On Tuesday, Feb 27, 2007, at 19:09 America/Los_Angeles, Daniel Rindler wrote:
> Does anyone know of any mention of perfect pitch from > before the time of A=440 equal temperment being > standard? This is from "Youth of Mozart" in The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Vol. 14, Issue 394, October 17, 1829, which you can download from Project Gutenberg: > The peculiar delicacy of Mozart's organization is displayed in the > fine sense of hearing which he evinced at a tender age. Schachtner, a > trumpeter, who used to visit his father, had a violin that Wolfgang > was fond of playing upon, which he used to praise extremely for its > soft tone, calling it the "butter fiddle." On one occasion, as the boy > was amusing himself on his own little violin, he said to Schachtner, > "if you have left your violin tuned as it was when I last played upon > it, it must be full half-a-quarter of a note flatter than mine." Those > present laughed at a nicety of distinction, upon which the most > critical ear could hardly pronounce; but the father, who had many > proofs of the extraordinary memory and exquisite feeling of his son, > sent for the instrument, and it was found to be as the boy had said. I don't know if there was more than one pitch standard in Salzburg, but the writer places this story on Mozart's return to Salzburg after spending several years touring Europe. I take the timing with a grain of salt, because the writer thinks Mozart had never played violin until after that grand tour, which I'm sure is wrong. Howard Posner -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
