David asks: >I.....don't know. What's a well-temperament? Excuse my ignorance but >please describe succinctly. A well temperament is one in which the size of the thirds is dependant on the key signature. The historical record indicates that the key of C, (or sometimes, F) had the smallest third and with each additional accidental in the key signature, the tonic third became wider, thus, F#-A# is usually the widest third, but rarely, if ever, wider than the syntonic comma. It also has the characteristic of keys with most highly tempered thirds presenting the more purely tuned fifths. Among its first proponents was Andreas Werckmeister in 1690. WT isn't based on sameness, it's distinguishing character isn't a 13.7 cent third everywhere,but rather, an orderly variety to the harmonic resources found in greater and lesser consonance. It isn't based on science like ET is, (the size of the third in ET is simply a resultant of equally dividing an octave into 12 steps), but rather, in the musical effect of contrasts between consonance and dissonance. WT is named after the use of the term by Bach for his WTC. It has proven itself to be more attractive than ET in 80% of my clientele and in 100% of the temperament comparisons I have presented to technicians. (Does anybody recall a temperament comparison to techs where the WT was NOT favored over ET by the vast majority of techs in attendance?) Regards, Ed Foote RPT
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