FWD: Bach's tuning

On Mon, 25 Sep 1995, Aleksander Frosztega wrote:
> But the
> quote in question still refers to equal temperament. Why? Because of the
> context: Most ear-tuning instructions for Circular temperaments in 18th-
> century Germany relied on setting the *fifths* in order to temper the scale.
> I have never seen (I don't think) 18th-century German ear tuning
> instruction that use fifths as a tempering device for Equal Temperament.
> They all used rows of MAJOR THIRDS which were to be made wide!
> (Sorge gave explicit instructions that each successive third should be
> made somewhat *wider* than the last.)

Eh? If one is wider than another, then they're not equal, are they?

> Yes, this is the F#-C# fifth in Kirnberger I though III. However, it is not
> tempered by 1/12 Pythagorean comma; it is tempered by the *schisma.*
> Kirnberger was not the best mathematician in the world and Marpurg, in
> fact, corrects Kirnberger's calculations in Marpurg's _Versuch._

Let me get this straight: you castigate Jorgenson for insisting on .1
cent accuracy, and now you're making a fuss about a difference of (my
calculator puts it) .0012817 cents? Sounds like straining at gnats and
swallowing camels to me.

--pH (manynote@library.wustl.edu or http://library.wustl.edu/~manynote)
O
/\ "Do you like to gamble, Eddie?
-\-\-- o Gamble money on pool games?"

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