Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891 › scan 261
Scan 261
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891
8 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 241. See the scan on archive.org.
1the time of Mersenne (1636-1648), both a low and a high chamber pitch were used, with even a greater difference between them than existed between the church pitches, for his low chamber pitch a' was 403, and his high a' 563, about three tones higher than the former, and about one tone higher than the high church pitch, as given by himself.
3It is evident that these great differences could not arise from mere errors of workmanship; neither could they arise from a gradual change of pitch, such as has gone on in this country—and in a less degree on the Continent—since the beginning of the present century, for both the extremely high and the extremely low pitches were in use at the same time. They were, doubtless, deliberately adopted to meet certain requirements of the time, which it is difficult now to trace.
5Early in the 17th century, the consideration of the advantages to be obtained from uniformity in pitch appears to have made some way. Praetorius, in 1619, gave a drawing with dimensions for the half-foot c''' pipe, with the express object of leading organ builders in the direction of uniformity, and Mr. Ellis, having had a pipe made to these dimensions, found the corresponding a' in mean-tone temperament to be 424.2. Whatever was the chief constraining influence, the fact is well established that during the 17th, 18th, and the early part of the 19th century, the mean European pitch varied very little from that suggested by Praetorius, and was rather more than a semi-tone lower than our present "concert pitch." For this low pitch the works of Handel, Mozart, and the other great classical musicians, were undoubtedly written, and it was used by the Philharmonic Society when founded in 1813, the a' of their piano being then tuned to 423.7.
7The examination of all the instruments exhibited in the Loan Collection of the Royal Military Exhibition showed that those made before the present century were practically in accordance with the mean European pitch above referred to. In some cases the original pitch had been altered, and in other cases, owing to uncertainty about moveable parts—such as mouthpieces—being original, or from general want of repair, it was difficult to judge of the original pitch with certainty. Sufficient examination, however, was made for it to be evident that a number of instruments made at various times and in various countries during the 17th and 18th centuries, were more
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