source file: mills2.txt
Date:         Sat, 16 Sep 1995 12:38:39 -0500

Subject:      Re: Temperaments: request for references

From:         mcgeary thomas nelson <mcgeary@UX1.CSO.UIUC.EDU>

Regarding reading material appropos temperaments, I would strongly
suggest an underrecognized and appreciated article by Rudolph Rasch,
"Does 'Well-Tempered'Mean 'Equal Tempered'?" in "Bach, Handel,
Scarlatti: Tercentenary Essays, ed.by Peter Williams.  In a very
careful, meticulous manner Rasch looks at many myths, fictions,
and misconceptions about temperament and Bach.  Some of his points (I'm
recalling from memory) include: there is no reason to associate Werckmeister 
III with Bach (W. in fact had other temperaments, including ET); there is no
justification or rationale for the Barnes-Bach temperament (Barnes'
methodology is subjective, his sample too sample), that all the contemporary
statments about Bach's tuning practice (for stringed keyboards, of course)
suggest equal temperament.  Two quotes Ihave ready-to-hand: "equal temperament
was becoming the norm for tuning during the second half of the eighteenth
century" and"equal temperament has been described and discussed so often
in eighteenth-century writings as a practical system that it must have
played an important part in musical performance."  Earlier in the
essay rasch makes the point that prejudice against ET may be due to the
natural association of it with standard, 19th-century performance: the
desire to be authentic would seemingly required getting rid of ET along
with pianos, modern stringed instruments, etc.

tom mcgeary