<html> At 11:42 AM 5/5/2002 -0700, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Marpurg reported in his Versuch ueber die musikalische Temperatur that Kirnberger suggested that J.S. Bach required that all major thirds be tuned sharp on his clavier.     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 ... Answer: 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).     > 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 ... 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.   Bradley M. Snook  </blockquote> Ah, so you're trying to tell me that Bach preferred wide major thirds on his keyboards, but wanted violinists to play with narrow ones? Have you the slightest evidence or logic to support this idea? On the contrary side, Bach liked transcribing music freely to different instruments. I think that HT has a lot to do with what we were saying about string intonation, actually. The whole discussion started because I explained why I didn't like HT's which were too far outside my normal string intonation, especially those with narrow major thirds, wide minor thirds, and bad fifths and fourths. Susan Kline P.S. What does M. stand for? </html>