Dominant religions

[Dave Keenan, TD 525.12:]
>This is a somewhat "religious" issue but I contend that a dominant 7th
>chord is not (should not be) an approximate 4:5:6:7 chord. A 4:5:6:7 is
>much more consonant and should be called a subminor 7th or (German)
>augmented 6th chord.

>A dominant seventh chord has a _minor_ third stacked on a major triad
>(not a _subminor_ third).

As you know, Dave, your preferred tuning makes for a very high 7th
note, 9:10 of the root above. This is one of three JI choices (along
with 12-tET) offered by Mark Nowitzky on his page:

http://www.pacificnet.net/~nowitzky/justint/dom7.htm

I go the opposite extreme, preferring my dominant 7ths to be tuned
4:5:6:7, which makes for a very LOW 7th degree, at 7:8 of the root
above. In spite of the fact that this IS a consonant chord, as you say,
to my ear it also has a wonderful longing that begs for resolution to
tonic. And the 21:20 transition (F to E in G7 -> Cmaj) has a delightful
smallness that counteracts the rather large 15:16 leading tone.

My sense is that most on this list would prefer a "compromise", tuning
the 7th degree as 8:9 of the root above. Certainly the minor third
thus formed (27:32) is nasty, but isn't dissonance the idea of 5-limit
dominant 7ths?

Of course, in the end, it's all a matter of taste.

JdL