A440 (Concert A)
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A440 (also known as Stuttgart pitch) is the
musical pitch Pitch is a perceptual property that allows sounds to be ordered on a frequency-related scale, or more commonly, pitch is the quality that makes it possible to judge sounds as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies. ...
corresponding to an audio frequency of 440 Hz, which serves as a tuning standard for the
musical note In music, notes are distinct and isolatable sounds that act as the most basic building blocks for nearly all of music. This musical analysis#Discretization, discretization facilitates performance, comprehension, and musical analysis, analysis. No ...
of A above
middle C C or Do is the first note of the C major scale, the third note of the A minor scale (the relative minor of C major), and the fourth note (G, A, B, C) of the Guidonian hand, commonly pitched around 261.63  Hz. The actual frequency has d ...
, or A4 in
scientific pitch notation Scientific pitch notation (SPN), also known as American standard pitch notation (ASPN) and international pitch notation (IPN), is a method of specifying musical Pitch (music), pitch by combining a musical Note (music), note name (with accidental ( ...
. It is standardized by the
International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. M ...
as ISO 16. While other frequencies have been (and occasionally still are) used to tune the first A above middle C, A440 is now commonly used as a reference frequency to calibrate acoustic equipment and to tune
pianos A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an action mechanism where hammers strike strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a chromatic scale in equal tempe ...
,
violins The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino pic ...
, and other
musical instruments A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...
.


History and use

Before standardization to 440 Hz, many countries and organizations followed the French standard since the 1860s of 435 Hz, which had also been the
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
n government's 1885 recommendation. Johann Heinrich Scheibler recommended A440 as a standard in 1834 after inventing the "tonometer" to measure pitch, and it was approved by the Society of German Natural Scientists and Physicians at a meeting in
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
the same year. The American music industry reached an informal standard of 440 Hz in 1926, and some began using it in instrument manufacturing. In 1936, the
American Standards Association The American National Standards Institute (ANSI ) is a private nonprofit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organiz ...
recommended that the A above middle C be tuned to 440 Hz. In 1937 Sir James Swinburne, an electrical engineer and avid amateur musician, delivered a lecture to the
Royal Musical Association The Royal Musical Association (RMA) is a British scholarly society and charity. Founded in 1874, the Association claims to be the second oldest musicological society in the world, after that of the Netherlands. Activities include organizing and s ...
on "The Ideal Scale," discussing the possibility of tuning a scale to pure ratios and adjusting these ratios to maintain consonance across different keys. The following year, Swinburne represented the Musical Association at a preliminary conference to determine the British stance on concert pitch. British piano tuners had adopted A439 as the standard in 1899, but Swinburne pointed out that 439 was a prime number, whereas 440 could be more easily factored and electronically synthesized. In May of 1939, delegates from France, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, and England convened at Broadcasting House in London, the headquarters of the BBC, to address the issue of concert pitch. Representatives from Switzerland and the United States participated via mail. The other European delegates concurred with Swinburne's position and agreed to a standard of A440. This standard was taken up by the
International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. M ...
in 1955 as Recommendation R 16, before being formalised in 1975 as ISO 16. The A440 standard is not universally adhered to. Early-music ensembles continue to use older, lower pitch levels.
Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; born Louis Bernstein; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was th ...
often tuned the New York Philharmonic to A442, leading to complaints from the piano tuners’ union, although he claimed both the New York and Boston orchestras had used this higher pitch for years.


Modern practices

A440 is widely used as
concert pitch Concert pitch is the pitch reference to which a group of musical instruments are tuned for a performance. Concert pitch may vary from ensemble to ensemble, and has varied widely over time. The ISO defines international standard pitch as A440, ...
in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. In continental Europe the frequency of A4 commonly varies between 440 Hz and 444 Hz. In the
period instrument In the historically informed performance movement, musicians perform classical music using restored or replicated versions of the instruments for which it was originally written. Often performances by such musicians are said to be "on authentic ...
movement, a consensus has arisen around a modern ''baroque pitch'' of 415 Hz (with 440 Hz corresponding to A), a 'baroque' pitch for some special church music (in particular, some German church music, e.g. the pre-
Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
period cantatas of
Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...
)Oxford Composer Companion JS Bach, pp. 369–372. Oxford University Press, 1999 known as '' Chorton pitch'' at 466 Hz (with 440 Hz corresponding to A), and ''classical pitch'' at 427–430 Hz. A440 is often used as a tuning reference in
just intonation In music, just intonation or pure intonation is a musical tuning, tuning system in which the space between notes' frequency, frequencies (called interval (music), intervals) is a natural number, whole number ratio, ratio. Intervals spaced in thi ...
regardless of the fundamental note or key. The US time and frequency station WWV broadcasts a 440 Hz signal at two minutes past every hour, with
WWVH WWVH is the callsign of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology's shortwave radio time signal station located at the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands, in Kekaha, Hawaii, Kekaha, on the ...
broadcasting the same tone at the first minute past every hour. This was added in 1936 to aid orchestras in tuning their instruments.


See also

* History of pitch standards in Western music *
Electronic tuner In music, an electronic tuner is a device that detects and displays the pitch of musical notes played on a musical instrument. "Pitch" is the perceived fundamental frequency of a musical note, which is typically measured in hertz. Simple tune ...


References

{{Pitch (music) 16 Musical tuning