Fred- Once again may I point out that in 1827 a piano tuning gadget was being sold in Paris. The Shrine to Music in Vermillion SD has one, and John Koster has kindly measured it for me. It is calibrated in ET. I am in possession of a tuning gadget sold in New York in the 1860's. It is also calculated in ET. I like a mild WT. Unfortunately I can't find a historic tuning gadget in WT. Ed Sutton You may find it implausible, but the evidence very strongly shows that tuners did so. Following is Montal's account of why ET is superior (from the introduction to his book, in a section about the history of tuning): "The practitioners [as opposed to theoreticians] proclaimed the superiority of unequal temperament, in which the keys of F, C, G, D, A, and E sounded with great justness to the detriment of the others. They gave as their rationale that, since the keys that were used more were more perfectly just, the temperament provided variety and energy when one used the keys that were more altered, since intervals affect us differently in accordance with how much they are altered. Many theoreticians influenced by these arguments didn’t express an opinion, and limited themselves to accepting both systems; on the other hand, those who were focused only on theory argued in favor of equal or mean temperament, in which all the keys are equally acceptable and where none is favored at the expense of others; so that the ear is never offended, and the stringing together of modulations is more agreeable. In fact, the true aim of temperament ought to be that of sharing the alterations needed over the largest number of intervals possible in order to make them less apparent. The organists and harpsichordists of the time, who had little in the way of technique, were happy with a small number of keys that were easy to play, but today, when pianists play equally well in all keys, equal temperament has become an absolute necessity, because our composers do not choose the easiest keys like the old organists, but they follow their inspiration and write in F-sharp as well as in F, in D-flat and A-flat as well as in C and G." It seems pretty clear to me that we can, indeed, get inside the mind of a tuner of that time and, whether we agree with him or not, understand what he thought and what he tried to do. I prefer to follow the evidence rather than speculate based on my own prejudices. Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico fssturm at unm.edu
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