<HTML>In a message dated 9/29/02 1:55:27 AM Central Daylight Time, remoody@midstatesd.net writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Below is from James Broadwood in 1811---the sequence for tuning ET "From whatever tone the tuner begins, it is still the practice, as in the old system of temperament, to the end the succession of fifths {tuned up from the starting note} at G# and those {tuned down} at Eb, whereby the  inequalities arising from careless or defective divisions are thrown into the key of A flat; </BLOCKQUOTE> This is actually a description of Meantone Temperament Tuning although not the classic 1/4 Comma Meantone.  The 5ths were all tempered a little more than in ET, so the last one, the Ab-Eb 5th was actually a little wide and irreconcilable.  This fits the description of 1/7, 1/8, 1/9 or 1/10 Comma Meantone, all of which could be used today a s a subsitute for ET. The fact that these practioners were allowing the key of Ab to be the most vibrant and that many Romantic style composers such as Chopin so often chose that key tells me they liked the way it sounded.  To choose ET instead causes the music to be altered from the way it was conceived. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin <A HREF="http://www.billbremmer.com/">Click here: -=w w w . b i l l b r e m m e r . c o m =-</A> </HTML>