Did I misinterpret something that was posted recently in the discussion regarding temperaments? I was surprised to learn that ET did not really exist prior to 1917. Now, the part I'm unclear on: I believe that it was stated that this treatise, published in 1917, was the first to utilize the concept of listening to beats in order to tune a temperament. First of all, is the above information correct? And if it's true that tuners didn't use beats to tune a piano prior to 1917, what did they listen to? I can't imagine. (I must have misunderstood the information posted.) Certainly, tuning unisons could not be done without eliminating beats. Perhaps tuners didn't use coincidental partials to tune prior to 1917? Straighten me out! Tom Sivak
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC