Well temperament (also circular or circulating temperament) is a type of tempered tuning described in 20th-century music theory. The term is modelled on the German word wohltemperiert which appears in the title of J.S. Bach's famous composition, The Well-Tempered Clavier. The phrase wohl temperiert also occurs in the works of Bach's predecessor, the organ tuner and music theorist Andreas Werckmeister.
Famous quotes containing the word temperament:
“These philosophers dwell on the inevitability and unchangeableness of laws, on the power of temperament and constitution, the three goon, or qualities, and the circumstances, or birth and affinity. The end is an immense consolation; eternal absorption in Brahma.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)