Temperaments

[Les Smith]

On Sat, 24 Jan 1998, JIMRPT wrote:

> 
> In a message dated 1/24/98 3:48:53 PM, Billbrpt@aol.com wrote:
> 
> <<"The following is not an opinion but a provable fact:  Virtually no one
> tunes a perfectly "equal" temperament.">>
>   Likewise Mr. Bremmer, "virtually no one" has ever tuned a perfect well
> temperament or any of the other  "historical temperaments".  But thats OK, who
> would know the difference anyway? :-)

Good point, Jim. And all those early temperaments were laid down aurally,
too. Not just because the SAT and the RCT hadn't been invented yet, but
neither had electricity! Further, all such early temperaments were ex-
ceedingly short-lived and therefor more theoretical than actual. One has
to take into account the tuning stability of the instruments on which 
those early temperaments were used. For well over a century, the search
was for a piano that would stand in tune for more than six minutes, forget
six  months! Thus the temperament a piano was tuned to at the beginning of
a piece was not necessarily the one it was tuned to by the time the piece
was finished.  For example, take a 200 year old piano, tune it with a
Well Temperament and let a pianist tear loose with Beethoven's Opus 57.
Long before the end of the first movement that "Well" temperament is go-
ing to be "not so well". By the end of the second movement, it definite-
ly is going to be "ailing". And by the end of the third movement--es-
pecially if the pianist takes the repeat--that once "Well" temperament is
probably going to be ready for intensive care and life-support systems!
Thus those who want real historical accuracy with their historical
temperaments should probably be laying them down on a really crappy
Brambach grand with loose tuning pins!

Les Smith