes zoo1:346-47.
85. The Daily Journal, 19 May 1729,cited in Lasocki 1988:351.
86. Hawkins 1776:V:369-71.
300 Chapter 7
87. There are two instruments at A-z and two at A+o. It is difficult to under-
stand how and where the two instruments at A-2 (Dr. Iino's Gedney traverso
in Tokyo and the Cahusac voice flute; Miller 1262) were used.
88. G w y n n (1985:72) writes, "It was this pitch which was characteristic of the
Harris school, from at least the 1670's onwards."
89. W y e 24. Examined by me on 19 June 1996 with the kind assistance of the
curator, William Waterhouse. Its size (40 c m long, 12 in diameter) suggests it
stayed in one place and was meant to be quite accurate.
90. Oxford Bate 101. Schuchart's flutes resemble Stanesby Jr.'s except that
they represent a much wider range of pitches.
91. It is thought that only three of the original six corps survive, although it is
not clear how we know the others once existed.
92. See Ellis 1880:37 under 422.5.
93. Daub r985:192-3.
94. Cf. Dean 1970:198.
95. See Haynes 2001:97.
96. Milan, Castello Sforzesco.
97. Oost 1975:343, 344.
98. "Cornettentoon of een geheelen toon hoger als operatoon." Baard 1961:38.
..
99. ". staat in volkomen Kamertoon." Knock 1788:32.
100. Zandt 1974:19,30,35;v.Nieuwkoop 1988:114,171;Baard 1961:72,75,78.
101. Quoted in 4-3b.

102. Gierveld 1977:381. According to Gierveld 1977:250, a chamber organ was
also advertised by Didelof Onderhorst in 1756 that had been used in a "Room-
sche Kerk" ("Catholic church") and was at "Opera-toon."
103. Zwart 1977:79.
104. Van Biezen 1990:683.
105. All the recorders at this museum are from Kremsmiinster except M u 116,
which came from Stift Hohenfurt (just over the border in the Czech Repub-
lic), according to Phillip Young*. T h e instruments were given to the Mu-
seum by the Abbey in 1836 (cf. Mandorfer 1977~7-8).
106. MUI, 4, 5, 8-11, 116. Only Mu7 and Mu12 from B e r c h t e ~ ~ a d eare
n appar-
ently at A-2.
107. Anfangsgriinde zur musikalischen Setzkunst, quoted in Twittenhoff 1935:55.
108. Reine Dahlqvist*.
109. Stradner 1986a:84, 1991.
110. Haselbock 1972:83, 104, 60.
111. Kellner 1956:467.
112. Herzogenburg (1~52)444; Wilhering bei Linz ( 1 ~ ~ 448; 6 ) Absam (17~5)
449.
113. Rocko Baur (fl. Vienna, a1764-p1777). See NLI.
114. M y thanks to Paul Hailperin for help in translating this passage.
115. Nuremberg MIR 425, Vienna G d M 130, Vienna GdM 131.
116. See Stradner 1986a:86n31;Selfridge-Field 1987:13o, 140; Spielmann 1987:136,
141; and Horn 1987:202.
Chapter 8
Classical Pitches, 1770-1800
s if in reaction to the bewildering variety of pitches in the

mid-century, Europe began to settle down to more uniform-
ity in the decades after 1770. T h e diversity of baroque pitches
had been the result of the introduction of new kinds of instruments
and the need to accommodate them to traditional organs, whereas the
classical period was one of consolidation, and an ever-growing con-
vention regarding instrument types and therefore pitches. And musi-
cians traveled more than ever in this period; their activities would
have been impossible if there had not been a relatively close agree-
ment on pitch standards.
O n e general trend was for higher pitch. Looking at the woodwind
graphs (Graphs 12-17), the central volume of pitches in almost every
country shows a clear upward movement in the period starting in
1770. This is true of orchestral instruments but not of organs, how-
ever; Graphs 18-25 showing organ pitches appear static by contrast to
those for woodwinds, and there is no noticeable rise in the period after
1770. Church organs tended to be marginalized, as instrumental music
found other temples. Thus for this period, the most important source
of information on the movement of general pitch standards comes not
from organs but rather from pitch-pipes and surviving orchestral in-
struments (traversos and especially clarinets). Woodwind pitches all
over Europe from the period I770 to 1800 are shown in Graph 29. They
are more specific and restricted than in previous periods (compare
Graphs 26-28). With a few exceptions, European countries were build-
ing these instruments in a range of 410 to 440. This is too wide to have
represented one single level, but the points of division are not obvious,
as the pitches are in a continuous belt. In different countries, the cen-
302 Chapter 8
ters may have been different. In any case, pitches lower than A-I had
become rare (except in France).
German woodwinds show a range from 405 to 439.' Assuming

the levels are A-I and A t o , they average 416.5 and 433. T h e
higher pitch accounts for 36 percent of the instruments; the
lower represents 59 percent.
French woodwinds show a similar breakdown, the levels aver-
aging 416 and 432.875. Surviving instruments are about equally
divided between the two levels.
Italy appears to show the same pattern; the extremes ( 4 1 0 - ~ ~ 0 )
are identical to France' (and to Italian organs).
England shows somewhat higher pitches. Since for the most
part organs maintained Q - 2 (423), which was also new Consort-
Pitch, it is likely the woodwinds in the range 419-430 also rep-
resent this level. T h e woodwinds higher than 430, which are
more common, average 438.
T h e woodwinds in Vienna (which in this period had a special
importance) center on 438.
T h u s in most countries, pitch in the classical period was more stan-

dardized than previously, but not yet uniform; although it was not at a
single level, it appears to have been at only two, which were adjacent,
so the distance between the highest and lowest was smaller. A-I may
in fact have been the principal pitch in Germany, and in Italy and
France it was as important as A t o . Reflecting the international di-
mension that the pitch question was gradually taking on, Graph 36
shows a conflation of woodwind pitches from all countries. There are
two general areas that are more numerous, 408-424 with a center at 416
and 429-440 with a center at 435, thus virtually A-I and A t o . T h e area
between 420 and 430 shows enough examples to be considered as an-
other possible (though less frequent) standard.]
Richard Maunder has written, "The notion that in the late eight-
eenth century there was a uniform standard of A=430 Hz is a modern
myth."4 There is in fact no evidence to suggest that a general standard
as low as 430 existed anywhere. T h e upper standard of this period was
closer to 433-435, and, as noted above, was even higher for Vienna and
London.
Classical Pitches, 1770-1800 303
This data can also be compared with organs of the same period,
shown on Graph 8. In some cases there is still an interface between
woodwinds and organs. But by the end of the century, organs no
longer played regularly with other instruments, so that church pitch
was often decided not in reference to an instrumental pitch, but rather
by the range of the congregation singing hymns, and by tradition.
As we have seen, a factor in studying pitch is the amount musi-
cians traveled, and where they traveled. By the classical period, it was
assumed that performers, music teachers, and opera companies had to
make the rounds of various courts and cities to find employment, or
better employment. Rare were the players who achieved fame and also
enjoyed the luxury of staying in one place. All the famous German
and Italian wind instrument virtuosos were regular travelers, and
some, like Ludwig August Lebrun, virtually lived (and died) "on the
road." Well-known concert series like the Concert spirituel in Paris and
the Bach-Abel series in London devoted a large part of their programs
to presenting foreign performers.
T o take some examples from the hautboy world, the famous haut-
boist Vittorino Colombazzi arrived at Esterhiza in 1768 from
Ludwigsburg (where he was active from 1762), and stayed until just
before Christmas; Haydn wrote solos for him in Symphony 38
(ca.1766/68).' Several other hautboists played at Ludwigsburg in the
same period: the Besozzis in 1758-1759 and the Plas in 1755-1768; all of
them had also played in the same period in Paris at the Concert spiri-
tuel. Marcus Berwein, an hautboist who probably came from Salzburg,
showed Wolfgang Mozart around Wallerstein when he visited in 1777
on his way to Mannheim; Berwein was in Salzburg again in 1 ~ 8 2 - 1 ~ 8 ~ . ~
Xaver Fiirall played at the Karntnertortheater in Vienna in 1774 and
later (177~-1779)shared the post of first hautboist at Wallerstein7 with
Joseph ~ i a l a . 'Fiala in turn played first hautboy at Munich in 1777 and
was later at Salzburg. Franz Joseph Czerwenka, later an hautboist in
the Kaiserliche Hof-Musikkappelle, also played at Eszterhiza in 1790-
1794.
There are many further examples, and the picture is of a network
of musical centers regularly exchanging players; such a situation im-
plies, of course, a similar pitch standard between them.
T h e rationalist mentality of the age did not succeed in eliminating
small variations in pitch standard, as the alternate joints of woodwind
304 Chapter 8
instruments of the time testify. Corps de rechange on traversos and

hautboy Muttationen (as they were called9) were spaced at intervals of
about a comma (a ninth of a whole-tone, or about 21 cents). Multiple
joints were used for several purposes. First, to accommodate "unoffi-
cial" or inadvertent tuning variations (see o-ta) like harpsichords that
had not been tuned for some time. Second, they represented small but
established pitch differences used at different venues, like the various
theaters and concert series in Paris and Vienna in the 1820s. Both Sal-
lantin and Vogt, for instance, who were prominent hautboists in Paris
at the end of the 1 8 ' ~and beginning of the 1 9 ' ~centuries (where pitch
varied by small amounts), owned instruments with multiple top
10
joints. Sellner in Vienna used an oboe with a tuning slide. It is also
likely that alternate joints were useful to the many peripatetic wind
players in this period who could not count on exact correspondence of
pitch on their concert routes.
Multiple top joints were numbered from lowest to highest. Among
surviving woodwinds, often only one joint with a higher number re-
mains. Stradner (1986a:83) points out that this indicates a general rise
in pitch, the lower-pitched joints having been laid aside and eventu-
ally separated from the rest of the instrument. Also, more than one
source from this period" describes the shortest (i.e., highest) joints of
instruments as in "tono naturale" and "ton usitk" ("normal pitch"),
implying that pitch was rising faster than new instruments could be
made (or that the longer joints were gestures to oblige lower levels
that were quickly going out of fashion).
8-1 Italy
Reports from Italy in this ~ e r i o dare confused, but indicate that A+I
was rapidly vanishing, and the primary pitches were A+o and A-I.
Paolucci wrote of Bologna in 1765 that "il Corista Bolognese si ac-
costa a1 Corista Lombardo" ("the pitch of Bologna is quite close t o
Lombard Pitch"), and G.B. Vitali, who was organist and maestro di
cappella in Lugo di Romagna, equated Bolognese pitch with that of
Lombardy." In his instructions for tuning, probably written between
ca.1760 and 1792, he advised tuning the C to "corista lombardo ciob di
Bologna" ("Lombard pitch, that is, that of Bolognav). W h a t , in this

case, did he mean by "corista lombardo?" T h e organ at t h e Chiesa del
C a r m i n e in Vitali's town, Lugo di Romagna, built by Callido in 1797,
w a s a t 441, and Traeri had put t h e organ "in cornu Epistolae" at S
Petronio at about 439 in 1708.'' But t h e other organs remained at A ~ I .
S o it is possible that Vitali was thinking of A t o as corista lombardo.
"Lombard pitch" was t h u s a n ambiguous concept. T h e t e r m was
used by a n u m b e r of sources, and they did not always m e a n t h e same
pitch. Paolucci's Corista di Lombardia in 1765 had been A+I, a level that
seems by the e n d of t h e 1 8 ' ~century t o have disappeared. In 1800,
Carlo Gervasoni also described a Corista della Lombardia used through-
o u t m u c h of Italy:
Pitch, commonly called corista, is not the same in all cities, but is
higher in some and lower in others. The pitch of Rome is, in fact,
much lower than that of Milan, Pavia, Parma, Piacenza, and all the
other cities of Lombardy,I4 and the pitch of Paris is becoming not only
sharper than that of Rome but becoming much sharper than that of
Lombardy. A mean pitch [un corista di mezzo]" which is more gener-
ally accepted, is, nevertheless, that of Lombardy, and with this agree,
more or less, the pitches of various provinces.'6
By "the pitch of Paris," Gervasoni probably m e a n t Ton d'orchestre at

435, officially adopted by the n e w Conservatoire at t h e end of t h e cen-
tury; there is n o k n o w n higher pitch in France at this time (see 8-2).
A n d by Roman pitch h e m a y have been thinking of Corista di S Pietro
at A-2 maintained at t h e Vatican until late in t h e century (cf. t h e
Grassi-Landi report noted in 2-2b). T h e r e were reports of higher levels
at Rome at t h e end of the 1 8 ' ~century (woodwinds at A+o), but Ger-
vasoni said Corista della Lombardia was m u c h higher t h a n at Rome, and
nothing higher t h a n A + o seems t o have existed. H e also said it was
m u c h lower t h a n pitch at Paris, which was A t o . T h i s Italian "mean
pitch," t h e pitch of Lombardy and (more o r less) various other Italian
provinces, higher t h a n A-2 and lower than A+o, m u s t therefore have
been A-I. Lombard pitch appears t o have migrated f r o m A + I in 1765 t o
A t o in between, and A-I by 1800.
A generation before Gervasoni's report, J.A. Silbermann had de-
scribed a pitch h e called " C a m m e r - oder auch sogenande Italianische
306 Chapter 8
Thon" ("Cammerthon, also called Italian pitch"), so called, he said, "as

it is common throughout Italy."" There is no ambiguity about the
level of Silbermann's "Cammerthon"; it was A-I (see 7-5). Given his
profession and the matter of the letter he was writing, Silbermann's
information probably applied to the pitches of church organs.
Both Silbermann and Gervasoni appear to describe a common Ital-
ian pitch at A-I. While both authors seem reliable, other evidence
shows that things were not that simple. O u r Graphs Ize and 18e show
the existence in this period of two pitches, A-I and A+o, in both or-
gans and woodwinds. Nor was A-I the pitch apparently indicated by
Vitali as corista lombardo (see p.304).
Francesco Zantedeschi reported in 1857 a pitchpipe that had been
made more than 80 years before (i.e., about 1775) owned by a bell
foundry in Padua; it gave C-256 or about A - ~ ~ o . "
A document written by the Venetian woodwind maker Andrea
Fornari in 1792 mentioned that woodwind instruments usually came
to Venice from " a b r ~ a d . " ' This
~ is of course an indication that Ve-
netian pitch at the end of the century was not exceptional. Fornari
also used the term "corista" several times as if it was a specific and
well-understood reference. W e may then assume that there was a pre-
dominant pitch standard in use in Venice in the 1790S, and that it was
identical to some other place or places. Its level was probably 430-435,
as this is the pitch of a flauto d'amore that Fornari made in 1794."
Many woodwinds by the Grensers are now found in Italian collec-
tions. Grensers were at A-I and A+o, and more frequently the latter
(see Graph 33d-e); as we know, this was a pitch used in Venice
throughout the 1 8 ' ~century.
8-2 France
T h e pitches of French woodwinds from this period are spaced fairly

evenly along a range of 400 to 440 (Graph rge). It is not obvious which
pitch centers these frequencies represent until they are compared with
French organs and woodwinds from other countries in the same pe-
riod. French organs (Graph 19e) are centered on A-2 and A-I, which is
clear when they are compared with the periods immediately before
and after; A-2 has an average value of 397, and A-I is at 414. T h e
woodwinds at about 400 appear to represent A-2 or A - l f i . Those be-
tween 410 and 423 were probably at A-I. Higher-pitched woodwinds
range from 428 to 440 and average 433.
Three pitchpipes probably dating from the 1770s or 1780s have sur-
vived, made by respected Parisian woodwind makers. O n e is marked
"[T.?] Lot" on its front and "Prudent Paris" on its back. It is at 410.''
T w o others, made by Christophe Delusse, are at 418 and one of these
( E . z ~ gives
~ ) an alternate set of pitches at 395.
T h u s the surviving instruments indicate the use of pitch levels at
A-2, possibly A-11/2, A-I, and a lowish A+o (433).
8-za Organs and Pitch in Churches
J.A. Silbermann wrote in 1772 that "In France, the pitch was yet again
1/2 step lower than Cammerthon and was called French pitch, but is sel-
dom used anymore." Since Silbermann's Cammerthon was A-I," it ap-
pears that A-2 was no longer in style for organs, at least in the area
around Alsace and Switzerland where he worked. But Graph 19e
shows a number of organs built in France at A-2 in this period, includ-
ing some famous ones (Souvigny, St. Maximin-en-Var, Fontaine-
bleau, and Poitiers).
In 1780 the first bassoonist at the Ophra, Pierre Cugnier, wrote
"Bassoons that are made in the proportion of eight feet reduced to
four, according to the old system of manufacture, are appropriate for
playing in cathedrals, where ordinarily the pitch of the organ is very
low, as was that of the Eglise des lnnocents and is still Ste. Chapelle at
Paris and the Chapelle du Roi in Versailles.""
W e discussed the organ at the Chapelle du Roi in Versailles in 3 - I ~ I .
Originally, it was probably built at Ton de la Chambre du Roy (A-I%),
but was lowered to 396 in 1762. T h u s when Cugnier in 1780 spoke of a
very low organ pitch, he probably meant A-2. This may also be the
pitch to which Castil-Blaze (1855:346) was referring when he wrote of
old-fashioned bassoons: "Church organs, at least those built until re-
cently, and bassoons from 1750 (which I played when I was young,
and which we called cathedral bassoons) are evidence that allow us to
determine the old pitch precisely." A fork consulted in 1824 by the
308 Chapter 8
Commission on pitch at the OpCra was dated 1789 and was at "ancien
ton de la Chapelle;" its exact pitch is not recorded but it was lower
than A-I (see 9-2).
8-2b T h e OpCra
Since Lully's works were still being performed intact until about 1750
(see 7-4a), they were probably being sung with the original voice-
types at their original pitch. But from then on, there is evidence of
major revisions and additions in productions at the Opkra. Pierre-
Montan Berton ("Pkre") was appointed orchestral director of the
Opkra in 1755, and frequently made arrangements of older works to
suit the contemporary situation. His tuning fork was consulted by the
Opkra's Commission on pitch in 1824 and was apparently at about
413.'~T h i s pitch would have affected voice ranges, and his adaptations
would presumably have accommodated these changes. By the late
1760s) both BCdos de Celles and Rousseau were reporting that ton de
I'Opkra was no longer a fixed pitch; "it is raised and lowered a quarter-
tone and more, depending on the range of voices."
T h e 1770s were crucial for the OpCra. At the beginning of that dec-
ade, Lully remained a presence, and Rameau's operas, especially Castor
et Pollux, were still part of the standard repertoire. "By the 177os, few
disagreed with the assessment of Lully's music as old-fashioned
(though, some maintained, still worthy). But now Rameau, too, was
drawn into this category."" While Castor et Pollux still did well at the
box office in 1778, two years later it had to be withdrawn because of
poor gate receipts; it had a last brief run during 1784-1785. By the end
of the 70s) the Acadkmie royale de musique was in a "state of crisis," and
a number of sweeping changes were instituted in 1 ~ ~ 8From . ' ~ this
time, new and old works were performed alternately. Presumably the
newer works like Gluck's "reform operas" were conceived and per-
formed at a higher pitch than the traditional ones. It is probably this
state of affairs that Cugnier (1780:329) described. T o his comments on
bassoons that "are appropriate for playing in cathedrals,'' he added,
"These bassoons can still be used in the Paris Opkra, where one
changes pitch when the solo voice parts are lower or less high; so that
there are of necessity some problems with intonation caused by the
difficulty, one can even say the impossibility, of playing in tune with
an instrument that is too high or too low." Cugnier's wording suggests
that the normal pitch was higher, but that for the pieces in which
voice parts were "lower or less high" (that is, presumably the older
works), "one changes pitch," and he found it handy in these cases to
have a separate bassoon that was made "according to the old system of
manufacture," that is at A-2.
There are other indications of the continued use of A-2 at the
OpCra until at least 1770, such as this comment by Fran$ois-Joseph FC-
tis, published in 1828: "In the past, the pitch of the Paris OpCra was
very low; afterwards it went up considerably, for, if I am to believe
what I am told, pitch in 1820 was a tone higher than in 1770. Since
then, it is believed that they were obliged to lower it to avoid tiring
the singers."" Since a full tone below 432 (the pitch of the "Grand-
OpCra" in 182~") is 384, FCtis' report would support Rousseau's state-
ment cited in 7-4a that Ton d'Ope'ra was usually lower than Ton de
Chapelle.
By the 1780s, however, there are confirmations of Cugnier's impli-
cation that a higher pitch was being used at the OpCra. Besides Ber-
ton's fork (at A-I), an anonymous tract ("Moyens") appeared in the
same year that Cugnier published his comments, which stated that "in
order to produce the C of the OpCra, a string must make, in total com-
binations, 240 vibrations per ~ e c o n d . " ' The
~ author then gave the vi-
brations per second (i.e., H z ) for a chromatic scale of one octave. U T
was 240, LA ( a ~ ) 404
, Hz."
This level, 404, or A-19'2, would have represented the pitch raised
"a quarter-tone and more" ("more" perhaps referring to Berton's fork
at A-I). Another fork survives, dated three years later (1783), that was
tuned to the hautboy of Antoine Sallantin (1755-1816), from 1770 to 1816
the first hautboist at the Opkra (where part of his official duties in-
cluded giving the pitch)." T h e fork was owned by Pascal Taskin,
harpsichord maker and tuner to the French court, and gives a pitch of
409."
Castil-Blaze (1855:3~6)wrote of a famous singer named Blaise Mar-
tin, who sang at the Ope'ra-Comique, and who owned several tuning
forks:
310 Chapter 8
The first dated from 1750 or 1650 (as you like); the second, a semitone
higher, was used in 1788 when this singer first began singing a t the
ThCttre de Monsieur;'' and finally the third, raised a t least another
semitone above the second, which represented the pitch of the OpCra-
Comique in 1820, a t which time we examined them together.
T h e third fork might have been at about 428, as that was the fre-
quency given by Fischer for the OpCra-Comique in 1823.'~If Martin's
lowest fork (for 1750) was at A-2, the one in the middle, that of 1788,
would presumably have been somewhere between; it could have been
similar to the pitches just discussed: 404, 409, or 413.
Some of the newer repertoire at the OpCra may have been per-
formed even higher, such as Gluck's operas that had originally been
conceived in Vienna at the much higher A+o (cf. 8-6). Orchestral in-
struments at A+o were being made in France (see Graph 13e), so A+o
might also have been used at the OpCra along with A-IV", A-I, and A-
2 . (This situation, if it existed, would explain Cugnier's trouble play-
ing in tune in the OpCra orchestra.)
8-zc Instrumental Pitches
T h e comments of Cugnier and Castil-Blaze quoted in 8-2b suggest

that, by 1780, woodwinds at A-2 were considered old-fashioned; Cas-
til-Blaze mentioned a date of 1750 for "bassons de cathCdrale." Bassoons
were perhaps made at A-2 longer than other kinds of winds because
they could be played with choirs in church to help keep the pitch in a
capella music. But by 1787, bassoons had evolved so much that, in that
same year, O z i showed two different models: one with five keys "tels
que sont ceux de Bizey, Prudent, &c.," which he called the "Basson
ancien," and a newer "Basson moderne" with six keys. W h i t e
( 1 ~ ~ 3 x 4 suggests
6) that the difference between the models had less to
do with the extra key than with their pitches. T h e "Basson moderne"
would presumably have represented the latest and highest pitch
shown on Graph 13e, an average of 433. Time was on the side of this
higher pitch, as Graph job shows; it would become the most common
woodwind pitch after 1800, and would rise even higher by 1812. As for
the "Basson ancien," its pitch would probably have been similar to ex-
tant flutes. Flutes by Charles Bizey (fl. 1716-ar758) are at 387/405, 387,
390, 392/402,393, 397,417, and 417/422; those of Prudent (tl. a1765-ar78j)
are at 415, 423, and 430. Since Ozi's book of 1787 postdated the careers
of both these makers, and their later instruments were presumably the
highest-pitched, the "Basson ancien" was probably at A-I or perhaps a
little higher, but not yet up to 433.
The Concert spirituel regularly featured soloists from abroad, and
had a reputation for a high pitch, probably A+o. Mannheim wind
players, who were popular at the Concert sprituel in the 1770s~seem to
have had no concerns about pitch being different in Paris (see p.3~5).
F.J. Czerwenka, advisor and associate of Beethoven and hautboist for
Haydn (17~0-1794)~ played in Paris prior to 1800. Others hautboists
who appeared on the series included Caravoglia (in 1776-178~)and
Ludwig August Lebrun (in I ~ ~ ~ - I ~ ~ ~ ) . ~ ~
Willard Martin (1994:13) noticed that, in contrast to the scalings of
French harpsichords made at mid-century ("among the longest scales
in the French tradition"), instruments by Taskin made in the 1780s
show noticeably shorter scales; Martin estimates a rise in pitch of
about a semitone compared with earlier i n s t r ~ m e n t s . ' ~
The lower
pitch would presumably have been A-2, and the higher might have
been that of the tuning fork owned by Taskin (at 409).
W i t h the founding of the Conservatoire at the end of the century,
a pitch standard was endorsed called ton d'orchestre. Adrien de la Fage
(1855x62) claimed that it was a semitone higher than Ton dJOpe'ra at
that time (the 1790s); these two levels might then have been 409 and
434. H e said that as a result, for the next generation, wind players had
to be conscious of whether their instruments were at ton d'orchestre
(orchestra pitch) or I'ancien ton (old pitch).
That the OpCra was isolated from the rest of the Parisian musical
world in maintaining a pitch a semitone lower than ton d'orchestre is
clear. But that does not mean the pitch called I'ancien ton was the same
as the OpCraJs pitch, as La Fage implied. There are indications of the
existence of a third pitch some 5-6 H z below ton d'orchestre, and this
may have been I'ancien ton. Let us examine this evidence.
First, many of the best instruments were shortened at this period,
in the hopes they could be retained." La Fage mentioned from per-
sonal memory that Jean-Georges Wunderlich (principal flutist at the
OpCra from 1787 and professor of flute at the Conservatoire from its
312 Chapter 8
founding in 1 ~ ~had 5 ) had his Martin Lot flute shortened, and contin-
ued to use it. T h e known flutes of this maker, who worked until 1785,
are pitched at 409, 410/415, 415/422, 424, and 428. Shortening for a dif-
ference of more than about a comma (four or five of which made u p a
semitone) would not have been practical because the internal intona-
tion would have been too seriously compromised. So treble wood-
winds that were shortened would not originally have been more than
t w o commas lower than ton d'orchestre, which is much less than a
semitone. T h i s then may have been I'ancien ton.
Second, Garnier (1802:2), writing in the hautboy method he pre-
pared for use at the new Conservatoire, explained: "[The hautboy] has
t w o similar top joints, which are numbered. Number 2 gives the stan-
dard pitch; with number I the instrument is made longer and thus
lower (it is longer by two pouces [lignes])."38 If top joint number 2, the
shorter and higher one, gave the standard pitch, what would have been
the purpose of number I? It might have represented a pitch that had
once been in use, or it might have been another standard. T h e differ-
ence in length between the two joints was 4.5 mm. T h a t probably rep-
resented a difference in pitch of about 25 cents, or 5-6 Hz at this fre-
quency. Joint number 2, being "the standard pitch," (which in his
previous paragraph he had called "the pitch used until now") would
probably have given ton d'orchestre, and number I would have been at
l'ancien ton. O r was number 2 already above ton d'orchestre, which was
represented by number I? I n any case, joint number I was not enough
longer t o have played as much as a semitone lower.
8-3 Germany
T h e pitch situation in Germany in the last generation of the 1 8 ' ~cen-

tury was accurately summed u p by H.C. Koch when he wrote in his
Musikalisches Lexikon:j9
Kammerton. The present normal standard pitch, actually a whole-tone

lower than the pitch of organs (which are tuned to so-called Chorton).
For some time now, in certain places they have begun to raise Kammer-
ton again [sic]; the result is that in many localities the difference be-
Classical Pitches, 1770-1800
tween the latter pitch [Kammerton] and the pitch of the organ consists
of only a semitone.
It is clear that Koch is relating Chorton to A t 1 because if it had been

A t o , Kammerton would have been A-2 (and the latter had become rare
in woodwinds, as we will see). Neither could it have been At2, be-
cause there are virtually no organs of this period at that level (see
Graph zoe). Most surviving organs built in Germany in this period
were built between 460 and 466. T h i s was Cornet-ton, or A+I, often
called Chorton. T h i s is confirmed by several original organ pitches that
survive from this ~ e r i o dwith a name attached to them:
460 cornet 1771 Gau-Odernheim, Kath.

460 Choor-toon 1774 Breslau, Maria Magdalene
466 Cornett ton 1775 Framersheim
466 Cornet T o n 1779 Gensingen, Simultan
465 richtigen ChorTon 1783 Zethau, Dorfkirche
460 Cornetton 1784 Nieder-Florsheim, Ev.
460 Cornetton 1786 Morstadt, Ev.
T h u s Koch considered A-I the "normal standard pitch," but reported a

second Kammerton a semitone higher.
From about 1770 most woodwind-making centers were producing
instruments at both A-I and A t o . Graph 29c puts German woodwinds
in the context of European production in general; all countries shared
a level at A+o (normally the most important, if not the only level),
and Germany shared with France a significant presence of A-I, a level
that existed also in Italy (though less prominently).
8-3a Instrumental Pitch
I n 1791, D.G. Tiirk remarked that "There is still n o generally accepted

pitch in absolute terms, which is why, for instance, the note we call C
is not tuned at the same level everywhere."40 In the same year, 1791,
J.G. Tromlitz observed in his flute Unterricht, "While the pitch of all
places is not the same, but sometimes varies up to a semitone higher
or lower, it is necessary to have several middle joints correctly gradu-
314 Chapter 8
ated higher o r lower, i n order t o be able t o play in t u n e e ~ e r y w h e r e . " ~ '

T r o m l i t z was a traverso player and maker in Leipzig. I n a book o n
traversos written i n 1782,J.J.H. Ribock compared t h e "Saxon" flutes
by T r o m l i t z and Augustin Grenser i n Dresden w i t h traversos f r o m
Berlin by Q u a n t z and Kirst. I n Ribock's opinion, t h e tone of t h e
S a x o n instruments was noticeably different, and this difference was
caused b y their higher pitch:
Quite different from these flutes [by Quantz and Kirst] are those of
Mr. Grenser, and also those of Mr. Tromlitz which resemble them
closely. In order to compare the sound of these two types, I consider it
necessary to refer to their higher and lower pitch. No Saxon flute can
approach the low pitch of the Berlin flutes, because their bore is too
narrow for such a pitch. The Saxon corps I and z, that begin a tolerable
interval after Quantz leaves off, are really worthless; but I find the
tone of Mr. Tromlitz's corps 4 and Mr. Grenser's 3 and 4 incontesta-
bly more beautiful. I t is more resonant, clear and pure, and despite its
higher pitch still as full and round as Quantz's, even using his own
best corps. His best corps are the lowest;* his corps 5 and 6 are cer-
tainly worth no more than corps 1 and 2 of the Saxons, in the reverse
sense of course."
Ribock w a s saying that w i t h flutes of this kind, which were provided

w i t h as m a n y as six corps de rechange, t h e Saxon flutes were best to-
ward t h e t o p of their range (with corps 3 and 4), while those of Berlin
were best at t h e bottom of theirs (with corps I ) . ~O~t h e r excerpts f r o m
Ribock include:
When there is a possibility to choose, I would advise the higher pitch,

which I find is generally better, and deserves preference.
Without introducing other reasons, such as how satisfactory the
strings sound at the higher pitch.
It could be argued against the higher pitch that it is too difficult for
singers, but this makes no sense, since the range can be too low as well
as too high, regardless of the pitch. It is simply the composer's job, to
be careful of this and see to it that it does not happen.
I have already pointed out that no center joint succeeds so well on the
Leipzig flutes as the fourth one."
Graph 33 shows the pitches of instruments by these makers (with the

addition of Heinrich Grenser, who began producing in 1796 and con-
tinued the traditions of his uncle Augustin). In this graph, I have fol-
lowed Ribock's opinions on which corps are best. Thus where there
are multiple joints, I have chosen the two longest on the traversos of
Quantz and Kirst, and the third and fourth on those of the Grensers
and Tromlitz. (Clarinets by Kirst and Augustin Grenser are also in-
cluded.)
The Grensers, like Dresden makers generally, were well-known
throughout ~ u r o ~their e ; ~instruments
~ were played in Germany, It-
aly, the Habsburg Lands, and England. Graph 33 may thus show the
tendencies of state-of-the-art European woodwind pitches in the late
1 8 ' ~century. It is apparent how important A+o had become. Only Au-
gustin Grenser shows pitches below 430 (he began producing instru-
ments in 1744, whereas the other two makers started in a1753 and 1 7 ~ 6 ) .
While pitches between 430 and 440 may have represented the leading
edge of woodwind playing, a broader picture is offered by Graph 14e,
which shows woodwind pitches all over Germany, with an almost
equal division between A+o and A-I.
Evidence for Mannheim is indirect and does not allow definitive
conclusions. O n e of the celebrities of the court was the flutist Baptist
Wendling (1723-17~7)~ who inspired many of Mozart's flute composi-
tions. Wendling had a high regard for the flutes of the Mannheim
"Hofdrechsler" ("court turner") Michael Eisenmenger (f7. ca.1761-1788)
which were made, it is safe to assume, at the pitch standard there. T h e
one surviving Eisenmenger flute whose pitch I know is at 415.~'
Wendling is also known to have bought a flute from Thomas Lot in
(Wendling played often at the Concert spirituel between 1751-
1780). "In the 1 8 ' ~century the workshop of Thomas Lot assumed, in
every sense, the primary position [among French woodwind makers]
that the workshop of the Hotteterres had held in the 17'h century."49
T h e pitches of a number of Lot's flutes are known and are mostly at
A-2 and A-I.'" Mannheim players often appeared at the Concert Spri-
tuel. The Mannheim orchestra moved to Munich in 1778 with the
Elector Carl Theodor, at which time the musical establishments of the
two courts were merged. T w o flutes by "Greve A Mannheim" survive
at 418 and 435, both probably made in the rgth century. A-I had not yet
316 Chapter 8
disappeared. But Mannheim was part of a network of traveling wind

players who frequently shifted positions between the active centers of
Salzburg, Vienna, Wallerstein, Munich, and P a r i ~ , ~so' it is likely
these places were all used to commonly hearing a pitch level of A+o,
about 435.
8-3b Prussia and Saxony
Prussia and Saxony tended to be on the low side of general European

pitch levels. Reports in the 1770s compare Berlin's low pitch with the
high one in Vienna (Viennese pitch was 430-440; see 8-6). In some
parts of northern Germany, A-I remained the standard until at least
1832 (cf. Kier 1968:73-4).
In Dresden, the famous Cammerton organs by Silbermann were at
least partly responsible for ensuring that some instruments remained
at A-I. Fiirstenau (1862:11:289) wrote, "The pitch of the Catholic
Hojkirche is apparently still at Hasse's pitch, as the organ is [to this
day] carefully maintained at that same [pitch]." The Catholic
Hofhirche organ was (and still is) at t41$. Ellis (1880:37) reported the
pitch of a fork owned by the Dresden court organist Kirsten in 1780 as
422.52 While the traversos of the Grensers (whose instruments were
played all over Europe) favored A+o, the lower joints of some of them
extend into the A-I region. This level seems to have been stable for
some time.
In 1775 the German physicist, Johann Heinrich Lambert, working
at Berlin, reported experiments that indicated that "the notes of my
flute are about a semitone higher than those of the instruments that
served as examples in the experiments of Messrs. Euler and Ber-
n ~ u l l i . " ~Lambert
' (with typically unrealistic exactness) measured his
flute to two decimal places at 415.25 Hz.
In 1776,J.F. Reichardt wrote that the tuning of the Berlin orchestra
was "low." Reichardt, well-traveled and originally a violinist, was in
charge of the opera in Berlin from 1776-1786. He wrote, "The strings
for the [violin] must be chosen according to the pitch of the orchestra.
In an orchestra that tunes to a low pitch, like the Berlin one, for ex-
ample, the strings must be much thicker than for one that tunes to Vi-
enna pitch: the difference [between them] is i m p ~ r t a n t . " 'And
~ in the
same year that Reichardt published this, 1776, Marpurg estimated the
Berlin A as 414 Hz.'>
T h e levels of Kirst's traversos extend into the A t o region (see
Graph j3b), but the bulk of the pitches are lower, overlapping
Quantz's highest levels in the low 4oos.56 Kirst made most of his in-
struments for the Prussian army, and most have disappeared without
a trace, along with those of other Prussian makers of the 1 8 ' ~century,
such as Reinicke and Freyer." It is possible that there was a special
military pitch.
Considering that Quantz's flutes were made in the previous period
and that he had died in 1773, it is striking to see his instruments still
being discussed by Ribock in 1782. These instruments had of course
been furnished to a very select clientele (mostly his patron, Friedrich
I1 of Prussia). They were pitched much lower than the standard
traverso of the late 1 8 ' ~century (see 7-se), ranging from 380 (sic) to 409
(Graph 33a). T h e lowest surviving traversos by other makers (Scherer,
Heise, and Oberlender) are at 389-392; five of Quantz's surviving in-
struments are below 390. Franqois de Castillon (who worked in Ber-
lin) commented o n this difference in 1777: "In one part of Germany,
.
particularly in Prussia, traversos are differently made. . . T h e differ-
ences we will see are due t o the famous Quantz .. . recently deceased.
... Mr. Quantz's flutes are longer, wider in bore, and thicker-walled
than ordinary traversos; as a result, they are pitched lower."
Quantz's opinions o n pitch (no doubt the same as those of his em-
ployer, Friedrich) were probably exceptional compared to most of his
contemporaries, like his opinions o n other musical matters in his later
life. After meeting Quantz in 1772, Burney commented,
His taste is that of forty years ago; but though this may have been an
excellent period for composition, yet I cannot entirely subscribe to the
opinion of those who think musicians have discovered no refinements
worth adopting, since that time."
Quantz had probably stopped making flutes some time before 1770.
T h e A-2 era must effectively have come to an end in Berlin o n his
death; Frederick had become "der alte Fritz," and the last years at his
court were musically stagnant.'9 In 1788-1792 Friedrich Nicolai wrote
that "Die Quanzische tiefe Stimmung wird nicht mehr gebrauchtJ'
318 Chapter 8
("The low tuning of Quantz is n o longer used").60 Evidently it had

served as a model there for a considerable time.
8-3c Organs
Altenburg wrote in the 1770s that
Here in Germany the trumpet in Chorton C is clearly the most pre-

ferred. I t is given this name from the fact that its C is the same-or
officially should be the same-as that of the organ (which is normally
. .
in Chorton). . And because Chorton and Cammerton are usually only
a tone from each other, if one is a tone higher and the other a tone
lower, it is easy to see that this trumpet tunes in D from the point of
view of Cammerton. For this reason, it could just as well be called the
trumpet in Cammerton D. '
Organs continued to be built at "Chorton" (A+I) until at least 1815. T h e

new organ built in Bach's Thomaskirche in Leipzig in 1773 was at
Chorton. I n 1784 an organ at Bautzen Michaeliskirche was built at
"nicht Cammer, sondern Chor ~ h o n . " ~Chorton
' continued t o have a
double meaning; Johann Andreas Silbermann in I772 had distin-
guished it from Cornet-ton at A+I, putting it a semitone lower at A+o
(see 8-?). A look at Graph zoe suggests that organs in this period were
rarely built at A+o, however; the great majority continued to be newly
built at A+I.
I n the previous period, there had been two principal instrumental

pitches in England: the continental standard at A-I, and new Consort-
pitch, Q-2 (the latter shared by both orchestral instruments and or-
gans).
It can be seen from Graph Ise that surviving woodwinds built after
1770 have moved clearly upward and are pitched between 419 and 445,
the range of a semitone, with an average of 434.6j If instruments be-
tween 419 and 428 are considered to be at Q-2, those that are above
that limit average 437, or A+o. Traversos with alternate corps help clar-
ify this picture. Cahusac made one at 400 and another with corps at
402, 428, and 433; these levels suggest that besides Q - 2 and A+o, Q - 3
was still occasionally in use. The principal change in this period was
the prominence of A+o among the woodwinds.
English chamber organs (Graph 23e) show the same two pitches,
Q - 2 and A + o . ~O~u r discussion in 7-6 indicated that "concert pitch,"
which Tans'ur had called "new Consort-pitch," was probably Q - 2 . A de-
scription of organs published by William Ludlam in 1772 speaks of
"concert pitch" as the standard for organs.65The organs of this period
shown in Graph z2e are mostly at Q - 2 (around 423). A surviving Eng-
lish ~ i t c h ~ made
i ~ e by "JnO Stadden/July 14th/1774" has been meas-
ured at 425.66
There were many foreign musicians active in London in this pe-
riod, suggesting an equivalence between pitch standards in England
and the Continent. Giuseppe Ferlendis played hautboy for Haydn in
London in the 17gos, for instance. Ferlendis had played in Austria and
was based in Venice. The prevailing instrumental pitch in all these
places was A+o.
Dutch organs from this period range from A-I to A+I (Graph 24e).
The term Kamertoon was still commonly used (also "Fluyt of
Kamer TOO^").^^ It often referred to A-I, as the frequencies of two or-
gans described at this pitch are known; Harlingen, Nieuwe Kerk
( 1 ~ ~and
6 ) Bolsward, Grote Kerk (1781) were both at A-I.~'
But Hess wrote in 1774x63 of performances "in French- or Cham-
ber-pitch, in which church music is performed," and he was appar-
ently referring to a particular Kamertoon ("deeze Kamertoon," "this
Kamertoon") not at A-I but rather A t o , since it was only "a large semi-
tone" (i.e., 5 commas) lower than Cornettoon: "this Kamertoon is a large
semitone lower than the other organ stops, which are tuned to Choor-
or Cornettoon ... these Kamertoon stops are needed for accompanying
instruments, since the other stops at Choor- or Cornettoon are too high
320 Chapter 8
for instrument^."^^ Whether by this period the most common level of

Kamertoon was A t o is not yet known.
T h e church organ in Stedum, which had been at "hoog Coortohn,"
was lowered to Kamertoon in 1791 by moving the pipes upward and
adding two bass pipes;70 the organ was thus effectively lowered a
whole-tone, presumably to A+o.
In this period, of course, Vienna and the "Wiener Klassik" repre-

sented the leading edge of musical style, and the practices in Vienna
had a correspondingly strong influence on Europe in general.
As mentioned previously, there was considerable coming and going
of wind players between Vienna and other places by the early 1770s.
Stradner (1986a:83) commented, "There was, apparently, widespread
agreement on pitch between Austria, Germany, Italy, and even Eng-
land, so that for Joseph Haydn on his tours, adjusting to local pitch
standards was not a serious problem."
By the 1780s references began to be made in Berlin to a particular
Viennese p i t ~ h , and
~ ' by 1789, the concept of a pitch standard associ-
ated with Vienna had become embodied in the term Wienerton, or
"Viennese pitch." Friedrich Lempp, a well-known Viennese wood-
wind maker, listed this pitch as the first choice in an advertisement
for his instruments: "Those who might honor him with orders from
abroad are requested to describe the pitch [they desire], whether it
should be Wienerton, Kammerton, or even French pitch, or to send him
a so-called 'tuning fork.""' As we saw in 3-6, "franzosisch Ton" was
one of the traditional terms in the Habsburg Lands for A-I, and was
used that way by Joseph Riepel in 1752-68, for in~tance.~' Kammerton, as
we speculated in 7-8, was apparently a lowish A+o, at 430-433. What,
then, was the frequency of Wienerton?
As can be seen in Graph 29f, Habsburg woodwinds were pitched
for the first time close to 440; the few woodwind pitches known from
the previous period had been at 433, and those from after 1800 (Graph
3oe) are at 430 and close to 440. Probably the lower group at 430'433
can be regarded as at Kammerton. In the previous period, woodwinds
still had to be in the same pitch system as church organs, and were
thus made a semitone below the organs. O n e of the innovations of the
classical style was the separation of "absolute" instrumental music
from its function as an accompaniment, and it may be that by 1789 or-
chestral music was important enough as an independent activity that
it could develop its own pitch. Its level was on or just below 440. T h e
two levels, Kammerton and Wienerton would have been close enough to
each other that discrepancies could be covered with string retuning
and alternate tuning joints on woodwinds. That this relatively subtle
distinction between Kammerton at 430-433 and Wienerton at 438 and
above is probably right is confirmed by a comment of J.H. Knecht,
who wrote in 1803 "In Paris pitch is higher than in Berlin and Leipzig,
while in Vienna it is even higher than in Paris. [It (the difference be-
tween Vienna and Paris) is not as great now as formerly.]" By this he
probably meant that Berlin and Leipzig were at A-I, while Paris (as we
have determined) was at 433 (see 8-2). If Wienerton was higher, it
might well have been close to 440.
Five clarinets of interest, all at 438, are by Lotz (maker of instru-
ments used by Anton Stadler, for whom Mozart wrote his clarinet so-
los), and Griesbacher (who lived at the same address as Lempp).74
Both these makers were, at one time, members of the Esterhiza music
e~tablishment.~' Nicholas Shackleton* emphasizes the consistency of
the pitch of Viennese clarinets at this period, and points out that from
about 1780 they are never lower than 435. Their pitch, presumably, was
Wienerton.
Prague and other cities in the Hapsburg Empire were probably at
Wienerton, since the court as well as many musicians traveled fre-
quently throughout the Empire.
Trombones were still frequently used in Austria. W i t h the preva-
lence of A+o, only a semitone below the tenor trombone in A and the
alto in D (at traditional Cornet-ton), it was roba ably at this time (as
Dahlqvist* speculates) that they were "converted" into Wienerton in-
struments without actually changing their absolute pitch; in relation
to Wienerton at A+o, the tenor was in B b and the alto in E b. Trom-
bones retain this approximate pitch to this day.
Michael Latcham (*) points out that a number of makers made pi-
anos at two pitches a semitone apart. H e cites Alfons Huber's sugges-
tion that since a level of 455-460 was standard for organs in Austria
322 Chapter 8
into the century, it is quite plausible to think that owners of the

short-scaled pianos, presumably at Cornet-ton/"Chorton," were often
organists.
T h e famous tuning fork of "Herr Stein," u o h a n n Andreas Stein,
1728-1792)reported by Nake (186232) and Ellis (188037) has been effec-
tively treated by Mendel (1978:82). Lloyd (1950) cited Ellis as extend-
ing the Stein frequency (422 Hz) "to give the pitch used for the or-
chestra in Vienna in Mozart's day," an assumption with a dubious
basis, since Stein was not based in Vienna, but in Augsburg. Still, 422
was a pitch known elsewhere (Dresden, London), and may have been
used in Augsburg.
8-6a Salzburg
Well into this period, chamber works were written in Salzburg with
woodwinds notated a tone higher than the other parts (cf. 3-6).
Church music was regularly notated with voices, strings, trumpets,
trombones, and "Fagott" in the organ key while hautboys and some-
times one "Fagott" were notated "Trasposti," a major zd higher
(sounding, that is, a major 2d l ~ w e r ) . 'T~h e higher parts were no doubt
for musicians from the court, whose instruments were evidently at A-
I or A - I ' / ~ and
, ~ ~the others must have played at Cornet-ton. Dahlquist
cites information from Ernst Hintermaier that indicates that "parts
for oboes are always written a tone higher in music to be performed at
the Cathedral. This practice continued into the lgth century."78 T h i s
includes a number of works by W.A. Mozart in which the woodwinds
are notated a tone above the voices and other instrument^.^^
T h e Peterskirche had been "in die Chorhohe gerichtet" in 1631.
Dahlqvist reports that there are sets of parts preserved in the Peter-
skirche archives that are transposed for flute and hautboy," so the or-
gan was probably at Cornet-ton some time before the Abbot, D.
Hagenauer, wrote in 1793, "This year I had the large organ tuned t o
Cornet-ton, along with other important repairs."" W.A. Mozart per-
formed his Missa in c-minor (KV 427) in this church in 1783, and
Dahlqvist notes that it was transposed for this performance to b-
minor, which would be logical if the organ was indeed pitched at
"Cornet," = A+I. T h e Missa had originally been given in Vienna in c-
m i n o r , presumably in a v e n u e w h e r e t h e organ w a s a s e m i t o n e lower,

t h u s a t Wienerton = A+o. By performing it in Salzburg in b, t h e voices
s a n g a t t h e s a m e absolute pitch level a s i n Vienna.
T h i s suggests t h a t t h e use of Cornet-ton in c h u r c h e s a t t h i s late d a t e
w a s a specialty o f Salzburg; b u t Dahlqvist p o i n t s o u t t h a t i n c h u r c h
m u s i c o f t h i s period a t t h e V i e n n e s e court, t h e p a r t s f o r c o r n e t t a n d
t r o m b o n e are notated a t t h e s a m e pitch a s those for strings, bassoon,
a n d organ.8' Perhaps, then, c h u r c h m u s i c also at V i e n n a (at least a t
court) w a s still performed a t Cornet-ton.
Notes
I. Not counting the three examples at 400 and below.

2. Not counting the two pitches at 400 in France, which must represent a
lower level.
3. Makers of instruments at 420-430 in this period included Bland, Potter,
Clapisson, Prudent, Delusse, Roberty, Theodore, Grenser, Tromlitz, Eisen-
brandt, Kirst, Hesse, Fornari, and G.-A. Rottenburgh.
4. Maunder 1998:171.
5. See Landon 1976:II:289.
6. Piersol 1972:120, 329.
7. Piersol 1972 gives an account of the close musical ties between Wallerstein
and Vienna.
8. Piersol 1 9 7 ~ 4 0 7Edge
; 1992:68.
9. Hellyer 1975:14,55,17.
10. Burgess 1993:6. Marcuse (1961:37) reports an inventory of musical instru-
ments kept in the King's library at Versailles, 1780, which included "Deux
hautbois de for& garnis en cuivre, ayant chacun trois corps, qui servent a
hausser et baisser le ton, et une petite boette ou il y a douze hanches; ils sont
de la facon de Bizet."
11. Da Silva, 1773, letter to Piaggio (Genova). Quoted and translated in
McClymonds 1978:42. Garnier 1802.
12. Barbieri 1987:182.
13. See 4-IC.
14. This phrase was copied by Lichtenthal 1826:207 and (presumably from
there) also by FCtis 1828:205.
324 Chapter 8
16. Translation by Ellis cited in Lloyd 1954:791;.

17. c f . 7-5.
18. I n La Fage 1859:1o1.Cf. Ellis 1880 under A 422.3.
19. Reported in Bernardini 198933.
20. Vienna: G. Stradner.
21. Pitchpipe frequencies are corrected downward 5 H z (see 1-6).
22. See the introduction to 7-5.
23. Cugnier 1780:329.
24. Archives of the Acadimie Royale, 03 1664 11, dipart du 14 juin 1824. 1 a m
grateful to Geoffrey Burgess and Michael Greenberg for passing on this in-
formation.
25. Bartlet 1989:314. She cites a comment in the Mercure de France for 1778:
"Ces cadences iternelles, ces ports de voix, ces hurlemens, tout ce qui faisait
extasier les Frangais, il y a vingt ans, est aujourd'hui passCs de mode."
26. Bartlet 1989:297.
27. FCtis 1828:208. I am indebted to William Waterhouse for bringing this ar-
ticle to m y attention.
28. Delezenne 1854:15, citing Fischer.
29. "Moyens," 1780:28.
30. Michel Piguet kindly called m y attention to this reference.
31. From a letter by Sallantin written zg.vii.1802 and cited in Burgess 1993:r.
Sallantin was active in various ensembles in Paris. In 1792 he became the first
Professor of hautboy at the new Conservatoire. He is associated with the
hautboy maker Christophe Delusse (a1~58-1789).Conrey 1986:8-9; Pierre
1975:213.
32. Ellis 1880:36; Mendel 1978:82. T h i s fork survives at the Academy of Ap-
plied Sciences, Paris. Sallantin used an hautboy with multiple top joints
(Burgess 1 ~ ~ 3 : like
6 ) the Delusse shown in Garnier's Mithode (1802), SO the
connection between the OpCra and A-409 is not certain.
33. Later called the Ope'ra-Comique. In 1789 this theater was putting on operas
by Anfossi, Cimarosa, and Paisiello, conducted by Cherubini.
34. Cited by La Fage.
35. Pierre 1975:161-62, 203. Berlin, as we know from both Reichardt and Mar-
purg in 1776, was at A-I (see 8-3b).
36. Martin 1994:13, citing O'Brien 1990:233.
37. Cf. La Fage 1859:63. A number of instruments from this period survive
that show evidence of having originally been longer.
38. Although Garnier wrote that the two joints differed by two pouces, he ap-
parently meant two lignes, because the former was 54-14 m m and the latter 4.5
mm. O n the diagram he provided, the two joints did not differ as much as
54.14 m m in length; he also gave the lengths of the two as 8 pouces 9 lignes for
number 2 and 8 pouces 11 lignes for number I.
39. Koch 1802:822.
40. Tiirk 1 7 9 ~ 7 .
41. English tr. Powell 1991.

