Vallotti Young

[Billbrpt@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 11/1/00 8:18:13 AM Central Standard Time, 
jformsma@dixie-net.com (John M. Formsma) writes:

<< One of the things that I have been doing is tuning an unequal temperament 
on
 many of the old uprights that I do, and most all of the spinets. Usually,
 the owners are not musically adept enough to tell that it is not ET, and it
 sounds good to me. I'm not sure exactly which temp that I do--I just arrange
 things to suit me. However, the F, G, C thirds beat about the same 6 bps,
 and the fastest thirds are C#, F#, and B. The A third is about the same than
 ET, the Ab is faster, the D is slower, and Eb is faster, etc, etc. Kinda
 Bremmerian, eh?
 
 Works for me, and no complaints so far.
  >>
If the material I had written had been copyrighted (the way the use of the 
Wapin Bridge system is and has been suggested that I do), you'd be in 
trouble!  But it isn't copyrighted and there are no plans for that so you are 
free and encouraged to do just what is explained in Section 72 of Owen's big 
Red Book, "Tuning the 18th Century Temperament to Suit One's Personal Taste".

This material had been presented at a PTG Annual Convention just prior to the 
publication of that book.  Previously, Owen had presented 1/4 Comma Meantone 
and Thomas Young but at this particular presentation, Owen showed the class 
what he had been leading up to all along, and congratulations, John, you have 
caught on to the idea perfectly.

The fact that you chose 6 beats per second for your C4-E4 3rd set your 
parameters for the rest of the temperament.  Something else I read recently, 
(I don't recall where just now) suggested that the width of this initial 3rd 
will do just that.  You can have it be pure, 1 beat, 2, 3 or what ever you 
want, all the way up to 11, which is the ET speed.  If you go beyond that, it 
will be Reverse Well, or the unusual De Morgan type temperament.

There is a nice serendipity to the 6 beats per second that allows you to get 
so many other Equal Beating (EB) intervals.  This will make much of the close 
harmony played in the usual context sound as if it were tempered far less 
than it really is and spare the harshness at the bottom of the Cycle of 5ths 
that even such popular temperaments as the Vallotti have.  That is why I 
usually don't tune that temperament even though I know how very well, it was 
the first HT I ever learned.  I would only use it for specific reasons now, 
not as a general or universal temperament.

The 6 beats per second of the initial 3rd puts the temperament into the 
Victorian category but consider this:  none of the published Victorian 
temperaments that are so often suggested for mildness have the combination of 
pure and tempered 5ths that earlier and stronger Well-Temperaments have nor 
do they have the EB properties.  That is why I don't use them and believe 
that simply copying material and especially simply dialing in numbers to get 
something that I really don't understand is no way to get the best that a 
piano has to offer.

Good work, John and keep it up!

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin