> And > what about the surviving wind instruments from that period: were > they tuned to a particular temperament?
Bob Marvins data on recorders and english flutes (GSJ) is the best attempt to record this I have seen, but he was hampered by several issues and did not publish any firm conclusinos. All of the instruments he inspected were altered from time, some sufficiently so as to render them unplayable. Some had distorted sound. Changes in the bore section have a strong effect on higher notes, and less effect on lower ones. Players and the maker/repairer will add wax or remove wood to tune notes in compensation for the instrument going out of round during its useful lifetime. Some players might add wax to achieve an intonation change; the wax is removable and at bet only an indication to the modern restorer of what might have been done. Marvin carried with him one of his own instruments as a sort of pitchpipe. His notes recorded nearest quartertone of how it compared. Not sure if that is close enough to judge the temperament. Fret positions on citterns, orpharions and similar fixed-fret instruments is less distorted by time and easier to measure, but always reflects a compromise because of the mixed nature of the notes at each fret (each note needed a different degree of tempering). It is widely acknowledge that these wire strung instruments were generally NOT played in ET. I think a better way of thought is to consider vocal music of the time, Gibbons Silver Swan for example, very fussy to sing acapella, needs a lot of attention to the intonation. Yes, no tuning forks, but some church bell was always nearby in earshot, often a choice of them. Theory of the comma of pythagoras was written about and clearly well known, so the issue was clearly understood. Monochords existed to demonstrate the issue of practical vs theoretical harmonic series. I think our early 20c pundit quoted earlier must have been unduly proud of his set of tuning forks, and perhaps not as well read of Gafurius, Tinctoris, Boethius, Praetorius et al as we are able to be from modern translations. -- Dana Emery To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
