Equal Temperament in the Eighteenth Century. The Ear versus Numbers

Beverly Jerold

Beschreibung

Pages: xiv + 186 p. Illustrations:13 b/w, 12 musical examples. Language(s):English. Hardback. Brepols, Publication Year:2023 -- SUMMARY Today, many have urged early music specialists to adopt a historical unequal temperament for keyboards and harps, and even for instruments whose frets produce equal temperament naturally. Equal temperament, however, played a significant role during this period, but most writing today has stressed the numbers from early mathematicians who believed that the more just intervals a temperament has, the better it will be. Major writers, however, pressed for equal temperament because it enabled full use of the keyboard, transposition, and enharmonic notes. In contrast, the major and minor semitones of unequal temperaments, and their flats pitched higher than sharps, limited the keyboard s usable compass and made enharmonic notes and transposition impossible. As advanced thinkers were aware, performers with pitch flexibility did not follow the theorists numbers. An accompaniment in equal temperament offered them free rein to find the best intonation because its ratios for fourths and fifths are closest to the natural ones. Among the many writers who supported equal temperament was Jakob Adlung, who observed that the theorists calculations gave rise to the argument: Whether the ear or the numbers should judge if music sounds in or out of tune . TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword Glossary of terms Abbreviation of journal Abbreviaton of refence works CHAPTER ONE: 'EARS TO HEAR, BUT DO NOT HEAR' Introduction Late Renaissance Intonation Later Intonation Standards Eighteenth-Century Views Theory vs. Practice Tuners and the Monochord CHAPTER TWO: FUNDAMENTALS Measurement The Construction of Meantone Temperament The Monochord The Ear's Tolerance for Pitch Discrepancies The Meaning of 'Diatonic' Equal Temperament in Practice CHAPTER THREE: TEMPERAMENT IN ITALY AND FRANCE Equal Temperament in Italy Equal Temperament in France Marin Mersenne Equal Temperament and Instruments Jean-Philippe Rameau Reaction The Francophile Marpurg Temperament Requirements in French Music CHAPTER FOUR: CLARIFYING THE ISSUES The Necessity for Equal Temperament Does an Unequal Temperament Make All Keys Usable? Werckmeister and Equal Temperament Well-Tempered Neidhardt and Equal Temperament CHAPTER FIVE: TEMPERAMENT IN GERMANY The Acceptance of Equal Temperament Key Characteristics Kirnberger and Temperament CHAPTER SIX: INTONATION Flexible Intonation Eighteenth-Century Intonation The Curious Story of the Prelleur Violin Chart The Influence of Traditional Theory Differentiating between Theory and Practice Orchestral Intonation Tuning and Intonation CHAPTER SEVEN: ORGAN TEMPERAMENT AND J.S. BACH Equal Temperament and the Organ Musical Scores Equal Temperament in Bach's Area Builders and Temperament Bach's Harmonic Tequirements Postscript CHAPTER EIGHT: EXPRESSIVE INTONATION Equal Temperament and Expressive Intonation Mathematicians' Reaction CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX OF NAMES. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers ca435

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