1805] Obset'vaiiofis on Earl S/an/iope's musical Work. 



143 



tlie A nolf. " And thofe four, togetlicr 

 with t.'tc quint uolf, make they're trolves 

 v.hicli I li-ive mt'iitioncd above. And it 

 T^as tVoin my havinsv obl'crvcd thcle tivo 

 dilHiid irotves thiit I was led to tiiid out 

 tdcit fiipciior mode oftuiiint; keyed ini'iii- 

 iiients willed I ain now auiiig to de- 

 lei-ibe." 



" iMuficians and tuners liave agreed 

 rot to tune all the quints pert'ect, as tliat 

 would make tlic octaves intolerable. 

 Some tuners, however, in order to aiiiil 

 the quints, have very improperly propo- 

 sed to tune the octaves a little iinpvi-J'ect" 

 His Lordlhip verv properly objecis to tiiis 

 Tiarbarous [)ropofal. The (K-fuvca will 

 udmitofno temperament at all. Some 

 one or more of the tvx'clve jjft/is mult be 

 tlatter than perfect, and ibme one or 

 more of the tsvelve thirds mull be Iharper 

 than perfet't. 



His Lordlhip then gives a definition of 

 temperament, and remarks, that its ob- 

 ject is to render the inftrumcnt " harmo- 

 nious and melodious ;" and adds, that the 

 finell inftruuieiit, wlien out qftunt', even 

 if played upon in the moft capital man- 

 ner, does not found fo well as when it i* 

 in tune.** 



" In that mode of tuning which is call- 

 ed the equal temperavwnl , all the twelve 

 quints are imperfect ; but in my mode of 

 tuning there are fevcn quints cjuitc per- 

 fect, and tive quints flatter than perfect." 

 Here let it be remembered, that out of 

 twelve Jift /is, the more of tliem are made 

 jierfeCt, the greater will be tlie imperfec- 

 tion of the others which remain. It ia 

 not the number of the imperfect Jifths, 

 hut the dctiree of imperfection in thofe 

 Jifths, that oftends the ear. Perfection 

 admits of no bounds to its fcale : a hmit- 

 cd number of founds implies imperfec- 

 tion. Could we have fourteen founds in- 

 ftead of t\veive, as at the Temple organ, 

 the offenfive quahty of the fifths would 

 he. sireatly diminiflied. Dr. Smith's and 

 IMr. Clagsiit's improvements on liarpii- 

 chords were intended to lelTcn the imper- 

 fection of the temperament by increaling 

 the number of hxed founds. In Ihort, 



* Thefe are his Lovdihip's words : — " This 

 is an oV.je£l ot very great confequence to the 

 mufical world. For the fincil keyed inftiu- 

 ment, even it" it be played upon in the moit 

 capital manner, lofes, either when out oftur.e, 

 or when tuned according to an improper tem- 

 perament, the pov.-er of producing tl.ofe de- 

 lightful and excjuifite fenfations wiiich the 

 Very fame inlirument becomes capable of 

 producing when it is tuned fcientifically and 

 cotreftly." 



MoyiHiY Mag., No. 147, 



the temperament on a keyed inftrument 

 cannot be dcltroyed. ii' it is driven from 

 one part of the fcale, it will tly to another. 

 Jf we adopt feven quints quite perfect, 

 fome or all of the remaining quints mult 

 faffer. 



" T(j have an inlhument nothing bat 

 difcords, is abominable. This dellroys 

 the dittercnce of character which ought K) 

 exilt in a well-tuned inlirument betX\eeu 

 the dnlerent major keys ; and the minor 

 kei/s are liable to -the fame defeat for a 

 limilar reai'on. Tluis it is that dull mo- 

 notony is ful.liitutcd for pleating and or- 

 derly variety." 



This variety of charaftcr in the diffe- 

 rent keys is by fomc perfons reckoned a 

 great beauty, and it !s certain that com- 

 pofcrs i'eem to pay attention to it ; and 

 accordinplv Handel's beautiful air of 

 " Doi\; ,S,i" never gives me fo much plea- 

 fure ill the key of G, (in wliich I have 

 heard it funs? by Mara herfeh",; as in the 

 original key of E. But is this owing to 

 the temperament ? — No, furely it is not ; 

 for neither the voice nor the vi:jlin tenor 

 and bafs accompaniments had any tem- 

 perament, having no tixcd tones. T\iis 

 is ftitiicieat for my purpofe. I IhaU not 

 enter into an inquiry of what is thecaufe 

 of this ditference of cliuradter, fiiice teni- 

 perameiit is not concerned. 



" Modulation lofes, in a areat meaftiro> 

 the very oljject of modulation, which is, 

 to relieve the ear, and to caufe us to re- 

 turn to the original key with an increafed 

 pleafure, which arifes from the fyltematic 

 variety of the dilfeveut keys through 

 wliich we have ncccflarily paffed." 



Quei-c. — Would it not be a prodigious 

 improvement if frets could be apjjlied to 

 the hnger-boards of ftringed inftruments, 

 to enable a full band to adopt the Stuji- 

 hope Temperament i Modulation would 

 not then "' lofe the very objett of modu- 

 lation.'' 



The noble author objects to the two 

 forts of uneqi-.al temperament adopted by 

 fome tuners ; the one, of throwing what 

 they Call the no//" between G dharp and 

 Djhurp. The o;her,* of dividing tllis- 

 im)5erfection equally between the two- 

 fifths Gjharp Djhurp and Djhurp A 

 Jhurp. " They are defective in practice, 

 for thev render fome keys too bad to mo- 

 dulate into them witliout offending the 

 ear extremely. In my new method there 

 are none of thefe defect;." 



The Stanhope temperament is as fol- 

 lows. 



* I tl ink thii the beft method of tuning 



F a, c 



