Organ sound

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The organ tone (also chorus tone or church tone ) is the tuning that was used for organs in the 16th to 18th centuries and which differed from the so-called concert tone .

history

With Michael Praetorius , CammerThon and Cornettenthon denote the same thing and were about two whole tones above the current norm of a 1 = 440 Hz (i.e. with c sharp 2 ). The ChorThon is defined differently by Praetorius. Towards the end of the 17th century the concert pitch in Germany fell by a whole tone. Because the pitch of the prongs did not change from the 16th to the 18th centuries, the Cornettton kept the same pitch, both in Germany and Italy and in the Habsburg countries. It ranged from 450 to 480 Hz, averaging 465 Hz, a semitone above today's norm. That changed in the second half of the 17th century when new woodwind instruments with new pitches were developed in France. Due to the very low French chamber pitch, which was up to a whole tone below the current norm (a 1 = 408–392 Hz), the chorus pitch, in which most organs were tuned, appeared relatively high and became a synonym for a high one Tuning tone. In this way, the names chorton and concert pitch were reversed in the 18th century. The chorus was now a whole tone above the concert pitch. An interplay of organs and other instruments therefore usually required a transposition . The voices could be recorded in choir or concert pitch. For organs and brass instruments, a notation in the chorus tone remained common. While the average pitch of German organs in the 17th century was still C sharp, in the 18th century many were tuned to the firmly defined Cornett tone of an average of 463 Hz, which corresponded to the teeth. Others were in the chorus with an average of 467 Hz. In France, on the other hand, the low concert pitch of an average of 416 Hz was used (a semitone below today's norm), which corresponded to the woodwinds between 1680 and 1770. Of course, the deeper and longer pipes cost more materials. Long pipes could not easily be inserted into an existing organ case that was taken over for a new building.

In the 18th century, the chorus tone was less clearly defined than the cornetto tone. Daniel Gottlob Türk distinguishes in his work Von der geht einer Organist (1787) between the ordinary chorus tone (one whole tone above the usual concert pitch and thus two whole tones above the current norm) and the high chorus tone (on d 2 ). Such was Dieterich Buxtehude's organ in Lübeck / St. Marien tuned to d. Arp Schnitger's organs stood in the ordinary or high chorus . On the one hand, this is due to the fact that Schnitger often included registers from the previous organ in his new organs. On the other hand, its organs served to accompany the parish singing and fulfilled a liturgical function. Use with other instruments was usually not intended.

Praetorius

The extensive explanations by Praetorius appear confusing and difficult to interpret. According to him, the chorus on which church music was based was originally up to a whole tone lower than the CammerThon , which he related to secular instrumental music. Elsewhere, ChorThon and CammerThon appear synonymous. In 1739, Leonhard Euler explained a calculation method according to which the “number of vibrations can be brought to an end in one minute of a second” (cf. the later unit of measurement hertz ) with the number 392. This pitch would correspond to the tone "which is marked with a on the instrument".

If one follows the information given by Michael Praetorius, Euler would have defined the lower chorus with his calculations , which is a large whole tone below the tuning of 441 vibrations per second. If, on the other hand, one follows the definition of Johann Gottfried Walther , Euler would have defined the "chamber tone" with his calculations. Walther knew the work of Praetorius and followed him in the reason for the introduction of the lower tone, because one could thus spare the adult sopranos a bit in the high register. Praetorius testifies that this deeper tone is only used “in the church”. Walther continues to justify the lower tuning, so that the strings of the instruments would not break so quickly. The conceptual history of the choir is problematic overall, because Praetorius already pointed out that his contemporaries would erroneously equate the “ordinary chamber sound” with the old “choir sound” “in most places”. This confusion evidently led to Walther confusing the original meaning of the two terms “Cammertone” and “old choral or cornet tone”, especially since he equates the chorus and cornet tone.

