Fifteenth-Century Evidence for Meantone Temperament

Author(s): Mark Lindley

Source: Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, Vol. 102 (1975 - 1976), pp. 37-51
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Royal Musical Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/766092
Accessed: 03-06-2018 19:39 UTC

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms

Royal Musical Association, Taylor & Francis, Ltd. are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,
preserve and extend access to Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association

This content downloaded from 164.73.224.2 on Sun, 03 Jun 2018 19:39:26 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 Fifteenth-Century Evidence for
Meantone Temperament
MARK LINDLEY

IN THE YEAR 1496 Franchino Gafurio referred to the use of temp

on the organ, but he did not specify the amount of the tem
Murray Barbour has concluded that 'we have no way of know
temperament was like' at that time." I believe, however, that
analysis of contemporary theoretical writings, and particularl
formation given by Ramos de Pareja in his Musica Practica of 1482
that the kind of tuning in question was almost certainly some for
meantone temperament, that is, with the fifths tempered rather
in equal temperament for the sake of more resonant thirds and six
Ramos presents infbrmation about tuning in three successive sta
course of his book. Near the beginning we encounter the famo
monochord scheme which he devised for youngsters to obtain a m
scale for the notes of traditional plainsong, that is, for the se
and BI." Among these notes the arrangement worked out by Ramo
the 5:4 ratio for pure major thirds, would provide the greatest pos
of justly intoned imperfect as well as perfect concords at th
leaving G D, G-B? and B-D impure by a syntonic comma:

D- A E B
/\/\/\/
B? F C G

Pointing out that D-E is the same size here as in

tedious' Pythagorcan monochord, Ramos omits to m
'very easy division' would, if applied precisely, render C
than the traditional Pythagorean whole-tone (Io:9 ins
About halfway through the book Ramos discusses
extensions of the traditional Guidonian system to in
notes." He criticizes the elaborate theoretical apparat
I Franehino Gafurio, Prarlica Musice (Milan, 1496), book iii, chapter
A. Miller (American Instilute of Musicology, 1968), a25; Eng. tr
1969), 133.
2James Murray Barbour, Tuning and Temperament, a Historical Survey (second edition, East
Lansing, 1953), 5.
3 Bartolomt Ramos, Musica prarlica (Bologna, 1482), 4 5; ed. Johannes Wolf (Leipzig, igor),
4 5. This passage is translated in Oliver Strunk, Source Reading. in Musir History (New York,
195o), 2o01 2.
4 Ramos, op. cit., 80; ed. Wolf, 99; translation in Strunk, op. cit., 204. The system of intonation
which we commonly refer to as 'Pythagorean Ranmos more specifically associates with Boethius.
s Ramos. op. cit.. 27 3r; ed. Wolf, 34 40.

37

This content downloaded from 164.73.224.2 on Sun, 03 Jun 2018 19:39:26 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 38 EVIDENCE FOR MEANTONE TEMPERAMENT

John Hothby,6 and says that only four additional notes are
on the flat end and two on the sharp:

D- A - E- B --.-F?,- Cl:
Ab - Eb -- B F C --G
In this scheme A? and C$ happen to fbrm a nearly pure
shaded, in fact, no more than it would be in equal tcmp
practical purposes, thcrcfore, this would be the equivalent o
arrangement with the wolf fifth between G and D. (I shall
DxG scheme.) We could be quite sure of this conclusion
confirm that C(: Ab is a good fifth.
But then, in his last chapter (except for an epilogue),
certain 'subtle matter worthy of free spirits, odious to singe
most welcome, useful and necessary' - namely, 'What Sem
Should Avoid'. He begins:

Quaotianm dictum cst No\%

ltonunithat it has been said that a i%)hIleI ttone
in lduo acqua nton divicliisscmitoni
not (lividedl into tI% () equal sinCitoncs
(ct Jmnia tLonrunl and [yctj the interval of every tone
spatia
on a complete [chromatic] instrument
instrumcnti perfecti
%\ c have sho%% n to be divided
in ?duo semnitonia
mlonstravi mus csse into two) pcrftrc( uncqual I scmIitoIns,
divisa,
it remains to say which of thcm
diccnduni restat, q uod illorumn
is to be sung and which avoided,
Nit cancIndutm (t luocd cvitandunm,
aind likc(-
sic ct dc aliis speciebus . . isc for the o)ther int(rvals.
For iii a comploete mionochord
In mlonochordo vcro pcrfixcto
niulta loca sunt, in tlhrc
quibusarc e mtan placcs \% hcrc
transitus in cantu cvitandus est. a mclodic progression is to bc avoided.
Per moduim igitur d(octrina (ca Wec shall indicate to the practitioner
practicis assignabimus. ()ur rules in this rcgard, thelrcfiore.

Theoricis vero in siequenti volumiin" aild demonstrate ,ith 'vecry firmi r(asoning
rationibus firmissinmis
thc theoretical truth in a later voluric.
vcritatn-m dc mnonstrabimu.s.
Ad irinsuratam igitur figuram, quac Let us turn, then, to the illustration that
prima parte tractatu secundo wiLs given in the fifth chaptcr of the
capitulo quinto posita fuit, rccdcanlus. sccond treatise of the first part.
Est enim prima vox sive chorda a, Now the first note or string is A.
sccundla vero . . . prima b mollis coniuncta. and the second, Bb.
Hic cnim transitus bonus est . . . No%( this transition is good.

