[ 341 ] 



LII. On the recent Alteralmis said to le made hy some 

 Tuners cf Musical Instruments, in the Places of the Wolves, 

 or largely tempered Concords, on common \2-striuged or 

 Douzeave Keyed-Instruments. IFilh some Queries thereon, 

 to Musicians. By Mr. John Farey Senior. 



To Mr. Tilloch. 



Sjr Ten years ago I drew up and comnumicated tliroiigh 



vour pages*, Six Musical Theorems, showing the various re- 

 iationsofthe'/emperame;//*, of all the 72 concords capable of 

 being taken on a Douzeave Instrument, or one havnig only 12 

 Notes in the Octave; and soon after, Fifteen Musical Corollaries, 

 derived from those Theorems, were also given in your Work f : at 

 this period, it was the general opinion of the professional Tuners 

 and scientific Musicians whom I had opportunities of consulting, 

 that it was usual and proper, to consider the five short Fingei-- 

 kevs of Instruments, as producing the Notes F*, C*, G« ; Eb 

 and Bb; and the resulting Fifth or Quint Wolf to lie, between G* 

 and Eb : since then, the arrangement bf the Pedals of the un- 

 proved Instruments made by Mr. Loeschman, and for Mr. Lis- 

 ton, and the excellent Work of the latter (entitled " An Essay 

 on perfect Intonation,") have shown, that these ingenious Indi- 

 viduals considered, the common or original Scale, or that which 

 would be found bv using the twelve ordinary Finger-keys on 

 their respective Instruments (none of their Pedals were in 

 action) to consist of the seven natural Notes, and of those 

 three sharpened and two flattened Notes, above mentioned: 

 and every thing contained in mv Papers alluded to, relative to 

 the places in the Scale, in which the several Wolves, or resultmg, 

 and mostly also the largest tempered Concords, were to be found, 

 depended' on this assumption, viz. of it being the practice of 

 Tuners, to eflfect their tuning, upwards by the Tempered Fifths 

 CG, GD, DA, AE, EB, BF«, F-^ C«, and C« G*, and downwards 

 bv the similar Fifths cF, FBb, and Bb Eb, so as to meet in the 

 resulting or Wolf Fifth G.> Eb : such however appears now, not 

 to be the invariable piactice of Piano-Forte Tuners; since the 

 Rev. C. .1. Snivth, of Norwich, has informed me, that several 

 Tuners for Mr." Wornam, of Wigmore-street, and other makers 

 of Piano-Fortes in the newest fashion, are in the habit, of layuig 

 the Bearing as they sometimes call it, or throwing the Quint 

 Wolf, between the Notes C« and Ab ; or in other words, their 

 Scale is made to contain, seven natural, two sharpened and three 



• Sec 1'. M. vol. ^xxvi. p. 39. t P- M- ^o^- ''^'»^''- P- ^''*- 



flattened 



