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Cornet Ton, Cammerton and favoured keys in unequal temperament

Started by David Pinnegar, September 23, 2010, 10:03:07 PM

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David Pinnegar

Hi!

The other day whilst researching how tuning your instrument to the wrong temperament might have got you burnt at the stake - see the Atheists' Corner - I revisited Charles Francis' site. Charles Francis re-examined the squiggle that Lehman turned upside down (getting a back-to front result) and came out with a tuning scheme that is substantially similar to Dr Kellner's excellent temperament.

His site
http://sites.google.com/site/bachtuning/introduction
gave me a clue to something that I had suspected for a long time. In the Meantone, Kirnberger and Kellner unequal temperaments the keys with one or two flats are slightly purer than those with one or two sharps. This accords with the pure harmonics of trumpets in Bb or horns in Bb or F which might accompany an organ. With French pitch, certainly at St Maximin, tuned to 392, C is effectively Bb (causing the YouTube recording of the St Maximin Bach D minor to receive comments that it sounds in C) the instrument is there ready to be accompanied by a battery of natural trumpets . . .

Surprise surprise, the pitch is known as Cornet Ton - Horn Pitch!

Cammer Ton - Chamber Pitch - said to be 415Hz - but mathematical pitch is 425Hz - C at 512ft pitch being 1 cycle per second ? from memory at 15 degrees Centigrade. This moved up higher when concert halls were heated to 20 degrees.

Best wishes

David P