[CAUT] ET vs UET was RE: using as ETD

[Fred Sturm]

On Apr 18, 2010, at 9:03 PM, David Love wrote:

> This discussion crops up
> periodically and I often think it’s justification after the fact.   
> Recent
> research by Michael Kimbel (RPT CTE composer and musicologist)  
> suggests very
> strongly that the use of ET was in practice much earlier than those  
> arguing
> in favor of UETs based on historical precedent would probably find  
> useful
> for their position.  Arguments for UETs seem often based on a few  
> reputable
> pianists who for personal reasons find it preferable.  Certainly  
> nothing
> wrong with that.  Yet there are many pianists who don’t find it  
> preferable
> but remain somewhat silent on the subject, at least publicly.    
> Arguing
> taste has no chance of a resolution, of course.  Arguing historical
> precedent does, possibly, but the research doesn’t seem to fall in  
> favor of
> those who advocate UETs for that reason.


	Temperament history is another question, and David Love's statements  
above are very much in agreement with the available historical  
documentation. My comments/assertions up to this point are more to the  
statement that "WT sounds less harsh" based on a supposed prevalence  
of diatonic keys in common practice music for piano. That claim  
(prevalence of diatonic keys) holds for the classical period and  
before. It does not hold for the romantic period and after. Common  
practice music referring to what professional pianists perform as a  
general rule (not necessarily to all the literature composed and  
printed during the period, which might well have a bias towards  
"easier" keys, because of being aimed at a public for whom "lots of  
sharps or flats" would be beyond their capabilities to read and play).
	If one prefers WT, well and good. It is in the variety, not the  
overall number of major third beats that the difference lies, if we  
are talking about the romantic literature (which seems to be pretty  
much the bulk of what gets performed).
Regards,
Fred Sturm
fssturm at unm.edu
"I am only interested in music that is better than it can be played."  
Schnabel