Bach and E.T. or W.T.

[A440A@AOL.COM]

Richard writes: 
<< With
all this talk of the "colour" available in non-ET temperaments, can't it
and should'nt it be said that ET also provides its own particular kind of
colour quality, and that this is not to be found in any other temperament ?

Greetings, 
    Yes, I agree 100%.  ET has a sound unlike anything else,  and to my ear, 
at least, is one of the most identifiable temperaments there is.  It has its 
own color, but not between the keys themselves, since the identifying 
characteristic of ET is that the keys, and the relationships between them in 
the various combinations, are equal.  

>>You of course can get hung up on the idea that different keys yeilding
different levels of dissonance is the only real "colouring" and ET is void
of that, yet is it not also a kind of "colouring" to have ET's particular
even dissonance at hand ?? >>

         Yes, it is a kind of coloring, and it is the only kind of coloring 
available from that tuning.  You can get that kind of color in a well 
temperament, but you have to stay near the middle of the circle of fifths, 
where the thirds are usually between 13 and 15 cents wide, (often the 
tonality of  Eb or A sounds much like ET).  To be able to modulate freely 
among identical tonal levels is a unique quality of ET. Its value will, as 
with all tunings, depend on its use.   
      An asset of a non-ET tuning is that there is more than one tonal value. 
 There is an effect when a triad is near pure that is very different from the 
effect of a highly tempered one. Thus, the key of F# has always been regarded 
as having a different nature than the key of C.   That is why I call a well 
temperament a Harmonic Toolbox (HT), it offered a composer a lot of different 
musical values(tools).      Composers of yore wouldn't make a funeral dirge 
out of the same intervals that you use for a pastoral, idyllic piece,  they 
historically called for different characters of sound and intonation.  Now, 
if someone can find an example of a dirge or lament written before 1850 in 
the key of C, F, or G,  I would be interested to hear it. 
Regards, 
Ed Foote