The thing that often seems to be left out of discussions about temperament
is how the continuo player reacts at the keyboard in terms of voicing the
chords. The discussion is usually seen mainly through the lens of the
chords themselves, whereas any player with minimal experience playing in
older temperaments knows that two other factors are almost more important:

1) It doesn't really matter if you need an occasional D sharp in a piece
when there are E flats tuned on the instrument, because you can easily just
miss out the third in the chord. Even F-sharp-major chords are rarely a
problem when accompanying choral music because you can just omit the A
sharp (which is a B flat). Leaving out the problematic notes becomes as
instinctive as reaching to the right place on a short-octave keyboard, or
one with split sharps. When playing with a chorus or string group the
absence of the major third in the continuo is never missed.  On the other
hand, accompanying a solo voice or solo instrument requires a little more
subtlety, but the out of tune "major third" (which is really a diminished
fourth) can almost always be helped either by a delaying suspension (4/3 or
7/6) -- with the resolution coming as late as musically possible -- and/or
by putting a little ornament on the note that is out of tune. This is often
precisely what composers actually write into the scores in solo keyboard
music.

2) If the offending notes (e.g. E flat in a B major chord, B flat in an F
sharp major chord, F natural in a C sharp major chord) are in the bass,
holding up a first inversion chord, the sound is not nearly so problematic.
Look at the way Buxtehude and others use those more wild chords mostly in
first inversions, with the difficult note in the bass. The ear accepts the
first inversion very much more than a chord with the tonic in the bass and
the offending "third" in the top.

Discussing this in terms of temperament alone is really missing half the
story. Players need to know what to do with their fingers when using a
particular temperament.

So in answer to Bruce's question: the "best solution" for the Monteverdi
Vespers is not a particular temperament; it's a player who knows how to
handle it.

Best wishes,
DM




*Davitt Moroney​​Professor Emeritus Department of Music*

*Morrison Hall*


*​University of California, Berkeley​CA 94720-1200*

On Tue, May 9, 2017 at 3:06 PM, Bruce Jacobs <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Pardon another temperament question, but I can't imagine a better place to
> ask...
>
> In an upcoming Vespers performance the conductor has requested 1/4 comma
> meantone which is wonderful except for one thing.
>
> Laetatus sum needs Eb
> Lauda Jerusalem needs D#
>
> What is the best solution?
>
> Bruce Jacobs
> Saint Paul
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Note:  opinions  expressed on HPSCHD-L are those of the  individual con-
tributors and not necessarily  those of the list owners  nor of the Uni-
versity of Iowa.  For a brief  summary of list  commands, send mail to
[log in to unmask]  saying  HELP .
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