Re: AW.: Re: Re: Werckmeister.2

Werckmeister wrote in his Hypomnemata musica (1697) that:

"Who, however, asks for a temperament in which all consonant intervals are
equal, must take care that all fifths beat 1/12th of a comma downward, so
that all major thirds beat 2/3 or a comma and the minor third 3/4 of a
comma... So far I have not been able to agree with this view, because I
prefer to keep the diatonic notes which are used most often with the diatonic
tonalities, as pure as possible in tuning."

(Rudolf Rasch, "Does 'Well-Tempered' Mean 'Equal-Tempered'?" in Bach, Handel
and Scarlatti: Tercentary Essays, Peter Williams, ed., Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1985, pp. 392-445)

With 9 years left to his life, Werckmeister did not fully support ET. Yet in
Werckmeister's Harmonologie musica (1702) Rudolf Rasch has determined that
there is "a direct pleading for equal temperament, based on the possibilities
of unlimited transposition and enharmonic changes."

Now, from my 1985 essay Bach's Tuning. "One problem with this interpretation
is that all circular keyboard tunings are by definition, capable of
'unlimited transposition and enharmonic changes.' In this sense, equal
temperament fits well within the larger category of well-tempered tunings.

"Werckmeister's last opus Musicalische Paradoxal-Discourse (1707) was
published posthumously. Based on Rasch's translated excerpts, it would
appear that Werckmeister did indeed fully support equal temperament to the
point of offering an apology 'for his earlier propaganda for unequal
temperaments.'"

Mark Lindley wrote in his article "Temperament" for The New Grove Dictionary
of Music and Musicians, Stanley Sadie, ed., pp. 665-666) of different
circumstances.

"Werckmeister's attitude at the end of his life is summarized in a book
published posthumously (1707) where in effect he apologized for not having
included equal temperament among the various circulating termperaments for
which he had earlier published a monochord diagram. (The incompetent
engraver, he said, had complained about dividing the narrow space of a comma
into 12 parts.) He quite approved of equal temperament, yet was willing 'to
have the diatonic 3rds left somewhat purer than the other, less often used
ones', a procedure for which he had expressed clear preference in his earlier
writings."

What I deduced back in '85 and still believe for certain is that Werckmeister
wrote about equal temperament usage with increasing frequency in his later
years. This need not be interpreted as a dogmatic insistence on equal
temrpament. Maybe the Rameau reversals colored the situation somewhat.

Johnny Reinhard
AFMM