*John H()thby, La Calliipea legalr, in Edlmond de C:ousscmakcr, Hi.toire d l'tflarmnir eau

.\loven-Age (Paris, 1852), 297 349, and Anton Wilhclm Schmidt, Die Calliopea legetl de.% J3ohn/
,Ithbr y Lecipzig, 1897); sce Hugo Ricmann, fli.sltoy o/ A.lu.iic Tiherv, tr. R. H. Haggh tlmicoil
Ncbraska, i962), 260 62.
7 The discrepancy between this and a pure fifth is called a schisma and amounts theorctically
to 1.95 cents. In equal temperament each fifth is tempered by f12 of the Pythagorean comma,
which consists of 12.oo8 schismas.

This content downloaded from 164.73.224.2 on Sun, 03 Jun 2018 19:39:26 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
EVIDENCE FOR MEANTONE TEMPERAMENT 39

Sed a prima b in b transitus

But do not non fit,
step from B-flat to B-natural;
quoniam illus semitonium one non
must notcantatur,
sing that semitone,
which is called
quod apotonm vocatulm est.an aporlme.
A qua b in c bonum semitonium
Now from B to C isest
a goodx semitone,
sed a c in prima but
0; f'rom
malum; C to C# is bad.
ab ista in d bonum,
From there li.e. CG1 to D is good,
and likewise
a qua in secunda b similiter from D to E0.
bonum;
a qua in c malum, sed ab Thence
c in to fbonum.
E is bad, but from E to F is good.
Now
Ab f vero in secunda 0lfrom F to F# is bad,
malum,
sed ab ista in gbut from the latter to G is good.
bonunl.
a qua in tertia b similiter Thence to bonum.
Ab is likewise good.
A tertia b in h malum, From A0 to A is bad;
ab h in i sive in b honum from A to B? is good;
ab b in h malum ct deinceps... from B? to B is bad; and so forth.8
The substance of this passage is given in the set of labels in the first column of
Table I. This pattern is not compatible, however, with the DxG scheme.
The fifth between G and D contains the same complement of semitones,
namely four 'good' ones and three 'bad', as do ten of the other eleven fifths.
The odd fifth is C#-Ab, which contains five 'good' and two 'bad' semitones.
Evidently we have the situation shown in the second column of Table i:

Table i
A A
bad chromatic

3rd [ A?
good diatonic
G G
good diatonic
2nd I1 F $
bad chromatic
F F
good diatonic
E E
bad chromatic

good diatonic
D D
good diatonic
Ist ft C?
bad chromatic
C: C
good diatonic
B B
bad chromatic
Jst ? B?
good diatonic
A A

8 Ramos, op. cit.

This content downloaded from 164.73.224.2 on Sun, 03 Jun 2018 19:39:26 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 40 EVIDENCE FOR MEANTONE TEMPERAMENT

with the value

have one hve black notes
('good') andnamed B[, Ei, Ab,
the chromatic F. and C.,
semitones theanother
have diatonic('bad').
semitones
To confirm this interpretation it would be helpful for Ramos to state explicitly
that C,--A? (rather than G--D) is the only bad fifth or fourth; that the
good ditones and semiditones are those spelt as major and minor thirds in the
second column of Table I, while the bad are those spelt as diminished fourths
and augmented seconds; and that the only good whole tones are those spelt
as major seconds. All this is precisely what he does now say:

Ab a in b tonus bonus est... From A to B is a good (wholeI tone,

et a prima b mollis coniuncta in andc from B? to C:
similiter. Eodem modo likewise. And in the same \ ay
a littera b in prima h, from B to Co is good;
a qua ad secundam b malus.[but I from there to E, is bad.
Eodem modo a secunda h ad tertiam b . . . And likew\ise from F, to Ab (is bad I.
(:ctcri \vero transitus tonorum unaNow all the other whole
intermissa scmper singuli sunt boni.steps are good.
Trihemitonia vero ubique sunt bona, The minor third is al%%avs good
nisi cum ordo accidentalis except \s hen one kind of accidelntal
alteri accidentali miscetur, is mixed with another kind,
ut a prima b in prim.: h e.g. from Bb to CS,
et a sccunda b ad secundam h. and from Eb to Fg.
Idcoquc tcrtia b non est bona cumnIike\o
h. ise A? is not gooxd \%ith B.
Ditonus ... ubique est bonus,
The major third is als\ ays good
nisi a littera b in secundam b except from B to Eb,
et a prima h in f
nec ab e in tertiam b from C.$ to F,
from E to Ab,
nec a secunda h in b vel in i ... or from F to Bb.
Diatesseron ... ubique est bona
The fourth is al% avys good
nisi a tertia b in tcrtiam h... except from Ab to C:.
Diapente...ubique est bonaThe fifth is al%% ays good
practer quam a prima b quadro in tertiam b from Cg to Ab
except
quoniam ad quartam b cst diapente perfecta.
since [from therel to E? is a perfict fifth."