42. This is confirmed by modern players, who find that most of the flutes
made by Quantz for Frederick play best with the longest middle joint, as the
head bore is quite large. Roderick Cameron*, Friedrich von Huene*, Jeffery
Cohan*, Oleskiewicz 1998a:144.
43. Ribock 178~:jqff.
44. Peter Spohr* has pointed out that Grenser apparently changed his system
of numbering corps. A n early Grenser (ca.1770) in his possession has a corps
numbered "4" that is much longer than on later traversos (giving As415 in-
stead of the later A z ~ ~H~e suggests
) . that corps "4" of early instruments may
have became corps "I" of later ones.
45. Ribock refers here to flutes by Tromlitz. He considers the pitch of "Nro
4" ideal. Pitches at Leipzig and Dresden (near A t o ) are thus equated.
46. Cf. Heyde 1993b.
47. T h e flute is dated "ca.1780," two years after the removal of the court mu-
sical establishment to Munich.
48. Giannini 1993:3z.
49. Giannini 1993:43.
50. 382, 382, 385, 394, 395, 395, 396, 405, 410, 410, 410, 414, 4141 415, and 430 (see
Appendix 4).
51. Cf. Piersol 1972.
52. This was probably based on Nake 1862:14.
.
53 Cf. 1-7.
54. Reichardt 1776:86. Cited and translated in Mendel 1955/1~68:215.
55. Ellis 1880 under 414.4. See also Ellis 1880:26, where he speculated that Mar-
purg's pitch was probably 420 "when corrected." Cf. Mendel 1 ~ 5 5 / 1 ~ 6 8 : 2 1 ~
56. In the last 5 years of his life, Quantz apparently collaborated with Kirst
(NLI 315).
57. Heyde 1994:73.
58. Burney 1773:11:157.
59. Helm 1980:6:812.
60. Anehdoten von Konig Friedrich I1 von Preussen (Berlin and Stettin, 1 ~ 8 8 - ~ 2 ) ,
pages 151-52, quoted in Oleskiewicz 1998a:gj-94.
61. Altenburg 1795:11(written in the early 17~0s).
62. Biehle 1924:10o.
63. There are two other instruments at 400 and 402 (see below).
64. There is one other instrument at 495.
65. Barnes & Renshaw 1994:309.
66. Byrne 1966. Corrected, this pitch would originally probably have been 420.
67. Cf. Zierikzee, Grote- of St. Lievens (1~71);Brouwer 1979:121.
68. Both were described as in Kamertoon by Knock 1788.
69. Hess 177z:zo. Italics are mine.
70. Talstra 1979:46.
326 Chapter 8
71. Such as those of Reichardt and Michaelis in Berlin (see 8-jb), and even a
reference to ''Weense orkesttoon" as far away as Holland in 1821 (Talstra
1979:46).
72. W i e n e r Zeitung, 25 February 1789, quoted in Maunder 1998:184.
73. It may also have been used as late as 1802 in a contract for an organ resto-
ration at Schlzgl that mentions tuning the instrument "nach den fran-
zasischen Ton" (Freiberger 36).
74. Three of these instruments, a matching trio of basset horns, are described
in Hoeprich 1997.
75. Stradner 1986a:83.
76. Mendel (1~~8:13-14,34) cites unpublished research by Gerhard Walter-
skirchen, now in the form of a dissertation called Orgeln und Orgelbauer in
Salzburg vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart (Salzburg, 1~82).
77. A-I was not quite a Mz below the general pitch reported for Salzburg or-
gans (454); A-1'/2 would have been closer. But a drop of a %-tone would not
have been difficult with special reeds.
79. Dahlqvist (1993:39) lists the following Masses, all in C: KV 66 (F1 parts
also in D, others in C), KV 167, KV 257, KV 258, KV 259, and KV 262. Cf.
Mendel 1978:79-80.
81. Quoted in Mendel 1978:34.
82. Reine Dahlqvist*. He notes there are many examples in B. MacIntyre,
T h e viennese concerted mass of the early classic period (1~86)and the current Fux-
Ausgabe.
Chapter 9
Early Romantic Pitches, 1800-1830
n t h e late 1 8 ' ~and early 1 9 ' ~

centuries, a composer like Beethoven
could move f r o m Bonn t o Vienna without changing his perform-
ing pitch in t h e slightest, and t h e a m o u n t of pitch variation was
so little as t o be unnoticeable during his lifetime. N z k e was told by a
Russian bassoonist named K u m m e r that he had observed o n a tour of
G e r m a n y , Sweden, and D e n m a r k in 1818 that pitch was quite t h e same
everywhere.'
T h i s was t h e lull before the storm, however. From t h e beginning of
t h e xgth century there were complaints of rising pitch: at first f r o m t h e
Saxons and Berliners ( w h o had n o t yet entirely accepted A+o), and
toward t h e e n d of the 1820s and into t h e 1830s in m a n y other places.
Giuseppe Serassi, w h o built some 350 organs around Milan, wrote in

1816 (28-29):
T o say that such and such an organ is tuned to the "choir" means it is
tuned to the "coristo" or pitch standard; this latter is different in al-
most every country; in France it is about three-quarters of a step
lower; in Romagna and Naples higher. The pitch of the organs of the
Antegnatis is the most practical of all, both for the violin and for wind
instruments; and since the latter come mostly from Germany, it
Chapter 9
would seem that il coristo Lombardo [Lombard pitch] is closer to the

German.
Organs by the Antegnatis whose pitches are known are at A t 1 and

A t o . Of these two, the one that would be closest to the pitch of Ger-
man wind instruments of the period is A t o ; the Antegnati at Verona
was apparently at 436. W e are thus probably correct in assuming that
Serassi equates A t o and coristo Lombardo. A+o is the pitch of the in-
struments made in this period that we know (a traverso by Biglioni
"in Roma" at 435 and the organ at Tai di Cadore [Callido, 18r3] at 434).
It does not quite square with pitch in France, however, as 3/4 tone be-
low 436 would put French organs at 406; dropping everything a semi-
tone is no more plausible. And the idea that organs in Romagna and
Naples were higher than about 435 is also puzzling, unless the differ-
ence was small. Thus Serassi's testimony seems inexact.
Pietro Lichtenthal (1826:207) described pitch in Milan (where he
lived from 1810) as a quarter-tone higher than that of the "court thea-
ter" at Vienna. H e associated the latter with 436, which would have
made Milanese pitch A=443. This may have been the pitch of operas
of the time, such as those by Donizetti and Bellini.
As for Rome, by the end of the 1 8 ' ~century instrumental pitch was
probably at a level similar to many other cities in Europe. Orazi
(17~7:4,9), in a book on traverso making published in Rome, used
(Richard) Potter as a model; the Potter instruments listed in Appendix
4 average 432 (Orazi called this "tuono corista"). The Biglioni traverso
made in Rome is at 435. Rome was thus evidently at a low A t o .
Rome was the center of the castrato phenomenon, which was
largely due to the need for music in Church combined with a ban o n
women singers. It could be argued that both the emergence and fall of
the castrato voice is connected to pitch standards. Doni wrote that one
reason so many Roman organs were lowered in pitch to Corista di S
Pietro in about 1600 was for the sake of "many castrati who, once they
are more advanced in years, are no longer able to sing with the same
high-pitched voice as that of real boys." O n e of the special characteris-
tics of the castrato voice and its notable advantage over the female so-
prano was the greatly extended upper range of the chest voice, reach-
ing c3 or d3 and even higher. A lower pitch would have helped castrati
Early Romantic Pitches, 1800-1830 329
avoid a register break into head voice (falsetto) by keeping t h e m be-

low it.
Most castrati were not famous opera stars, but rather members of
church choirs; the Papal chapel employed t h e m as late as 1913. It is true
that the pitches of the organs at the Cappella Giulia and the churches
of S Maria Maggiore, and S Giovanni in Laterano were kept at A=384
until late in the lgth century, perhaps t o accommodate t h e castrati in
their choirs.'
T h e gradual rise of pitch all over Europe during the 1 8 ' ~century is
paralleled by the slow eclipse of the eunuch "primo uomo" playing the
principal heroic male roles in opera. Toward the end of the 1 8 ' ~cen-
tury and beginning of the lgth, castrati were replaced more and more
frequently with contraltos and eventually tenors. T h e level of A t o ef-
fectively placed a castrato voice a tone lower than A-2 (Corista di S
Pietro) had done, and it is possible that fewer castrato voices could be
found that were able t o extend the chest voice high enough. T h e last
great castrato role in opera was sung by the soprano Giovanni Velluti
in Meyerbeer's II crociato in Egitto, performed at La Fenice in 1824.
As noted in 9-2, Rossini remarked during his sojourn in Paris that,
for his Neapolitan operas, he used "un diapason tout diffCrentV t h a n
that of the Paris OpCra in 1826. T h e pitch at Paris was A-I, so Neapoli-
tan pitch would presumably have been considerably above it.
9-2 France
French woodwinds continued t o show a remarkable variety of pitches

in the early lgth century (see Graph job). T h e r e are instruments at A -
2,A - I V ~ ,A-I, and especially A t o . T h e latter group is t h e largest and
averages 434. Particularly interesting are three traversos in crystal
made by Claude Laurent, w h o supplied similar instruments t o the
Conservatoire from about 1810. These flutes, whose pitch is more ac-
curate than those made of wood, are at 435,430/435, and 4251435.
A serinette (a type of automatic flageolet that imitates birdsong)
made by Bourdot-Bohan at Mirecourt in about 1820 is pitched at 437.'
W e speculated in 8-2c that at the end of the 1 8 ' ~century l'ancien ton
(old pitch) could have been anywhere from A-I to about 428, and that
330 Chapter 9
ton d'orchestre was about 434. Ellis (1880:28,43) reported a fork that gave
the pitch used at the Conservatoire in 1812 as 440.~
In 1817, G.L.P. Sievers, writing for the Allgemeine Musikalische Zei-
tung (based in Leipzig), made some interesting comments about Pari-
sian pitch levels, which he judged to be unusually highq5It had been
demonstrated, he reported, that "the pitch of the three great Parisian
orchestras is more than a semitone higher than the highest in Ger-
many and Italy. The purely instrumental groups, where no singing is
involved (like, for instance, dance-orchestras, of which several excel-
lent ones exist) tune even higher." Gervasoni also looked on French
pitches as high. Sievers was probably using the pitch of Prussia and
Saxony at A-I as a reference, so 435-440 would have seemed high to
him. He noted that the orchestra of the Thkatre Italien (which he con-
sidered the best in the world) tuned lower than the others because of
the smaller vocal range of the diva there, Mad. Catalani.
9-2a T h e Pitch Affair at the Paris Opira in the 1820s
By this time, the OpCra had abandoned the low pitch it had main-
tained at the end of the 1 8 ' ~century. By the early 1820s~in fact, it
seems the OpCra had the highest level among Parisian orchestras;
Delezenne (185~:15)documented pitches at various theaters in Paris in
1823 as follows:
OpCra 431
ThCatre ~ e y d e a u ~ 428
ThCatre italien 424
But, incredible as it sounds, for a brief period in the I ~ Z O S ,pitch at the

Opkra was suddenly and deliberately lowered to what was thought to
have been the Ophra's pitch in about 1780. This dramatic drop is
amusingly described by Adrien de la Fage (185~:6~f£'), and is docu-
mented by minutes in the OpCra's archives.' It seems that the pitch of
the OpCra orchestra was tiring to the singers and leading to "the pre-
mature loss of their talent."' The inspiration behind the switch was
apparently the prima donna Mme. Branchu, although there was general
unanimity among the personnel of the OpCra that pitch was too high.
T h e project was initiated by the directors of the OpCra in May

1824. A commission was formed, and met o n 21 June of that year to de-
cide whether to change the OpCra pitch and if so, to what level. It first
consulted a number of tuning forks, including those used by P.-M.
Berton, director of the OpCra from 1767 to 1778, and J.-B. Rey, conduc-
tor from 1776 to 1804. T h e n Monsieur Habeneck, director of the OpCra
and chairman of the commission, requested the principal hautboy and
flute of the orchestra, Vogt and Nermel,
to play one after the other the A of their instruments. This A was
pitched (especially on the flute) above the pitch presently adopted by
the AcadCmie Royale de Musique [i.e., the OpCra]. Mr. Habeneck
next had an hautboy and flute brought in that had been made about
forty or forty-five years ago. Messrs. Vogt et Nermel were asked to
give the A of [these instruments]. This pitch was in both cases no-
ticeably lower than that of the orchestra of the OpCra.'
T h e pitch of these older instruments was similar t o that given by the

older tuning forks. It was higher than a fork they consulted dated 1789
that gave the "ancien ton de la Chapelle" (most likely A-2), but it was
lower by about 18 Hz than the OpCra pitch at the time'" (reported by
Delezenne at 431 the year before, 1823). T h e commission thus had
some reason for its opinion that this middle pitch (presumably about
413 or A-I) represented the OpCra's level from about 1770 to 1810 (cf.
the dates of Berton and Rey, 1767-1804)." T h e commission's recom-
mendation that this pitch be used as the norm was quickly put into ef-
fect. T h e head of the OpCra urged the implementation of this pitch
not only at the OpCra but also at the royal lyric theaters, the Conser-
vatoire, and the Chapelle. There is no evidence that the pitch was
adopted elsewhere than the OpCra, however.
T h i s sudden change meant the OpCra had to purchase 22 new in-
struments at a lower pitch for its wind players at a cost of 6,092 francs,
as well as to pay an annual fee t o each musician for "entretien" ("up-
keep").'2 By the 1820s~players evidently felt unable to use existing
older instruments that had played at A-I. T h i s period was one of the
more dynamic in developing new instrument designs and applying
keywork; evidently the instruments had to be new. There were exag-
gerated rumors that 34 new instruments were necessary and that their
332 Chapter 9
cost was 30,000 francs ("Ein theurer halber Ton!" wrote a German
correspondent; "an expensive semitone!")." Interestingly, the winds
were t o be " B un ton un peu plus bas que celui d u nouveau Diapason"
("at a pitch a little lower than that of the new standard"), showing a n
awareness of the tendency of winds to play sharp.
T h e first performance at the "new" low pitch took place in March
1825 for a performance of Gluck's Alceste (which had first been per-
formed in Paris in 1776). T h e Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung reported
the drop that year.
W h e n Rossini arrived at the Opkra in 1826, he was clearly shocked
by this low pitch. La Fage wrote that he thought that it
deprived the instruments of their brilliance and force; the operas he in-
tended to arrange for the French stage had been written for quite a dif-
ferent pitch; if arias from the earlier repertoire seemed too high, they
had simply to be transposed. In any case, it was ridiculous to subject
modern composers to a pitch used nowhere else in the world ("un dia-
pason hors d'usage partout aille~rs").'~
T h u s Rossini considered this low pitch (presumably A-I) "hors

d'usage" in Europe by 1826. Still, he apparently accepted it temporar-
ily, as indicated by the exceedingly high range of the tenor part in
Guillaume Tell, infamous in modern performances at 440 and higher."
T h e march of time could not be resisted, however, and by 1829 the
OpCra was back up to Ton d'orchestre (434) and Mme. Branchu had re-
tired.I6 After the rise, "the poor showing of the singers who attempted
the earlier repertoire was blamed o n the raised pitch level.""
Ellis gave a pitch for the Opkra Comique in 1829 of 438, and in 1830,
FCtis wrote (B), "Each of the theatres at Paris had formerly its own
[diapason]; that of the Opera was the lowest, and that of the Italian
theatre the highest. There is now very little difference between
them."" T h e OpCra maintained 434 at least through 1834.'~This pitch
would presumably have been used for works performed after 1829,
such as those by Rossini, Auber, Meyerbeer, and Bellini.
9-3 Germany
I n Germany, this period can be characterized as Cammerton's "last

stand9'-if we take the word spelled with a "C" t o represent the tradi-
tional value at A-I. Already seriously threatened at the end of the 181h
century, A-I gradually and grudgingly yielded completely t o a lowish
A+o, even in its last bastion, Saxony and Berlin, including t h e Dres-
dener Hofkapelle, still famous and esteemed all over Europe.'" W h e n
this group performed in t h e Catholische Hofkirche in Dresden, they
played with the famous organ built there by Silbermann and
Hildebrandt in 1754; its pitch was 415, and had never been altered.
German musicians and writers o n music did not give u p A-I with-
out a last-ditch fight, however. All through this period, the Allgemeine
Musikalische Zeitung (the most influential music periodical of the time)
systematically printed complaints and polemics against a rising pitch
~tandard.~'
T h e most outspoken group were singers and advocates of vocal
music, w h o considered the high pitch (435-440) quite unacceptable,
even if it had already long been used in Vienna, London, and else-
where. There was talk of "Schreyen und Pressen" ("howling and
strainingn) among the tenors and sopranos." Some solo singers carried
tuning forks with t h e m o n their tours and insisted o n tuning pianos
and even whole orchestras down t o their pitch.''
German woodwinds at A-I must have been rare by this time; noth-
ing lower than 420 is known today from this period (see Graph 30c).
T a k e n as a whole, the surviving instruments (all traversos) range
from 420 to 445 and average 433. Several longer corps also range down
into the 420s. T h e level at A-I must still have had some use, as most
German organs remained in this period at their traditional Cornet-ton,
A ~ I . ~ ~
By this time, A t 1 was always called Chorton, and everyone, it
seems, had forgotten the meaning of Cornet-ton ( A t 1 almost by defini-
tion). Knecht (1803:529-31) wrote that Cornet-ton had existed in the past
and was higher than Chorton. Silbermann had said the same thing (see
7-5), but Knecht also put Chorton a whole-step above Kammerton. Since
these last two would then have been A + I and A-I, respectively, he was
saying in effect that Cornet-ton was at A+2 (Knecht also related Chor-
334 Chapter 9
ton-not Cornet-ton-to "Zinken"). Kiesewetter ( 1 8 2 7 ~ ~ 7and ) Schil-

ling ( 1 8 ~ ~ : 2 ~repeated
3) Knecht's error.25
Already in November 1801 a n article appeared in the Allgemeine
Musikafische Zeitung that recognized the fact that "die Stimmung a n
manchen Orten jetzt hoher ist, als etwa vor 50 Jahren" ("pitch in
many places is higher than it was about 50 years ago"). T h e writer, a n
anonymous "Musiklehrer," made some observations that give us a n
idea of the size of the pitch disparity of which some authors were
thinking in 1801. H e wrote that, in his o w n city, pitch had been "one
and the same in churches and concert halls for the last gjo years and
more, and only slightly different from the Viennese and Parisian
pitch of today." It is clear that all the pitches he mentioned must have
been in the range of A+o, and one wonders in how many places in
Germany his observation was true.
O t h e r writers were clearly discussing bigger pitch discrepancies,
however. Kiesewetter wrote in 1803 about pitch in Vienna: "Our low-
est tuning fork, that of the court theater, is about a half-tone higher
than pitch in Leipzig, for instance. I brought a flute back from there in
1801 with five corps, and had t o give it away, as it was useless here [in
~ i e n n a ] . " ' ~T h i s statement is surprising, because if Kiesewetter had
bought a recently made instrument, like those of Tromlitz (who
worked in Leipzig until 180s), the fourth and fifth corps (the best ones,
according t o Ribock) would have played at 437 and 441, right in the
Viennese range. Tromlitz is survived by traversos (with three or
fewer corps) that do indeed play no higher than 431. Kiesewetter may
of course have bought some other kind of traverso, like a Grenser, but
even among those, the ones that have multiple corps would have
played best around 435-438. It is true, however, that the Nicolai organ
in Leipzig was tuned at Cammerton, and was generally used as a pitch
reference. C.F. Michaelis wrote in 1814:
It is well known that our musical pitch has generally risen considera-
.
bly compared to the past. . . The compositions of Graun and Hasse
are usually difficult for our singers, since a t the time they were writ-
ten the orchestra tuned 1/2 to as much as 3/4 of a tone lower than the
present level in both Berlin as well as Dresden. The organ built a t the
royal chapel [the Hofkirche] at Dresden can be taken as an example of
the normal Cammerton then, as it has never been altered, a pitch shown
also by the organ of the Nicolaikirche in Leipzig. The same pitch was
current a t that time a t Berlin, Naples, Rome, and Paris."
T h e pitch to which Michaelis referred was that of the Silbermann and

Hildebrandt organ, made and maintained at 415, apparently the same
as the Nicolai organ in Leipzig built in 1792 and called ~ a r n m e r t o n . ~ '
This information suggests that Michaelis' pitch in 1814 was 440 or
even higher. A similar level is suggested by another report in 1819 that
considered the Frauenkirche organ (at 414) a semitone too low for
other i n s t r ~ m e n t s .But
~ ~ Ellis (1880:26) claimed that "at the time that
C.M. [Carl Maria] von Weber himself was Kapellmeister at Dresden,
1815-21,the fork of the orchestra gave A 423.2." It is possible Michaelis
was thinking more of Berlin than Dresden when he mentioned the
difference of "V2 und sogar 3A Ton," as he went on to say, "In Vienna
they tune considerably higher than in Berlin; in Munich, in Prague,
and in Paris again differently. T h e discrepancy is a matter of more
than a half-tone, reaching nearly 3A of a tone."jo Since we know that
pitch in Vienna was about 438, Berlin would have been at 402 in 1814,
unless Michaelis was being carried away by his obvious bias for a
lower pitch, or was speaking of exceptional cases (like the very high
flutes shown at the top of Graph joc).
Ellis wrote in 1880:38, "The pitch of the Dresden opera began to
rise in 1821, according to Nzke [13], in consequence of the celebrated
flutist [Anton Bernhard] Fiirstenau, then using a new flute made by
Koch of Vienna." NIke (1862:13) thought that the level at Dresden
reached 435 only by 1825-1830. H e noted that when "der Flotist Bohm"
from Munich (presumably Theobald Boehm) came to play in Dresden
in 1824, he had to lengthen his flute by means of "Einsatz-Ringe"
("tuning ringsn). Munich, then, was higher than Dresden in 1824."
By 1823, E.G. Fischer reported that the "Theater" in Berlin was at
437.32Frankfurt a.M. was perhaps a little higher; a review in the Allge-
meine Musikalische Zeitung for January 1820, praised the playing of the
famous hautboy soloist Wilhelm Braun for a concert he gave in
Frankfurt. Braun came from Berlin, and the reviewer noted that it was
clear that his hautboy was pitched lower than the orchestra."
Schilling (1835:233) summarized well the characteristics of this pe-
riod when discussing Kammerton (which he said was also called Capel-
lenton by some): "Unfortunately, Kammerton was so inconstant that
336 Chapter 9
now we have a whole series of "Kammerton" tunings, but no single

value." Schilling (1837:40) later gave an idea of the scale of variation in
Kammerton by citing four pitches ranging from 424 to 437.
It was differences of this order that were probably involved in the
bassoon delivered by Griesling & Schlott in 1821to the Hofkapelle in
Schwerin. T h e Kapelle had ordered the instrument with two wing-
joints "genau nach der jetzigen Stimmung" ("precisely at present-day
pit~h").'T ~ h e firm delivered the instrument with the comment that
"we have made a higher and lower wing-joint so that you can perform
at the pitches used in every locality." T h e implication was that only
two significant pitch standards existed, though a Griesling & Schlott
traverso survives with three corps at 420, 431, and 438.
W i t h the ambiguity surrounding Cammerton, it is no wonder that
the term could refer to either A-I or A+o, with nuances in between.
For organ builders, the choice was of half-steps, of course, because of
the need to transpose parts. T h u s Cammerton appears to have meant
A+o in the case of the organ J.C. Kayser built in Dorfchemnitz in 1803.
T h e organ was originally planned in Chorton, but it was later decided
that "such an organ should be tuned in standard Cammerton, not in
Ch~rton."~' T h e organ was built a t 435. Schlimbach (1801:262) also as-
sumed that only "eine Pfeife" (= a semitone) separated Chorton and
Cammerton: "It would be unreasonable to require Cammerton if it is not
specifically noted in the contract, since this pitch demands an extra
pipe, and indeed the largest of each stop." Wolfram in 1815 (171), o n
the other hand, still placed it a whole-tone below most of the organ:
"Cammer. W h e n this word is marked on a stop, it means a register a
tone lower in pitch, that obviates [the need to] transpose."
W i t h the exception of one recorder at 405 (which was in every sense

unusual at this late date), surviving English woodwinds of this period
are pitched from 425 to 440 (Graph 3od). As in the previous period, we
are probably right to regard these levels as representing two pitches:
Q - 2 and the continental standard at about 435 (A+o).
Handel's famous tuning fork at 423 (see 7-6) was owned by the
Rev. G.T. Driffield in Ellis' day. Rev. Driffield had bought it at the
sale of the effects of a Mr. Clark, to w h o m it had been presented in
1835. A note was attached t o the box that contained the fork, written
presumably in 1835, that said:
This Pitchfork was the property of the Immortal Handel, and left by
him a t the Foundling Hospital, when the Messiah was performed in
1751: Ancient Concert, whole tone higher; Abbey, half-tone higher;
Temple and St. Paul's organs exactly with this pitch.
A "half-tone highern than 423 (= Q - 2 ) would have been Q-I,thus ap-

parently the pitch of the organ at Westminster Abbey in 1835. T h e
pitch of Temple Church (1687) was given by Hopkins (1880:5~n1)as
"about midway betweenJ' 442 and a semitone lower, therefore proba-
bly Q - 2 , "exactly with" the Handel tuning fork. T h a t was also appar-
ently the pitch of St. Paul's in 1835.
E.J. Hopkins (1880:591) considered Q - 2 "Handel's pitch, and that of
t h e organ-builders generally of the 1 8 ' ~and early part of the xgCh centu-
ries, as well as of the Philharmonic Society at the time of its estab-
lishment (1813)." O n e of Handel's (later) pitches it certainly was, and
clearly it was the preferred level of organ builders (see Graph 22d and
e). As for the Philharmonic, John Peppercorn tuned the Broadwood
pianos at the Philharmonic Concerts in London from 1813 t o 1828. In
1855 Peppercorn still had the fork he had used then, which represented
the pitch the members of the orchestra had "determined and settled by
mutual consent." T h e pitch was 423 (Q-2), according t o Ellis, "half a
tone lower than the present [1880] Philharmonic itch."'^ Ellis also
wrote that "In 1813, the Philharmonic Concert, opened with A423.7-
that is, in mean pitch-and retained it till 1 8 2 8 . ~ ~ ~ '
T h u s the "orchestral pitch" t o which William Crotch transposed at
Cambridge in 1807 was probably Q - 2 : "Playing the organ at Charles
Hague's music meeting for performances of both Judas Maccabzus
and T h e Creation, it was discovered that the organ was below orches-
tral pitch. [Crotch] therefore transposed the whole of both works up a
semitone at sight."" Semitone transposition must have involved
m a n y accidentals and was probably not easy (unless it was D t o E b);
338 Chapter 9
on an old organ at Q-3, no doubt in meantone, it would probably have

been a blessing to have a large orchestra to cover it,
Ellis went on to say that Sir George Smart, conductor of the
Philharmonic, "altered his fork to A 433.2 [in 18281 ... This became
the pitch commonly known as 'Philharmonic' ..."39 T h e pitches at Q
2 and A t o had already been standard in England for generations, of

course (cf. 7-6). By this time, it seems, the Quire-pitch system was
moribund except on church organs (where it had begun).
A t the end of the 1 8 ' ~century, a subtle distinction evidently existed

between Kammerton (at about 433) and Wienerton (about 440). T h e
same interval is observable on the few surviving woodwind pitches
from this period (Graph 30e).
In the 1820s~extra keys were added to the Griesbacher clarinet at
438 mentioned in 8-6. This means that at this date the instrument was
still of enough use to justify the expense, and from this we can con-
clude that Wienerton in Vienna had not changed much since the in-
strument was first made (probably prior to 1800). And, in fact, another
Griesbacher clarinet made after 1800 is also at 438. Nicholas Shackle-
ton, who owns both these instruments, has noticed that the later
instrument can also function as low as k430 with a longer barrel and
the joints pulled out.
Schindler (1855:1:60) thought that Austrian orchestras and bands all
had the same pitch before 1814because the players all used woodwinds
made by Stephan Koch (1~72-1828).~" But Kiesewetter (1820) spoke of
three slightly different pitches in Vienna in this period, the variation
being small enough to be accommodated by woodwind players with
tuning slides (see below), longer barrels, and corps de rechange.
As for the approximate values of Viennese pitches, Kiesewetter
wrote in 1803 that "our lowest tuning fork, that of the court theater, is
about a half-tone higher than pitch in L e i p ~ i ~ .The
" ~ ' latter pitch was
probably 415, so pitch for Beethoven's Fidelio, for instance (1805)~
would have been about 435/440. Kiesewetter also wrote4' that the pitch
of the Viennese court theater was higher than a fork he had from
Paris, and "vielleicht vollkommen gleich jener zu Petersburg" ("possi-

bly quite the same as that of St. Petersburg"), by which he meant the
pitch Sarti had measured at St. Petersburg in 1796 at 436 H z (see I - ~ C ) .
Beethoven's 8th Symphony was first performed in 1814 and his 9th
in 1824; the two might have been at slightly different levels, but both
would have been bracketed by 430 to 440.'' This was apparently the
same pitch as Mozart's performances at Vienna, Haydn's at Es-
terhiza, and Schubert's throughout his life.
Writing of the I ~ ~ O Nake
S , (1862:12) remembered that "The Vienna
opera gradually reached 870 vibrations [= 435 Hz], as indicated by an
oboe of Professor Sellner of Vienna." Joseph Sellner (1787-18~3)was
professor at the Vienna Conservatory from 1821 to 1838. Sellner's in-
strument, described in his tutor of ca.1825, included a tuning slide at
the top that was probably used for small pitch adjustments.
Weber's Euryanthe was performed in 1823at the Karntnertor, which
Ellis said was at 4j8.44
Opera singers from Vienna who visited Dresden in 1825-1830 no-
ticed that the latter place had a lower pitch (see Nake 1862:13). Since
Michaelis had put Dresden pitch a half-step above 415 in 1814 (see 9-3),
and Nake (13) considered 435 to have been the Dresden pitch from 1825
to 1830, the amount that the two places differed would not have been
significant.
Stradner (1986a:g4) noted, "A fork that is connected with a Ham-
merklavier built by Conrad Graf in 1825 now in an English private col-
lection indicates already a frequency of 445.'' This is a sign of things to
come in the next period.
W h e n piano makers like Streicher in Vienna delivered instru-
ments to other countries, especially to Saxony and Prussia, they had
of course to reckon with pitch differences of up to a half-step.45 A
Privilegium was granted to the Viennese piano maker Joseph Bohm in
1823 for a piano with a sliding keyboard that allowed a shift up or
down of a erni it one.^^ Organists whose instruments were pitched high
might also have used pianos of this kind.
Salzburg was apparently in the process of moving its organs down
to instrumental pitch by the 1820s. In 1823 the Salzburg organ maker
Joseph Konradt proposed pitching the organ at the Peterskirche "nach
dem Frantzhossischen Dohn" ("to the French pitch"). As we noted in
8-6a, this organ had been tuned to "Cornet" (A+I) in 1793. "Frantzhos-
340 Chapter 9
sischen D o h n " i n 1823 w a s m o s t likely 434 (probably Ton d'orchestre;

see 9-2). Karl Mauracher, a n o r g a n builder w h o w o r k e d i n t h e Salz-
burg diocese f r o m 1820,h a d a t u n i n g f o r k pitched a t 433 Hz4'
Notes
I. N i k e 1862:12-13.
2. Hector Berlioz described a concert he heard at a church in Rome in the
early 1830s in which the organ was 1/4-tone flat to the orchestra. See Cairns
1969:~zo.
3. Haspels 1987:122. It may have been slightly lower originally.
4. Burgess (Forthcoming), 86n5 cites Baillot's suggestion in 1812 to lower the
Conservatoire's pitch level for the sake of the students' voices.
5. AMZ 19.30zff.
6. Castil-Blaze reported in 1855 that the pitch of the OpCra-Comique in 1820
was at 428 (see 8-zb).
7. Archives of the AcadCmie Royale, 0 3 1664 11, dCpart du 14 juin 1824.
8. T h i s reason was repeated in several internal Opkra documents of different
dates.
9. Matkriel No. 111 dated 12July 1824.
10. La Fage (185~:65)called the amount "un grand demi-ton," but the OpLra
commission estimated it to be "3/8ths of a tone," and a tone at this level
would have been 48 Hz.
11. Ellis 1880:39 mistakenly gives the lowered pitch as 425.8.
12. Cf. the AMZ 27.597 and 28.343, and Pierre 1893:378.
13. This event is probably the one described by Schindler (1855:1:62), though
his facts are a little different. According to him, King Louis XVIII paid
50,000 francs for the change.
14. La Fage 1859:65.
15. Gossett 1980:16:239.
16. Ellis 1880:41. Ellis (1880:43) reported pitches of both 434 and 440 for the
OpCra in 1829, and indeed both may have been used.
17. La Fage 1859:64.
18. See also FCtis 1828:204.
19. Ellis 1880:41.
20. Cf. Landmann 1993:175.
21. AMZ 1801:76, 1803:529ff, 1814:772ff, 1829:292, 1835:~05.
22. AMZ 1801:76.
24. Cf. many organs in Dahnert 1980.

25. As did Schreiber 1938:229. Cornetts (at Cornet-Ton) actually survived into
the early xgth century in Germany (Spielmann 1987:124, 129), probably either
in independent groups employed by cities or for use with organs still at
"Chorton." In many churches by the end of the 1 8 ' ~ century, their presence
was still recorded, though often they were no longer in use.
26. Quoted in Kier 1968:20. Published in 1820:346. A similar text appears in
Kiesewetter 1827:149.
27. AMZ 1814:773.
28. Banning 1939:71n273; Schering 194~634-5.
29. Dahnert 1980:70.
30. AMZ 1814:773.
31. In 1847 Boehm wrote that his flutes were designed to play at 440; see 10-IC.
32. Delezenne 1854:15.
33. AMZ 1820:59.
34. Heyde 1994:194.
35. Dahnert 1980:65.
36. Ellis (1880:~8,57),quoting a letter written on 20 March 1855 by Peppercorn.
37. Ellis 1880:29. Ellis (188o:~o),however, also reported higher pitches for the
Philharmonic in the 1820s.
38. Rennert 1975:50.
39. Ellis 1880:29. John R. Watson, Conservator at the Colonial Williamsburg
Foundation, informed me on 8 August 1996 of an instrument in their collec-
tion called a "Sticcado-Pastorale," a "xylophone-like instrument with blue
glass tone bars." It was built in ca.1800-1810and signed by George Smart, and
gives a mean pitch of 412.
40. H e went on to describe the higher pitch of a series of special instruments
Koch built for a regimental band performing at the Congress of Vienna in
1816. O n the basis of other evidence in this section, it does not appear that
this event had any dramatic effect on the pitch situation.
41. Quoted in 9-3.
4%.1827:149.
43. Nake 1862:23 gave 437 for the 8th Symphony. The high vocal parts in the
9th are thus not the result of an original lower pitch.
44. Ellis 1880:43.
45. Cf. Andreas Streicher 1801:jo.
46. Haupt 1960:128. I am grateful to Gerhard Stradner for pointing out this
passage to me.
Chapter 10
Pitch Standards, 1830-2001
sing t h e findings of t h e survey conducted by t h e French

Commission in 1858, it seems t h e basic level of performing
pitch has remained generally stable since about 1830. T h e
Commission was appointed b y t h e French government t o establish a
uniform musical pitch, and was led by a physicist, J. Lissajous. Lissa-
jous requested tuning forks that gave local pitches f r o m m a n y musical
centers in Europe. T h e collection of forks was still held by the MusCe
Instrumental of t h e Paris Conservatoire in 1977, and was examined at
t h a t t i m e by Leipp & Castellengo,' w h o commented, "It was apparent
that the great majority of these forks were pitched higher than 440 Hz;
. . . t h e average was in t h e neighborhood of 445 Hz." A s Leipp & Cas-
tellengo immediately noticed, this could have been a description of
pitches in t h e late zoth century. T o check this, they developed a
method for measuring pitch during present-day performances, and
found in t h e late 1970s that, in m a n y different European countries, pi-
anos were generally tuned at 443-444 and orchestras at 443-445.
From this, they concluded that t h e idea that pitch has risen over
t h e last century is illusory, and that o n t h e contrary, pitch has re-
mained remarkably stable. T h e y write,
It is our hope that through our research we may have helped to calm
certain anxieties created by a thoughtless press campaign. It was in
any case necessary to refute conclusively the claims for a mythical
constant pitch rise, claims that have been made now for more than a
century without serious foundation, and whose sole effect has been to
perpetuate and exacerbate an atmosphere of dissatisfaction and mutual
Chapter lo
mistrust, as much to the disadvantage of instrument makers as to mu-

sicians, who already have enough worries without adding this one.
A systematic review of the historical evidence confirms the broad out-

lines of this assertion (although as we will see, Britain in the lgthcen-
tury was a conspicuous exception). T o be sure, the prevailing pitch ac-
tually used from the 1830s and 40s to the present (as opposed to the
official pitch standards, which are not the same thing) has fluctuated,
but its center appears to have remained constant at about 444/445.'
This conclusion should not be a surprise, since pitch is produced by
instruments, and the basic designs of the instruments used today are
virtually identical to those of the mid-xgChcentury.
T h e extremes of pitch frequency reported during this period range
from 434 to 457, approximately a semitone. But this period is different
from previous ones, because these frequencies all refer to one single
standard.' All instruments are assumed to be at this standard and are
consequently classified as "at concert pitch" or "transposing."
T h e exact frequency of this single performing pitch was clearly a
worrisome subject throughout the lgth century, however, as it varied
by small amounts depending on location and time period. Such dis-
crepancies were particularly difficult to accept in an age that valued
standards and universality, keystones of the Industrial Revolution.
Concern was great enough that it created a new phenomenon in pitch
history: international meetings intended to fix a universal pitch stan-
dard. T o this end, there were deliberations in 1834, 1858, 1862, 1885,
1939, and 1953. These will be described below, as well as laws decreeing
pitch levels that were actually passed in France in 1859 and in Italy in
1887, 1936, and 1988.
Not only has ~ e r f o r m i npitch
~ remained constant at 444/445, but
the theoretical pitch standards established by these various interna-
tional meetings have also been similar, vacillating between 435 and
440. Although they have been consistently ignored in practice, the ex-
istence of abstract standards has been useful to musicians as reference
points from which they could deviate marginally (always, apparently,
upward).
In the 1830s and 4os, however, there was as yet no officially recog-
nized reference pitch, and there was a general perception that pitch
was rising. T h e idea even developed in the mid-lgthcentury that pitch
Pitch Standards, 1830-2001 343
had risen a whole-tone since the days of Bach and HandelP4and in the
highest pitch decade of the century, the 185os, this estimate was shy by
only about a quarter-tone.
In the 183os, France and the Habsburg Empire were at about
Wienerton, around 438, while Germany had already gone up well
above 440. Germany was thus the first country to start raising pitch in
the 1830s. In the next decade, most other countries had risen a little
more to 440 or just above, while Austria was at 444 and England had
already taken its position as the country with the highest pitch (the
low 450s), a position it would hold until the end of the century.
In the 185os, itch had again clearly risen everywhere. Most coun-
tries were close to 450, Austria was at 451, and England was at an aver-
age of 455. Something had to be done, and the answer was the French
Commission of 1858, which officially lowered performing pitch to the
mid-430s. T h e result was that, by the 186os, pitch had dropped in Aus-
tria, France, and Germany. Italy took longer to react, while England
was unaffected. By the 188os, Italy had officially gone down to the
diapason normal (A-435), a level maintained at least in word if not al-
ways in deed in France, Germany (more or less), and Austria. Eng-
land continued to average 453, and did not manage to calibrate itself to
the rest of Europe until the 1890s. Hence the concern of many in Eng-
land; it is probably no accident that the first major study of the subject
of historical pitch variation, published in 1880, was carried out by a
prominent English academic, Alexander Ellis.
Indeed, much of the information given here on pitch levels from
1830 to 1880 derives not from original instruments (as in the previous
chapters), but from tuning forks, both those collected by the French
Commission and the many described by Ellis at the end of the 1870s.
Ellis' report came in the midst of this period, and much of it was first-
hand. Being so close to his subject, he was in the unusual position of
being able to identify the date and function of many of his forks.'
T h e differences between pitches in this period were so small that
in this chapter we will use Hz values rather than the usual pitch sym-
bols.
Chapter 10
10-1 1830 to 1860: Rising Pitch
10-la Italy
Ellis (1880:28) reported pitches in 1845 for Florence at 437, Turin at

440, and Milan at 447 (Verdi's Giovanna d'Arco premiered there in that
year). Milan remained high; an article in the Allgemeine Musikalische
Zeitung in 1847 gave the pitch at La Scala as 444.6 In 1856 it was at 450
and the following year, 452.
In 1857 the Paduan physicist Francesco Zantedeschi described a
pitchpipe that had belonged to Nacchini and was passed on to Callido
and his successor Bassani as a "mezzo tono circa" lower than the "dia-
pason moderno" ("about a half-step lower than modern pitch").' By
"diapason moderno," Zantedeschi was probably referring to the Ve-
netian pitch of his time (447) as well as Viennese pitch at about 451.
Nacchini's and Callido's organs are consistently in the 430s) so a
"mezzo tono circa" above them would be at least 449 if not higher.
Zantedeschi also wrote, "The distinguished flute players who honor
Venice have discovered that the makers of the last century such as
Pallanca [sic], Mazzaini, Fornari, and Pellegrino De Azzi made their
instruments a tone lower than those that are made at present." If
Zantedeschi's reference pitch was 450, a whole-tone lower would have
been 402. Only the lowest surviving Palancas (shown in Graph 34)
start at 403, and most are higher, so Zantedeschi's "un tono" may have
been approximate. In any case, pitch in the Veneto was probably just
below 450 in the late 1850s; Verdi produced Simon Boccanegra at La Fen-
ice (Venice) in 1857. In 1859, the opera houses at Turin and Naples
were at 445.
l o - ~ bFrance
In the mid-1830s, pitches in Paris were 435 to 443. In about 1834, the
Conservatoire, "Concerts," and Italian Opera were at 435. Thus Ber-
lioz's Symphonie fantastique, Harold en Italie, and Rome'o et Juliette (1830-
1 8 ~ 0 were
) probably first heard at 435. The Italian Opera was at 437 in
1836; in that same year, the OpCra Comique was at 441.
T h e Wolfel studio at Paris was tuning its pianos in 1836 to 443.

Pleyel may have been similar, although somewhat later, in 1859, La
Fage wrote, "The pianos of Erard are thus always a bit lower than
those of Pleyel. N o artist who has had occasion to play in the halls of
these two famous firms has failed to notice this."' Fryderyk Chopin
was closely associated with the Pleyel firm, and owned a Pleyel grand
made in 1839. Prior to 1854, it is known that Pleyel's pianos were made
to 446; Chopin died in 1849. His pieces, written in the 20s) jos, and
40S, were thus probably pitched a little above 440.
Ellis followed pitch changes at the French Grand Opera in this pe-
riod with great precision. During 1836-1839 the tuning fork of M. Leib-
ner, "whose duty it was to keep the pianos of the opera to the pitch of
the orchestra, for rehearsals,'' was at 441. This pitch was "verified by
Meyerbeer at the rehearsal of the Huguenots. In 1849 it agreed precisely
with the oboe of M. Verroust, which gave the pitch at p e r f ~ r m a n c e . " ~
In 1854 it was measured at virtually the same pitch, 442, but by 1855 it
had risen to 449; in 1856 it was at 446, and in 1858, at 448. The Italian
and Comic Operas, as well as the Conservatoire, were similar.
(The accuracy of these figures suggests a consistency of pitch that
is not realistic, of course. As we have seen, pitch variation for the
Paris OpCra orchestra during a performance in the 1970s was 3 Hz be-
low and 5 above the base A,'" larger than the total variation Ellis re-
ports over the 22 years between 1836 and 1858.)
By the 1850s~pitch had unquestionably risen everywhere in France.
T h e Lille OpCra was at 451 in 1854 (it had been at this level since at
least 1848)~and the Conservatoire there was at 452 in 1859. The Con-
servatoire at Paris had risen from 436 in 1847" to 446 in 1856; this was
also the pitch of the Italian Opera in the same year. By 1859 the Con-
servatoire at Marseilles was at 447, the opera houses in both Toulouse
and Bordeaux were at 443, and that of Lyons was at 448.
Organs, by then bastions of conservatism and cut off from the
mainstream of musical activities, continued to be made at A-2 into the
century (cf. Lille, La Madeleine). La Fage wrote in 1859 (56), "New
organs built since 1800 were tuned like the old ones, and it is only in
the last twenty years at most that the idea of tuning organs more or
less at Ton d'orchestre at its level in 1830-1840 [sic] has been accepted."
As late as 1858 (the year before the new diapason normal was promul-
gated), there were still advocates of the venerable Ton de Chapelle. In
348 Chapter lo
that year, an organ builder had proposed raising the cathedral organ at
Rodez t o Ton d'orchestre by shifting t h e pipes (since at Ton d'orchestre-
about A+o-the A o n t h e keyboard produced a G). A n organ expert of
t h e time, Felix CICment, responded with t h e following:
As for tuning an organ of the importance of the one at Rodez to Ton

d'orchestre, we see no necessity. W e have discussed the question in our
reports on the organs of Toulouse, Albi, Montpellier, and Carcasonne.
W e continue to ask that Ton de Chapelle be preserved, for the sake of
the gravity of the divine service and the pitch of the human voice. W e
are provided with an example of the troubles that result when the pre-
sent pitch is raised to Ton d'orchestre by the Ophra itself; no tenors can
be found to sing Gluck's masterpieces, and it is already necessary to
transpose Spontini's music. ... The manner in which a conversion to
Ton d'orchestre is made explains, to a certain extent, the moderateness
of the fees, since in raising the organ . .. at least thirty-four of the
largest pipes of each stop accrue to the maker's clear profit."
T h e French Commission of 1858 (or "Lissajous-HalCvy Commission,"

as it was called) was made u p of officials, physicists, and composers.
N o n e of the people most directly involved with Pitch decisions and
their results-singers, instrumentalists, and instrument makers-were
invited t o take part, which may explain t h e radical pitch frequency it
eventually recommended. T h e most practical of the Commission's
members, and the one with the most realistic ideas, was Hector Ber-
lioz, whose recommendations went unheeded." And despite his re-
quest t o be included, the c o m m i s s i o n did not invite Adrien de la Fage
t o participate. As a result, La Fage published the following year a very
interesting little book o n then-current pitch standards and h o w t o de-
termine them. H i s pitch descriptions are clear and well-founded, al-
though his history is often inaccurate due t o an almost complete lack
of data.I4 T h e book's wry attitude toward the actual importance of the
subject, and t h e good sense-or lack of it-of those involved, often
makes for amusing reading.
Ignoring t h e advice of Berlioz (who thought that lowering t h e
pitch standard would be impractical, confusing, and very expensive),
t h e French Commission set its standard at ar = 435, apparently about
10 H z lower than almost any musician in Europe was playing. T h e
Pitch Standards, 1830-zoo1 349
Commission's recommendation became law in France in 1859. T h e

pitch was called t h e diapason normal. T h e rest of Europe used France's
initiative (if not literally, at least as a reference point), and it became
generally known as "French pitch."
10-rc Germany
Both Ellis and Mendel considered J.H. Scheibler's invention of the

"Tonmesser" ("pitch-meter;" a device that consisted of 52 tuning forks
carefully calibrated 4 Hz apart),'' and the Stuttgart Congress where he
presented it in 1834, of decisive importance in the history of pitch. T h e
Tonmesser was the kind of gadget that interested acousticians, but (like
Ellis' Hz calculations t o one decimal point) was far beyond the scale
of accuracy needed by musicians to determine performing pitch. T h e
Stuttgart Congress is interesting historically only because it repre-
sented the first meeting whose expressed purpose was t o recommend a
general pitch standard, and because already in 1834 Scheibler was pro-
posing a1 = 440 (actually 440.2). T h e Congress, made up primarily of
physicists, adopted the proposal. Scheibler chose this level, it should
be noted, based o n the mean pitch of Viennese grand pianos of the
time. Clearly, people were beginning t o think of pitch standards as
universal. But this Congress, like most subsequent ones, seems to
have had n o apparent effect o n performance pitch whatsoever.
By 1835 there was unease at what one reader called the "iibermassig
hohe Stimmung" ("excessively high pitch") of many German orches-
tras. 16 T h a t is probably because in t h e 1830s German pitches were al-
ready a little higher than in other places. But the general pitch level
was remarkably stable, and in 1859 it was at 445-446, virtually the
same as it had been in 1834.
T h e Berlin opera had apparently reached 440 by 1830." Operas by
Marschner put o n in Leipzig and Berlin in 1828 and 1833 were thus
at 440, as were the early works of Mendelssohn (A Midsum-
mer Night's Dream, 1826; Fingal's Cave, 1830; and Symphonies 3, 4, and 5
of the early thirties). T h e Berlin Opera in about 1834 was at 442, ac-
cording t o Scheibler. I n 1847 an anonymous writer in the Allgemeine
Musikalische Zeitung recommended 440 as a general German standard,
remarking that it was a practical pitch for singers and the mean be-
3 ~ 0 Chapter lo
tween the extremes then in use." Wagner premiered Tannhiiuser at

Berlin in 1845, and the same article (of 1847) gave Berlin Opera pitch
as 438 and 439, actually lower than Scheibler's measurement 13 years
earlier.
Theobald Boehm, in his book on the construction of flutes pub-
lished in 1847, mentioned in a fingering chart that he assumed a pitch
for his flute of 880 vibrations (440 Hz). Boehm lived in Munich. So
already in the 1830s and 4os, the idea of A-440 as a pitch standard was
in the air.
By mid-century there was a general impression that pitch had been
rising in the last 25 years. The anonymous writer in the Allgemeine
Musikalische Zeitung remarked in 1847, "I get 852,31 [426] from a fork
made in Hamburg in the I ~ Z O S ,which therefore differs from the [pre-
sent] pitch there by about three-quarters of a semitone, or (as it was
expressed in the past) about 4 comma^."'^ This put pitch in Hamburg
in 1847 at about 445. But the steady rise seen in other countries was ab-
sent here, as in Berlin. T h e Hamburg Opera was at 448 in 1839-1840,
lower at 447 in 1840, and lower still in 1847.~"
In the 185os, German pitches were similar to other parts of Europe.
T h e Berlin Opera was at 448 in 1857 and at 451 in 1858. O n the eve of
its establishment of the diapason normal in 1848, the French Commis-
sion collected the following German pitches:
Stuttgart Opera
Gotha Opera
Brunswick Opera
Weimar Opera
Wiirtemberg Opera
Munich Opera
Leipzig Conservatoire
Leipzig Gewandhaus concerts
Anthony Baines wrote in 1957 (31~)that "by 1840, sharp pitch pre-
vailed almost everywhere [in Britain], and most mid-century instru-
ments are far too high for playing on today."
T h e London Philharmonic was at 453 in 1846 (when Mendelssohn

performed his Elijah in Birmingham), and it continued at that level
until 1874.
10-xe Austria
I n 1834, descriptions of pitch in Vienna continued to distinguish sev-

eral levels. Scheibler's lowest pitch ("Vienna minimum") was 434;
this was also the level used by the Streicher piano firm. T w o higher
pitches in the same year were 437 and 439. Ellis gave 441 for the Vi-
enna Opera orchestra in that year, 1834, as well as 445 for the Conser-
vatory. Another report for about the same year put the Opera at 445.
I n the 183os, then, pitch in Vienna ranged between 434 and 445.
An article in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung in 1847 gave Vien-
nese orchestra pitch in 1843 as 443 and 445, but stated that pitch had
since been lowered to 441.'' T h e Vienna Conservatory was still at 445
in 1845.
Conditions in the rest of the Empire were similar. T h e French
Commission in 1858 collected pitches for the Pesth Opera at 446 and
the Prague Opera at 450.
Ellis reported o n a fork he received from Streicher's in 1859, that
gave the celebrated "sharp Vienna pitch" that was in use in orchestras
before the introduction of the diapason normal; i t was at 456, close to
the highest level recorded in this entire period.
10-2 1860 to 1900: T h e Pitch Rise 1s Gradually Checked
T h e French diapason normal was a legacy of the past and artificially

low for the second half of the century. O n e wonders how literally
it was observed. Since it was knowingly set lower than the performing
pitch of the time in which it was proclaimed, Leipp & Castellengo felt
compelled to comment (197736) that the pitch was "dks l'origine inap-
plicable et nifaste ("from the beginning impossible to enforce and the
root of many problems"). Whether or not this was true, the diapason
352 Chapter ro
normal clearly had an important effect on braking a rise in performing

pitch until well into the 2othcentury.
As far as positive responses in other countries, the diapason normal
was immediately adopted in Vienna. A fork sent from Stuttgart t o
London in 1869 representing pitch in Wiirtemberg was at 437. A mes-
sage with the fork said this was the pitch usually used, and that al-
though there was no officially prescribed pitch there, "the new French
is commonly in use," Verdi (as we will see lo-za) was an advocate of
the diapason normal. And "French pitch" was officially adopted by the
Spanish government in 1879."
But Ellis (1880:jl) thought that in 1878 only a few places in Ger-
many were really using French pitch. As we will see, it had no effect
in Britain until the 90s. And Ellis suspected that the Paris OpCra was
actually higher in performance than the official 435.
In France, government funding provided the means of enforcing
the diapason normal. But without a serious desire among performers to
lower the pitch, it would have been easy for the pitch to drift upward
in the course of performance, even in the period immediately after the
decree. According to Ellis (writing 21 years later), the result of the de-
cree was more basic; it caused "a revolution in the construction of
French musical instruments, and, at present, French pitch is the easi-
est one to find instruments for, except in London." T h e fact that
French flutes, oboes, and clarinets (then as now) were highly regarded
throughout the world must have added to the effectiveness of the dia-
pason normal and its widespread adoption."
In 1885 another conference o n pitch was held in Vienna, and it re-
affirmed A-43s. The Vienna Conference was the first event of this
kind with an international dimension, though not all countries were
officially represented. It was also the first to deal realistically with the
changes to pitch caused by ambient temperature, suggesting the use of
a mechanical tuning device and rejecting the traditional oboe "A" as
lacking c o n ~ i s t e n c y . ~ ~
lo-za Italy
Italy seems at first not to have noticed the diapason normal. Scattered
reports of pitch a decade after it was proclaimed were universally
higher:
Bologna, Liceo Musicale 443

Milan, La Scala 452
Florence, Venice, and Naples 456
Somewhat later, in a letter dated February, 1884, Giuseppe Verdi made

clear his preference for the diapason normal, and formally requested the
orchestras of Italy (including the many that performed his operas) to
lower their pitch. From this it is obvious that at the time they were
significantly higher than 435. Whether Verdi ever heard his works at
this pitch is open to question.
A proposal circulated in Italy in Verdi's time to lower the pitch to
432; but because Verdi himself thought it impossible to achieve, he did
not advocate it.25A decree stipulating A-432 for military bands was is-
sued by the Italian W a r Ministry in 1884; it was apparently never im-
plemented because it was superseded by the conference in Vienna in
1885, which decided for 4j5.26
In 1887 the Italian government responded to the recommendations
of the Vienna Conference with a law establishing 870 vibrations (435
Hz) as standard pitch, a pitch in which wind instruments, duly
warmed up, should play comfortably in an ambient temperature of
zo°C. The law was quickly ignored and forgotten."
10-zb Germany
In Germany from 1860 to 1900, pitch varied, but apparently gravitated

toward the French model.
Ferdinand Hiller adopted the diapason normal in Cologne in 1860. In
that year the great Alsatian singer, Julius Stockhausen, wrote Hiller
that since other conductors had not yet lowered their pitches, he
would sing only for Hiller and otherwise use a piano for accompani-
ment (Stockhausen often toured with none other than Johannes
354 Chapter 10
Brahms as his accompanist; Brahms wrote several pieces for him).

