Bach and ET

[Richard Moody]

>    After Bach's death, his son, CPE Bach was asked about his father's
> preference and stated that the old man did NOT prefer equal temperament.

    This is evidence that ET did exist in Bach's time because how could he
have a preference one way or the other for something that did not exist?  He
must have at least heard it, played it and tuned it (they tuned their own
instruments)  to honestly say he did NOT prefer ET.    There is no reason to
doubt Bach's integrety--- after all this is someone saying what they heard
Bach say.  Not quite direct evidence, but close enough to scrutinize. Do you
wonder about the nature of the question, ie, why the most important part of
the question was not asked or has come down to us?  "So what temperament did
your father prefer?"
Without knowing the source (of Bach's statement) I am guessing it can be
traced back to a biographer of CPE.  I have also read
that Bach's objection was  to the mathematical derivation of the
temperament (temperaments designed to mathematical exactness)  which came
from calculations on the monochord . That  temperaments were then
attempted to be set by parallel tuning from the monochord.  Of course this
method doesn't work, so if that was the basis of Bach's objection, then he
was absolutely right.  But that is not objecting to ET itself, rather a
particular method or attempt to attain it.  Speculations only,  but  it
would be interesting to see how they prove out in formal research.
    From the recent interest in emperical methods used by
early keyboard makers, one can assume tuning had an emperical method also.
If Bach's  objection was to the "mathematical exactness of ET" perhaps he
preferred emperical methods of "well tempering".  This could easily have
been the
narrowing of fifths by a "barely perceptible amount" (Mersene) so each
fifth "sounds the same" and the "first fifth sounds like the last fifth".
This can produce an ET with closer and more consistant results than parallel
tuning from a "mathematically correct" monochord.  Werckmeister's rules
would be interesting to see in translation.  In those days without the beat
rates and checks that we know of today, the actual tuning and testing of any
temperament was mostly emperical anyway.    ---ric

----- Original Message -----
From: <A440A@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, April 17, 2000 6:01 AM
Subject: Re: Coleman 11


> Dennis writes:
> >Did Bach write it to show ET or to show how each piece could be written
> >to sound in the current temperment?
>
> Greetings,
>    None of us were there, so we have to look at what was. There is no
record
> of ET being used in 1722,  just theoretical proposals for it.  However,
there
> is a large amount of writing that describes other tunings.
>    After Bach's death, his son, CPE Bach was asked about his father's
> preference and stated that the old man did NOT prefer equal temperament.
>     Those are the historical indications, however,  I think a more
compelling
> argument for the use of a temperament along Werckmiester's rules can be
found
> by listening to the WTC on both an ET and then a well temperament.  This
has,
> in my experience, made very strong impressions on pianists that ET was
> lacking something.
> Try it yourself and make up your own mind!
> Regards,
> Ed Foote