Refleksje przy strojeniu organów

Abstract

An instrument with 12 keys in an octave can be tuned according to the natural system and as a result 12 consonant triads can be obtained (6 major and 6 m inor ones), each of which consists of natural thirds and fifths. (The remaining triads are more or less dissonat). The set of twelve consonant triads is not fixed. On the basis of my own experiences during many years of organ-tuning practice, I have managed to establish 106 distinct sets of triads: 6 major + 6 minor ones, which can be produced by tuning the instrument properly. In order to represent these possibilities graphically, special tables have been designed (Table II and III), plus 12 so-called "formats", i. e. differently shaped frames which, when superimposed on the tables, reveal a complete set of 12 consonances (Tables VII - XVIII) . Among the sounds which make up each "format" we find full and primeless four- and five-chord sounds, diminished and augmented triads as well as in complete chords (without a prime or a fifth). It may be assumed that at least some of 106 "formats" under discussion were employded quite consciously in tuning the organs in the Renaissance period. The above remarks may be helpful in investigating certain problems of early music, e. g. the rich chromatics in works based as a rule on diatonic modal scales and "bold combinations" of chords; the justification for certain triads (now referred to as secondary ones, e. g. S II dim.); the search for the basis and origins of the sketchy notation system for keyboard instruments (the so-called thorough-bass); the addition of another manual to the instrument, which could be tuned according to a different "format" in order to broaden the total set of consonances. The above are only a handful of theoretically formulated suggestions which can be verified against the relevant literature and musical scores.