Enharmonic Instruments and Music 1470-1900

Enharmonic instruments and music 1470-1900 is the first complete look at the instruments provided with more than the standard twelve keys per octave, traditionally called "enharmonic": a fascinating but still obscure topic, which since the Renaissance has been investigated by practical musicians, theoreticians, instrument makers, acousticians, mathematicians, and philosophers. These instruments, as conceived from the 15th to 19th centuries, are divided into two types: open-chain (i.e. harmonically "non circulating", adopting just or meantone intonation) and closed-chain (i.e. "circulating", based on different types of Equal-Tempered System). The attached CD--which contains a good part of the surviving rare compositions written for the said systems, digitally mounted--will also provide the reader with concrete acoustic examples of the micro-intervals for which a written text can offer only arithmetical ratios. Also examined are: (1) problems of performance practice relating to the intonation of violins, woodwinds, and singers; (2) attempts to reintroduce the ancient Greek genera and tonoi, all carried out in the first half of the 17th century; (3) repeated proposals to extend "just intonation" to harmonic numbers beyond those of Zarlino's Senario, with the consequent introduction of the new enharmonic intervals produced by Septimal and Undecimal Harmonies; (4) early mathematical divisions of the octave in 'n' equal parts [Publisher description]