Lafayette Gooler

Music 304 – Dr. Zappulla

TEMPERAMENT

“The rationale is, that if people who are taught music are taught that one thing is right and another is
wrong, they will come to believe it. If they are taught the other systems of interest as well as the equal
temperament, they would appreciate the excellences of all”
R. H. M. Bosanquet, An Elementary Treatise on Musical Intervals and Temperament

I. Definition of temperament
A. Harvard Dictionary of Music:
1. The slight modification of an acoustically pure or just interval
2. Any scale or system of tuning employing intervals that have been so modified

II. Terminology1
A. Frequency
1. a₁ = 440 Hz
B. Frequency Ratios
1. Perfect Octave = 2:1
2. Perfect Fifth = 3:2
3. Perfect Fourth = 4:3
4. Major Third = 5:4
5. Minor Third = 6:5
6. Major Sixth = 5:3
C. Cents
1. Devised by Alexander Ellis in late 19th century
2. Cent value = 3986 x log (frequency ratio)
a. octave cent value = 3986 x log (2.0) = 1200
D. Comma
1. A tuning discrepancy
a. Ditonic: The discrepancy between twelve pure fifths and seven pure
octaves. Apprx. 24 cents
b. Syntonic: The discrepancy between a Pythagorean third and a pure
major third. Apprx. 22 cents

III. Notes from the course text by David Ponsford2

1
Thomas Donahue, A Guide to Musical Temperament. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2005.
2
Colin Lawson and Robin Stowell. The Cambridge History of Musical Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2012.
 A. Temperament is more important than pitch because of the “effect that different sizes of
intervals have on the sounds that the instruments create.”
B. Crucial for instruments with fixed intonation
C. Equal Temperament has been known since the 16th century
D. Mean-tone temperament used between the early 16th century to the end of the 19th
1. Two equal tones adding up to a pure major third
a. Between the interval C-E, D is tuned exactly halfway
2. Narrow 5ths
3. Major 3rds tuned as pure acoustic intervals
4. Consequences of this tuning
a. Notes cannot have enharmonic equivalents
b. Presence of unusable ‘wolf’ 5th
c. Unavailable keys: B, F#, C#, A-flat, and their relative minors
E. Solutions for mean-tone
1. Split sharps or separate strings/pipes for enharmonic notes
2. Harpsichords constructed with many more keys to the octave
a. Italian cembalo cromatico had 19 keys to octave
b. Trasuntino harpsichord in Venice with 31 keys to the octave
F. Late 17th century piece written using different temperament
1. Buxtehude’s Praeludiumin F-sharp

IV. Types of Temperaments3

A. Just temperament (“Pure”)
1. Pure octaves, pure fifths and pure major 3rds
B. Pythagorean tuning
1. 11 pure 5ths
C. Quarter-comma Meantone
D. Equal Temperament
E. Werckmeister
1. First documented temperament for keyboard without a “wolf” interval
F. Kirnberger III
G. Vallotti
H. Young No. 2
1. Both Young temperaments developed by Thomas Young (1773-1829) in 1800.
I. Neidhardt Circulating Temperament No. 1
J. Temperament Ordinaire
K.Sixth-Comma Meantone
L. Rameau
M. Sorge
N. Young No. 1
O. Kellner

3
Donahue
 P. Barnes
Q. Lindley

V. Did Equal Temperament ruin harmony?

A. Equal temperament “is not necessarily the best temperament for every single musical
situation encountered by today’s musicians”.4
B. As temperament applies to non-keyboard musicians: “Do not be afraid to be out of tune
with the piano. It is the piano that is out of tune. The piano with its tempered scale is a
compromise in intonation” –Pablo Casals5

VI. Audio examples of temperaments

A. Meantone vs. Equal
1. http://www.kylegann.com/histune.html
B. Just or pure temperament vs. equal temperament
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzVN1FEhYpU

4
Ross W. Duffin, How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony (and Why You Should Care). 1st Ed. ed. New York:
W.W. Norton, 2007.
5
Duffin