ABSTRACT
In 1955, the newly created International Standards Organization (ISO) issued its first acoustic standard. Titled “Standard Tuning Frequency,” it defined the level at which musical instruments should be tuned and music should be played: A440. To this day, this standard remains the reference for instrument building and musical performance in Western countries and beyond. Confirming a recommendation published by the forerunner of ISO, the International Standards Association, in 1939, its publication was aimed at putting an end to centuries of instability in the realm of musical frequencies. Bridging international politics and individual aesthetic experiences, and connecting various territories, social worlds, and time periods, the history of concert pitch complicates narratives about standards in general and acoustic standards in particular. Drawing on Lissajous’s universalist ambitions, the commission’s report expressed a hope that France would lead the concert of nations in the standardization of pitch.
