Works for the Clavemusicum Omnitonum (Harpsichord with 31 keys per octave)

Started by rappy, September 06, 2022, 02:27:46 PM

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rappy

In 1555, Nicola Vicentino wrote about a new harpsichord: "Et con l'inventione di vno nvovo stromento, nelqvale si contiene tvtta la perfetta mvsica, con molti segreti mvsicali"
The instrument he describes should contain 31 keys per octave, and in fact one original instrument of this kind has survived, which has been built by Trasuntino in 1609. Markus Krebs has built a copy in 2016 which is now located in Basel, Switzerland.

I wrote some pieces for that instrument during the last years which I like to share. These three preludes are brand-new:

Prélude 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-EqDl-gHN0

Prélude 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbf34iOrQdI

Prélude 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuRMAX0OHvU

I've written a short introduction into the pieces:

QuoteThese three Préludes are written for the Clavemusicum omnitonum in 31-meantone temperament, which allows septimal intervals to be treated as enharmonically equivalent to familiar chromatic ones (e.g., the harmonic seventh as an enharmonic equivalent of the augmented sixth, and the septimal major third 9:7 as an enharmonic equivalent of the diminished fourth). The harmonic language could be thus regarded as a kind of septimal ,,hypertonality".

No. 1 highlights the »wolf fifth«, which is smoothly integrated into the world of septimal harmony through its enharmonic equivalence with the septimal fourth (21:16). It furthermore forms a perfect (meantone) fourth with the just seventh in a 7/4-chord, which is (in 5-limit) a characteristic and particularly beautiful sonority of French baroque harmony.

No. 2 explores the enharmonic equivalence of the diminished fourth and the septimal major third and introduces ,,Bachish" progressions of diminished seventh chords, which in meantone temperament results in distinct sonorities for each inversion.

No. 3 makes use of further foreign intervals with a certain ,,mystic" quality, such as the double-diminished fourth, which lies between the minor and major third and can also be seen as a secondary septimal interval, being the distance between a just seventh and a diminished fifth or a minor ninth, respectively.

The score ist also available: http://www.bernardynet.de/werke/DreiPreludes.pdf

I've also written a duo with viola da gamba, inspired by the historical model of an allemande:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBusSFCqZac

Here's a Sarabande: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecmW4g0lpcU

And here are my first attempts, two short pieces I composed in 2019:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m-72OSMTdY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-EEK1mA0CU

I hope you enjoy this maybe at first a bit foreign-sounding, neither (in a conventional sense) tonal nor atonal music.



rappy


Elegie for Viola da gamba, Theorbo and Clavemusicum. All instruments are tuned in 31-ET, which means that the octave is divided into 31 equal steps. The result are perfect major thirds and almost perfect just sevenths.

Cato

Quote from: rappy on September 06, 2022, 02:27:46 PMIn 1555, Nicola Vicentino wrote about a new harpsichord: "Et con l'inventione di vno nvovo stromento, nelqvale si contiene tvtta la perfetta mvsica, con molti segreti mvsicali"
The instrument he describes should contain 31 keys per octave, and in fact one original instrument of this kind has survived, which has been built by Trasuntino in 1609. Markus Krebs has built a copy in 2016 which is now located in Basel, Switzerland.

I wrote some pieces for that instrument during the last years which I like to share. These three preludes are brand-new:

Prélude 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-EqDl-gHN0

Prélude 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbf34iOrQdI

Prélude 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuRMAX0OHvU

I've written a short introduction into the pieces:

The score ist also available: http://www.bernardynet.de/werke/DreiPreludes.pdf

I've also written a duo with viola da gamba, inspired by the historical model of an allemande:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBusSFCqZac

Here's a Sarabande: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecmW4g0lpcU

And here are my first attempts, two short pieces I composed in 2019:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m-72OSMTdY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-EEK1mA0CU

I hope you enjoy this maybe at first a bit foreign-sounding, neither (in a conventional sense) tonal nor atonal music.




How did I miss this?!  :o


Do you know Easley Blackwood's microtonal work with a synthesizer?


Many thanks, "Rappy" (Ralph Bernardy) !
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Mandryka

The third etude is indeed mystical! It made me want to go listen to some of La Monte Young's Well Tuned Piano.


Is there any 16th century music written for this amazing instrument?
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

rappy

Thanks you! Didn't know the Blackwood yet, sound's great!

There's not much surviving so-called "enharmonic" early music, there's a tiny repertoire for the cimbalo cromatico with 19 keys, such as Toccatas by Mayone and Trabaci. Some of Vicentino's music can be performed on this instrument, since he discusses a keyboard with 31 keys in his treatise and has written enharmonic music which needs a division of the whole tone into 5.

DaveF

"All the world is birthday cake" - George Harrison