In a message dated 12/13/99 5:28:45 AM Pacific Standard Time, remoody@easnet.net (Richard Moody) writes: << I would welcome any evidence from the composers themselves. If temperament was so important they surely must have said something on the subject. There is no direct evidence (to my knowledge) of how Mozart's or Beethoven's piano was actually tuned or which tuning if any they did prefer. >> I have a little speculation of my own. That there was a prevailing style of temperament at the time, 1/5 Comma Meantone for Mozart and 16/ & 1/7 Comma Meantone for Beethoven but also various kinds of Well-Tempered tuning. They may have had as little concern about *exactly* how tuning was done as many people have today. It was all "Equal" as far as they were concerned even if it wasn't anything like our modern ET at all. Still, they were unconsciously affected by the qualities of the harmoniies produced in various keys and chose to write in specific keys according to the sound they *expected* to hear from any particular key, regardless of the exact temperament used. Remember also that these composers did not use the modern piano as we know it. They used much more unstable instruments. The accuracy of both temperament and octaves could not compare to what we require in modern piano tuning today. Ed Foote writes:
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