source file: m1527.txt Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1998 07:08:49 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Re: 1/5 comma Kellner temperament From: Paul Hahn On Fri, 11 Sep 1998, Judith Conrad wrote: > Has anyone heard of 1/5 comma Kellner temperament, which I am told was > designed by a computer in 1979 so the beats of the intervals are natural > harmoics of the notes and therefore 'blend in'? Yes, it's been discussed once or twice here before. The fifths C-G-D-A-E and B-F# are each tempered 1/5 Pythagorean comma, and all other fifths are just. (The same fifths are tempered in Kirnberger III, only by different amounts.) I'm skeptical about the beat rates being special in any perceptible way, however. The idea that the temperament was encoded in JSB's seal (another of Kellner's claims) also seems dubious to me, although my reading of Kellner is sketchy--most of what I know is secondhand. I'd like to know more, though--it may be he has better supporting arguments than I know of. I guess I need to improve my German. --pH http://library.wustl.edu/~manynote O /\ "Churchill? Can he run a hundred balls?" -\-\-- o NOTE: dehyphenate node to remove spamblock. <*>