Historical Considerations of Temperate Sound Systems

Abstract

We instinctively tend to believe that nature has perfectly designed the phenomenon of musical sound, but this is not entirely true. Any sound is not singular, but the result of combining several vibrations, called harmonics. The first new harmonics are the octave and the fifth of the fundamental sound. Starting from this idea, Pythagoras, in one of the oldest sound systems, tried to build a model of thinking and determining the pitch of sounds using fifths. With the second voice (polyphonic singing), another type of sound system had to emerge: the tempered one. By temperament, fifths lose their pureness and become somewhat false. Starting around the 12th century, theorists have tried to find the perfect formula for polyphonic singing. This scientific paper aims to present some tempered sound systems, from the Renaissance and the beginning of the Baroque, which tried to solve the problem of tuning the pitch of the sounds.