Tuning today is pretty much standardised* at A = 440 Hz but it was not always so. Pitch was not standardised in Beethoven’s time, and national or international standards only began to emerge later in the 19th century. As far as HIP (historically informed performance practice) is concerened these days, tuning is, give or take a few cents, a semitone lower.
So now I'm rather confused as I understand the British Library (BL) has in its possession an actual tuning fork belonging to Beethoven that gives A = 455.4 Hz, over half a semitone higher than today's standard ‘A’ pitch of 440 Hz!.
So was pitch in Bach's day lower than Beethoven's day?
Another question: we know from the literature that when rehearsing the 9th Symphony the singers (the chorus, mainly) complained that the soprano parts were too high, so I guess that makes sense if they used A = 455.4 Hz tuning!
Here's a link to the BL tuning fork where you can hear the given A = 455.4 Hz.
https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/b...ns-tuning-fork
Any thoughts?
* I wrote that today's orchestral tuning is standardised at A = 440 Hz but I have a practice CD of the Haydn cello concerto in C (the CD plays the orchestral part and you have to play the solo part against it) and the given A is several cents above 440 Hz. The CD's orchestral track is played by a Czech orchestra, if I recall correctly.
So now I'm rather confused as I understand the British Library (BL) has in its possession an actual tuning fork belonging to Beethoven that gives A = 455.4 Hz, over half a semitone higher than today's standard ‘A’ pitch of 440 Hz!.
So was pitch in Bach's day lower than Beethoven's day?
Another question: we know from the literature that when rehearsing the 9th Symphony the singers (the chorus, mainly) complained that the soprano parts were too high, so I guess that makes sense if they used A = 455.4 Hz tuning!
Here's a link to the BL tuning fork where you can hear the given A = 455.4 Hz.
https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/b...ns-tuning-fork
Any thoughts?
* I wrote that today's orchestral tuning is standardised at A = 440 Hz but I have a practice CD of the Haydn cello concerto in C (the CD plays the orchestral part and you have to play the solo part against it) and the given A is several cents above 440 Hz. The CD's orchestral track is played by a Czech orchestra, if I recall correctly.
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