The use of just intonation in my recent compositions

Abstract

The present thesis is an exposé of my compositional use of just intonation and, in particular, the construction of my series of keyboard 'temperaments' Kirnberger-Svensson. These temperaments are named after the Baroque composer and music theorist Johann Philipp Kirnberger, upon whose temperament, usually known as Kirnberger II, I have based this series. The thesis has a proportionally lengthy Introduction in which I account for my thinking about affordances, intonation, modes of listening, and effectivities of musical instruments. The purpose of this Introduction is to situate my work in just intonation within the broader issues of aesthetics and poetics that has accompanied my compositional thinking. In it, I analyse how the use of just intonation can invite the listener to a 'close listening' to the materiality of musical instruments, and I contrast this with an analysis of its opposite 'distanced listening'. After the Introduction, the First Part declares my six different Kirnberger-Svensson tunings. First, their origins and relationship to Kirnberger II is explained, and subsequently I discuss their applications to different instrumental settings. The use of Kirnberger-Svensson with fretted and unfretted string instruments, keyboard instruments, and the shakuhachi is analysed. The Second Part of the thesis consists of six original compositions—all of them chamber music compositions written in just intonation.