Listen to music fragments played in different temperaments

The music fragments are all half a minute long and in MP3 format. The size of the files is approximately 400 KB each.

TemperamentComposer & instrument
Pythagorean Senfl: clavichord  
1/3-comma meantone Froberger: harpsichord  
1/4-comma meantone anonymous: harpsichord
Ligeti: harpsichord 		Blow: organ
Rossi: organ
extended 1/4-comma meantone del Buono: harpsichord  
1/5-comma meantone   Froberger: organ
1/5-comma meantone variant   Zachow: organ
1/6-comma meantone variant   Ch. Gibbons: organ
Mersenne improved meantone Froberger: harpsichord  
d'Alembert improved meantone A.L. Couperin: harpsichord  
Silbermann   Bruhns: organ
Neidhardt I   Bach: organ
Neidhardt III   C.Ph.E. Bach: organ
Rameau Rameau: harpsichord  
Werckmeister III Muffat: harpsichord
Mattheson: 2 harpsichords 		Böhm: organ
1/6 Pyth. comma well-temperament Bach: harpsichord Bach: organ
Equal temperament Händel: harpsichord Buxtehude: organ

The Pythagorean tuning is a so-called linear tuning with pure fifths. It was prevailing in the Middle Ages but has the disadvantage for later music that the major third is too large and rather impure.
The meantone temperaments are also linear tunings. They provide acceptable fifths and good thirds (and their octave-inverses fourths and sixths) in a limited number of keys. Like the Pythagorean tuning they also have a wolf-fifth which sounds very bad and should not be played.
The other temperaments are so-called circular temperaments. They provide fair fifths and thirds in keys close to C and less good ones in remote keys. They don't have a wolf fifth and can therefore be used in any key, so compositions can modulate freely. Equal temperament is also a circular temperament but sounds the same (or equally bad some people say) in all keys. Note that the fragment in equal temperament does not have the sonorous sound of the 1/3- and 1/4-comma meantone fragments and that beats are clearly audible.

  • Pythagorean tuning: detuning of consonant intervals in cents
    ToneFifthMajor Third Minor third
    Eb0222
    Bb0222
    F0222
    C022-22
    G022-22
    D022-22
    A022-22
    E022-22
    B0-2-22
    F#0-2-22
    C#0-2-22
    G#-23-2-22
    (A negative value means the interval is smaller than pure, a positive value means larger than pure.)

  • 1/3-comma meantone: detuning of consonant intervals in cents
    ToneFifthMajor Third Minor third
    Eb-7-7-63
    Bb-7-7-63
    F-7-7-63
    C-7-70
    G-7-70
    D-7-70
    A-7-70
    E-7-70
    B-7550
    F#-7550
    C#-7550
    G#55550
    See also Francisco de Salinas (Dutch).

  • 1/4-comma meantone: detuning of consonant intervals in cents
    ToneFifthMajor Third Minor third
    Eb-50-46
    Bb-50-46
    F-50-46
    C-50-5
    G-50-5
    D-50-5
    A-50-5
    E-50-5
    B-541-5
    F#-541-5
    C#-541-5
    G#3641-5

  • extended 1/4-comma meantone: enharmonic notes like G# and Ab are tuned differently. In Italy in the 16th and 17th century harpsichords were built with 14 to 19 keys per octave using split keys. They were called chromatic harpsichords.

  • 1/5-comma meantone variant: the recording didn't specify the tuning exactly. Probably one or two fifths were made larger than the 1/5-comma tempered value in order to make the wolf fifth less bad.
    Normal 1/5-comma meantone: detuning of consonant intervals in cents
    ToneFifthMajor Third Minor third
    Eb-44-37
    Bb-44-37
    F-44-37
    C-44-9
    G-44-9
    D-44-9
    A-44-9
    E-44-9
    B-432-9
    F#-432-9
    C#-432-9
    G#2432-9

  • 1/6-comma meantone variant: the recording didn't specify the tuning exactly. Probably one or two fifths were made larger than the 1/6-comma tempered value in order to make the wolf fifth less bad.
    Normal 1/6-comma meantone: detuning of consonant intervals in cents
    ToneFifthMajor Third Minor third
    Eb-3.67-30
    Bb-3.67-30
    F-3.67-30
    C-3.67-11
    G-3.67-11
    D-3.67-11
    A-3.67-11
    E-3.67-11
    B-3.627-11
    F#-3.627-11
    C#-3.627-11
    G#1627-11

  • Mersenne improved meantone: there are two of them and the recording didn't specify which one was used. They are almost the same though.
    Mersenne improved meantone I: detuning of consonant intervals in cents
    ToneFifthMajor Third Minor third
    Eb011-36
    Bb05-41
    F-50-46
    C-50-16
    G-50-11
    D-50-5
    A-50-5
    E-50-5
    B-530-5
    F#-536-5
    C#-541-5
    G#2541-5

  • d'Alembert improved meantone: detuning of consonant intervals in cents
    ToneFifthMajor Third Minor third
    Eb429-16
    Bb419-25
    F410-34
    C-50-34
    G-51-25
    D-51-15
    A-52-5
    E-53-5
    B-512-6
    F#-521-7
    C#-529-7
    G#438-7

  • Silbermann: detuning of consonant intervals in cents
    ToneFifthMajor Third Minor third
    Eb-46-33
    Bb-46-33
    F-46-33
    C-46-10
    G-46-10
    D-46-10
    A-46-10
    E-46-10
    B-429-10
    F#-429-10
    C#-429-10
    G#2029-10

  • Neidhardt I: detuning of consonant intervals in cents
    ToneFifthMajor Third Minor third
    Eb-216-20
    Bb014-18
    F010-18
    C-46-20
    G-48-18
    D-410-14
    A-414-10
    E-218-10
    B-218-12
    F#018-14
    C#018-18
    G#-218-20

  • Neidhardt III: detuning of consonant intervals in cents
    ToneFifthMajor Third Minor third
    Eb-214-18
    Bb-212-18
    F010-18
    C-48-18
    G-412-16
    D-414-14
    A-216-10
    E016-12
    B-216-16
    F#-216-18
    C#-416-18
    G#018-16

  • Rameau: detuning of consonant intervals in cents
    ToneFifthMajor Third Minor third
    Eb712-29
    Bb-50-36
    F-50-30
    C-50-18
    G-50-5
    D-55-5
    A-511-5
    E-516-5
    B029-5
    F#036-11
    C#030-16
    G#725-22

  • Werckmeister III: detuning of consonant intervals in cents
    ToneFifthMajor Third Minor third
    Eb0 16-22
    Bb010-22
    F04-22
    C-64-22
    G-610-16
    D-610-10
    A016-4
    E016-10
    B-616-16
    F#022-16
    C#022-16
    G#022-16
    See also the page about Werckmeister III (Dutch).

  • 1/6 Pythagorean comma well-temperament: There are a lot of temperaments possible for this name and the recording didn't specify it. It's quite close to equal temperament however. Six fifths are pure, and six tempered by -4 cents. The two recordings may use different variants of it.

  • Equal temperament: detuning of consonant intervals in cents
    ToneFifthMajor Third Minor third
    Eb-214-16
    Bb-214-16
    F-214-16
    C-214-16
    G-214-16
    D-214-16
    A-214-16
    E-214-16
    B-214-16
    F#-214-16
    C#-214-16
    G#-214-16

  • Kirnberger III: detuning of consonant intervals in cents
    ToneFifthMajor Third Minor third
    Eb016-20
    Bb011-20
    F05-20
    C-50-22
    G-55-16
    D-511-11
    A-516-5
    E022-5
    B020-11
    F#020-16
    C#020-22
    G#-220-22

Manuel Op de Coul, 2000