Vincenzo Galilei and the well tempered scale

[Peter]

"Bach's Well-tempered Clavier wasn't the first major musical work designed to demonstrate the advantages of an equitable, scientific approach to intonation. Vincenzo Galilei's Libro d'intavolature di liuto was published in 1584, a hefty collection of pieces composed for lute, some of which demonstrate the instrument's capability to transpose pieces to any pitch of the well-tempered scale. Galilei was a polymath who approached the study of music with scientific zeal, and his best-known son was the astronomer Galileo. The technical difficulties involved in playing these pieces have led some academics to suggest that Galilei's intentions were purely theoretical."

Available on CD: Vincenzo Galilei: The Well-tempered Lute Žak Osmo (lute) (Hyperion)

[Joy]

Thanks for that information Peter. Didn't know Galileo had a musical father!