Concert "A" Pitch Since 1511

In modern times, just before the concert begins, the oboist or keyboard player
usually plays an "A" to which all other musicians tune their instruments.
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.

(Listings are in ascending order of pitch)

Year

 Herz

Authority
1648 A - 403 M. Mersenne: spinet
1762 408 Johann Matheson
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 Pitch
1885 435 Vienna International Conference Standard Pitch
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: "Herz" = vibrations per second


Earliest pitches determined from old organs and tuning forks.

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