Research and Materials Assignment #1--Annotated Bibliography--October 18, 1994


Tuning and Temperament 
by Carolyn Jean Smith


1. Barbour, J.M. "Bach and The Art of Temperament." MQ, xxxiii (1947),
64.

Balbour discusses Bach's use of the term "well-tempered" and explains meantone
and equal temperament without heavy use of math. He also analyzes pieces by 
Couperin, Telemann, Purcell and Rameau as well as Bach, and tries to deduce 
the temperaments they used on the basis of the notes present in the pieces.
He specifically compares Bach's harpsichord vs. organ compositions, and
concludes that the majority of this music was written for meantone temperament.

2.  Barbour, J. M. Tuning and Temperament. East Lansing, MI, 1951.

This book provides a thorough discussion of tuning and temperament spanning
from ancient Greece through the present.  Balbour devotes a chapter to 
each general tuning system and analyzes each at length.  He also discusses
the history and development of the various systems.  This book is a good
comprehensive study of the topic.

3. Chestnut, J. "Mozart's Teaching of Intonations." JAMS, xxx (1977), 254.

Through careful study of the Attwood manuscript at the British Museum, and 
correspondance between W. A. Mozart and Leopold Mozart, Chestnut attempts to 
deduce the tuning system Mozart used.  He argues that Mozart used a meantone
temperament.

4. de Klerk, D. "Equal Temperament." ACM, li (1979), 140.

In this paper, de Klerk does a thorough mathematical analysis of all 
tuning systems resulting from dividing the octave into anywhere from 1 to 
120 equal parts.  He provides tables giving intervals, their ratios, and 
their tuning in cents for the fifths and major and minor thirds that would
result from these tunings.

5. Lindley, M. "Early Sixteenth-century Keyboard Temperaments." MD,
xxviii (1974), 129.

This article is a how-to guide to tuning, based on instructions that have 
survived. Lindley looks specifically at directions from Schlick, 
Lanfranco, Aaron, and Vicentino.

6. Lindley, M. "Fifteenth-century Evidence for Meantone Temperament."
PRMA, cii (1975-6), 37.

In this paper, Lindley discusses the tuning system of Ramos at length,
advocating that it is evidence for meantone temperament, rather than
Pythagorean.

7. Lindley, M. "Instructions for the Clavier Diversely Tempered."
Early Music, v (1977), 18.

Lindley provides a  clearly-explained, practical how-to guide to tuning 
Pythagorean, meantone, and some irregular temperaments, with a concise 
explanation of each.

8. Lindley, M. "Temperaments." The New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians, 1980 ed.

Lindley explains the basic mathematics of the various tuning systems and 
gives a general history of their developement and description of their use.

9. Lloyd, Ll. S. "The Lesson of Mean-Tone Tuning." The Music Review, v
(1944), 214.

This interesting article discussing meantone vs. equal temperaments looks
at tuning in the unaccompianied choir, strings, and keyboard
instruments and discusses the adjustments that need to be made to
accommodate the limitations of fixed tuning instruments.

10. McClure, A. R. "Studies in Keyboard Temperaments." GSJ, i (1948),
28.

An excellent comparison of 19-note equal temperament, 12-note equal
temperament, and R. Smith's meantone temperament, this article discusses 
an experiment wherein McClure tuned a keyboard to each of these temperaments.
Over a fifteen year period, he invited musicians to play on each and collected
their comments about various types of music played in each temperament.

11. Meffen, J. "A Question of Temperament: Purcell and Croft." MT,
cxix (1978), 504.

Meffen analyzes music by H. Purcell and Croft. He looks at the range of notes
used in specific pieces and deduces the tunings that could have been used to 
perform these pieces with a minimum of retuning during performance.  He
concludes that Purcell used meantone temperament and Croft used a French 
irregular temperament.

12. Sargent, G. "Eighteenth-century Tuning Directions." MR, xxx
(1969), 27.

In this paper, Sargent analyzes several sets of tuning directions, with 
particular emphasis on a manuscript at the Newcastle Public Library, attributed
to Charles Avison, and an anonymous manuscript at the British Museum.  He 
discusses the directions at length, and determines in cents the precise 
intervals resulting from each system.

13. Wilson, J. Roger North on Music. London, 1959, 203.

This chapter is devoted to Roger North's directions on tuning a harpsichord,
with additional commentary by the editor.