Notice that, immediately before referring back to the theoretical mono-

chord given in the middle of his book, Ramos has stated an intention to
direct his advice here to the practitioner, 'and demonstrate the theoretical
truth in a later volume'. That some 'theoretical truth' is indeed lacking in
his DxG prescription is now indicated by its incompatibility with these
elaborate but consistent practical rules set out in an authoritatively matter-
of-fact vein. Having avoided any intricate Pythagorean proportions in the
diatonic monochord for youngsters, Ramos nonetheless now makes it clear
that in general musical practice the chromatic scale, with its wolf fifth between
A? and C?, rather than G and D, is either Pythagorean after all or else an
embodiment of meantone temperament. His practical rules for 'instrumenti
perfecti', and in particular the 'monochordo... perfecto', must reflect one
of these tunings and no other: either a Pythagorean scheme of A? x C$ in

9 Ibid.

This content downloaded from 164.73.224.2 on Sun, 03 Jun 2018 19:39:26 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 EVIDENCE FOR MEANTONE TEMPERAMENT 41

which the thirds that beat profusely are labelled '

'bad', or else an essentially regular meantone tem
and two sharps, a disposition for which Arnol
certain sympathy in his instructions for an irregu
of the two was used by keyboard musicians in the
The evidence suggesting Pythagorean inton
fairly briefly. Certain earlier 15th-century theori
de Beldomandi in 1413, said that in a Pythagor
scheme with the wolf fifth between B and F (
tuning), the intonation of D--F$ and A--Fg wou
in an FxB) monochord." But in fact these inter
very nearly pure (though it is not clear wheth
whereas in the Fx Bb scheme they conform to t
and 27:16. Prosdocimo and those who echoed h
to have preferred the sound of Pythagorean third
a Pythagorean Ab x C? monochord prescription
in 1488, six years after Ramos had published his b
Gafurio referred to the use of tempered fifths on
himself used the traditional Pythagorean term for
when referring to the interval between B? an
indeed about meantone temperament, then, first, h
was unscholarly; secondly, the A? x C- monoch
not accurately reflect late 15th-century keyboard t
the preferences regarding intonation expressed
opinions of later theorists, had become outmoded.
In spite of this evidence for Pythagorean int
conclusive, albeit rather elaborate, argument ca
meantone.

It was characteristic of Ramos to claim credit for his innovations. The

absence of such a claim in this chapter means that he regarded himself as
giving rules for a tuning commonly in use. To a certain extent, then, descrip-

0o Arnolt Schlick, Spiegel der Orgelmacher und Orga.~Nien (Speyer, 1511), ff. 16v 17r; ed. Robert
Eitner in Afonaoeuje fdir A.uikge.schw/hie. i (1869), 103 4. See Mark Lindley, 'Early 16th-
Century Keyboard Temperaments', Mu/sica Disciplina, xx\iii (1974). 134, 137 8.
" Prosdocimo de Beldomandi, Parvus iraciatulus de modo m/n ,norhardum dividendi (Padua, 1413), in
Edmond de Coussemaker, Scriptorum die ,lusira Aledii ilAr'i, iii (Paris, 1869), 248 58. For further
discussion of Prosdocimo and tUgolino of Orvieto in this regard, see Mark Lindley, 'Pythagoreac n
Intonation and the Rise of the Triad', Research Clironicle (forthcoming).
" Hugo Spechtshart de Reutlingen, Flores musicae omnis cantu.s Gregorian (Strasbourg, 1488).
The Ax xCg monochord which appears in chapter 2 of this publication is not by Hugo
Spechtshart, who died in 1359 or 1360, but by an anonymous commentator. Hugo's chromatic
monochord, described in the 1343 version of his treatise, had no semitone betN\een G and A.
See Karl-Werner
1958), 65 72. Gimpel, Hugo Specshtlart von Reutlingen, Flores .l1uwicae (I.",[2442) (Wiesbaden,
"3 See above, p. 39.

This content downloaded from 164.73.224.2 on Sun, 03 Jun 2018 19:39:26 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 42 EVIDENCE FOR MEANTONE TEMPERAMENT

tive statements of contemporaneous tuning p

legitimately be called upon to supplement
his failure to mention the tempering of fifth
statement of his disciples Giovanni Spataro, th
must be 'reduced and smoothed for the ear'. A
Spataro advanced these remarks to Gafurio:
quanto piu tu cerchithe reprehendere
more you try to criticize
Bartolomeo Ramis mioBartolome Ramos, my master,
preceptore,
tanto piu te ne vaithe more you get enmeshed
intricando: et and
fai manifesta la tua show clearly your ignorance,
ignorantia: poco small
sapere: malignita: et knowledge,
obstinatione . . obstinacy...
malice, and .
da Bartolomeo Ramis e stato dicto che Bartolom6n Ramos has said that
(solo in practica overo in la (only in practice, that is in
Musica usitata: et activa) musical usage and activity)
cl ditono cadete in la the ditone corresponds to the
comparatione scsquiquarta: 5/4 ratio,
& ton in la Musica speculativabut not in speculative music,
... in la quale cade el ditono tra. . . where the ditone corresponds to
.81. ad .64. comparati... the ratio 81/64 / - -
la proportione cadente tra .81. ad .80.the 81/j8o ratio Ithe syntonic commaj
laquale ( la differentia cadcntc tra(which is the difference between
li pythagorici intervalli: & li the Pythagorean intervals and the
intervalli da li modulanti usitati intervals used by experienced musicians
c sensibilv; & non inscnsibile come is audible not imperceptible as
tiel predicto tuo capitulo in your above-nmentioned chapter
hai concluso. Perche non essendo you have concluded. For were it not
sensibile: cl duro appreciable, the harsh
monochordo pythagorico non seriaPythagorean monochord would not Ihave tol
he

ridlicto in molle al senlso reduced, smoothing litIt to the se

d(e l audito . .. da Bartolomeo Ramis of hearing ... Bartolomoi Ramos
c stato inteso essere diffrerentia I alsol judged that the dilfirelnce is
sensibile tra il perceptible between the
scmiditono scsquiquinto & il semi- 6/5 minor third and the minor
ditono cadente tra .32. ad .27. third corresponding to the 32/127
comparati: perche altramente: cl ratio, because otherwise it
seria frustratorio la addictione dtie
lo intervallo cadente tra .81. ad .8o.
wouldh be self-defeating to add
the 8 /8o interval
circa cl riducere li Musici intervalli in order to reduce the musical intervals
de duro in molle... from harshness to smoothness.'4

In this argutinwt Spataro excludes Pythagorean intonation from the realm

of practical music: the only question is whether he is referring tojust intonation
or meantone temperament.
In responding to such arguments Gafurio agreed that keyboard instru-
ments no longer used the Pythagorean limma ('minus semitonium .256. ad
.243. illud precise non esse quod usui cuenit in consonantiis noui instrumenti

11 Giovanni Spataro, Errori de Franchino Gqaiirio da Ladi (Bologna, 1521), if. 2, IV 2r.

This content downloaded from 164.73.224.2 on Sun, 03 Jun 2018 19:39:26 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 EVIDENCE FOR MEANTONE TEMPERAMENT 43

harmonici').'" Meanwhile he spoke of the capacit

remedy defective intervals:

Vides igitur vim tantain in esse such poo\ cr in this

One sees, thcreforc,
8i/8o proportion
scsq uioctogcsimac proportioni
ad temperatam huiusmodi
for the tempering thus ofa consonance
concinnitatum participationem
ut tertiam ditofnalcmi
that the ditonal third and major sixth
ct sextami aicorenm:
ipsius sesquioctogesimae
byv the subtraction of this ratio 8 1 /8o
proportionis subtractionc:
rursus tertianm and
pariter ctthe minor third and sixth
similarlyv
sextam minores ciusdem
by the addition of this same 81/8o
sesquioctogesi nmac augmento
in concentu atqcue dlimensionecan rove about in harmony and measure-
pervagari liccat. nent.'"

Again the only doubt can be % hcther the references are to just intonation or
meantone temperament. But Gafurio's descriptive testimony of 1496 leav
no doubt that some form of temperament was in fact more or less commonly
used by late 15th-century north Italian organists:

Tamen qI(uinta ipsa But the fifth itself.

(quod organistae asserunt)so organists assert,
minimae ac latetis sustains \\ith impunity a diminution
by a vcry small and hidden
incertacque quo(da1,(no)do() quantitatis
diminutionem patienter sustinctand somexfi hat uncertain quantity
cluae quidemi ab insis ohich they
participatio vocatur.
call pai trcipaulo..:

And by 1518 he recognized tihat tempered intonation had more general

applications when, after mentioning the octi\we and double octave (which
were not tempered), he wrote:

At But the

quac in reliquiis fit sonis variatio
puta intentionie vel remissione
(quamnquam mninima)
musici artifices
participationcnl \)cant.
variation which occurs among other sounds,
for example by sharpcning or flattening
(but in either case 'cry slight),
musical instrumentl makers
call participatioi.

" Franchino Gafurio, ..pologia Iranhii (;Ga/urii .\lu.wsii adurru. loannem Spalarum & conmplicf%
mu.it'o Bonenirenis
Spataro (Turin,
and then concedes its1520), last page but seven. Gafurio attributes this statement to
validity.
'* Franchino Gafurio, De Ilarmonia lu.sicorunm Irumenlorumn (Milan. 1518), f. 64r; see Ir\oin

Young, Franchinus
dissertation, Gaq'uriu.s,
University Renai.h.oance
of California Theori3l
at Los Angeles, and130.
'954), Compom.r (451.-1522) (unpublishe
1 Gafurio, Practica Mlu.ice, book iii, chapter 3, rule 2.
18 Gafurio, De Harmonia Musicorum Instrumentorum, f. 68v; see Young, op. cit., 352-3.

