The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #76517   Message #1357348
Posted By: s&r
15-Dec-04 - 05:20 AM
Thread Name: Unequal temperament
Subject: RE: Unequal temperament
This is a mess of worms

1640 Vienna Franciscan Organ A457.6

1699 Paris Opera A404

1711 John Shore's tuning fork, a pitch of A423.5 He invented the tuning fork, one of which still exists today.

1780 Stines, for Mozart, A421

1780 Organ builder Schulz A421.3

1714 Strasbourg Cathedral organ A391

1722 Dresden's chief Roman Catholic church organ A415

1759 Trinity College Cambridge organ A309

1762 Stringed instruments at Hamburg A405

1772 Gottfried Silbermann built the organ in the main Roman Catholic church in Dresden, and it had a pitch of A 415 at the time.

1780 Organ builder Schulz A421.3

1780 Stein's tuning fork A422.6

1751 Handel's own fork A422.5

1800 Broadwood's C fork, 505.7, which is about half a semitone lower than that of today

1811 Paris Grand Opera A 427

1812 Paris Conservatoire A440, as modern pitch

1813 George Smart adopted for the Philharmonic Society the pitch of A423.3.

1820 Westminster Abbey organ and possibly Paris Comic Opera used a pitch of A422.5.

1828 Philharmonic Society A 440

1834 Vienna Opera A 436.5

1835 Wolfels piano maker A443

1836 Pleyel's Pianos A446

1846 Philharmonic pitch was A452.5 (very high) which lasted till 1854

1846 Mr Hipkins piano tuner (Meantone) A433.5 (Equal) A436.0

1849 Broadwood's medium pitch was A445.9 which lasted till 1854

1858 New Philharmonic pitch C522

1860 Cramer's piano makers of London A448.4

1862 Dresden Opera A 440

1871 Covent Garden Opera House A 440

1877 Collard's piano maker standard pitch was A 449.9

1877 St. Paul Cathedral organ A446.6

1877 Chappell Pianos A455.9

1877 Mr Hipkins piano tuner A448.8

1878 Her Majesty's Organ A436.1

1878 Vienna Opera A447

1879 Covent Garden Opera A450

1879 Erard's factory fork 455.3

1879 Steinway of England A 454.

1879 British Army regulation pitch for woodwinds A451.9

1880 Brinsmead, Broadwood, and Erard apparently used a pitch of A455.3

1880 Steinway may have been using a pitch of A436. According to Steinway of New York, 1880 is right around the time they switched from three piece rims to the continuous rim that is used today. So it is unlikely the pitch was any higher before 1880, yet Steinway of London had a fork A454.7.

1885 In Vienna a pitch of A435.4 was adopted at a temperature of 59 degrees Fahrenheit for A.

1885 At an international exhibition of inventions and music in London a pitch of A452 was adopted.

1896 Philharmonic pitch A439, giving C522

1925 On the 11th of June the American music industry adopted A440.

1936 American Standards Association adopted A440.

1939 At an international conference A440 was adopted.



Stu