Use Se 6c Wile do 654 130.8 261.6 532 do 654 1308 2616 5232 654 130.8 2616 5B2 dot re 7 = 193.2 68.335 73.121 136.67 146.242 27334 292.485 546.68 584.97 dot re 836 © 195.3 68.636 73.21 137271 146.42 274.542 292.84 549.085 585.68 dot re 88.6 196.7 68.834 73.269 mib— mt 3103 3863 Jo fat = sol solkh last 503.4 S795 696.6 772.6 $89.7 10068 7238 81.749 87470 91.400 97.797 102.186 109,337 116.988 156.476 163.499 174.94 182.802 195.594 204.372 218.674 233.976 312.953 326.997 349.881 365.603 391.188 408.744 437.347 467.953 625.906 653.995 699.761 731.207 782376 817.487 874.694 935.905 mib-— om 307 (390.6 78.089 81.953 156.179 163.905 312.387 327811 62.4 655.624 mb mi 3049 393.5 77.994 82.09 137.668 146.538 155.989 164.18 215.337.293.077 311.978 328.36 550.673 586.154 623.957 656.72 699.034 735.74 783.19 824.315 877.427 934.105 dot 100 69.289 /73.402 mib mi 300 400 TITA 82.399 fa fak sol —sollt. tat 502.3 S859 697.7 781.2 893 1004.7 87414 91.739. 97.859 102,695 109.545 116.846 174,829 183.479. 195.718 205.39 219.091 233.693 349.658 366.957 391437 410.779 438.182 467.385 699.317 733.915 782873 821.558 876.363 934.771 fa fat sol sok tasty 501.6 5902 6984 787 895.1 1003.3 87379 91.967 97.899 103.039 109.678 116.752 174.758 183.935 195.798 206.079 219.357 233.504 349.517 367.87 391.595 412.158 438.714 467.008, ‘fa fat sol salt ta sib 500 600 700 800 9001000 87298 92.489 97.989 103,816 109.989 116.33 130.8 138.578 146.818 155:548 164.798 174.597 184,979 195.979 207.632, (219.979) 23.059 261.6 277.156 293.636 311.097 329.595 349.194 369.958.391.957 415.264 19.957 466.118 523.2 S$4.311 587.272 622.193 / 659.191) 698.388 729.917 783.914. 930.58 894 932.236 at 1082.9 122.245 244.491 488.981 977.963 si 1088.3, 122.627 245.254 490.509 981.018 st 1200 1308 261.6 5332 1046.4 1200 130.8 261.6 523.2 1046.4 do 1091.9 1200 122882 130.8 2AS.765 261.6 49153 983.06 si 1100 53.2 1046.4 do 1200 13.459 130.8 A698 261.6 493.935 523.2 987.67 1ode.4an ingenious player can modify significantly during formance, For present purposes four main types of temperament may be distinguished: equal temperament, mean-tone ‘emperament,izregular temperaments and quasi-Pythag- orean temperament. This article will describe primarily thehistory oftheir use, but some plain and easy arithmetic js necessary here to distinguish one from another. For ¢ series of twelve Sths or 4ths to produce ‘cumulatively a perfect unison and so comprise the ‘circle of Sths, each must be tempered by an average of of the }ychagorean comma (hence about two cents) 4ths larger than pure, Sths smaller. If three major 3rds are to reach @ full octave they must average about 14 cents (} of the lesser desis) larger than pure, while four minor 3rds, in order not 2 exceed a pure octave, must average about 16 ‘cents (jof the greater diesis) smaller than pure. In equal temperament, Which is modelled on these averages, the rmajor 3rds are thus tempered seven times as much es the Schs, and the minor 3rds and major éths eight times as * fnuch, Historically this is nearly as important an aspect ‘of equal temperament as the well-known fact that it divides the octave into 12 equal semitones. As a harmonic interval the major 3ed /-a at modern concert pitch, for instance, beats seven times per second ~ too fast for the cat to trace, even subliminally, the rise and fall of each beat, and fast enough to cause an intermittence of tone thats likely to strike an unaccustomed ear as unpleasant in many contexts. To avoid such heavily tempered 3rds and 6ths, Renaissance and Baroque keyboard musicians tempered their Sths two or even three times as much as in equal teraperament. This choice entailed ‘breaking’ the circle of Sths, a fact reflected in traditional pitch notation and nomenclature with their enharmonic distinctions berween flats and sharps. If ll the good Sths in such a tuning are diminished the same amount, the result may be called a regular mean-tone temperament, although some writers restrict the term ‘mean-tone’ to that scheme in which Sths are tempered 30 as to produce exactly pure major 3rds. In any mean-tone temperament the diatonic semitones are larger than the chromatic (for instance, Dg is lower in pitch than Ep). Certain irregular keyboard temperaments, in which different Sths are tuned differently but none rendered unserviceable, were favoured during the late 17th century and the 18th because chey enabled the more frequently used 3rds to be tempered less than those used infrequently, and because the various keys thereby gained a diversity of intonational shading that was highly valued by connoisseurs and formed a prominent aspect of 18:h- century musical thought. In 17th-century France an ircegular scheme midway between a regular mean-tone and a typical 18ch-century irregular temperament seems toheve played a role in the contemporaneousdevelopment of the French keyboard style. Yet another, very different kind of temperament — ‘quasi-Pythagorean’ ~ can be derived from the fact that the sum of two major 3rds each of which is larger than pure by a syntonic comma (for example, Ap-C-E when the Sch and 4ths Ap-Ep-Bp-F-C- G-D-A-E are all pure) falls short of an octave by almost a pure major 3rd (in this case E-G4). The word ‘temper’ and its derivatives were originally applied to music in a broader context than they now denote, Carser’s Dictionary of Middle English Musical ‘Terms (1361) indicates that the adjective ‘temperate’ was once used in a general sense to mean ‘musically controlled’, as in a reference (1398) by John of Trevisa to a ‘swete yoys an temperate sown’. Bur the verb ‘temperen’ and its past participle ‘tempered’ referred in Middle English unequivocally to tuning, albeit pure tuning as well as tempered tuning in the modern sense; and this meaning ‘was still encountered in 1593: ‘Whereupon M. Barleyeap tempered up his fiddle, and began’ (*Temper’, OED). In the writings of Zarlino, the eminent 16th-century Italian theorist and musician, ‘temperamento’ was closely asso- ciated with the term ‘participatio’ by which, according to Gaffurius in 1496, Renaissance organists referred to their use of Sths diminished ‘by a very small and hidden and somewhat uncertain quantity’. 