I have been practising the Bach Toccata in D minor on the piano. But I cannot understand why the same piece, played her on the organ, seems to have each note raised by a semitone.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vSLPAwDV_w

Your help would be appreciated.

Roger

I don't know, but thank you for the link.

The Richter organ recording sounds one-half tone lower than written, at least compared to my piano, which is tuned to A=440.
It may be the organ's tuning rather than the pitch of the recording.

Regards,

Here is an interesting Wikipedia article, which deals with the history of pitch standards in Western music. You might want to do further research on the terms 'chorton' and 'kammerton'.

One thing to keep in mind - pipe organs can last for centuries, and many baroque organs are still playable today. If unmodified, these predate modern pitch standards and it is quite interesting to hear familiar pieces played at a different pitch or in a different temperament.

The Dreifaltigkeitsorgel in Ottobeuren (the organ in the YouTube video) is a particularly fine example of one such organ; the pitch is about a semitone low to modern pitch.

There are three organs in the basilica; two baroque (1760's) organs in the front (gospel and epistle) and one large modern instrument in the rear gallery. I accidentally got locked in that gallery once, but that is another story.

BruceD,

Sorry, I should have said the organ sounded 'lower'. And thankyou for responding.



whippen boy,

Thankyou for your very informative answer and the links.




Kind regards to you both,

Roger