Temperaments

[Anne Beetem]

 the problem lies in
>the fact that even thoss extended harmonies were essentially what we call
>"harmonic in nature and lacked "color, in and of themselves. There are two
>kinds of notes in music, harmonic and  non-harmonic. A harmonic tone is
>one that is part of the underlying harmony, or chord; a non-harmonic tone
>is one that is NOT a part of the underlying harmony. Non-harmonic tones
>are sometimes called "color tones". Polyphonic music aside, most early
>music was essentially "harmonic" in nature, and consisted primarily of
>notes which were a part of the underlying harmony. Because of this, the
>music, itself, was essentiall "plain vanilla" and required a none-equal
>temperament for its "color.

Nice post, Les.

Can we go backwards?   Look at early 17th and 16th century music.  Played
in equal temperament, it often just doesn't make any sense for they relied
on the purity of the intervals to convey the meaning of the music.  It is
essential to play these in no less than quarter comma meantone, wherein
there absolutely is no G# if there is an Ab,  there is no D#,  there is no
Db,  no A#, no Gb,  for all thirds used in the music are completely pure.
Fifths were not pure.  To take that music and try to play it in ET with its
tremendously wide thirds and nearly pure fifths is to try to speak with no
tongue.

ab






Anne Beetem
Harpsichords & Historic Pianos
2070 Bingham Ct.
Reston, VA  20191
abeetem@wizard.net