Expert Opinions. Evaluating the Enharmonium

Abstract

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, and several years before the Ph. J. Trayser harmonium factory in Stuttgart was in a position to place enharmoniums on the market, there were musicians and persons associated with the music profession who had had access to an enharmonium and were knowledgeable about the instrument, its construction, and its functioning. The knowledgeable group, as we shall see, included teachers of music theory and composition, conductors, conservatory directors, choir directors, and piano teachers. A number of them were enticed in one way or another to offer an expert opinion (Gutachten) regarding the merits of the enharmonium from the perspective of their own profession or specialty. The appraisals we will examine provide insights into the theoretical and practical importance of the subject of just intonation. They reveal the manner in which different persons had become familiar with the enharmonium, had the opportunity to play the instrument, or perhaps had participated in carrying out experimental investigations on the enharmonium at the Konservatorium where Tanaka was in residence. In general the Gutachten express the view that the Tanaka enharmonium was essential as a teaching instrument and timely for the music practice room. Despite the likelihood that a number of the so-called “experts” may have been solicited to write a Gutachten with the intent of getting Tanaka’s enharmonium on the market and into teaching institutions, they nevertheless as a whole represent a stunning image of how a group of highly respected persons connected with the music profession and with various music institutions envisioned the extent to which the enharmonium, with its focus on intonation, was being evaluated for the teaching of music theory.