Tag: Beethoven

Equal Temperament vs Just vs Earth Tuning

by julianshelbourne, posted in harmonic propagation

Click on the link to listen to three versions of the same performance of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata on piano, tuned three different ways.

Three versions of the Beethoven Moonlight Sonata
  1. One in Equal Temperament. 
  2. The second in the “just” tuning I have developed based on natural resonances such as the ancient helek (3.33333 of today’s seconds) equivalent to the time it takes our Earth to rotate 1/72nd of a degree, as an E-flat. 
  3. The third recording is in “standard” equal temperament where the A note = 440 Hz

There’s nothing like a side by side comparison of the way we’re told music should be tuned, versus the way that harmonics propagate naturally, and based on the frequencies I’ve discovered to resonate with the fabric of the way in which our planet rotates and generates its magnetic field.

For me, the the first one is ok but doesn’t fully resonate. The second one interacts with the room when you listen – it sounds louder and fuller. The 3rd one is just horrific to me – a bunch of noise, especially after listening to the others. No wonder Beethoven seems to some to be haunted by ghosts and teetering into disonance – when all we hear of him is recorded in the shitty Equal Temperament 440 hz “standard” that was introduced just in time for World War 2, as it happens.

I hope you can enjoy how music is supposed to sound. Feel it in your gut and let me know in the comments!

Thanks to Edward Grant for this performance: www.classicalarchives.com/midi/composer/2156.html