The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-01-07

G. TT. / suppose the great COM
posers had definite reasons for assign
ing the names they did to their COM
positions; but I fail to understand
why the "Preludes and Fugues" of
Bach which are played upon the plano
forte are called 1.-THE vell-tempercd
clavichord," VIII YOU please explain
this In the Musical Question Box|
Answer.-The phrase "well-Temp-
cred Clavichord," refers to collection
of y-eght preludes and fugues by
the great composer, Johann sebastian
Bach, who was bOru in 1856 and died
i'm 1850. The word 'clavichord" refers
TO the keyed stringed instrument which
was the predecessor of the pianoforte.
The term "well- tempered requires
detailed explanation.
It is scientifically impossible to tune
a keyed instrument like the piano or
organ so that it will be in absolutely
pure tune throughout, not even If done
by the most expert tuner in the world.
1t would not take long for the tuner
who tunes your piano TO demonstrate
| entirely to your satisfaction that II he
tunes the instrument so that it is in
pure tune in some keys it will be hor-
ribly out of tune in all other keys. Be
fore Bachs time. however, and for
lltiIlN SfdlS AINNA Aliio wac tAiN iAAN''ASN
| employed in tuning. The players in
| those days were circumscribed. They
were obliged to contine themselves to
| a few keys only, and to stray outside
| the beaten path of pure tuning was to
fall into a musical quagmire Of rank
| and unbearable discord. The genius
| of the great Bach felt hamDered by
| such an arrangement. In those days
! every one tuned his own instrument and
| the master of masters began to expert
| ment. He found that by tuning in such
| a way as to divide each octave into
twelve equal semi-tones, or, in other
words. instead Of tuning the hfths,
fourths and thirds in certain keys in
pure tune. by slightly "tempering'
them, that is, by putting them the
| least bit out Of pure tune, he would
be able to play with impunity in all
keys.
He recognized the fact. as does any
| educated ear, that the chords belong
| ing to any particular scale or key lose
| a certain amount of satisfactory rich
| ness by this proceeding, but the loss
is more than made up by the power
| of modulating to any key at will. The
! great Bach had no sooner made his
| discovery than he proved its efficiency
by writing fOrty-eight preludes and
fugues in all the major and minor keys.
| These have never been equaled since,
and, as Schumann says, are 1.-The pian-
lists daily bread" a bread which, to
carry out the simile. can only be eat
en- after several years of careful and
systematic whetting of the pianistic
teeth.
In this "temperins" of the scale Bach
did an untold service to musical art.
He knocked down. as it We're, the bar
rierS which hitherto had guarded the
entrance to the vast realm of uneN-
plored harmony. In the PA years since
Bach was born musical art has made
more progress than in all the ages pre-
Vious to that time. Indeed, 1t seems
to have come to its full development,
and the "Well-Tempered Clavichord'
was the first mighty proof Of the be-
ginning of the great musical era.
As | have already said there is 4
slight difference between chord that
is purely tuned and one that is tenn
pered" in favor of the one that is pure
" tuned. Tnharmonic organs have
been invented which We're purely tuned
throughout and might be played in all
keys but one would have to live as
long as Methusaleh to learn to play
them with anything like facility. In
stead of dividing the octave into twelve
parts as in the tempered scale, the oc-
tave was divided into seventeen or
more parts. While a student IN Berlin
in 1898 my attention was drawn to an
instrument of this kind which, strange
to say, had been invented by a Japan
ese. The instrument was in the form
of a harmonium, or cabinet organ
Each of the black keys was divided in
to two parts. If, for example, you
; played a certain chord containing +
sharp You pressed the f sharp key az
the end nearest TO you; f sharp coming
in some other chord must be played
by pressing that division of the key
, which was farthest from you. The
reason for this was that each of the
two divisions of a black key gave its
own Independent sound. the one differ
! ing slightly in pitch from the other II
; you played the right division pure tune
was the result: IL YOU played the
wrong one-ugh! you wouldn't want to
do it again. To learn to play n piece
on this instrument required as much
scientific study as is required in deter
mining the distance of fixed stars. To
figure out the correct way mathemat-
ically and scientifically TO play so sim
pie a tune as "Greenville" or Rock
r ingham" would make ones head Il
ache for a week. An old American
, gentleman who was much interested
, in the success Of the Japanese and his
? instrument, tried to prevail upon me
to give up my other studies, learn Ia
; play several pieces on the instrument
/, play them at German industrial eN-
position, which was to be held in Bcr-
lin, and thus put my name, and espec
tally that of the Japanese in a posi-.
ton TO be carried down to grateful
postcrity. peremptorily declined with
thanks.
No; the tempered scale in in?tru.
ments of fixed tone has come to stay
for all time. From the time of tho
advent of the tempered scale every
man ceased to he his own pianofortt
tuner" Tuning then required the hant
of the expert as ii does to the present
and always will. And now-all hail tC
the "Well-tempered Clavichord"i
o
G. TIL. Will you also kindly eN-
plain the dance whose rhythm Is the
basis of Chopins "Polonaises?"
Answer.-Chopin's "Polonaises" ar
beautiful compositions, noticeably ricl
i'm harmonic and rhythmic effects
They are based upon an ancient Polisl
dance of the same name, the music o
which was in ga time Ohree counts t
a BARI, the accent falling upon tn
third count, not the first as in ordnar,
music. The movement was of a mar