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From:
Stephen E Kabat <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Harpsichords and Related Topics <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 31 Mar 2016 14:58:37 +0000
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Hello all,

Charles's post fascinates me in regards to giving what appears to be solid evidence of a particular temperament in a particular time and place.  This  has prompted me to wonder: With so much of our interest being concerned with pitch and temperaments of various keyboards throughout our favored era and the geographical locales therein, has anyone compiled a kind of comparative  timeline which can give a quick listing of what is known of this data? A spreadsheet as it were of year(s), city/country, instrument, pitch, temperament?

I haven't consulted Bruce Haynes's Story of A recently, so this information may  be there or perhaps elsewhere, but we've learned so much  since that book was published. 

I realize the monumentality of such an undertaking,  and perhaps it has been  done somewhere unbeknownst to me. 

Just curious.


Stephen Kabat

Keyboard/Instrument Technician

Cleveland State University

216/687-5037

________________________________________
From: Harpsichords and Related Topics <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Charles <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2016 9:26 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: 1590 claviorganum - Cabezon !!

Some years back I analysed the Lorenz Hauslaib 1590 Claviorgan's organ
stop with regard to pitch and tuning using a 'sample set' captured, I
believe, by Barcelona university. Turns out the instrument is at
cammerton pitch (c' = 246.7 Hz, a' = 411.8 Hz) and, when obviously
mistuned pipes are ignored, the 12 arithmetic means of the pitches
across its four octaves are well within one cent of theoretical
2/7-comma meantone.

The museum’s blurb states:

'Made at the organ workshop of Lorenz Hauslaib in Nuremberg, this
claviorgan is a magnificent example of a Renaissance musical instrument
which has reached our days without alterations of its original timbre,
arrangement and tuning.'

If the claim regarding tuning is accepted at face value, then the
instrument presumably fell into disuse and remained untouched until its
restoration in 2013. In such a case, the preserved temperament is of
interest in that the major thirds are slightly narrow, presumably to
improve minor tonalities relative to 1/4-comma meantone. Would that have
reflected common tuning practice in Nuremberg or perhaps a request of
Hauslaib's southern customer? Same question in relation to the preserved
cammerton pitch.

As I vaguely recall, Hauslaib wasn't primarily an instrument maker by
profession, so he might have had help with the musical mechanics

Regards
Charles

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