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Article: A matter of imperfect pitch. (concert A tuning changes)
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- June 26, 1989
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1989 All rights reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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When is an A an A? To some, when it's taken down a peg
In music, it appears that what goes up keeps on going up, much to the dismay of opera singers and owners of rare violins around the world.
The problem is one of standards, specifically the reference pitch by which members of an orchestra tune their instruments. Over the centuries, the pitch of a concert A, the note typically used for tuning, has crept up appreciably, leading to fears of strained vocal chords and warped Stradivaris as modern orchestras play musical works written in earlier, lower-pitched days. Pitch inflation has even spawned a bill in the Italian Parliament to yank the tuning pitch down ...