39
votes
Accepted
Why does Brahms stand next to Bach and Beethoven?
First, a history lesson:
Peter Cornelius originally claimed that these "Three Bs" were Bach, Beethoven, and Berlioz. It was Hans von Bülow that then replaced Berlioz with Brahms, and Bülow did it ...
- 83.2k
37
votes
Why does a 97 / 92 key piano exist by Bösendorfer?
replete's answer is correct that the original reason was to have a bigger range, as needed for some organ music. However, I don't think that's the reason those Imperial models are so sought-for over ...
- 35k
37
votes
Accepted
Why did we never simplify key signatures?
Actually, it seems to me that designating the key by a letter instead of the arrangement of sharps or flats is not simplifying the process. Simply stating the intended key by letter and accidental ...
- 7,722
32
votes
Why is the double bass the only instrument in the violin family tuned in fourths?
With long open strings, the span to reach notes especially at the nut end would be too much for a lot of players if it retained the 5ths pattern of tuning. Making the tuning in fourths means that the ...
- 186k
28
votes
Accepted
When did the half-step/whole-step modulation in the middle of a song become popular?
The modulation you describe is often mockingly called the "Truck Driver Gear Change". As you say, it is quite often used, to the point of being cliche. It has it's own page on TVTropes. At one time, ...
- 20.5k
28
votes
Accepted
"The intervals considered dissonant have changed since the 'Middle Ages'"; How so?
OK, so first a clarification of the contexts:
The quoted materials are mostly concerned with Western European music. The music of the Middle Ages almost certainly refers to the liturgical music of ...
- 18.1k
28
votes
Accepted
What was the motivation for the invention of electric pianos?
A lot of instruments from the analog era were supposed to sound like other "real" instruments, and were as good as technology allowed then, which is not very. But over time, some have become popular ...
- 3,632
27
votes
Accepted
Why is Debussy's remark brilliant (on going out and smoking, at the start of Beethoven's developments)?
In short, the German musical tradition (largely based upon Beethoven's towering presence) is one that prioritizes thematic development. Beethoven was known, for instances, for sometimes introducing ...
- 83.2k
26
votes
Aldous Huxley and 5/4 Meter in Music Predating "Take 5"
Brubeck's exploration of 5-beat and other asymmetrical meters was revolutionary for jazz, but it had been going on for decades in classical music, largely inspired in the late 19th century by the ...
- 17.9k
25
votes
Accepted
Why is the lowest note on the piano an A?
Early pianos started out with the existing range of harpsichords, having between four and five octaves, usually starting at low C. This stands to reason, because Bartolomeo Cristofori, generally ...
- 9,166
25
votes
Accepted
What is the oldest instrument ever?
It's probably not possible to tell. Wood and bone can often be inherently musical when struck, so some kind of proto-claves likely existed before recorded history. Rocks may have also been used for ...
- 55k
24
votes
What is the rationale of electronic keyboards having the voices that they do?
Yes, MIDI is primarily a communications protocol. But it also includes specifications for the General MIDI sound set. 128 sounds. Here they are, with their Program Change numbers.
https://en....
- 87k
22
votes
Accepted
Why is a 440 Hz frequency considered the "standard" pitch for musical instruments?
440 Hz is the standard that has been adopted.
Before it was, an instrument tuned in one country or even city was out of tune in another; confusion reigned. The short version of it is that ...
- 829
22
votes
Accepted
How did composers "test" their music?
Not all composers nowadays write using computers. Many still write by hand using ink or pencil.
Multi-instrument works (chamber, orchestra, etc) were written as either what's known as "piano-score" ...
- 25.4k
22
votes
Accepted
Why didn't more composers who composed violin concertos compose viola concertos?
Various reasons.
The viola is acoustically less well-designed than the violin. It sounds a fifth below the violin and has the same proportions, so it would have to be 50% larger; but because you ...
- 7,222
21
votes
Accepted
Is counterpoint still used today?
Counterpoint is simply the relationship between multiple musical lines. As such, any excerpt of music with more than one line is displaying some sense of counterpoint, whether intentional or not.
...
- 83.2k
20
votes
Accepted
Unusual keyboard in a picture
Let's apply some perspective warping here.
You'll see that the black keys, viewed from the front, come in alternating groups of 2 and 3 after all. Their arrangement does not correspond all that well ...
- 216
20
votes
Accepted
Why is reverb typically called "wet' or "drippy"?
Reverb is actually the effect of playing in confined, walled spaces - the sound bounces off the walls giving a diffused sort of echo. In a wide open space there is zero reverb. (The original, now ...
- 87k
19
votes
How did students remember what to practise between lessons without any sheet music?
Besides the copyist mentioned in the other answer, students could simply write on their own! No need to have someone copy it for them. Also it was not uncommon for teachers to write stuff down for ...
- 31k
18
votes
Accepted
At what point in history did the relationship between pitch and frequency become well-known among musicians?
If you have access to a good academic library, then the following article appears to be on point regarding the Western tradition:
S. Dostrovsky, Early Vibration Theory: Physics and Music in the ...
- 2,930
18
votes
Accepted
Why is ra lower than re while la is higher than le?
That's because the solfege syllables for the non-chromatic notes (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si/Ti) were first. They were thoroughly historically anchored in music theory, long before someone thought ...
- 5,080
18
votes
Did Beethoven "invent" ragtime with Piano Sonata No 32 Op 111?
No, I think the similarity to ragtime is coincidental, and I believe the principal evidence is in the way Beethoven notated this passage.
Beethoven has notated this section of the piece in 12/32, ...
- 6,448
18
votes
Who was listening to Bach's compositions in his lifetime?
According to Wikipedia:
From 1703 he was back in Thuringia, working as a musician for Protestant churches in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen and, for longer stretches of time, at courts in Weimar, where he ...
- 5,582
17
votes
Why did we never simplify key signatures?
I believe it's not simplified for some reasons:
1st: Music notation is an orthodox practice which has kept its standardization globally for common understanding. The Boethian notation (alphabet notes ...
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