Temperament by Stuart Isacoff

Temperament by Stuart Isacoff

The piano is the best loved of musical instruments, thanks in part to the elegant symmetrical design of its ivory and ebony keyboard that ensures each pitch is reliably equidistant from the next. But this 'equal temperament' tuning was once a hugely controversial notion. It is difficult now to imagine the keyboard as other than it is; yet this was precisely what many European musicians practising before the nineteenth century demanded of their instruments. For hundreds of years, musicians, craftsmen, church officials, heads of state and philosophers fought heatedly against the introduction of 'equal temperament' tuning. Stuart Isacoff hereby recounts this great battle over the best way to create music - a battle that culminated in the destruction of the harpsichord and the emergence, from its flames, of the piano. Why the resistance to equal temperament lasted so long, and how it was finally overcome, is a story that encompasses crucial elements of Western culture - social history, religion, philosophy, science, economic development - in a period when Europe was struggling to give birth to the modern age.

"'Isacoff untangles the complexities of this issue with the aplomb of a virtuoso planist' New York Times"

Stuart Isacoff is the editor of Piano magazine. He has written exclusively as a journalist, and Temperament is his first book.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780571234462
ISBN 10	0571234461
Title	Temperament
Author	Stuart Isacoff
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Faber & Faber
Year published	2007-04-05
Number of pages	272
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable