21st century tonality

[A440A@AOL.COM]

John asks:
, but could you post the Six Temperements
>for us?

Greetings,  
     This cannot possibly be definitive, but covers the broadest categories 
of unequal tunings.  
1.  Silberman, Hawkes, or other modified meantone
2.  Werckmiester (there are several, take your pick)
3.  Kirnberger  (his III seems to be the most popular)
4.  Valotti/Young
5.  Victorian as per Jorgensen's suggestions 
       ( or one of Jim Coleman's series between 11 and 16
6.  ET

    This is  an automatic topic for debate,  I post the above knowing that.  
These temperaments may easily reflect my preferences more closely than they 
do broad application to the literature, however, they do cover a 
representative range of  tuning inequality. 
    Now  the reasons:
(setting up the target on my forehead)

1.  The meantone tuning is only restrictive to those that cannot bear wolfish 
intervals, say 30 cent or wider thirds, so whether they are bug or feature 
depends on the listener.  Of more importance, to me, is the effect of so many 
near pure thirds. Hearing this dramatic a division of the diesis is important 
for the tuner's sense of perspective, and understanding the 1/4 comma 
Meantone makes a good basis for everything that followed.  Its legacy proved 
durable.

2. Werckmiester's proposed temperament  follows a certain form.  His rules 
inre how intervals relate to one another set the general pattern of well 
tempering, and could easily have been a major style of temperament during 
Bach's early youth.   So, maybe  it was the pattern upon which Bach formed 
his musical perspective?.....actually, that is pure troll,  but it could have 
happened. 

3.  Kirnberger took a step back from Werckmiester in his number III.  His C-E 
third is a Just third, which causes the first four fifths to be in, yep, you 
guessed it,  1/4 comma meantone.  His temperaments are dramatic, offering 
great contrast between the purest thirds and the most highly tempered ones. 

4.  Vallotti/Young  for their symmetry.  The evenness of the steps between 
keys, and the minimization of the tempering to one key with a 21.7 cent tonic 
third make it a useful introductory tuning for the pianist that plays only 
Chopin and before.   It has also proven attractive to several songwriters 
here, who find it very colorful, so its utility is not yet completely 
defined!  It is a clean  sounding tuning and quite often pianists know there 
is something different, but can't quite locate where the difference lies.  

5.  The Victorian styles,  ala Jorgensen and Coleman, are valuable tools for 
the technicans working to pry their customers off the supposed "safety" of 
equal temperament.  The resulting clarity in pedaling is usually enough to 
win them over,  and within a few days, they are hooked.   It is easy to 
explain that this was once regarded as ET, it just has a slight "organic" 
twist to reflect a more musically oriented allotment of the dissonance.  If 
the earlier WT's are like oil colors, the Victorian style would be more like 
watercolor or pastels.  

6.  ET has a sound of its own. There is nothing else like it.  It can create 
more musical intensity, in more places, than virtually anything else.  My 
first impression of it, after a weekend of well temperament, was how buzzy 
and active it felt.  
    Aside from its inherent musical nature,  it is still often the most 
economical tuning to use in situations involving a wide group of musicians.  
Its universal acceptance is at once its strongest and weakest point but I 
consider it a necessity in the world of commercial piano work. 

It would be good to hear from other temperament users, who surely would have 
a different set of priorities.  I am aware that the above list   ommits whole 
families of equal-beating, and meantone tunings.  It is meant only as the 
basic framework of a temperament awareness. 
Regards, 
Ed Foote RPT