WTC

[Richard Moody]

>I've heard two sides to the "Well Tempered Clavier" story.
> Did Bach write it to show ET or to show how each piece could be written to
> sound in the current temperment?


I always heard he wrote it to show that if the keyboard tuning is tempered
very well , all key signatures can be played in.  In this light one wonders
how a tuning that is well tempered can contain fifths that are not tempered
at all.  I believe that most of the so called "wells"  have two or three
fifths that are not tempered.  If "well tempered" means that ALL of the
fifths are tempered, and we imagine this means  tempered so well that the
circle of fifths "comes out", ie the last fifth sounds like the first fifth,
then we have ET.  Or close enough it could not be named anything else.
    This is all conjecture because there is no direct historical evidence as
to which temperament Bach intended for WTC.   ---ric


----- Original Message -----
From: Dennis Benson <dennisb@willmar.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 16, 2000 11:38 PM
Subject: Re: Coleman 11


> I'm confused... I've heard two sides to the "Well Tempered Clavier" story.
> Did Bach write it to show ET or to show how each piece could be written to
> sound in the current temperment?
>
> Dennis
>
>
>
> Sebastian Bach began to
> >tune his clavichords in Equal Temperament so that his pupils might be
> >able to play in all tonalities without frequent retunings. The
> >celebrated Well Tempered Clavier, 48 Preludes and Fugues in each of the
> >twelve major and minor tonalities, was the first fruit of this famous
> >experiment in Intonation"(PIANO TUNING AND ALLIED ARTS, p.243).
> >
> >I took White's book to be my piano technician's Bible. I think quite a
> >few others did, too. I guess I feel that I was misled. I'm not blaming
> >White, but I am grateful that it's getting easier to be exposed to a
> >broader knowledge of tuning.
> >
> >Bob Anderson
> >Tucson, AZ
>