Stockhausen wrote that he had refused a number of concerts because
they were to be pitched too high.'' O n e can assume that in his many
activities in later years (mostly in Hamburg, Stuttgart, Berlin, and
Frankfurt), Stockhausen kept to this lower pitch.
Ellis (1880:30) described an interesting conference of opera person-
nel from various parts of Germany held at Dresden in 1862. Dresden
was still using two standard pitches, in 18'~-centurystyle, since the or-
chestra still performed at the Catholische Hofkirche with the cele-
brated organ by Silbermann and Hildebrandt built in 1754 and still
tuned at t415.
O n the face of it, this was a remarkable situation, and one that is
not completely understandable. At the very zenith of the Romantic
period, when works like Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and Die Meis-
tersinger (Munich, 1865 and 1867) were being performed at pitches
about a semitone higher, this orchestra was still playing at a pitch in-
herited from the mid-18'~century. The difference in pitch was large
enough that special instruments must have been used, although pre-
sumably they were up-to-date in other ways (valves, key systems,
bows, etc.), like those they used a t their other, higher pitch. But de-
spite the use of special instruments, it seems the group was not quite
able to play low enough, being almost a quarter-step higher than the
organ. Nake measured the pitch of the Dresden court chapel orchestra
in 1862 as 424, and he said that for this reason the organ agreed with
the orchestra "only in the hottest days of summer."
T h e delegates to the Dresden conference witnessed a series of
comparative performances by the Opera. After hearing the perform-
ances at both these pitch levels, 424 and 439, the conference concluded
that it would be desirable to lower the pitch to the French diapason
normal, but that lowering it to what they called "Mozart's pitch" (424)
"would injure the brilliancy and effect of the music under the present
entirely altered conditions." W h a t these "conditions" were and how
they were affected by a difference of 15 H z was not made clear. The
conference considered "uniformity" to be the "principal object and
chief gain" of adopting French pitch throughout Germany (sonority
was evidently not a consideration). Only Herr Nake, who had organ-
ized the conference, dissented from this decision. W i t h a viewpoint
reminiscent of that of the Paris OpCra commission of the 1820s (see 9-
Pitch Standards, 1830-zoo: 355
za), he argued that "uniformity was not the principal point, but suit-
ability and beauty. T h e principal object to be considered was the
singer, and the preservation of his voice." In 1859, pitch at the theater
in Dresden had been measured at 441. In 1862, Fiirstenau had written
of Dresden: "While the Kapelle's tuning fork in Hasse's time gave 417
(850) vibrations, that of the present Theater produces 443 (892)."29T h e
Leipzig Gewandhaus concerts in 1869 were at 448. In 1878 the Dresden
Opera was at 439, four H z lower than the level given by Fiirstenau in
1862.
T h e English reaction to the diapason normal was an initiative by the

Society of Arts to establish ax at 440 Hz. This affair was botched due
to a misunderstanding about the role of temperature, and the Society
a tuning fork not at 440 but at about 450.'"
Whether musicians would have noticed one way or the other is an
open question. In any case, like a runaway train car, England contin-
ued at a pitch a quarter-step higher than the rest of the world, with no
obvious mechanism for changing the situation. There were a number
of attempts to lower pitch, but none were successful until the end of
the century. Musicians visiting the country from the Continent were
appalled and annoyed.
W e have an unusually accurate record of events in London at the
time, through the extensive pitch data published by Ellis in London in
1880 (the decade that produced most of Gilbert and Sullivan's operet-
tas). Ellis reported, for instance, on the changes at Covent-Garden. In
1857 the orchestra was at 456. In the late 70s the singers insisted that
pitch be lowered (at least officially) to 435, but a performance was
measured at the time at 449, and in 1879 it was 450. The pitch was
again officially lowered to 435 in 1880, but did not hold.
Pitch at the Italian Opera (Her Majesty's Theatre, where many
London premihes of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi were
given) was somewhat lower. In 1878 it was at 436; in 1879, 446, and in
1880, at 445. Singers, including those from abroad, may have been re-
sponsible for maintaining a pitch closer to Continental standards.
356 Chapter lo
O n e piece of information perhaps gives a clue as to why pitch was

so difficult to lower. Covent-Garden's organ was tuned to 446 in 1879,
and in interviewing the organist of the hall, Ellis discovered that this
pitch was determined because the orchestra's woodwinds could not be
lowered." It seems quite likely that until circumstances forced the
wind players to replace their instruments (something they would ob-
viously have been reluctant to do), any drops in pitch would be merely
temporary.
It is probably for this reason that the attempt to lower the general
pitch standard in 1869 failed. A series of Oratorio Concerts was organ-
ized at St. James' Hall, "one of the principal features in which will be
the introduction of the French-or rather, continental-pitch (le diapa-
son n~rrnal)."'~ A new organ was built for the Hall at this pitch. T h e
event was isolated and had no apparent effect on the general pitch.
T h e Broadwood Piano Company in 1869 was obliged to keep in-
struments in stock at three different pitches." Broadwood, Erard, and
Steinway all used Philharmonic pitch at 4-55 for concerts. Broadwood
had a second pitch at 446 for "private instrumental performance," and
kept pianos at French pitch to accompany "private singers."34 In 1879,
Steinway's pitch for their London pianos was 455; the New York
branch of the firm provided a fork in the same year giving the pitch
they tuned their pianos, which was 457. Erard was at 455, and Chap-
pell at 456. T h e piano supplied for concerts at the Crystal Palace in
February 1877 was at 454.
T h e well-known organ firm of Hill & Sons used a pitch of 442 in
1878. This suggests that woodwind instruments were seldom played in
churches, and there was no need to adjust organs to the prevailing
sharp pitch. It is to this state of affairs that we probably owe the pres-
ervation of many fine old English organs that might otherwise have
been raised.
Military bands were quite at home at the sharp pitch, however.
British Army Regulation pitch for wind instruments in 1878 was 452,
and Kneller Hall, the training school for military music, was at 453 in
that same year.
T h e London Philharmonic reached its highest pitch, 4-55) in 1874,
when (it is said) it was sharpened from 453 by Charles HallC. T h e
most infamous of the scandals caused by the sharp pitch (called "Con-
cert Pitch") was that of the Wagner Festival in May 1877. Ellis re-
c o u n t s a conversation w i t h a D r . Pole, w h o told h i m "he h a d just been

d i n i n g w i t h H e r r W a g n e r , w h o 'complained bitterly o f t h e inconven-
ience h i s singers h a d been p u t to, o n account o f t h e fact t h a t t h e pitch
t h e y w e r e obliged t o sing t o here w a s s o m u c h higher t h a n t h a t w h i c h
t h e y w e r e accustomed to."' H i p k i n s measured t h e pitch o f t h e Festival
i n t h e Albert H a l l as 455. A similar imbroglio occurred t w o y e a r s later
w i t h t h e f a m o u s s o p r a n o Adelina Patti: "In 1879 Patti actually refused
t o sing at C o v e n t G a r d e n at t h e pitch its orchestra h a d t h e n reached,
w h i c h w a s a'=455. . . . T h e orchestra c a m e d o w n t o French pitch.""
Ellis' frustration at t h i s state o f affairs is a p p a r e n t in h i s c o m m e n -
t a r y o f 1880:
Such is the very undignified and unscientific position occupied by our

country with regard to musical pitch-a position into which we have
drifted without due consideration, and which is the occasion of much
practical inconvenience. It is entirely an orchestral or instrumental
pitch, due to the makers, especially, of wind instruments, and main-
tains its ground on account of the expense of changing the instru-
ments-frooo is mentioned in the probable cost of the contemplated
reduction of pitch at Covent-garden-as if the price of whole orches-
tras of instruments bore an appreciable ratio to the loss caused by the
premature ruin of one great singer's voice!j6
T h e t u r n i n g point occurred a half-generation after t h e appearance o f

Ellis' paper, a n d w a s effected b y several courageous acts. T o q u o t e L1.
S. Lloyd,
[This was] the brightest spot in the whole history of orchestral itch
in this country in the nineteenth century, with which the name of Sir
Henry Wood should be associated for all time. It was to his musician-
ship and to the bold enterprise of Robert Newman, the manager of
Queen's Hall [newly opened in 1 8 ~ ~that
1 , was due the lowering in
1895, at considerable expense, of the itch of the new organ just erected
there. Long before that date Philharmonic pitch had risen from 424 c/s
(in 1813) to 455 c/s (in 1 8 ~ ~Wood
). and Newman reduced this high
pitch to 439 c/s, i.e., by about two-thirds of an equal-tempered semi-
tone. The cost must have been forbidding. . . . I t does not detract from
the merit of their action that they had not questioned the advice of
358 Chapter ro
technicians who assured them that they were tuning their organ to
diapason normal. Their example was followed a year later by the
(Royal) Philharmonic Society."
T h e Promenade Concerts at Queen's Hall introduced the new pitch in

1896. In that same year, the Philharmonic Society also lowered its
pitch to 439. From that time onward, this pitch (not quite down t o 435,
but close) was called "New Philharmonic Pitch."
It should be added that, according t o Sir Henry Wood, the indi-
vidual actually responsible for the adoption of this pitch was a medical
doctor, a throat specialist named George Clark Cathcart, w h o fi-
nanced the new series of Promenade Concerts (which continue t o this
day) o n condition that it be performed at diapason normal." Cathcart
had studied singing in Naples, and he had first to convince Robert
N e w m a n (manager of Queen's Hall), who, according to Wood, "liked
the high pitch." T o quote Wood,
[Cathcart's] decision about pitch must have cost him a good deal, for
it meant new wind instruments. The players refused to buy them, for
they (like Newman) had no faith in the establishment of the low
pitch. I went to Victor ma hill on'^'^ place in Wardour Street to buy
these instruments which were lent to the players for the season. Most
of them, however, bought them from Dr. Cathcart a t the end of the
first season-an acknowledgement that he had won his battle for the
low pitch in England. ... Of this I am convinced: had Dr. Cathcart
not come forward with the capital, Newman would have found a way
to further his scheme [for the inauguration of the Promenade Con-
certs at Queen's Hall]-but the high pitch would have ruled because, as I
said before, he did not share the Doctor's view on this point.40
T o return t o an idea mentioned earlier, the reason this drop in pitch

was not merely temporary was because the wind players in the Phil-
harmonic Society Orchestra actually replaced their instruments at
Concert Pitch with new ones at New Philharmonic Pitch (not, proba-
bly, without some regrets). W i t h their positions in the Orchestra,
they must have had considerable influence, and their example was n o
doubt followed by other players in London. For the first time they had
the option of choosing instruments made o n the Continent (especially
France) at the lower pitch, and in fact this drop seems to have devas-
tated the woodwind-making industry in Britain for at least a genera-
t i ~ n . Without
~' such a change, however, pitch would inevitably have
returned to its previous level.
Edvard Grieg wrote to the London Times in 1899 praising this deci-
sion and reminding readers of the impracticality of "the high English
pitch for pianos."4z In that same year, after much discussion, New
Philharmonic Pitch was also adopted by the London piano makers.
10-2d Holland
In 1865 the tuning of the famous organ in St. Bavo, Haarlem, was dis-
cussed, and it was suggested that "The tuning must be adjusted to
equal temperament and as low as possible. It must in no case be taken
higher than the standard orchestral pitch of 880 cps for a ~ . " ~
From
' this
we can speculate that in 1865, 440 was considered the upper acceptable
limit of instrumental tuning, but that it was in danger of going higher.
IO-ze Austria
By imperial decree in 1862,the pitch of the Wiener Hofkapelle and the

court theaters was set at A = q j ~ H rAlthough
.~~ by 1860, "French pitch"
was introduced at the Opera in Vienna and was still the rule in 1869, it
had moved up to 447 by 1878, and the rise was said to have been sev-
eral years old. This, presumably, was the pitch at which Brahms'
Haydn variations (1873) and his symphonies (composed 1876-1885) were
performed. In 1885 the international pitch conference in Vienna re-
established A=435.
10-3 1900 to 2000: A Universal Performing Pitch
In Britain during the first decades of the 2oth century, the old sharp
pitch persisted in some wind-bands. T h e attempt to lower the pitch of
army band instruments "was a long-drawn-out battle."4' The Com-
360 Chapter 10
m a n d a n t of Kneller H a l l took a leading part in this movement, b u t t h e

British a r m y maintained t h e high "Concert Pitch" officially u n t i l
1 ~ 2 Wind-bands
~ . ~ ~ at high pitch existed into t h e 1950s; Baines was
still describing O l d Philharmonic Pitch in 1957. H e put it a t "approxi-
mately a'=452," and described it as:
the standard pitch of Victorian England. Today it remains standard in

brass bands and is occasionally met in local orchestras and territorial
bands. But up into the 1920s it was still in wide use. A woodwind
player had to possess two instruments, one sharp-pitch, the other flat-
pitch, and when engaged for a concert was notified which to bring."
Speaking of "French pitch" (435), Baines wrote,
It is nearly a quarter of a semitone below the present standard 1440 in

1~571, which is enough to make [a woodwind] instrument built strictly
to it sound desperately flat. Many Continental makers during the
1930s were, however, building a little sharp to it; pitch was even then
tending to rise, and the Berlin conservatoire, the Hochschule, had al-
ready come to recognize a1=437.5 as ~tandard.~'
Righini reported a pitch in Berlin in 1939 of 4 ~ 2 . ~A' n u m b e r o f re-

cordings made i n G e r m a n y between 1920 and 1943 show t h e following
levels:
Berlin Philharmonic
Berlin Philharmonic
Amar-Hindemith Trio
Berlin Staatsoper
Berlin Philharmonic
Berlin, Staatskapelle
Berlin Philharmonic
Berlin Philharmonic
Bayerisches Staatsorchester
Stzdtisches Orchester, Berlin
Between 1936 and 1939, pitches of some Italian orchestras were re-
ported by acousticians at 448. As if to demonstrate that "R. Decreto
Legge no 5095'' (the law passed in 1887 that established 435 as normal
pitch) was ineffective, a new and similar law was promulgated in 1936.
Despite this, the Orchestra of the RAI in Turin was recorded at 442-
444 in 1942. In any case, as with the previous law, this new Italian leg-
islation was preempted by an international convention.
In May 1939 there was a meeting of the International Standardiz-
ing Organization (the ISO) in London, principally at the instigation
of broadcasting technicians (especially the acoustic division of Radio
Berlin, then directed by Heinrich Goebbels).'" At the time, pitch on
the Continent was officially 435, but in practice it was higher in most
places. In England, New Philharmonic Pitch was 439, and recordings
of the British Symphony, the BBC Symphony, and the London Sym-
phony in the 1930s varied between 440 and 443. The American Federa-
tion of Musicians had adopted 440 in 1917.'' A study in Holland pub-
lished in 1939 reported measurements of pitch from 450 radio
broadcasts of orchestras in England, France, Germany, and the Neth-
erlands. It gave a total average of 440, although it noted national dif-
f e r e n c e ~ . 'T~h e Concertgebouw was recorded in 1943 at 445. French en-
sembles recorded between 1916 and 1938 showed a range of 431 to 450.
It was therefore not startling that the I S 0 meeting proposed the
adoption of 440 H z for a1 (the pitch first proposed at the Congress at
Stuttgart in 1834, over a century before). But before the decision could
be implemented, the war intervened. In 1953, the acoustical committee
of the International Organization for Normalization met in London
and reaffirmed the I S 0 recommendation of 440.r3A-440 has remained
the official international standard since then.
It seems that before World W a r 11, at least some musicians were
actually playing at A-437;. Probably referring to the I S 0 meeting of
1939 (at which the United States was not officially represented), the
well-known Viennese oboist Alexander Wunderer wrote that a rise to
440 seemed unthinkable: "The orchestra will start to have a sharp and
penetrating sound, like a dance band or a military band. O n esthetic
grounds, that must be avoided, which is the reason we can never agree
to the proposal by the A m e r i c a n ~ . " ' ~Curiously, however, five re-
cordings of the Vienna Philharmonic made in the 1930s give average
pitches of 444, 440,436,443, and 442. O n e has to respect the concern of
362 Chapter lo
a sensitive musician w h o heard enough difference in the sound and

character of performances 5 Hz apart t o consider the matter of critical
importance. Many players in modern orchestras share a similar con-
cern over differences of even less than 5 Hz.It is ironic that since
Wunderer's time, the pitch of Viennese orchestras has not only risen,
but has become notorious for its high level, in some cases approaching
450.
Righini noted that during the 1950s and 60s the pitches of various
orchestras in Europe averaged 444." Baines wrote in 1957 (49) that "or-
chestras in general keep tending t o creep sharper [than 440] in actual
performance ...
some of the French oboe-makers are now said t o be
building to around aJ=444,which is not going to help matters."
Leipp & Castellengo (1977:24ff) reported a statistical study they
performed o n pitch variation at the Paris Ophra in February 1965. T h e
A given by the oboe at the beginning of the performance of Berlioz's
Damnation de Faust was 445. T h i s pitch was retained consistently
throughout the performance, the mean being 445.8 Hz k4 Hz.Other
concerts they measured produced similar results.
I n that same year, 1965, Arthur Mendel wryly remarked of pitch in
N e w York,
My own experience in tuning an electronic organ to be used as a con-

tinuo instrument with orchestra, in the late 1940's and early '5os,
showed me that New York orchestra musicians could with difficulty
be induced to tune their instruments to a'=440, but that if the organ
were tuned to that pitch it would in the course of performance be flat
as compared with the other instruments. If, on the other hand, I tuned
the organ to a1=443-444,this difficulty disappeared.'6
As noted above, Leipp & Castellengo (1977:30-31) found in the late

1970s that in many different European countries pianos were tuned at
443-444 and orchestras at 443-445. T h e y also found that musicians w h o
regularly traveled around the world rarely encountered pitch difficul-
ties, even taking into account variations of temperature and climate.
T h e y suggest that this is t o be expected, since instruments used by
professionals are made t o the same o r similar models, and often by the
same few makers. T h e tacit accord that has been reached among musi-
cians puts pitch at around 444 H z at 20°C. T h i s system appears t o be

functioning well at present.
I n 1988, IOI years after t h e appearance of Legge n o 5095, t h e Italian
Senate passed n e w legislation o n pitch at t h e instigation of a n u m b e r
of well-known opera singers (sopranos and tenors). T h e original bill
called for a lowering of the legal pitch standard in Italy t o A-432 H z .
T h i s is lower than t h e present pitch n o r m there (which, like most
places, is somewhat higher t h a n 440). T h i s Feliniesque affair eventu-
ally involved numerous musicians, instrument builders, politicians
and patrons of the arts." I n the end, a "political" compromise was
reached in t h e f o r m of a law establishing a n official reference pitch of
A3 at 440 H z at a n ambient temperature of 20°C (sic). A tolerance of
n o m o r e t h a n 0.5 Hz is allowed."' (Early music groups playing at other
levels were allowed a loophole for reasons of "esigenze della ricerca e
artistiche" ["artistic and research n e c e s ~ i t i e s " ] . ) ~N~o one, as far as is
k n o w n , has yet been arrested for playing o r singing beyond the 0.5 H z
t~lerance.~'
A n d in t h e 1990s there remained a general impression among musi-
cians that pitch was rising. I n a n interview in 1993, Ronald Klimko
discussed this phenomenon w i t h professional bassoonists, including
Charles McCracken:
R.K.:It's interesting that both of you are playing on a # I bocal. . . . In

my new bassoon survey that will be coming out soon, there's been an
interesting shift. In 1974, the survey showed the rt2 bocal was slightly
preferred over the #I. In the latest study the I is favored over the 2.
This might show a tendency for pitch to be rising.
C.M.: I think so. I started out playing a #2. And over the years there's
been a combination of pitch rising and my reeds getting bigger to meet
the challenge of greater projection for orchestral playing. But I've had
.
to switch to a shorter bocal to match the rising pitch. . . I find that in
New York freelance playing, generally the pitch is on the high side.
W e tune to 440, but we rarely play a t 440.61
Chapter 10
Notes
I. Leipp & Castellengo 1~~7:11ff.

2. It should be added that, except for England, very little pitch frequency data
has been collected for the period 1875-1930.
3. W i t h the exception of Dresden (see lo-zb).
4. A M Z 49.803, Musical Times, February 1869, quoted in Scholes 1947:407.
5. Pitches cited in this chapter for which no reference are given are usually
taken from Ellis 1880 and can be found under the value given (NB rounded
off to the nearest whole cycle). I have also used a number of recordings of en-
sembles and orchestras taken from reissued CDs.
6. AMZ 49.802.
7. Zantedeschi 1857:183-84, cited by La Fage 1859:103. This is also quoted in
Barbieri 1980:27.
8. La Fage 1859:56.
9. A n article in the AMZ in 1847 ( A M 2 49.802) gave the pitch at the Paris
Grand-OpCra as 432, but this may have been for a particular performance.
10. Leipp and Castellengo 1977:24.
11. A M Z 49.802.
12. Cited in Bergnes 1976:11:26, 33, 36.
13. Leipp & Castellengo 1977:36.
14. Cf. page 51 on the difference of a M3 (sic) between Rome and Lombardy,
citing the name "Nanchini" (sic; page 53), placing the German "diapason de
cornet" more than a whole-tone above the "orgues modernes," and consider-
ing the "diapason de chambre" (page 54) as the same as in 1859 (presumably
because it still had the same name).
IS. Leipp & Castellengo 1977:II.
16. AMZ 37.206.
17. Ellis 1880:43.
18. AMZ 49.803.
19. AMZ 49.803.
20. A M Z 49.802.
21. AMZ 49.802-03.
22. T h e Royal Theatre in Madrid had been at 445 in 1878.
23. T h e French Conservatoire oboe played all over the world still uses the
bore and finger-hole design developed at the end of the lgthcentury when the
diapason normal was observed; it is now routinely shortened to accommodate
present needs.
24. Righini 1990:35.
25. Righini r990:28ff. According to The New Yorker, May I, 1989, p.95, Verdi
stipulated a low pitch in licenses to performances of Aida. The exact level
was probably 435.
26. Righini 1990:32-33.
27. Righini 1990:37.
28. Sietz 1958:167.

29. Original text quoted in 7-5e1.
30. Donington 1963:444.
31. Ellis 1880:45.
32. Scholes 1947:406.
33. Scholes 1947:406 citing the Musical Times, January 1869.
34. Ellis 1880:jo.
35. Donington 1963444.
36. Ellis 1880:jo.
37. Lloyd 1949934.
38. Ober 1966:2303. This source was kindly brought to my attention by a de-
scendent of Dr. Cathcart, Joanna Millett*.
39. T h e Mahillon firm was a branch of a well-known wind-instrument shop
in Brussels. Victor-Charles Mahillon (1841-1924) became curator of the Brus-
sels Conservatory Instrumental Museum, to which he added his own large
collection.
40. Page 67 of Wood, H.J. 1946. My life of music, quoted in Ober 1966:2303.
41. Cf. Bate's description of the British oboe makers Morton & Sons and
Sharpe, neither of whom seem to have adjusted to the new design required by
the drop in pitch. Bate 1975:88.
42. Scholes 1947:408.
43. Baard 1961:53.
44. Nagy 1994:140.
45. Scholes 1947:409.
46. Bate 195647-88.
47. TWOrecordings from 1898 (Municipal Military Band, London) and 1905
(Coldstream Guards) give pitches of 440 and 442, however.
48. Baines 1957:49.
49. Righini 1990:39.
50. Righini 1990:41.
51. Mendel 1978, citing Young 1955. A sample of recordings made in the USA
between 1907 and 1941give a range of 437-444.
52. T h e study is mentioned in Bell, Truesdell, and Campbell zooo:19:641. It
was by B. van der Pol and C.C.J. Addink and was called "The pitch of musi-
cal instruments and orchestras" (Philips Technical Review iv (~~jg):zolj-~o).
53. Righini 1990:44.
54. Zopf 17. Wunderer played the so-called "lange Modell" of Vienna oboe,
designed to play at A.435. Despite Wunderer's efforts, a shorter version be-
gan to appear in about 1948, made in the Zuleger workshop. See Nagy
1994:144-45.
55. Righini 1990:45.
56. Ellis and Mendel 1968, Introduction, n3.
57. The petition included the names of (among others) Mario Del Monaco,
Renata Tebaldi, Piero Cappuccilli, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Elly
Ameling, Carlo Bergonzi, Richard Bonynge, Grace Bumbry, Montserrat Ca-
366 Chapter lo
ball&, Dietrich Fischer-Diskau, Marilyn Horne, Pilar Lorengar, Christa

Ludwig, Sherrill Milnes, Birgit Nilsson, Ruggero Raimondi, Joan Sutherland,
Frans Briiggen, Giuseppe Di Steffano, and Rafael Kubelik.
58. G a z z e t t a Ufficiale della Repubblica Italians, 12-5-1989.
59. Righini 1990:66.
60. Unlike here in Quebec, where the "language police" regularly fine busi-
nesses for failing to respect the strict laws protecting French, and schoolchil-
dren are punished for speaking English in the playground. As of the moment
of this writing, a local baker is being prosecuted for using English on his web-
site.
61. Klimko 1993:47.
Chapter 11
Summary: Pitch Change by Country
aving studied pitch standards in the preceding chapters as

they mutated with time, it might be interesting to look at
them again briefly from another angle, as they developed in
specific places.
A note of caution is in order here. Much of this book consists of in-
ferences, that is, tentative assumptions based on modest evidence that
are used as premises for trains of reasoning. Such thinking normally
requires qualifiers, and there are many "perhapses" and "probablies"
in the preceding chapters. In summarizing here I will omit the cave-
ats, although I trust the reader understands that these are no more
than proposals based on presently available evidence.
T h e numbers at the beginning of each paragraph refer to the rele-
vant sections of the book.
(2-2.) There are traces of earlier, higher pitch standards in Italy at both
A t 3 and A+2, but no concrete pitch evidence is available until the
1550s. By at least the end of the 1 6 ' century,
~ mezzo punto and tutto punto
were general pitch concepts in the north of Italy (specifically Venice,
the source of most of the woodwinds played in Europe). Mezzo punto
was the most common cornett pitch, and its value among surviving
instruments is A+I;dimensions of contemporary illustrations agree, as
do surviving recorders. This level was also typical for the violin. Tutto
punto a semitone lower at A t o was somewhat less common. T h e best
368 Chapter 11
pitch for choirs was lower still and was called tuono corista (usually A-
I, sometimes A-2). Organists often transposed down a whole-step
from mezzo punto to tuono corista when performing with voices (this
was not the same as the downward transpositions of a fourth or fifth
cued by the clef-code, or "chiavette"). Some instruments, like many
mute cornetts and renaissance flutes, were pitched low at tuono corista.
And a few organs in the north were at At2. Doni's description of Ital-
ian pitches in 1640 as a series of ascending semitones from Naples t o
Rome, Florence, Lombardy, and Venice is generally supported by sur-
viving instruments. From about 1600, Roman organs were lowered a
semitone to the 380s (A-2). Roman and Venetian standards were thus
a m3 apart.
(4-~.)A t 1 was the primary pitch of church organs at Venice and
Lombardy in the early 1 8 ' ~ century, and was called Corista di
Lombardia. Opera, on the other hand, was often performed at A-I. T h e
new French woodwinds arrived in Venice by the 1690s; surviving in-
struments are at A-I, Ato, and A ~ Ithe , latter obtained from both Mu-
nich and Nuremberg. Several pieces involving hautboys were origi-
nally played in Venice a whole-tone below the strings on instruments
a t A ~ I including
, at least one chamber piece by Vivaldi and the well-
known concerto by Marcello. A t o was also in use. Hautboists from
Venice had parts at Rome in pieces by Handel and Caldara notated a
M2 lower than the rest of the orchestra; the orchestra was at A-2, so
the hautboys were at A+o. T h e concertmaster in many of these works
was Corelli, who composed all his works at A-2. The same system, us-
ing transposing hautboys pitched a tone higher, was used in Naples.
Torelli's instrumental pieces and trumpet concertos written in Bolo-
gna were at A t l , but one of the organs at San Petronio was lowered to
A t o in 1708.
(73) While old organs remained at Corista di Lombardia (Atx) in
the mid-18'~century, newer organs and woodwinds in Lombardy were
at A+o and A-I. Starting in the 174os, church organs in Venice were
built or lowered to A+o; this level was also used for theater and cham-
ber music, although A-I was common for opera. It is possible that
starting in about 1740, A+o became the dominant pitch in Venice.
There is evidence of the use of A-I at Padua, where Tartini was work-
ing, in the 1730s. Roman organs remained at A-2 in this period, and
opera pitch at Naples was A-I.
Summary: Pitch Change by Country 369
(8-1.) Reports from Italy in the classical period are confused, but
indicate that A + I was vanishing quickly and the primary pitches were
A t o and A-I. Both these pitches claimed the name Corista della
Lombardia. Venetian woodwinds were at A t o (430-435).
(9-1.) In the early 1 9 ' ~century Coristo Lombardo was A+o, a pitch
that by all indications was common all over Italy. Corista di S Pietro
(A-2) was maintained at the Vatican until late in the 1 9 ' ~century,
while instrumental pitch at Rome was A t o .
(10-la, 10-za, 10-3.) In the 1840s some Italian cities were in the
neighborhood of 440, while others were in the high 440s; in 1847 La
Scala in Milan was at 444; in 1856 it was at 450 and the following year
452. In 1859 the opera houses at Turin and Naples were at 445. Verdi
made clear his preference for the diapason normal (435) in 1884, but
whether he ever heard his operas at this pitch is a good question. A
law was passed in 1887 establishing 435 H z , but it seems to have had
little effect. A new and similar law was promulgated in 1936. During
the 1950s and 60s, the pitches of various orchestras in Europe averaged
444. In 1988 the Italian Senate passed new legislation establishing a n
official reference pitch of A3 at 440 Hz.
11-2 France
(2-6.) A number of original organ pitches are known from France in

the l,Ih century, all in the region of A-2; this was the principal pitch
associated with organs there until well into the Igth century. T h e wind
instruments shown in Mersenne's books published in 1635-1637were at
A+I, the normal pitch of Venetian woodwinds used all over Europe at
the time. In France, this pitch was still mentioned as late as 1708, and
was called Ton d'~curie.It was also used by Lully's Petite Bande. By the
166os, dramatic works with singers were being performed at A-2, and
Lully took over this pitch along with the Grande Bande in 1664, using it
for his opera productions; it later came to be called Ton d'Ophra. T h e
Op&-aused this pitch until at least the mid-18'~century.
(3-1.) At the end of the century, many French woodwinds were
pitched at Ton d'ope'ra, A-2, which was considered the lowest pitch in
France. A-2 was also Ton de Chapelle, identical to Ton d'OpCra. Sources
370 Chapter 11
distinguished a separate pitch used at court that was different from

Ton de Chapelle and Ton dlOpbra; it was called Ton de la Chambre du
Roy, and was at A-1%. This level is associated with Louis XIV, as it
was the primary French instrumental pitch of his reign, used at court
and for the royal organs. A-11/2 is observable in France from about
1680 to 1800, as well as in England, Germany, the Dutch Republic, and
the Southern Netherlands at the end of the and beginning of the
lEithcenturies.
(4-2.) Pitches changed very little in France with the new century.
T h e dominant pitches remained A-2, A-11/2, and A+I. But the death of
Louis XIV in 1715 a revolution in French musical taste, and
Ton de la chambre at A-1'/2 was augmented by the north-Italian in-
strumental pitch at A-I. Both the churches and the OpCra, where A-2
was used, were insulated from this change; organs were expensive to
retune and churches were conservative, and the OpCra was locked into
the Lully repertoire and its voice ranges like the high tenor (hautecon-
tre) that required the use of A-2.
(7-4.) In the period 1730-1770 French organs were still mostly at A-
t. But surviving woodwinds are scattered from 38s to 442, representing
four standards a t A-2, A-IV~,A-I, and something approaching A+o.
Foreign virtuosos played at the Concert Spirituel, and brought with
them their instruments and their pitches (mostly A-I and A+o). Pitch
at the Opkra was fixed by its repertoire, which still regularly included
works by Lully; some of the woodwinds were by this time transposing
down a step from fingered A+o to sounding A-t (as in the operas of
Rameau). In this period, Ton d J 0 p b a was considered lower than Ton
de Chapelle; the latter was firm at A-2. Several sources indicate that
Ton dlOpba was starting to be changeable, depending on the piece and
the singers involved.
(8-2.) French organs in the classical period were centered on A-2
and A-I. Woodwinds were at three pitches: a low one at A-2 or A-IV"
(400), A-I, and a low A+o (average 433). The Opkra continued at A-2
into the 1770s~but at the end of that decade it began performing new
and old works alternately, with consequent changes of itch level; A-
1V2 is documented, but Gluck's operas may have used A+o. T h e Con-
cert Spirituel regularly featured soloists from abroad, and had a reputa-
tion for a high pitch (A+o). From the 1780s~harpsichords show no-
ticeably shorter scales. W i t h the founding of the Conservatoire at the
end of the century, a standard was endorsed called ton d'orchestre at

about 434, although there is evidence of the existence of at least one
pitch some 5-6 H z below ton d'orchestre, by then known as I'ancien ton.
(9-2.) French woodwinds continued to show a remarkable variety
of pitches in the early century, but the largest group averaged 434.
By 1812 the Conservatoire was at 440. In the early 1820s~pitches at
various theaters in Paris were 424, 428, and 432. For a brief period in
the 1820s~pitch at the OpCra was lowered to A-I for the sake of the
singers; an entire new set of winds was purchased for the orchestra of
the OpCra at considerable cost (Rossini, who arrived at the OpCra in
1826, was dismayed by this pitch, which he considered "hors dJusage"
in the rest of Europe). By 1829 the OpCra was back up to ton d'orchestre
at 434.
(lo-~b,10-3.) In the mid-183os, pitches in Paris were 435 to 443. Or-
gans, cut off from the mainstream of musical activities, continued to
be made at A-2. In about 1834, the Conservatoire, "Concerts," and Ital-
ian Opera were at 435. By 1854 the general pitch was 442, and in 1858 it
was 448. In 1858 the French government appointed a commission
made up of officials, physicists, and composers with the goal of estab-
lishing a uniform musical pitch. T h e Commission decided on a stan-
dard at ar = 435, about 10 H z lower than musicians in Europe were
playing. T h e Commission's recommendation, the diapason normal, be-
came law in France in 1859. The rest of Europe used France's initiative
(if not literally, at least as a reference point), and it became generally
known as "French pitch." By the 1860s) pitch had dropped in Austria,
France, and Germany. Italy took longer to react, and England was un-
affected until the 1890s. T h e fact that French woodwinds were highly
prized throughout the world must have added to the effectiveness of
the decree and its widespread use until the 1920s or 30s.
11-3 Germany
(2-1,2-3.) Pitch standards were necessary long before Praetorius' time

(1618)~and there is reason to think an older one existed at A t 3 (s 521
Hz). Praetorius' comments on pitch standards are not always clear,
but they can be understood. H e often used the term ChorThon to mean
372 Chapter II
a pitch that was a whole-tone below most instruments, which were at

CammerThon. CammerThon was thus parallel to Italian mezzo punto at
A+I, and ChorThon corresponded to tuono corista a whole-step lower.
There is considerable evidence to indicate that CammerThon was A+I
including: the use of the word "Cornettenthon" as a synonym; the scale
diagram of a set of organ pipes provided in his book to indicate the ab-
solute frequency of CammerThon (this has been contested in the past);
the pitch of surviving original instruments that Praetorius said were
pitched at CammerThon; and the scale drawings of these same instru-
ments included in his book. By Praetorius' time, the meaning of
ChorThon was changing from A-I (which had been used by Praetorius'
"elders") to A+I; this ambiguity continued through the century.
Until the arrival of French instruments, standard instrumental pitch
(CammerThon) remained A+I, although pieces with voice were often
transposed down a tone.
(3-3.) Along with the new French stage works imported into Ger-
many in the 1680s came an orchestra using the new designs of instru-
ments playing at French pitches. These new instruments were n o
more flexible in pitch than the existing organs, and being French, they
were tuned a tone or more below most German organs at A+I. Ger-
man makers were soon copying and adapting French wind instru-
ments. Since CammerThon was a name associated with the orchestral
instruments first played at courts (that is, "chamber" instruments),
and the new instruments were more current, the word Cammerton
gradually became associated with the lower pitch. Thus, although the
names of pitch standards in Germany in Bach's time were similar to
the ones used by Praetorius, the frequencies connected to them were
exchanged. Cornett pitch was the exception to this switch, since the
cornett stayed at the same pitch. The older renaissance instruments
that continued to be used came to be identified as "deutsche," a term
that gradually developed a secondary connotation as an indication of
instruments at high pitch. Despite the success of the new French in-
struments at A-I and lower, German church organs, new and old, re-
mained at their traditional high pitch. This was usually A+I, but for
organs that did not play with other instruments, A+2 was sometimes
used because it saved money on materials. German woodwinds in
French style were made in this period in many pitches, and in the
south occasionally at Chorton in its higher sense, A+I. But changing
the pitch of either the organs or the woodwinds altered their character
so extremely that, for a period of several generations, transposition
was preferred as a way to allow them to play together. As secular in-
strumental music gradually prevailed and eventually dominated music
making, so did its pitch (A-I and lower).
( 5 . ) In the early 1 8 ' ~century, composers writing in "German" and
"French" pitches simultaneously transposed the key of one pitch into
that of the other. Since Cammerton instruments sounded lower in
pitch, the common factor in this system was that their parts were
written higher than the organ's. Modern editions usually assume one
universal tonality, which entails "untransposing" the music and pos-
sibly altering the original sonorities. In composing, the choice of key
was circumscribed by a number of interrelated factors: the technical
effects on different kinds of performers, changes of sonority, ques-
tions of affective characteristics, and temperament. Four general per-
forming groups were affected by transposition: the voices, the string
band, the organ, and the woodwinds. Of these, the most sensitive
were the voices because of range and voice types, and the woodwinds
because of tonality as well as range. Strings often retuned, and organ-
ists were expected to be able to transpose. Temperament was not a se-
rious factor even in meantone as long as the meantone was "regular"
and transpositions were limited to a M2 and m j (which they generally
were). Key characters and affective associations seem largely to have
been ignored by composers when practical considerations like range
were involved. Organs were developed with sliding keyboards
("Kammerkoppel") or separate registers tuned at Cammerton to play
with other instruments (K~mrnerre~ister). Starting in the early 1 8 ' ~
cen-
tury, organs began to be built at Cammerton (A-I), especially in Dres-
den and Breslau. But they remained exceptional, and most organs and
brass in Germany in the early 1 8 ' ~century were at A+I. String instru-
ments too, having been invented and developed in a context of A+:,
were often notated in the key of the organ. While Cornet-ton referred
to A+I (a specific frequency based on an objective reference, the
cornett), Chorton was a general concept that meant a pitch associated
with church and suitable for choirs; often it had no association with a
particular pitch frequency. Chorton was thus less exact than Cornet-ton;
by the early 1 8 ' ~century, it was being used to mean several different
frequencies, the main ones being A+: and A+z. Woodwinds survive in
374 Chapter 11
relatively large numbers, and show pitches at A-2 (average 39~),A-11/2

(average 403)~A-I (416), A+o (430), and A+I (466). Nearly half are at
A-I, a quarter are at A - I V ~and
, about a fifth at A-2. The instruments
at A-I are remarkable, because (excepting Holland and Italy) wood-
winds in most other countries were principally at A-~'/zor A-2 until
about 1715. Cammertons lower than A-I had various names, including
"tief-Cammerton," '~ranzosischer Thon," and "Operathon." Indications
for tief-Cammerton in wind parts disappear by the mid-17zos, but A-2
continued to appear in other contexts.
(6.) This was the context in which Bach worked. Few surviving in-
struments can be directly connected to Bach, apart from a few organs
at both A+I and A+2. Bach approached the question of notating Chor-
ton and various levels of Cammerton in different ways at Miihlhausen,
Weimar, and Leipzig. The most complex situation was the one at
Weimar. T h e legend of the "very high tuning of the Weimar Schlof3
organ" turns out to be groundless, as the instrument was at standard
Cornet-ton, A+I. Bach wrote his instrumental parts at the same pitch as
the organ except for an "Oboe" that he used through August 1714 and
notated a Mz higher (meaning it sounded a M2 lower). For his re-
maining time at Weimar, from December 1714 on, he notated the
strings and voices with the organ but used several other instruments
notated a m j higher (sounding thus at tief-Cammerton). Not surpris-
ingly, the original tonalities of most of the Weimar cantatas were
misrepresented in the BG edition and a few (like BWV 12) in the
NBA as well; as a result, these are the cantatas that continue to be mis-
understood and difficult to perform. T h e pitch at Cothen when Bach
was there was a form of tief-Cammerton at A-2 or A-195. Transposition
was not an issue at Cothen. The 2d Brandenburg, which is the most
difficult piece in the trumpet literature of the period, was performed
on a standard trumpet type in Germany that was pitched a step higher
than the usual court trumpet, thus sounding in Cammerton--*E rather
than Cammerton+D; in terms of tief-Cammerton, this instrument was
in F, the key of the zd Brandenburg concerto. During his first year and
a half at Leipzig, Bach used tief-Cammerton in several pieces (Cantatas
22, 23, 63, 194, and the first version of the Magnificat in E b). Pieces by
Bach involving pitch questions are discussed in detail in 6-5.
(7-5.) A t mid-century, both Cammerton and Chorton were still at

more than one frequency level. Surviving instruments from the period
indicate that these pitches were (as before) A-2, A-I, A+o, A+I, and
A+2, with the organs representing all these levels and the woodwinds
representing the lower three. T h e organ builder, Johann Andreas Sil-
bermann, left five volumes of information on organs (known as the
"Silbermann Archive") referring back to his work starting in the
1730s. From this material and letters he wrote, it is clear that the stan-
dards he described were:
A+I Cornet-ton
A+o Chorton
A-I Gewohnlichen Kammerthon/ltalianischen Thon
A-2 Operathon/franzosischer Thon
By this time, Chorton often meant A+o; this usage can be observed as
early as the 1730s (this indicates that Chorton was still used more as a
general concept than a specific frequency level.) A-2 remained an im-
portant pitch level in Germany during this period, and woodwinds
were still being made to it.
(8-3.) From about 1770, most woodwind-making centers were pro-
ducing instruments at both A-I (average 417) and A+o (average qjj),
and the concept of Kammerton straddled the two pitches. In Saxony
and Brandenburg, it was predominantly A-I, whereas in most other
places like Mannheim, Wallerstein, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, and
even Paris, A+o was normal. State-of-the-art woodwinds by the
Grensers and other Dresden makers were played all over Europe and
were generally built to A+o (in the mid-430s). Organs continued to be
built at A+I until at least 1815. T h e new organ built in Bach's
Thomaskirche in Leipzig in 1773 was at this pitch. Chorton continued
to have a double meaning, referring to both A + I and A+o.
(9-3.) In Germany, the early lgth century can be characterized as
Cammerton's last stand-if we take the word spelled with a "C" to rep-
resent the traditional value at A-I. Already seriously threatened at the
end of the 1 8 ' ~century, A-I gradually and grudgingly yielded com-
pletely t o a lowish A+o, even in its last bastion, Saxony and Berlin.
Surviving German woodwinds average 433. All through this period,
the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung (published in Leipzig and the most
376 Chapter 11
influential music periodical of the time) systematically printed com-

plaints and polemics against a rising pitch standard. By this time, A+I
was always called Chorton, and everyone, it seems, had forgotten the
meaning of Cornet-ton (A+I almost by definition).
(lo-IC, 10-2b, 10-3.) After 1830 pitch discussions focused on minor
differences in the level of Kammerton, with one source in 1837 citing
four pitches ranging from 424 to 437. T h e Berlin opera had reached 440
by 1830. In 1847 an anonymous writer in the Allgemeine Musikalische
Zeitung recommended 440 as a general German standard, remarking
that it was a practical pitch for singers and the mean between the ex-
tremes then in use. Theobald Boehm wrote in his book on the flute of
1847 that he assumed a pitch for his flute of 440 cps. In the 1850s~
German pitches were similar t o other parts of Europe. T h e Berlin Op-
era was at 448 in 1857 and at 451 in 1858; this was representative of
Germany in general. After the promulgation of the diapason normal in
France in 1858, German pitch varied but gravitated toward the French
model. In 1862 Dresden was the only place that continued t o use two
different standards: one for the Catholische Hofkirche with the cele-
brated organ by Silbermann and Hildebrandt built in 1754 and still
tuned (as today) at 415, the other at 439 for orchestral concerts (the
players had two sets of instruments). T h e meeting in 1939 of the In-
ternational Standardizing Organization that decided for A-440 was
largely at the instigation of the acoustic division of Radio Berlin. At
the time, pitch on the Continent was officially 435, but in practice it
was usually higher everywhere. A pitch of 452 was noted in Berlin in
1939. In the later 2othcentury, the Berlin Philharmonic was known for
its high pitch.
11-4 England
(2-5.) English organs went through two widespread periods of annihi-

lation, one in the 1 6 ' ~century and one in the that almost corn-
pletely erased the pitch evidence of the time. W h a t is known is that
from the Tudor period through the late century, church organs
were normally built from a bottom pipe of 5- or 10-foot length, which
the organist called a C. T o match this pitch to the ranges of choirs, or-
ganists regularly transposed, calling the C an F, thus effectively play-

ing a fourth lower (or a fifth higher). Recent measurements of unal-
tered early 10-foot pipes yield a pitch of about A-473 if the lowest note
is called F. O n an organ at this pitch, the frequencies of the notes A
Gtr G Ftr (473, 448, 423, and 400) correspond almost exactly to the
pitches of the note A on surviving English church and chamber organs
from as far back as there are records (i.e., the early 1 6 ' ~century) up
through the lgth century. This suggests the existence of a grid or
transposition system originally based on the frequency of Quire-pitch
(473). This system is also reflected in English wind instruments of the
time, which are generally tuned at 448 (Q-I), 423 (Q-2)) and 400 (Q3).
These levels are midway between the usual pitches on the Continent
and indicate an independent English pitch system. Quire-pitch itself
can be observed on organs from 1660 to 1730, but disappears after that.
Q-I into the 1760s. Q - 2 was to become the dominant organ
pitch in England in the 1 8 ' ~ century and into the lgth, and was an im-
portant instrumental pitch from the mid-18'~and early 1 9 ' ~centuries.
Q-3 was Consort-pitch in the century and continued into the 18'~.
Henry VIII's several "consorts" of musicians were either imported
from Italy or got their instruments from Venice. This music had no
interface with churches and the Quire-pitch system, but Praetorius
noted that wind instruments in England were generally "a very little
lower" than CammerThon (thus, presumably, a t Q-Irather than A+I).
(3-2.) T h e royal music at the Restoration in 1660 duplicated the pre-
war ensembles and repertoire, but new French instruments arrived
early in the 7os, and became dominant by the second half of Charles'
reign. Consort-pitch continued to be the name for Q-3, serving the same
function as Cammerton in Germany (though not usually at the same
frequency). By chance, Q - 3 happened to have been equivalent to A-
1V2, which was the pitch standard at the French court and was called
Ton de la chambre. Consort-pitch at Q-3 was thus reinforced by the arri-
val of French wind players in England. T h e two most common sur-
viving levels on organs from the late century are Quire-pitch itself
and a whole-tone lower, Q-2. The old transposing system with the
keys having double names (F and C) went out of use in this period,
and keyboards were made to reflect the notes in Quire-pitch. At the
Restoration, a number of new organs were built at a common prewar
pitch a semitone higher than Quire-pitch, and then almost immediately
378 Chapter II
rebuilt at Quire-pitch or lowered to it. This is because the French

woodwinds that were coming into fashion were pitched at A-IV',
which corresponded to Q-3, and organs had to be within a m3 of this
pitch by transposition. All of Purcell's music prior to 1690 that in-
volves organ was performed by the singers at Quire-pitch (Az473) and
(except for the organist) transposed upward by any instrumentalists
who accompanied. Purcell's pieces with bigger ensembles from the
1690s were written at Q-3 for the sake of the winds. Q - 2 was the pitch
associated with one of the leading English organ makers of the late 17th
century, Renatus Harris, who built new instruments and altered older
ones to this pitch. Talbot (ca.1690) called this level "Chappell-pitch."
(4-5.) Just at the point that Handel began producing operas in Lon-
don, there is documentation that the Queen's Theatre orchestra was at
Q-3. T h e ensemble at Cannons, where Handel worked between 1717
and 1720, was also at Q-3. But the Opera orchestra went up to A-I by
the early 1720s. Sammartini, with an hautboy at A+o, played solo arias
in two of Handel's operas of the 1720s with the orchestra at A-I. In-
struments at the Chapel Royal were also at A-1 by the early 1720s.
(7-6.) The majority of m i d - ~ ~ ' ~ - c e n t uEnglish
ry instruments whose
pitches are known are at either A-I or Q-2, with a small number at
A+o. T h e Quire-pitch system existed at this point mainly in the form
of Q - 2 , which was being called new Consort pitch, while the Continen-
tal system was in the form of A-I and A+o. By the mid-173os, the Op-
era had gone up to Q 2 ; in 1740 or shortly before, the instrumentalists
and orchestras that occasionally played at the Chapel Royal were at
the same pitch. Handel's famous tuning fork, left by him at the
Foundling Hospital after a performance of the Messiah in 1751, was at
423, exactly Q-2.
(8-4.) By 1770 woodwinds and chamber organs were generally at
Q - 2 (now called "concert pitchJJ) and A+o. Q - 2 still predominated in
church organs. There were many foreign musicians active in London
in this period, suggesting an equivalence with Continental pitch stan-
dards; the interface would have been A+o. This was the pitch of
Fischer's hautboy; Fischer played regularly with Abel and Christian
Bach in numerous popular and influential concerts.
(cp4.) The same two levels, Q - 2 and A+o, predominated at the
beginning of the 1 9 ' ~century. Several important church organs were at
Q-Iand Q-2. T h e London Philharmonic was also at Q - 2 in the 1810s

and 20s. From 1828, it was at 433 (a low A+o).
(lo-~d,10-2c, 10-3.) By 1840 so-called "sharp" pitch prevailed almost
everywhere in Britain; this was about 453. And whereas most other
countries reacted to the new diapason normal at 435 proclaimed in 1859,
England continued at a pitch a quarter-step higher, with no obvious
mechanism for changing the situation. In 1857 the orchestra at
Covent-Garden was at 456. T h e Broadwood Piano Company in 1869
was obliged to keep instruments in stock at three different pitches;
Broadwood, Erard, and Steinway all used Philharmonic pitch at 455
for concerts. T h e most infamous of the scandals caused by English
sharp pitch (called "Concert Pitch") was that of the Wagner Festival in
May 1877. In 1896, a half-generation after the appearance of Ellis' im-
portant paper on pitch levels, the new Promenade Concerts at Queen's
Hall introduced a pitch of 439, which entailed replacing the orchestra's
wind instruments. In Britain during the first decades of the 2oth cen-
tury, the old "sharp pitch" persisted in some wind-bands, and the Brit-
ish army maintained it until 1929. Wind-bands at high pitch still ex-
isted into the 1950s.
( z - ~ . )As early as 1571, the pitch of the organ in the Dom at Utrecht
was A-I. T h e organ in the Martinikerk, Groningen, was at A+4 before
Schnitger remade it in 1692. Other organs from this period were at
A+I, as for instance most of the important organs in Amsterdam. Five
small, one-piece recorders of Dutch provenance from the 1 6 ' ~and
centuries are at A+o, which suggests that in the Low Countries at
least, this pitch level may have been quite ancient.
(3-4.) Because of Holland's unique position as an international
crossroads open to musical influences from other parts of Europe, and
because it was a supplier of woodwind instruments to other places, the
pitches of its woodwinds can be seen as a reflection of state-of-the-art
tendencies in Europe in general. It is therefore interesting to see
Dutch woodwinds at the end of the 17'h century not only at A-IV" but
380 Chapter r r
already a t A-I. This is in contrast to France and England, where

woodwind pitch remained at A-1% until after the turn of the century.
(4-3.) Most of the pitch terminology in Holland refers to either the
recorder ("Fluytedou toon," "ordinaris Flute dous toon") or the hautboy
("Cammer of Houbois-thoon"). These names, used to describe the
pitches of organs, were referring to A-I (although, in fact, woodwinds
were in all the standard pitches of the time from A+o to A-2). Opera
toon also referred to A-I. The higher organ pitch, A+I, was often called
Cornetten toon. The organ at Zwolle Grote- or Michaelskerk, finished
in 1721 and now at 490, was originally at A+I.
(7-7.) Descriptions of a number of organs built at mid-century that
can be linked to surviving original pitch levels show that terminology
and pitch standards remained the same as earlier; opra offZuyte toon
was A-I, Cornette Toon was A+I.
(8-5.) Dutch organs from the late 1 8 ' ~century range from A-I t o
A+I. T h e word "Kamertoon" began to be used not only for A-I but for
A+o as well.
11-6 The Southern Netherlands
( z - ~ . )Praetorius reported that "most wind instruments" in the Neth-

erlands, as well as the keyboard instruments of Jan Bos of Antwerp,
were "made to sound a minor 3d lower than our present-day "Cam-
merThon," so that their F is in CammerThon our D." This was thus A-2,
and was called Corista. T h e remnants of the school of Flemish organ
makers such as the Langheduls and Carlier, who built many important
instruments in both Spain and France in the 1 6 ' ~and early centu-
ries, are also at A-2. The harpsichord maker Couchet called the pitch
of one of his instruments "den reghten toon" ("standard pitch").
(4-4.) N o woodwind pitches are known from before 1700, but I.H.
Rottenburgh of Brussels, who began working in about 1700, is sur-
vived by a number of excellent instruments. Close to three-quarters of
them show a range from 387 to 405 (A-2 to A-1%).
Summary: Pitch Change by Country
(2-7.) Praetorius cited Prague as a place where his preferred terminol-

ogy for the levels at A+I and A-I was normal: ChorThon was a M Z be-
low Cornettenthon (alias CammerThon). This was analogous to the Ital-
ian system in which the organist transposed down a whole-step for
the sake of the singers (to "Tuono chorista") from a high instrumental
pitch (called "Mezzo punto" in Italy). Since in musical matters the
Habsburg court was closely connected with Italy, this was a natural
development. Vienna and other places in Austria used the same sys-
tem as Prague.
(3-6.) The concept of ChorThon as a lower pitch continued to be
used by Janowka (Prague, 1701), who distinguished between Zinck-thon
and Chor-thon. T h e latter pitch was associated with French and Italian
wind instruments. Muffat used the same scheme in 1698, relating
French pitch to the one "called in Germany old Chorton." French
woodwinds began to be used toward the end of the century. In the
south (Austria, Bohemia, and even southern Germany) until well into
the 1 8 ' ~century, A-I continued to be called ChorThon, the name Prae-
torius had preferred and tried himself to use (though he failed to be
consistent); ChorThon was thus used to mean a vocally-oriented pitch
lower than instrumental pitch. It was also called "franzosisch Ton" and
"Tono Gallico." T h e terminology (though not the musical practice)
was in direct opposition to the usage in northern Germany at the same
time. In Salzburg, Biber used French hautboys in A+I obtained from
makers in Munich or Nuremberg. T h e court in Vienna also used
woodwinds from Nuremberg.
(7-8.) By the second half of the century, pitch terminology began to
conform to the usage in the North, where Chorton was higher than
Cammerton; the older wording (Chorton lower than Cammerton) was
still being used in 1786, however. Another change by the second half
of the century was that instrumental itch generally went up to about
435, which was called "Kammerton." Considering the close connections
between the Habsburg court and Italy, it is not surprising that some-
thing close to Corista Veneto (A+o) should become the principle stan-
dard in Vienna more quickly than elsewhere. Many organs were also
lowered to A+o. Since during this period organs were often not quite
as high as A+I at 464 Hz, but rather in the 4$0S, woodwinds made to
382 Chapter 11
play a semitone below the organs also tended to be on the lowish side
of A+o, and not yet (as they were later to be) pitched close to 440.
(8-6.) By 1789 a well-known Viennese woodwind maker (Lempp)
wrote of a pitch called Wienerton, at about 438. Kammerton was about
430-433. T h e two levels, Kammerton and Wienerton, were close enough
to each other that discrepancies could be accommodated through
string retuning, tuning slides, longer barrels, and alternate tuning
joints o n woodwinds. At this point the tenor trombone in A and the
alto in D at traditional Cornet-ton were converted to Wienerton in-
struments by being considered as instruments in B b and E b. Trom-
bones retain this approximate pitch to this day, originating in a period
prior to Praetorius. Music in the Cathedral at Salzburg and the Peter-
skirche was often notated until the beginning of the lgthcentury with
hautboys and sometimes one "Fagott" a major 2d higher (sounding,
that is, a major 2d lower); the other instruments played at Cornet-ton.
(9-5.) T h e subtle distinction between Kammerton (at about 433) and
Wienerton (about 440) continued into the 1 9 ' ~century. Pitches in Salz-
burg in the 1820s were in the low 430s.
(lo-xe, IO-ze, 10-3.) Five pitches were reported in Vienna in 1834 at
434, 437, 439, 441, and 445. Ellis reported on a fork he received from
Streicher's in 1859, which gave the celebrated "sharp Vienna pitch" in
use in orchestras before the introduction of the diapason normal; it was
at 456, close to the highest level recorded in this period. In 1860 French
pitch was introduced at the Opera in Vienna, but pitch had crept up-
ward by the late 1870s. T h e pitch of Viennese orchestras is presently
notorious for its high level, in some cases approaching 450.
Graph I: Woodwinds, pre-1670
a. Recorders b. Ren. flutes c. Str. cornetts d. Black cornetts
Graph 2: German recorders and traversos by city (to 1 ~ 7 0 )
a.Berchtespaden b. Berlin c. Leiuzip d. Munich e. Nuremberp f. Other

385
Graph 3: Nuremberg recorders by maker
a. I.C. Denner b. Schell c. Gahn d. Oberlender e. I. Denner f. D. Denner

~1678-1707 1697-1732 1698-1711 170yc174y 1707-1735 1735-1764
Graph 4: Organs, pre-1670
a. Italv b. France c. Gcrmanv d. Ennland e. Holland f. Habsburg

387
Graph 5: Organs, 1670-1700
a. Italv b. France c. Germanv d. Eneland e. Holland f. Habsburg

a. Italv b. France c. Germany d. Eneland e. Holland f. Habsburg

a. Italv b. France c. Germany d. Ennland e. Holland f. Habsburg

a. Italv b. France c. Germany d. England e. Holland f. Habsburg

Graph 9: Incidence of black cornett pitches
a. 1 or more b. 6 or more c. q or more d. 12 or more

Graph 10: Spread o f black cornett pitches
a. 5 or more b. lo or more c. 1s or more d. 20 or more e. 2s or more

Graph XI: Cornetts with 4 types of the mark !!
a. Type B/BI b. Tvpe C C. Tvoe E d. Tvoe K

Graph 12:Woodwinds, Italy, to 1800
a. Before 1670 b. 1670-1700 c. 1700-1730 d. 1730.1770 e. 1770-1800

Graph 13: Woodwinds, France,to 1800
a. Before 1670 b. 1670-1700 C. 1700-1730 d. 1730-1770 e. 1770-1800

Graph 14:Woodwinds, Germany, to 1800
a. Before 1670 b. 1670-1700 C. 1700-17?0 d. 1730-1770 e. 1770-1800

397
Graph 15: Woodwinds, England, to 1800
a. Before 1670 b. 1670-1700 C. 1700-1730 d. 1730-1770 e. 1770-1800

Graph 16: Woodwinds, Dutch Republic, to 1800
a. Before 1670 b. 1670-1700 C. 1700-1710 d. 1730-1770 e. 1770-1800

Graph 17: Woodwinds, southern Netherlands, to 1800
a. 1670-1700 b. 1700-1730 C. 1710-1770 d. 1770-1800

Graph 18: Italian organs, t o 1800
a. Pre-1670 b. 1670-1700 C. 1700-30 d. 1710-70 e. 1770-1800

Graph 19:French organs, to 1800
a. Before 1670 b. 1670-1700 C. 1700-1730 d. 1730-1770 e. 1770-1800

Graph 20: German organs, to 1800
a. Before 1670 b. 1670-1700 c. 1700-1730 d. 1730-1770 e. 1770-1800

Graph 21:Organs in Thuringia and Saxony, 1680-1750
Graph tt: English organs, to 1800
a. Before 1670 b. 1670-1700 C. 1700'1730 d. 1730'1770 e. 1770-1800

405
Graph 23: English chamber organs
Graph q:Dutch organs, to 1800
a. Before 1670 b. 1670-1700 c. 1700-1710 d. 1710-1770 e . 1770-1800

407
Graph 25: Habsburg organs, to 1800
a. Before 1670 b. 1670-1700 C. 1700-1730 d. 1730-1770 e. 1770-1800

Graph 26: Woodwinds in Europe, 1670-1700
a. ltalv b. France c. Germanv d. England e. Holland

409
a. Italy b. France c. Germany d. Enpland e. Holland

a. Italv b. France c. Germanv d. Eneland e. Holland

4'1
Graph 29: Woodwinds (including pitchpipes), 1770-1800
a. Italy b. France c. Germany d. Eneland e. Holland f. Habsburg

a. Italy b. France c. Germany d. England e. Habsburg

Graph 31: Profiles: Bressan, Stanesby Sr. and Jr.
a. Bressan b. Stanesbv Sr. c. Stanesbv Ir.

Graph 32: Profiles: J. Denner, Oberlender, Heitz, Eichentopf
a. 1. Denner b. Oberlender c. Heitz d. Eichentopf

4'5
Graph 33: Profiles: Quantz, Kirst, Tromlitz, A. Grenser, H. Grenser
a. Ouantz b. Kirst c. Tromlitz d. A. Grenser e. H. Grenser

Graph 34: Profiles: Anciuti, Palanca, Caste1
a. Anciuti b. Palanca c. Caste1

Graph 35: Possible levels described by Agricola and Quantz
a. Aaricola b. Quantz
Graph 36: Woodwinds, all countries together, 1770-1800
Appendixes
T h e material in the appendices is arranged by period and pitch ('In as-

cending order). T h e periods correspond to the chapters of this book as
follows:
Period I Pre-1670
Period 2 1670-1700
Period 3 1700-1730
Period 4 1730-1770
Period 5 1770-1800
Period 6 1800-1830
Period 7 Post-1830
Appendix I
Organs whose Original Pitch Frequencies

Are known and whose Pitches Were
Named
Dates refer to when the name of the pitch was given, not when the or-
gan was built. T h e citations include all sources that refer to the pitch
of this organ. For further information on these organs, see Haynes
1995, Appendix 7.
A Name Date Location
Austria
456 Corhoh 1641 Vienna, Franziskanerkirche,
groge Orgel'
456 Corhoh 1641 Vienna, Franziskanerkirche,
klein Orgelz
Ennland
420 Concert pitch 1766 Cambridge, University
Church'
425' Concert Pitch 1719 Wells, Vicar's Hall4
France
387 im T o n der alten Oper 1840 Strasbourg, St. Thomas5
387' Opera oder franzos-
ischer Thon 1747 Strasbourg, Temple ~ e u ?
422 Appendix I
Germany
408 Cammerton 1843 Hamburg, Michaeliskirche7
414 Kammerton 1768 Dresden, Frauenkirche8
Cammer-Thon 1736
Cammer-Thon 1738
415 Kammerton 1758 Dresden, Catholische
Hofkirche9
416 Cammer-Thon I720 Dresden, Sophienkirche'"
Cammer-Thon 1738
435 Cammer-Ton 1803 Dorfchemnitz, Dorfkirche"
437 Chorton I723 Rhaunen, Ev. Kirche"
450 Cornetton (1705-88) Kleinich, Ev. Kirche"
458 Cornet-Ton 1746 Sulzbach (Rhaunen) Ev.
KircheI4
460 Cornetton 1784 Nieder-Florsheim, Ev."
460% Cornet 1771 Gau-Odernheim, ~ a t h . ' ~
460t Cornetton 1786 Morstadt, Ev.I7
462 Chorton 1681 Corvey (HGxter), k. ~ i r c h e "
464 Cornetton 1733 Eisenberg, S~hoi3kirche'~
464 Chor-Thon I722 Rotha, St. Marienkirchezo
464+? Cornett- oder I717 Freyberg, St. Jacobi2'
C hor-Tono
465+ ChorTon 1788 Zethau, Dorfkirche"
466+ Cornett ton 1775 Framersheim, Ev."
466+ Cornet Ton 1779 Gensingen, SimultanZ4
467 Cornet oder 1714 Freyberg, Dom2'
Chor-Tono
474 Chor-thon 1687 Norden (Ostfriesland), St.
~ud~eri'~
477 Zimberthon 1606 Schmalkalden, Schl0i3~'
486 Chortonig 1750 Cadenberge, St. ~ i k o l a i "
487k Hoch Chorton ca.1800 Liibeck, St. Mary's Churchz9
489 m3 above Cammerton 1721 Hamburg, Jacobikirche main
organ3'
Holland
410+ opra of fluyte toon 1765 Tilburg, HK "
415 netto Cammer of I723 Alkmaar, St. Laurents large
Organs: Original Pitch Frequencies and Names
Houbois-thoon organ3'
415% Kamer-toon 1781 Bolsward, G r o t e Kerk3j
415% Kamertoon 1783 Harlingen, N i e u w e KerkJ4
I Kamertoon 1788 Sexbierum"
441 halve T o o n lager als 1738 H a a r l e m , St. Bavo, large
Cornette T o o n o r g a n36
466 Cornettentoon 1733 A m s t e r d a m , W a a l s e Kerk"
467 Chor Thon 1728 Groningen, ~ a r t i n i k e r k ' "
468 Cammertoon 1788 Oldeboorn ( O ~ d e b o o r n ) ~ ~
Notes
I. Ellis 1880:26, 48; Telefunken S A W T 9527-B [6067] (Sep. 1967); Hradetzky

709; Ellis 1885:503.
2. Mendel 1978:27; Heiling 197x8; Forer 1973:40.
3. Thistlethwaite 1978.
4. Gwynn 1985:69,76.
5. Flade 1953:178; Walter 1971:17o;Lobstein 184056; Meyer-Siat 1985 4:762;
Hopkins & Rimbault 185~:191; van Dijk 1992:42; Stinkens 12; Vox Humana S M
62 (Jan. 1 ~ ~ 3Koopman
); ii.95; Classique Auvidis AV 4816 (ca.1~80).
6. Hopkins & Rimbault 1855:191; Walter 1971b:1~o; Schaeffer 1970; Stinkens 28.
7. Ellis 1880:36,47; Mendel 1978:31; Dahnert 1962:207; Seidel 1843:186.
8. Adlung 1768:1:193, 212; Mendel 1978:31;Dahnert 1953:206; Lottermoser 1960;
Flade 1953:133; Dahnert 1978:120; Miiller 1982:56,261,270,450; Flade 1931:1o8;
Wolf 1738:145; Oehme 1889:4.
9. Adlung 1758:376, 1768:1:211;Ellis 1880:36-8; Williams 1966:162; Mendel
1978:31;Dahnert & Williams 1973; Flade 1953:178; Teldec 8.43119 [CD 5611;
Dahnert 1978:126-27;Miiller 1982:156, 348; Lottermoser 1972:282; Greg rg89:111;
Lottermoser 1983:11;192;Seidel 1843:190; Dahnert 1980:72.
10. Adlung 1768; Ellis 1880; Mendel 1978:jo; Dahnert 1953:197;Flade 1953:106ff;
Ellis 1889496; Dahnert 1978:118; Miiller 1982:56,1~9,161; Flade 1931:rlh;Wolf
1738:90; Greg 1989:109.
11. Dihnert 1980:65.
12. Restoration report.
13. Restoration "Einweihung" program.
14. Restoration report.
15. Bosken 1967:392.
16. Bosken 196053; Bosken 1967:329.
17. Bosken 1g60:53; Bosken 1967:387.
424 Appendix I
18. Reuter 1965:15o;Reuter n.d. 13.

19. Friedrich 1989:47,48,1zg-30.
20. Dahnert 1953:198; Flade 195j:lrz; G r e g 1989:11o;Dahnert 1980:242; Rubardt
21'23; Miiller 1982:180; Koopman ii.95.
21. Miiller 1982:54,428; Greg I ~ ~ ~ : ~ sWilliams
, I I I ; ( O Y 7x46); Dahnert
1980:114.
22. Rohmeyer ( O Y 12:ioq-08); Dahnert 1980:279.
23. Bosken 1960:53; Forster & Nicolaus xi.92; Bosken 1967:joz.
24. Bosken 1967:332.
25. Kuhnau Gutachten 59; Williams 1966:151; Williams 1980:116;Mendel
1978:22,30; Dahnert 1953:1g3;O r y x OR-EX 73 (pre-1~73)[U7047]; Columbia M
31205 ( ~ r i n t e d1 ~ ~ [4366];
2 ) Flade 1953; Dahnert 1978:114; Miiller 198~:55,134;
G r e g 1989:109-10; Lottermoser 1983:11:175 and I:41; Ricercar RIC 113101; Ellis
and Nake (who give 420 in 1862); Dahnert 1980:1o4;Koopman ii.95; Dahnert
1983~29;Erato C D 2292-45702-2.
26. Fock 1974:273,148;Williams 1966:11o;Telefunken S A W D 9915-B [tszz];
Telefunken 6.35054 DX (1~62)[ U Z S ~ O ]Edskes ; 34; Dabringhaus und G r i m m
(digital) M D t G L 3268 (1~86-87);Teldec 8.44065 (reissue)[CD 6z4]; Colum-
bia M G 31207 [ U Z ~ ~ IKaufmann]; 1968:183; Koopman ii.95.
27. Hart 1977:125-28.
28. M H S 1857 [Tr8g36]; K. Schmidt (OY 6x31); U. Pape 1984; Restoration
"Festschrift" 14~17; Selle 1972:74.
29. Hopkins & Rimbault 1855:189; Dahnert 1986:s; Snyder 1987:85,468.
30. Mattheson 1721:176;Adlung 1758:386, 1768:I:100, 193.
31. o o s t 1975:343,344.
32. Williams 1966:38,41; Williams 1980:147; Harmonia Mundi H M O 30.700
[2231]; Archiv ARC 3030 (recorded 1950/56) [1043]; Nonesuch H-7x020
[ U O ~ ~ OL'Orgue
]; Francophone 3 (Nov. 1987):29; Mendel 1978:22, citing Fock
1974:255; Vente 31; Nieuwkoop 1988:114; Havingha 1727.
33. Williams 1966:51; Knock 1788:~;Dorgelo 1985:19,39; Knock 5.
34. Knock 1788:4; Dorgelo 1985:19.
35. Knock 1788:32; Dorgelo 1985:19.
36. Radio Nederland 109785/787 Y [3654]; Williams 1966:45; Columbia M G
31207 [UzS81]; Leonhardt ix.92; Zandt 1974:19,30,35;van Nieuwkoop 1988:52,171;
Baard 196~75;Clutton and Niland 1982:128.
37. Williams 1966:47; Philips/Seon 6833 187 [8728]; Telefunken S A W T 9521-B
(recorded 1 ~ 6 7 [)~ o I z ] Telef.
; S A W T 9569-B (recorded 1970) [6053]; Telef.
S A W T 9550-B [601~];Seon 6575 059 [8983]; Deutsche Gr. 427 801-2 [ C D
2 1 ~ ~Leonhardt
1; ix.92; Ahrend iii.93; Baard 196x38; Disco-Nederland Docu-
menta series no.2 (1965).
38. Fock 1974:273,zxy-26; Williams 1966:39,305; Williams xg80:zro; Mendel
1978:33; Vente 1963:187ff;Edskes 1968:37; Ricercar (digital) RIC 042018-19;
Ahrend iii.93; Dorgelo 1985:67,71; Aegon D S MK OOI (Aug. 1 ~ 8 ~ ) .
39. Radio Nederland 109785/787 Y [3654]; Knock 1788:29.
Appendix 2
Curved Cornetts
Paris: E.578, C.633

New York: MM, 89.4.1670
Munich: DM, 44598
Paris: 979.2.22
Graz: Joanneum, 1411
Linz: OL, Mu 17 (73)
!! !! !! Verona: AF, 13293
[Bassano, A. ?]
Augsburg: MM, 3004
!! !! !! Oxford: Library Christ Church,
[Bassano, A. ?] "A"
!! !! !! Oxford: Library Christ Church,
[Bassano, A. ?I " B"
Linz: OL, Mu 19 (70)
Warwick: W. Museum, M 41
Verona: AF, 13257
Vienna: KHM, 235 (C.246, 8592)
Paris: 979.2.18
Salzburg: CA, ~ I / I
llf;', Graz: Joanneum, 1580
HWK Munich: DM, 10185
Paris: E.137 C.6z7
Paris (ex Chambure): 979.2.30
[!! !! ? (Bassano, J. ?)] Verona: AF, 13266
[MS; Matthias Berlin: MM, 54
Schnitzer?]
Appendix 2
Stockholm: MM, 549

Bologna: MC, 1780 (ex 36)
Brussels: 1203
Berlin: M M (ex Kanji), 5282
Paulus, C.F. Basel: Private
Paris: E. o.
IK Basel: H M , 1980.2160
GL Vienna: KHM, GdM 207
Paris: E.136 C.628
Munich: BN, Mu IOI [K.48]
Liibeck: St. Annen-Museum,
1893/59.
Berlin: MM, 3065
Oxford: Bate 500
Stockholm: M M 2287
Stockholm: M M 173
Vienna: KHM, AR.3286
!! !! [Bassano, J. ?] Verona: AF, 13268
Basel: H M , 1879.55
Vienna: KHM, 231 (A.z42, 4077)
Munich: BN, 98 LK.461
Munich: SM, 82-4
Linz: OL, 74
Paris: E.580 C.626
Nuremberg, MI 122
[IKH?] Braunschweig: SM, 62
IK Sigmaringen: H M , 4958
[I K?] Sigmaringen: H M , 4959
!! !! [Bassano, J.] Braunschweig: SM, 108 [63]
Eisenach: BH, Iv a 9
Braunschweig: SM, 112 (66)
Nuremberg: MIR 42
[Bassano, A. ?] T h e Hague: GM, EA 151 X 1952
HWK Brussels: 1187
Giitter Winston-Salem, NC: Wachovia
M, Z-102
IK Leipzig: 4030
IKH Leipzig: 1569
IK Leipzig: 1564
Curved Cornetts 427
Vienna: KHM, 230 (A.241, 4076)

Leipzig: 1566
Binningen: Buser
Bologna: MC, 1777
!! [Bassano, H.] Hamburg: MfHG, 1924,zo2
HGH Gottingen: SMwsS, 273
(E.2203). Paris: 977.10.2
Munich: SM, 82-1
Berlin: MM, 662
Stuttgart: WL, KK 99
Paris: E.139 C.631
Salzburg: CA, 21/2
Bonn: Beethoven-Haus, 2
Verona: AF, 13270
Verona: AF, 13271
!! !! [Bassano, J.] Hamburg: MfHG, 1924,200
!! !! [Bassano] Hamburg: MfHG, 1924,201
!! !! [Bassano?] Vienna: KHM, 236 (C.247, 8'j93)
!! !! [Bassano, J.?] Verona: AF, 13264
Hamburg: MfHG, 1924,204
Vienna: KHM, GdM 206
Verona: AF, 13272
!! [Bassano, H.] Brussels: MC, 1209
Augsburg: MM, 3003
!! !! [Bassano, J.?] Hamburg: MfHG, 1924,203
Thoma, W. Stuttgart: WL, 1981-76
!! !! !! [Bassano, A.?] Verona: AF, 13294
Verona: AF, 13291
New York: MM, 52.96.1
!! !! !! [Bassano?] Bologna: MC, 1785
!! !! [Bassano, J.?] Bologna: MC, 1784
Augsburg: MM, 3005
Stuttgart: WL, KK 98
Paris: 979.2.25.
Liibeck: St. Annen-Museum,
1981/95
Braunschweig: SM 107 (61)
428 Appendix 2
489 D Paris: 0087

490 A Paris (ex Chambure): 979.2.31
490 A Lfbeck: St. Annen-Museum,
35878
493 A !! !! [Bassano, J.?] Verona: AF, 13269
494 D N e w York: MM, 89.4.2142
504 D Verona: AF, 13290
Appendix 3
Renaissance Flutes
PITCH NOM
Tenor. Vasel, B. Bologna

Tenor. Rafi, C. Brussels
Tenor. Rafi, G. [C.] Verona
Tenor. Vienna
Bass. Verona
Tenor. Brussels
Tenor. Verona
Tenor. Brussels
Tenor. Rafi, C. Rome
Bass. Rafi, M. Rome
Tenor. Verona AF
Bass. Milan Cons.
Tenor. Verona AF
Tenor. Rome
Tenor. Verona
Bass. Verona
Bass. Verona
Tenor. Rome
Tenor. Verona
Tenor. Rafi, C. Bologna
Tenor. Verona
Tenor. Verona
Tenor. Verona
Tenor. Verona
Bass. Verona
Appendix 3
430 g Bass. Hamamatsu A-21oR.

430 g Bass. Verona AF 13278.
411 g Bass. Verona BC 8.
435 d Tenor. "F H" Niirnberg MIR 280.
Appendix 4
Traversos
PERIODPITCH MAKER
Habsbura Lands
3 400 Lot2 Pasadena, CA: Richard Wilson

4 410 Baur, Rocko Linz: Mu 139 (173)
4 430 Fridrich, J. Vienna: KHM 89.
5 410 Schumann, [Christian?] Salzburg: CA, 6/5 (Geir.258).
6 430 Harrach, Franz Vienna: private collection
6 440 Tauber, K. Leipzig: 1254
Southern Netherlands
Rottenburgh, J.H. Gooik: Kuyken 4

Rottenburgh, J.H. Brussels: 2692
Rottenburgh, J.H. Pistoia
Willems, J.B. Brussels: 2692
Rottenburgh, G.A. Gooik: Kuyken 6
Rottenburgh, J.H. Tokyo: Dr. Iino (ex van
Zuylen)(Box, ivory mounts)
Rottenburgh, G.A. Gooik: Kuyken 5
Rottenburgh, J.H. Berlin: 2654
Rottenburgh, J.H. Washington: DCM, 507 (s.21~)
Rottenburgh, G.A. Tokyo: M. Asakura
Rottenburgh, G.A. Gooik: Kuyken j
Rottenburgh, G.A. Brussels: 2682
W illems Brussels: 2690
Rottenburgh, G.A. Amsterdam: F. Briiggen (1st of twin
pair)
Rottenburgh, G.A. Amsterdam: F. Briiggen (zd of twin
pair)
Willems Brussels: 2689
Raingo Frankfurt: Spohr 137
Tuerlinkx Brussels: 1089
Willems Brussels: 1060
England
Urquhart Edinburgh
Stanesby Jr. Sotheby's auction, x.81
Bressan London: Oldham
Stanesby Jr. Oxford: Bate
Stanesby Jr. Modena: Museo Civico
Stanesby Jr. Horniman: (wood) 241
Bressan London: V & A 452-1898
Stanesby Jr. Paris (ex Chambure): E.979.2.33
Stanesby Jr. Horniman: (ivory) 281 or 264
Stanesby Jr. Boeke, A.
Stanesby Jr. Sotheby's sale, 8 Nov 1995
Stanesby Jr. Beverly: H.S. Woledge
Stanesby Jr. Horniman: (ivory + later keys); 281
or 264
3 412 Stanesby Jr. Tokyo: M. Arita (ex Briiggen);
Grenadilla
3 413 Bressan Miller 1207
3 415 Stanesby Jr. Edinburgh 13
3 41.5 Stanesby Jr. Tokyo: Ueno Gakuen 89
4 392 Gedney, C. Tokyo: Dr. Iino (box, ivory
Traversos
mounts)
Gedney, C. Sotheby's sale, 8 Nov 1995
Schuchart Oxford: Bate IOI
Schuchart Frankfurt: Spohr 227
Stanesby Jr. Frankfurt: Spohr 224
Gedney, C. Edinburgh: Univ. 60
Schuchart Frankfurt: Spohr 116
Stanesby Jr. Tokyo: M. Arita (ex Briiggen),
COCUSWOO~
Schuchart S. Preston
Schuchart Oberlin: R. Willoughby (I)
Stanesby Jr. Tokyo: M. Arita (4), ivory
Schuchart Oxford: Bate 11 (loan Baines)
Simpson Westport, C T : J. Solum
Stanesby Jr. Tokyo: M. Arita (z), ivory
Anon. English Leipzig: 1251
Stanesby Jr. Leipzig: 1246
Stanesby Jr. Paris: E.980.2.7
Schuchart Horniman (ex Dolmetsch): M44-
1982
Schuchart Cambridge, MA: private
Schuchart Arhus: Mogens Friis
Schuchart Edinburgh: 14
Schuchart Wrexham (GB): H.D. Jones
Cahusac Frankfurt: Spohr 107
Cahusac Frankfurt: Spohr 149
Kusder Westport, C T : J. Solum
Bland, A. & Paris: E.g80.2.1g
E. Weller
Potter, R. St. Petersburg: 853
Potter, R. Vienna: KHM 90 and 91
Potter, R. Frankfurt: Spohr 250
Potter, [R. ?] Broadway: Snowshill Manor
Cahusac Paris: E.980.2.6
Monzani Paris: E.980.z.zy1
Bland, A. & Paris: E.980.2.48
E. Weller
Sanguinetti Broadway: Snowshill Manor.
Potter, W.H. St. Petersburg: 2
Astor Broadway: Snowshill Manor
(pewter plugs, &key)
Appendix 4
6 440 Astor, G. Paris: E.980.2.22

6 440 Potter, R. Amsterdam: Frank
France
Dumont Washington: Miller 870

Anon. Assisi
Anon. England (private collection)
Dumont Berlin: 5054
Lissieu Vienna: 176 ( c . 1 8 ~ )
Anon. Paris: E.1188 [C.IIO~?]
Anon. Stuttgart: private
Hotteterre, Dean] Graz: Landesmuseum Joh. 1.384
Naust Antwerp: Vleeshuis 154 ( V H 7 4 ~ )
Naust NL-Doorn: private
Rippert St. Moritz ( C H ; MusCe Engadin):
1645
Hotteterre, [Martin?] Stuttgart: private (ex Bingham)
Naust Tokyo: K. Suga
Rippert Glasgow: 42-68ak
Rippert Paris: (Dorgeuil), ivory
Fortier, J.-B. Paris: 984.8.1
Hotteterre Private
monogram "LR")
Naust Berlin: 2667
Naust Brookline, MA: v.Huene.
Chevalier Boston: 17.1846
Naust Paris: private
Naust Paris: E.710., C.441
Lot, T. Horniman: 263B
Lot, T. Horniman: 263A
Lot, T. Munich: Stadtmus. B N M M u 172
Bizey Edinburgh: 121
Bizey Horniman: (ex Dolmetsch) M43-
1982
Lecler Sao Paulo: Roberto Holz
Bizey Oxford: Bate 106
Lot, T. Tokyo: M. Arita (boxwood)
Lot, T. Spohr
Lot, T. Paris: C.1389, E.1517
Traversos
Lot, T. Paris: McLean

Bizey Oxford: Bate I
Lot, Gilles Paris: E.986.4.1
Lot, T. ( c I ~ ~ o - 8 5 ) Washington: Miller 984
Villars Paris: E.980.2.16
Vincent, D. Tokyo: Arita (ex Bruggen)
Anon. Paris
Lot, M. Paris: E.980.2.18
Lot, M. Tokyo: Dr. Iino
Lot, T. Varzy (F): MusCe
Lot, T. The Hague: Ea 447-1933
Lot, T. Brussels: Alain Weemaels
Villars Edinburgh
Villars St. Petersburg: 464
Lot, T. Tokyo: M. Arita
Lot, M. Paris: C.1104, E.1371
Lot, T. Melun: F r a n ~ o i sWilletmotte
Bizey Paris: C.439, E.598
Bizey Edinburgh (ivory)
Lot, M. The Hague: Ea 23-1942
Lot, M. Brussels: 3767
Lot, T. Paris: E.2308
Anon. Paris: E.97
Delusse, C. Paris: C.1108, E.1079
Delusse, C. Westport, CT: John Solum
Delusse, C. Paris: E.2147
Lot, T. Tokyo: L. Maeda (ex Arita)
Prudent (Formerly Carouge: M. P i p e t )
Clapisson Stockho1m:MM 185
Prudent Paris: E.980.2.3
Delusse, C. Paris: C . I I O ~E.1368
,
Laurent, C. Leipzig: 1259
Saget Paris: E.98o.t.13
Buhner & Keller Gooik: Kuyken
Saget Paris: E.980.2.15
Porthaux Stockho1m:MM 699
Laurent, C. Paris: E.245
Buhner & Keller Stockho1m:MM F.178
Laurent, C. Paris: E.96
Laurent, C. Leipzig: 3999
Prudent Paris: E.980.2.52
436 Appendix 4
6 433 GuCrin Paris: E.980.2.47

6 435 Buhner & Keller Stockholm: M M F.190
6 435 Laurent, C. Paris: E.982
Germany
Oberlender Stuttgart: Thalheimer.

Eichentopf, J.H. Leipzig: Bachmuseum 1244
Denner, J. Konrad Hunteler
Denner, J. Nuremberg: 257
Anon. Paris: E.980.2.32
Liebau Bonn: Beethovenhaus 39
Denner, J. Lost; formerly Berlin
Denner, J. Brussels: 1056
Anon. Paris: E.95
Anon. Paris: E.94
Oberlender Vermillion: Shrine 4073
Oberlender Modena: Mus. Civico 14
Scherer Paris: E.980.2.1
Denner, J. Ditzingen: Thalheimer (ex van
Zuylen)
Denner, J. Nuremberg: (ivory) 566
Scherer Zurich: Walter Thut
Walch, G. Salzburg: C6/4
Quantz [attr.] Halle: Handel-Haus MS-577
Quantz Potsdam: Sanssouci
Quantz Karlsruhe: private
Quantz Washington: D C M 916
Quantz Hamamatsu: (ex Rosenbaum) A-
oo88R [22]
Scherer Cambridge: Shackleton
Anon. [Quantz copy] Paris: E.0614
Heise, J.C. Korbach (D): Heimatmuseum.
Scherer Vermillion: 3589
Oberlender, J.W., I1 Leipzig: 1245
Quantz Berlin: 5076
Anon. Frankfurt: Spohr 208
Quantz Berlin: Kunstgewerbemuseum, H z
1289
Quantz [attr.] Milan: G. Bizzi.
Traversos
Scherer Gooik: Kujjken; ivory.

Quantz Hechingen: Burg Hohenzollern
Crone, G. Frankfurt: Spohr 159
Poerschmann St. Petersburg 453
Scherer Tokyo: M. Arita (ex Briiggen)
Quantz [School] Stockholm: M M (No a)
Scherer Antwerp: Vleeshuis, 153 ( V H 2 1 ~ 0 )
Scherer Huene
Scherer Spohr
Grenser, A. Vienna KHM (loan from GdM),
370.
Hartwig, J.C. or J.G. Leipzig: 1250
Schell Celle: H . Moeck
Grenser, A. Washington: D C M 140
Engelhard, J.F. Leipzig: 1239
Lott, D. Paris: E.908.2.5
Lott, D. The Hague: Ea 343-1933
Scherer The Hague: (ivory) Ea 291-1933
Lott, D. St. Petersburg: 462
Hirschstein, M. Stockholm: M M (No a)
[dealer]
Engelhard, J.F. Boston: MF 1989.136
Grenser, A. Stockholm:: M M 2 0 3
Crone, J.A. Berlin: 4940
Kirst Stuttgart: W L M (ex Ventzke),
1990-196
Kirst Frankfurt: Spohr 64
Grenser, H . Leipzig: 1241
Kirst Berlin: 4986
Kirst Michael Zadro
Kirst Bonn: Beethovenhaus 53
Crone, J.A. Westport CT: John Solum
Kirst Berlin: 4895
Grenser, A. Antwerp: Lenski
Kirst Bonn: Beethovenhaus 52
Grenser, A. The Hague: Ea 8-1944
Greve A Mannheim. Switzerland: private
Crone, J.A. Stuttgart: private collection [I]
Eisenmenger, M. Eisenach: Bachhaus 1-114
Engelhard, J.F. Eisenach: Bachhaus 1-113
Grundmann Seattle: Jerome Kohl
Appendix 4
Kirst Stockholm: M M F.183

Kirst Stuttgart: Thalheimer
Sattler, C.W. Stockholm: F.737
Tromlitz Wiirzburg: Mynter
Grenser, A. The Hague: Ea 96-1950
Grenser, A. Vienna: N. Harnoncourt
Grenser, A. Frankfurt: Spohr (ex Willoughby),
353
Freyer, ['J.G. ?] Brussels
Anon. [falsely stamped Vienna: private
Grenser, H.], 19thC
Grenser, A. Leipzig: 3145
Tromlitz St. Petersburg: 855
Eisenbrandt Frankfurt: Spohr 69
Tromlitz Germany: W . Duerr (ex Moericke)
Grenser, A. Aachen: W . Willms
Grenser, A. Spohr
Kirst Stockholm: M M 2657 (was 57-8/32)
Tromlitz St. Petersburg: I
Kirst Munich: Albert Miiller
Hesse, W. St. Petersburg: 854
Kirst St. Petersburg: 1136
Grenser, A. Paris: E.1632
Grenser, H. Washington: D C M 1378
Freyer, U.G. ?] Holland: private
Grenser, A. Bonn: Beethovenhaus 51
Kirst Munich: private collection
Anon. [falsely stamped Berlin: 4019
Grenser, H.]
Crone, J.A. Frankfurt: Spohr 283
Engelhard, J.F. Leipzig: 1240
Freyer, J.G. Stockholm: M M 1968
Hirt Leipzig: 1248
Otto Leipzig: 1252
Winckler, J.G. Leipzig: 3143
Grenser, A. Frankfurt: Spohr 348
Grenser, H. Lisa Beznosiuk
Grenser, H. Huene
Griesling & Schlott Leipzig: 3024
Grenser, H. Stockholm: M M 22649
Grenser, H. Leipzig: 3146
Traversos

Piering Chile (private)
Grenser, H. Stockholm: M M F.218
Greve, [A.] Nuremberg: MIR 288
Kirst Bensheim: Pelzel
Floth Leipzig: 3440
Freyer, J.G. Frankfurt: Spohr 319
Heinze, J.G. Leipzig: 3491
Otto Karlsruhe: Miiller-Jensen
Braun, J.G. Paris: E.1706
Pering [Piering?] St. Petersburg: 1155
Wiesner, S.G. Leipzig: 3465
Dutch Republic
Heerde, J.J. van The Hague: Ea 68-1983

Haka Utrecht: Ehrenfeld
Heerde The Hague: private
Heerde, J.J. van The Hague: Ea 292-1933
Terton The Hague: Ea 49-x-1952
Heerde, van. The Hague: private
Deppe, I. The Hague: Ea 48-x-1952
Borkens The Hague: Ea 1-2000
Hemsing The Hague: Ea 38-x-1952
Borkens, P. The Hague: Ea 39-x-1952
Wijne, Robert NL-Heinkezand: private
Eerens Rotterdam: private
Eerens Groningen: private
Borkens The Hague: Ea 1-1992
Hemsing The Hague: Ea 3-1998
Wijne, Robert The Hague: Ea 11-1935
Wijne, R. The Hague: Ea 22-1981
Beukers, W. Utrecht: Ehrenfeld Fdn.
Borkens Vermillion: 5795
Wijne, R. Utrecht: Ehrenfeld
Weijdemuller The Hague: Ea 1-1943
Beuker, J. The Hague: Ea 32-1936
Beuker, J. Paris: E.980.2.2
Appendix 4
Beukers, W . T h e Hague: Ea 414-1933

Beuker Japan: private (ex-Briiggen)
Eerens NY: Met 1976-27b
Eerens Tokyo: Dr. Iino (ivory)
Beuker, J. Paris: C.453, E.248
Beuker Tomkins Cove, NY: private
Beuker Utrecht: Ehrenfeld Fdn.
Beuker, J. Paris: E.0617
Wijne, W. D-Lautlingen: Schloss
Anciuti [?] Milan: Cast. Sforzesco 320

Castel, N. Paris: E.980.2.14
Palanca Tokyo: Musashino A722
Palanca, C. T h e Hague: Ea 80-1950
Deiardin [Ferreri] Turin: S. Balestracci (a1 of a pair)
Deiardin [Ferreri] Turin: S. Balestracci (a2 of a pair)
Palanca Frankfurt: Spohr 93
Palanca, C. Stockholm: M M F.191
Palanca, C. Stockholm: M M F.179
Anciuti Vienna K H M 371
Lanck [Lanca] Turin: L. Girodo
Palanca, C. The Hague: Ea 10-1940
Castel, Giuseppe Bensheim: Pelzel
Cerino, L. Formerly Turin: S. Balestracci
Fornari Vienna: G. Stradner
Biglioni, I. Boston M F 17.1852
Switzerland
5 403 Schlegel, J. Basel: Hist. Museum, [187~.1o?]

s 413 Schlegel, J. Washington: D C M 801
5 413 Schlegel, J. Paris: C.440, E.974
s 422 Schlegel, J. Munich: Stadtmuseum 53/24
Appendix 5
Recorders
PERIOD MAKER
PITCH
Rottenburgh, J.H. F Alto Brussels: 2644

Rottenburgh, J.H. F Bass Bruges: 0.24.XXVIII
Rottenburgh, J.H. F Bass The Hague: Ea 401-1933
Rottenburgh, J.H. D VF Berlin: 2814
Rottenburgh, J.H. F Alto Berlin: 2799
Rottenburgh, J.H. C Tenor Vermillion: (ex Kaltenbach)
4879
Rottenburgh, J.H. F Alto Brussels: 2643A
Rottenburgh, J.H. F Alto Brussels: 2643B
Rottenburgh, J.H. C Tenor Kaltenbach
Lambert F Bass Brussels: 187
Rottenburgh, J.H. C Soprano Milan: G. Bizzi
England
2 396 Bressan D VF Bury St. Edmunds: Moyse's

Hall
2 400 Bradbury, J. D VF Edinburgh: Univ. 2491.
2 400 Bressan F Alto Briiggen (2)
Appendix 5
Bressan Vermillion: (ex Higbee)

4827
Bressan Alto Harvey, R.
Bressan Alto Oxford: Bate (Hunt) 0112
Bressan VF Washington: Miller 989
(S.31)
Bressan Bass Norwich: Pt.P.Hungate Mus.
Bressan Alto Chester: Grosvenor O.S.zsa
Bressan Tenor Huene
Bressan Alto Vienna: 155 [C.166 (8542)]
Bressan VF Huene
Bressan [?] Bass Oxford: Bate
Bressan Alto Briiggen I
Bressan Alto Prague: Nat. Mus. 1369E
Bressan Alto Tokyo: Dr. Iino (#I of pair,
stained)
Bressan Alto Tokyo: Dr. Iino (+tz of pair,
stained)
Bressan VF Bologna: Museo 1825
Bressan VF Bologna: Museo 1834
Bressan Alto Tokyo: Ueno Gakuen 87
Bressan Alto Paris: C.394.E.283
Bradbury, J. Alto NY: Metropolitan 1976.51
Bressan Alto Sao Paolo: R. Kanji
Bressan Tenor Chester: Grosvenor 0 . S . 2 5 ~
Stanesby Jr. Tenor Briiggen (ex Bergmann)
Stanesby Sr. Alto Briiggen
Bressan Tenor The Hague: Ea 28-X-1952
Souch VF Tokyo: Ueno Gakuen 88
Stanesby Jr. Alto Formerly Piguet
Bressan Alto Berlin: 2801
Bressan VF Chester: Grosvenor O.S.z5(b)
Bressan Alto Huene
Bressan VF Briiggen (ex Oler; "*I,"
[maple?], mounts)
Bressan Tokyo: Dr. Iino (ex Bath:
R. Eden?)
Bressan Tenor B r a ~ n s c h w e i80
~ , (Inv.no. C k
107)
Bressan Bass Chester: Grosvenor 0.S.z5(d)
Bressan Tenor London: G. Oldham
Recorders
Stanesby Sr. [?I F Bass Warwickshire

Stanesby Jr. F Alto Paris: (ex Chambure)
E.980.2.82
Stanesby Jr. C Tenor Paris: (ex Galpin) E.980.2.86
Bressan C Tenor Tokyo: Dr. Iino (box, iv.
mounts)
Stanesby Jr. C Tenor Tokyo: Dr. Iino (with "Trv
foot")
Bradbury, J. [F?] Alto Tokyo: Toho Gakuen
Stanesby Sr. C Tenor Wellington, NZ: Z. Castle
Bressan F Alto Chester: Grosvenor
~o7.L.192ya
Bressan Oxford: Pitt Rivers
Bressan Chester: Grosvenor
~ O ~ . L . I ~ Z ~ ~
Stanesby Jr. F Alto Sotheby's Auction, Nov. 1996
Stanesby Jr. F Alto NY: Metropolitan 1982.390
Stanesby Jr. F Alto Huene
Stanesby St. F Alto Horniman: 319
Stanesby Sr. Sixth Flute Washington: 1214( S 4 )
Stanesby Sr. F Alto Horniman: (ex Dolmetsch)
M4o-1982
Bressan [?I C Tenor Milan: Cast. Sforzesco 316
Bressan F Alto Washington: 127 (S.13)
Bressan D VF Briiggen (ex Oler; "rtz,"
boxwood, mounts)
Bressan F Alto Washington: Miller 1181
(S.14)
Cahusac D VF Washington: Miller 1262
Hallett, B. C Sop Vermillion: (ex Higbee)
4825
Hallett, [B.?] Sopranino Briiggen
Schuchart F Alto Horniman: (ex Nettlefold)
c.274
Cahusac, T. F Alto Celle: Moeck
Cotton A Alto London: G. Oldham
Stanesby Jr. Sixth Flute Briiggen (ex Hunt)
Goulding & Co. G Alto Tokyo: Dr. Iino (box, "Trv
foot")
6 435 Goulding & Co. F Alto NY: Met 1989.194.2
Appendix 5
France
Rafi Family C Tenor Bologna: AF 10

Rippert F Alto Florence: Museo Stibbert
(ex Kaltenbach?) 14289
Dupuis C Tenor Bruggen
Hotteterre, [Martin] G Alto Paris: E.979.2.8
Hotteterre, [Martin] F Bass Paris: E 589 C 413
Hotteterre, [Martin] C Tenor Paris: E 509 C 402
Hotteterre, [Martin] C Tenor Paris: E.979.2.9
Hotteterre, [Martin] C Tenor Bruggen
Rippert F Bass Paris: C.412 E.247
Lissieu C Soprano Huene
Dupuis F Alto Paris: E.368
Rippert Sopranino Munich: BNM M u 151
Anon. F Alto Paris: E.102
Rippert F Alto Tokyo: Dr. Iino (box, ivory
mounts)
Bizey F Alto Washington: Miller 1055
Hotteterre, L. F Alto Washington: Miller 326
Hotteterre, N. F Alto Hamamatsu: A-ooryR
Naust Alto Tokyo: Dr. Iino
Rippert C Tenor Celle: Moeck
Rippert F Bass Washington: Miller 800
6.37)
Mondon F Alto Tokyo: Dr. Iino (boxwood)
Hotteterre F Bass Tokyo: Dr. Iino (maple)
Rippert F Bass Paris: C.411 E.185
Hotteterre, N. F Bass Paris: E.979.2.10
Rouge F Alto Brussels: 438
Naust C Flageo- Tokyo: Dr. Iino (ivory)
let
Souvh F Bass Ann Arbor, MI: Stearns
Hotteterre F Alto Paris: (ex Chambure), n o nr.
(ivory)
Naust D VF Tokyo: Dr. Iino
Hotteterre F Bass Paris: E.980.2.527
Rippert F Alto Paris: C.1387, E.1515
Hotteterre C Tenor St. Petersburg: 405
Recorders
3 460 Rippert C Tenor Munich: BNM 57-95

3 462 Rippert F Alto Munich: BNM, Mu 166
[160/1~?]
3 462 Rippert Sopranino Munich: B N M Mu 16~/17
3 464 Rippert F Alto Paris: E.2136
3 467 Rippert C Tenor Basel: H M 1956.633
4 387 Villars F Alto London: RCM
Germany
H. Rauch von Schratt G Great- Munich: BNM Mu 180

Bass
H. Rauch von Schratt G Great- Munich: B N M Mu 174
Bass
CCS C Tenor Linz: Mu I
H. Rauch von Schratt G Bass Nurembeq: MIR 212
Anon. C Soprano Munich: BNM 152
Anon. C Soprano Munich: BNM 163
Anon. C Soprano Rosenborg (DK)
Denner, J.C. [?] A Sopran- Brussels: 434
ino
Walch, G. C Soprano Paris: E.980.2.92
Denner, J.C. [?] D Soprano Eisenach: BachhausI 98
C11sl
Denner, J.C. F Bass Linz: Mu 9 (157)
Denner, J.C. Bass Eisenach Bachhaus L-I
Denner, J.C. F Alto Vienna: H.U. Staeps
Denner, J.C. F Bass Berlin: 92
Mag, Andreas [?] C Soprano Modena M C , S M 18 - 1981
Denner, J.C. A Bass Nurembeq: MIR 213
Denner, J.C. [?I Sopranino Basel: , 1956.630 (18~8-19)
Kynseker G Alto Nuremberg: M I loo
Kynseker G Alto Nuremberg: MI IOI
Kynseker D Tenor Nuremberg: MI 102
Kynseker G Bass Nuremberg M I 104
Kynseker D Tenor Nuremberg: M I 103
Kynseker D Soprano Nuremberg: MI 99
Kynseker D Soprano Nuremberg: MI 98
Denner, J.C. [?] G Alto Prague
Appendix 5
Kynseker Bass Paris: E.2139

Denner, J.C. F Bass Linz: Mu 8 (156)
Denner, J.C. F Bass Paris: C.1388, E.1516
Plaikner F Alto Linz: Mu 4 (150)
Denner, J.C. [?I G Alto London: Horniman 14.5.47
Herbst, M. [?I [GI
Soprano Leipzig: 1112
Denner, J.C. [?I F Bass Munich: BNM 175
Denner, J.C. F Bass Nuremberg: MIR 214
Anon. F Alto Munich: BNM 153
Denner, J.C. F Bass Salzburg: Mus. CA 3/13
Schell [?I D Tenor Quedlinburg: SchloB
(2 of 2)
Schell [?I D Tenor Quedlinburg: SchloB
(I of 2)
Schell [?I Bass Quedlinburg: Schloss
Schell [?I Alto Quedlinburg: SchloB
(1 of 2)
Schell F Alto Bologna: M C 1769
Oberlender G Alto Paris: C.397, E.373
Oberlender G Alto NY: Metropolitan 89.4.2208
Schell F Bass Paris: E.2140
Walch, A. G Sopran- Diiren: Zimmermann 6
ino
Oberlender G Alto Vienna: GdM IIO
Walch, G. C Tenor Salzburg: CA 410/276
Denner, J. G Alto Bogenhaus: 4
Denner, J.C. Bass Paris: C.1511, E.1641
Schell F Alto Linz: Mu 7 (152)
Denner, J.D. F Bass Leipzig: 1143
[stamped I.C.]
Oberlender F Alto Leipzig: 1131
Heitz F Alto Vienna: AR 1396
Heitz F Alto Bruggen
Eggl, Peter F Alto Nuremberg: MIR 203
Gahn Sopranino Stift Schlagl
Oberlender F Bass Nuremberg: MI 96
Walch, G. C Tenor Nuremberg: MIR 209
Heitz F Alto Munich: : SM BNM, Mu
159/12
Paris: E.980, 284
Recorders 447
Heitz F Alto Munich: : BNM Mu 155/8

Denner, J.C. A Bass Nuremberg: MIR 88
Schell A Alto Paris: C.400 E.193
Heitz F Alto Leipzig: 1128
Reich, B. C Tenor Leipzig: 3140
Schell [?I Bb Soprano Vermillion: (ex Higby ex
Bate) 4826
Reich C Soprano Brussels
Schell F Bass Nuremberg: MI 95
Denner, J. C Tenor Brussels: 1026
Poerschmann F Alto Claudius: 417
Schell F Alto Washington: Miller 658
Denner, J.C. F Bass Bogenhaus: 14b
Denner, J.C. F Bass Munich: : BNM Mu 179
Gall G Alto Briiggen
Heitz C Soprano Paris: private
Heitz F Alto Eisenach: Bachhaus 199
Schell F Alto London: Oldham
Schell C Tenor Innsbruck: MF 2,85
Denner, J. F Alto Copenhagen: 34
Denner, J.D. F Bass Linz: Mu 116 (158)
[stamped I.C.]
Schell F Bass Linz: Mu 10 ( 1 5 ~ )
Oberlender circle F Alto Nuremberg: MI 138
Schell F Bass Linz: Mu I I (160)
Denner, J.C. G Bass Munich: Mii 173 K30
Denner, J. F Alto Bogenhaus: 5
Denner, J. C Tenor Sotheby's sale, Nov 95;
offered in Nov 96 but not
sold
Denner, J.C. Bass The Hague: EA 713-1933
Denner, J.C. Alto Bogenhaus: 3
Denner, J.C. Bass Vermillion: 3605
Denner, J.D. Alto Huene
[stamped I.C.]
Gahn Alto Stimmer
Gahn Alto Leipzig: 1126
Lener Tenor Paris: E.304
Oberlender Alto Paris: E.980.2.81
Oberlender Alto Diiren: Zimmermann 11
Oberlender Alto Hamamatsu: A - O O I ~ R
Appendix 5
Oberlender G Alto Claudius C418?]

Sattler, J.C.E. F Alto Stockholm: 162
Eichentopf, J.H. F Alto Tokyo: Dr. Iino (boxwood)
Oberlender F Alto Paris: E.193
Oberlender Bass Paris: E.640
Denner, J. F Alto London: RCM 63
Heitz F Alto Horniman: C.203
Denner, J. C Tenor Hamamatsu: A-ooo7R
Denner, J.D. F Alto Basel: Hist. Mus. 1878.19
[stamped I.C.]
Fische, [Ni(kolaus)] F Alto Nuremberg: MIR 202
Gahn Trondheim: Ringve-Museum,
RMT 84/2
Denner, J. F Alto Sotheby's sale, Nov 95;
offered in Nov 96 but not
sold
Denner, J. D VF Modena: Mus. Civico S M 21
Denner, J.D. D Tenor Nuremberg MIR 208
[stamped I.C.]
Oberlender F Alto Nuremberg: MIR 201
Oberlender Sopranino The Hague: Ea 277-1933
Schell F Alto Basel: 1956,632
Staub F Alto Paris: 980.2.78
Denner, J. F Alto M. Renard (dealer)
Gahn F Alto Paris: E.979.2.11 (ivory)
Oberlender F Alto Paris: E.980.2.80
Oberlender F Alto Berlin: 5341
Denner, J. F Alto Nuremberg: MI 139
Denner, J.D. D Tenor Briiggen (ex Buser);
[stamped I.C.] plumwood
Denner, J. C Tenor Nuremberg: MIR 211
Eichentopf, J.H. F Alto Nuremberg: MIR zoo
Gahn F Alto Vermillion: 4142
Oberlender F Alto The Hague: Ea 276-1933
Oberlender Alto Modena: Mus. Civico 15 (SM
22-1981)
Denner, J. F Alto Nuremberg: MI 140
Denner, J.C. F Alto Bogenhaus: l a (ivory, double
67)
Gahn F Alto Stift Schlagl, Alto c t t
Staub, N. F Alto Nuremberg MI 2x1 (ivory)
Recorders 449
Denner, J. F Alto Private (dealer)

Denner, J.C. [?I A Bass Milan: Museo Teatrale alla
Scala
Gahn F Alto Nuremberg: MIR 204
Gahn F Alto Stift Schlagl, Alto n~
Gahn G Alto B. von Hiinerbein (ex
Giesbert via Sotheby's 1 9 ~ 5 )
Oberlender F Bass Salzburg: Mus. CA 3/14
Denner, J.C. G Alto Berlin: (ex Giesbert) 5428.
Oberlender F Alto Paris: E.980.2.76 (ivory)
Gahn G Alto Bruggen
Schuechbauer F Alto Bogenhaus: 6a
Schuechbauer F Alto Washington: Miller 328
(S.22)
Schuechbauer C Tenor Nuremberg: MIR 210
Gahn F Alto Leipzig: 3243
Oberlender F Alto Bonn: Beethovenhaus 11
Oberlender F Alto Munich: SM 57-94
Oberlender F Alto Munich: BNM Mu 162/75
Konigsberger, J.W. C Tenor Munich: DM 17233
Walch, G. F Alto Salzburg: CA M243
Walch, G. F Alto Salzburg: C A z4z/171
Konigsberger, J.W. C Tenor Salzburg: Mus CA3/7 (G.238)
Eichentopf, J.H. C Tenor Stockholm: Musik Museet 165
Scherer F Bass Leipzig: 1145
Scherer F Alto Huene
Oberlender F Alto Leipzig: 1123
Denner, J.D. F Bass Leipzig: 1141
[stamped I.C.]
Denner, J.D. F Alto Hamamatsu: A-o127R
[stamped I.C.]
Fische, [Ni(kolaus)] G Alto Ann Arbor, MI: Stearns 507
Walch, L. G Alto Salzburg: CA 3/4
Ocl [Ogl], I. C Soprano Salzburg: C A 3/z
Dutch Republic
2 387 Parent, M. B/D Double Berlin: 2832

Appendix 5
Parent, M. D/F Double The Hague: Ea 82-x-1952

Parent, M. D/F Double The Hague: Ea 4-1984
Parent, M. D/F Double N-Bergen: X 125.85 or B 3457
Parent, M. D/F Double Berlin: 2833
Parent, M. D/F Double Bruges: M35
Haka, R. C Tenor Tokyo: Dr. Iino (Box)
Boekhout, T. F Alto Celle: Moeck 666
Haka, R. C Soprano Leipzig: 1115
Boekhout, T. F Bass Brussels: 1040
Boekhout, T. C Soprano NY: Metropolitan 89.4.912
Boekhout, T. F Alto London: G. Oldham
Haka, R. F Bass S-Gothenburg 3894
Haka, R. F Alto Paris: E.980.2.548
Haka, R. C Soprano Briiggen
Haka, R. F Bass Paris: (Chambure) E.980.2.524
Heerde, J.J. van. F Alto Edinburgh: Univ. 257
Haka, R. C Soprano Vermillion: 4202
Haka, R. C Tenor Tokyo: Ueno Gakuen 56
Haka, R. Sopranino Potsdam
Haka, R. C Soprano Edinburgh 1037 (ivory I-
piece)
Beukers, W. C Soprano The Hague: Ea 25-x-1952
Steenbergen F Alto Paris: A. Bissonet
Parent, M. Alto St. Petersburg: 403
Terton, E. F Alto Washington: Miller, 871 (Sz4)
Boekhout, T. F Alto The Hague: Ea 27-X-1952
Boekhout, T. F Alto Zurich: Mus. Bellerive 128
Terton, E. C Soprano The Hague: Ea 374-1933
Beukers, W. F Alto The Hague: Ea 26-x-1952
Beukers, W. C SopranoUtrecht: private collection.
Beukers, W. F Alto Laren (NL): private coll.
Roosen, I. F Bass The Hague: Ea 22-x-1952
Terton, E. F Alto Brussels: 1038
Aardenberg 6th Flute NL-Geldrop
Aardenberg, A. van Sopranino The Hague: Ea 581-1933
Aardenberg, A. van C Soprano The Hague: Ea 29-X-1952
Beukers, W . C Soprano The Hague: Ea 278-1933
Heerde, A. or J. van. F Alto Leipzig: 3244
Aardenberg, A. van C Soprano The Hague: Ea zga-X-1952
Boekhout, T. F Bass St. Petersburg 408
Recorders 451
Aardenberg, A. van F Alto Tokyo: Dr. Iino (Box, ivory

mounts)
Boekhout, T. F Bass Huene
Debey F Alto The Hague: Ea 363-1933
Heerde, van F Alto Lisbon: M I C 204
Heerde, van. F Alto The Hague, private
Heerde, van. Bass Paris: E.980.2.526
Steenbergen, J. F Bass Darmstadt: HMkg 67x26
F Alto NL-Nieuwegein
Steenbergen, J. F Alto Briiggen
Terton F Alto NL-Apeldoorn
Terton, E. F Alto The Hague: Ea 31-X-1952
Terton, E. F Alto The Hague: Ea 978-1933
Aardenberg, A. van F Alto Celle: Moeck (ex de Vries)
Steenbergen, J. Alto Uithuizen: Menkemaborg
Castle
Aardenberg, A. van F Alto The Hague: Ea 32-X-1952
Boekhout, T. F Bass London: private
Boekhout, T. F Bass Berlin: 2824
Boekhout, T. F Bass Switzerland, private
Heerde, van F Alto The Hague: 33-x-1952
Steenbergen C Soprano NL-Ketelhaven: OH-43-208
Steenbergen, J. C Soprano Briiggen
Steenbergen, J. Alto Vermillion: 6172.
Terton F Alto NL-Hazerswoude-Dorp
Steenbergen, J. Sixth Flute Stockholm: M 160
Aardenberg, A. van F Alto Berlin: Klemisch 8001
Aardenberg, A. van F Alto Vermillion: 3978
Rijkel, C. F Alto Stockholm: 21.979
Boekhout, T. Sopranino Tokyo: Musashino A723
Boekhout, T. Sopranino Tokyo: Musashino A724
Beukers, W . Sixth Flute Washington: 1257/5
Beukers, W . D VF Utrecht: private collection
Heerde, van. F Alto Vermillion: 4504
Wijne, R. Third Flute The Hague: Ea 323-1933
Wijne, R. D/F Double The Hague: Ea 622-1933
Wijne, R. C Soprano Briiggen
Borkens, Peter C Soprano Tokyo: Dr. Iino (ex van
Zuylen)
452 Appendix 5
4 406 Wijne, R. F Alto Oxford: Bate (Hunt)

4 415 Heerde, van F Alto Stockholm: 164
4 420 Beukers, W. D VF Sotheby's sale, 8 Nov 1995
Perosa C Soprano Vienna: 8540

Anciuti G Alto Milan: Museo Teatrale alla
Scala
Anciuti F Alto Celle: Moeck
Anciuti Bb Soprano Milan: Museo Teatrale alla
Scala
Anciuti F Alto Graz: LM Joanneum 10.484
Anciuti [F] Double Paris: E.106 (ivory)
Anciuti Double flute Paris: C.416, E.107. (ivory)
Castell F Alto Nice IM
Castel/Palanca F Alto Washington: Miller 1359
Palanca C Tenor Washington: Miller 1321(S33)
Caste1 (rampant lion) C Soprano Vienna: K H M
Anciuti F Alto London: V & A 7469,1861
Grassi, Barnaba Sopranino Leipzig: 1x13
Switzerland
3 412 Schlegel, C. F Bass Paris: E.2396

3 427 Schlegel, C. F Alto Basel: 1950.89
3 435 Schlegel, C. F Alto Paris: J.C. Veilhan (ex
Chambure)
4 430 Schlegel, J. Sopranino Paris: C.392, E.683.3
5: 425 Schlegel, J. Sopranino Paris: C.392, E.683.4
5 425 Schlegel, J. F Alto Paris: C.392, E.683.2
5 427 Schlegel, J. F Alto Paris: C.392, E.683.1
Unknown
I 451 Anon. G Bass Linz: M u 2

I 467 Rozmberk master F Bass Vermillion: 3606
Appendix 6
Clarinets
Habsburg Lands
Baur, R[ocko] Nuremberg: MIR 425

Baur, Rocko Vienna: GdM 130
Baur, Rocko Vienna: GdM 131
Hammig [Hamich?] Salzburg: K. Birsak
Griesbacher, Raymund Cambridge: Shackleton
Tauber Cambridge: Shackleton
Lotz, T. Geneva: 136
Doleisch, F. Cambridge: Shackleton (ex
Willms)
Griesbacher, Raymund Cambridge: Shackleton (ex
MacGillivray)
Hammig, F. Vienna: private collection
Uhlmann Paris: ThomC
4 423 Willems, J.B. Oxford: Bate, 429

5 424 Rottenburgh, G.-A. CH-Zumikon: H.R. Stalder
5 431 Rottenburgh, G.-A. Paris: C.533, E.758
5 437 Willems, J.[B.] Brussels: 921
5 437 Willems, J.[B.] Brussels: 920
Appendix 6
438 Willems, J.B. Brussels: 916

441 Raingo, N.M. CH-Zumikon: H.R. Stalder
England
Collier, T. Tokyo: Ueno Gakuen, 99

Collier, T. GB-Keighly: Cliffe Castle, 9110
Kusder Cambridge: Shackleton
Miller (dated 1760) Doncaster: C. Wells
Cahusac, T. Jr. Massapequa Pk, NY: Maynard
Cahusac, T. Jr. Cambridge: Shackleton
Cahusac, T. Jr. Tokyo: Ueno Gakuen, 98
Collier, T. Edinburgh Univ.: loo
Kusder Ch-Zumikon: H.R. Stalder
Collier, T. Edinburgh Univ.: 1154
France
Geist Paris: 992.2.1

Roberty Cambridge: Shackleton
Theodore Cambridge: Shackleton
Amlingue Boston: 38.1750
Naust [?I Tarzana, CA: J. Coleman
Roberty Harrow: C. Lawson
Amlingue Paris: Veilhan
Pierrat [Private collection]
Savary (Pkre) [Private collection]
Savary (Phre) [Private collection]
Moussetter Paris: 1393
Gentellet Brussels
Gentellet Cambridge: Shackleton
Baumann [Restored for Parisian dealer]
Proff [Private collection]
Walch, G. Salzburg: 18/1

Walch, G. Salzburg: 18/2
Clarinets
Denner, J. Nuremberg: MI 149

Denner, J.C. Berkeley, CA: 19
Denner, J. Brussels: 912
Scherer Paris: C.529, E.697
Scherer Eisenach Bachhaus: L-4
Scherer Meiningen Museum: MI-19
Scherer London RCM: 101
Scherer NL-Onnen/Haren: D.J. Verel
Scherer Brussels: 924
Denner, J.D. Munich: SM, Mu 136
[stamped "I.C."]
Strehli Munich: SM, 48-40
Zencker, J.G. Nuremberg MIR 424
Crone, G. The Hague: Ea 58-X-1952
Klenig Stockholm: 141
Klenig Stockholm: 142
Liebau Stockholm: 139
Konigsberger, J.W. Munich: SM, Mu IIO
Kirst Paris: E.980.2.125
Kirst Paris: Bassethor.
Grenser, A. Measured by Nake, 1862
Staudinger Paris: ThomC
Grenser, A. S-Halsingborg: P666
Grenser, A. Amsterdam: E. Hoeprich
Grenser, A. New York: Rita Ebenhart
Biihner & Keller Cambridge: Shackleton (3 of 3)
Biihner & Keller Cambridge: Shackleton (2 of 3)
Buhner & Keller Cambridge: Shackleton (I of 3)
Biihner & Keller Strasbourg: private collection
Dutch Republic
3 428 Boekhout Brussels: 2561

4 418 Borkens, P. The Hague: Ea 306-1933
5 418 Biglioni, [Baldassare?] Massapequa Pk, NY: Maynard

Appendix 7
Organs
Habsbura Lands
Prague, St. Nicholas (Micolai [sic])

Ossiach/K~rnten,Stiftskirche
Vienna, Franzisk., groi3e 0. Weckerl, 1642)
Vienna, Franzisk., kleinere (H. Woeckerl, 1 6 ~ 2 )
Baumgartenberg (J.Freundt, 1662)
Innsbruck, Hofkirche u. Ebert, 1561)
Innsbruck, Stift Wilten (ca.1650)
Klosterneuburg, Augustinerchorherr (enlarged J.G. Freundt,
1636-~2)
Znojmo (Znaim), Lechovice Castle (A. Richter, 1725)
Schlagl, Stiftskirche U.C. Egedacher, 1 ~ 0 8 )
Salzburg, Kajetanerkirche 0.C. Egedacher, 1708)
Salzburg, Dom (Egedacher, 1 ~ 0 5 )
Stams (Tyrol), Stiftskirche (Anon., 1 ~ 5 7 )
Herzogenburg, Augustinerstift 0.J.Henke, 1752)
Matzen, SchloR (U.C. Egedacher?], 1 ~ 3 6 )
Absam (near Innsbruck), Pilgrimage Church (Anon., 1 ~ ~ 5 )
Vienna, Michaeliskirche (G. Sieber, ca.17~0)
Eisenstadt, Stadtpfarrkirche (G. Mallon.)
Fertorikos, R.C. Church (Wiest, Vienna, 1784)
? 413 Ghent, St. Bavo

2 [*403] Leuven, Begijnhofkerk (P. Goltfuss, 1 6 ~ 2 )
458 Appendix 7
3 416 Machelen-les-Deinz (Flanders), (C. Cacheux [Arras], 1 ~ 3 0 )

4 411 Likge, Benedictine Abbey Paix Notre Dame (Le Picard,
1737)
5 403 Haringe (Flanders) (L.B. van Peteghem, 1778)
7 415 Likge, Redemptoristen (Graindorge, 1 8 ~ 0 )
Switzerland
t 415+ Pfaffers (St. Gall), "Psallier" choir organ (M.

Abbrederis, 1 6 9 ~ )
3 458 Compatsch, Grisons, St. Jacobuskerk (1st 1/2 181hc)
4 428 Muri, Klosterkirche, Epistle Organ 0. & V.F.Bossard,
1744)
4 429 Muri, Klosterkirche, Gospel Organ 0. & V.F. Bossard,
1744)
Denmark
I 433 Roskilde, Cathedral ([P.K. Botz?] 1 6 5 ~ )
Ennland
[*4zof] Isle of Wight, Carisbrooke Castle (E. Hoffheimer, ca.1602)

425f Cambridge, St. John's (R. Dallam, 1635)
4252 Wells, Cathedral (Chaire)(Dallam, 1620)
425+ Oxford, New College (R. Dallam, 1665)
4 2 7 ~ Smithfield, V A , USA (ca.1630)
[*428+] Exeter, Cathedral (Loosemore, 1665)
[*448?] Gloucester, Cathedral (T. Harris, 1666)
[*450+] Sevenoaks, Knole House (Anon., 1623)
4502 New York, Saint David's School (Anon., [early l7lhc ?I)
466t Staunton Harold (ca.1630)
470t Oxford, New College (R. Dallam, 1665)
[*475f] Nettlecombe Court, chamber organ (Loosemore, 1665)
4772 Prestbury, St. Peter (R. Dallam, 1663)
[*&+I Cambridge, King's College Chapel (T. Dallam, 1606)
[*490*] Oxford, Christ Church Cathedral
[*495+?] Canterbury, Cathedral (Pease, 1662)
Organs 459
406 Adlington Hall near Macclesfield ([B. Smith?], [ c a . 1 6 ~ ~ ? ] )

425t Oxford, Magdalen College (R. Harris, 1 6 ~ 0 )
423 London, Temple Church (1687)
427 Norwich, Cathedral (R. Harris, 1689)
428 London, St. Andrew Undershaft (R. Harris, 1 6 ~ 6 )
429 Newcastle-on-Tyne, Cathedral (R. Harris, 1670)
439? Boston, Lincs. (C. Smith, 1696)
442 London, Hampton-Court Palace (B. Smith, 1690)
[*44~-5t]Cambridge, University Church (B. Smith, 1698)
446-47 Nottingham, Wollaton Hall (Anon., late I ~ ' ~ c )
London, St. Paul's Cathedral (B. Smith, 1 6 ~ 6 )
[*45~2] Canterbury, Cathedral chamber organ (ca.1680)
[*4.j2t] Canons Ashby, chamber organ (late I ~ ' " c )
474+ London, Whitehall (Chapel Royal) (B. Smith, 1676)
[*474] Durham, Cathedral (B. Smith, 1683)
[*474-+] Compton Wynyates, Warwickshire, Marquis of
Northampton (168os?)
495t Walton on Thames (B. Smith, 1673)
4952 Nottingham, St. George's (ca. 1690)
419 London, St. John's, Clerkenwell (R. Harris, 1700)
[*424] Gosport, Trinity Church (Jordans, ca.1~15)
427+ Edinburgh, Russell Collection (ca.1~00)
[*443t] Cambridge, Trinity College (B. Smith, 1708)
[*474] London, St. George, Southall (prob. A. Jordan, ca.1725)
474 London, Mercer's Hall (B. Smith, 1708)
[*482t] Winchester College New Hall (B. Smith, 1702)
495t London, Royal College of Music (1702?)
505 Wells, Vicar's Hall
409 Finchcocks (n. Goudhurst), 0. Byfield 11, 1766)
420 Calke Abbey (Anon., ca.1750)
420 Cambridge, University Church (Restored by Parker, 1766)
4202 Great Packingon, St. James the Great (R. Bridge, 1 7 ~ ~ )
[*4zo+] London, Chamber organ (J. Snetzler, 1761)
423 Ripon (N. Yorkshire), Alan Cuckston. (J. Snetzler, 1742)
424 London, All Hallows the Great and the Less (Glyn &
Parker, 1 7 4 ~ )
425+ Prestbury, St. Peter (A. Parsons, 1735)
425+ Stanford-on-Avon, St. Nicholas (Anon. rebuild, ca.1~30)
and 474t
425 Kedleston Hall (Anon., 1 7 ~ 0 s )
[*426] Halifax, Parish Church (J. Snetzler, 1764)
460 Appendix 7
426 London(Westminster), St. John, Smith Square (Byfield,

Jordan & Bridge, 1740)
426 London, St. James' Palace, Chapel Royal (J. Snetzler,
1740/80)
429+ Swithland 0. Snetzler)
437 Maidstone, Old Parish Church (A. Jordan, 1744)
438 London, St. Andrew-by-the-Warf (J. Snetzler, 1769)
448t London, Westminster Abbey (Schreider and Jordan, 1730)
420 Winchester College Chapel (R. Harris/S. Green, 1780)
423 London, Kew Palace (S. Green, c a . 1 ~ ~ 0 )
423 London, St. Katherine's, Regent's Park (S. Green, 1778)
424 Rutland, Edith Weston (S. Green, 1786)
428 Burghley House, Northants. (R. & W . Gray, 1790)
428 Heaton Park (Manchester), Heaton Hall (S. Green,1790)
428 Windsor Castle, St. George's Chapel (Green, 1 ~ 8 8 )
429 Herefordshire, [?I. (S. Green, ca.1~86)
430 Armitage (Staffordshire), Parish Church of St. John
the Baptist (S. Green, 17~1)
431 Sheffield, Oakes Park (England & Son, 1790)
434 Attingham Park (S. Green, 1788)
425 London, Hanover Square Rooms (Elliott, 1805)
[*495k] Osterley, S.H. Brown (J. Davis, [early I ~ ' ~ c ? ] )
France
385 Lille, St-Sauveur

447 Manosque
392+ Meaux, Cathedral (V. de Heman, 1627)
395t Soissons, Cathedral (C. Carlier, 1621)
[*395+] Bourges, Cathedral (G. Jolly, 1663)
[*395t] L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (C. Le Royer, 1 6 ~ 8 )
[*39st] OrlCans, Cathedral (N. Grantin, 1657)
[*395+] Paris, St-Gervais (M. Langhedul, 1601)
396+ Rodez, Cathedral (A. Vernholles, 1629)
406 Lorris-en-GPtinais (Anon., Beg. I ~ ' ~ c ? )
[*4~5+] Gap, Cathedral (A. Eustache, 1640)
[4~5+?] Tours, Cathedral (F. des Oliviers, 1550)
[*4z8t?]Biziers, Cathedral (G. Poncher [Ponchet], 1623)
389 ErguC-GabCric (T. Dallam, 1680)
408 Tarbes, Cathedral (Delaunay, 1682)
Organs
408 Roquemaure-du-Gar (Frkres Jullien, 1690)

410 Andely (Le Petit Andely), St-Sauveur (R. Ingout/P.
Quesnel, 1674)
[*415+] Auch, Cathedral (J. de Joyeuse, 1695)
416 Toulouse, St-Pierre des Chartreux (R. Delaunay, 1683)
385 Strasbourg, Cathedral (A. Silbermann, 1714-16)
388t Ribeauville, St-GrCgoire-le-Grand (F. Ring and C. Legros,
1702)
392 Saint-Michel en TiCrache (J. Boizard, 1~14)
392t Rouen, Chapelle de I'HGpital, Charles Nicole (ca.1700)
[*j92*] Altorf, St-Cyriaque (A. Silbermann, 1730)
392+ Ottrott, Sts-Simon et Jude (A. Silbermann, 1721)
392+ Strasbourg, Chateau des Rohan (A. Silbermann, 1719)
395 Bischwiller (A. Silbermann, 1729)
395 Ebersmunster, St-Maurice (A. Silbermann, 1~28-32)
395 Marmoutier (Maursmiinster), St-Etienne (A. Silbermann,
1710)
395+ Reims, Cathedral (F. Thierry, 1730)
[*39-jt] St-Dizier, Notre Dame 0. Cochu, [ 1 ~ 2 ~ - ~ 2 ? ] )
[*4~5t] Rouen, St-Vivien (C. Lefkvre, 1710)
[*4~7+] Savigny, Abbey (F. Deslandes & J.-G. Rohrer, 1724)
407 Lille, St-Maurice (M. Le Roy, 1~11)
[4~2] Versailles, Chapelle du chateau (R. Clicquot, 1711)
387 Strasbourg, St-Thomas (Protestant) (J.A. Silbermann, 1741)
387' Strasbourg, Temple Neuf (J.A. Silbermann, I ~ ~ ~ )
388 Lanvellec ( B r e t a p e ) (R. Dallam, 1647)
389 Bordeaux, Ste-Croix (BCdos, 1748)
391 Beaune (Cote d'Or), Notre-Dame (K. Riepp, 1750)
392 Semur-en-Auxois, Cathedral (C. Cachet, 1744)
392 Soultz, St-Maurice (J.A. Silbermann, 1750)
[*39z+] Rosheim, Sts-Pierre-et-Paul (A. Silbermann, 1733)
[*392+] Schwobsheim, St-Jacques Majeur (J. Besan~on,1769?)
[*39zt] St-Jean-de-Losne (B. Boillot, 1 ~ 6 8 )
[*j92t] Wasselonne (Eglise Protestante) U.A. Silbermann, 1745)
[*392t] Wissembourg, Sts-Pierre-et-Paul (L. Dubois, 1766)
393 Albi, Cathedral (C. Moucherel, 1 ~ 3 6 )
395 St-Quirin, Propsteikirche U.A. Silbermann, 1 7 ~ 6 )
[*395] Weiler (VillC) (Toussaint/Silbermann/Besanpn, 1757)
[*395t] Paris, Notre-Dame (F. Thierry, 1733)
398 Houdan, St-Christophe (L.A. Clicquot, 1735)
[*?98] LunCville, Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur (N. Dupont, 1751)
462 Appendix 7
[*400t] Saverne, Eglise des Recollets (L. Dubois, 1763)

400 Compikgne, St-Jacques (L. Peronard, 1768)
4oot Troyes, Cathedral ( 1 ~ ~ 6 / 1 8 o ~ )
401 Dieppe, St-RCmi (C. Parizot, 1737)
[*403] Mulhouse, St-Jean (J.A. Silbermann, 1766)
41ot Oberentzen, St-Nicolas (L. Dubois, 1 7 5 ~ )
415 Guibray-Falaise. Parizot, 1746.
415 Bergholtz, St-Gall (J. B e s a n ~ o n1766)
,
415 Harskirchen, St-Nicolas (J. Besan~on, 1768)
415? BlCnod-lks-Toul, Saint-MCdard (J.A. Dingler, 1731)
415t Lixhausen, St-Nabor (G.-F. Merckel, 17~5)
418 Vabres L'Abbaye (J.-B. Micot, 1762)
42of Niederroedern (J.F. Alffermann or J.C. Baumann, 1 ~ 5 ~ )
[*395+] Viiliers-le-Bel, Paroisse (J.-A. Somer, 1794)
395t Paris, St-Leu - St-Gilles (F.-H. Clicquot, 1788)
395t Paris, St-Nicolas-des-Champ (F.-H. Clicquot, 1776)
395+ Souvigny (F.-H. Clicquot, 1782)
397 St-Maximin-en-Var 0.-E. Isnard, 1 ~ ~ 2 ' ~ ~ )
398 Fontainebleau, Chapelle (F.-H. Clicquot) 1772
400 Paris, Small "commode organ" (U.B. Schweickart?] 1783)
400 Poitiers, CathCdrale St-Pierre (F.-H. Clicquot, 178790)
408 Aurillac, St-Ghraud 0. Rabiny, 1779)
415 Riquewihr, St-Marguerite (C. Langes, 1783)
41s Saint-Guilhem-le-DCsert U.P. CavaillC, 1789)
4 1 ~ t Lambesc (Lanpedoc), Eglise paroissiale (Joseph Isnard,
1788)
415+ Roppenheim, ~ ~ l i Protestante
s e (M. Stiehr, 17~1)
I Sassenheim, St-Jean-Baptiste (M. Bergantzel, 1 ~ 7 7 )
435 Wettolsheim, St-RCmy (M. Bergantzel, 1790)
399 Lille, La Madeleine (A.-J. and F.-J. Carlier, 1810)
415 Besanqon, St-Louis (F. Callinet, 1807)
415t Roeschwoog, St-BarthClemy (M. Stiehr, 1808)
Germany
? [*4~st]Grimma, Klosterkirche
? 467 Kiedrich im Rheingau, Pfarrkirche St. Valentin und
Dionysius.
? [*480+] Bremen, Liebfrauenkirche.
I [*4~5] Dresden-Friedrichstadt. (Orig. by G. Fritzsche, 1 6 1 ~ )
Organs
442 Blankenheim (Eiffel), Pfarrkirche (1660)

448 Rysum, Reformed Church (ca.1513)
45o? Wolfenbuttel, St. Marien (G. Fritzsche, 1623)
453? Gliickstadt, Stadtkirche (B. Huess, ca.1661-63)
456 PomRen, Dorfkirche (Anon., [ca.1600?])
456? Lemgo, St. Marien (G. Slegel/F. and H. Scherer, 1595)
458 Nuremberg, Positiv (N. Manderscheidt, ca.1635?)
458+? Altenbruch bei Cuxhaven, St. Nicolas (H.C. Fritzsche,
1649)
460+ Uttum, St. Paulus (ca.1660)
460+ Lippersdorf, Dorfkirche (Anon., early I ~ ' ~ c )
464t Funnix (Anon., I ~ ' ~ c )
465 Stralsund, Marienkirche (F. Stellwagen?, 1659)
[*466+] Dresden, SchloRkirche (G. Fritzsche, 1 6 1 ~ )
466 Nieder-Modau (Geissel, 1631)
[*466+] Bouxwiller (Buchsweiler), St. Leger U.J. Baldner, 1668)
466+ Rossau bei Mittweida, Dorfkirche Niederrossau (Anon.,
ca.1660-70)
470 Frederiksborg Castle, Chapel (E. Compenius with M.
Praetorius, 1616)
470+ Westerhusen bei Emden (Ostfriesland) 0. Siborch,1643)
477 Schmalkalden, SchloR (D. Meyer, 1586)
487+ Liibeck, St. Mary's Church (F. S t e l l ~ a ~ e n , 1 6 ~ 1 )
49ok Neuenkirchen, St. Marien (1662)
490 Lauterbach, Dorfkirche (Anon., early 171hc)
495t Oldendorf (Preus.), Ev. Kirche (A. Bischof, 1660)
499 Hage (Anon., 171hc)
499 Liibeck, St. Jacobi (small organ) (F. Stellwagen, 1637)
456t Weissenfels, Augustusburg, SchloiSkirche (C. Forner, 1673)
[*460+] Hamburg, Nicolaikirche (A. Schnitger, 1687)
461 Cappel b. Bremerhaven (A. Schnitger extensive rebuild,
1680)
Corvey (Hoxter), kath. Kirche (Klosterk.) (A. Schneider,
462 1681)
462 Radibor, Katholische Dorfkirche (Anon., [ I ~ ~ O ? ] )
463 Kefenrod (MiiRig, 1 6 ~ 6 )
466+ Ganderkesee (A. Schnitger, 1699)
466t Liidingworth b. Cuxhaven, Parish Church (A. Schnitger,
1683)
[*466+] Kleinolbersdorf, Dorfkirche (Anon., 1 6 ~ 3 )
468 Dedesdorf b. Bremerhaven (A. Schnitger, 1698)
Appendix 7
468+ Grasberg b. Bremen (A. Schnitger, 1694)

474 Norden, St. Ludgeri (Ostfriesland), (A. Schnitger, 1688)
476 Hollern/Stade, (A. Schnitger, 1 6 ~ 2 )
480+ Buttford, St. Maria (J. Reichborn, 1680)
481 Hamburg, St. Catherine's 0.F. Besser, 1 6 ~ 0 )
484 Liibeck, Cathedral (A. Schnitger, 1 6 9 ~ )
484 Liibeck, St. Jacobi, large organ (J.Richborn, 1673)
489 Hamburg, Jacobikirche main organ (A. Schnitger, 1 6 ~ 3 )
489 Hamburg, St. Georg (A. Schnitger.)
489 Hamburg-Altona (A. Schnitger.)
490 Neuenfelde (Hamburg), Pankratiuskirche (A. Schnitger,
1688)
492 Steinkirchen, Sankt Martini und Nicolaikirche (A.
Schnitger, 1 6 8 ~ )
501 Stade, St. Cosmae (A. Schnitger, 1673)
410 Charlottenburg (Berlin), SchloRkapelle (Eosander) (A.
Schnitger, 1706)
[*4~5] Liineburg, St. Johannis (H. Niehoff/F. Stellwagen/M.
Drops, 1553/1652/1712)
415+ Brebersdorf (Gloger)
416 Dresden, Sophienkirche (G. Silbermann & Z. Hildebrandt,
1720)
437 Rhaunen, Ev. Kirche U.M. Stumm, 1723)

437 Rheinau, Benedictine Abbey (1~x5)
440 Basel, St. Leonhard (A. Silbermann, 1~18)
449 Fiissenich (Euskirchen) (B. Konig, 1720?)
454 Haiger (Wang, 1730)
458 Oederan, Stadtkirche (G. Silbermann, 1727)
460+ Sotterhausen bei Sangerhausen (Z. Hildebrandt, 1730)
460 Leipzig, Musikinstrumenten-Museum, Invert250 (Z.
Hildebrandt, 1724)
[*460+] Niederschona, Dorfkirche (G. Silbermann,1716)
461 Klettbach (Erfurt) 0.G. Schroter, ca.1725)
462 Kleestadt (SchBfer, 1720)
464 Limbach (Macrander, 1719)
464 Rotha, St. Marienkirche (G. Silbermann, 1722)
[*464] Forchheim, Dorfkirche (G. Silbermann, 1726)
464 Steinbach, Dorfkirche 0.E. Hahnel, ca.1724)
[*464k] Freyberg, Dom, form. Johanniskirche organ (G.
Silbermann, 1719)
464 Stormthal, Dorfkirche (Z. Hildebrandt, 1723)
Organs
464t Polsfeld bei Sangerhausen (Anon.; enlarged by Z.

Hildebrandt, 1728)
464?? Freyberg, St. Jacobi (G. Silbermann, 17x7)
465 Hilbersdorf bei Freiberg, Positiv (Z. Hildebrandt, 1724)
465 Rotha, Stadtkirche St. Georg (G. Silbermann & Z.
Hildebrandt, 1721)
465t Mittelsaida, Dorfkirche 0.E. Hahnel, 1723/24)
[*466t] Glauchau, Stadtkirche (G. Silbermann, 1730)
[*466t] Strasbourg, St. Niklaus (A. Silbermann, 1707)
[*466+] Strasbourg, St. Pierre-le-Vieux (Protestant)(A. Silbermann,
1709)
[*466+] Strasbourg, St. Margarethen (A. Silbermann, 1703)
[*466t] Strasbourg, St. Aurelien (A. Silbermann, 1718)
466t Lengefeld, Stadtkirche (Z. Hildebrandt, 1726)
4662 Lichtensee (Ortsteil Tiefenau), Schlofikapelle (G.
Silbermann [att.], before 1730)
466 Bad Neustadt a.d. Saale, Karmeliten Klosterkirche 0.1.
Will, 1722)
466t Marienhafe, St. Marien-Kirche (G. von Holy, 1713)
466+? Laqhennersdorf, Dorfkirche (Z. Hildebrandt, 1722)
467 Freyberg, Dom, large organ (G. Silbermann, 1714)
467 Nuremberg [?I, Positiv (Anon., 1716)
468 Dittersbach, Dorfkirche (G. Silbermann, 1726)
468 Grogkmehlen, St. Georgenkirche (G. Silbermann, 1718)
468 Helbigsdorf, Dorfkirche (G. Silbermann, 1728)
469 Lebusa, Dorfkirche (G. Silbermann, [r7z7?])
469 Reinhardtsgrimma, Dorfkirche (G. Silbermann, 1730)
[*4651] Waltershausen (H.G. Trost, 1722)
4705 Schlunzig, Dorfkirche 0.J. Donati, Sr., 1724)
470 Weener, Georgskirche (A. Jr. and F.C. Schnitger, 17x0)
[*474] Bad Lausick, Stadtkirche (G. Silbermann, 1722)
[*474+?] Pfaffroda, Dorfkirche (G. Silbermann, 1715)
480t Neuhaus (Gloger)
485t Jesewitz, Dorfkirche 0.J.Donati, 1722)
49ot Pellworm (Nordsee-Insel), Alte Kirche (A. Schnitger, 1711)
49ot Sangerhausen, St. Jacobi (Z. Hildebrandt, 1728)
4955 Sack bei Alfeld, St. Georg 0 . W . Gloger, 1728)
496 Rendsburg, Christkirche (A. Schnitger, 1716)
[*403+] Ottobeuren, Benedictine Abbey, Dreifaltigkeits Organ (K.J.
Riepp, 1757-66)
[*406t] Ottobeuren, Benedictine Abbey, Heilig-Geist-Orgel (K.J.
Appendix 7
Riepp, 1766)
[*408] Weingarten, Benedictine Abbey 0. Gabler, 1737-50)
[*408] Weingarten, Chororgel 0. Gabler, 1739)
408 Hamburg, Michaeliskirche 0.G. Hildebrandt, 1762-67)
410i Alsheim, Kath. Pfarrkirche 0.1. Seuffert, 1764)
[*4~ot] Herford, Ev. Munsterkirche, Hauptorgel 0.P. Moller, 1 7 6 ~ )
[*qrot] Miinster, Dom U.P. Moller, [1~66?])
[*4~o+]Burkhardswalde, Dorfkirche 0.D. Ranft, 1764)
411 Frankenstein im Dorfkirche Erzgeb., (G. Silbermann, 1753)
[*414] Zittau, St. Johannis (G. Silbermann, 1741)
414 Dresden, Frauenkirche (G. Silbermann, 1736)
4x5 Dresden, Catholische Hofkirche (G. Silbermann & Z.
Hildebrandt, 175~)
I Erfelden (B. Brunner, 1 ~ ~ 6 )
[*4~5+] Ringethal bei Mittweida (G. Silbermann, ca.1750)
[*415t] Barr, Eglise Protestante 0.A. Silbermann, I ~ ~ ~ )
CX4~st]Wermsdorf, H u b e r t u s b ~ rSchloBkapelle
~, (T. Schramm,
1752)
415t Chatenois, St. Georges 0.A. Silbermann, 1765)
415t Griesheim-sur-Souffel, St. Pancrace 0.A. Silbermann, 1746)
415i Hessenheim, St. Laurent 0.A. Silbermann, 1760)
I Hipsheim, St. Georges et St. Ludan 0.A. Silbermann, 1 ~ 6 0 )
418 Arlesheim, Cathedral 0.A. Silbermann, 1761)
429 Ebrach (Upper Abbey Franconia), 0.C. Kohler, 1759, 1760)
436 Fridritt Wallfahrtskirche (Unterfranken), U.P. Seuffert,
1738)
437 Mettenheim (Stumm, 1762)
441 Nieder-Gemiinden (Heynemann, 1 ~ 6 0 )
443 Jugenheim (Wegmann, 1762)
450 Kleinich, Ev. Kirche (Stumm.)
453 Wechingen, Oberen Kirche St. Veit U.P. Prescher, 1 7 ~ ~ )
453t Ramsdorf, Dorfkirche 0.D. Gerstenberger,1767)
455i Borna, Kunipndenkirche 0. Oertel, 1760)
456 Ober-Gleen (Heinemann, 1753)
456 Offenheim (Stumm, 1765)
457t Hamburg, Positiv built for a Biirgermeister (Lehnert, 1 7 ~ ~ )
458 Sulzbach (Rhaunen) Ev. Kirche 0 . M . Stumm, 1746)
460 Lahm (Itzgrund), SchloBkirche (H.G. Herbst, 1732)
460 Ochsenhausen, Monastery Church 0. Gabler, 1733)
[*46ot] Herzogswalde U.G. Schon, 1763)
461 Ensheim (Stumm, 17~5)
Organs 467
462 Schweikershain, Dorfkirche (G. Silbermann [or one of his

students], post 1 ~ 5 0 )
[*462+] Zoblitz, Stadtkirche (G. Silbermann, 1742)
462% Elbisbach, Dorfkirche U.E. Hiibner, 1758)
463 Ponitz, Dorfkirche (G. Silbermann, 1737)
464 Eisenberg, SchoRkirche (Trost, 1 ~ 3 3 )
464 GroRdeuben, Dorfkirche (C.E. Friderici, 1755)
[*465] Naumburg, St. Wenzel(165os)
465 Altenburg (Thuringia), SchloRkirche (T.H.G. Trost, 1739)
465 GroRhartmannsdorf, Dorfkirche (G. Silbermann, 17~1)
465 Mylau, Stadtkirche (G. Silbermann, 1731)
466+ Armsheim, Ev. (U.M. Stumm?], 17j9)
466% Grog-Winternheim, Kath. 0. KohlhaaR, 1 ~ 6 9 )
466+ Gundersheim, Ev. (Sturnm family, 18Ihc)
466t Giittersbach U.F.E. Miiller, 1740)
466% Ochtersum, St. Materniani (C. Klausing, 1 7 3 ~ )
466% Saalkreis (18"'~)
[*466t] Freyberg, St. Petri (G. Silbermann, 1735)
466% Barenstein, Stadtkirche 0.E. Hahnel, 1743)
466+ Gifhorn, St. Nicolai (C. Vater, 1 ~ 4 8 )
466% Thonhausen, Dorfkirche (T.H.G. Trost, 1 7 ~ 6 )
466% Zschortau, Dorfkirche 0. Scheibe, 1746)
466+? Obergrffenhain, Dorfkirche U.D. Gerstenberger, 1752)
466+? Zschopau, Stadtkirche (J. Oertel, 1755)
[*466i] Goldbach, Dorfkirche (Z. & J.G. Hildebrandt, 1 ~ ~ 6 )
[*467+] Fraureuth (G. Silbermann, 1742)
470+ Skassa, Dorfkirche U.C. Pfennig, 1758)
470 Busenborn (Syer, 1757)
470 Hoerstgen (Moers), Ev. Dorfkirche (T. Weidtman, 1732)
470 Nassau, Dorfkirche (G. Silbermann, 1748)
470 Stade, St. Wilhadi (E. Bielfeld, 1 ~ 3 ~ )
471 Burgk bei Schleiz, SchloRkapelle (G. Silbermann, 1 ~ ~ 3 )
[*47t+] Crostau, Dorfkirche (G. Silbermann, 1732)
[*477t] Fiirstenfeld (Bavaria), Klosterkirche 0. Fux, 1736)
[*480+] Hockendorf, Dorfkirche (A. Mager & J.C. Pfiitzner, 1755)
486 Cadenberge, St. Nikolai (D.C. Gloger, 1 ~ 6 ~ )
[*487+] Waltersdorf, Dorfkirche (U.G. Tamitius?], 1 ~ 6 5 )
[*490%] Arnsdorf, Dorfkirche (A. Strohbach, 1 7 ~ 9 )
[*492*] Hohnstein, Stadtkirche 0.C. Schmieder, 1732)
[*492+] Sadisdorf, Dorfkirche 0. Oertel, 1750)
[*495+] Stangengriin, Dorfkirche U.J. Schramm, 1769)
Appendix 7
[*495+] Pogum (J.A. Berner, 1760)

409 Schledenhorst, Cistercian Cloister, Kabinettorgel (J.S.
Strumphler?)
415 Gries, Eglise Protestante (J.A. Silbermann,1~81)
415+ Molsheim, La TrinitC et St. Georges (J.A. Silbermann, 1~81)
[*415t] Bohlitz, Dorfkirche U.C.I. Schweinfleisch,[17~1?])
[*4~yt] Hockendorf (J.C. Kayser, 1 7 ~ ~ )
[*4~S+]Strasbourg, Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune (J.A. Silbermann, 1780)
423 Bouxwiller (Buchsweiler), Eglise Protestante U.A.
Silbermann, 1 ~ ~ 8 )
424 Neresheim, Abteikirche (J.N. Holzhey, 1797)
430? Rot an der Rot (Holzhey, 1786)
447 Eckenhagen (Oberbergischer Kreis), Ev. Kirche (Kleine
brothers, 17~5)
448 Dalsheim (Stumm, 1788)
45ot Zwickau, St~dtischesMuseum (Anon., end of 18Ihc)
452+ Lohmen, Pfarrkirche (J.C. Kayser, 1 ~ 8 ~ )
455 Nieder-Moos (Oestreich, 1791)
456 Dauernheim (Heynemann, 1792)
457 Trebel bei Luchow U.G. Stein, Sr., 1777)
460 Nieder-Florsheim, Ev. (Stumm, 1784)
460 Pfeddersheim, Kath. (Stumm, 1792)
460t Gau-Odernheim, Kath. (Stumm family, 17~1)
460+ Morstadt, Ev. (Stumm, 1786)
460t Brand-Erbisdorf, Dorfkirche Erbisdorf (A.G. Oehme, 1774)
460t Plauen, Dorfkirche (J.G. and C.W. Trampeli, 1788)
[*460t] Breslau, Maria Magdalene.
[*460t] Zitzchen, Dorfkirche (J.G. & C.W. Trampeli, 1795)
461 Osthofen ueckel, 1787)
464 Conradsdorf (Ortsteil Tuttendorf), Dorfkirche (A.G.
Oehme, 1782)
464+ Thonhausen (Ortsteil Wettelswalde), Dorfkirche (C.G. &
G.H. Donati, 1793)
465 Radefeld, Dorfkirche U.C.F. Flemming, ca.1775)
465t GroRwig, Dorfkirche (J.C.F. Flemming, 1 7 8 ~ )
[*46st] Weigmannsdorf,Dorfkirche (A.G. Oehme, 1771)
465t Zethau, Dorfkirche (A.G. Oehme, 1788)
466 Klingelbach (Scholer, 1 ~ ~ 2 )
466t Flomborn, Ev. (F.C. Stumm, 1~85)
466t Framersheim, Ev. (Stumm, 1 ~ ~ 5 )
466i Gensingen, Simultan (P. & F. Stumm, 1779)
Organs 469
[*466_+]Schellenberg, Dorfkirche (J.C.F. Treubluth, 1782)

466 Freyberg, Huthaus "Alte Betstube Elisabeth," (Anon., end
1schc)
466+ Kleinwaltersdorf, Dorfkirche (A.G. Oehme, 1774)
466t Hangen-Weisheim, Ev. (Stumm family, 1783)
466t Wolthusen (J.F. Wenthin, 1790)
470+ Amdorf (H.W. Eckmann, 1772)
[*473+] Bohlen, Dorfkirche (C.G. & G.H. Donati, 1 7 9 ~ )
475t Bockelwitz, Dorfkirche (G. Entzemann, 1798)
49o+ Audigast, Dorfkirche (Anon., ca.1780)
[*490+] Wechselburg, Pfarrkirche St. Otto (J.J. Schramm, 1781)
[*4~5+] Schneeberg (Ortsteil Neustadtel), Liebfrauenkirche (J.G.
Trampeli, 1812)
415 Potzschau, Dorfkirche (J.C. Poppe, 1815)
435 Dorfchemnitz, Dorfkirche (J.C. Kayser, 1803)
440 Birklar (Biirgy, 1805)
465t Jahnshain, Dorfkirche (J.M.G. Bohme, 1810)
465+ Konipfeld, Dorfkirche (J.G.F. Zollner, 1820)
465t Merkwitz, Dorfkirche (J.G.F. Zollner, 1819 or 1825)
466 Markersbach, St. Barbara (J.G. Trampeli, 1806)
[*466+] Gerichshain, Dorfkirche (J.G. Trampeli, 1803)
468 Koddingen (Bernhardt, 1805)
471 Monstab, Dorfkirche (J.C. Poppe Sr., 1810)
475 Gohren, Dorfkirche (J.C. Poppe & Sohn, 1813)
Dutch Republic
Maastricht, O.L. Vrouwekerk, 1652.

Leiden, St. Pieter, groote en kleine orgels (J. & C. Jacobs,
1628, etc.)
Rotterdam, St. Laurents (H. Goldfuss, 1641)
Haarlem, St. Bavo, small organ (J. van Covelens, a1629)
Utrecht, Dom (P.J. de Swart/v. Hagerbeer/etc.,
157'/'640/1709)
Wijk bij Duurstede, St. Jan Baptist (A. Kiespenning,
ca.1615?)
Alkmaar, St. Laurens kleine org. 0. van Covelens, 1511)
Leiden, St. Pancras/Hooglandse Kerk (P.J. de Swart/van
Hagerbeers, D u ~ s c h o tca.1~65/163~/1655/167~)
,
Den Haag, Groote Kerk (St. Jacob; G. van Hagerbeers, 1629)
Appendix 7
466 Zeerijp, Jacobskerk (T. Faber, 1 6 ~ 5 )

[*466] Utrecht,St. Jacob (?/R.B. Duyschot/W. van Limborgh,
16o9/~68t/r7t4)
47ot Peize, N H K (A. Verbeeck, 1631)
460 Noordbroek N H K (Arp Schnitger, 1 6 ~ 6 )
460 Amsterdam, Nieuwe Kerk, grote orgel (H.W. Schonat/R.B.
Duyschot, 1655-~3)
466t Mensingeweer (Groningen) (A. Schnitger,1698)
466t Nieuw Scheemda (Groningen), Positiv (A. Schnitger,
ca.169~)
466t Noordwolde (Groningen) (A. Schnitger repair, 1695)
466/ Amsterdam, Westerkerk 0. Duyschot, 1686)
415/440
467 Groningen, Martinikerk (A. Schnitger rebuild, 1 6 ~ 2 )
47ot Groningen, Pelster Gasthuiskerk (A. Schnitger rebuild,
1693)
[*4~=j] Delft, St. Joseph (A. Duyschot, 1709)
415 Alkmaar, St. Laurents large organ (F.C. Schnitger rebuild,
1723-6)
415+- Donkerbroek, H K (M. Verhofstadt, ca.17~0)
418 Castricum, Hervormde Kerk (Anon., 1st 9'2 18C)
[*440] Amsterdam, Nieuwe Lutherse Kerk (C. Hoornbeek, 1~19)
[*440] Den Haag, Nieuwe Kerk (J.Duytschot, 1 ~ 0 2 )
460t Eenum ( G r o n i q e n ) (A. Schnitger rebuild,1704)
[*463] Leeuwarden, Grote of Jacobijnerkerk (C. Miiller, 1727)
464t Godlinze (Groningen), N H K (A. Schnitger, 1704)
[*464] Zwolle, Grote- or Michaelskerk U.G. & F.C. Schnitger,
1721)
469 Uithuizen, Hervormde Kerk (A. Schnitger, 1 ~ 0 1 )
470 Groningen, AA-Kerk (A. Schnitger, 1 ~ 0 2 )
392t Egmond-Binnen n.h. kerk U.P. Hilgers, 1~62)
41ot Tilburg, HK (J.H.H. Batz, 1765)
415t Sexbierum (A.A. Hinsz, 1 7 6 ~ )
435 Chamber organ (privately owned),(C. Miiller, 1747)
[*440] Rotterdam, Ev. Lutherse Kerk (C. Miiller, 1748)
441 Haarlem, St. Bavo, large organ (C. Miiller, 1738)
450 Spania Dolina (Slovakia), Catholic Church (M.
Podkonicky, 1751)
460? Gouda, Janskerk 0. Moreau rebuild, 1733-36)
463 Leens (Groniqen) (A.A. Hinsz, 1733)
466 Amsterdam, Waalse Kerk (C. Miiller, 1733-34)
Organs
Maastricht, Waalse Kerk (Weidtman, 1 7 ~ 3 )

PruskC (Slovakia), Franciscan Church (P. Werner, 1732)
Schledenhorst, Zisterzienserinnen Cloister, Kabinettorgel
(J.S. Strumphler, Amsterdam, ca.1780?)
Den Bosch ( ' s - H e r t ~ ~ e n b o s c hSt.
) , Jan, grote orgel (A.F.G.
Heyneman, 1787)
Bolsward, Grote Kerk (A.A. Hinsz, 1781)
Harlingen, Nieuwe Kerk (A.A. Hinsz, 1 7 ~ 6 )
Nijmegen, Stevenskerk (Konig, 1776)
Kasteel De Steeg, Middachten, (G.T. Batz, 1796)
Naarden, Grote Kerk (koor) (J.S. Strumphler, 1784)
Den Bosch, lutherse kerk 0.S. Strumphler, ca.1773-g4)
Leipzig, Musikinstrumenten-Museum, 1nv.n 3254 (ca.1780)
Utrecht [?I, Kabinettorgel (G.T. Batz, end of 18C?)
Chamber organ (Pieter Miiller, 1772)
Medemblik, N H K (ca.1670/178~)
Langweer, H K (L. van Dam, 1784)
Kampen, St. Nikolaas (Bovenkerk) (1670/1742/178~)
Oldeboorn (Oudeboorn) (L. van Dam, 1 7 7 ~ )
Capelle, N H K (van Hirtum, 1820)
Utrecht, Remonstrantse Kerk (C. Batz, 1811)
Alkmaar, Vrijmetselaa~sloge(J.J. Vool, 1800)
Bilthoven, private (J.J. Vool, 1 8 0 ~ )
Oldeholtpa, H K (H. Meyer, 1800)
Zuidhorn (Gr.) r.k. kerk (H.H. Freytag, 1 8 0 ~ )
Koudekerk a/d Rijn, Van Vliet (J.S. Strumphler, 1807)
[*3g4t] Rome, St. Peter's, Cappella gregoriana

[*384+] Rome, St. Peter's, Cappella giulia.
384f Rome, S Maria Maggiore (Basilica Liberiana)
391 Rome, S Giovanni in Laterano (L. Blasi, 1600)
[*39zt] Orvieto (1582)
41o+ Rome, Sistine Chapel
[*415t] Firenze, SS Triniti (Zeffirini)
415+ Montepulciano, S Maria delle Grazie (Anon., [I~oo?])
419 Nicastro, S Domenico (Anon., 1 7 1 ~ ~ )
435 Casalmaggiore (Cremona), Chiesa di S Chiara (Anon.,
ca.1610-30)
Appendix 7
436 ? Verona, Cathedral ( A n t e p a t i , ca.1610)

436t L'Aquila, [ I ~ ' ~ c ] .
448 Piacenza, Chiesa abbaziale di San Sisto (G.B. Facchetti,
1545)
449 Fanano (Modena), S Giuseppe (0.Negrelli, mid-r71hc)
453t Carpi (Modena), S Bernardino (0.& A. Tortona, 1669-70)
459 Brescia, S Giuseppe (G. Antegnati, 1581)
[*4s9_+?]Brescia, S Carlo (Antegnati, 1636)
466t " l7lhc)
Colognole, Parish church (Anon., end 1 6 ' ~ ~ / 11/2
466 Bologna, S Petronio ("in Cornu Evangelli;" B. Malamini,
1596)
466 Bologna, S Petronio (organa "in cornu Epistolae" (G.B.
Facchetti rebuild, 1531)
466t Arezzo, Cattedrale (L. da Cortona, 1536)
466t Bologna, S Martino (G. Cipri, 1556)
471 Churburg (Bolzano), Caste1 Coira (M. Strobl, 1559)
494t Milan, S Maurizio (G.G. Antegnati, 155~)
495? Innsbruck, Silberne Kapelle (Italian, [Mario de Spello of
Trent?], 16th C)
517t Siena, S Maria della Scala (G. di Antonio Piffaro, 151~)
528t Siena, SS Annunziata (Giovanni Piffero, 1517)
433 Denno (Trento), Chiesa Parrochiale (C. Prati/G. Bonati,
1699)
441 Modena, S Donnino Nizzola (G.P. Colonna, 1687)
481 Mormanno, S Maria del Colle (Anon., 16~1)
396 Location unknown: Positif, (F. Cimino, 1702)
415 Caluso (TO), S Grato Vescovo a Vallo (A.M. Bonetta,
1730)
442t Pieve di Cento (Bologna), Collegiata di S Maria Maggiore
(F. Traeri, 1726)
493 Padua, S Antonio (Santo) (M. Colberz, ca.1722)
375 Morano Calabro, Carmine (Anon., [ca.1~~2?])
384t Lugnano in Teverina (Terni), S Chiara (G.C. Werle, 1756)
405 Corigliano, S Maria Maggiore (P. Iorio, 1757)
409 Crotone, S Chiara (T. De Martino, 1~53)
413 Marche (province in central Italy) (Fedeli, 18lhc)
416 Feisoglio (CN), Chiesa de S Lorenzo (G.F. Landesio,
1749)
420 Asti, Cattedrale di S Giovanni (L. Grisante, 1755)
433 San Elpidio a Mare, Basilica della Misericordia (P.
Nacchini, 1757)
Organs
Feltre, Cathedral (G. Callido, 1768)

Corinaldo, S Agostino (G. Callido, 1 7 6 ~ )
Venice, S Pietro di Castello (P. Nacchini, 17.54)
Venice, S Maria del Riposo (delle Derelitte); (P. Nacchini,
1751)
Montaione, Convent of San Vivaldo (F.D. Caciolli, 1739)
Parma, S Cristina (A.N. Poncini, 1764)
Susa (TO), Madonna del Ponte (G.M. & P.R. Fagnani,
1742)
Cosenza, S Domenico (Anon., 1791)
Pettinengo (VC), S Bernardo a Vaglio (G. Concone, 1780)
Macerata (Marche), Collegiata di S Giovanni (G. Callido,
1792)
Verdobbio di Sordevolo, Madonna delle Grazie (G. Rossi,
ca.1775)
Pesaro, S Agostino (G. Callido, 1776)
Fiario (VC), B.V. delle Grazie (G. & P.C.R. Fagnani,
1784)
Vignole, S Michele Arcangelo (P. Agati, 1756)
Colorno, S Liborio (A. & G. Serassi, 1792)
Magnano (VC), SS Giovanni Battista e Secondo (G.
Bruna, 1794)
Borca di Cadore, SS Simone e Taddeo (G. Callido, 1791)
Lugo di Romagna (near Ravenna), Chiesa del Carmine
(Callido, 1 7 ~ 7 )
Comero, S Silvestro Papa (G. Bonatti, 1 ~ ~ 0 )
Oviglio (AL), S Pietro (G. Savina, 1775)
Treviso, S Nicolb (G. Callido, 1 7 ~ 8 )
Tai di Cadore, Parish Church (Antonio & Agostino
Callido, 1813)
Nicotera, Church del Rosario (M. Sessa, 1839)
Spain
? 406 Santanyi (Mallorca), Sant Andreu (Anon.)

I 419 Ciudad-Rodrigo (Echevarria, 1525)
6 366 Campos (Mallorca) [Gabriel Thomas, ca.1800?]
Appendix 8
Pitchpipes
T o compensate for wood shrinkage, pitches given here are 5 Hz lower than
pipes presently play.
England
407 Bennet, Samuell. 1747. Manchester: R N C M W y e 24. About 40 cm long,

12 in diameter. Size suggests it stayed in one place and was meant to
be quite accurate. Semitones are not marked on the plunger. Only 4

notes in middle range (C-F) give pitches. Seen 19 June 1996.
429 Anon. London (?),( I ~ ~ o s ?Royal
). Society of Musicians. Given by Han-
del to Charles Burney and thence to various owners, all documented.
Material and condition suggest a later date. Simon 1985:198
420 Anon. 181hc? Manchester: R N C M W y e 40. Mahogany. Gives semitones
as sharps. Range one octave, C-C; only F to the upper C are convinc-
ing pitches. Seen 19June 1996.
420 Stadden, J no, Stadden Heights (Plymouth), 14 Jul 1774. [London,] Mad-
rigal Society. Byrne 1966:136
France
391 Dupuy [Dupuis, Paris, . . . 1692 . . .?I. Paris E.980.2.99. Does not play well.
A-396 is the average of the 8 notes that function. Museum list; visit
iv.84; visit vii.93
394/407 Anon. [Late 17t11 to mid-18'" century]. Paris E.zjo, (2.745. "Ton de
I'opera" = A-399; "Plus haut de la chapelle a versaille" = A-412. Levels
confirmed on other facets of piston. Reflects "Louis XIV parenthe-
476 Appendix 8
sis" theory; date probably 1711-1~62/8~. Museum list; visit iv.84; visit
vii.93
4x0 "[T.?] Lot" on front and "Prudent Paris" on back; Paris, [end 1 8 ' ~cen-
tury]. Paris E.661, C.746. This is the average of 7 notes. Museum list;
Young 4800:423; visit iv.84; visit vii.93
418 Delusse, C., Paris, 1772. Paris E.308, C.742. Shown in GrVI 14:789 and re-
vised N G 19:808; given there as an=439 (= A - ~ I ~Near
) . twin to E.244
(at 424). Museum list; Young 4800:125; visit iv.84; visit vii.93
419/395 Delusse, C., Paris, a1781-~1789.Paris E.244, C.743. Average for 10
notes. Three notes are marked on the opposite facet of the piston
that yield A-400 average. Museum list; Young 4800:125; visit iv.84;
visit vii.93
Germany
490 and 518 Anon. [Germany or Austria?] 1st 1 8 ' ~century. Leipzig 1546.
Gives D E F G A B C D for two pitches. If in terms of Cammerton, r
and 11/2 tones above A t o ; tone produced, however, corresponds to
note-name showing, so possibly a whole-tone lower. Heyde 1978:32
422 Anon. Padua, [I~JO?].Present location unknown. Gives scale from C-C;
octaves wide. Ellis 1880 under 425.2.
4x7 Anon. Padua, [1~80?].Present location unknown. Ellis 1880 under 425.2
42-j/411/37-j Anon. [171h- or 18'~-centur~]. Bologna C M 1845. 430 and 380 are
called Milanese pitches, 416 is Neapolitan. Meucci; Bernardini iii.93;
v.d.Meer iv.93; v.d.Meer 1991:252;Weber
Page xix:
W i r konnen sicher sein, dafl Bach sich uberaus wohlfuhlte mit den ihm zur
Verfugung stehenden vokalen und instrumentalen Stilmitteln, und wenn uns
daran liegt, seine Musik so darzustellen, wie er sie sich vorstellte, so mussen
wir die damaligen Auffuhrungsbedingungen wieder herstellen. Es genugt
dann nicht, das Cembalo als Continuo-Instrument zu nehmen. Unsere
Streicher miifiten wir anders besaiten; Blasinstrumente mit der damals
ublichen Mensur miiflten wir nehmen, und auch das Verhaltnis zwischen
Chorton und Kammerton muRte in der Instrumentenstimmung rekonstruiert
werden.
Page xx:
Freylich wird eine allgemein einzufuhrende gleiche Stimmung, wie so viele
andere nutzliche Dinge, noch lange unter die pia desideria gehoren.
La diversit6 du ton dont on se sert pour accorder, est trks dhsavantageuse B la

Musique. Elle y cause pour les voix I'incommoditC que les Chanteurs, si on
leur a compose des Airs dans un endroit oir le ton est haut, ne peuvent pres-
que pas faire usage de ces Airs B un autre endroit oh le ton est bas, ni de ceux
qu'on a ajustCs au ton bas dans un endroit oit il est haut. C'est pourquoi il
seroit fort B souhaiter, qu'on introduisit partout le m6me ton pour accorder
les instrumens.
Page xxxiii:
Allgemein werden fur die historischen Stimmtonhohen starke regionale
Unterschiede angenommen ...
In Wirklichkeit bestanden jedoch zwischen
den in verschiedenen deutschen Orgellandschaften im 18Jahrhundert
ublichen Stimmtonen woh1z.T. keine oder nur geringfugige Unterschiede.
Page xxxvii:
Pour les voix masculines qui sont situbes dans la partie infbrieure de l'bchelle
sonore, la diffbrence entre le nombre de vibrations par seconde des cordes
vocales est minime pour les deux diapasons, mais ce n'est pas le cas pour les
voix fbminines. Ainsi, par exemple, lorsque le diapason est A 447 hertz, les
cordes vocales d'une basse vibrent en moyenne 41 fois de plus pour l'ensemble
478 Citations in Original Languages
cordes vocales d'une basse vibrent en moyenne 41 fois de plus pour l'ensemble
de sa tessiture... que lorsque le diapason est B 440 hertz, tandis que les cor-
des vocales d'une soprano vibrent 160 fois de plus.
Page xxxviii:
Dann je hoher ein Instrumentum in suo mod0 & genere, als Zincken,
Schalmeyen und Discant Geigen intonirt seyn, je frischer sie lauten und
resoniren.
Und ist zwar nicht ohne, dai3 man in diesem T h o n den Clavicymbeln (wie
verstendige Instrumentmacher wissen) ein lieblichern und anmiitigern
Resonant2 geben und zuwenden kan, mehr, als wenn man sie nach dem
CammerThon abtheilet; W i e denn auch die Flotten und andere lnstrumenta in
solchem niedern Thon lieblicher, als im rechten T o n lauten, und fast gar eine
andere art im gehor.. . mit sich bringen.
Le ton, auquel s'accordent les F r a n ~ o i sest ordinairement d'un ton, & mCsme
pour les Operas d'une tierce mineure plus bas, que celuy d'Allemagne, dit du
Cornet, qu'ils treuvent trop haut, trop piaillant, & trop forcC. Pour moy s'il
m'Ctoit libre de choisir, lors qu'aucun autre Cgard n'y mettroit obstacle, je me
servirois du premier, qu'on nomme en Allemagne l'ancien ton du choeur avec
des chordes un peu plus Cpaisses, nk manquant pas de vivacite avec sa dou-
ceur.
Page
- xxxix:
U n ton plus haut seroit, que quoique la Figure des instrumens restat, la Flute
traversiere deviendroit de nouveau une Flute de travers Allemande,
\'Hautbois [sic] une Chalemie, le Violon un Violino piccolo, & le Basson un
Bombardo. Les instrumens B vent qui sont d'un si grand ornament B un O r -
chestre y souffriroient trop. C'est au ton bas que nous devons l'origine de
1'agrCment qu'ils ont.
Page xli:
Es wird hier aber hauptsachlich auff den Cammer- und nicht Chor-Tohn
reflect iret.
Ausserdem leuchtet es auch ein, dass die verschiedenen Charaktere, welche

die verschiedenen Tone urspriinglich haben, durch die h i n a ~ f ~ e t r i e b e n e
Stimmung ganz verschwinden miissen. W i e verschieden ist 2.B. der
Charakter von Es dur, welches etwas Feyerliches und Ernstes ausdriickt,
gegen den von E dur, worin sich Heiterkeit und Frohlichkeit ankiindigen?
Aber durch die hohere Intonation geht dieser ganze Unterschied in der
Vocal- und Instrumentalmusik verloren.
Citations in Original Languages 479
Page xliii:
an Oertern, wo die Stimmfloten einander im Maasse gleich sind, die Claviere
dennoch allezeit in Absicht auf die Tonhohe etwas von einander differiren,
welche Differenz von verschiedenen Ursachen herruhret.
Page xlv:
on ne peut dCfinir un diapason avec un nombre unique: il faut la tempCrature,
la moyenne statistique pour les toniques et dominantes.
Page xlv:
W e n n wir mit dem reinen Zahlendenken des Technikers drangehen, nur
nach absoluten und bis in die Bruchteile sicheren Ergebnissen suchen,
mussen wir uns selbst beliigen, oder wir werden enttauscht. W i r sollten uns
aber uberlegen, ob dieses rein mechanistische Denken nicht auch schon
wieder der Vergangenheit angehort. Wahrend unsere moderne Physik mit
statistischen 'LWahrscheinlichkeiten" und diversen "Unscharfen" umgeht,
sucht man ausgerechnet bei den historischen Instrumenten das Heil im I/IOO
mm, im moglichst noch halbierten Hertz oder Cent. W i r miissen uns auf
"Unscharfen" einstellen.
Page xlvii:
nous ne saurons jamais avec certitude comment tel orgue Ctait accord6 i
l'origine.
de mCme qu'il y a pour le poids du pain chez les boulangers un certain nom-
bre de grammes dits de tolCrance, il y aura aussi pour les musiciens des vibra-
tions de tole'rance.
procurando ancora di sentire prima il tuono chorista del Organo; 6 altro [Gz
clef] et in caso, che fosse pih alto il Cornetto de Organo; bisognerl mettervi
una 6 pih Giunte; et se fosse per il contrario pih basso di voce; all'hora
bisogneri levarne.
Page xlviii:
Occorendo aggiungere a1 Cornetto, Giunte di sopra, fuori del solito; per
essere l'Organo assai basso; sari prima necessario, mettere per di sotto,
dentro alla bocha del fondo, di detto Cornetto; una Giunta i proportione, alta
un Dito Q traverso, 6 piG occorendo, e che detta Giunta sia di legno; e che sia
forata; con il bucco largo, come la boccha del Cornetto; e che vi sia la sua
imbocatura, che vadi ben serrata per di dentro alla boccha del Cornetto; e che
sia detta Giunta fatta, e forata a1 Torlo; e si f l questo; accib slongando il
Cornetto di sopra, e di sotto, le voci tutte; e in spetie l'acute, venghino giuste;
come l'istesso, si f i del Flauto; e l'aviso serva, con iuditio; overo s&nel fondo
di detto Cornetto vi sari per adornamento, la Legatura d'Argento, alta, e

movibile; si portri questa slongarla; che fari l'effeto, che fa la Giunta.
Se per sorte si trovasse Organi, 6 Cembali, che fossero assai bassi del Corista;
e che il Cornetto non si potesse accordare, nl? accomodarsi con le voci Q quel
Tuono; in ocasione di suonare, Sinfonie, 6 altro; in questo caso bisogneri
accordare il Cornetto una voce piic alta; e puo suonare, una voce p i t bassa; e
bisogna saper suonare per tutte le Chiavi; per poter suonare Spostato nk
bisogni.
Page xlix:
Mais comme on a introduit presque dans chaque Province ou Ville un ton
different de celui, dont on se sert dans une autre Province ou Ville pour ac-
corder les instrumens, lequel ton est quasi le ton regnant; & qu'outre cela le
Clavecin, quoiqu'il reste au mCme endroit, s'accorde tantot plus haut, tantot
plus bas, par la negligence de ceux qui doivent I'accorder: c'est pourquoi on a
donnk, il y a environ trente ans, plus de corps i la Flute, c'est i dire, on l'a
pourvue de corps de rechange.
Page 1:
Toutes les Flutes sont du ton de I'Ophra. Mais comme on trouve quelque fois
dans les Concerts Le Clavecin trop haut ou trop bas; O n a ordinairement plu-
sieurs Corps de Rechanges de differentes longueurs pour s'accorder au ton du
Clavecin. Ce changement de Corps n'est que pour le premier. Mais ces chan-
gemens de ton n'arrivent guere que par le caprice de quelque voix pour se
donner un air, ou quand elles sont enrhumkes; Ainsi les Corps de rechanges
sont tres utiles.
Page 5:
Weil nun durch das Wetter die Hohe sich andert; so sol1 man eine Flote, oder
sonst bestandiges Instrument bey der Hand haben, daR man den rechten T o n
wieder treffe.
So dann fange man im fr an, und stimme solches nach Belieben in Chor- oder
Cammer-Ton, nachdem das Clavier beschaffen ist, etwa nach einer Flute
douce oder Traveriere [sic].
Page 6:
Auch einem Cornet, dergestaldt, daR man oben das Mundstiick weiter
herausser oder tieffer hinnein stecke, zuhelffen ist.
Page 8:
Die Flotten und andere Instrumenta in solchem niedern Thon lieblicher/als
im rechten T o n lauten/und fast gar eine andere art im gehor . . . mit sich
bringen.
Page 9:
Moyennant le plus ou le moins de l'ouverture de l'embouchure, on peut en-
tonner la Flute le quart, la moitiC d'un ton, & mkme un ton tout entier plus
haut ou plus bas.
Page 11:
[Block-] Floten sind gar nicht zu zwingen: deswegen sie auch am greulichsten
dissoniren, und den Ubel-Laut durch ihr gewohnliches Geheule vermehren.
Doch wollen die Floten immer hinten und vorn seyn. Den traversen gonnet
man es gerne.
Page 19:
Les Musiciens se servent d'une espece de Sifflet de bois, ou de metal d'une
certaine longeur, pour dCterminer le ton par rapport auquel les Voix & les
Instrumens doivent s'accorder dans un Concert, & comme ils veulent que ce
ton soit toijours le mCme, ils supposent que ce Sifflet le rend totjours.
Mais cette supposition n'est pas exactement vraie. I. U n tuyeau dlorgue de 4
piis qui est par luy mkme beaucoup plus juste qu'un petit Sifflet, ne rend pas
totjours prCcisCment le mkme son. 2. La matiere du Sifflet Ctant fort suscep-
tible d'alteration, le seul usage qu'on en fait, le temps, cent accidens en chan-
- -
gent sensiblement le ton au bout de quelques annCes. 3. I1 est certain qu'en

donnant ie souffle ou moins fort dans un Sifflet, le ton hausse, ou baisse,
& l'on ne peut &re s t r de donner toijours le mCme souffle. Enfin si ce Sifflet
est perdu, on ne peut plus retrouver le ton qu'on avoit dCterminC.
Page 20:
dat als hij se sal stellen altijt op den rechten toon stelt, waervan U E een
fluijtien, sijnde o m gisolreut daer op te stellen, soo sal U E altijt de resonantie
volcomen hooren, want staet se te leegh oft te hoogh, soo corompeert de
resonantie ende niet coreckt, dan en spreckt als se gemaeckt woort; dit
doende sal mij eer geschieden van mijn werck.
O m dan d'eerste snaar te stellen zal men, zo men operatoon begeert, die
klank ontleenen van een Fluit die dezen toon heeft: ofte wel, men maakt een
vierkante fluit zonder gaten, daar een schuivende stok in past op welkers vier
zyden men verscheide hoogtens kan aenteikenen om orgelen naar te
proberen: Deze word een Toonfluit genoemt: maar alzo alle fluiten in hun
geluid nooit pal staan maar door warmte en kouw, vocht en droogte, en hard
of zacht blazen zig veel kunnen verhoogen en verlagen, zo is het beste model
tot een vasten toon, een Klinkend metaal.
Page 21:
Es muss aber zu einem jeden Orgelwerke eine absonderliche Stimmpfeife
verfertiget werden.
Page 24:
wird wenigsten umb einen halben T H O N hocher, als C O R N E T gestimmet.
wird umb einen ganzen T H O N niedere gestimmet,
wird umb zway ganze und einem halben T H O N niederen gestimmet.
Page 25:
Es gibt verschiedene Mundstiicke [sic], womit man eine Trompette um einen
halben, ganzen, ja bisweilen anderhalb T o n tiefer stimmen kan, wann man
einen Krum-Biigel oder Krum-Bogen, und allerhand Gattungen der Setz-
Stucke darauf appliciret.
U n d ob zwar bighero die Trummeten ir Fundament od Bas-Stimme, nachm

Cammerthon zurechnen, im d gehabt; Welchs die Feldt Trumter noch also
behalten: So hat man sie doch vor gahr wenig Jahren bey etslichen Fursten
und Herren Hoffen an der Mensur erlengert, oder aber Krumbbiigel fornen
drauff gestecket, daR sie ihren Bag umb einen Thon tieffer ins C ad Modum
Hypojonicum gestimmet.
Page 30:
mann singt an eim ort hoher oder nydderer wann an dem andern. darnach die
person klein oder stymmen haben.
Wiewol hierin nichts gewisses zu schliessen oder in gewisse terminos zu

bringen, denn die gaben Gottes seynd mancherley, und kan allzeit einer
Hiiher und Tieffer kommen als der ander.
Page 31:
In Engelland macht man ziemlich groRe stahlerne Gabeln zu diesem
Gebrauche, welche den T o n a m sichersten behalten, und auch sehr helle
angeben.
U n petit coup de lime au bon endroit peut beaucoup modifier la frCquence.

Le fait que je posskde personnellement un diapason i fourche donnant 432 H z
ne prouve nullement que je m'en sois servi pour accorder mon violon.
Page 32:
N u n konnte vielleicht ... daR bey [iemand] seiner Orgel solches Mag nicht
eintreffen wolle; aber ich antworte kurzlich also: vielleicht ist der Schuch an
einem Orte langer, als an dem andern; oder vielleicht steht uberhaupt ein
W e r k etwas niedriger, als ein anderes. DaB sie nicht allezeit uberein sind in
einer Stadt, geschweige in mehrern Stadten, ist oben erinnert worden 5.94,
allwo des Sauveurs Vorschlage zu finden wegen der Einigkeit des Tons in
der ganzen Welt (d).
d) Noch eins, wegen solcher Einigkeit. Weil doch solche Pfeifen, welche
der Lange und innern Weite nach einander vollig gleich, aber auch von
einerley Winde klingend gemacht werden, nothwendig einerley Tiefe
oder Hohe haben mussen, sollte es nicht am sichersten seyn, (weil die
Schuhe der Deutschen allzusehr unterschieden) sich des unveranderlichen
und folglich untruglichen Pariserfusses zu bedienen, zur Bestimmung der
Lange und innern Weite des 8 ful3igen Principals? W e n n jeder
Orgelbauer sich solches MaR anschaffte, so wiirden alle Orgeln iiberein.
W e n n andere ihre Werke mit FleiR anders einrichten, als wie die neue
Orgel, so in Dresden gebauet wird, und im Kammertone stehen soll, so
kann auch das C das wirkliche Mag 8 F. nicht haben, ob ich schon glaube,
daR die Namen daselbst eben so lauten werden, wie bey uns. Weil nun
alles nach solcher Einrichtung tiefer wird, so muB man im Bauen sich
einen grossern Schuch vorstellen.
Page 33:
Hier in meinem Buche habe ich die Mensuren des gottseligen Silbermann
beibehalten und als Vorbild empfohlen, ebenso einige aus dem franzosischen
Werk. Doch ist zu beachten, daR in diesem alle MaRe nach dem koniglichen
FUR angegeben sind, wonach die Orgeln 3/4 Ton tiefer klingen. Man muR
also fur den Chorton in den Tafeln jeweils 3/4 Ton hoher ablesen oder den
franzosischen FUR in den Nurnberger umrechnen.
Page 43:
les tons de ma flQte sont plus aigus d'environ un demi-ton, que ceux des ins-
truments qui ont servi de terme de comparaison dans les expkriences de Mrs.
Euler & Bernoulli .. . Ces sortes de difffirences se rencontrent frkquemment
dans les instrumens faits en diffkrens pays & par diffkrens artistes.
Page 55:
In Autori p i t antichi di questo si vedono Composizioni dove le parti sono p i t
alte (c) ma primieramente si deve sapere che queste Composizioni si
cantavano sempre senz'organo; e senza altro Strumento, e per conseguenza
era in liberti de Cantori di prenderle coll'Intonazione bassa quanto vole-
vano, onde a misura che le parti andavano meno o p i t alte, meno, o p i t alta
prendevasi l'Intonazione, nella maniera appunto che si usa anche a di nostri
ne'Cori, dove si canta il Canto Fermo, che a misura della Cantilena di esso si
prende l'Intonazione.
Si introdusse poi che llOrgano rispondesse ai Cantori vicendevolmente, ciol?
che coll'organo si framezzasse ora l'uno, ora l'altro versetto, ed allora
dovendosi stare a1 Corista dell'organo, era necessario che i Compositori si
adattassero ai Coristi de gli Organi.
Page 56:
1st das das werck dem Chor gemeR vnd gerecht gestimpt sey zu dem gesang .
. ..
. . aber mann singt an eim ort hoher oder nydderer wann an dem andern.
darnach die person klein oder stymmen haben.
Page 57:
Und ist anfangs zu wissen, daR der Thon so wol in Orgeln, als andern
Instrumentis Musicis offt varijre; dann weil bey den Alten das concertiren und
mit allerhand Instrumenten zugleich in einander zu musiciren nicht
gebreuchlich gewesen.
alle miteinander auf den gemeinen T o n u m der Orgel accordirt und zusamen
gericht werden.
Page 58:
Uund ein solch gantz Stimmwerck kan auB Venedig umb 80. ohngefehr
herauf3 gebracht werden.
che ditto organo sii posto nel suo ordinario tuono cioe nella voce del cornet0
di mezo ponto.
Page 59:
Corneti alti si de mezo ponto come etiam de tuto ponto L4 luno de picoli
corneti muti de tuti i toni Lzs8 luno.
E prima sei cornetti muti, tutti in una cassa, di tuono di tutto punto, di
legname di busso; sei cornetti chiari, il tuono loro ha da essere di mezzo punto
giusto, tutti in una cassa di legname di busso, parte dritti e parte mancini; sei
fiffari, il tuono loro sia di mezzo punto giusto, di legno di busso, tutti in una
cassa; otto flauti tutti in una cassa, le qualiti loro saranno due sopranini
piccoli, quattro p i t grosetti e due tenolotti, seguenti alli quattro perb senza
chiave in fondo, il tuono lor0 sia di mezzo punto e di legno di busso. Tutti le
detti instrumenti siano di legname piuttosto massiccio secco e non fresco, di
tuono soprattutto giusti, e per averli in tutta perfezione si potri far capo a
Venezia a Gianetto da Bassano, o vero Gerolamo degli instrumenti, o
Francesco Fabretti e fratelli, perch6 tutti questi sono molto intelligenti di
questi instrumenti.
Page 60:
Don Pietro Nacchini gii celebre fabbricatore di Organi i stato il primo che ha
abbassati gl'organi in quel Paesi [the Veneto] mezza voce incirca.
Page 61:
[Li Organi] di Venezia sono delli pih alti, che s'usino in questo stato, e
s'adimandano in tuono dei Cornetti. Quelli portatili pur di Venezia, Padoa,
Vicenza, ed altre Citti, sono un tuono pih bassi, in voce umana, e si
chiamano corristi. Si usano queste diversiti di tuono per commoditi delle
voci, e per gl'istrumenti, poichh li Organi, che sono alti, servono assai alle
voci gravi, e alli violini, che riescono pih spiritosi.
Como se experimenta en las Capillas de Musicos, donde se usan Baxones,

Cornetas, y Chirimias, anque estas tienen ordinariamente el tono un punto mas
alto de lo natural.
di un semitono in circa, in mod0 che il tono di detto organo corrisponda al

coro ed ai concerti che si fanno e si faranno con tutte le sorta di strumenti
musicali che nel coro e nel concerto concorrono.
Page 62:
quanto ad abbassarlo, non ci veggo alcun profitto per gli concerti, poi che tutti
gli organi che ho visto a vita mia et in Italia et fuori et massime ove si fanno
concerti con huomini rarissimi tutti dico gli ho trovati nel tuon del cornetto
di mezo punto, che & pih alto un tuon del nostro di che hora trattamo; il quale
& nel tuon del cornetto di tutto punto; che 6 un tuon pih basso dell'altro di
mezo punto. Onde avviene che non volendosi scomodar gli organi per il
riguardo de gli stromenti da fiato, si lassano nel detto tuon di mezo punto il
quai vien troppo alto alli cantori nelle capelle: per cib usasi sempre b la
maggior parte delle volte che gli organisti son sforzati suonare fuori di tuon
pib basso per accomodar li cantori: et cosi si fa in San Marco in Venezia; cosi
qui sul mio, et sopra la magior parte degli organi ove sono organisti di
qualche valore. Dalle quali ragion si pub concludere l'abbassarlo non esserci
bisogno per r i s p a r d o de concerti poi che gli organi ove si fano concerti et ove
sono de primi huomini della professione, sono pih alti un tuon del nostro di
Cremona.
Page 65:
Bisogneri prima accordare tutti le C. in ottava perfetta, in che tuono pih
piaceri.
Et averta ogni uno che si come le voci humane, possano cantar una cantilena
un Tuono piu alto & un Tuono piu basso second0 che li torna comrnodo &
che li pare 6 piace, che cosi ancora gl'Istrumenti possano sonar una cosa hora
in un Tuono & hora nell'altro, per rispeto che tutti universalmente sono alti
rispetto alle voci. Et cosi quando che con gl'Istrumente si vogliano
accompagnar le voci il piu delle volte per accomodarle, le si sonano alle
seconda, alla terza, alla quarta & c.
un' altra sorte di trasportationi per poter rispondere a1 Choro in voce

commoda.
Page 66:
E perche la maggior parte de gl'organi sono alti, fuora del Tuono Chorista,
bisogna che l9Organista si accommodi a sonare fuor di strada, un Tuono, &
una Terza bassa.
Page 67:
Li organi bassi sono di maggior commodo per risponder a1 Coro, e alle voci
alte servono assai p i t , ma alle voci grave, e basse riescono di fatica, ne
servono alli violini, come li Organi alti.
Secondo averirai di determinare la positione o' tuono nel quale vorrai

accordare l'instrumento, se in tono corista, o' in altro.
il Molto Rev. Pad. Maestro Antonio Tavola, Maestro di Cappella della

Veneranda Arca di S. Antonio di Padova, ha fatto acconciare li Organi della
sua chiesa in tono il p i t commodo, che possi esser, tanto per le voci, quanto
per gli strumenti, avendo tenuto un termine di no tanto alti, ne tanto bassi,
ove con ogni commodo vi si aggiusta ogni voce, ed ogni istromento.
[Faz, nota] detta da gli musici & Organisti corista, & quella si pone in tuono
della natura dell'instromento in voce corista ouero vn tuono piL basso ouero
4.superiore, o inferiore.
Aggiugnendo ancora, che questo Organo, e vna ferma pietra, che mentre stan
accordato in tuono Corista, ogni altro stromento musicale k neccessario
pigliare ii suo leggittimo tuono.
Page 68:
Non mi pare possibile che li cornetti diritti possano far l'effetto dei torti,
poichC i torti ... abbiano voce pi6 conforme alla tromba, l i dove i diritti
anno voce pi6 dolce, e si suonano in occasioni funebri, e simili, e percib noi
gli chiamiamo cornimuti.
Page 69:
weil derselbige [vorgesagten Tono-CammerThon] ohne das nicht allein vor
die Vocalisten, sondern auch vor die Instrumentisten bei den Besaitteten In-
strumenten, als Violini de Bracio und Violen de Gamba, auch Lauten, Pandoren
und dergleichen, zum offtern zu hoch befunden wird: Denn es aussbundige
Saitten seyn miissen, die solche Hohe erleiden konnen. Daher kompts dann,
wenn man mitten im Gesang ist, da schnappen die Quinten dahin, unnd ligt
im Dr. Darmit nun die Saitten desto besser bestimbt bleiben konnen, so
mussen solche und dergleichen besaittete lnstrumenta gemeinlich umb ein
T h o n tieffer gestimmet, und alsdann nottwendig mit den andern
Instrumenten, auch umb ein Secund tieffer musicirt werden. Welches zwar
den unerfahrnen Musicis Instrumentalibus schwer vorkompt; Den Vocalibus
und Sengern aber an ihrer Stimm umb einen Thon niedriger zu musiciren sehr
vie1 hilfft.
Page 70:
Sono molto differente gli Organi di tuono da una C i t t i all'altra, poichh ve ne
sono, che usano li Organi bassissimi e chi altissimi, come quelli di Roma, li
quali sono delli p i t bassi, che si usino in Italia.
Cominciando da Napoli, si conosce che il Tuono dell'Organo, v' h p i t grave

di quello di Roma d'un semituono; questo h sotto quel di Firenze, un' altro
semituono; quel di Firenze altrettanto sotto quel di Lombardia; & questo
parimente p i t grave di mezzo tuono di quel di Venetia: di mod0 che
raccogliendo tutta la somma, il Tuono Venetiano h p i t alto del Napolitano un
ditono, b terza maggiore.
nel quale ingegnosamente con muover solo la chiave del Registro, I'istesse
corde serviranno al tuono di Roma, a quel di Firenze, & a quel di Lombardia.
Page 71:
Wiewohl auch in Italia und andern Catholischen Capellen, Deutsches
Landes, jtzgedachter niedriger Thon in tertia inferiore gahr sehr im gebrauch:
Sintemahl etliche Itali an dem hohen singen, wie nicht unbillich, kein
gefallen vermeynen es habe keine art, konne auch der Text nicht recht wol
vernommen werden, man krehete, schreye und singe in der hohe gleich wie
die Grasemagde.
Page 72:
che con essersi da 40. anni in qu8 (come dicono, e mostrano col paragone
d'alcuni Organi vecchi) abbassato per mezza voce, cioh mezzo Tuono .. .
H o sentito poi discorrere diversamente da i periti di queste cose, circa il
tuono di Roma; & attribuirsi da altri la sua graviti alla mollitie, & infingardia
de' cantori; da altri alla copia de' castrati, che quando sono provetti in e t i , non
arrivano all'acutezza di voce, che formano i fanciulli interi; e da altri
finalmente alla copia maggiore de' bassi profondi, che pili qui, che altrove, si
trovano.
Page 73:
poi io intendo di cantar sopra li instrumenti della orchestra accordati a1 giusto
tono di Roma, e non p i t come ho fatto nella Statira, nel Teseo et altri, e
questo per esser di maggior vantaggio alla mia voce, e lo dico io hora accib
niuno si lamenti di cib.
Page 74:
Sono ancora Organi p i t grossi quelli di Roma, che non sono questi di queste
parti, poichi! quelli sono tre tuoni pih bassi, ove per questo sono anco maggior
voce.
a che termine egli profonda la voce, dando intendere questa profonditi col
mezzo d'un flauto, e scrivendo poi nella lettera in qua1 tuono o numero la
profonditi della voce corrisponderi a1 suon del flauto.
il Tono Chorista di Roma & quasi una voce, e mezza p i t basso di quello di
Lombardia.
Page 76:
der jtzige gewonlicher Thon, nach welchem nunmehr fast alle unsere Orgeln
gestimmet werden.
bey den Alten anfangs umb ein T h o n niedriger und tieffer gewesen, als jtzo.
Page 77:
nicht ubel gethan were, daB alle Orgeln umb einen Thon, oder Secund tieffer
gestimmet und gesetzet seyn mochten: Welches aber numehr in unsern
Deutschen Landen zu endern gantz unmiiglich, und demnach bey bey dem
gewohnlichen Cammerthon . . . wol verbleiben mug.
Es hat zwar Calvisius einsmals an mich geschrieben, (derselben Meynung ich

dann hiebevor allbereit gewesen, und dieswegen allhier in der Schlof3 Capell
zwo absonderliche Stimmen umb ein halben Thon tieffer setzen wollen) daf3
er ofte gedacht, weil etliche Organisten der newen CIavium off den Orgeln
ungewohnt seyn wiirden, ob es nicht besser wehre, daB man in den Orgeln ..
. ein oder zwey andere Gedackt oder offen liebliche Stimmwerck off 8. Fuf3
gerichtet, gesetzet hette, welche umb ein ganzen Thon oder Semiditonum
niedriger, als die gantze Orgel, gestimmet, darmit man derselben zum
Musiciren gebrauchen kondte.
Page 78:
Coppelwerck Vmb ein Secund hoher, alB im Cammerthon kan gebracht
werden.
Page 94:
Es ist aber der Chor Thon bey den Alten anfangs umb ein Thon niedriger
und tieffer gewesen, als jtzo, welches dann an den alten Orgeln und andern
blassenden Instrumenten noch zubefinden: Und hernacher von Jahren zu
Jahren so weit erhohet worden, als er jtzo in Italia und Engellandt, auch in
den Furstlichen Capellen Deutsches Landes im gebrauch ist. Wiewol der
Englische Thon an Instrumenten noch umb etwas, doch ein gar geringes,
niedriger ist, welches an ihren Zincken, Schalmeyen oder Hoboyen (wie sies
nennen) so daselbst gefertiget werden, zuvernehmen.
Page 98:
de le metre du ton plus convenables et propres i la musique de la dicte esglise,
ce que aiants tous d6batu chacun ses raisons et oppinions, les dicts sieurs
ayant le tout ouy, ont r6solu et command6 au dict mestre Pierre, le metre du
ton de chapelle.
Page 102:
Darumb la& ich mir den Unterscheidt, da man zu Praag und etlichen andern
Catholischen Capellen, den Thon in ChorThon und CammerThon abtheilet,
au13 dermassen sehr wol gefallen. Denn daselbsten wird der jtzige
gewohlicher Thon, nach welchem nunmehr fast alle unsere Orgeln
gestimmet werden, Cammer-Thon genennet .. . Der Chor-Thon aber,
welcher umb einen gantzen Thon tieffer ist, wird allein in der Kirchen
gebraucht: Und dasselbe erstlich, umb der Vocalisten willen, damit dieselbige,
.
weil auff ihnen die grosseste und meiste miih in der Kirchen . . beruhet, mit
ihrer Stimme destobesser fort kommen, und nicht so bald, wegen der htihe,
heischer werden mugen.
Page 116:
Les musiciens prennent pour Son fondamental le C SOL UT, qui est le ton de
..
Chapelle ou le ton dlOpera . ce Son n'est pas assez dhterminb.
Si le Son fixe manque, il faudra se contenter du ton de la Chapelle ou de

l'Opera, qui n'est dhterminh qu'8 peu prks.
Page 117:
les differences des Tons de la Chapelle, de I'Opera & des Concerts particu-
liers.
j'entends les Orgues qui sont au T o n de la Chapelle du Roy, comme sont tou-
tes les Orgues celebres de Paris, & ailleurs: c'estpourquoy on appelle ce T o n
la le T o n de Chapelle; i la difference du T o n de la Chambre du Roy, qui est
un semiton plus haut .. . & tel que sont ou doivent estre ordinairement les
Orgues des Religieuses, lesquelles ont 1'Estendue de Voix pour I'ordinaire

encore bien plus haut que I'Octave des Voix communes des hommes.
Page 120:
pour avoir remontC de ton le cabinet des apartemens et celuy de la chapelle,
pour un autre qui est B Fonteinebleau, pour les cabinets que je fait prCsente-
ment pour I'orgue de St Cir et autres, ordre qu'il [Mgr de Louvois] m'a don&
lesquels j'ai exCcutC.
Entre le dCbut du XVIIIe si6cle et la fin, le ton de chapelle en France a donc

baissk en gros d'un demi-ton. Mais cet aspect est trompeur car c'Ctait en fait
le retour B un Ctat antCrieur-disons B 1660; bien plus, le diapason ClevC en Si
bCcarre n'a pas sCvi partout . .. I1 semble bien liC B l'extension de l'influence
des Musiciens du Roy.
Page 123:
Sans nCanmoins qu'il puisse se servir pour I'exCcution des dites piitces des
musiciens qui sont B nos gages.
Page 134:
Le dCsagrCable ton de Choeur a regnC en Allemagne pendant quelques siCcles,
ce que les anciennes Orgues prouvent, & on y a aussi reg16 les autres instru-
mens, comme les Violons, les Violes de Basse, les Trombones, les Flutes B bec,
les Chalemies, les Bombardes, les Trompettes, les Clarinettes, &c. Mais aprits
que les F r a n ~ o i seurent changC, selon leur ton plus bas & plus agrCable, la
Flute de travers Allemande en Flute traversiere, la Chalemie en Hautbois, &
le Bombardo en Basson; on commenqa aussi en Allemagne de changer le haut
ton de Choeur dans le ton de la chambre, qu'on trouve aussi dCja actuellement
dans quelques unes de nouvelles Orgues les plus cilitbres.
Page 136:
Franzosische Musikalischen Instruments, so mainsten in Hautbois und Flan-
dadois bestehen ...die ongefehr vor 12 Jahren in Frankreich erfunden wor-
den.
Page 137:
Man stimmt die Orgeln im Chorton, wie man es itzt nennt, welcher I oder 1%
Tone hijher ist, als Kammerton. Sonst hat man es umgekehrt, und ist Kammer-
ton hoher gewesen, als Chorton, und man hat die Orgeln im Kammerton ges-
timmt.
Page 138:
Die Orgell m u g Cornetten Toen [sic] sein, so konnen alle musicalische
instrumenten einstimmen.
Page 139:
Fagotto seu Dulciano ein 8fiiRiger Dulcian ist Chor-Thon. Bassone, ein
Frantzosischer Fagott aber Cammer-Thon.
Duplex autem reperitur utrumque; nam aliud cum Germanico, aliud cum
Gallico quoad concordantiam convenit Organo. Prihs Zinck-thon; posterihs
Chor-thon passim compellatur.
"Fletna" Gallic6 Flute. Sunt autem Fletnae in quadruplici differentia, alia:

enim minimo inter bas corpore Quart-Fletten vocantur, eb qubd una quarta
supra Discantisticas Fletnas, & sic consequenter u n i octava q u l m Media: sic
vulgb dictae sonent, quae hodie in Musica penes alia Instrumenta raro sunt
usitabiles. Aliae item Discantisticz, alia: Mediae, & Bassistica: alia: passim
usitatae. Omnes ha: sunt iterum duplicis fortis; nam a l i z cum Organo
Germanico seu Boemico, quod Zinck seu Cornetti tonum sonat, quoad claves
conveniunt, & hae Germanica:, aut, ut passim auditur, ex C. vocantur. Aliae
cum Gallico aut Italico in Clavibus correspondent, quod un6 ton6 demissihs
concordatur, itl, ut palmula b in nostro cum palmula c in Gallico aut Italico
Organo unisonum praebeant. Et ha: Gallicae, seu Fletuse, aut ex B. vocantur.
Page 141:
wenn man musiciren soll, man des Abschreibens und Transponirens
iiberhoben werde, so oft etwan der Kammerton zu gebrauchen.
Page 143:
Es seynd aber etliche gewesen, welche diesen jtzigen unsern T h o n
[CammerThon] noch umb ein Semitonium zuerhohen, sich unterstehen
wollen.
gar gut und fein klingendes Werk, bey denen ehemaligen Renovationen und
Stimmungen immer nach und nach etwas hoher hinaufgestimmet worden,
daher es zum Figural-Music-Gebrauch mit den Instrumenten schwerlich
zusammen stimmen konnte.
Page 147:
Duplicis autem reperiuntur organa concordanti;e, altioris nempe, &
demissioris; prima: concordantiae sunt organa in Germania & Boemia ubique
usitata, qva: concordantia vulgo Zinck- seu cornetti tonus vocatur; posterioris
seu demissioris & qvidem un6 integr6 ton6 in Italia & Gallia audiuntur; qua:
concordatio choritonus seu Chor-thon vocatur, & cum hac posteriori
concordant Gallica: Fletna: seu Fletuse, Clarini humiliati, qvae omnia
Instrumenta in sua clavi c cum Organo nostro in clavi b unisonant.
In Arcensi quidem Sacra Metropolitana Pragensi Ecclesia Organum hoc

notabile habet; qvbd utrumque & Chor- & Zinck-thon sonare possit, trusi
nimirum cert6 spati8 ad sinistrum latus tam Manualis quhm Pedalis
Claviaturt, imb & infra Chor-thon adhuc profundits aliquid.
Page 148:
1st die Orgel Cornet-Thon, so werden alle Praeambula aus dem D mit der
linden Terz geschlagen. 1st die Orgel Chor-Thon, kans ein Thon hoher in
das E mit der linden Terz transponirt werden.
Einen Fagott franzosisch Ton.

