Last night Tiffy and I went to a harpsichord concert at a local Protestant church. As we sat waiting for the concert to begin, I noted the very strange cross hanging over the sanctuary and commented that it looked as if it were decomposing.
"I could never go to church here," I told her. "I would be too distracted by that decomposing cross." To be fair, I did note that the hot Jesus in a lot of Catholic churches can be every bit as distracting, and Tiffy said she had never noticed Hot Jesus.
"Really?" I said. "He's always totally cut and mostly naked." I guess you know now which of us St. Peter will be turning away at the Pearly Gates...
Then the harpsichord player began playing, and if I were a cartoon character, I would have been just like the creature that sees an attractive member of the opposite gender, with its heart trying to burst out of its chest and its eyes popping out with heart-shaped pupils.
"I love love LOVE this temperament!" I whispered to Tiffy. The performer started talking about temperament, and he said he didn't want to make it a lecture on tuning, but I whispered to Tiffy, "YES! Make it a lecture on tuning!" Luckily someone sitting ahead of us asked the question I was dying to know, what temperament the harpsichord was tuned in. The performer said it didn't really have a name, it was a "well" temperament that he had modified to match the instrument. You can hardly get further from the cold efficiency of equal temperament, which is so far removed from the reality of sound. Tuning to match the instrument! What a concept! In this CROSS-approved (and -adored) temperament, each key had a clarity and color of its own, and D minor was particularly gorgeous. Afterwards I told Tiffy that I felt as if I'd been to a chiropractor for my brain, as if it had been realigned by listening to all that beautiful sound. Oh, when will we realize how much we have lost with equal temperament?
Famous Hat
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