Key sig puzzle

[Dorsetmike]

Downloaded a piece of Dandrieu today, the Offertoire from the same opus as the Magnificat posted by Panos.

Problem is although it is in D minor, it has no key signature on the PDF file nor the MIDI imported to Finalé both heavily sprinkled with asccidentals, the MIDI import hardly uses any sharps except F# one measure for example has D flat, natural, flat, natural and flat, what's wrong with C#? The PDF does use sharps, but scatters Bb and naturals all over.

I admit it plays the same, just looks wrong to me.

[L.Palo]

Hi!

This is again most likely because the original score has no accidentals. (I can look if I have any facsimile in my library but I'm not sure if I have all works or only a few)

Remember again that in the time of that music the major/minor system as we know it didn't exist. Still music was dominated by the tonalities from the church gregorian chants. Thus it's a piece in d dorian and not d-minor!

Kind regards

Lars P

[L.Palo]

Hi again!

Yes, I can confirm that the original score does not have any accidentals for key signature as I actually have the facsimile of the original engraved Premier livre de pièces d'orgue 1739 from Fuzeau.

The main title for those pieces in question is "Pièces en D. la Re'", and even in the later pieces that expressively say g-minor the notation is with only one accidental as key signature, again keeping the old tratidion.

For Dandrieu much of what we consider normal and right would likely have been very strange, alien and perhaps even false... Just food for thought!

Kind regards

Lars P

[L.Palo]

Yet again...

Sorry, of course the d flat is an enharmonic mis-spelling and should of course be c sharp instead. D-flat didn't normally exist in the usual temperaments at that time.

Kind regards

Lars P

[Dorsetmike]

Much as I suspected, thanks Lars. Mind you the fact that I was importing a MIDI file into Finalé won't have helped!!

[methodistgirl]

D minor usually works with the key of F in a song.
judy tooley