Von Wienn 12 Hoboa Rohr, als 6 Cornett Ton, vnd 6 franzosisch
Ton 2 fl.
Auch seint 2 Neue Flatuten von gemeinen Holz franzosisch Ton
erkaufft wordten per 3 fl.
Von Wienn empfangen 24 Hoboa Rohr und 12 Fagot Rohr, Cornet-
vnd franzosisch T o n per 6 fl.
Page 160:
I1 Corista Veneto era l'istesso che quello di Lombardia, ed in alcuni pochi
Organi si conserva ancora, ma Don Pietro Nacchini gii celebre fabbricatore
di Organi k stato il primo che ha abbassati gl'organi in quel Paesi mezza voce
incirca, ed i suoi allievi seguono il metodo del lor0 Maestro, anzi alcuni
Organi sono abbassati anche p i t di mezzo Tuono, e tutti gli Organi che ivi si
vanno fabbricando si fanno con tale abbassamento dall'Organo Lombardo.
Cosi riescono p i t comodi per i Cantanti. Per il Compositore giova non poco
il sapere in quai Corista debba comporre per potersi regolare nelle sue
Composizioni, nell'istessa guisa che giova molto per i Compositori de Teatri
sapere l'estensione delle Corde di quei Cantori per i quali devono comporre le
Arie.
Page 167:
O n exila une fois i Rome les instrumens h vent de l'Eglise. Si c'Ctoit i cause
de la hauteur dksagriable du ton dont ils se servoient, ou de la maniere de les
jouer, c'est ce que je ne veux pas discuter.
Car quoiqu'alors le ton de Rome fut bas & avantageux pour l'Hautbois, les
joueurs avoient des instrumens, qui Ctoient un ton entier plus haut; de sorte
qu'ils Ctoient obligCs de transposer; & ces instrumens hauts faisoient contre
les autres qui Ctoient bas, le mCme effet que s'ils eussent CtC des Chalemies.
Page 174:
D'Orgelmakers, wetende dat men hier te land in de Kerken zelden of nooit
musiceert, zoeken hun voordeel in d'orgelen een toon of anderhalf hooger te
maken.
Page 183:
I. N B Dieses Stuck geht in dem Chorton in denen Violen, Singestimmen und
dem Generalbass auR dem B.
2. Sind die Trompeten ex C geschrieben. Mu13 also auff der trompete ein
Aufsatz bey dem Mund-stuck gesetzt werden, dass die trompeten einen T o n
niedriger big in den Cammerton klingen.
3. Die Hautboi und Bassono mul3en Cammerton stimmen, und sind diese
parteien im augschreiben schon einen ton hoher transponiret, daB auff diese
Art alles also accordiret.
Page 18s:
Die Romischen Arien konnen von einerley Sangern schwerlich in Venedig, und
die Venetianischen schwerlich in Rom gesungen werden. Jene sind dort zu
hoch, und diese hier zu tief . . . Denen Sangern, welche gern sehr hoch
singen, ist die tiefe Stimmung lieb: und denen, welche mit viel Tonen in der
Tiefe pralen wollen, ist die hohe Stimmung angenehmer. Denn beyde male
scheinen sie, jene in der Hohe, und diese in der Tiefe, einen T o n mehr
gewonnen zu haben. Man sollte zwar glauben, da13 es eben nicht viel
Unterschied fiir einen Sanger ausrnachen konnte, ob er eine Arie einen oder
anderthalben Ton hoher oder tiefer sange: allein, bey vielen Arien beweiset
die Erfahrung das Gegentheil: absonderlich in Ansehung derer Tone, wo sich
das Falsett von der naturlichen Stimme scheidet. Denn hier kann manche
Passagie oder manche Aushaltung, oder manche mit einem Worte versehene
Note, vielen Singern in einer Stimmung sehr bequem, in einer andern aber
sehr unbequem seyn.
Page 186:
Ich kenne Leute, die nach dem Chor-Thon zu singen gewohnt sind, und im
Cammer-Thon kein Intervallum treffen konnen.
Page 187:
Kann entweder der Organist eine Secunde tiefer spielen, oder der Direktor
der Musik schreibt dessen Stimme einen T o n tiefer, die besaiteten
Instrumente stimmt er alsdenn um I T o n tiefer, um nicht alles umschrieben
zu miissen.
mehrentheils transponirt der Organiste, und die besaiteten Instrumente

werden nur anders gestimmt.
Page 189:
mit einem aus dern G.mol gesetzten, und mit einer Oboe' versehenen C H O R -
STUCKE ... spielet die Oboh, aus dern A . .. ja, wenn dieses Instrument u m
eine kleine Terz tieffer als C H O R - T O Nstehet, mu& z.B. in einem aus dern D
moll gesetzten
- Kitchen-Stiicke ... ..
die Oboh ihrer modulation aus dern F moll
. formiren ... es miiste denn erlaubt seyn, zu sagen: man konne zweyerley
Genera modulandi mit einander zugleich anstellen, und horen lassen.
Page 190:
Man betrachte mir doch den Greuel, wenn manchesmahl Instrumente, die in
Kammer-Ton stehen, als: Waldhorner, Fagotten u.d.g. andere accompagniren
sollen, die da Chortonig sind, dabey entweder diese oder jene transponirt
werden miissen; klingt es anders, als wenn der Componist oder Cantor den
Zanck der Hunde iiber den Corper der abgestiirtzen Jesabel hatte vorstellen
wollen?
Die Chortonige Trompeten bey einem Kammertonigen Fundament oder Bag

eben solche widerwartige Wirckung thun mussen.
Page 191:
W i e vie1 Stucke werden nicht aus dern schonen B dur gesetzet? Da muss
denn der General-Bass aus dern As dur gespielet werden.
Hoe groote hebbelykheid in 't transponeeren van grondtoonen, een Organist

ook bezitte, kan hy nogtans niet te wege brengen, dat, by voorbeeld, c kruis
met d mol gansch naauwkeurig overeendraage.
Mein System hat keine Claviermassige Temperatur zum Grunde, sondern

zeiget die Klange, so, wie sie auf uneingeschrankten Intrumenten, als
Violoncell, Violine etc. wo nicht vollig, doch bey nahe, rein genommen
werden konnen.
Page 192:
Ja, wenn auch diese proprietates Imaginariz an sich selbst ihre Richtigkeit
hatten, so wiirden doch selbige bey dern geringsten Unterschied der
gebrauchlichen Temperaturen, (worinnen die Instrument-Stimmer niemahls
accurat eintreffen) noch mehr aber bey Veranderung des Chor-Cammer-und
Franzosischen, item des extravaganten Venetianischen tons alle Augenblick
Schiffbruch leiden.
Page 193:
bitatre, unlustig und melancholisch; deswegen er auch selten zum Vorschein
kommet.
Und spielt denn nicht der Organist bey einer Kirchenmusik beynahe iiberall
einen ganzen T o n oder eine kleine Terz tiefer, als der Violinist etc.? W a r u m
laRt man den Organisten an der Ausfiihrung Theil nehmen, wenn das
Tonstiick dadurch einen doppelten Charakter bekommt?
Man besorge dabey nicht, dass die Composition durch die Versetzung in
einen andern T o n ihren eigenthumlichen Character verlieren werde. Nur mit
Riicksicht auf begleitende, oder vor und zwischen den Satzen spielende
Instrumente, und nur um dieser willen, ist die Wahl des Tones fur ein
ganzes Stuck von Belang. Fur einen blossen Singchor ist die W a h l des
Haupttones nur in Beziehung auf den Umfang und die Lage der Stimmen zu
beriicksichtigen; an und fiir sich ist sonst der Ton (in obigem Sinne) die
gleichgiiltigste Sache; fur den Singer giebt es namlich keine leeren und keine
ubergriffenen Saiten, keine stumpfen, mit Gabelgriffen oder Verstopfen
erkiinstelten Tone (wie auf Blasinstrumenten), keine Temperatur, daher
keine scharferen Terzen, keine matteren Quinten u.s.w.
Page 194:
Die Beibehaltung der originalen Tonarten-Verhaltnisse sollte jedenfalls bei
"historisch getreuen" A ~ f f i i h r u n ~ einn der Regel eine Selbstverstandlichkeit
sein.
Page 195:
Das W e r k solle im Chorton gestimmt werden, jedoch mit einer "Verriickung
oder Transposition" versehen werden, "daiS es zugleich auch im Cornetton
zu gebrauchen seye."
Page 196:
Es ist hierbey annoch zu gedencken, daR man zwey oder drey Stimmen, in
welchen Clavir es beliebet wird, Cammerthon stimmen kan, welche
Stimmen als denn bey der Music wohl zu gebrauchen sind.
Cammer. W o dieses W o r t bey einem Register stehet, bedeutet es eine

Stimme, welche einen T o n tiefer gestimmt ist, um das Transponiren zu
verhiiten. So hat man 2.B. Cammerfloten, Cammergedackte etc. Eine sehr
i i b e r f l u ~ s i ~Sache!
e Man lasse entweder die ganze Orgel in den sogenannten
Cammerton stimmen, oder man mache keinen zum Organisten, der nicht
transponiren kann.
Page 197:
.
ich auch . . vernommen . . . daR die neue Orgel nach dem Cammertone
mochte eingerichtet werden.
Kammerthon, um zwey Semi thone gravitatischer, Mannhaffter und

lieblicher klinget.
DaR aber die Orgel soll Kammerton gestimmet werden, muR ich gantzlich
verwerfen, maRen dieselbe die mehreste Zeit zum Chor und wenig zur
Musik gebraucht wird.
Page 198:
Jag tycker, att ingen annan orsak warit ti1 Camartons inforande i Orgwerk
an, dels Comodite wid Musiks upforande, dels ock, kan handa, wif3a i
Choralboken for hogt satte melodier, alt sammans at undgl transponering.
Camarton ar wa1 wid musik Commodare, men ej behagligare an Chorton, ty
denne kan ratteligen kallas friskare sisom en he1 ton hogre.
Page 201:
so hat man, um zu erfahren, ob es im richtigen Cornet- oder Chor-Tone
steht, einige von den Stadtpfeifern mit ihren Hautbois und Trompeten
kommen, und etliche Lieder blasen lassen, da man denn befunden, daR, als
man mit dem Werke accompagniret, solches mit den Instrumenten
vollkommen eingestimmet.
Damit aber auch letzlich das vornehmste bey diesem Wercke nicht hat
vergef3en werden sollen, als nehmlich, ob es in rechten Cornett- oder Chor-
Thono stehe, so habe solches durch EinplaRung derer Instrumente von denen
Stadt Musicis so viel wahrgenommen, daf3 es in richtigen und zwar etwas
scharffen Chor-Thono stehe, und mit selbigen gut accompagniret.
Page 202:
Der Chor-Ton .. . [ist] so viel beschwehrlicher vor die Singer, und
ungeschichter vor Hautbois, Flutes, und andere neue Instrumenten, als der
niedrige und commode Cammer- und Opern-Thon.
Page 203:
. .
Stato un soprano solo . il maestro mi fece un altro in medesimo mod0 del
concerto, e duoi altri piJ acuti.
Alle Trompeten sind Chor-Tohn [sic], deswegen ein Stiick so im Cammer-

Tohn mit Trompeten accompagniret werden soll, denselben zu gefallen
allemahl aus dem d.dur gesetzet wird, weil d. im Cammer-Tohn c. im Chor-
Tohn ist.
Page 204:
Die Stimmung in den Chorton wurde am haufigsten angewendet, weil die
kosten einer solchen Orgel nicht so bedeutend sind, als einer im Kammerton
stehenden, deren Pfeifen insgesammt der tiefen Stimmung wegen eine

g-oaere Lange bedingen, so daf3 also auch mehr Material zu den Pfeifen
erforderlich ist.
Woher nehmen wir den Anfang des Stimmens, oder wie bestimmen wir die
Tiefe des C? Es ist bekannt, daB die Orgeln nicht iiberein sind, so, daB der
Musikant nebst seiner Trompete stets etliche Aufsatze mug in der Ficke
tragen, wenn er in mehrern Kirchen darauf blasen soll; so auch mit dem
Waldhorn; aber wie kommt man zu rechte mit den Floten, Hautbois,
Clarinetten, und dergleichen? Man wunschet deswegen nicht unbillig, dai3
die Orgelmacher hierinnen einig waren, und daR sie eine gewisse Regel
haben mochten, nach welcher sie einerley Tiefe und Hohe zu finden im
Stande waren. Aber hieran fehlt es bis ietzo. Denn was Sauveur
vorgeschlagen, ist noch nicht zum Stande kommen.
Die Stiicke des samtlichen Jahr-Ganges sind nach dem Cammer-Tone

eingerichtet, wesswegen notig ist, dass der General-Bass fur die Organisten
in den Kirchen, wo man sich der Cammer-Ton-stimmenden Instrumente be-
dienet, jedesmal transponiret werde, und kann man nach folgendem En-
twurfe, welcher die in diesem Werke etwa vorkommenden Tone enthalt,
aufs leichteste verfahren.
Page 206:
In der hiesigen Gegend ist es gewohnlich denjenigen Ton zu nennen hohen
Kammerton, welcher I grosse Secunde tiefer ist, als der Chorton; der tiefe
Kammerton ist um I und einen halben T o n tiefer, als der Chorton.
Cammer-Ton heisset; wenn ein musicalisches Stuck nicht nach Chor- oder
Cornet-Tone sondern hauptsachlich um der erwachsenen Sopranisten, so die
Hohe nicht wohl habben konnen; und so dann, um der Instrumente willen,
und damit die Saiten desto besser halten mogen, entweder um einen gantzen
T o n oder gar um eine kleine Terz tieffer executiert wird.
Page 207:
Ich habe aber fast von der ersten Zeit meiner Direction der Kirchen-Music
den Cornet-Ton abgeschaffet, und den Kammer-Ton, der eine Secunda oder
kleine Tertia, nachdem es schikken will, tieffer ist, eingefuhret.
Ordentlich stehen sie alle im tiefen Kammerton, um der Floten willen; aber
durch die Verriickung des Grifbrets kann man sie alsbald einen halben T o n
erhohen, auch wohl einen gantzen . . .Die Transposition aus dem tiefen
Kammerton in den hohern ist noch leichter, als bey dem Clavichord.
Zwei Kammerkoppel, eins Gross, das andere Kleinkammerton, durchs ganze

Werk.
Page 212:
deqleichen giebt es itzo, nicht nur in Dresden sondern, auch an andern
Orten, mehr.
Page 217:
die Continuostimmen der friihen Kantaten, besonders die aus dem Jahrgang
1709 [sind] fast regelmLBig um einen T o n transponiert.
Page 219:
Verriickung oder Transposition . . . , daB es zugleich auch im Cornetton zu
gebrauchen seye.
Page 220:
Die transponirten kammerthonigen Instrumente werden zeigen, dass man den
in unserm Schlesien meistentheils gewohnlichen Chor-Thons, beliebet hat;
Doch werden einem Liebhaber des Kammer-Thons, die veranderten
Schlussel solches gar leicht befordern konnen.
Page 229:
Das ganze Weihnachtsoratorium ist um '/z Ton tiefer gespielt worden, was sehr
wesentlich ist und fur die Singenden ausserordentlich nutzlich und bequem,
fur den Totaleindruck aber sehr gut, weil dadurch die richtige Stimmung der
Bach'schen Zeit hergestellt worden ist.
Page 232:
die seit Spitta in der gesamten Bach-Literatur verbreitete Legende von der
"sehr hohen Stimmung der Weimarer Schlossorgel" durchaus unbegrundet
ist.
Page 233:
Offenbar standen die Weimarer Holzblasintrumente, die zur Auffuhrung
terztransponierter Kantaten verwendet wurden, im sogenannten "tiefen
Kammerton." Daraus folgt aber, dass die Schlossorgel ungefahr die damals
iibliche Stimmung gehabt haben muss-eine Mutmassung, die sich leider
nicht mehr eindeutig nachweisen lasst.
Page 240:
Sollten vielleicht die Trompeten in Wahrheit in D, die Holzblaser im "tiefen
Kammerton" gestanden haben, wahrend die Streichinstrumente einen
Halbton herabstimmten und der transponierte Orgel-Continuo in C und
Yo0 Citations in Original Languages
nicht in Des dur notiert wurde? Da uns jene Continuo-Stimme nicht erhalten
ist, laRt sich die Richtigkeit dieser Vermutung nicht mehr nach prufen.
Page 265:
In der Lombardey, und sonderlich in Venedig werden die Clavizimbale und
andere Instrumente sehr hoch gestimmet. Ihr T o n ist fast nur einen halben
T o n tiefer als der gewohnliche Chor- oder Trompetenton. W a s also auf der
Trompete c ist, das ist bey ihnen ungepahr cis. In Rom ist die Stimmung sehr
tief, fast der ehemaligen franzosischen Stimmung gleich, eine grosse Terz
tiefer als der Chorton: so dass das c auf der Trompete mit dem e der andern
Instrumente fast uberein kommt. Sie ist noch einen halben T o n tiefer als der
a n vielen Orten Deutschlandes eingefuhrete sogenannte A-Kammerton: bey
welchem das a der chortonigen Instrumente mit dem c der Kammertijnigen
gleich lautet. In Neapolis halt man die Mittelstrage zwischen dieser tiefen,
und jener allzuhohen Stimmung.
Page 266:
J e ne veux pas dCfendre le parti du ton de la Chambre des Franqois qui est si
considCrablement bas, quoiqu'il soit le plus avantageux pour la Flute traver-
siere, 1'Hautbois [sic] & quelques autres instrumens; mais je ne saurois non
plus approuver le ton de Venise si considCrablement haut, parce que les ins-
trumens & vent accord& suivant lui, sont trop dksagrCables. Je crois donc que
ce ton de Chambre, qu'on appelle communement le ton de Chambre Alle-
mand d'A, & qui est une Tierce mineure plus bas que l'ancien ton de Choeur,
est le meilleur. I1 n'est ni trop haut ni trop bas, tient le milieu entre le ton
Franqois & celui de Venise, & les instrumens B cordes & & vent Ctant ac-
cordCs suivant lui, peuvent faire l'effet dCsirC.
Le ton de Venise est prCsentement le plus haut, & presque Cgal B notre vieux
ton de Choeur. Le ton de Rome itoit bas, il y a vingt ans passe, & Cgal & celui
de Paris. Mais B present on commence ii rendre ce dernier presqulCgal & celui
de Venise.
Page 269:
11 Corista p i t alto che abbiamo in Italia h il Lombardo, e cresce dal Corista
Romano che k il p i t basso di tutti intorno a una Terza, cioh se il Cantante in
Lombardia prende una voce che sia V.G. un Dlasolre, l'istessa voce in circa
sarebbe un Ffaut in Roma. Fra l'uno e l'altro Corista poi vi sono i Coristi di
mezzo.
Page 271:
sembra valere anche per le Marche, dove sono innumerevoli gli organi di
Nacchini e Callido rimasti intatti.
Page 273:
par conskquent, si ce Bourdon est au T o n ordinaire, on se trouvera par cette
opCration d'accord avec les autres Instrumens qui joiieront en D La Re: ce qui
peut avoir son utilitC dans les Concerts.
Page 274:
J'execute & je transpose B livre ouvert, demi ton plus haut, demi ton plus bas.
Comme les Voix extrCmement hautes sont rares, & rarement belles dans les
derniers aigus, les Musiciens qui portent dans l'accord des Instrumens le ton
plus haut que le naturel . ..
font paroitre B dhcouvert I'extrCmitC la plus dC-
fectueuse des Voix ordinaires .. .
O n ne chante plus par ce moyen, on crie.
Le mCme exchs prCjudicie aussi i llHarmonie instrumentale. La Physique
nous apprend que plus une Chorde est tendug, moins elle est susceptible de
ces vibrations propres i former 1'Harmonie. La hauteur du ton produit des
Cbranlemens plus violens, des secousses plus promptes, des battemens plus
frCquens: mais, par cette raison, le corps sonore r e ~ o i moins
t d'impression des
mouvemens de la Chorde tendug; & plus cette tension excCde les loix naturel-
les, moins la Chorde hblanle le corps sonore, & par consCquent elle ophre
moins d'effet.
Page 275:
le sieur Lot, maitre lutier, B Paris, a fourni B L'AcadCmie royale neuf tuyeaux
organisez, dont elle avait besoin pour Ctablir le ton du clavessin de llOpCra.
Page 276:
Le ton que l'on prend actuellement dans routes sortes de Musique, & parti-
culihrement au Concert Spirituel, Ctant beaucoup plus haut que le diapazon,
dont on se servait lorsqu'on a commencb i faire usage du Basson, il faut nC-
cessairement que la longueur de cet instrument soit diminuke en proportion.
Page 277:
I1 y a le ton de Chapelle, & le ton de l'OpCra: celui-ci n'est pas un ton fixe; on
le hausse ou o n le baisse d'un quart de ton, ou mCme plus, selon la portCe des
voix.
I1 y a pour la Musique T o n de Chapelle & T o n dlOpCra. C e dernier n'a rien

de fixe; mais en France, il est ordinairement plus bas que l'autre.
Le ton de Chapelle est fixe en France; c'est le plus la portCe des voix, & de
tous les instruments de musique.
Page 278:
Mann stimmt die Orgeln im Chorton, wie man es itzt nennt, welcher I oder
1'/2 Tone hoher ist, als Kammerton.
W i e hoch aber unser Chorton sey, ist wegen der Varietat nicht zu melden.
Page 280:
Den thon betreffent worin die Orgel soll gestimmet werden, so wird man
ohne Zweiffel den so genandten Cammerthon verlangen. Weil aber der
Cammerthon gar offt mit Chorthon confundiret wird, so meldte hier zur
Erlauterung, daR viererley Thone sind, worein die Orgeln gestimbt werden.
In gantz Teutschland ist vor diefiem der Cornetthon ublich gewesen,
sonderlich haben sich die Orgel-macher deRen gerne bedienet, weilen
dadurch die grofien Pfeiffen wenig platz einnahmen, und keine sonderliche
Lange erforterten. dieweil aber dieser thon wegen seiner hohe dem gesang
beschwerlich war, so machte man denselben '/z thon tieffer und nante ihn
Chorthon. nach diesem wurde derselbe wieder V2 thon herab gesetzet, den
man den Kammerthon nente. dieser thon scheinet algemein und volkommen
eingefiihret zu seyn, dan alle Musicalischen Instrumenten sind darein
gestimmet. Man nent ihn auch den Italianischen thon, weillen er in gantz
Italien gebrauchlich ist. In Frankreich war der thon noch um2'5 thon tieffer
wie der Cammerthon, und hieR der Frantzosische thon, wird aber selten
mehr gebraucht.
Page 281:
Man ist in unterschiedenen Zeiten her gewohnt gewesen, sich bey Stimmung
der Orgeln viererley Thone zu bedienen. Der tieffste war der franz~sische
Thon. Sodan 1/2 Thon hoher als dieser, kombt der Cammer- oder auch
sogenande Italianische Thon, wornach heutzutag in allen Concerten gestimbt
wird. In diesem Thon stehet auch die Orgel zu Arlesheim, und die in
Miihlhaussen wird auch darin verlangt. Wiederum V" Thon hoher als erst
gemelder, kombt erst der Chor- Thon. Und widerum '/2 Thon hoher der
Cornet- Thon. In welchen alle alte Orgeln gestimbt worden, heutzutag aber
nimmer iiblich ist.
Page 279:
Diese Orgel ist . .. . .
im Chorton gestimet . Fast im Chorthon
..
gestimmet . also ein Thon hoher als franzosischer.
In den Kammerthon, welcher V" Thon hoher wie der frantzosische
thon ist.
In dem Kammerthon, welcher 1/2 Thon hoher wie der frantzosische
thon ist. Dass Kerk soll nach dem heut zu Tage aller Orten
gewohnlichen Kammer- oder Italianischen T h o n gestimbt werden.
Citations in Original Languages SO3
Page 283:
O n pourroit bien pour l'amour du ton haut faire des instrumens plus petits &
plus ktroits; mais la plupart des faiseurs d'instrumens travaillent selon leurs
modeles accoutumks, lesquels ont leurs proportions suivant le ton bas; la
moindre partie des ouvriers seroient en Ctat de racourcir la mesure dans une si
juste proportion que \'instrument devenant haut gardlt encore sa nettetk. Et
quand m t m e quelques uns rkussiroient, il seroit une question, si ces instru-
mens ajustCs au ton haut, feroient encore le m t m e effet qu'ils font dans leur
mesure prCsente, laquelle leur paroit Stre la plus naturelle.
Page 284:
Cohr oder Cornet, letzterer ist gebrauchlich, die meiseten werden so
gestimmt.
Aus Ew. Hochwiirden zweyden geehrten haben ersehen, daR sie daR Werk
nun mehro in Chorton wollen gestelt haben, und deR wegen, weilen der
Cornet-thon zum Choral zu hoch, wie auch nicht alle Organisten nicht im
Standt wihren zu transponiren, allein der CornetThon ist doch der rechte
und gewonigliche Thon zum Coral, wirdt auch aller Ordhen, wo nicht
bestindig Musik gemacht wirdt, begert, weillen wie sie sagen, der Chorthon
zum Coral zu tief und schlaffrig wahre, da8 hat ein Mahl seine Richtigkeit,
d a 8 ein Werk das im Cornet Thon gestimmt, vie1 frischer und lebhafter geht
als eines, welches Chorton hat, zu deme macht es einem Organisten mehr zu
schaffen, wan er suponiren als transponiren mug.
Page 285:
Dieser Punct ist auch einer Von den griiResten Fehlern der Orgel nemlich:
daR sie wieder all Raison und ublichen Gebrauch einen halben Thon uber
Chor-Thon gestimmet ist, welches denn einer gantzen Gemeinde unter dem
ordinairem Gesange, in Specie wenn etzliche Gesange aus einem hohen
Thon gehen, sehr incommode fallen mug, Zu geschweigen wenn musiciret
wird.
W o es die Umstlnde leiden, kann man auch Kammerregister in die Orgel

bringen, d.i. solche Register, welche I oder 11/' Ton tiefer gestimmt sind, als
das Werk selbst, als welches, wie gebrauchlich, im Chortone stehen mug.
Zu St. Jakobi in Hamburg ist das Gedackt allein in Kammertone. Das ist aber
in der Musik allein nicht genug.
daR an einer Orgel der Unterschied zwischen Kammerton und Chorton in

Ansehung der Kosten sehr gro8 ist, da ein Werk um einen ganzen T o n tiefer
gesetzet werden mug, welches im Bag die Pfeifen um einen grogen Teil
Ianger erfordert.
$04 Citations in Original Languages
Page 286:
Diese beykommente Pfeiffe ist der dieffste Thon, und heiflet nach dem
Cornet Thone C. 2 Fufi Thon, nach dem Cammer Thone aber heifit er D s . ..
Die beiliegende Pfeiffe ist c' nach dem Chor Thon.
der hochste Ton, da die Trompeten ohne Krumbogen und Aufsetzstiicklein

C. haben ... Cammerton ist um eine kleine Terz, n ~ m l i c handerthalb T o n
tiefer als Cornet-Ton.
Page 287:
Die Orchesterstimmung war damals viel tiefer als jetzt; der Unterschied
betriigt fast einen halben Ton. Wahrend die Stimmgabel der Kapelle zu
Hasse's Zeiten 417 ( 8 ~ 0 )Schwingungen zahlte, weist die jetzige im Theater
441 (892) auf.
Da es vorhero im Chor Ton gestanden, hat [Herr Hahnel] es in Cammer

T o n gesetzet, also aus c d gemachet, folglich in der untern Octave einen
neuen T o n u m C angebracht.
Cammer-Tohn wire Zwar im Dohm, und in der Schlofl Capelle, sonst aber
nirgend in allen Brandenburgischen Landen.
Man stimmet alle gestrichne und geblasene Instrumente auf den

Kammerthon, wornach auch die berlinsche Domorgel, und die Orgel der
Prinzessin Amalia Konigl. Hoheit eingerichtet ist; die andren Kirchenoqeln
beobachten gemeiniglich den Chorthon, wegen der Ersparung des Zinnes;
und alsdenn mus der Organiste in den Kirchenmusiken, den Geigen zu
Gefallen, allezeit iibersezzen.
Page 288:
man ein instrument eher und mehr tieffer machen kan als hoher. Dahero ich
allezeit die neue Orgeln etwas tieffer als Chorthon einstimme, damit die
Cammerthon instrumente nicht 11/2 sondern nur auff einen thon diirffen
Transponirt werden, und die Chorthon instrumente konnen alle um so viel
auffgesetztet und tieffer gemacht werden.
Page 289:
Durch Schiebung des Claviers bey solchen Claveflins kann ich Chorton
haben: it. einen halben oder ganzen Ton, oder auch 1'/2 Tone tiefer, welches
der rechte Kammerton ist; auch wol '/2 T o n uber Chorton.
Page 291:
Hier op is een Reglement 't welk by de heele wereld is aangenomen, 't geen
men noemt Operatoon; waar naar ook de blaasinstrumenten, als Fluyten,
Hobois, en zelfs ook Trompetten en Jagthoorns worden gemaakt, o m dat zy,
uit verscheide landen by een gebrogt zynde, te zamen moeten accorderen.
Page 292:
De Toon van tlorgel Cornette Toon dat is een Toon hoger als opera Toon.
Een halve Toon lager. . . als Cornette Toon.
Page 293:
Het orgel staat een kleyne terts te hoog volgens d'ordinaire toon dus moet op
elk register onder de twee grootste pijpen daarby gemaakt worden en het
orgel te brengen in dien toon als het orgel in den Dom.
der franziisisch- oder sogenannte Cammerton ist um einen ganzen T o n

tieffer als der Chorton.
Es ist aber mit allem aller Orten wieder ein Unterschied zu machen,
gleichwie man in vielen Orten den Chorton um einen ganzen Ton tiefer halt
als den Cornet-Ton.
Page 294:
ob das Werk im Chorton, im franzosischen Ton, im Kornett-Ton oder im
Kammerton gestimmt werden solle . ? ..
Page 295:
ubrigens melden mir die zwey hautboisten (gleichwie ich auch selbsten
eingestehen mus) das ihre 2 hautboi alters halber zu grund gehen, und den
rechtmassigen Tonum nicht mehr geben, wesswegen Euer Durchl: den
schuldigsten Vortrag mache, das ein Meister Rockobauer in Wienn sich
befinde, welcher meines erachtens dissfahls der kundigste ist. weillen nun
dieser Meister mit derley arbeith zwar statts beschafftiget ist, dermahlen aber
sich besondere zeit nehmete, ein Paar gute daurhaffte hautboi mit einen extra
stuckh auf satz (womit alle erforderliche Toni genohmen werden konten) zu
verfertigen, dauor aber der nachste Preyfi in 8 Ducaten bestehet. als habe
Euer Durchl. hohen Consens zu erwarthen, ob besagte 2 hochst nothige
hautboi um erstgemelten PreyR eingeschaffet werden durfften.
Page 305:
Non in tutte le citti il tono volgarmente detto Corista si trova u p a l e , ma
bensi nell'une si riconosce questo p i t alto o pi& basso che nell'altre. I1 Corista
di Roma k diffatto molto pi& basso di quello di Milano, Pavia, Parma,
Piacenza e di tutte l'altre Citth della Lombardia: ed il Corista di Parigi poi
non solo cresce oltre il Corista Romano, ma molto ancora oltre il Lombardo.
U n Corista di mezzo, e pih generalmente abbracciato egli i pertanto quello
della Lombardia: ed a questo infatti, poco pih poco meno, s'accostano i Coristi
di varie Provincie.
Page 307:
Les bassons qui sont fabriquCs dans la proportion de 8 pieds rCduits A 4, sui-
vant l'ancienne facture, conviennent dans les Cglises cathhdrales, oh, ordinai-
rement, le ton de l'orgue est fort bas, comme Ctait anciennement celui de
l'Cglise des innocens, comme sont encore ceux de la Ste Chapelle de Paris et
de la Chapelle du Roi de Versailles.
Les orgues des Cglises, ceux du moins que l'on n'a pas construite depuis peu,
les bassons de 1750, que j'ai fait sonner dans mon jeune temps, et que nous
apelions bassons de cathe'drale, sont des types que font connaitre l'ancien diapa-
son d'une maniire prCcise.
Page 308:
Ces bassons peuvent encore convenir A l'opCra de Paris, oh l'on change de
ton, suivant que les r6les sont plus bas ou moins hauts; de maniire que sont
nkcessairement discords par la difficult&, on peut m t m e dire lJimpossibilitC,
qu'il y a de jouer juste avec un instrument trop haut ou trop bas.
Page 309:
Autrefois le diapason de 1'OpCra de Paris Ctait trhs bas; il s'est ensuite ClevC
considCrablement, car si je suis bien informC, celui de 1820 Ctait d'un ton plus
haut que celui de 1770. Depuis lors, on a cru devoir le baisser pour Cviter la
fatigue des chanteurs.
pour avoir 1'UT de l'OpCra, il faut, par le rCsultat des combinaisons, qu'une
corde fasse 240 vibrations dans une seconde.
Page 310:
Le premier Ctait celui de 1750 ou de 1650, comme vous plaira; le second, plus
ClevC d'un demi-ton, itait en usage en 1788, quand ce chanteur fit son entrke
au thCttre de Monsieur; le troisihme enfin, enchkrissait encore d'un fort
demi-ton sur le second, marquait le ton de I'OpCra-Comique en 1820, Cpoque
oh nous faisions ensemble cet examen.
Page 312:
I1 a deux corps semblables qui sont numCrotCs; c'est celui du No2 qui donne
le ton usiti; avec celui du No I", on rend l'instrument plus long et par consC-
quent plus bas, il a alors plus de 2 pouces de longueur.
Kammerton. Der jetzt gewohnliche Stimmton, der eigentlich einen ganzen

T o n tiefer ist, als die Stimmung der Orgeln, die in den [sic] so genannten
Chorton gestimmt sind. Seit geraumer Zeit hat man angefangen den
Kammerton hie und da wieder zu erhohen, so, daR an vielen Oertern der
Unterschied desselben von der Stimmung der Orgel nur einen halben T o n
betragt.
Page 313:
Noch giebt es kein allgemein eingefiihrtes absolutes Tonmag; daher wird
auch 2.B. der Ton, den wir C nennen, nicht an jedem O r t e gleich hoch
gestimmt.
Weil die Stimmung nicht aller Orten gleich, sondern zuweilen big um einen
halben T o n hoher oder tiefer stehet, so ist es nothig, daR man mehrere,
hohere und tiefere richtig abgetheilte Mittelstiicke habe, um damit iiberall
richtig einstimmen zu konnen.
Page 314:
Ganzlich verschieden von diesen Floten sind die des Herrn Grenser, mit
denen hinwiederum die vom Herrn Tromlitz vie1 Aenlichkeit haben. Zur
vergleichung des T o n s dieser zwei Arten halte ich durchaus nothwendig auf
die hohere oder tiefere Stimmung Riicksicht zu nehmen. In der Tiefe, worin
die Berliner stehen, kommt keine sachsische, wegen des fiir eine solche
Stimmung zu engen Calibers, dagegen. Noch Nro I und z sachsisch, die doch
da erst anfangen, wo Quantz mit einem ziemlichen Intervalle schon
aufgehort hat, rechne ich fur nichts; aber mit N r o 4 des Herrn Tromlitz, und
3,4, des Herrn Grenser, halte ich den Ton dieser instrumente unstreitig
schoner. Er ist klingender, heller und reinlicher, und doch, nach Maasgabe
der mehrern Hohe eben so voll und dick als Quantzens seiner, auch mit
desselben besten Mittelstucken. Dieses sind die tiefften, denn N r o 5 und 6
taugen gewiR eben so wenig, als sachsisch Nro 1,2, ob zwar auf
entgegengesetzte Weise.
Hat man es in seiner Macht, die Stimmung zu wahlen, so rathe ich zu der
hohern, die, nach meiner Meinung, iiberhaupt die bessere ist, und den
Vorzug verdienet.
O h n e mich auf andre Grunde einzulassen, oder der Saiteninstrumente, die in
der hohen Stimmung weit vollkommner wiirken, zu erwanen.
Der Entwurf, den man wider die hohe Stimmung vielleicht machen mogte,
d a g sie fur den Sanger zu lastig ware, will im Grunde nichts sagen, denn dem
kann in der Hohe und Tiefe Ueberlast geschehen, man mag stimmen wie
man will. Es ist lediglich des Componisten Plicht, dahin zu sehen, daR es
nicht geschehe.
DaR auf einer Leipziger Flote mit keinem Mittelstiicke es sich so gut blaset
als mit Nro.4. habe ich bereits bemerket.
Page 316:
In der katholischen Hofkirche ist die Stimmung ziemlich die tiefe
Hasse'sche geblieben, da die Orgel sorgfaltig in derselben erhalten wird.
les tons de ma fldte sont plus aigus d'environ un demi-ton, que ceux des ins-
truments qui ont servi de terme de comparaison dans les exphriences de Mrs.
Euler & Bernoulli.
Der Bezug des Instruments muss sich nach der Stimmung des Orchesters
richten. Bey einem Orchester was tief steht, wie z.B. das Berlinische, muss
der Bezug vie1 starker seyn, als bey einem andern, das Wiener Stimmung
hat: der Unterschied ist wichtig.
Page 317:
Dans une partie de l'Allemagne, & particulikrement en Prusse, les fldtes tra-
. .
versihres sont construites autrement . Les changemens qu'on va voir sont
dus au celkbre Quantz . . . qui est mort depuis peu .. . les fldtes de M.
Quantz sont plus longues, d'un plus grand diamktre, & plus Cpaisses en bois
que les fldtes ordinaires; par consbquent elles ont un ton plus grave.
Page 318:
Hier hat nun wohl ohnstreitig die chortonige C. Trompete bey uns
Deutschen den Vorzug. Sie wird deswegen so genennet, weil sie mit dem
Orgelwerk, (das ordinair im Chortone stehet) in das C einstimmet, oder von
rechtswegen einstimmen sol1 ... Da nun gewohnlich der Chor- und
Kammerton nur um einen T o n von einander differiren, indein jener einen
T o n hoher und diefer einen T o n niedriger ist, so ist leicht einzusehen, daR
diese Trompete nach Kammerton in D einstimmen mu&. Und deswegen
kann sie eben so gut die kammertonige D-Trompete heissen.
Page 319:
in Fransche- of Kamer-toon, in welke toon de Kerke-Musiek word
deeze Kamertoon is een groote halve toon laager dan de andere

Orgelstemmen welke in Choor- of Cornettoon zyn gesteld ...
o m dan deeze
Kamertoonige stemmen tot het accompagneeren der instrumenten te kunnen
gebruiken, terwyl de andere Choor- of Cornettoonige stemmen, voor de
instrumenten te hoog zouden zyn.
Page 320:
Offenbar bestand eine weitgehende ~ b e r e i n s t i m m u nder
~ Stimmtonh~hen
zwischen Bsterreich, Deutschland, Italien und auch England, so daB bei den
Reisen Joseph Haydns das Problem der jeweiligen Stimmtonanpassung
weitgehend wegfiel.
W e n n ihn jemand mit auswartigen CommiBion beehren sollte, so ersucht er

ihm die Stimmung zu beschreiben, ob es Wienerton, Kammerton, oder gar
franzosische Stimmung seyn soll, oder ihm den sogenannten Stimmstagel
mitschicken.
Page 321:
In Paris ist die Stimmung hoher, als in Berlin und Leipzig, und in W i e n noch
hoher, als in Paris. *)
*) Sie ist jezt [!I nicht mehr so verschieden, als sonst.
Page 322:
Ich lieR heuer nebst anderen betrachtlichen Reparaturen die groBe Orgel auf
Cornet stimmen.
Page 327:
Dicesi che tale organo sia giustissimo a1 Coro, vuol dire il coristo; questo
varia in quasi tutti i Regni; in Francia & quasi tre quarti di voce p i t basso; in
Romagna, e Napoli p i t alto, questo degli organi dell'An-tegnati & il p i t
comrnodo di tutti, sia per il violino, sia per gli stromenti a fiato; e siccome
questi ultimi per lo p i t vengon dalla Germania, cosi pare che il coristo
Lombardo sari pi& vicino a1 Germanico.
Page 330:
die Stimmung der drey grossen Orchester zu Paris mehr als einen halben
T o n hoher ist, als die hochste in Deutschland und Italien. Die blossen
Instrumental-Orchester, wo nicht gesungen wird, wie, z.B., die Tanz-
Orchester, deren es einige vortreffliche giebt, stimmen noch hoher.
Page 331:
a donner successivement le La de leur instrument. Ce La se trouve, dans la
fliite, surtout, &re au-dessus du diapason actuel adopt6 par I'AcadCmie Royale
de Musique. M r Habeneck, fait alors apporter un hautbois et une fliite, dont
la facture remonte i quarante ou quarante cinq ans environ. M.M. Vogt et
Nermel, sont invitbs A donner le La de cet instrument. C e ton dans l'un et
l'autre se trouve sensiblement au dessous de celui de l'orchestre de l'Opbra.
Page 332:
Btait aux instruments leur kclat et leur vigueur; les ophras qu'il se proposait
d'arranger pour la scene f r a n ~ a i s eavaient CtC hcrits dans un diapason tout
diffhrent; si les airs de l'ancien rCpertoire paraissaient trop hauts, il fallait
simplement les transposer; dans tous les cas, il n'Ctait pas i propos de soumet-
tre les compositeurs modernes B un diapason hors d'usage partout ailleurs.
on attribilait i I'ClCvation du diapason le mauvais succes des chanteurs qui se

montraient dans l'ancien rhpertoire.
Page 334:
in Kirchen und Konzerten seit mehr als so Jahren eine und ebendieselbe, und
von der heutigen Wiener und Pariser Stimmung nur um ein Weniges
verschieden.
unsere tiefste Stimmgabel, das ist jene des Hof-Theaters, etwa einen halben
T o n hoher steht, als z.B. in Leipzig, von woher ich 1801eine Flote mit funf
Mittelstucken mitgebracht hatte, deren ich hier [Wien] als unbrauchbar
mich habe e n t a d e r n mussen.
Page 335:
Es ist bekannt, dass unsere musikalische Stimmung im Ganzen vie1 hoher
.
geworden ist, als sie bey den Alten war . . Die Compositionen von Graun
und Hasse fallen unsern Sangern meistens schwer, weil sie zu einer Zeit
geschrieben waren, da man die Orchester 1/2 und sogar 3/4 T o n tiefer
stimmte, als gegenwartig sow01 zu Berlin, als zu Dresden. Die zu Hassens
Zeit erbaute Orgel der konigl. Kapelle zu Dresden, die niemals verandert
worden ist, konnte man als Muster zum allgemeinen Kammertone
annehmen, welche auch die Orgel der Nicolaikirche zu Leipzig darbietet.
Dieselbe Stimmung hatte man auch damals zu Berlin, Neapel, Rom und
Paris angenommen.
In W i e n stimmt man sehr betrachtlich hoher, als in Berlin; in Munchen, in

Prag, in Paris wieder anders. Die Verschiedenheit betragt mehr, als einen
halben, sie steigt wol bis zu Dreyviertel-Ton.
Page 336:
Leider aber blieb sich der Cammerton so wenig- treu, dai3 es wohl eine Menge
-
Cammertonstimmungen, aber keinen Cammerton mehr giebt.
wir haben ein hoheres und ein tieferes Flugelstuck gemacht und damit Sie die
Stimmung in allen Orten machen konnen.
ein solches Werck nicht in Chor- sondern in richtigen Cammer-Ton gesetzet

werde.
Unbillig ware es, Cammerton zu verlangen, wenn er im Contract nicht

ausdriicklich ist bedungen worden, indem diese Stimmung durch alle
Register eine Pfeife, und zwar die grogte, mehr erfordert.
Cammer. W o dieses W o r t bey einem Register stehet, bedeutet es eine

Stimme, welche einen T o n tiefer gestimmt ist, um das Transponiren zu
verhuten.
Page 339:
Die Oper in W i e n geht allmIhlich erst bis auf g7o Schwingungen [= 435 Hz],
was ein Oboe von Professor Sellner in W i e n beweist.
Eine Stimmgabel, die zu einem 1825 von Conrad Graf gebauten

Hammerklavier einer englischen privatsammlung gehort, zeigt bereits die
Stimmtonhohe 445.
Page 343:
I1 apparait avec evidence que la trhs grande majorit6 des diapasons Ctait au-
dessus de 440 Hz; ... la moyenne se situait autour de 445 Hz. La dispersion
est de I'ordre de 20 H z entre maximum et minimum.
Nous espCrons, par nos recherches, avoir fait oeuvre utile dans la mesure oh
elles sont susceptibles de calmer certaines inquiCtudes nCes d'une campagne
de presse inconsidCrCe. I1 Ctait de toutes facons nCcessaire de faire le point
quant aux affirmations sur une soi-disant montCe constante du diapason, af-
firmations maintenant rCphtCes depuis un sihcle, sans fondements sCrieux et
dont le seul rCsultat Ctait de perpCtuer, en sensibilisant I'opinion, un climat de
mhcontentement et de suspicion rCciproques, prkjudiciable tant aux facteurs
d'instruments qu'aux musiciens qui ont bien assez de soucis autrement.
Page 346:
I distinti suonatori di flauto, che vanta Venezia, l n n o sperimentato, che
quelli fabbricati nel secolo scorso dal Pallanca, dal Mazzaini, dal Fornari, e da
Pellegrino De Azzi sono di un tono pih bassi di quelli, che si costruiscono
attualmente.
Page 347:
Ainsi les pianos Erard sont toujours un peu ~ l u bas
s que les pianos Pleyel. Pas
un artiste qui ait eu occasion de jouer dans les salles de ces deux illustres mai-
sons auquel cette remarque ait 6chappC.
Les nouveaux orgues construits depuis 1800 furent diapasonis sur le ton des
anciens, et ce n'est que depuis une vingtaine d'annCes au plus que l'on s'est
habituC Q donner aux orgues B peu prks le ton d'orchestre tel qu'il Ctait de 1830
B 1840 [sic].
Page 348:
Quant B la mise au ton d'orchestre d'un orgue aussi important que celui de
Rodez, nous n'en voyons pas la nCcessitC. Nous avons trait6 cette question
dans nos rapports sur les orgues de Toulouse, d'albi, de montpellier et de Car-
cassonne. Nous persistons B demander la conservation du ton de chapelle
dans I'inthrCt de la gravitC des offices divins et du diapason de la voix hu-
maine. L'opCra lui-mime nous fournit un excompte des inconvknients qui
resultent de 1'ilCvation du diapason actuel au ton d'orchestre puisqu'on ne
trouve plus de tCnors pour chanter les chefs d'oeuvre de Cluck et qu'on est
dCji dans l'obligation de transposer la musique de Spontini .. .
Cette manihre
dlopCrer la mise au ton d'orchestre explique aussi dans une certaine mesure la
.
modicitC des prix; car en haussant l'orgue . . , trente quatre au moins des
plus grands tuyaux de chaque jeu deviennent le bCnCfice net du facteur.
Page 350:
Eine Hamburger Gabel vom Jahre 1820 liefert mir 852'31 [426], differirt also
mit der dortigen Stimmung ungefahr um drei Viertheil eines Halbtones, oder
nach iilterer Ausdrucksweise um etwa 4 Commata.
Page 359:
De stemming moet naar de gelijkzwevende temperatuur en zo laag mogelijk
genomen worden. In geen geval zal zij de gewone orcheststemming van 880
trillingen voor a' per seconde te boven gaan.
Page 361:
Bald wiirde das Orchester scharf und durchdringend klingen, wie etwa eine
Salonkapelle oder eine Militarmusik. Das muR aus kunstlerischen Griinden
vermieden werden, und das ist auch der Grund, warum wir dem Vorschlag
der Amerikaner niemals zustimmen konnen.
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Index
A + z , i n relation t o mezzo and tutto alternate t u n i n g joints and slides, 303-

punto, 61 304, 312; lower joints n o w o f t e n
A + ? , at Venice S Marco i n 171h missing, 304; t u n i n g slide o n
century, 60; at Bologna i n 1475, 60 traverso, lvii n j j . See also corps de
A-2 i n England, 129 rechange
A-440 Hz and actual pitch since I'ancien ton (end o f 1 8 ' ~
century), 311-
W o r l d W a r 11, 362-363 312, 329; a n d Garnier, 312; and
A-Cammerton, see Agricola; Q u a n t z W u n d e r l i c h , 311
acoustics, different perspective Anciuti, G.M., 161, 166, 271; Flauti
compared t o music, xlvi; relevant d'echo, 238; and Richter at Dres-
parameters, xlvii. See also toler- den, 213; and Sammartini, 1821175;
ance of frequency in determining alternate t o p joints, 291
standards Antegnati (family), 64, 74, 327-328
Adlung, Jakob, li, 5, 31, 32, 4911111, 137, Antegnati, Graziadio, 63, 67, 73
141, 187, 204, 207, 277-278, 285, 286 apathetic wording of early Italian
Agricola, F., 179116, 185, 266-68, 275; A- sources deceptive, 64
Cammerton, 267-268, 286; close Auber, D.F.E., 332
connection t o Q u a n t z and yet Austrian Netherlands, 174-175
contradiction with, 267-268; automatic i n s t r u m e n t s as pitch
c o m m e n t s o n French pitch inac- evidence, 26
curate, 275; not describing exact a u t o n o m y of pitches used for differ-
intervals, 267; pitch description, e n t functions, liv-lv
266
Albinoni, T., solo parts t o O p u s 7 and BG (Bach-Gesellschaft edition), 242-
O p u s 9 possibly transposed, 165- 243; problems w i t h transpositions,
166 243, 246, 248, 249, 251, 252, 254, 255,
Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, 330, 256
332, 333, 334, 335, 346, 349, 350, 351; Bach, Emanuel, 289, 2991164
polemic against rising pitch, 333
550 Index
Bach, Sebastian, 229-257; and affective 255; Cantata 172, 255-256; Cantata
properties of keys, 192; and cor- 182, 256; Cantata 185,256; Cantata
netts at Leipzig, 232; different 199, 256; Cantatas 102, 97, and 105,
ways of notating Cornet-ton and 261n83
various levels of Cammerton, 232; Barcotto, Antonio, 61, 66-67, 69-70, 71,
Naumburg organ, 231; pitch of 74, 75
woodwinds linked to, Z ~ I - Z ~ Z ; Bassano family, 57, 59, 93, 112n162;
original version of B W V 80a/7, instruments at both English and
249-21j1; recitals on Silbermann continental pitches, 93-94
organs in Dresden, 213; B W V 208, bass voices and low range, xxxvii
234; B W V 63, 234. See also Miihl- bassoon, 144, 155nr12, 241, 296115;
hausen; Weimar; Cothen; Leipzig; unreliability for pitch, 27; short-
Brandenburg Concertos; Bach's ened wing-joints, 27; short Den-
use of tief-Cammerton at Leipzig; ners, 217; names Bach used for it,
Bach's works in which pitch is an 235-236, 254, 255,259n49; B W V 31,
issue 248, 262n101;B W V 150, 254; B W V
Bach's use of tief-Cammerton at 155, 2-55; Cugnier's comments, 276,
Leipzig, 239-242; during first year 307, 308; highest notes in Rameau,
and a half, 239; Cantata 194, 239- 2971130; basson moderne and basson
240; the Magnificat and Cantata 63, ancien, 3x0. See also dulcian
240-241; Cantatas 22 and 23, 241- Baur, Rocko, 295, joon113
242; hautbois d'amour as Bach's BCdos de Celles, F., 277, 297n36
reason for reworking Cantata 23, Beethoven, L. van, Fidelio, 338; 8th
241 Symphony, 339; 9th Symphony,
Bach's works in which pitch is an 339, 341n43
issue, 242-257; his technique for Bellini, V., 328, 332, 355
revivals at Leipzig, 243; perform- bells, church, 16-17, 18, 203
ance priorities in problematic Benda, Franz, 289
pieces, 254; list of problematic Benda, Johann, 289
pieces with dates, 243-246; Cantata Berlin, 135, 216, 287-289, 335, 350;
12, 246-247; Cantata 18, 247; Can- French influence in 171h century,
tata 21, 247; Cantata 31, 247-248; 216; Heitz, 216; hautboys supplied
Cantata 7oa, 248-249; Cantata 71, from Nuremberg, 227n145;J.
249; Cantata 8oa, 249-251; Cantata Wagner, 288; Friedrich 11's pitch
106, 251-252; Cantata 131, 252; Can- independent of city, 288; low in
tata 132, 252; Cantata 147a, 252; classical period, 316; end of A-2 era
Cantata 150, 254; Cantata 152, 254' with Quantz's passing, 317; Berlin
255; Cantata 155, 255; Cantata 161,
Index 551
Opera in 1830, 349; orchestras in CammerThon, xxxvi, xxxviii, lv n2,

