using beats to tune

[Clyde Hollinger]

When was international standard pitch set at A=440?  Wasn't that about 1917?

Clyde

Tvak@AOL.COM wrote:

> Did I misinterpret something that was posted recently in the discussion
> regarding temperaments?  I was surprised to learn that ET did not really
> exist prior to 1917.  Now, the part I'm unclear on: I believe that it was
> stated that this treatise, published in 1917, was the first to utilize the
> concept of listening to beats in order to tune a temperament.
>
> First of all, is the above information correct?  And if it's true that tuners
> didn't use beats to tune a piano prior to 1917,  what did they listen to?  I
> can't imagine.  (I must have misunderstood the information posted.)
> Certainly, tuning unisons could not be done without eliminating beats.
> Perhaps tuners didn't use coincidental partials to tune prior to 1917?
>
> Straighten me out!
>
> Tom Sivak