A440 was made an ISO standard in 1955. Bands (orchestral) still routinely ignore it. The pitch was raised especially during the late 19th century partially due to the ability of pianos to withstand greater string tension which gave the ability to produce louder sound to cover larger and larger concert halls. Even in the earlier period of the Baroque organs tended to be pitched high and then small organs were used tuned in kammerton (chamber tone) with a lower pitch to accommodate vocal music. Absolutely fascinating stuff but bizarre all the considerations that affect pitch over time.
Shane On Wed, May 25, 2016 at 2:11 PM, Johan Vromans <jvrom...@squirrel.nl> wrote: > On Wed, 25 May 2016 17:38:55 +0100 > Wols Lists <antli...@youngman.org.uk> wrote: > >> Maybe I didn't word it very well. Take a Baroque part, written for eg >> A=400, and try and sing it at the modern A=440 without transposing it. >> >> Painful ... in other words the pitch has risen but, obviously, our >> voices haven't risen with it. > > Well maybe I did not word it correctly. I understood "the original pitch" > to mean the original pitch (A=400Hz) so it would be sung lower than when > using the current convention (A=440Hz). > > _______________________________________________ > lilypond-user mailing list > lilypond-user@gnu.org > https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user _______________________________________________ lilypond-user mailing list lilypond-user@gnu.org https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user
