Abstract
THE harshness of the present system of tuning has been a source of constant complaint since it was first introduced, about a century and a half ago. But of late years several more or less practical attempts have been made to overcome this defect without interfering with the quality of our musical tones. Instruments with fixed tones, as the organ, piano, and harmonium, lead voices, and the inalterable quality of vocal tone has therefore to be constantly kept in view. The instruments exhibited in the Loan Collection of Scientific Apparatus at South Kensington are enough to show both the objects aimed at and the nature of the mechanical appliances by which it is hoped they may be more or less reached. It is difficult to give an intelligible account of them within the compass of an article, but Dr. Stone's two lectures1 and Mr. Bosanquet's more recent work2 will supply details and figures.
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ELLIS, A. Recently Proposed Improvements in Musical Intonation . Nature 15, 475–477 (1877). https://doi.org/10.1038/015475a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/015475a0