This content downloaded from 164.73.224.2 on Sun, 03 Jun 2018 19:39:26 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 44 EVIDENCE FOR MEANTONE TEMPERAMENT

Evidently Spataro and Gafurio, and therefore

author of the 1488 Ab x C?, monochord, were
non as did Ramos in his last chapter, but were
for lack of the appropriate theoretical concept
Hence Gafurio, when he abandoned the F
which he had prescribed in 1492,"' went ove
scheme shown in fig. .21 Other diagrams publ
the proslambenamenos in fig. I is low A. Th
tones ('.e') and chromatic ones ('apo', or apo
sharps except for Bb; but Eb and Ab, a c
respectively, are also provided for. The numbe
orean, but 1518, the date of its first public
keyboard tuning. (The significance of the s
antd Eb D will be dliscussed below.)
Ramos implies, as we have seen, that his own
the whole theoretical truth of the matter. H
brief discrepancy between mundane descriptio
tion becomes plausible when one recalls the gr
of exactly the same kind in later Renaissance t
and Spataro. Thomas Morley is a good P
'[T]he greater halfe note is that distance w
b fa ; mi'.21 (This is equivalent to calling th
Ramos and Gafurio had done.) Yet on the same page he makes an un-
mistakable reference to meantone temperament: 'Al the chroma/ica, may be
expressed vppon our common virginals, except ... [G-Ab] for if you would
thinke that the sharpe in g sol re ul [i.e. Gg] would serue that turne, by.cxperi-
ment you shal find that it is more then halfe a quarter of'a note too low.'
Another example, just as wry: in 1545 Pietro Aaron implicitly cites Pythagor-
ean calculations, according to which E, would be a comma lower than Dg,
in order to explain why Eb cannot serve as I)D on the organ where, if it is
tuned according to his own explicit metlhod of 1523, Eb turns out to be more
than a comma hi',her than D .22

' Gaflurio, Theorica .lu.nce (.\ilan, 1492), book v, chapter 5-

C2 Gafurio, De Harmonia .llu.eirorum hIn.onumen/orum, . 18v. The ancillary diagrams rcflrred to in
this paragraph
opus (on ff.
musice (Milan. 6ov and 82r) had already appeared in Gafurio's Angelicunm a" divinum
1508).
2 Thomas
page of Morley, .1 P/lain/' and Ea.r Inlrodurlion lo Praclicall .\lun.sike, (London, 1597), second
the annotations.
* Pietro Aaron, Lcidarin, in .llu.eica (Venice, 1545), 1' 36v and Tho.rane//o in .thu.ica (Venice,
1523), chap. 41 . See Ed Peter Bergquist, jInimor, The Thorelical 11riiing. of Piro .laron ttunpul-
lishcd dissertation, Columbia University, 1964), I"1 13, and Lindlcy, 'Early 16th-Century
Keyboard Temperaments', I44-50.

This content downloaded from 164.73.224.2 on Sun, 03 Jun 2018 19:39:26 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
EVIDENCE FOR MEANTONE TEMPERAMENT 45

1T O )~lkl -ll- iv
y_ rt cn.

st y *r-z.New atez
sQ17 4. 7 z pNas dtr 4 equper-? o
ap3 - 1nart

o AY73P 8 # 8 I~)t
se- t4 o9~ 4parmnd-<.fa

I~I
ft

Zg4 Pfrdsstin

.le

o ir %
3 7 +

___ p'z 6

Tuning scheme fro

This content downloaded from 164.73.224.2 on Sun, 03 Jun 2018 19:39:26 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 46 EVIDENCE FOR MEANTONE TEMPERAMENT

Similarly Giovanni Maria Lanfranco in 1533 displays a

Pythagorean attitude toward intervals, on several occasi
diatonic semitone smaller than the chromatic and prescribing
E)xGG$ monochord division 'per formar qual instrumen
is of course the same Lanfranco who then prescribes a 'modo
instrumenti' that is unequivocally a form of meantone te
major thirds slightly larger than pure.2" It is clear that
apparatus of Gafurio, Spataro, Aaron, Lanfranco and Morl
own testimony, demonstrably at odds with contempora
practice. And this habitual Renaissance cleavage betwe
tuning theory and meantone practice on keyboard instr
known to Zarlino, who said in I588:

avanti che cda me si scoprissc, Bforc I discovered

che that
non si cantava ne sonava la [people] neither sang nor played that
specie del Diatono diatonicovecry ancient [i.e. Pythagorcanj
antichissimo, species of diatonic ditoniaion
ma che si usava il but that they had the habit of
cantar la Naturale & Syntona; singing the natural, syntonic [scalel
cosa che da ogn'uno era a thing which everyone
apertamente ncgata & rifiutata; openly denied and argued against
. ..si videa & tcnca per ccrto, people used to believe firmly
che cotale specie Diatona that such a species ofditoniaion
fusse quella ch'cra in uso... , as the one that , as used.
. ingannati dal non haver- [They wcre] dcceivedl by having never
lc udite heard [the imperfect concordsf
nic gli Istrumcnti sotto quelle on instruments in those
Forine che forms (i.e. Pythagorean] which
crcdevano che fussero contenute...they believed \ ere cexemplified.
ccrcassero di ridurli They sought to present them
a tal temperamento, che in a tuning whercin
potesscro satisfar'all' Udito, they might satisfy the car,
ma non senza levar la Diapcnte but not without nudging the fifth
& la Diatcsseron fuori (delle lor and fourth beyond their
vcre forme; foirse anco crcldenclo true forms, perhaps even belicving,
com'anco credono molti, che as many still belicve, that
cotali consonanze temperate such consonances (i.e. 4ths & 5thsj, tuned
nel modo, che si (xlno( n(' gl' the way one hears them on
Istromenti da Tasti, fussero keyboard instruments, \were
nclle lor \ere & naturale forme; in their true and natural fornms;
& cosi fusse introdotto and thus might hac been introduced
questo modo cli tcnmperatura, the kind of temperament
che fin'hora si scgue . . . which is used to this clay.'2

