[CAUT] Schubert temperament redux

Ron Nossaman rnossaman at cox.net
Sat Apr 11 09:27:19 PDT 2009


Fred Sturm wrote:
>      Of 22 total sources studied, fully 14 describe only equal 
> temperament, four offer variants of Kirnberger II, and two have both 
> equal and Kirnberger. The remaining two offer tuning methods that were 
> obscure in their time and remain so today (one of them featured just 
> fifths in the natural keys, tempered in the sharps, yielding a “reverse 
> well temperament”). Of the 12 examples published after 1800, 10 describe 
> only equal temperament, one mentions Kirnberger II along with equal 
> temperament, and one offers an obscure, idiosyncratic system, unrelated 
> to any other.
> McGeary, Thomas. "German-Austrian keyboard temperaments and tuning 
> methods, 1770- 1840: Evidence from Contemporary Sources”. Journal of the 
> American Musical Instrument Society 25 (1989), pp. 90 -116.
> Regards,
> Fred Sturm

Does that mean that ET is more a historical temperament than 
most presently listed as historical temperaments? <G>
Ron N



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