Re-pitched SIEGFRIED Varnay, Ilosvay, Windgassen, Hotter, Kuen, Greindl - Krauss Bayreuth 10VIII53

For those who are interested in technical details and methods of historic pitch-measurement and analysis:

I was originally reluctant to upload this at all, since I never just post someone else's work, and the source material I worked on seemed - at first - perfect in pitch from start to finish. Each act started in a=445,5 Hz (or a=445 Hz - my measurements and calculations for the Bayreuth 1953 season are a bit inconclusive. Almost all operas anod acts I've worked so far on would point towards a=445,5 Hz, but some acts actually seem to be in a=445 - but this slight variation can easily happen during tuning) and ends up to 1 Hz higher - which is roughly the average natural pitch-drift which occurs over a long act due to rising temperatures of the instruments. The electromagnetic signals confirmed this: the 50 Hz mains hum unfortunately had been filtered out, but the 100 Hz harmonics remain clearly visible, and they are at precisely 100 Hz ALMOST from start to finish. Two glitches in act one and two remained: in both acts tere is a 5 minute segment, about 35 minutes i to the acts, where the hum is visibly (and more importantly: measurably) lower by a tiny degree: it lies at about 99,85 Hz (in act two this segment has some pitch drift, complicating matters a bit further). A deviance of 0,15 Hz at 100 Hz translates to roughly 0,6 Hz at 440 Hz. This means that pitch should be raised by about 2% of a semitone (1% of a semitone equals 0,25 Hz at 440 Hz). Measuring pitch of the music during these segments actually confirmed this theory. I hasten to admit that this doesn't make a noticeable difference in sound, and I doubt there are many people who can actually hear the difference of 2% of a semitone.

I've included 4 screenshots of act 2. The first two just show the entire 100 Hz hum before and after editing - only a tiny difference really. Screenshots 3 and 4 are more telling and demonstrate how the frequency of a hum can be measured with a precision of 0,05 Hz. The hum removal tool in RX8 audio editor will COMPLETELY remove a hum if the suspected frequency entered (for example 50 Hz or 100 Hz) coincides with the the acutal frequency of the hum in a given recording. Screenshot 3 of the un-edited source material shows how - after a 100 Hz hum removal process - during a segment from minute 35 to minute 40 traces of a hum clearly remain, whereas the hum during the rest of the act is gone. Screenshot 4 shows, how the hum is compeltely removed AFTER my pitch correction of said segment. (To be precise, there is still the faintest trace of a hum visible at the end of the segment. As I mentioned, there was some pitch drift during these 5 minutes, and it seems I didn't mange to get it 100% right.)

SIEGFRIED
Oper in drei Aufzügen von Richard Wagner.
Zweiter Tag zum Bühnenfestspiel "Der Ring des Nibelungen".

Siegfried: Wolfgang Windgassen
Mime: Paul Kuen
Der Wanderer (Wotan): Hans Hotter
Alberich: Gustav Neidlinger
Fafner: Josef Greindl
Erda: Maria von Ilosvay
Brünnhilde: Astrid Varnay
Stimme des Waldvogels: Rita Streich

Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele
Clemens Krauss

Bayreuth, Festspielhaus, 10. August 1953

Broadcast recording, transfer from master tapes, pitch corrected to a=445 Hz
3 FLAC files: https://1fichier.com/?mhmjhq4wvwrt4hb...