Dear Andrew,
The best place to find a multitude of historical references to temperaments on fretted instruments is Mark Lindley, Lutes, Viols & Temperaments (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984). The passage from Praetorius is quoted on page 36: Vff den Violen da Gamba, vnd den Lauten ... die Semitonia, weder majora noch minora, sondern vielmehr intermedia koennen vnd muessen genennt werden. Sintemal meines erachtens ein jeder Bund ... 4 1/2 Commata in sich halten thut/da sonsten das Semitonium majus fuenff , das Semit. Minus aber nur vier Commata in sich begreiffet. Translated as On gambas and lutes, the semitones can and must be called 'intermediate' much rather than either 'major' or 'minor', since, in my opinion, each fret marks off 4 1/2 commas. Whereas otherwise the major semitone [would] comprise five and the minor semitone only four commas. The violin fingerboard you mention sounds most interesting. Please could you give more details. Best wishes, Stewart. -----Original Message----- From: Andrew White [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 09 January 2011 12:50 To: Stewart McCoy Subject: Re: [LUTE] Kapsperger's temperament Stewart, Do you have any references from Praetorious handy? I'd be interested to hear them. I've been reading Ross Duffin's recent book and he has a rather different opinion. Interestingly, someone recently showed me a violin finger board from the 18th century (I believe) with slots cut in it, intended for students to know where to place their fingers. What I noticed, and this hadn't even occurred to the person showing it to me, was that the slot were unequally spaced. Andrew On 09/01/2011, at 10:31 PM, Stewart McCoy wrote: > Dear Bruno, > > It could well be that equal temperament was intended. It has become > fashionable in recent years for lutenists and viol players to experiment > with unequally placed frets. I have done so myself. However, the > historical evidence, e.g. Praetorius, points to the widespread use of > equal temperament in the 17th century. > > Best wishes, > > Stewart. > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Bruno Correia > Sent: 07 January 2011 19:08 > To: List LUTELIST > Subject: [LUTE] Kapsperger's temperament > > A question for those who play Kapsperger lute pieces: what > temperament > fits best his music? I find 1/4 mesotonic quite good, but there are a > few spots that are not that sweet. I just started using a tastino on > the 1st fret and that creates some problems too. For example, when > there is a barre on the first position (Db major chord), the d flat > on > the 3rd course (4rth fret) is really out of tune... > > > > Any advice is welcomed. > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > --
