Alan Dudley wrote:

>Do the characteristics of different keys differ now that
>we all - well most of us - use equal temperament tuning?

Certainly the fact that so much of what we love was first played an entire
note lower, I hardly think that the specific pitching is any factor, except
for the darkening when one plays or sings lower than whatever standard we
use.

The idea of 'character' of certain keys must have begun, as you imply,
with the special temperaments (and these were very varied) for specific
keys during the time people played with various temperaments.

With equal temperament, that goes by the wayside.  The interesting chordal
calm that came with a major C chord with a perfect and flattened 3rd and
a slightly flattened G does have a different effect than do other major
chords within the same key and temperament used (the other chords/intervals
could be quite hair-raising).  As for what people liked to use for Db or
whatever, it did vary.

>Is the character of a piece changed if it is transposed? Is this merely a
>tradition carried over from the days when the keys were actually different
>because of the tuning of the instruments used?

Has to be so.

I do vary the harpsichord tuning used quite a bit, depending on whether
I'm playing alone, and depending on the key the piece is in (this can
become quite tedious) and, most of all, when I'm playing with other people
with more fixed notes (flutes).  Even string players, while they can adjust
notes for how they may 'fit' within a specific chord in whatever tonal
center, may choose a pitch that's somewhat different from the tuning of the
harpsichord which can never be ideal for all intervals or chords when using
ill-tempered:-) tuning.  I would try, when playing with other instruments,
to make it close to equal while keeping some of the character of the
unequal and to avoid the horrendous vibrations that come from
equal-temperament on a harpsichord.

Andrys in Berkeley
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