>>>>> "Jack" == Jack Campin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Jack> Apropos of Pythagorean and related tunings, I saved this
Jack> article from rec.music.early a while ago. Margo is r.m.e's
Jack> resident exotic-early- tunings wonk (she plays this way
Jack> herself on a pitch-configurable electronic keyboard). I
Jack> *dare* any of you to ask her to expand on this...
I don't have to ask, because I had a fairly extensive correspondence
about ABC with Margo a year ago, and she gave me permission to post
this extract from it as part of an article about music publishing that
I wrote for mstation.org. This article is actually on the web at
http://www.mstation.org/margo.html. It should also drag this
discussion on intonation back to a discussion of ABC.
Margo> Margo's Vincentino Transcription
Margo> A few composers of the 16th and early 17th centuries, most
Margo> notably Nicola Vicentino (1511-1576), use an interval known
Margo> as the "enharmonic diesis," equal more or less to 1/5-tone
Margo> on a meantone keyboard with pure major thirds. This is
Margo> equal to the distance between G# and Ab on a meantone
Margo> keyboard -- most comprehensible, of course, on a keyboard
Margo> instrument with more than 12 notes which has both these
Margo> tones to compare.
Margo> Anyway, the few compositions and portions of compositions
Margo> that have come down to us in this kind of style divide each
Margo> tone into five or more less equal parts -- actually very
Margo> slightly unequal in meantone with pure major thirds -- like
Margo> this:
Margo> C C* C# Db Db* D
Margo> Here I use an ASCII equivalent of Vicentino's notation:
Margo> where I have an asterisk, Vicentino likewise puts a dot
Margo> above the note to show that it is raised by a diesis or
Margo> "fifthtone," as I call it.
Margo> Thus C* is about halfway between C and C#, while Db* is
Margo> halfway between Db and D. Vicentino's own archicembalo or
Margo> "superharpsichord" has all these notes, and divides the
Margo> octave into 31 nearly equal fifthtones.
Margo> Anyway, I've been using a 24-note keyboard instrument with
Margo> a subset of this system -- actually a synthesizer and two
Margo> regular 12-note keyboards tuned in meantone a diesis
Margo> apart. The question occurred to me: "How can I show that a
Margo> note is raised by a diesis with abc2ps?"
Margo> Then, reading the documentation, I realized that the
Margo> "staccato" option could put a dot above or below the note,
Margo> a very close approximation of Vicentino's own notation. The
Margo> one difference is that sometimes the dot will appear below
Margo> the note rather than above, but I consider this a very
Margo> small point which shouldn't cause any problem with
Margo> readability.
Margo> Incidentally, Vicentino suggests that performing trying
Margo> this kind of music use his keyboard as a guide to tuning;
Margo> both now and then, performers may have problems finding
Margo> these microtonal intervals without such an instrument.
--
Laura (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.laymusic.org : Putting live music back in the living room.
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