Young temperament
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Young (1773 - 1829) devised a form of musical tuning known as a well temperament which he included in a letter to the Royal Society of London written July 9, 1799. It was read January 16, 1800 and included in the Society's Philosophical Transactions published that year.
Before closing, Young outlined a practical method to "make the harmony most perfect in those keys which are the most frequently used," by tuning upwards from C a sequence of six pure fourths, as well as "six equally imperfect fifths," in other words six progressively purer flat fifths. His goal was to give better major thirds in more commonly used keys, but to not have any unplayable keys. So in this system, the third C-E is only 1/4 comma (about 5 cents) wide from just while the widest third is one syntonic comma too wide (about 21 cents). (A just major third is a perfect 5:4 ratio which is about 386 cents.) The thirds get wider as you move around the circle of fifths like so:
C-E: 5 cents wide
G-B, F-A: 8 cents wide
Bb-D, D-F#: 10 cents wide
Eb-G, A-C#: 14 cents wide
Ab-C, E-G#: 18 cents wide
Db-F, B-D#: 20 cents wide
Gb-Bb: 21 cents wide
The difference between equal temperament and Young's temperament rounded to the nearest cent (music) is as follows:
A: 0
A#: +6
B: -2
C: +6
C#: 0
D: +2
D#: +4
E: -2
F: +6
F#: -2
G: +4
G#: +2
In 1801 Young changed the tuning of Eb, which is included in the temperament published in the collection of his lectures in 1807.
For a more complete investigation of Young's temperament, see Jorgensen, pp. 251-265
References:
- Young, Thomas (1800) "Outlines of Experiments and Inquiries respecting Sound and Light" (In a Letter to Edward Whitaker Gray, M.D. Sec. R.S.). Philosophical transactions of the Royal society of London, vol. 90, part 1. p. 143
- Young, Thomas (1802) "Letter Respecting Sound and Light." A Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and the Arts William Nicholson, London vol. 5, p.167
- Young, Thomas (1845) A Course of Lectures on Natural Philosophy and the Mechanical Arts, Taylor & Walton, London.
- Jorgensen, Owen. (1991) Tuning: containing the perfection of eighteenth-century temperament, the lost art of nineteenth-century temperament, and the science of equal-temperament, complete with instructions for aural and electronic tuning. Michigan State University Press.
