[F_MINOR] A Question of Key (Was:GG: Sorta OT -- 20 Questions)

[Kate Clunies-Ross <goldbergs@TALK21.COM>]

Anne Marble wrote (concerning GG's version of the Twenty Question Game) :-

> The impression I get is that they were questions like "If this person were
> a tree, what kind of tree would he be?" and "If this person were a dog,
> which breed would he be?" (Glenn would have been a collie.) And of course,
> "If this person were a musical key, which key would he be?" (This is where
> the F-Minor thingie comes from.)
>
> You can see why this game could go on for hours. :-D

Gould apparently chose F Minor to represent himself because
 F minor was" halfway  between complex and stable, upright and lascivious,
grey and tinted."  its  passions are profound, but austere ; the emotions.
although deep, are displayed discreetly.   Even in non-musical life, Gould
was not comfortable with overt displays of emotion. So he chose to represent
his nature a key that seemed not to 'wear its heat on its sleeve'

Which leads me to ask:  Is there any general agreement between composers as
to what each key 'represents', or what its mood is? Or does each composer
create his own set of values and associations,  so that he can make a
personal choice  to  use a certain key when he wishes to represent (say)
spirituality, profundity, mourning, ecstasy, peace, menace...etc, etc?  And
since we use a tempered scale, why should we percieve such  differences in
the colours of each key? Surely the whole point of even-tempering was that
an instrument such as the piano could be tuned in a way that allowed every
key to be used equally acceptably....the intervals are 'evened out' in a way
that is acceptable to the ear, even if not truly accurate. It seems to me
that this would blur the differences between each key.

Obviously I am not a musician myself, but this question interests me greatly
and I would appreciate  it if any composer, musician or teacher or other
knowledgeable person on f-minor could enlighten me!

Kate

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