This temperament thing (long, I suppose)

[A440A]

Barrie writes:
>In the interests of an authentic sound, should you not be tuning your
>piano to C 505.7 as this was the pitch used by Broadwoods at the time
>Beethoven received his piano in 1818.  

    Greetings, 
    Barrie's letter points up a common misconception with our projects.  We
are not intending to create an "authentic" sound.  That is not possible today,
( in the literal sense).  There are no "authentic" audiences to be had, since
we have grown up in an age devoid of the key character that Mozart and
Beethoven accepted as normal, also, most of the "authentic" instruments
available  are, by necessity, extrapolations.  Even the Cristofori piano  has
a replaced soundboard in it, doesn't it?
    Our intention is to intensify the performance experience.  Whereas the
instruments we use are relative newcomers to the world of music, (modern hi
tension pianos are only about 150 years old), the effects of the musical scale
predate history.  It is the presentation of these effects that I consider to
be at the heart of Well temperament.   
     So far, the reservations about using WT on modern pianos seem to  mainly
arise from those that have not heard them.  I am unable to address these
concerns, as they are, of necessity, based on conjecture and interpretation of
historical beliefs,  not on the physical sounds that I am proposing to be more
emotionally affective.  
    In blind trials with WT accompaniment for singers,  the first time a
singer went through their piece, there was some confusion.  The second time
through, with the newness gone,  the unanimous decision was that it was easier
to sing in key, when the piano was taken out of equal temperament.  Listening
to acappella vocal solos, with the SAT turned on, seems to indicate that when
the piano is silent, the singer soon turns to something other than ET.  I have
called this "floating Pythagorean"  for want of a better description.  
    The simple fact is, that I can respect a persons distaste with our sound
far more than I can accept a rejection from  one who has not listened to it.
The former is a valid musical decision,  as legitimate as anything I possess,
while the latter is only a reactionary  response to the unknown.  
     Use of ET requires very little musical decision, use of WT requires much.
How much tempering is too much?  That is a personal question, but to find an
answer requires listening.  That is all I ask.  
Regards, 
Ed Foote