On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 21:21, David A. Jewell <[email protected]> wrote:
> The spedifics of instruments and instrumentation were really only secondary > to emotional considerations usually. Besides, when it comes to that it is > really only the brass that needed to be considered, and we all know about > transposition! Actually instrumentation was an essential part of it, at least in the hand of the masters, because instruments (especially woodwinds) from that period did not play equally well in all keys. For example, if you look at Bach's writing, when there's tormenting of our Lord going on in the text, the same is true for the flute's and oboe's fingerings and intonation difficulties ;) When the text is about difficult paths to walk the strings will have to struggle with a bunch of flats etc. > > This is entirely true, especially today. However, in the hundreds of years > that this was in vogue I would venture to say that everyone was "taught" what > was meant by certain modes and melodic figurations. Indeed. Mattheson's and others' treatises on this subject were used well into the 19th century. These were very descriptive in which key indicated which 'affect' although there are some variations. Everybody 'knew' that D major was a festive, warlike key and E flat major was full of pathos, solemn, serious. _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
