Saturday, November 30, 2024

November 30 - Andreas Werckmeister (The Musical Birthday Series, 6th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for November 30th are here: Carl Loewe (2019), Allan Sherman (2020), Charles-Valentin Alkan (2021), Weston Noble (2022), and Clay Aiken (2023)

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Andreas Werckmeister (30 November 1645 – 26 October 1706) was a German organist, music theorist,  and composer , He was responsible for a temperament (tuning system) that resulted in all tonalities sounding acceptable on the keyboard. 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pleading the Fifths


This tuning uses mostly pure (perfect) fifths, as in Pythagorean tuning, but each of the fifths C-G, G-D, D-A and B-F♯ is made smaller, i.e. tempered by 1/4 comma. –  s.v. “Werckmeister temperament“, in Microtonal Encyclopedia (microtonal.miraheze.org)


There were those who maligned and impugned 

The way that Herr Werckmeister tuned;

His fifths were adjusted

Leaving purists disgusted

By intervals painfully pruned.


 

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