Temperament - Viscount Chorale 2 Mode D'emploi

Owner's Manual
Selecting the voice TEMPERAMENT in the MENU, the display will list historical temperaments.
You can choose from EQUAL, a temperament with perfect tuning, or the classical KIRNBERGER,
WERCKMEISTER, PYTHAGOREAN, MEANTONE and VALLOTTI temperaments.
In the "natural" tuning system, based on the acoustic phenomenon of harmonic sounds, two important musical intervals, the
major third and the perfect fifth, cannot be made to coexist in the "pure" state (i.e. beat-free). Therefore, over the centuries a
variety of compromise solutions known as TEMPERAMENTS have been invented and realised. These give priority to one or
the other interval by modifying them in various ways. In the ancient world and the Middle Ages, until the last few decades of
the 17 Century, the "Pythagorean" tuning system, in which the fifths were retained perfectly pure, was in use. The resulting
th
major third was particularly unattractive in sound, and was therefore treated as a dissonance. However, the music of the time
was mainly monodic, and the early forms of vocal and instrumental polyphony made a great deal of use of the interval of a
fifth. With the early Renaissance, and the start of the great flowering of vocal polyphony, the interval of a major third gradually
came to be heard as consonant and not dissonant. The instruments with fixed tuning, such as the organ and harpsichord,
gradually adapted to this situation by adopting a system of temperament known as "Meantone", which gave the major third
priority over the fifth. This temperament is particularly important because it was the temperament in normal use in Europe in
the 16 th and 17 th Centuries, until the early 18
foremost the MEANTONE.
MEANTONE
- 8 pure major thirds: E flat - G / B flat - D / F - A / C - E / G - B / D - F # / A - C# / E - G.
- 4 unusable major thirds (diminished fourths): B - D# / F# - A# / C# - E# / A flat - C.
- 1 fifth known as the "wolf" (very dissonant extended fifth): A flat - E flat.
- Highly irregular chromatic scale (meaning that chromatic compositions are given a very distinctive voice)
- Keys usable with this temperament: C maj. / D maj. / G maj. / A maj. / B flat maj. and the relative minors.
The temperaments which follow allow all the major and minor keys to be used, although those with the most alterations have
a highly distinctive voice, in contrast with the modern equal temperament.
WERCKMEISTER
This temperament, invented by the organist and musical theorist Andreas Werckmeister, is recommended for performing the
German musical repertoire of the late 1600s.
KIRNBERGER
This temperament, developed by Johann Philipp Kirnberger, pupil of J.S. Bach, is also suitable for playing the German
baroque composers and the works of Bach.
PYTHAGOREAN
In this temperament, all the fifths are natural except for the "wolf" fifth, in the interval A flat - E flat, which is greatly
diminished.
It dates from the Middle Ages up to the 15th century, and can therefore be used for compositions of that period.
VALLOTTI
This Italian temperament invented by Francescantonio Vallotti was later taken up in England by Thomas Young. It can be
used effectively for the Italian 18th Century repertoire, and also for the English repertoire of the same period.
6. TEMPERAMENTS
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EQUAL
KIRNBERGER
WERCKMEISTER
A BRIEF NOTE ON TEMPERAMENTS
th Century. Here are the six temperaments available on the Chorale, first and
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Chorale 2 - Chorale P31
Viscount