Usage today

According to the definition commonly used today, the chorus tone is equated with the cornetto tone . The chorus is half a tone to a whole tone above the pitch that is standardized today. Old organs in northern and central Germany were and are mainly tuned in the chorus . The high choir was particularly popular in the Baroque period . With a semitone above today's norm, a 1 = 466 Hz, with a whole tone a 1 = 494 Hz. The reason given for the higher tuning of the organs is that the large church rooms required a more penetrating tone than rooms or concert halls. The chorus leads to greater brilliance. Gottfried Silbermann's choir of the great organ in Freiberg Cathedral is at a 1 = 476 Hz (originally around 473 Hz), Arp Schnitger's organ in the main church Sankt Jacobi (Hamburg) at a 1 = 495 Hz.

See also

literature

  • Alan Davis: Bach's Recorder Parts: Some Problems of Transposition. In: Recorder and Music Magazine. 4, no. 2, June 1972, ISSN  0034-1665 , pp. 47-50.
  • Hans Gebhard : Practical instructions for performing vocal music from the 16th to 18th centuries. CF Peters, Frankfurt am Main et al. 1998, ISBN 3-87626-170-8 .
  • Bruce Haynes: A History of Performing Pitch. The story of "A". Scarecrow Press, Lanham / MD 2002, ISBN 978-0-8108-4185-7 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  • Bruce Haynes: Voice tone. In: Music in the past and present . Sachteil, Vol. 8. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1998, ISBN 3-7618-1100-4 , Sp. 1814-1831.
  • Mark Lindley, JJK Rhodes et al .: Pitch. In: Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians . Vol. 14, Macmillan, London 2001, pp. 779-786.
  • JK Rhodes. Schlick, Praetorius, and the History of Organ Pitch. In: Organ Yearbook. No. 2, 1971, pp. 58-76.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Haynes: tuning tone. 1998, col. 1820 f.
  2. ^ Haynes: tuning tone. 1998, col. 1821.
  3. ^ Haynes: A History of Performing Pitch. 2002, p. 141 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  4. ^ Haynes: A History of Performing Pitch. 2002, p. 463 f ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  5. ^ Harald Vogel : North German Organ Building of the Late Seventeenth Century. Registration and Tuning. In: George B. Stauffer, Ernest May (eds.): JS Bach As organist. His Instruments, Music, and Performance Practices. Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1986, ISBN 978-0-253-33181-6 , pp. 31-40, here: p. 38.
  6. ^ Michael Praetorius: Syntagma musicum. Vol. 2: De Organographia. (1619). Reprint: Bärenreiter, Kassel 2001, ISBN 978-3-7618-1527-4 , pp. 14-17 ( online ).
  7. ^ Haynes: tuning tone. 1998, col. 1819.
  8. ↑ Huic autem sono congruere deprehendi in instrumento clauem signatam a. Leonhard Euler: Tentamen novae theoriae musicae , 1739, Cap. I, § 10, p. 7; German translation and commentary: Lorenz Christoph Mizler : Musikalische Bibliothek , III.1 [1746], p. 89, online source , cf. Lutz Felbick : Lorenz Christoph Mizler de Kolof - student of Bach and Pythagorean "Apostle of Wolffian Philosophy". (University of Music and Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig - Writings, Volume 5). Georg-Olms-Verlag, Hildesheim 2012, p. 141 f.
  9. ↑ Johann Gottfried Walther: Musical Lexicon. Leipzig 1732, p. 130 ff.
  10. ^ Michael Praetorius: Syntagma musicum. Vol. 2: De Organographia. 1619. Reprint: Bärenreiter, Kassel 2001, ISBN 978-3-7618-1527-4 , p. 15 ( online ).
  11. ^ Michael Praetorius: Syntagma musicum. Vol. 2: De Organographia. 1619. Reprint: Bärenreiter, Kassel 2001, ISBN 978-3-7618-1527-4 , p. 16 ( online ).
  12. ↑ For example, the festival organ of Klosterneuburg monastery (1642), the organ of St. Marien (Buttforde) (1681), the organ of the Pilsum Kreuzkirche (1694), the organ of the Watzendorfer Marienkirche (1734) etc.
  13. ^ Wolfgang Adelung: Introduction to organ building . 2nd Edition. Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 3-7651-0279-2 , pp. 30 .
  14. ^ Christoph Wolff , Markus Zepf: The organs of JS Bach. A manual . Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2006, ISBN 3-374-02407-6 , p. 23 .

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