Chopin's last piano (1848-1849).

HERE COMES THE 20^TH CENTURY
Advances in technology early in the 20th century made it possible for the first time to spread ALL the little fudgings out EQUALLY, so that EVERY scale was equally fudged. To say it another, more honest way: every scale was

EQUALLY IMPERFECT.

This method of tuning is called equal temperament, an example of major untruth in labeling. The tuning of every scale is fudged exactly the same amount, so the tuning is "equal." Because of our political system, the word "equal,"  has far-reaching positive connotations, but here, "equal temperament" in reality refers to a system of

PERFECTLY FALSE MUSIC.

The good result of equal temperament was a world-wide standardization of musical tuning. Pianists could play a piano in London, another in New York, another in Tokyo, and be confident that they would all always sound alike.

Of course other factors are involved: the materials used to make a piano affect its sound, the room where it’s played has a big effect, but those are minor compared to the effect of temperament.

With equal temperament, you can play a piece in any key and its "coloration," its emotional effect, would not change. Because all keys have exactly the same color, therefore no keys have any color at all. The sonic differences which were once critically important to composers and performers and listeners have been wiped away.

So what if Chopin wrote the famous "Heroic" polonaise in the key of A-flat because he sensed that tonal colors of A-flat communicated something related to, well, heroism more powerfully than other keys did. So what if Beethoven wrote the touching little bagatelle that every piano student learns, "For Elise," in the key of a-minor because that key communicated wistful longing better than other keys did.

The 20^th century in effect said, Those considerations don’t matter. What we decided we had to do was standardize, standardize, standardize. Remove ALL subjective considerations. Everything, including music, became measurable, quantifiable.

In music, as in many other areas, the 20th century was a flight from emotion. The universal acceptance of the total fakery of equal temperament sealed the deal.

Music, this complex interplay of very complex sound conjured up by some of the cleverest people who’ve ever lived, became BLAND.