Well vs. Equal Temperament (2000)

Post by c3534l » Mon, Aug 31, 2015, 8:25 PM UTC

shadgregory wrote: post #48

c3534l wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually found it a little odd that Beethoven was mentioned, since it he was a big fan of equal temperment. His 5th symphony was largely written to explore the idea. In well tempered tunings, you have to play around a central "root note" in order to get a harmonic melody. But in equal temperment, the dissonance is equally spread out across the notes. His 5th symphony was able to take advantage of that in two ways:…

I had no idea that Beethoven used equal temperament. Do you have a source for that?

Post by plaguuuuuu » Tue, Sep 01, 2015, 12:36 AM UTC

lamby wrote: post #32

plaguuuuuu wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's one guy on youtube who claims Bach's squiggles underneath each piece title in the original WTC manuscript actually represents an ideal tuning system for that piece. I thought that was a crackpot theory, but then he played some pieces in their respective individual tuning systems on a harpsichord, and they sounded absolutely amazing, better than well tempered (or equal obviously). So who knows!

Bach seems to attract all sorts of bizarre numerology, alas.