46: What’s a Pythagorean Comma? (Introduction to Temperament)

More than simply, “in tune” or “out of tune” a temperament is a solution to the ancient problem of creating a circle out of a spiral. By the time Bach had his shake at this problem, the musical world had advanced far enough, setting the stage for his great mind to create a well-tempered solution that allowed him to compose in all 24 keys. Not all keys sound the same in the vast majority of temperaments, in fact, in only our modern equal-tempered one do we find all keys equal. Does our insistence on this system destroy the whole point of temperament? Or is it the most perfect arrangement of tones? Plus: -Actually listen to a pythagorean comma, the root of the problem...-The circle of (pure) fifths-Bach chorales in different temperaments-The Art of Fugue, 6th fugue in a funky temperament Try the frequencies experiment yourself! Pull up multiple windows on: https://onlinetonegenerator.com Support us:https://www.patreon.com/wtfbachhttps://www.paypal.me/wtfbachhttps://venmo.com/wtfbachhttps://cash.app/$wtfbach Complaints? Confusions? Want to sponsor us?Write us:bach (at) wtfbach (dot) com  Get full access to W.T.F. Bach? at wtfbach.substack.com/subscribe