ABSTRACT
To a greater extent, perhaps, than is the case today, composers in the past have habitually tailored their work to meet the needs of their immediate environment and the ability and potential of the singers and instrumentalists at their disposal. During the lifetime of Johann Joseph Fux (1660–1741), such considerations were materially affected by the development of a major-minor system of tonality and the division of the octave into twelve equal semitones. One notable result of this development was the disparity between keyboard and stringed instruments on one side and wind instruments on the other. Although Fux supported the use of equal temperament at least from 1725, as Hellmut Federhofer has recently argued, 1 his writing for wind instruments was undoubtedly affected by the technical difficulties imposed by this system.
