Kirnberger mood

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From 1766, Johann Philipp Kirnberger published several tuning systems for keyboard instruments . They belong to the group of well-tempered moods and thus allow playing in all keys , each with its own key character. They all have the following characteristics in common:

The Kirnberger tunings have a pure major third CE as well as perfect fifths from E up to F sharp and from C down to C sharp. This results in a fifth F sharp-C sharp reduced by the schism . They only differ in the tuning of the four fifths C to E (i.e. CG, GD, DA and AE), i.e. H. as a result in the three tones G, D and A.

In the first version from 1766 (today called Kirnberger I ) the fifths CG, GD and AE are pure, the resulting fifth DA is therefore reduced by the full syntonic comma .

In the same source, he refers to the possibility of reducing the fifths DA and AE by half a syntonic comma, which is more difficult to tune, since tuning pure intervals is no longer sufficient, but by defusing the extremely small fifth by Kirnberger I leads to a better sound result (today Kirnberger II ). This variant can also be found in 1771 in his art of pure sentence .

Graphic representations

Kirnberger II

C-----G-----D------A-----E-----H----Fis----Cis----As(Gis)----Es-----B-----F-----C        (G)     (D)        
  r      r   -1/2   -1/2   r     r     -sch    r          r      r     r     r
|_______reine Terz_______|                  |________pythag. Terz_________|
     |________reine Terz_______|                    |_______pythag. Terz________|
            |_______reine Terz_______|                        |_______pythag. Terz________|
                                                                      |_______pythag. Terz________|

In this graphic, "r" stands for "pure", "-1/2" for the fifths narrowed by half a syntonic comma and "-sch" for the fifth narrowed by the schism. The thirds CE, GH and D-F sharp are pure, the thirds C sharp F, A flat (G sharp) -C, E flat G and BD in Pythagorean (very large), the sizes of the other thirds are in between.

Kirnberger III

C-----G-----D------A-----E-----H----Fis----Cis----As(Gis)----Es-----B-----F-----C 
 -1/4  -1/4  -1/4   -1/4   r     r     -sch    r          r      r     r     r
|_______reine Terz_______|                  |________pythag. Terz_________|
                                                    |_______pythag. Terz________|

In an undated letter to Johann Nikolaus Forkel , he mentions the distribution of the syntonic commas to all four fifths C to E in different variants, whereby the even reduction of all four fifths is now referred to as Kirnberger III . This tuning is used on many historical keyboard instruments (especially organs) because it is more balanced than the Werckmeister tuning . The "good" keys with few accidentals are preferred and one key characteristic is retained. It is also easy to put on.

The numbering of the moods does not come from Kirnberger. It has often been claimed that it did not come from his time either, but was introduced as an analogy to the older Werckmeister mood as part of the rediscovery of historical moods in the 20th century. In fact, the music theorist Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg already used this numbering for at least the first two tunings.

Historical classification

Kirnberger's tuning instructions come from a time when different tuning systems existed side by side: medium-tone systems, especially on organs, well-tempered tunings, which represented the most important part, as well as equal tuning , which became more important towards the end of the 18th century.

At the time of Kirnberger's publications there were extremely differentiated and complicated moods (for example with Johann Georg Neidhardt , Georg Andreas Sorge ). There was a trend towards equal mood. In comparison with this, Kirnberger's instructions appear to be simple and highly uneven. The professional world is divided on the assessment of these facts. The following partly contradicting explanations are given:

  • The focus should be on the simplicity of the tuning process, so that even inexperienced musicians can tune their instrument themselves.
  • His moods have their own qualities and are independent, so they do not follow fashionable trends.
  • His moods are "unsuccessful" attempts to describe the actually existing moods with simple means.

Practical classification

The Kirnberger II tuning is a possible tuning for drone instruments such as the hurdy-gurdy and bagpipe , as these are often played in conjunction with the drones only in keys on the basis of a few fundamental tones related to fifths. This mood is particularly suitable for the performance of the original compositions for hurdy-gurdy and bagpipe (in the sources vielle [a roue] and musette [de court] ) from the 18th century.

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