Acceptable levels of error

[Billbrpt@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-02-09 17:49:33 EST, you write:

<< No one KNOWS what a Valotti/Young sounded like in its day. >>

    This is a composite temperament which presumably never did exist as such.
However, it is well known that because people in those days did not have the
scientific understanding that we do today, they probably were not as
consistent as we are today either.  They also tuned a different kind of
instrument that was far more unstable.

    So, the argument or notion that we must have a "perfect" Werkmeister or
any other name is not really so important.  If a temperament is not accurately
rendered, it just becomes another one or "similar to...".   This does not mean
that you can get away with sloppiness while tuning the HT's.  It just means
that what is important in the HT's are certain proportions, fast, medium slow,
pure, equal-beating, etc.

    When you insist upon the concept of "equality" however, you can have only
one thing, "equality".  If you don't have complete and absolute equality, then
your temperament is not "equal".  

Bill