2. QUASI-PYTHAGOREAN TEMPERAMENT. Late 14th-and early 15th-century keyboard instraments that were fully chromatic, that is, with 12 notes in the octave, were normally tuned with 11 pure Sths among the naturals and hence automatically with one sour Sth, 2 comma smaller than pure, which was, by most accounts between B and Fy (the evidence for this comes mainly from Italy and southern France: Dijon, Liége, Padua, Mantua, Parma, Ferrara, Milan, Florence, Urbino). Such a tuning happens to yield virtually pure 3rds berween che naturals and sharps (D-F4-A-Cy-E-Gy-B-Dg) and much less nearly pure 3rds, a comma larger or smaller than pure, among the naturals (D-F-A-C-E-G-B-D) and berween the naturals and flats (Dp-F-Ap-C-Eb-G-Bp-D). The appar- ent consequences in some extant early to mid-15th- century keyboard music ace discussed in PYTHAGOREAN INTONATION. The kind of triadic harmony which was involved ~ wherein, among the major triads, those on D, A and E are treated as distincely more euphonious and stable than those on Bp, F, C and G ~ can be found also in non-keyboard compositions by Matteo da Perugia, ‘Andrea dei Servi and, in his earliest songs, Guillaume Du Fay (Lindley and Boone}, Singers can hardly be expected to have maintained the distinction berween pure and impure triads; if they could manage a fairly pure triad at one place in the music, they ‘would most likely be unwilling to produce on purpose distinctly impure one somewhere else. However, the notion that a chain of ‘perfect’ concords (Sths, 4ths) yields ‘imperfect’ ones (3rds, chs) which are so euphonious that they serve as stable sonorties in the harmony, asin ex.1 ‘Ext Dy Fay: Mon cir amy (GB-Ob Canin 213, fa. 9, 314s end of esekinate scion and ex.2, is a hallmark of eemperament. And the fact that ‘even in these vocal works, only triads containing a sharp swere treated az stable (sce ex.19 and the discussion in $11) suggests that some kind of keyboard instrument, pethaps the clavichord if not the organ, was used 28 a help in composing them. The theoretical amounts of tempering ~ less chan 4 of a cént for each Sch ~ are so small that no-one at the time noticed; and indeed Helmholtz in the 19th century tempered in this way the250 Fa2 Mato a Pepin: Fres de soli U-MOeaM.24 £16), exert Tee intervals on his ‘justly intoned harmonium’ with 24 different pitches in each crave (cee Just INFOMATION, $2). 3. REGULAR MEAN-TONE TEMPERAMENTS TO 1600. In the last chapter of his Musica practica (Bologna, 1482) Bartolomeo Ramis de Pareia indicated that mean-tone femperament was in common use on keyboard instra- ments of his day, Earlier in the ‘book he had presented a new, mathematically simple scheme which he said even young singers could use for a monochord to provide a model scale for plainchant. In that scheme the wolf Sth was ostensibly between G and D, But his elaborate and Somprchensive rules, in the last chapter, for avoiding ‘bad? intervals on fully chromatic instruments (“instru menta perfects) leave no doubt that in general practice G-D was perfectly serviceable and the wolf Sch was between C and Ab. This is corroborated by his lists of ‘good’ nd ‘bad? semitones, whole tones, and major and minor 3rds, and by the pattem of his nomenclature for the sharps and flats. Ramis expressed particular concern thet only ‘good? m: ijor 6ths and 3rds be used in cadential Progressions. There is confirmation that ‘good’ did not mean ‘Pythagorean’ in a letter (published in 1518) from his disciple Giovanni Spataro to Franchinus Gaffurius, iticizing Gaffucius for saying that the syrtonic comma Was an insignificant intervallic quantity, Spataro argued, on behalf of Ramis, that for practical music the harsh Pythagorean monochord had to be reduced end smoothed for the ear (‘el duro monochordo pythagorico .. riducto in molle al senso de lo audito’), Gaffurius, al jough a seriet Pythagorean in his mathematical calculations of Intervals, acknowledged in 1496 that organists tempered their Sths, while his chromatic monochord of 1518 {reprinted in 1520) indicates that Gk and Di differed from Ab end Ep. Ramis's discussion of “good” cadential Sths and 3rds mentions the device, which later beeame ‘Widespread in Italy on keyboard instruments designed for ‘Mean-tone temperament (see Barnes, 1971, and Dupont, 1935), of doubling the accidentals Ab and Ep to provide their enharmonic neighbours Gy and Dg; and the 1480 Contract for the cathedral organ at Lucca appears to refer to such a device. The use of regular meas-tone cempera- ‘ments had probably evolved from ad hoe alterations of certain eater lSth-century untempered schemesin which, as in Ramis’s own pedagogical monochord, the wolf Sth was placed ostensibly among the naturals (Lindley, 1975-- 6), Pethaps the oldest known keyboard composes whose ‘music requires a mean-tone temperament for its proper Temperaments, §2: Quasi-Pythagorean temperament effect was Conrad Paumann. His use of triads, as in x3), Suggests that he regarded them as solid vertical sonorities,, ‘mote so than they would in fact be in Pythagoreat: ‘Ex Paumann (D-Mbs Gam 352b. £1040) f (2tgnation. The use of triads in contemporary vocsl music (eg. Ockeghem, Busnoys and late Du Fay) is similar in this respect. No particular shade of mean-tone temperament on ‘ Keyboard inscraments ~ such as Fomma, oommé or +. comma (see MEaN-TONE) ~ was favoured exclusively at _ any time during the Renaissance. The earliest mathemat | ically specific formula was Zarlino's scheme of 1558 for ‘comma meen-tone, in which major 3rds are very si lightly smaller than pure. But Laniranco’s Keyboard tusing instructions of 1533 are unequivocally for some form of ‘mean-tone, such as Lcomma or; }-comma, with major 3rds slightly larger than Pure (and with the wolf Sth lying | between Gg and Eb instead of between Cy and Abas | Ramis suggests). The same can be inferred érom other writers, and not just those who cited Lanfranco, Schlick had implied in 1511 that some organists would prefer such a tuning to his own irregular scheme (sce $4 below, The clavichord tuning instructions published by Tomas de Santa Maria in 1565, although clearly for some form of mean-tone, do not specify the exact quality of the major 3rds; but when Pietro Cerone copied these instruc tions in 1613 he added a few words to specify major 3rds slightly larger than pure and declared that this was the method most used by master ‘organ builders (‘es manera mas usada de los Maestros de hazer Organos’), An approximation of j-comma mean-tone (with major 3rds Very slightly larger than pure) was described in 1590 by Crriacus Schneegass, who may have confused it with } comma mean-tone. Meanwhile Zarlino in 1571 described comma mean- tone, which has pure major 3rds, in. mathematically clear terms, He said it was new (‘un novo Temperamento & ‘una nove Participatione’); but Francisco de Salinas implic. in 1577 that he had been using it in the 1530s. Many scholars attribute fcomma mean-tone to Pietro Aaron in his harpsichord tuning instructions of 1523, but an cqually legitimate interpretation of Aaron’s text suggests that while he would not bave faulted regular keomma mean-tone, neither did he specify it. Salinas's teomma mean-tone (1577), with its pure minor 3rds at} the expense of major 3rds distinctly smaller than pure, does not seem to have been used much, even though itis very easy to tune. Zarlino described it in 1571 as ess sonorous than + or f-comma mean-tone, and added in 1588 that ‘it seems to me a bit more languid’ (‘anzi al mio Parere é un poco pil languido’), Its intervals are virtually identical, how- ever, with those produced by an equal division of the octave into 19 parts, and in that guise it may have been familiar to Guillaume Costeley (Levy, 1955), as well asto Salinas himself and, later, Jehan Titelouze. Evidently, then, all the forms of mean-tone tempera- ment for which the essential mathematics were worked ‘out by an anonymous early 17th-century Dutch. colleague‘Ex Ball (GB-Och Mus.1113, p.227) gid or disciple of Simon-Stevin (Lindley, 1984) — namely }, +, and comma mean-tone~ had been in use, although Feomma probably least and j-comma, which is difficult to tune precisely, perhaps less than Heomma or some shade of mean-rone with major 3rds slightly larger than pure. No doubt most tuners, rather than trying to exemplify any particular mathematical model, merely Bx G Gabel (Tr Giordano 11, £28) sought to achieve sonorous 3rds and éths without making any Sth or dch (other chan the wolf) beat obstreperously. ‘The instructions of G.B, Benedetti (1585), EN. Ammer- bach (1571) and G.P, Cima (1606), as well as those of ‘Aaron and Santa Maria, reflect a certain freedom in this respect, Yet some of the best tuners may have sought a fairly precise regulariry in the tempering of their intervals, ifooly for the sake of craftsmanship. Ei Varae(Libro secondo, Naples, 1580, .27) Siiigssag Sr Musical evidence cannot show that any specific shade of regular mean-tone was exclusively favoured by any 357 Cabeain (Olas de mis, Madd, 1578, 628) = composer, but certain compositions benefit particularly ftom certain shades. The sprightliness of the sharps and By in ex.4, the first strain of an alman by John Bull, is berter served by }eomma than by } or comma meen. tone. Ex.5, the opening of a toccata by Giovanni Gabriel, gains a certain warmth and dignity in comma mean- tone, while the relatively unruneful style of the entire toccata minimizes the dull melodic effect of the rather large diatonic semitones of ¢ or }-comma mean-tone. In comma mean-tone the contrast berween pure major 3rds and tempered minor 3rds prevents that effect of banality which in equal temperament would afilie: the middle bars ofex.6, the opening of an organ verso by Antonio Valente; and in a more elaborate way the same kind of contrast — but involving tempered Sths as well -is @ positive delight when ex.7, the opening of a Cabezén tiento, is played in comma mean-tone. The possible use of regular mean-tone on 16th-entury freed instruments is discussed in §9 below. 4. IRREGULAR KEYBOARD TEMPERAMENTS TO 1680. Pechaps the earliest suggestion of an irregular keyboard temperament is an anonymous English pres Hon for organ pipes of about 1373 (‘Incipit mensura’, transcribed by K.J. Sachs, 1970) instructing the builder that the correct pipe length for a chromatic note will halve the ifference between its diatonic neighbours that form a Pythagorean whole tone (‘Ubicumque vis habere semiton- jum, semper fistulam inferiorem et superiorem in duas divides’). In the wake of the Renaissance revival of Fuclidian geometry, Hensicus Grammateus published in his arithmetic book of 1518 a simple diagram (fig.1) showing how the geometrical mean between two pipe lengths in the ratio 9:8 could be determined by drawing a semicircle on the’sum of the lengths 9 and 8 taken as diameter, and then measuring the perpendicular from the juncture ofthe two lengths. By this means the Pythagorean whole tone would be, in theory, divided intotwo musically equal semitones. Grammateus referred to these as ‘minor semitones’, and other theorists later used that term to designate equal semitones on the lute (see §9 below; but the context of the prescription leaves no doubt that he intended his ‘amusing reckoning’ (‘kurtzweylligre- chnung’) to be applied to organ pipes Such atemperament would make both B-F¥ and Bj-F sour, however, and even Barbour (1951), although ideologically attracted to it, described it as an organ tuning which ‘may have been used in practice but hardly by anyone who was accus- tomed, ike Schlick, to rune by ear’, Nor does any extant ‘Renaissance organ music avoid Bp-F as well as B-F4.; The irregularities ofa number of other schemessimalarly deserve scant axtention from the student of keyboard 1. Grammateus's method for determining the geometrical mean beeveen two pipe lengths in the ratio 9:3LAMENTATIO SANCTAE MATRIS ECCLESIAE CONSTANTINOPOLITANAE A 5 (asa) ° wes |pi- teulx [de toute -| spoir fon O tres piteuls de toue espoir fontaine Tenor Bacsus DEC == Tr he taO- LE -TUR E-[AM60 plains, Du | greftourmentet. dou ou - reulx jt | plus bel des hu = mins EE Qui |CONsO- LETe (lia, 30. Aquilaaltera = ¢ PR. Sua 3 7 ” WS: Jett ~ (AquizaHOS’ creatura gentil Uccel di Dio) ms ber | P fF (scope da Bologna) » ‘Aquila altera Frere Peertidd Us the sy EBi ptin- cis pals men- te chia- acht nels Je gran- d'o- pre tui ’Voita de aguila atera(t —— =. x 31. In perial sedendo (Imperiale sedendo fra pitt stelle) PR (Bartotino da Padova) In perial sedendonena ceatden' Ihanes ito sits, e- ton pss oe anes ei 7 2 f | See f . = etapa me Epos kei pera ae fuss, ee | compos ebele-26 DECHIARATIONE DELLE MANIERE CHE S'HAN dafonare col Violone, ¢ col Cimbalo infieme. EGP SRIN auetofecondo Libro fi tratcanole varie maniere che fi debbiano fonare cal Violonee col Cit He Be baloinfieme, Tre fonno li manicre difonare. LaPrima fidicePantafia. La Seconda fopra canto 124] Piano.Laterza opra compoficione dimolte voci. La Fantafianon fi puomottrare che ciafcano BF] buon fonaroreia {uona difua efta.e di (uo ftudio & vfo.ma ben dito’quel che i. richieda per (0: 7 natla. Lafantafia che foneraril Cimbalo fia di confonanze ben ordinate oue poi enti fonandoil Violone con alcuni lepgiadri paffaggi.e quendo el Violone fi trartiene in alcune tirare ouero archate piane. allhorail Cimbalo glitifponda a propofto. &¢infieme faccino alcune fughe belle hauendo rifguardo erifperto Fun all’alro,come {uol hauerfi nelli Contraponti di confierto:e cofi 'uno conolcera V'alero,econ Velfercitas tione commune fi {copriranno li molti efcellenti edegni fecteti che fi contengono in quelta maniera di fonare di Famafia ma delle due altre maniere fi fara mentione nellilor conueneuoli e proprii Lochi, : LORDINECHESEHADATENER’ IN ACCODAR'’ il Violone co'l Cimbalo. ONO molcemaniere di accordar’il Violone col Cimbalo, perche fi pao fonare per qual fi vogliatuono alzando o calando nel fonare vn puncoo piu fecondoil caono del Cimbalo ricer# cajil che quantunque fia difficile, col elfercitio continuo ferendera facile, pero la piu facile & miz '| glior maniera di accordar il Violone col Cimbalo e che la quirta del Violone in. Vodo fia vais fono col G amaut del Cimbalo, per che a queftomodo participano egualmente delli Ballt & Ale ti,6¢in quetto modo de tempersrnento fe ha dafonat’ cutto quello che qui fefcriuera di quefti Inftramenti- Quefte quaeoricereateche quifeguono mi pared pote ibete & ole pe eflercitar la mano,, & in parte dar qualche noricia del difcurfo che feha da tence’ quando fe fonata va Violon folo. G “Primo. 11 "Primoordine. | — Secondo ordint.” Terzo ordine. Ordine Inflromenti, che {ono Infromenti,che fi piega.| InSiromenti, che danno il di quelli DOE : Infiro.— temperati co 1 Tino-| n0 per ogni verfo, Tuono diuifoin due par- mitische noeguale,e'lSemi-| Pocthumane, Hi eguali,eg li Semituoni & potlo- tono ineguale. Trombori. ono eguali. incase Organo. Trombette, Laut. Clanacembalo, Ribechint. Viole. Spinette, Cornetti. 1 Viole baftarde, Monocordi. Flauti, Cetera, Arpe doppie. Dulzaine, 1 Lire. Potrere hora dalla foprapofta diusfione conofcere quali InSEromenti fi pof- fonownire infieme,@ quali fiano dla quefta wnione lontaniyche la prima fpetie con la terzanon puosne potre mat cunitfi finze offefa dell’ udito,co. ‘nafeinta dalle intelletto ; potra beniffiano La fecondacon la prima,éocon le terzacunirfiinfleme, QF fara la refpofta per horasche io voglio dare alle primarvoftrarichieha, Quanto alle feconds, fe to woglio affermare, che Dena. tutta gueftadilettations habs dacfere ne‘fenfi folamente,fara proprio wa tone nd rvolere,che il Naranxo diuenti-un pomo, (un ponere in difpregio. que ae of Sia feienza, di cui tanto ne godrebbe un Contadino roxo, erofolano 5 ‘eal ‘ quanto wena che folfe di lei intelligente,eo- che in quefte fetenze bauelfe pe [ili goorni fuois élche 2 falfo. Se anco woghono dire, che il (alo inatelletto coda di quefte coff foane.e diletteuole Harmonia, farebbe fenza dubio gran diffimo errore;perche lintelletto nox apprende cofe alcuna, che prima non fia dal fenfo riceuuta, @ ricenuta Papprefenta allsntelletto s oltra che fi ruede manifefamente sche glk huomint roxt ancora fi compiationo, e le di- letta queSa Harmonia : Bifogne adungue dire, che il fenfo,e lo satelletto 11 (enfo, infierne.piglina piacere, ¢ dilettatione infinita di quefts Concerti ; @) necef & Vinee! (aviamentebfgaache iff dell dat fil prmaspercheilfuevoche 2 Fi sl proprio obsetto dell’ dito, viene riceuto dall’udita che in lui fi compia- Vercatio-- ce,nella maniera cheil vedere fa dellacofa evifibile, ltatto della cofatan ne dei sl el gro dele cof guffebiles et dop® baucrlarceuntoge dilereatfe di °° Iuiglo appreféenta all matelletto, che pos vd confideranda qual: proportioni Qualico habbino fire di lore ques fuonies quelle parti di quella Cantilenase quel- if am Ki mstéervall,l'inwentione e'l foggietto,lordinesla forma data d quella ma. taleto, teria 5 e il file é pargato; cofé tutte, che allo intelletto s'appartengons, il difcernere,intenderle, @/ gindicarles eg quefla é quella parteschealloin- selletto s'apparticnt, Luca.46 Lutes, viols and temperaments Clearly this all suggests that the ability to play a lute or viol in meantone temperament was unusual. A few writers between 1550 and 1650 do refer to some systematic arrangement of unequal semitones on fretted instru- ments, but nearly always in a manner which shows that practically no one used them, When Vicentino described in 1555 the ubiquitous use of equal semitones on fretted instruments and the fact that they never sounded in tune with keyboard instruments, he recommended the adoption of a scheme with the unequal semitones in the following order (opposite to the normal pythagorean pattern, but appropriate to meantone) for the first five frets: major, minor; major, minor; major. Similarly, in this dialogue from the second edition of Vincenzo Galilei’s Fronimo (1584) the pattern of major and minor semitones in the musical illustration conforms to that of meantone temperament and excludes pythagorean intonatio Bu. Voreei sapere per qual cagione Exmatio: Iwouldlike to know why ‘voi aon vsute nel vaso Linto... you don"t use, on your lute, itast.. distanti vno dal! altro. fretsspaced par in sali inegualitad'interualli, togive unequal intervals, &aleuni altri tasting, che and some addiconal little fets to talgono alle terze & decime maggiori_ take om the majac 3rds and 1Oths ‘parte dll" acutezza loro, come ho some oftheir acuteness, as Ihave weduto vsareadalcuni... seenused by some (players)... Fro, Rispondesd prima Frosimo: I shall deal frst sMinegualitadetasti... with the inequality of the frets. voideuete sapere, che Youshould know that alicaé la distribution del Liuto, alica quella dello strumento di tasti + +a venghiamo a aqualch’essempio particulare, per mostrarea quelli ‘che voglions nel Liuto i Semituoni disuguali, Perroreloro ‘vi mostze® prima secondo la commune opinione cde sitrouino {i maggior & i minor semituani, ‘quali vanno secondo, Fordine del sottoposto esépio. the nes scales ferent fom thac ofa keybosed instrument... Batltus ate 2 panicuar example todemonsirat to those ‘vo want unequal semitones. onthe late how they ert First shal show you between which notes are fond (according to comnmen opin) the major and minor semones They go accordingto the pattern of the following example.” Meantone temperament a7 perament, Denis was a harpsichord-maker. On one occasion when he en- countered a man who had tuned a harpsichord in equal temperament, he told him that auoit mauuaise raison de vouloirgaster le bon & parfait -secoed pour Paccomoder a des Instruments impartaits, & quillalloit plustosechercher la perfection du Luth & de a Viole, & trouver le moyen de face que les semi-tons fussent majeurs & mineurs, ‘comme nous ls auons sur Espinette, ‘ce quinese peut faire auec les touches de cordes daat on touche les Luths, pource qu'il faudroit qu’elles assent faites en pieds de mousches; ‘cequi se peut lire parle moyen des touches d'yuoire. it was poor thinking tobe willing tosuin « good and pertect ‘tuning in order toaccomadlate it coimpertectinsiruments, ‘and he should instead seck topertect the te and the gambs, by finding a way co make its semitones major and minor ase have theman the harpsichord, ‘which cannot be done with the tied-on frets with which one plays the lute, because they would have tobe staggered, which can be dave by means of ivory frets ® ‘As far as [ know, they were never adopted to any significant extent, certainly never enough to bring about any modification of the numbers or letters in tablature. Even the fanatical Giovanni Battista Doni who regarded equal tempera~ ment as ‘a mere chimera and a non-existent, impossible thing’,’ acknaw- ledged (around 1640) that temperament in general - @ diduesoni,una neglinsteumenti dimanico; Valtea in quei di ast: {in quellate prime consomanze sono pit giuste, ele seconde meno; ‘come ancoi semituoni vi sono, aluanto piu diminuiti; ‘main questa pel conteario. Teterre,eleseste, ‘emenole quarte, ele quinte. che eagione, che i Lit, le Tiorbe, le Viele, le Lire, ec. ‘nai perfettamente si possano accordare con i Clavisembali, econ !’Arpe per la diversia della participasione, ‘come in un Discorso a parte statodottamente mostrato is ofewo sont, the one in fretted instruments, the other in those wit keys the former the primary consonanices Iie. Shs and dths]are more just, andthe secondary ones {rds and ths} less, andalo the semitones therein are somewhat more diminished {sich buc in the later, on the contrary, the 3rds and 6ths are found {to be] moce just, and the ths and Shs les so} ‘This the ceason that lute, theorkos, viol, las (da braccio}, ete ‘can never be perfectly in tune ‘with hurpsichords or with the harp, because of the difference in temperament, s(n another discourse) has been Jeasmedly demonstrated The use of special frets, proposed earlier by Bermudo for pythagorean in tonation, was suggested again by Jean Denis in the 1640s for meantone tem 7 Vincenzo Galilei 1584: 20. del Bowtrigati.._by Bouteigari.! 8 Denis 1650: 12 9 Doni 1763a: 372. 10 Doni 17632: 370.48 Lues, vials and temperaments Doni professed to regard it as astonishing that so many theorists had believed that fretted instruments had equal semitones," and he advanced some remarkable arguments to the contrary: Prendssi sualsiuoglia diguesti instrument, sa Livo, Chitra, 6 Vik poco imparts & 3 consider poco, come vi stanno cllocaii tat; Eevedsi se@ vero, chil ter20 semtwono sin maggiore 6 spato materiale del secondo: cae ¢ tale veramente intuit instrument, ni dchino vn poco, come 8 persbile, che ia eguale aoervallo- Accordato, che hauert va Liuto, 6 Viola, prendx vn'instrumento di 13.chorde, ‘8: didgici semiruani eguali -.- cconoscerlinanifstamente due cose: yma &,ehe quasi nesuna vace de" due instrument saccordert insieme, ‘& visard grandissima diferencs d’accordo. Lialtra, che in questo instrumento, ‘sromericamente diuiso, ‘nessuna consonanza quasi visi trovert Be riuscerd del mttoimpraticabile. Take whichever of these instruments you wish, beita lute, guftaror viel, ic doesn’t matter; and consider abit how the frets are placed thereon and seeifit is true thatthe third semitone is larger inactual space than the second; and ifs really so inal the instrument, Jet them tell mea bit how it is passible hat it should be qual 84 musicaljinterval.. Having tuneda lute or vil, take an instrument with thirteen stings and twelve equal semitones [and compare] ..- ‘0 things will be manifestly known: fist, that almost no mote on the two instrament willbe in tone together, and there will be a very great diflerence in tuning; secondly that in the instrument divided geometrically [fr equal temperament) almost no cansonances will be found, and it wil be wholly impracticable.'? About the time he wrote this, Doni was engaged in a dispute as to whether the organ in Bernini's new apse at S. Lorenzo in Damaso should be tuned in equal temperament, as Frescobaldi recommended." So the description of equal temperament as ‘impracticable’ should not be taken as reflecting the {ull range of contemporary opinion. Indeed, if Doni had made these argu- ments in a debate his opponent might have replied that the first passage begs the question with an escape clause (‘se é vero’) and that the second makes no reference to expert payers but mercly asks the reader to compare his own, tuning with equal temperament. It is appropriate to subject Doni’s argu- ments to such meticulous scrutiny because he was in fact capable of being quite disingenuous. He would say of Frescobaldi, ‘II ne scait pas ce que c'est semiton majeur ou mineur et ne joue guere sur les touches . ..chromatiques’ (‘He doesn’t know whata major or minor semitone is, and hardly plays at all 13 Doni 1640: 292. 14 Doni 1647: 30-31. 1 Doni 1640: 285. 12 Doni 1640: 286. “Meantone temperament 49 on the chromatic keys’).? He would argue that a player cannot produce ceuphonious interyals on an instrument fretted for equal semitones: alcano di questi, che non vorrebbono One of those who dot wish ‘vedere nuove perfetioni nella musica tosee new perlctions in music ‘mihi repliato,che coo sino del_cepied to me that with the ad ofthe itosi pod supplice, quantobisogna, finger one can supply whatis needed Aqualungoeiaterualo;..questa® eoany interval... fut} isis na mera impostara: prima perché_amere impostute: fist, Because ‘bene nella Viola, Totba, per even fo the vol or theorbo for ssermpio, i pssono con prolangae il example) one ca hy stretching the “tole sto, inacutie le voci Ginger beyond the fret raise the notes qualche poco; totavia Gd Apena some small amounts that hardly siesce in yoerle abbassare. Secondo will doin trying tolower them; secondly, perche non possibile far questa because it is not posible to make this alteatione, se nonin yna chordasola, alteration, except on oly ene string fat time), “Terzaperehe on si pad fare dwn thirdly, because it cannot be done by Inisura cera, Gedeterminata:anzi specific and fixed amount ~ stead hora ruscité pi, hora meno ..itwillsucceed now more, now less Quarto perche hon sipossonefare Fourthly, because one cannot make "gest iteration’ in tempi veloc, these alterations nfs tempos ~ tenellenotelunghe ancora non resce andon long noes inked, ne cannot difarleneiprimiloro contri make them atthe outset ofthe note {perche 'vdito non pro giudicare (because the ear cannot judge A primo lancio, dove sirichiedno), atthe stack, when itis needed), sma deppo, che Vorecchie hanno di gd but fony} alter the eseshave ala ‘iceuutalapercossa, &Volless... received the