exactly in tune (indeed in any major scale the thirds and leading notes are quite sharp)
and there is no key colour at all.
Bach never advocated equal temperament. Bach wrote two sets of pieces called ‘Das
Wohltemperierte Klavier’ (‘The Well-tempered Keyboard’). In so doing he avoided the
German term for ‘equal temperament’ which is ‘Gleich-Schwebende Temperatur’. These
forty-eight pieces were designed to exhibit the full range of key colour available from a
circulating temperament. Careful examination of the texts shows that Bach varied his
compositional technique according to the key in which he was writing. All the rest of
Bach’s music falls into the more conventional patterns of the day, most of it being well
suited to modified meantone temperament, even if it continually pushes at the boundaries
of the system.
TEMPO
Tempo means the speed at which a piece, or a section of a piece, is played.
Brahms was once conducting a rehearsal of his violin concerto and a person present
asked why he was conducting it more slowly than the day before. Brahms replied that his
pulse was different from the previous day.
Tempo may also depend on the technique of the performer and on the acoustics of the
hall. A tempo should always be one that is comfortable for the performer and also
comfortable for the listener.
Music of the baroque period flows at a basic tempo allied to the pulse, and tempo marks
such as presto and adagio relate to mood as much as to tempo.
Sometimes when a very fast tempo is chosen the overall impression is that the piece is
slower. The reason for this impression is that the faster speed means that there are fewer
accents perceptible to the ear. This occurred at Sydney Town Hall in a performance of
the Chopin Etude in C sharp minor opus 10 no. 4.
If a piece starts off with a tempo that is too fast it may slow down later. This occurred at
the same hall in the first movement of the Beethoven piano concerto no. 3 in C minor.
The pianist started off with a very fast tempo and was later substantially reined in by the
conductor.
It is a good idea when considering tempo to consider the fastest notes in the movement or
piece. In the final movement of Mozart’s G minor piano quartet the tempo of the quavers
of the opening theme is conditioned by the need to accommodate comfortably the triplet
semiquavers that appear in two places later in the same movement. This accommodation
must be comfortable both for the performer and for the listener.
TERMS