You are confusing two totally different things Ron and your comment is
completely misleading.
Of course major thirds can be pure. When the corresponding harmonics of
the two notes constituting a major third are aligned, then the interval
is pure. This is a physical, acoustical phenomenon.
Dissonance and consonance are something else and to an extent depict a
subjective stance. The intervals considered to be dissonant were not the
same in different periods. In medieval music, intervals other than
unisons, fourths, fifths and octaves were considered dissonant. Fifths
and fourths were sung (and played) pure. Thirds and sixths were not used
as they are today to provide harmonic texture. The thirds in Pythagorean
tuning (which featured pure fifths except for one wolf fifth) were far
from pure and so sounded very dissonant. In Renaissance music, thirds
and sixths became the essential building blocks and were considered
consonant. Dissonance required preparing and resolving the dissonant
intervals which were not at all the same as those in medieval times.
Whether you like it or not, the choice of temperament impacts upon the
musical result. You cannot play a lute without tuning it to a particular
temperament. You can tune it to equal temperament if you like, and there
is historical evidence for equal temperament having been used in the
16th century, but hopefully it is an informed choice on your part.
We have a lot to learn from keyboard players and their various
instruments just as they probably have a lot to learn from us. After
all, the repertoire was clearly intertwined for several centuries. To
dismiss temperament as 'keyboard-centric mucking around' is verging on
obscurantism.
Best,
Matthew
- On 08/03/2018 13:38, Ron Andrico wrote:
And I will add that thirds are not and never were meant to be pure.
Octaves, fifths, and fourths are pure and thirds are dissonant. This
is fundamental to understanding the character of early music, and
reinforced as pertains to fretting the lute by Vincenzo Galilei. I
agree with Galilei, who was one smart fella, and all this mucking about
with temperament is really keyboard-centric.
RA
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