Immediately after the quoted section of his text, Ramos now chooses to
stress the importance of having the major sixth in tune. His practical rules,

we may recall, refer to a tuning with Ab and Eb rather than G?, or D?.
23 Giovanni Maria Lanfranco, Sintille di .Iluiica (Brescia, 1533), 97 orl, 125ff; see Lindley,
op. cit. (n. Io), 144 50.
2 Gioscffo Zarlino, S.pplimerut .alui ali (Venice, 1588), 157-

This content downloaded from 164.73.224.2 on Sun, 03 Jun 2018 19:39:26 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
EVIDENCE FOR MEANTONE TEMPERAMENT 47

Some musicians, he now says, want G#, good w

cadential
worth progression
having. Since with shown in ex. use
E? one cannot i(i);the
butcadence
C.-G. shown
is not,inin
ex.his
I(ii),opinion,
one might as well jettison G$ altogether and, when a cadence is made by the
lower voice proceeding by step from B to A, change the B to BI (ex. I(iii)).
Certainly, says Ramos, one need not heed those who require D$ for the
cadence shown in ex. I(iv), because either of the cadences shown as exx. i(v)
and I(vi) will do as well.

Ex. 1

(i) (ii) (iii)

(iv) (v) (vi)

These musical examples

'from what he says:.

... The string est

notandum located between
et C andvalde
A n
de illa chorda inter h et c collocata.
is especially noteworthy.
Quidam enim practicorum Indeed certain practitioners
minus benc praevidentes ita with lesser foresight in this regard,
illam disponunt, ut cum h sit bonumarrange it so that with A it is a good
semitonium, cum g vero malum. semitone, and bad with G.
Et sic diapente cum prima b quadroThey make it produce
illam faciunt resonarc, thereby a good fifth with CO,;
quae diapente inutile est, Ibutl that fifth is useless,
quoniam raro fit, because it rarely occurs, land, I
ut verius loquar, numquam ficri debet.to tell the truth, should never occur.
Verum si quis dicat: ad hoc ponitur. And if it be argued that it is put there
ut, cum tenor descendit ad a per b,so that when the tenor goes from B down to A
discantus habeat sextam maiorem in illa the discant at that point can have a major
sixth
tendens ad diapason h, leading to the octave A,
respondemus. quod nunc in tenore debet I answer that here the tenor should
fieri variatio, hoc est descendere be altered, i.e. should descend
per primam b mollis coniunctam, quae via BI, which
sexta maior est ad g. Et sic is a major sixth with G. Thereby
fiet transitus non solum ita bonus,the progression will not only be good,
verum melior, dulcior atque suavior;but better, sweeter and smoother;
et si media vox interponatur, and if a middle voice is to be inserted,
habet tertiam maiorem in d, D will provide the major third,
a qua veniet in quintam scilicet e,which then goes to the fifth, i.e. E,

This content downloaded from 164.73.224.2 on Sun, 03 Jun 2018 19:39:26 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 48 EVIDENCE FOR MEANTONE TEMPERAMENT

regulam supra positam servans,

in keeping % ith the rule given above [for G - A
quam non habet,
% hich is not provided for
si alio modo descendat. if [the tenor] descends the other % ay.
... Alii cro practici dicunt: Now other practitioners say [that]
si hoc fieret, diapente e h quadroin this arrangement B and its fifth
non habcret tertiam mediam, quae do not have the intermediate third IDJ
maior ad inferiorem
major to the lo, er note [BI
ct minor sit ad superiorem. and minor to the upper [FSl.
Sed hoc non obstat, quia, But that is no obstacle, because
cum illa phrygii sit incitativa, in a Phrygian cadence
iion rcfert, si tertia careat media it does not matter if that third is missing
vel si maior ad superiorem or if the third placed there is a major third
et minor ponatur ad inferiorem. to the upper note and minor to the lower
(i.e. D )."S
Ramos now mentions a device characteristic of Italian harpsichords of a
somewhat later period. He refers to it as it would appear on that instrument
rather than on an organ or a late 15th-century (i.e. triple-fretted) clavichord,26
thus suggesting that when he had, at the beginning of the chapter, promised
practical advice about intervals on the 'monochordo perfecto', he meant
implicitly to include the harpsichord:

Quidam vero volentes Some people, \ishing

utrique satisfacere parti to satisfy both sides,
aliam chordamn insert another string
inter tertiam bb et h interserunt, bet%%een Ab and A,
quam a tertia b %% hich they make a comma apart
per commatis spatium distare faciunt.from Ab.
Hoc tamen non laudatur But this is not to be praised
because it entails
propter hoc, quia esset tunc
mixing in another genus,
aliud genus mixtumr
et non diatonicum simplex.
not just the diatonic.27

The addition of such a string would be reflected on the keyboard by splitting

the appropriate
This device, oftenblack key
applied in two;asone
to Eb/D# half
well, would operate
eventually became G?.,
very the other Ab.
common
in Italy--a hallmark, in fact, of meantone temperament.28 And already in
Ramos's day organs as well as harpsichords were liable to include such
'extra' notes, for in 1480 the cathedral authorities at Lucca, having in 1473
determined that the organ was poorly constructed and also poorly tuned
('male temperatum et male concordatum et sic male temperatum'), con-
tracted to have it rebuilt and to include in its F--f range not only the 29 lasti
and I8 semituoni that were presumably arranged according to the pattern
shown on p. 49 below, but also:

25 Ramos, op. cit., 82; ed. Wolf, lot 2.

26 See Edwin M. Ripin, 'The Early Clavichord', M.luJiral Quarterly, liii (1967), 518 38.
2- Ramos, loc. cit.
28 See Wilhelm Dupont, Geschichle der muJikahli-acen Tempraltur (Kassel, 1935), 48 51 ;John Barnes,
'The Specious Uniformity of Italian Harpsichords', in Ed\% in M. Ripin, KIyboard Io./trum.
Studies in Keyboard Organoloey (Edinburgh, 1971), i 2.

This content downloaded from 164.73.224.2 on Sun, 03 Jun 2018 19:39:26 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 EVIDENCE FOR MEANTONE TEMPERAMENT 49

in addition to the aboe--mention

inoltre li tasti soprascritti
la tersa decl bthequadro
third above B-natural
ct la tcrsa dcl and
fathe minor third above F
dclle f
et insieme cumn litogether
loro with their octav\cs
octax\i
uve\'saranno ncccssarij
%\ here necessaryv"

Illn ? If L I!?!m9ll lftaII

--in other words, D? and A? as well as E? and G?. It is true that like Gafurio
in 1518, and like Aaron (or rather Morley), Ramos places Gg theoretically
above A? rather than below it; but to take that at face value would be to infer,
in the context of his discussion of major sixths, that the Pythagorean A?,
forming a virtually pure major sixth with B, was deemed so ugly that late
15th-century instrument builders went to the trouble of including G, a
comma higher so that it would beat profusely with B.
If Ramos's last chapter is really about Pythagorean intonation, then,
first, a considerable effort was spent in the late i5th century to prevent
certain keyboard instruments from ever producing a sonorous triad - cven
though they had, earlier in the century, been producing a fair number of
sonorous triads in the F xB Pythagorean tuning.:10 Secondly, most of the
thirds in Ramos's simplified diatonic monochord for young students were
remarkably similar in quality to the thirds which he subsequently advises
thenm to avoid; and, thirdly, what Ramos meant by a 'good' third is the same
as \\hat his remarkably faithful disciple, Spataro, meant by an intolerably
harsh one. These absurdities oblige us to infer that the point of the chapter
xwas to describe the good and bad intervals of a meantone temperament.
The evidence does not indicate any one particular shade of meantone.
If the pure major thirds of Ramos's DxG monochord bring to mind 1/4-
comma meantone (first specified by Zarlino in 1571),3~ then the pure major
sixths in that monochord must imply otherwise. The same could be said for
other 15th-century schemes that similarly employ the 5"4 ratio and place
the wolf fifth ostensibly among the diatonic notes.32 Meanwhile the likelihood
that the particularly euphonious major thirds in the FgxB tuning used earlier
in the century may often have been very slightly smaller than pure:' might
bring to mind Zarlino's 2/7-comma mcantone temperament of 1558."3
When Gafurio admitted to Spataro that the Pythagorean limma was no

" See Luigi Nerici, Siorna d-Ila .Mlusica in Lucca (Lucca, 1879), 141 3-
: See ILindlec, 'Pythagor(ean I1tntnation and the Rise -o the Triad'.
" Gioseffo Zarlino, Dimo.tratinoni armoniche (Venice, 1571), 263 9.
:" See Lindley, 'Pythagorean Intonation and the Rise of the Triad'.
:31 Ibid.
:1 Zarlino, Islitutioni harmoniche (Venice, 1558), 146 65.

This content downloaded from 164.73.224.2 on Sun, 03 Jun 2018 19:39:26 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 EVIDENCE FOR MEANTONE TEMPERAMENT 50

longer used on 'harmonic instruments', he menti

but it would be grasping at straws to infer I/5-comm
semitones of exactly that size) even though the eviden
of the I6th century wouild accommodate that speculat
shade of meantone can be inferred, nevertheless Ramo
of the intervals as 'good' and 'bad' implies a regular ra
tuning.
Ex. 2
per quartas ascensus descensus

I . I. 1 1 -I

per quintas ascensus descensus

Certain keyboard music from the latter half of t

to require a meantone temperament for its prope
which triads display less of the lithesome tension o
the solidity of four-part 16th-centuryfalso bordon
motion among the voices. This new kind of triadi
ex. 2, which Apel selected from a version of Conr
in the Buxheim Organ Book to illustrate 'a ch
chordal thinking, from polyphonic treatment t
cite also the opinion of Tanaka that Paumann'
tempered intonation on the organ."8 Tanaka's
Arnold's edition of the 'Nuremberga Anno 14
bound together with the Lochamer Song Book.:39
ill 1452 as wcll wrought, that is, as regular a temp
:3 See above, n. 15.
36 See Lindley, 'Early 16th-Century Keyboard Temperament
:37 Willi Apel, The Hi.loiy of Kyboard Iu.ic to 17oo00, tr. an
1972), 69--70. These clausulae appear in the 'Fundamentum
Organ Book. No. 236 is entitled 'Magistri Paumann Contr
in the first title stand for 'Magistri Conrad Paumann Contr
38 Shohc Tanaka, 'Studien im Gcbicte der reinen Stimmung'
wi.sn.enc/haJi, vi (1890), 6t 2.
3: Friedrich Wilhelm Arnold, 'Das Lochhcinmr Liederbuc
Conrad Paumann',
1867), 182 in
224. For a Friedrich Chrysander,
recent edition of this Jah/rbiic/h,'rfi
music see Willi
'Fourhewlh &. Fh',rnl/, Cetlurie.W (A\nrican I nstitutc of .Musicology, 1963), 32 5 1-

This content downloaded from 164.73.224.2 on Sun, 03 Jun 2018 19:39:26 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
 EVIDENCE FOR MEANTONE TEMPERAMENT 51

Ramos thirty years later is another matter. Paumann

his musical stature might suggest a sensitivity to niceti
would favour a regular meantone rather than a pri
temperament.40 Certainly general musical style by 1
harmonic usage of Ockeghem, Busnois and the mature D
triadic and, in fact, ideal for meantone temperament. O
should not presume that the transition to meantone wa
Ramos indeed now, at the conclusion of the chapter
Silva's advocacy of an extra string between F and F

suggestive
That of an
particular F.xstring
extra B Pythagorean tuning
seems pointless than ofhowever;
to Ramos, meantone temperament.
he prefers
to split Ab / G?, for which he promises a theoretical justification in his 'next
volume':
Tristanus vero de Silva, amicus noster, No.)x my friend Tristan de Silva
inter fet sccundam used to say that another string should
aliam chordam dicebat esse interponendam. be inserted bct% cen F and F#.
... Non... tantum utilitatemnFrom this intermediate third we gain
illa tcrtia media nobis adducit,not utility,
quantam discrepantiam atque discordiam but discrepancy and discord
in toto ordine provcnit, in the whole system,
cum nccquc secundumn naturalem, since neither another natural
ncque sccundam aliclucm accidcntalcm ordincm nor an accidental of another type [i.e. a flati
illo modo.., collocctur.is to be gained by this means.
Sed de his hactcnus. But enough on this point.
(Melius tamen primi senserunt, (Howevcr, the first proposal is better
cuius \critatem in sequenti volumineproof of which in another volume
firmissimis numerorum rationibus I shall explain
enuclcabimus.) with very firm mathematical reasoning.)
Nunc autem cpilogando supradicta
huic opera finem imponamus. IBut nov,
shall endwith an epilogue to the above
this work.4'

Ostensibly, then, the F xB tuning had not come to his attention: The entire
chapter, analysed carefully and in the light of the evidence represented here
by ex. 2, suggests that the latest source of keyboard music in which we might
expect to find compositions intended for a Pythagorean tuning would be the
Buxheim Organ Book.43 And in fact the next oldest surviving keyboard music
is by Arnolt Schlick (1512), whose mastery of the fine points of tempered
tuning is apparent in his treatise of 151 1.4.4

"'cols.
See Franz Kraut%\urst, 'Paumann', Die .Alu.ik in G u1hi h, and G,'gniluart, x (Kasscl, 1962),
968 71.
" See Lindlcy, 'Pythagorcan Intonation and the Rise of the Triad'.
, Ramos, op. cit., 82; ed. Wolf, to2.
: The exact dating of the various parts of the Buxheim repertory is uncertain; for a survey of
opinions, see Robert S. Lord, The Bu./helm Organ Book: A Study in the Hi.tory of Organ Music in
Southern Germany during the Fifteenth Century (unpublished dissertation, Yale University, !960),
60o-64.
" Arnolt Schlick, fahulaturen 'cli1herw lo/igai nl dlied/rin tf d// o(wrln rtn laulten (.lainiiz. 1512),
and .Spiegel der Orgelmacher vnldl Organi.iten (Spcycr, 1511, reprinted Mainz, 1959), chapter 8;
ed. Robert Eitner, MAonathefte fiir Mu.sikgeschchte, i (1869). See Heinrich Huslllanni , Zur
Charactcristik der Schlicksen Temperatur', IArchiicJui .\lu.iilke'-tenchaiJ, xxiv (1967 1 253 65,
and Lindley, 'Early 16th-Century Keyboard Temperaments'.

This content downloaded from 164.73.224.2 on Sun, 03 Jun 2018 19:39:26 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms