Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION
- THE TRANSLATION
- Epistle
- On the subject of harpsichord tuning
- Treatise on the tuning of the Harpsichord
- Procedure for tuning the harpsichord properly
- How the Harpsichord and the Prestant of the Organ should be tuned
- Advice to choirmasters and organists
- On the quantity and diversity of sounds
- The eight tons of the church
- Treatise on fugues, and how they should be realized [I]
- Treatise on fugues, and how they should be realized [II]
- The proper manner of playing the harpsichord and the organ
- On bad habits that occur among those who play instruments
- Appendix A A comparison of parallel passages from the published writings of Jean Denis and Marin Mersenne
- Appendix B A transcription of the ‘Prelude for determining whether the tuning is good throughout’
- Bibliography
- Index
Procedure for tuning the harpsichord properly
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 December 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION
- THE TRANSLATION
- Epistle
- On the subject of harpsichord tuning
- Treatise on the tuning of the Harpsichord
- Procedure for tuning the harpsichord properly
- How the Harpsichord and the Prestant of the Organ should be tuned
- Advice to choirmasters and organists
- On the quantity and diversity of sounds
- The eight tons of the church
- Treatise on fugues, and how they should be realized [I]
- Treatise on fugues, and how they should be realized [II]
- The proper manner of playing the harpsichord and the organ
- On bad habits that occur among those who play instruments
- Appendix A A comparison of parallel passages from the published writings of Jean Denis and Marin Mersenne
- Appendix B A transcription of the ‘Prelude for determining whether the tuning is good throughout’
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
One must begin with f, and then tune its octave pure. After that tune c′, a fifth from f, and make it completely pure. Then lower it just enough that it still seems good and the ear can tolerate it. From c′, tune its lower octave pure. Then tune its fifth g in the same way, narrowing it to the same degree as the first. Then tune its upper octave pure, which is g′. Tune d′, and then tune this fifth in the same way, narrowing it like the others. Then pause at this point and perform the trial, which is done in this way. Tune b♭, next to c′, to the fifth f′, next to g′, and keep the b♭ a bit high, so that this fifth is tempered [temperée] and is the same as the others. Then play the d′ that you have tuned, which makes the major third against b♭ and the minor third against f′. When this chord is found to be good, everything which has been tuned is good, because the tuning is proven only by the thirds. When they are found to be good throughout, the tuning is correct.
Continue then, and follow the order used at the beginning. Go by octaves and fifths to the last note, and do not tune any fifth after the first trial mentioned above if the third within it does not prove to be good, as you may observe in the example that follows.
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- Treatise on Harpsichord Tuning , pp. 71Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1987