Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT 9-13 May 2011 (1921-1925)
Skewbrow:
Yeah he did, but I have this recollection that Beethoven was (one of) the first great composers, who had access to anything like the modern grand piano capable of producing the full range of sound (both dynamics and pitch). The technology was not mature at Mozart's time, and this placed some constraints on his pieces.
I'm no expert on this, so the usual caveats apply.
Edit: Ok, something like the above seems to be true. See a Wikipedia article on pianos for more historical details.
jwhouk:
Remember: a lot of the stuff the Beatles did was on what we would consider "low tech" equipment. The Beach Boys were famous for emptying out an entire swimming pool just to get the right "echo" sound for a song.
pwhodges:
The piano reached essentially its modern form and sonority around 1870, I'd say. But a major essence of it, variable dynamics by throwing hammers at the string, was invented by Cristofori around 1700. JS Bach is known to have shown no interest in the instrument in earlier life, but it is now thought that in the 1740s he might have had it in mind at least as a possible instrument for some of his music.
None the less, the harpsichord remained dominant pretty much until the end of the 18th century. In the British Library's National Sound Archive, if you hunt really hard, you will find a recording from 1968 of me playing, among other things, Haydn and Beethoven on a harpsichord that was built close to the time the music was written. (There is an account of this recording, with a photo of me at the harpsichord, halfway down this page.)
Schmorgluck:
As always, for space matters, the very best source or, at least, hub for casual (and not so casual) informations is the Atomic Rockets website. For example, the Artificial Gravity page usefully links to the convenient SpinCalc.
--- Quote from: Skewbrow on 15 May 2011, 01:50 ---We shall never know what kind of pieces Bach or Mozart would have composed for piano, or ... electric guitar.
--- End quote ---
I personally think most Bach pieces already sound great on electric guitars. So yeah, what if he had actually one available?
DSL:
--- Quote from: Skewbrow on 15 May 2011, 01:50 ---Also it is kinda pointless to compare movies produced in different eras. The changes in technology act as divides. ...
--- End quote ---
Maybe not "pointless," but worthwhile being mindful of the context in which a movie was made: Novelty of the medium or a given technique, technology available, how well resources and talent were used in making the movie (contrasted with what resources were available) ... What have you. Just to offer a personal (and pedestrian) example: One of the reasons I much prefer the original three Star Wars movies is that the Luke Skywalker story arc pushed the limits of technology and compensated with creativity. The prequels, though, had much more available in terms of moviemaking tech and seemed to think that's all that was needed (I thought the ship designs, for example, were much less quirkily creative). That's just IMHO and offered as an illustration.
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