Concert "A" Pitch Since 1511

Concert “A” Pitch Since 1511

In modern times, just before a concert begins, an oboist or keyboard player
plays an "A" to which all other musicians check the tuning of their instruments.
In North America, most musicians use "A-440 as a basis for tuning.
Many Baroque and Early Music performers tune to A-415.

It's easy to take our modern, standardized concert "A" pitch for granted,
but as you can see from this chart, things were not always so uniform.
Earliest pitches determined from old organs and tuning forks.

(Listed in ascending order of pitch, lowest to highest)
(Hertz=vibrations per second)

Year	Hertz	Source
1648	A - 403	M. Mersenne: spinet
1762	408	Johann Matheson (cited in Grove Dictionary)
1740	415	G. Silberman: tuning fork
1751	423	George Frideric Handel: tuning fork
1619	424	Michael Praetorius: 'church pitch'
1823	428	Opera Comique, Paris
1880	432	Italian Congress, Milan
1859	435	French Government Commission Standard
1885	435	Vienna International Conference Standard
1939	440	Present Day U.S. Standard Pitch
1834	440	J.H. Scheibler, Stuttgart
1878	447	Vienna State Opera
1879	452	British Army
1874	455	Old Philharmonic Pitch, London
1859	456	Viennese 'high pitch'
1880	460	Old Austrian Military Pitch
1511	504	A. Schlick 'high pitch'
1636	504	M. Mersene 'church pitch'
1636	563	M. Mersenne 'chamber pitch'
1619	567	M. Praetorius 'church pitch'
NOTE: "hertz" = vibrations per second The word "hertz" is named for German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz.

Earliest pitches determined from old organs and tuning forks.

Source: New Groves Dictionary and various Public Domain reference sources

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