1939, 360 68, 69, 76-82, 102, 136-137;modern
Berlioz, Hector, Ivi n q , 34onz, 346, debate on frequency, 79-82; analo-
348 gous to mezzo punto, 76, 82
Bernoulli, Daniel, 43, 316 Cammerton, 44; as a concept, xxxvi;
Besozzi, Antonio and Carlo, 269 and Cammer-Musique, 136-137; first
Biber, H.I.F. von, 82; Missa use, 141; existence of two different
Salisburgensis, 149 Cammertons offered more key
Biber, C.H., 150 choices, 190; distance from Chorton
Bismantova, Bartolomeo, xlvii-xlix, according to Mattheson, 205; pre-
664-65 sumed advantages over tief-
Boehm, Theobald, 335, 350 Cammerton, 236; ambiguity in late
Bologna, 42, 304-305, 353; A t 3 there in 181hand early centuries, 336.
1475, 60; S Petronio, organ "in See also Kammerton
cornu Epistolae," 60, 75, 169; organ Cannons, 176; original organ, 176
"in Cornu Evangelli," 75, 169; drop Carissimi, Giacomo, 73
from A t 1 to A t o in 1708, 169; Cassel inventory, 78, 104n25, lo51-150,
other organs at, 169 1061158
Brahms, Johannes, 353-3549 359 Castillon, Franqois de, on Quantz's
Brandenburg Concertos conceived at flutes, 317
tief-Cammerton, 237-238; trumpet castrati, 72, 1071177, 328-329; their
part, 237; standard trumpet types emergence and fall connected to
that could have played it, 237-238; pitch standards, 328-329
numerous original recorders at Cathcart, G.C., 358
tief-Cammerton, 238; Flauti d'echo, Caus, Salomon de, and A. Kircher on
238 Roman pitch, 71
Bressan, Peter, 127; using Ton de la Cavagna, Antonio, 73
chambre du Roy in England, 128; Cavalieri, E. de, 75
recorder at both A-195 and A-I, Cavalli, Francesco, Ercole Amante,
176-177 100-102
Buxtehude, D., 142 Cazzati, M., 75

cent, xliv-xlv
Caccini, G.R., 75 Cesti, Antonio, 75
Caldara, A., Roman works with Chapel Royal, 124, 130-131,290; French
transposed parts, 167, 168 woodwind players in, 130; rise to
Cambert, Robert, 125-126;as French A-I in 172os, 178. See also Purcell,
spy in England, 125; performing Henry
Lully, 125
552 Index
Chapell-pitch, 133;predominance of higher pitch, 301; more specific

Q - 2 in English organs, 133. See also and restricted, 301-302; lower than
new Consort-pitch A-I rare, 302; standard at A-430 a
Charpentier, M.A., 116-117 modern myth, 302; organs differ-
chiavette, 65, 72, 73,1051138 ent from other instruments, 303
Chiti, G., 107n80 Cothen, 236-238; no pitch differences,
Chladni, Ernst, 44 236; vocal parts unusually high,
Chopin, F., 347 236; repeats in Leipzig at tief-
ChormaJ3, ChormiijJig, 56-57, 78, 136; Cammerton, 237; influences from
relation to Chorton, 57. See also Berlin, 237. See also Brandenburg
tuono corista Concertos
ChorThon, lv nz, 76, 78; changing comma, xliii, lii; pitch standards
meaning, 76 accurate to no closer than, xliv
Chorton, 44; as an ambiguous and concert pitch, xxxvi, 126, 1531156, 290.
general concept, 57, 78,136, 195, See also Consort-pitch
204; equivalent to Cornet-ton, zoo- Concert spirituel, Paris, 274, 276, 303,
201; distance from Cammerton ac- 311
cording to Mattheson, 205; be- Consort-pitch, 95-96, 175-176; examples,
comes the term for A+o, 209,284- 126-128; and Quire-pitch grid, 96;
285. See also hoch Chorton interface with Ton de la chambre du
Church pitch o f f , 132 Roy, 126-129; analog to German
clarinet, 12-14;criteria for judging Cammerton, 126; identical to "con-
accuracy, 14; useful in replacing cert pitch," 126; the pitch of the
organ and recorder in later 18Ih Consort-flute, 126-128; predomi-
century, 12, 301; musical role, 12; nant instrumental standard in
least tractable of woodwinds, 12; 1670-1700,128; current well into
th
overblows a IZ"', 12; mouthpiece 18 century, 128, 175; important for
and stability, 12; sensitive to voices, 128-129. See also vocal range
length variation, 12; barrel- Corelli, A,, 168
mouthpiece, 13; effect of pitch on Corista di Lombardia, Corista Lombardo,
tone color, 13; number of meas- see Lombard pitch
ured, 14; Viennese late 18'~- Corista di S Pietro, 73, 167, 267, 305, 328
century examples, 321; and Jacob corista in the Netherlands, 84-85
Denner, 199;pitch change with Corista Veneto, 160, 166, 177, 265;
shrinkage, 38; Appendix 6. See also distinguished from Corista
Wienerton Lombardo, 270; influence in
classical pitches, period of consolida- Vienna, 294
tion and agreement, 301; trend to Coristi di mezzo, 270, 271, 289
Index 553
cornett (curved), xl, xlii, 5, 6-7, 140; Denner indicating standards, 199.
difficult to shorten, 6; pitch data See also alternate tuning joints
consistent, 6; correlation of Corrette, Michel, 273, 277
sounding length to pitch, 6; Prae- Couchet, Joannes, 19-20, 22, 84-85,
torius on, 6, 7; historical embou- 11on133;use of "den reghten toon,"
chure, 7; hissing, 7; tuning joints, 85
xlvii-xlviii, tolerance of tuning, Couperin, Fransois, 121
xlviii; transposing, xlviii-xlix; Cremona, 62, 74-75; ties to Venice, 74

pitches in Graphs rd, 9, and lo, 59- Crotch, William, 337
60; principal pitch, 60; pitches Cugnier, Pierre, 276-277, 307-309, 310
derived from Mersenne and Prae-
torius by Myers, 60; secondary Dallam, Robert, 87, 91, 11zn165;pitch
cornett pitches, 61; finger-reach of English organs different from
too large on cornetts lower than those in Brittany, 92, 126
A+I, 60; reason made at pitches a Dallam, Thomas, 87, 11rn146
semitone apart, 63-64; Christ Darmstadt, 198, 217-218; woodwinds at
Church cornetts, 91; Shore's cor- two levels of Cammerton, 217;
netts, 95; pitch unchanged through Heitz traverso, 218
1 h
18"' century, 137; rare in 18 cen- Denner, Christoph, 136, 137, 149, 150,
tury, 138; Ferdinando de' Medici's 15711166, 205, 217; "Chorist-Floten,"
order to Denner, 203; and Bach, 144; order from Ferdinando de'
232, 2571116; Gluck's use of in Vi- Medici, 202-203; and tief-
enna, 296; in 191h century, 3411125; Cammerton instruments, 206; order
Appendix 2. See also mute cornett from Nuremberg town council,
Cornettenthon, 76; equal to Cammer- 206; short bassoons, 217
Thon, 76; analogous to mezzo punto, Denner, Jacob, 217; traversos indicat-
76; same as Cornet-ton, 137 ing standards, 199; recorders and
Cornet-ton, 44, 79, 137, 283; equivalent clarinets confirming traverso lev-
to Chorton, zoo-201; meaning for- els, 199; and cornetts, 203; regular
th
gotten by 19 century, 333 traveler, 227n145
corps de rechange on traversos (alter- deutsche as an indication of pitch, 138-
nate middle joints), xlix-li, 9; as 140
described by Quantz, xlix; as de- diapason normal ("French pitch," A-
scribed by Corrette, 1; best joint 435), 348-349; artificially lower
on Quantz flutes, 1; best joint on than general practice, 348, 351; how
most flutes, 1; Ribock on, 1; for literally observed, 351; served to
different standards or adjustment brake a pitch rise in zd half of 191h
within one standard, lo; those of century, 351-352; adoption in other

554 Index
countries, 352; advocated by Verdi, 1770S, 319. See also Dutch organs;
353; enforced in France through Dutch woodwinds
government subsidies, 352; spread Dutch woodwinds, and pitch names
through popularity of French derived from, 171; A-1Y2 most
woodwinds, 352,358; advocated for common 1700-1730,172;A-2, 172
the sake of "uniformity," 354;
Conservatoire oboe designed for, Ellis, Alexander J., xlvi, 3, 4, 49~1107,
3641123. See also pitch standard; 345, 357,364n5
French Commission of 1858 English instruments other than
Doni, G.B., 7OP71,73,75,107n70; organs, some from Venice in
ascending semitones, 70; confir- Henry VIII's time, 92, 93; Praeto-
mation from organs, 70-71 rius on, 94; Q-Irevived at Resto-
Donizetti, G., 328, 355 ration, 124, 132; French influences
Dresden, 135, 212-214, 335, 339; Cammer- in 171h century, 124-179,1521146,
ton organs, 212, 213, 287, 316; visit of 1531182; beginnings of A-I, 176-178;
court musicians to Venice in 1716, woodwinds moving upward at
213; and Anciuti, 213; change in end of 1 8 ' century,
~ 318; A+o
early 173os, 287; distance between prominent in classical period, 319;
Chorton and Cammerton, 287; or- presence of foreign musicians in
chestra in 1862 playing at A-I, 354 classical period, 3x9. See also Lon-
Dresden conference of 1862, 354 don Opera
dulcian, 61, 69, 78, 79, 1061158, 155n112, English lute songs, 95
236, 254, 255, 259"49 English organs, destroyed ca.1550 and
Duni, E.R., 276 1642-1660,86-87; few pitches sur-
Dutch organs, 146, 172-174;similar to vive, 87; transposing organ, 88-89,
German, 172; Zwolle at A+I, 173; 92, 11111159, 129; 10-foot normal in
th
all Schnitgers in Holland at A+I, 16 century, 92; pitch uninflu-
th
173; Kammer-toon in early 18 cen- enced by French, 126, 153n82; A-I
tury, 174; A+o not uncommon in nonexistent, 176; mostly at Q - 2 in
early 18"' century, 174; St. Bavo, classical period, 319; often pre-
Haarlem, 292, 359 served because not used with
Dutch Republic, 145-146, 291-293; other instruments, 356. See also
steady existence of A t o , 86; as Toane of the Common Church
mirror of European pitches, 145, Pitch
172; presence of A-I at end of 171h Erdmann, Ludwig, 163, 169; played
century, 145; Cometten toon, 172; probably at A+o at Bologna, Ven-
Operatoon, 172, 292; ordinaire toon, ice, and Lucca, 169
293; "Kammertoon" at A+o in the
Index 555
ergonomics as an influence on the French influences in century;

pitch of winds, XI, 60 Paris Conservatoire; Ton dJOphra;
Erlebach, P.H., 140 Paris OpCra; Grande Bande and
Euler, Leonhard, 43, 316 Petite Bande at Versailles
French organ pitch, 97-98, 273, 307-
Fage, Adrien de la, xlvii, 330-331, 348 308, 347; Versailles chapelle, 121,
Fasch, J.F., Concerto, F W V L:GII, 307; several famous organs built at

220 A-2 in classical period, 307; A-2
th
female choirs at higher pitch, rrlnl3 still common in 19 century, 347.
Ferrara, 74 See also Netherlands, Flemish or-
Flauti d'echo in 4t" Brandenburg, 238 gan makers; Louis XIV parenthe-
Florence, 70,75, 346,353 sis
Fontana, G.B., 61 Fux, J.J., 150
Fornari, Andrea, 306
Fork, see tuning fork Gagliano, Marco da, 74, 75
Frankfurt am Main, 218-219;connec- Gahn, Benedikt, 207
tion with Darmstadt, 218; regular Galliard, J.E., 270
visits by Jacob Denner, 227n145 German organs, unaffected by new
Frederiksborg Compenius organ, 80 French pitches, 140; pitched above
French Commission of 1858 ("Lissa- 480, 141-143; reasons for existence
jous-HalCvy Commission), 343, of organs pitched above 480, 142;
345, 348; included few musicians, churches owning instruments
348. See also diapason normal tuned to high organ, 142; Praeto-
Ih
French instruments, spread in late 17 rius on A t z , 143;transposing
century, 115; reasons for spread, downward to Cammerton, 183; av-
115, 135; little change at turn of 1 8 ' ~ erage pitch 1700-1730,203; organs
century, 170;first use of A-I in at A+o, 209; still at A + I in classical
France, 170-171;A-x1/2 in France, period, 318. See also organs in
171; French woodwinds at mid-18'~ Cammerton; Kammerkoppel; Kam-
century at four different stan- merregister
dards, 273; shorter harpsichord German switch in meaning of
scales in 178os, 311; variety of Cammerton and Chorton in x7Ih cen-
pitches in early I ~ ' " century, 329; tury, 78, 133-1349 136-140
considered high by Germans and German woodwinds, early
Ih
Italians in early 19 century, 330. century from Venice, 76; French-
See also Germany, arrival of type but at A+~/Cornet-ton in
French instruments; English in- South, 143, 202; A-11/2 predomi-
struments other than organs, nant 1670-1700,144; A-11/2 still
556 Index
important 1700-1730,208; Jacob Grieg, Edvard, 359

Denner's instruments indicating
standards, 199;Jacob Denner's Habsburg Lands, 102-103, 147-150, 293-
instruments agreeing with other 296, jzo-j~j,338-340;dual pitch
woodwinds, 1700-1730,199;nor- system parallel to Italy, 102;
mally considered in Cammerton, ChorThon the lower pitch, 102-103;
202; some at A-I by 1690s, 205-206; ChorThon the lower pitch also in
pitches compared with locations southern Germany, 103; Janowka's
of makers, 278-279; classical pitch concepts generally under-
rh
pitches, 315; many woodwinds stood, 147; A+I in 17 century, 149;
made for Prussian army now lost, pairing of A-11/2 and A+%, 149;
317; possible military pitch, 317. southern terminology begins to
See also Germany change in mid-18Ihcentury, 293;
Ih
Germany, system in early 17 "Kammerton" goes up to A+o,
century parallel to Italy, 76; or- 294. See also Salzburg; Kremsmiin-
gans raised a step in 171h century, ster Abbey; Vienna
76-77; arrival of French instru- Haka, Richard, and instrument bill of
ments, 134-136; French instru- 1685, 133-134
ments immediately copied, 136; Hamburg, 135, 142, 163, 188, 205, 216,
use of A-2, 145, 286; ChorThon the 350; Opera in early 181hcentury
lower pitch in southern Germany, probably at A-2, 216
103;Prussia and Saxony in classi- Handel, G.F., Roman works with
cal period, 316; Cammerton's last transposed parts, 167; importing
stand in early 191h century, 333. See singers to London from northern
also German organs; German Italy, 161; La Resurrezione, 163, 167;
woodwinds; German switch Laudate Pueri Dominum ( H W V
Gervasoni, C., 305-306, 330 237), 167; I1 Trionfo del tempo e del
Gilbert and Sullivan, 355 disinganno ( H W V 46a), 167; Chan-
glass armonica, 31 dos Anthem 5A ( H W V zyoa), 176;
Gluck, C.W., 296, 308, 310; use of Anthem, H W V 249a, 178; Flavio,
cornetts, 296 177; Tamerlano, 177; Giulio Cesare,
Grande Bande and Petite Bande at 182n76; and affective properties of
Versailles, loo-102 keys, 193; tuning fork of 175os, see
Graun, C.H., 289 tuning fork
Graun, J.G., 289 harpsichord, see strung keyboard
Graupner, Christoph, 217 instruments
Grenser, A., 9, 283, 306, 314-315, 316, Harris, Renatus, 127, 133
325n44
Index 557
hautboy, 163, 165, 167, 176, 177, 180n32, Heitz, Johann, 216, 218, 22711138, 288;
18onj8, 1811162, 1811170, 1821176, 234- instruments at A - I V ~216;
, agent
235, 240, 2621193, 291, 295; unreli- for Naust, 216; possible supplier to
ability for pitch, 27-28, 48n88; Cothen, 238
determining resonance frequency, hoch Chorton (A+2), 204-205; indicated
28; difference in pitch between by a transposition of a m j from
staccato and legato, xliv; alternate A-I, 204. See also Chorton
joints less common than on Huygens, Christiaan, 41, 85
traverso, 9; effect of shrinkage, 38; Huygens, Constantijn, 84
hautboys in Cornet-ton, 124, 143, H z (hertz, cps), xxxiii, more specific
149, 202, 217, 293; development in than necessary, xliv-xlv
France in 166os, 136; and Zachow's
cantatas, 145; and Biber's Missa Ingegneri, M.A., 62,63
Salisb~r~ensis,
149; Marcello con- instruments, original, as historical
certo in c, 165; Handel's Roman evidence, xx, xxxiv, 3,4,5; in-
hautboy parts, 167-168; sensitivity creased understanding of how
to transposition, 188-189; Krebs played, 3; data used here, 4; crite-
fantasias with organ and transpo- ria for credibility, 35-41; locating
sition, 220; Rameau's opera solos and dating, 39
and transposition, 276; transposed instruments owned by performing
parts at Salzburg, 322; traveling institutions, 142, 2971124
virtuosos, 303; BWVIZ,246; international conventions on pitch,
B W V ~ I247-248;
, B W V 7oa, 248- 344; Stuttgart Congress (1834),
249; B W V 131, 252; B W V I ~ Z254;
, 349; no apparent effect, 349; Vi-
B W V I ~256-257.
~, See also tenor enna Conference, 352; I S 0 meet-
hautboy; oboe ing of 1939, 361
hautbois d'amour, 150, 240, 248, 252; as Italian orchestras in the ~ g j o s361
,
Bach's reason for reworking Can- Italian Senate and pitch law passed in
tata 23, 241 1988,363
haute-contre voice type, 122, 275 Italian woodwinds, 159, 161; in A-I,
Haydn, Josef, 294-295, 303; itch rise 161; in A+I, 163; German players in
before 1766, 295; same pitches in Italy in early 18Ihcentury, 163; at
Eszterhiza as Vienna, 295, 339 A+o in 1700-1730,166; in period
Heinichen, J.D., 139, 166; and affec- 1730-1770,270; and the coristi di
tive properties of keys, 192; canta- mezzo, 271. See also Venice
tas with parts in different keys, ivory instruments and shrinkage, 37
214
Janitsch, J.G., 289
558 Index
Janowka, T.B., 79, 109n112, 139, 147, length standards and pitch levels, 32-
149,162 35; organ pipe-lengths not literal,
33; woodwinds and local length
Kammerkoppel on organs, 147,196. See units, 33-35; Brunswick inch,
also organs in Cammerton 5on12o
Kammerregister on organs, 77, 196; Lombard pitch (Corista Lombardo), 74,
placement within organ, 196. See 160-166, 185, 269, 304-305; relation
also organs in Cammerton to Rome, 74; distinguished from
Kammerton, 313; two kinds in classi- Corista Veneto, 270; migration
cal period, 313. See also Cammerton; downward, 305, 328
CammerThon London Opera, 161,291; and perform-
Key characters, see transposing ers coming from northern Italy,
Kiesewetter, R.G., 334, 338 161; pitch of Opera until ca.1720,
Kirst, F.G.A., 314-315, 317, 3251156 175; rise to A-I in early I ~ Z O 177-
S,
Krebs, J.L., organ and hautboy 178; rise to Q-2 by 1751, 291
notated a Mz apart, 220 London in x91h century, well docu-
Kremsmiinster Abbey, 293-294, mented by Ellis, 355; same decade
3oon105 as most operettas by Gilbert and
Krieger, J.P., 140 Sullivan, 355; Italian Opera simi-
Kuhnau, Johann, 183, 186,189-190,192, lar to continent, 355; Wagner Fes-
207, 215, 222n28, 224n92, 225n111, tival (1877) and high pitch, 356-
22811161, 239; specification of organ 357; introduction of lower pitch in
pitch at Leipzig, 215; and Hautbois 1896 in Promenade Concerts, 358
d'amour transposition, 221n27, London Philharmonic, pitch at
222n28; tuning of strings at Leip- founding (1813), 337; pitch in 1828,
zig, 222n28 338; highest pitch in 1874, 356
Lot, Thomas and Martin, 170,171,273,
Lambert, Heinrich, 43, 316 275, 307, 312, 315
Landi, Stefano, 73 Louis XIV parenthesis in organ pitch,
Lasso, Orlando di, 57, 62,72, 76 120-121;royal organs governed
Legrenzi, G., 75 separately, 120; intermixing of
Leipzig, 81, 183, 208, 214-215,221n15, functions among royal musicians,
23% 231, 232, 239, 241, 279, 285, 318, 120; organs restored to original
321, 334, 335, 338, 349, 350, 355; pitches, 120; Versailles chapel or-
Kuhnau's specification of organ gan, 121;Couperin's organ at St.
pitch there, 215; confirmed by J.A. Gervais, 121;organs at A-2 after
Silbermann, 215 1700, 121. See also Thierry, Alexan-
dre; Saint-Cyr
Index 559
Ltbeck, 142, 143, 156n132, 156n134, 230 Ton dl~curie,98; flutes at Ton de
Lully, J.B., loo-102, 275, 308; works chapelle, loo
played in England, 167os, 125; pro- Merula, T., 61
ductions in Holland in 168os, 146; Meyerbeer, G., 332, 347
productions in Brussels from mezzo punto, 58-62, 159; most common
1680s, 146, 174 wind standard in 16rh century, 59;
lute, 24, 113n188;critically stressed associated with cornett, 59
strings, 24; mostly at A-2, 24 Milan, 70, 74, 108n89,166,168, 271, 327,
328,346; La Scala, 346,353
Mace, Thomas, 95 Monsigny, P.A., 276
Mannheim, 311, 315-316 Montkclair, M.P. de, 277
Mantua, 164; S Barbara, 63, 73 Monteverdi, Claudio, 62, 73-74;
Marcello, A., solo part of hautboy Vespers, 73
concerto possibly transposed, 165 Morley, Thomas, xxxviii
Marini, B., 61 Morsolino, G.B., 62-63, 1oqnz9, 104njo
Marschner, H.A., 349 Mozart, W.A., transposed viola parts,
Mattheson, Johann, lii, 11, 186, 190, 187, 221n14; performance at Peter-
192-193,202, 203, 205, 216, 286; and skirche, Salzburg, 322-323; pitch at
affective properties of keys, xl-xli, Vienna, 339
193 Muffat, Georg, xxxviii, 117, 121-122,
meantone, xxxiv, lvii n38, 46n33, 190- 148, 202, 206
191; limited choice of tonalities, Miihlhausen, 232, 249, 252, 254, z6jnr1o
190; limited ability to transpose, Munich, 135,143,144, 149, lszn37, 163,
191;transposition practical with 202, 216, 335, 350; move of Mann-
regular meantones, 191; scales in- heim orchestra to, 315

flected in parallel with Mz and mute cornett, 7, 80, 156n152;relation
m3, 191 to Renaissance flute, 8; associated
Mendel, Arthur, xli, xlvi, 3, 17, 29-30, with tutto punto, 63; average pitch,
31, 70, 156n160, 225n94, 236, 255, 63, 68; whole-tone lower than
261n77, 322, 349, 362 curved, 68, 106n51;different musi-
Mendelssohn, Felix, 251, 257111, 349, 351 cal functions from instruments at
Mersenne, Marin, 7,42,45n19, 82, mezzo punto, 68
11311199, 113n203;instruments simi-
lar to those in Praetorius, 97,98- NBA (Neue Bach Ausgabe), 246, 247,
99; inadvertent confirmation of 249, 251,256,261n75
connection between Ton de Nacchini, Pietro, 52n170, 60, 160, 161,
chapelle and A-2, 98; indication of 265, 270, 271, 294
Naples, 70, 71, 74, 163, 168-169, 268, ceived "historical" pitch, 17; re-
269, 271-2731 296n13, 327, 328, 329, cordings as pitch documentation,
335, 346, 353; transposing parts, 168; 17; deducing original pitches, 18;
close relation with Rome, 169, 272- rarely moved, 15; types of docu-
273 mentation, 15; direct relation with
Naumburg, set of ~ ~ ' ~ - c e n t u r ~ other instruments until late 1 8 ' ~
instruments, 81,109n120, 231; its century, 15; organ pitch static
organ and Bach, 231 from late 18th century, 301; fre-
Neri, M., 61 quent alterations, 15-16; reports
Netherlands, 84-86; Praetorius from century of organs now
description, 84; Flemish organ gone, 16; relation to church bells,
makers, 84,97; northern organs, 16-17;restorations, 16; musical role
85-86; northern hand-fluytjes, 86. in past, 5, alternatim passages, I, 55;
See also Spanish Netherlands; pipe-lengths not literal, 33; Ger-
Austrian Netherlands; Dutch Re- man organs raised a step in r71h
public century, 76-77; organists com-

new Consort-pitch, 177, 290. See also monly transposed, 64, 188; organ-
Chapell-pitch ists caught between demands of
New Philharmonic Pitch (1896), 358 instruments and choirs, 67; Ap-
Nivers, G.G., 117, 120, 151n13 pendix 7. See also pairing original
nominal pitch, 38-39; recorders frequency and original name;
normally thought of as in F, 38, Kammerkoppel; Kammerregister;
123-124,152n38;assumptions in this organs in Cammerton; classical
study, 39 pitches; Dutch organs; English
North, Roger, 124-125,126, 1521146 organs; French organ pitch; Ger-
Nuremberg, 34, 79, 136, 143, 149, 150, man organs; length standards and
163, zoo, 202, 206, 208, 216-217, 237, pitch levels; Louis XIV parenthe-
279; higher woodwinds 1700-1730, sis; Netherlands, Flemish organ
200; and general German pitch makers; Schnitger; Silbermann;
levels, 217; A-I predominant, 217 temperature; Venetian organs
organs in Cammerton, 191, 196-198, 285-
oboe, 339,352,362,364n23,365n41; 286; reason for, 197-198; list of
Vienna oboe, 3651154 Cammerton organs, 198; general
oboe da caccia, 249 preference for high-pitched or-
Opera, see Paris Ophra; London gans, 197. See also Kammerkoppel;
Opera Kammerregis ter
organ, 15-18; accuracy and credibility
of pitch data, 17,47n53; precon-
Paganini, Nicolb, xl Broadwood at three different
pairing original frequency and pitches, 356, and Steinway, 356.
original name, 2,44, 198, 278; Ap- See also Chopin
pendix I Piccinni, N., 272
Palestrina, G.P. da, 72-73 pitch, luxury of a single level not
Paolucci, Giuseppe, 55-56, 60, 160, 177, historical, xx; not a phenomenon
269-270, 272, 304 of nature, xxxiii; fluctuation over
Paris Conservatoire, official pitches, last centuries, xxxv; name
330, 346, 347 changes, xxxvi; changes during
Paris Opera, Lully still performed performance, xlv; tendency to
intact until mid-18'" century, 275, remain steady, 96; in orchestras,
308; players must have had differ- can be lowered only when winds
ent instruments for court and op- are changed, 356, 358
era, 123; pitchpipes ordered by, 275; pitch differences, effects of, xxxvi-
may have owned its instruments xli; altered sound, xxxvi-XI;vocal
at particular pitch, 275; transpos- fatigue, see vocal range; and mod-
ing woodwinds at, 276; crucial ern symphony players, xxxviii,
changes in 1770s~308; pitch moves 362; Praetorius on, xxxviii; Muffat
up to A-1'/2 in 178os, 309; pitch on, xxxviii; Quantz on, xxxviii-
drop in 1824, 330-332; pitches in xxxix; Rossini on, xxxix; as indi-
other Parisian theaters, 330; pur- cated by modern transposing in-
chase of 22 new wind instruments struments, xxxix; on string in-
in I ~ Z O S ,331; Grand Opera in mid- struments, xxxix. See also register
191h century carefully documented breaks; vocal range; transposing
by Ellis, 347. See also Ton d'Ophra pitch, historical evidence on, kinds of
Pergolesi, G.B., 272 relevant information, xxxiii, xli,
Peri, J., 75 198-199; written sources, xxxiv, 2,
Perti, G.A., 75; aria in Furio Carnillo 47n47; notation of works in more
(16512) appears to be transposed, than one key, 3,184; importance of
165 organs and certain woodwinds, 5.
Petit,J.C., 161, 179n9, 273 See also instruments; scientific
Pfeiffin diagram of Praetorius, 79-80 measurements; traveling musi-
Philidor, F.A.D., 276 cians
piano, and Streicher, 45118, 339, 351; in pitch names, as constantly changing
Austria in classical period, 321-322; "buzzwords," xli, 137;based on
sliding keyboards in 1823,339; and musical function, xlii; associated
Wolfel studio, 347; and Pleyel, with instruments, xlii; Dutch
347; and Erard, 347, 356; and
562 Index
pitch names derived from wood- not well documented because im-
winds, 171 portance not realized, 20; Fonten-
pitch since 1830, illusion of a rise, 343- elle's comments, 19; Appendix 8
344; instrument design has playing techniques of instruments,
changed little, 344; rise at end of how close to original, 40-41
rh
20 century, 363 Praetorius, Michael, xxxviii, xliii, 7,
pitch standard, xxxiv; cluster of 8, 25, 30, 57,58,69, 71, 78-82,84, 94,
several notions, xxxiii; sound fre- 95, 102, 1ogn113,109n115, 11on126,
quency, xxxiii; seldom observed, 11211185,136, 137, 143, 145; as pitch
but serve as reference, 344; accu- informant, 76; opinions on pitch,
rate to no closer than a comma, 77; confusion on level of
xliv; single standard and "trans- ChorThon, 76-77
posing" instruments since Indus- Prague, 77, 102, 114n212, 147, 321, 335,
trial Revolution, xxxvi, 344; dif- 351; Praetorius on, 102. See also
ferent levels at same place, xxxv; Wienerton
when first became necessary, I, 1.5- punto, 61-62
58; pitch not fixed for vocal Purcell, Henry, 130-132;organ at
groups singing alone, 55; when Whitehall, 130; use of transposi-
instruments began playing in tion in 169os, 131;pitch at West-
churches, 57; when instruments minster Abbey, 131
began to be at same pitch, 57; or-

der of difference smaller by lgfh Quantz, J.J., the Essai, x x ~wind
;
century, 336; distinction between instruments in Rome, 167; Dres-
official standards and real levels, den, 212; advocacy of A-I, 212; ve-
344. See also Hz; international hemence when discussing key
conventions characters, zzzn37; pitches of his
pitch variation within a standard, flutes, 9,46n30,46n31, zz6n119, 288,
xliii, xlvii-li; distinguishing dif- 299n79, 299n80,314, 32sn42; lower
ferences of standard from varia- than standard traverso of his time,
tion within a standard, xlvii, lo. 317; pitch description, 266; close
See also corps de rechange connection to Agricola and yet
pitchpipe, 18-22, 118-119,307; like small contradictions, 267-268; not de-
recorder, 19; usual reference before scribing exact intervals, 267; A-
ca.1800, 18, 19; used for tuning Cammerton, 267-268, 286; disin-
keyboards, 19-20; gives note- genuousness in discussing higher
names, 20; place and date often woodwind pitches, 283; statements
indicated, 20-21; examples, 21; dis- personal opinions, 283-284; old-
tinct from organ Stimmpfeife, 21;
fashioned ideas, 317. See also Cas- Ribock, J.J.H., 1; comparison of
tillon Saxon and Berlin flutes, 9, 314
Quire-pitch, 87, 91, 130-132,178; organs Riccati, Giordano, 43
lowered to at Restoration, 130; Richter, Christian, and Anciuti, 213
reason for lowering, 130 Rion, Ignazio, 168, 18on38
Quire-pitch grid, 88-92, 178; most Rippert, Jean-Jacques, 24,99,123,
English organs match, 89-90; in- ISonz, 175
dependent of continental grid, 90; Rome, 69-73, 167-168, 272-273, 340nz;
levels apparently confirmed in low organs, 70; Praetorius on low
virginals, 90; exceptions, 91; used Italian pitch, 71; de Caus and
by R. Dallam, 92; moribund in Kircher on, 71; Mocchi on, 71;
early lgthcentury except on or- when organs lowered, 71-72; influ-
gans, 338; Q - 2 only survivor in lgth ence of castrati, 72; Roman corista,
century, 290 72; chiavette intervals became
gradually smaller, 72; relation to
Rameau, J.P., works possibly per- Lombard pitch, 73, 74, 185; Quantz
formed on transposing wood- on wind instruments in, 167; con-
winds at the OpCra, 276; fre- firmation of A-2 by Robert Smith,
quently wrote for haute-contre, 168; close relation with Naples,
275; out of fashion by 178os, 308 169, 272-273; instrumental pitch at
Ramerino, N., 107n7o end of 181hcentury, 328. See also
recorder, 11; tuning inflexibility, 11; castrati; Corista di S Pietro
18'"-century pitchpipe, 11; no miss- Rosenmiiller, Johann, 82
ing parts, 11; not altered because Rossi, Salamone, 61, 73
fell into disuse, 11; most useful Rossini, G., 332, 355; shock at low
types, 11;musical function, 11; and Paris OpCra pitch, 332; high range
4thBrandenburg, 238, 26on61; Ap- of tenor in Guillaume Tell, 332
pendix 5. See also nominal pitch Rota, Andrea, ro3n2
register breaks or "passagi" in voice, Rottenburgh family (Brussels), 174-
xxxvii, 185-186 175, 1811162
Renaissance flute, 7-8, 68, 80; difficult Rousseau, J.J., 277
to alter pitch, 7; scaling, 8; use, 8; Rousselet, Louis, 175, 181n64
usual pitch, 8, 68; relation to mute
cornett, 8; different musical func- sackbut, 69, 11on126,125; as check on
tions from instruments at mezzo Pfeifflin diagram, 81-82; in
punto, 68; Praetorius on low pitch Mersenne, 82; converted from
of, 69; existence of higher-pitched, Cornet-ton to Wienerton, 321
106n55; Appendix 3 Saint-Cyr, convent, 120

564 Index
Saint-Martin, Alhxis, 168 discussed in 1957, 360; players had

Salzburg, 149-150, 339; strings at A t 1 two instruments, 360
into the I ~ " ' century, 150, 322; shawm, xliii, rrjnrgp, 59, 61, 81, 94, 99,
southern terminology still in use 113n199, 133, 138, 142, I49
in 1786, 294. See also Habsburg Sievers, G.L.P., 330
Lands Silbermann, Andreas, 170, 209-210;
Sammartini, G., 177, 289-291; and organs at A+I, 209-210; organs at
Anciuti, 182n75, 291; influence on A-2, 210
pitch in England, 289 Silbermann, Gottfried, 79, 197, 209,

Sarti, Giuseppe, 44, 339 210-211, 280; pitches, 210-211;Bach's
Sauveur, Joseph, lvi n21, 32, 41-42, 44, recitals on his organs in Dresden,
116, 117, 119; measurements, 41-42; 213; pianofortes with sliding key-
use of pitch names, 42, proposals boards, 289
for standards, 42 Silbermann, Johann Andreas, 209,
Scarlatti, A., transposed parts, 168; 279; Silbermann Archive ( 1 ~ 3 0to
s
moving opera productions from i772), 209,279; specification of
Naples to Rome, 169 organ pitch at Leipzig, 215; de-
Schaffrath, C., 289 scriptions of pitch standards, 280-
Scheibler, J.H., 351; and the Ton- 281; levels and names, 282
messer, 349 Smart, Sir George, 341n39, 338
Scheidt, Samuel, 82 Smith, Bernard, 15, 129, 130-132
Schein, J.H., 82,106n55 Smith, Robert, 43, 168
Schilling, G., 334, 335-336 sonority produced by multiple keys
Schindler, A., 338, 3401113 used together, 194; modern edi-
Schlick, Arnolt, 30, 56 tions and all parts in same key,
Schnitger, Arp, 86, 141-142,155n128, 194
ryjnr31, 173, 196, 205; most organs at sound frequency, see pitch standard
A+I, 141 sound quality affected by pitch
Schubert, F., 339 change, see pitch differences, ef-
Schuechbauer, F., 143, 144,149,163,165 fects of; sonority produced by
Schiitz, Heinrich, 82, 83, 1061155, multiple keys
109n12o Spanish Netherlands, 146-147, 174-175.
scientific measurements from the See also Austrian Netherlands
past, 41-44; vibration theory, 41 Stancari, V.F., 42
serinette, 329 Stockhausen, Julius, 353-354
sharp pitch in England, 355-356; and St- Petersburg, 43, 44, 339
military bands, 356, 359-360; still Strasbourg, Cathedral, 170
Index 565
strings, 74-75, 274; critically stressed 236; Denner and "Opera-Floten,"

strings, 28, 96; Praetorius on tun- 206; Silbermann and Operathon,
ing them lower, 69; retuning pre- 206-207; Adlung on Gross-
ferred to transposition, 69, 161, Cammerton and Klein-Cammerton,
186-1873retuning a common prac- 207; when ceased to be used in
tice, 186-187; often tuned to Chor- Germany, 208, 286
ton/A+~in early 181hcentury, 187, Toane of the Common Church Pitch,
201-202 129
strung keyboard instruments, xlv, 22- tolerence between pitch levels, in
24; critically stressed strings, 22; determining standards, xlii-xlvii;
relative pitch deducible by com- comma and semitone xliii; used in
paring string length, 23; relation this book, hi; dispersion in mod-
between most common string ern concerts, xliii; and reasonable
lengths, 23; place and date often skepticism, xlvi-xlvii; Ellis's re-
indicated, 23-24; by Couchet and ports unrealistically exact, 347. See
Ruckers, 84-85; Quire-pitch levels also pitch variation within a stan-
in virginals, 90; brass and iron dard
stringing, 11ln158;French mid-18"'- Ton d'~curie,98-100, 123-124;Grande
century harpsichords, 274; sliding curie, 99; wind-bands and higher
keyboards, 289 pitch, 99; French recorders at A+I,
Stumm, Philipp and Heinrich, 284 123
Ton de chapelle, 97-98, 275-277; identi-
Talbot Ms., 95, 125, 133 cal to Ton dJOpe'ra,116; still advo-
Tartini, Giuseppe, 271 cated for organs in 1858, 347-348
Taskin, Pascal, 311; his tuning fork, 31, ton de choeur, 97
1lon133, 309, 311, 324n32 Ton de la Chambre du Roy, 117-123;the
Taylor, Brook, and vibrating string pitch of Louis XIV's reign, 119;
equation, 42, 43 usual pitch in France, 121; organs
Telemann, G.P., 191, 204, 218 at A-IV", 118; pitchpipe, 118-119;
temperament, see meantone Sauveur's measurements, 119; not
temperature, 35-36; and organs, 35-36; an exact semitone above Ton
and woodwinds, 36 dJOpe'ra, 119;interface with Ton
tenor hautboy, 5111140, 130, 248; and dlOpdra, 121-123; players must have
BWV 80a/7, 249-251 had different instruments for
Thierry, Alexandre, 120 court and opera, 123;significant in
Thierry, Fran~ois,170 other countries, 119; interface with
tief-Cammertons, 206-208; sound and Consort-pitch, 126-129; history un-
character of woodwinds at, 206,
566 Index
known, 122. See also Louis XIV transposition; as a means of reconcil-

parenthesis ing different pitches, xxxv, liii,
Ton dlOphra, 100-102, 116-117,275-277, 183; of a semitone impractical,
308-310; stable because of vocal xxxv, liv, 63-64, 68,176, 182n73; on
ranges, loo, 122; originally identi- cornett, xlviii-xlix; most practical
cal to Ton de chapelle, 116; pre- intervals, liv, 191; common for
served because the Opera was organists, 64, 188; uncommon for
conservative, 122, 275; interface other musicians, 184, 207-208; to
with Ton de la Chambre du Roy, 121- tuono corista, 65-66; scores some-
123; becomes lower than Ton de times rationalizing transposed
chapelle, 275; no longer fixed, 277, parts to same key, 184; limited by
308; comment by Leopold Mozart, meantone, 191;regular meantones
276. See also Paris Opera practical with, 191. See also
Ton d'orchestre, 311, 330, 340, 347, 348 transposing
Ton ordinaire, in France, mid-18th traveling musicians and the necessity
century, 273 of pitch agreement, 3, 227n145, 269,
Torelli, Giuseppe, 75, 169 301, 303, 320; example of the Be-
Tosi, P.F., 159, 270; Opinioni (1723), 159 sozzis, 269
Trabaci, G.M., 61 traverso, xxxix, 9-10; as historical
traditional (folk) wind instruments, evidence, 10, 199; variation in
pitch, 151n22 pitch, 9; existence of corps de re-
transposition grids, liv, 207, 208 change an indication of inflexibil-
transposing, factors to consider, 184- ity, 9; cork, lo; alterations that
194; voices and range, 184-185; change pitch, lo; embouchure
voices and tessitura, 186; BG un- hole, lo; early flute in Nova-
able to appreciate importance of, Zembla, 86; in crystal very accu-
186; retuning preferred for strings, rate, 329; Appendix 4. See also
186; each scale different on wood- corps de rechange
winds without keywork because trombone, see sackbut
of fingering, 188; effect on wood- Tromlitz, J.G., 313-31~,325n4s,334
wind range, 189; limitations of trumpet, xlii, 25-26; crooks and
meantone, 190-191;key characters, crooking, 25; slide, 25; muting, 25;
xl-xli, 192-194,222n37; sonority two early examples, 25; Praetorius
and multiple keys, 194. See also on, 25; most hautboy band pieces
transposition; register breaks; vo- with trumpet in Eb, 26; German
cal range; pitch differences, effects normally in Cornet-ton, 203; Bran-
of denburg 2, 237; tromba da caccia,
237; the "French trumpet," 237-238;
Index 567
the traditional "military trumpet," woodwinds in classical period

238; B W V 12, 247; B W V 63, coming from abroad, 306. See also
260n70; Altenburg on pitch of, 318 Italian woodwinds; Venetian op-
th
tuning fork, 31-32; novelty in 18 era; Venetian organs
century, 31; unrelated to place, Verdi, G., 346, 355, 3641125; distance
time, or usage, 31; Handel's of from campaign for A-432,353
290, 337; Stein's, 31, 322;
I ~ ~ O 31,
S , Viadana, Lodovico, 73
easy to alter pitch of, 31-32, useful vibrato, modern singers and undula-
from mid-I~"'century, 345. See also tion rate, xliv
Taskin Victoria, T.L. de, 73
tuon, 63, 1051132 Vienna, 103, 150, 294, 295, 296, 316, 320,
tuono corista, 56, 65-67; achieved by 322-323, 328, 334, 335, 339, 351, 352,
transposition, 65; not a consistent 359; many visiting musicians in
frequency, 65; organs lowered to, classical period, 320; Cornet-ton in
66; used to mean "pitch standard," churches in classical period, 323;
66, 159. See also ChormajJ three slightly different pitches in
Turin, 269, 346, 361 1820, 338; Congress of Vienna
tutto punto, 59, 6~65,159;pitch of (1816), 341n40; the Philharmonic in
Cremona organ, 62-63; and cor- the 1930s~
361. See also H a b s b u q
netts, 63 Lands; Wienerton
Vinci, L., moving opera productions
Venetian baroque opera, 161; and between Naples and Rome, 169
opera performances in London, violin, xl, xlii, xliv, 28, 29, 61, 67, 69,
161; by 1690s sometimes at A-I or 74, 75, 104n24, 116, 183, 186, 187, 201,
lower, 162; higher than other cit- 221n15, 222n28, 251, 271, 293, 316;
ies, 162-163 pitch difference between forte and
Venetian organs, S Marco at A+3 in piano, xliv; larger sizes tuned at
I ~ " 'century, 60; many lowered by least as high as A+I, 28; different
Nacchini to A+o in 1740S, 160 types at differing pitches, 29; A + I
Venice, 159-166, 270, 346, 353; most ideal pitch in 1652, 61, 104nz4; tun-
important source of woodwinds in ing at Leipzig under Kuhnau,
16"' and centuries, 58; influen- 222n28. See also strings; Cremona
tial in European pitch, 58; arrival Vitali, G.B., 75
of French woodwinds, 159;lower Vivaldi, Antonio, 161, 162-163, 1801-117;
pitch in operas, 161; visit of Saxon implicit evidence of transposition
court musicians 1716,162; parts in certain pieces, 163; flautino in
possibly transposed, 164-166; in- RV 739, 164; Concerto RV 566,
fluence on French pitch, 171; 164-165
568 Index
vocal range, as indication of pitch effect on pitch of clarinets and

levels, 29; different depending on hautboys, 38; and internal intona-
singer, 30; theory that voices tion, 38
higher in 161hcentury, 30; mainly woodwinds, levels of surviving,
useful by comparing ranges, 30; between 1700-1730,lii; stabilizing
adverse effects of excessively high factor, 5; inflexibility, 6; later
pitch, 274,357; sopranos and vocal physical alterations, 36; range of
fatigue, xxxvii; singers wielding pitch when tested by players, 40;
tuning forks, 333. See also register preconceived levels distorting real
breaks; transposing; pitch differ- pitch, 40; Venice as most impor-
ences, effects of tant source in 16rh and 17rh centu-
Volckmar, T., 192, 219-220; key choice ries, 58; new designs in France the
for hautboy, 219; Cammerton parts result of pitch change there, lor;
"transposed," 220 obliged to transpose as unable to
change pitch, 188; each scale dif-
Wagner, Joachim, 288 ferent on woodwinds without
Wagner, Richard, 350; and Wagner keywork because of fingering, 188;
Festival in London 356-357 transposition and extremes of
Wallis, John, 41 range, 189; two different Cammer-
Weber, C.M. von, pitch of orchestra tons offered more key choices, 190;
at Dresden, 335; Euryanthe at Vi- transposing woodwinds at Paris
enna (18231, 339 Opera, 276; instruments of 1780s
Weber, Rainer, xlv no longer usable in 1824 even if
Weimar, 136, 162, 184, zzInr5, 232-236, better pitched, 331; in orchestras,
247-248, 350; pitch of organs in pitch changeable only when
Bach's time, 232-233; two Cammer- winds are changed, 356, 358
tons, 233-236; change in names of
woodwinds in 1714, 234-236
Wienerton, 320; compared to Kammer-
ton, 320-321, 338; probably un- Zachow, F.W., cantatas notated at a
changed from before 1800 to I ~ Z O S , m3 and M t , 219
338
Wood, Henry, 357, and Promenade
Concerts, 358
wood shrinkage, 36-38; cause, 36;
effect on pitch of flutes, 37; calcu-
lating original bores, 37; difference
with ivory, 37; and cornetts, 38;
About the Author
Bruce Haynes (b. 1942) has spent most of his life exploring the
parameters of authentic performance o n historical woodwinds, and
has thus had a hands-on interest in historical pitch standards for many
years. H e began seriously researching the subject in 1982 while he was
teaching hautboy (the three-keyed oboe) at the Royal Conservatory in
T h e Hague, and completed a Ph.D. dissertation o n pitch in 1995. H e
has held doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships from the S S H R C
(Canada). H e is a professeur associd at the UniversitC de Montrdal,
and performs and records regularly (at various pitches). H e has
published close t o 50 articles and a bibliography of oboe repertoire, and
his book, The Eloquent Oboe, a History of the Hautboy from 1640 to 1760,
appeared in 2001. H e is a contributor o n various subjects t o the new
editions of M G G and The New Grove Dictionary, and is currently
writing a book o n oboe history. H e would be interested in feedback
from readers and can be reached at Hauboy@aol.com.

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A History

The Story of "A "

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Copyright O 2002 by Bruce Haynes

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Haynes, Bruce, 1942-

". . . Like t o the lark at break of day arising. . ."

List of Illustrations Xlll

2 Pitch before the Instrument Revolution of ca.1670 55

2-2a4 Instruments Pitched Lower

3 T h e Instrument Revolution and Pitch Fragmentation,

3-2b2 Q-I (A=448)

4 T h e General Adoption of A-I, 1700-1730

5 G e r m a n y , 1700-1730: Cammerton, Chorton, Cornet-Ton

6 Sebastian Bach and Pitch

7 1730-1770:A "Diversity of Pitches"

8 Classical Pitches, 1770-1800

9 Early Romantic Pitches, 1800-1830

10 Pitch Standards, 1830-2001

11 Summary: Pitch Change by Country

Citations in Original Languages

About the Author

I. Conrad, David. Frontispiece to Geistreiche Gesangbuch, a collection

2. Pythagoras at the Forge, Discovering the Laws of Pitch. Engraving by

3. Beginning of Cantata 71 by Sebastian Bach, autograph score, 1708.

4. Beginning of Cantata 132 by Sebastian Bach, autograph score, 1715.

I: Woodwinds, pre-1670 383

2: G e r m a n recorders and traversos by city (to 1 ~ 7 0 ) 384

3: Nuremberg recorders by maker 385

4: Organs, pre-1670 386

5: Organs, 1670-1700 387

6: Organs, 1700-1730 388

7: Organs, 1730-1770 389

8: Organs, 1770-1800 390

9: Incidence of black cornett pitches 391

10: Spread of black cornett pitches 392

11: Cornetts with 4 types of the mark !! 393

12: Woodwinds, Italy, t o 1800 394

13: Woodwinds, France, to 1800 395

14: Woodwinds, Germany, t o 1800 396

15: Woodwinds, England, to 1800 397

16: Woodwinds, Dutch Republic, to 1800

17: Woodwinds, southern Netherlands, to 1800

18: Italian organs, to 1800

19: French organs, to 1800

20: German organs, to 1800

21: Organs in Thuringia and Saxony, 1680-1750

22: English organs, to 1800

23: English chamber organs

24: Dutch organs, to 1800

25: Habsburg organs, to 1800

26: Woodwinds in Europe, 1670-1700

27: Woodwinds in Europe, 1700-1730

28: Woodwinds in Europe, 1730'1770

29: Woodwinds (including pitchpipes), 1770-1800

30: Woodwinds in Europe, 1800-1830

31: Profiles: Bressan, Stanesby Sr., Stanesby Jr.

32: Profiles: J. Denner, Oberlender, Heitz,

33: Profiles: Quantz, Kirst, Tromlitz,

34: Profiles: Anciuti, Palanca, Castel 416

35: Possible levels described by Agricola and Quantz 417