186 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



of pitch, has been attended with evils which affect the interest of music in no 

 small degree; composers, instruinent-mukers, and artists are alike 'sufferers 

 from this cause, and the great difference existing between the pitches" (or 

 diapasons, as they are called) of various countries, or of various musical 

 establishments, is frequently a source of embarrassment in musical transac- 

 tions. With a view to remedy this acknowledged and growing evil, the 

 French Government, sometime ago, appointed a commission of distinguished 

 men to discuss and collect information upon the whole question ; and the 

 result of their labors has lately appeared in the Monitenr, in the shape of an 

 elaborate report. The commission consisted of fourteen members, all of 

 them eminent in the world of music or of science; as Auber, Despretz, 

 Lissajous, Meyerbeer, Rossini, etc. 



Any opinions emanating from a body of men so well qualified to judge 

 upon a subject of this nature, must necessarily be worthy of attention; and 

 we think a short summary of their report may not be uninteresting to our 

 readers. 



The report commences by stating that it is an undoubted fact that the dia- 

 pason, or pitch, has been steadily rising for at least a hundred years, and that 

 it is now quite a whole tone higher than it was in the middle of the last cen- 

 tury. As a proof of this, we have the internal evidence of the scores of 

 Gluck, Monsigny, Gre'try, and others, besides the more certain testimony of 

 the organs of the time. Rousseau (Dictionnarie de la Musique, article To i) 

 states that the pitch of the opera in his time was lower than that of the 

 chapel, and consequently more than a tone lower than that of the opera of 

 the present day. The first question, then, that naturally presents itself for 

 consideration is, what were the causes which have led to this result? Vocal- 

 ists cannot fairly be charged with any participation in producing this change. 

 They screamed, it seems, even in those days, without the facilities afforded 

 them by the operas of Signer Verdi. Besides, it is manifestly never for the 

 interest of the singer that the diapason should'be forced up a circumstance 

 which can only tend to increase his fatigue, and make inroads upon his voice. 

 The interests, too, of composers are, for many reasons, opposed to an undue 

 elevation of the pitch. They have, moreover, but little power of influencing 

 an orchestra in this respect. The composer does not fix the diapason he 

 submits to it. It is, then, says the report, to the instrumentalists and the 

 instrument-makers that this result must be attributed. They are the persons 

 who have evidently a joint interest in raising the diapason of the orchestra. 

 Up to a certain point, the more elevated the pitch the greater the brilliancy 

 and sonority of an instrument. 



The numerous inventions and improvements which have been effected in 

 wind instruments, have, more than anything, induced the unnatural height 

 which the diapason has now reached. A direct confirmation of this is 

 afforded in a particular instance by a letter addressed to the commission by 

 M. Kittl, the director of the conservatory at Prague, who states that the 

 Emperor Alexander I., upon becoming proprietor of an Austrian regiment, 

 ordered new instruments to be made for the band. The manufacturer, in 

 order to increase the brilliancy of tone, raised the pitch considerably. This 

 having produced the desired effect, the example was followed by other mili- 

 tary bands, who all raised their diapason. 



AVith a view of obtaining as much valuable information as possible upon 

 the subject, which is one of universal interest to musical art, the commission 

 wrote to all the most celebrated musical centres in England, Belgium, Hoi- 