attack and the ollence Aay player will recognize that this is full of meretricious reasoning. Equally silly is the way Doni rejected Salinas” proof that lutes and viols were tuned in equal temperament. Salinas had said that on these instruments three major 3rds reached a full octave and therefore must have the lesser diesis (the amount by which three pure 3rds fall short of an octave) distributed among them. In reply, Doni cited the fact that these 3rds are larger than on 2 harpsichord as if this were contrary to Salinas” assertion rather than being its main point: sce eli nell Vink, 6 Linto tweditoni terse maggiori compiscon0 Torta: danque non vi sono Dies “Maelinons'accorge del tlc eiche allorasarebbe vera 'llaione, {quando quel dton dt Livto, 8 Viola fsseroegualidquei del Cemba ilche si vede maniestamenteesere falso;perchenela Viola, & Lintoson0 ‘molto magyor, 8 pid imperetche nel Cemtalo. 15 Mersenne 1932 16 Doni 1640: 302-03. He [Satinas) says that on alate vil, twee dtones or major 3eds complete an octane; therefore there are no diss. But hes mot aware of his allay since the ileeence woul be {only ifthe ditoaes ofthe leo wt were equal to thos ofthe harp ho, which isseen mani tobe false because on the vil andlate they are much larger and more impesect han co the harpsichord"? rm, 17. 17 Doni 1640: 289.60 Lutes, viols and temperaments ib dir der erst tayl voa dem mn, den sibenthen ved vntersten gift den merck mit einem dupif vad setz die 2yfer 7 darzuldarnach ty von der 2yter bis za dembaylf tay ‘vad von det elben ty] aay von dem.b.herabigeben dir den. ersten gryll den merch auch mit ceynem tupll vind sete die rfl : “‘quinta sotto” By; 3. A, E, B, F2, C2, Gz si accordano per terza maggiore si puole”’ (F-A, C-E, ecc.). Si trata di un mesotonico avente le terze maggiori un po” larghe, chiaramente ispi- Tato — anche nell’impostazione procedurale — a quello gia illustrato da Giovanni Maria Lanfranco nel 1533 (pp. 134-6). Secondo una prassi Piuttosto diffusa in Ttax lia, i diesis vengono accordati_ salendo er terza maggiore e i bemolli discendendo. Per quinta?: benché dal contesto semibri che il mesotonico in questione sia regolarey” la mancanza di direttive Precise riguardanti le quinte verso i bemolli (non viene pid specificato che sono “‘scarse”’) pouebbe aver indotto alcuni pratici ad equivoci del upo Mersenne-Chaumont (cfr. anche regola seguente), “facendole pitt alte che | 5. Lulgt Maria Rota (Regola per accordare il cembalo, Roma, ms. del 17734). Nonostante appartenga ai tardo Setiecento, viene qui inserita per alcune analogi¢ ent BO Cons. (P. 120 - Cod. 22, f, 39%), in Regole del conerappunto, per sonare il basso continuo et. ompagnare ta parte che canta. L'antica scheda del éatalogo della Biblioteca riporta: “ms ma te di; cava rpoterimo sulla fine’. Poiché si trata di materiale inedito, viene ciprodotto nella Ser. IV 5 Gf. anche i metodi di P. Aron (1523), L. M. Rota (1773) e dell anonimo bolognese che cearninerema’ Di} U7t in C.1 abbiamo visto consigliare la stessa procedura da G. B. Ferrini, Sdi Coles A. buon & “Tele manoscrito viene conservato, priv di collocazione, nall"Arcivi del Convento ei s- Cosa‘SCRITTIINEDITI - Sez. IV: Regole per accordare 243° 1 Gatzazzo Saspatint, Regola secura per accordare a orecchio conforme |’uso mo- derno, gl’organi, cembali, o altri simili instromenti da tasti (Pesaro, 1657)’. Benché sin’hora si sijno pratticati varij, e diversi modi d’accordar gl'instro- menti da tasti, non si @ veduta perd una certa regola ferma, ¢ secura come quella che nelle sue Scintille armoniche pone il Sig. Galeazzo Sabbatini Canonico di Pe- saro, dove in prattica, et in teorica dimostra l’accordo di varie armonie antiche, ¢ moderne in tutti li tre generi Diatonico, Cromatico, et Enarmonico; dice dunque call: Per accordare il cembalo non a sorte, ma con qualche regola secura, avertirai, che le note, 0’ lettere del alfabeto musicale con li numeri appresso, dimostrano nella tastatura quelli tasti che haveranno simili lettere, e numeri, come il G2. D3. significano li tasti segnati col G2. D3. [vedi figural? Ege y {/ DEE UGEATS I CAD SEP AMES RLS sic. fine di endere pid! agevole la lettura dei manoscritti della presente Sezione IV, ho leggermente ti soeeato la punteasiatura e normalizzato gli accenti, gli apostrofi, le maluscole, lew € lev; le abbreviazion| sono state sciolte, 1 gl Bos cons. — Ms L44, composio da un solo foglio,serito sulle due faccate; originale a stam; ot fh 1.44, cor . pa, Se Cio. Paclo Gotti, &irperibil), suo contenuto & stato ilustratonelle Sez IL,C.1 lll F 2 ees 12). Cft. anche P. Barbieri, Cembali enarmoniet cit, nela Se. {11-8}. 2. [Faccio notare che, nella figura, lo strumento é stato erroneamente rappresentato con le cor: i- ‘sposte in ordine inverso]. ° creedae SCRITTIINEDITI - Sez. IV: Regole per accordare Secondo avertirai di determinare la positione 0° tuono nel quale vorrai accor. dare l'instrumento, se in tono corista, 0° in altro, Terzo uguaglierai li tasti, cioé, che nel cembalo le penne, ¢ nell’organo le canne, una non dica pit forte del'alia. Quarto distinguerai 'accordo in tre ordini,il-primo de? quali chiamarai de? tas sti semplici, il secondo di b.molli, et il terzo di diesis come qui: Primo G2.D3.A3.E4. 4. if Secondo E}2,B}2.F3.04,G4, Terzo ordine E2. 