Temperament

In this accessible and engaging book Stuart Isacoff applies his musical expertise and great erudition to one of the most fascinating stories in the history of Western culture. Equal-temperament tuning - in which each of the twelve tones of the scale is equidistant from the next - has made much of the exquisite music composed in the last two hundred years possible. Yet its acceptance as the standard was not easily achieved. It provoked a contentious and bitter debate that spanned centuries and engaged everyone from popes and heads of state to scientists and philosophers, including Pythagoras, Euclid and Newton, as well as Descartes and Rousseau. Temperament is an indispensable chronicle of this struggle over the way music is made, and a refreshingly well-written book that will entertain novice and expert alike.