Tuning the World: The Rise of 440 Hertz in Music, Science, and Politics, 1859–1955

279 Pages·2023·5.646 MB·English

by  Fanny Gribenski

Tuning
the World
New Material Histories of Music
A series edited by James Q. Davies and Nicholas Mathew
also publisHed iN tHe series:
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Musical Migration and Imperial New York: Early Cold War Scenes
Brigid Cohen
The Haydn Economy: Music, Aesthetics, and Commerce in the Late Eighteenth Century
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Tuning the World
The Rise of 440 Hertz in Music,
Science & Politics, 1859– 1955
Fanny Gribenski
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2023 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief
quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more information, contact the
University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637.
Published 2023
Printed in the United States of America
32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 82326- 3 (cloth)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 82327- 0 (e- book)
DOI: https:// doi .org /10 .7208 /chicago /9780226823270 .001 .0001
This book has been supported by the Joseph Kerman Fund and General Fund
of the American Musicological Society, supported in part by the National
Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gribenski, Fanny, author.
Title: Tuning the world : the rise of 440 Hertz in music, science, and politics,
1859–1955 / Fanny Gribenski.
Other titles: Rise of 440 Hertz in music, science, and politics, 1859–1955 |
New material histories of music.
Description: Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2023. | Series: New
material histories of music | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022022556 | ISBN 9780226823263 (cloth) |
ISBN 9780226823270 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Tuning—History—19th century. | Tuning—History—20th
century. | Musical pitch—Standards—History. | BISAC: MUSIC / History &
Criticism | MUSIC / Philosophy & Social Aspects
Classification: LCC ML3809 .G66 2023 | DDC 781.2/32—dc23/eng/20220513
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022022556
♾ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48- 1992
(Permanence of Paper).
To Ian and Zoë

Contents
List of Illustrations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Introduction: Tuning Forks and Global Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1. Tuning the Nation: Aesthetics, Science,
Industry, and the French Pitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2. Sounding the World: Nationalism, Internationalism,
and the Travels of the French Pitch  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3. Retuning the World: Transatlanticism and
the Defeat of the French Pitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4. “Pitch in Our Time”: International Concord and
the Engineering of an Interwar Standard  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
5. Postwar Aftermath: Confirming an Embattled Standard . . . . . . . 161
Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Acknowledgments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Illustrations
1.1 Mémoire sur l’étude optique des mouvements vibratoires (1857) · 34
1.2 Tuning forks received by the 1858– 1859 pitch commission · 47
1.3 Table prepared by Jules- Antoine Lissajous and César- Mansuète
Despretz presenting the results of the measurement of the forks
received · 48
1.4 Prototype of first standard tuning fork · 54
2.1 Alexander J. Ellis’s “On the History of Musical Pitch” · 77
2.2 Koenig’s forks used at the Ufficio centrale italiano per il corista
uniforme · 85
2.3 Illustrated price list of the Hawkes military band instruments · 91
2.4 Musical wind instruments used by David J. Blaikley to study the
impact of temperature on pitch · 94
3.1 The great organ of Boston Music Hall (ca. 1870) · 100
3.2 View toward the stage of Boston Music Hall (ca. 1856) · 104
3.3 A flyer for a 20 May 1869 fundraising event organized by the
Boston Music Hall Association for a concert entitled “Normal
Diapason!” · 107
3.4 The acoustics laboratory at MIT (ca. 1890) · 111
3.5 A table of Levi K. Fuller’s measurements from a national survey of
instrument builders’ forks · 114
3.6 Levi K. Fuller’s entire general tuning fork collection, exhibited at the
1893 Chicago World’s Fair · 115
3.7a A sketch of the exterior of the Dea- gon- ometer when open and
closed · 123
ix