2.F#3.CB4.Gt4.2 Ciaseuno di detti ordini consta d’una 17 maggiore che ® una terza maggiore con doi ottave, nel cui ristretto si rachiudono quattro quinte meno un coma, poiché Gwattro quinte perfette consiano di due ottave, e due tuoni maggioti, che la 17 maggiore consta di quattro quinte, e due tuoni, un maggiore, e l'altro minore, et il Riono maggiore supera d’una coma il minore. Onde per far le quinte eguali in detto ristretto di 17 maggiore spuntarai cioé tenerai scarsa ciascuna quinta di un quarto: i coma, se non vorrai tutte Je quinte perfette, come era P'accordo antico di Pita. Sore, € Boetio, overo che tutto il coma resti nella quarta quinta grave, come per- metteva Aristosseno ¢ Tolomeo, il che non resta senza qualche offesa dell’ orecchio; ma cid non accade quando le quinte sono scarse per un quarto di coma, poiché si Poco intervallo non cade sotto ' suo giudicio, anzi simili quinte li paiono perfette, € secondo il Galileo pid dolci. Accordo del primo ordine Tncominciarai l'accordo del primo ordine in G2. tirando poi le sue ottave gravi, et acute, cio’ G1.G2.G3.Gé, Secondo accordarai col G2. il h2. in terza maggiore ben tirata, ¢ poi accordarei le sue ottave gravi et acute ciog 4. 42. 43. 84. Terzo nel ristretto di G2.b4. che & Ja distanza d’una 17 maggiore dove si restringono queste quattro quinte cio’ G2.D3.A3.E4, b4. le quali compartirai ¢ contemperarai in modo che in detto ri- Stretto restino aggiustate ¢ sara in arbitrio tuo d'incominciar I'accordo dal grave, o dall’acuto cio dal G2. 0” dal 44, 0” parte dall'uno e parte dall’altro, purché in detto ristretto restino compartite, et accordate dette quattro quinte, le quali stabilite Potrai tirar le sue ottave, perché haverai posto in securo Vaccordo, Accordo del secondo ordine de’ b.molli Per haver il secondo ordine accordarai col G2. PE\2. in terza maggiore nel BFaVe, ¢ Poi tirarai le sue ottave cioe Eb2.Eb3.E}4. Nel ristretto di Bj2.G4, come partirai le quattro quinte che nel detto ristretto si contengono, che sono E}2.B}2.F3.C4.G4., ¢ poi accordarai le loro ottave esaminandole con le sue terze, © quarte. 7 3, LA.gussto punto, per una svsta, il copista ha inserto erroneamente una frase che figurera invece pit ‘avanti, ¢ che quindi ho soppresso],SCRITTIINEDITI = Sez. IV: Regole per accordare ase Accordo del terzo ordine Per haver il terzo ordine de’ diesis, accordarai col E2. il G42. in terza mag- giore'ben tirata, e poi accordarai ‘le, sue ottave ciot G#2.G#3.GH4, Nel ristretto di E2. e Gil4, accordarai le quattro quinte ch’ivi si rachiudono cio’ E2, 42.FH3. Ci4.G44., e poi accordarai Ie loro ottave gravi, et acute esaminandole con le loro terze, quarts, ¢ quinte, c’haverai compito tutto Paccordo. Altro modo d’accordo pid ristretto Potrai anco, e forse ti sara pit facile, e securo, far ’accordo in ristretto d’una decima maggiore, ¢ cosi il primo ordine tra G2. 43., il secondo tra EL,2.G3., et i terzo tra E2.G43. Tl primo ordine sar cosi G2.D3.A3.A2.E3. b3., cio8 accordarai G2. 43. [in decima maggiore giusta, G2.D3. in quinta spuntata, e poi il D3.A3. in altra simile, accordarai poscia 3.E3. in quinta, e poi E3.A2. in quinta spuntate, e quando 13. rispondera in ottava col A2. allora haverai compartito bene le quinte, e posto Paccordo in sicuro, Simile operatione farai nel secondo ordine di b.molli cioe E}2.B,2. F3.F2.C3.G3., 0” vero accordate le prime due quinte E}2.B}2.F3. accordarai in ottava col FS. I'F2, ¢ poi tirarai C3. in quinta, che accordi e con F2. grave ¢ G3. in quinta acuta. Medesimamente operarai nel terzo ordine de’ diesis come qui E2. )2.F#3.F#2. C#3.G#3., cio’ accordarai prima le due quinte gravi E2. 42.F#3. ¢ poi le doi acute ciot G#3.CH3.F#2.; o vero come insegna I’Arone accordarai nel mezzo tra D2.A2 tra E2, k2. tra A2.E3. le loro terze maggiori, che sono F#2.G42.CH3. Accordarai doppoi lottave delle corde accordate. Et in questa maniera haverai ’accordo moderno chamato participato, o temperato, Cha tutti li tuoni d’otto comi, ¢ mezzo, li b.molli, diesis, e le quarte crescono d’un quarto di coma, ¢ d’altretanto calano le quinte, solamente l’ottave, le terze mag- giori, ¢ le seste minori restano perfette; di tal’accordo molti diversamente vi hanno scritto, tra’ quali: Il Foliano Modonese, nella Teorica musica ... Tl Lanfranco nelle Scintille musicali par. 4 a car. 33. il quale incomincia I’ac- cordo in Fl. _ Pietro Aron canonico di Rimini nel Toscanello lib. 2 al cap. 41, il quale inco- mincia l’accordo in C2. Il Zarlino nell’Institutioni par, si é ritrovato a’ sorte. Vincenzo Galilei nelli Dialoghi della musica antica a’ car. 33. Michel Keller Sleso nel monocordo al cap. 7, 2 cap. 42, ¢ 43, il quale tiene che quest’accordo 11 P. Atanasio Kircher Gesuita huomo dottissimo, che nelli due tomi della sua Musurgia mirabilmente ha trattato di tutto cid, che pud cadere sotto la facolta mu-246" SCRITTIINEDITI - Sez. IV: Regole per accordare sica, nel primo tomo al lib. 6, §3 car. 462, dove anco insegna l’accordo circolare, non perd su la tastatura ordinaria come faccio io, che mediante un Particolare ac- cordo divido lottava in tre terze eguali, come avanti potrai vedere. In Pesaro, Appressd Gio. Paolo Gotti 1657 Con licenza de’ Superiori 2. (Glovasst Barnista Fernixt “‘della spinetta’’,) Regola per accordare il cembalo cavata dalla mano propria originale di Gio. Batia Ferrini, alias della spinetta (Roma, sec. XVII)‘, Pe tasto Tutto il resto s'accorda per 8*.; si deve avve s'unisca assai bene, ¢ anco le 3¢, vanno unite, ma le $<, tire [che] quando s’accorda Vottava non vanno unite ma un —__ « ARoma, Biblioteca dei Lincei~ Ms Miscellanea M te ras a ge aha lusie@ S.10, £. 13. I suo contenuto é stato illus