[danbmil99]

I agree the absolute pitch that orchestras played at may not have been consistent like it is today. However, perfect pitch is not really about Western standards or whether A equals 440. It's the ability to remember a pitch in absolute terms.

As a musician, I have a finely-tuned sense of relative pitch. I can pick out chords and melodies easily, but I don't know the reference key unless I hear an instrument and I'm told what note it is playing.

My son has perfect pitch. This became apparent when we watched the movie "A Hard Day's Night", and he complained that it was out of tune with respect to the Beatles albums he had heard.

I listened carefully to the two sources, and it turned out the movie was about a quarter tone flat compared to the recordings. Only a person with perfect pitch would notice that. The rest of us forget the absolute value of a pitch in a matter of minutes or less.