First of all, I want to thank all of you for a great forum of ideas presented here. I think a few corrections are in order, however. Bach's WELL TEMPERED CLAVIER (Book 1) of 1722 was not the first collection of pieces to demonstrate the efficacy of ET. J. K. F. Fisher's ARIADNE MUSICA is a collection of 19 preludes and fugues completed in 1715 and therefore preceded Bach's effort by 7 years. Granted, Fischer did not use all 24 major and minor keys, but his collection is the major forerunner to Bach's WTC. Perhaps some of you know of other efforts that even preceded Fischer's. With regard to linear writing in music, please be aware that looking at music in terms of chords was known and practiced long before Rameau wrote his famous treatise in 1722. The Baroque Period was already waning by the time Rameau tried to explain and expound upon what composers had already been doing for decades. One of the reasons there was such an explosion of musical creativity in the Baroque was due to the efforts of Count Bardi, Vincenzo Galilei (father of the astronomer), Peri, Caccini, and others who made up the Florentine Camerata in the late 16th century. Their major gripe was polyphonic texture in music.......vocal music to be more precise. In fact, Count Bardi called polyphony, "...a depraved and insolent whore..." His words, not mine! As a result, the Camerata set out to create a new style or s tile moderno in vocal music which also spilled over into instrumental music. One of their developments was monody, a recitation of poetry usually in free rthythm with sparse SUPPORT from an instrument. Consequently, the vocal line could be clearly understood as opposed to the polyphony of the Renaissance where the words were often lost in the linear writing. Resulting from this idea was the basso continuo or thorough bass which was usually a cello and harpsichord supporting other instruments or singers which is what we hear in so many Baroque forms of music: opera, cantata, oratorio, passion, concerto, etc. Many of these forms were a direct result of the theories of the Camerata being put into practice. The point here is that the basso continuo was specifically designed as not only a rhythmic entity but a HARMONIC one as well. The Camerata was viciously attacked by Artusi and, in turn, defended by the composer, Claudio Monteverdi who made the transition from Renaissance to Early Baroque. By the time of Arcangelo Corelli in the 1680's....the major/minor key system was firmly established and the modal system faded from music. Needless to say, the practicality of tuning in some form of ET went hand in hand with these developments. I hope this "nutshell" history lesson was enjoyable and perhaps others can expound on some points even further. Thanks. AGB
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