Abstract
AS you have raised once more the question of justly intoned instruments, may I offer the following remarks? It does not seem likely that any arrangement for the organ would be practically adopted unless it permits as much freedom of modulation and of execution as that of equal temperament. To permit perfectly free modulation, with practically perfect intervals, nothing short of the cycle of fifty-three will suffice. Now to construct a key-board with fifty-three notes to the octave which can be played upon with the facility of a twelve-note key-board seems impossible. But the problem may be approached differently: as it is only necessary to use twelve notes at a time, the key-board might remain as it is, and only a mechanical device would be required to make these twelve keys correspond to the right twelve out of fifty-three pipes; if the services of an assistant be allowed (as is often necessary on large organs) the mechanical difficulties could easily be overcome. For example, arrange a number of studs—say 117, as suggested by Dr. Ellis—as a “duodenarium,” and connected electrically to the fifty-three trackers; i.e. each tracker would be connected to two or three studs— B3♭♭, C4♭♭♭, A3♯ studs to tracker 46 for instance. Opposite these studs would be another set of 117 connected to the twelve keys, e.g. C, B2♯, B3♯, D2♭♭, &c., all to the key C. Between the two sets of studs would be a frame carrying twelve contact pieces; the frame would then be moved along guides by the assistant, so that the twelve keys were electrically connected to the right duodene of studs, and hence could be made to open the right group of pipes.
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LEHFELDT, R. Instruments in Just Intonation. Nature 44, 519 (1891). https://doi.org/10.1038/044519d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/044519d0
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