The reference pitch wasn't standardised until quite late in history, and there were many local variations (some related to organ pitch). If you were a composer writing in a place with a low pitch standard, you might write the parts higher on paper. Thus Purcell's theatrical music (female roles sung by women) looks high on paper. Many older modern editions transcribe it transposed down a tone, but now, it's more common to assume that you've got a historically-informed ensemble using lower pitch (392 or 415, frequently). These modern "baroque" pitch standards provide a happy medium for copies of wind instruments, and correspond to a harpsichord with a sliding transposer going down 1 or 2 semitones from 440 (same goes, the other way, for modern "Venetian" pitch). 400 is a great pitch for lots of music, but not so convenient for the standardisation of modern historical instruments. Hope this helps! Mobile phone not so convenient for typing detailed explanations! On 25 May 2016 15:28, "Kieren MacMillan" <kieren_macmil...@sympatico.ca> wrote:
> Hi Johan, > > > But my question was: Why are they "almost unsingable" in the original > > pitch? Did the human voice get higher since? > > For centuries, women weren’t allowed to sing in church. So men and boys > had to cover all parts, including the higher ones. Although boy sopranos > and altos have impressive ranges, female sopranos and altos have a slightly > higher general range: c’’' is generally the top of even the most > spectacular boy soprano voice, but (e.g.) the “Queen of the Night” aria > extends up to f’’’. > > Best, > Kieren. > ________________________________ > > Kieren MacMillan, composer > ‣ website: www.kierenmacmillan.info > ‣ email: i...@kierenmacmillan.info > > > _______________________________________________ > lilypond-user mailing list > lilypond-user@gnu.org > https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user >
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