<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2715.400" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman">Marpurg reported in his <EM>Versuch ueber die musikalische Temperatur</EM> that Kirnberger suggested that J.S. Bach required that all major thirds be tuned sharp on his clavier</FONT>.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><EM>Susan:  Question --- tune ALL thirds sharp, or all MAJOR thirds sharp? Add a sharp major third and a sharp minor third, and you get an atrocious wide fifth ...</EM><BR></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2><STRONG>Answer:</STRONG> Most [well] temperaments set major 3rds larger than pure and minor 3rds smaller than pure, but this is nothing new. It was probably Kirnbergers way of saying that Bach required a well temperament for his clavier (i.e. instead of a meantone temperament).</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><EM>> If he meant all major thirds sharp, then what I was saying to Bradley Snook was right in line, for all the good it did ...</EM><BR></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Susan, HT have nothing to do with the discussion that we were having about string intonation. Bach was not saying that all instruments should play with sharp thirds, supposedly he preferred the "temperament" that allowed for all the major thirds to be tuned.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Bradley M. Snook</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> </DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>