In a message dated 8/12/00 12:14:18 PM Central Daylight Time, Douglasmahard@AOL.COM writes: << Which composers would have possibly played on an instrument tuned in Well Temp.? Other then Bach, would Chopin, Mozart, Beethoven, Clara Schumann... >> The answer is "yes" to all. This may seem surprising because most people have been taught or at least lead to believe that Equal Temperament (ET) has been used universally and exclusively since J. S. Bach's time but it just isn't true. Although there were other kinds of temperaments that may have been used from the 17th through 19th and way into the 20th Centuries such as 1/5, 1/6 and 1/7 Comma Meantone and a whole class of temperaments which is not discussed very much, the Modified Meantones, virtually any European or New World composer during this long period would have been exposed to and used Well-Tempered Tunings (WT). The Meantones and Modified Meantones produced characteristics similar to the WT's and were therefore used in the same way or as substitutes. Even 20th Century composers such as Gershwin and Cole Porter, whom I often see written about as "requiring" ET, probably used and were exposed to WT's more often than they were a true ET. This being in spite of what you may read and what is accepted as common knowledge. All you have to do is look at the writing and the choice of key signatures to see that their music fits the idea of a Cycle of 5ths based temperament (which is what a WT and the others are). You will not, on the other hand, see any reason for all keys to be the same as each other which is the purpose behind ET. There is one important factor to remember, however. All WT's are not the same. They can range from very unequal, with 3rds ranging from pure to very wide, (in excess of 22 cents) to very nearly but not quite equal. (An ET 3rd is 14 cents wide). It only takes a deviation of 1 cent on one note of the scale for a temperament to no longer be ET. It is easy to surmise, given this fact, that most often, even well into the 20th Century, that ET was not used, even if it was believed to be by composers. performers and piano tuners alike. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
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