Historical Documentation of Reverse Well

[Owen J Greyling, RPT]

Dear Bill,

Could you give a short discription of the qualities present in a "Reverse
Well" temperament? ie: how the like intervals are supposed to progress.  

Thankyou.

Owen J. Greyling RPT
Kingston, Canada

At 11:17 AM 11/14/99 EST, you wrote:
>Dear List,
>
>A colleague recently sent me the quote below that shows that as tuning was 
>evolving toward a more widespread use of ET, it was also found to be a near 
>impossibility.  Although, it was not called, "Reverse Well" in this quote, 
>the observation is clearly the same as I have been making for years.
>
>It is easy to dismiss any and all other kinds of temperament ideas in favor 
>of the "universal" one, the "ultimate compromise", the "neutral palette", 
>(put in your own favorite argument), etc.  Then, say to yourself and everyone 
>else that small errors do no make any difference, just as long as it seems 
>"kinda, sorta, pretty even" (as our retired local symphony conductor used to 
>say).
>
>Would or could these variances result in a true Victorian style temperament?  
>I think they could just as easily as a backwards version of it.  And that is 
>why I think it is important to learn how to tune a Victorian temperament 
>properly, even if you never plan to use it.  I find Reverse Well on just 
>about every piano I am going to tune or test just out of curiosity.  Recently 
>I found it on an electronic keyboard.  That was the real puzzler.
>
>Why? How could the programmer have made a cumulative set of errors that would 
>result in a temperament that runs 180 degrees contrary to virtually all music 
>which will be played on it?  Just think about it.  As technicians we have all 
>been taught to believe and trust in ET and reject automatically any notion of 
>tuning anything else but in reality, most of us may have tuned and have 
>listened to and enjoyed moreover, music from pianos tuned by ourselves and 
>others that is a backwards version of a Victorian Temperament and have never 
>realized it.
>
><< In 1832 Jean Jousse wrote, concerning equal versus non-equal temps: "Each 
>of these temperaments has its advantages and disadvantages.  The advantage 
>obtained by the equal temperament is that every interval and chord is 
>produced so near perfection that none of them sound perceptibly imperfect; 
>but it has the following disadvantages:  first, that it cannot be obtained in 
>a strict sense, as may be proved, not only mathematically, but also by daily 
>experience; therefore the best equally tempered instruments are still 
>unequally tempered, and, what is worse, oftentimes in the wrong places.">>
>
>Bill Bremmer RPT
>Madison, Wisconsin
>
>