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RebeccaCello
Registered User
Posts: 93
(7/13/01 9:22:40 am)
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Stupid
question
I was wondering how composers decide which keys to compose in. Do
they try their melodies in several keys until they find the one that
fits or do they decide on the key beforehand?
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Tim
Janof
Administrator
Posts: 244
(7/13/01 9:56:40 am)
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Not a stupid
question at all!
I'm not the best person to answer this question, but I'll share
what I've been told. There are certain keys that are traditionally
used for certain types of pieces, like requiems are in d minor.
There is an out of print book about this very topic by Rita
Steblin, and is called "A History of Key Characteristics in the
Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries." Publ. by UMI at AnnArbor
in the 80s.
A musicologist warned me years ago not to get
carried away with this, though. He said in an e-mail, "Just a quick
word of caution; while keys certainly had different associations in
particular contexts, the associations were by no means fixed,
something that Steblin's book puts less emphasis on than it should.
I should think that in Bach's case, for instance, the choice of key
was determined as much by the cellos he was writing for as by
anything else."
Is there a musicologist in the house?
Edited by: Tim
Janof at: 7/13/01 10:03:50 am
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drcello
Registered User
Posts: 483
(7/13/01 10:42:37 am)
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| Edit
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Certain keys
suit certain instruments
As you know, certain keys are easier to play on the cello. It is
easier to play in C,G or D, than in d flat, for example, or f
sharp.
Not only easier, but more resonant. The open strings
can resonate sympathetically to all the other notes being played.
This makes the cello/violin sound richer, bigger, louder, etc. than
if the piece was for example, in A flat.
Marshall C. St. John
drcello@vei.net
Wayside Presbyterian Church
Edited by: drcello
at: 7/13/01 2:22:25 pm
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TerryM
Registered
User
Posts: 462
(7/13/01 11:36:17
am)
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Re: Not a stupid
question at all!
Interesting question. I have a particular affinity for G minor,
both on cello and piano. Interestingly, I am just now reading a new
book that I bought called, "Performing Baroque Music" by Mary Cyr,
Amadeus Press, 1992 (which is, by the way, an excellent book) and
she has several pages on this very topic. She has summarized the
keys as described by several writers and composers, including
Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Johann Mattheson, Jean-Phillipe Rameau,
Johann Joachimm Quantz and Jean LaBorde. Each of these
writer/composers described their impressions of various keys. For
example, in the order listed above they described C minor as
"obscure and sad"; "extremely lovely, but sad"; "tenderness and
plaints"; "melancholy mournful"; "serious, grave, majestic." So
there was some concensus as to the "affect" of various keys. Surely
they must have had this in mind when they composed as well.
G
minor was described as "serious and magnificent"; "almost the most
beautiful key; combines a serious quality with spirited loveliness,
also brings an uncommon grace and kindness"; sweetness and
tenderness. No wonder I like this key so much!
Terry
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DWThomas
Registered User
Posts: 375
(7/13/01 11:41:19 am)
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Re: Not a stupid
question at all -- Keys
Warning! Warning! I am not a musicologist (I hardly even play one
on the Internet) but, what the hey ...
There have been long
threads about key "colors, "moods," whatever, on some other forums I
hang out on. My sense is that a lot of these attributions to
different keys carry along from the days before common use of equal
temperament.
Of course string players can still avoid ET --
if they stay away from pianos 
But in the organ and other keyboard instruments, in various
meantone tunings there are significant differences in the keys. Some
of the more distant keys might threaten to wrench you out of your
seat! (Which is why they weren't used much.)
In the modern
electronic, "a half tone is the ratio equal to the 12th root of 2,"
world, all the keys sound the same -- equally out-of-tune  (Which we
have somewhat become accustomed to as "in tune.")
I suspect
the ease-of-play factor of certain keys on specific instruments is
probably equally significant.
Meantone and other non-ET
tunings were used in organs well into the 19th century in some
countries. And today there is experimentation with tuning pianos in
various not-quite-ET temperaments ("Valloti," "Young," ...). A few
years back, a piano rebuilder/wizard named Ed Foote, in Nashville,
was behind a release of a Beethoven CD which recorded the same
pieces in several different tunings.
Even the concept of
"keys" is somewhat recent, centuries back folks talked "modes."
(Phrygian, Dorian and all that stuff...) And uses of some modes were
specified by the church (excuse me, the Church), some declared
unsuited or "unfit" for church music as being too lascivious,
etc.
Well, now that I'm skating on ice 27 microinches thick
...  I should
probably shut my E-mouth here, as I know just enough about the topic
to be dangerous! 
Dave T. -- who doesn't necessarily claim to be able to hear
some of these subtle distinctions
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SlavaBilly
Registered User
Posts: 123
(7/13/01 12:12:20 pm)
Reply
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g minor
You're in good company. Mozart also had an affinity for this key
and it brought out the best in him in some pieces, such as the
symphony no.40.
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lblake
Registered
User
Posts: 404
(7/13/01 12:22:08
pm)
Reply
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Re: Stupid
question
And, apparently, a chorus for a musical does best in D-flat.
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RebeccaCello
Registered User
Posts: 95
(7/13/01 4:22:57 pm)
Reply
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I love G Minor
too!!
It's one of my faveourites along with A Minor (i prefer minor
keys). I didn't know that the best keys for the cello were the open
strings (I like G major very much but am not so keen on C)!!! Is F
major a particually bad key for the cello? My Fs never seem to have
the brightness of my F sharps, it's not a key I adore (although I
love the Brahms).
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