The Enigma of Absolute Pitch

Figure 1. The pitch class circle. The notes of the traditional Western musical scale are produced by dividing the octave into 12 semitone steps. A semitone is the pitch relation formed by two adjacent notes on a keyboard, and corresponds to a frequency ratio of approximately 18:17. Each of the twelve notes within the octave is assigned a name: C, C#, D; D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, and B. The entire scale is generated by repeating this series of note names (or ‘pitch classes’) across octaves. When people with absolute pitch identify notes by name, they are identifying the positions of the tones along the pitch class circle. Introduction In the summer of 1763, the Mozart family embarked on the famous tour of Europe that established the young composer’s reputation as a musical prodigy. Just before they left, an anonymous letter appeared in the Augsburgischer Intelligenz-Zettel describing seven year old Wolfgang’s extraordinary abilities. The letter included the following:

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