Re: Chinese people and the absolute ear

Ruud Harmsen wrote:
4 Jan 2007 05:07:30 -0800: "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@xxxxxxxxxxx>:
in sci.lang:

(a) Nonsense!
Not nonsense. You are not aware of 'das wohltemperierte Klavier"?
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wohltemperiertes_Klavier
Gleichstufige Stimmung:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleichstufige_Stimmung
You are not aware that the WTC was a work of _propaganda_, that it was
very, very unusual to tune an instrument to equal temperament in those
days?

Yes, I know. In other words, it was a demonstration project, to show
this tuning was really usable.

As Peter implies, it is *very* far from settled that Das Wohltemperierte Klavier was in any way connected with equal temperament. One of the odder contributions to the debate is http://www.strukturbildung.de/Andreas.Sparschuh/, which argues that the calligraphic decoration on the title page gives the key to the particular temperament recommended.

Colin
.

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