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 enlarge | Author: Stuart Isacoff
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $23.00
Buy Used: $1.99
You Save: $21.01 (91%)
New (2) Used (12) Collectible (3) from $1.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  48 reviews
Sales Rank: 110588
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.4 x 1.2
ISBN: 0375403558
Dewey Decimal Number: 784.1928
EAN: 9780375403552
ASIN: 0375403558
Publication Date: November 13, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: some writing on the inside Used - Good
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| Customer Reviews:
 AN Essential Book for Pianists September 6, 2005
4 out of 9 found this review helpful
Stuart Isacoff is a serious pianist and scholar, and his book, Temperament, answers the mysterious questions that those of us who are also serious pianists wish to know and probe. His book is dense with information, but at the same time accessible and clear, so that the pianist who is curious about her instrument and its place in cultural history is enriched with new understanding for the metamorphoses that have produced our modern piano. I am grateful for his impressive research and the deep insights between its covers. Carol Montparker, pianist and author
 Not quite what I was looking for. August 27, 2005
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
This book contains some very good and entertaining history, but it doesn't have much physics and/or mathematics of the 12 tone scale and/or its precedents. If you are interested in the history of the development of the various scales however, I think you will find it very interesting. I was looking for something a little more technical in nature. for technical discussions of the subject, I recommend, "On the Sensation of Tone" by Hermann Helmholtz.
A really "good read" August 26, 2005
15 out of 19 found this review helpful
Stuart Isacoff's examination of the evolution of this facet of music was, to my surprise, a really "good read." Musical temperament is a somewhat esoteric subject, so I didn't expect it to be presented in such clear, literate prose. Isacoff obviously did an immense amount of research, but his book is not ponderous. It manages to reflect his obvious fascination with this topic, and to combine historical information with some original ideas.
It was thus distressing to read Bradley Lehman's recent review on this website. His accusation that Temperament contains "unscholarly sloppiness" seems itself to be both unscholarly and sloppy. Lehman is inaccurate in saying that Isacoff took his Willaert text from Lindley and then distorted it. Actually, both Lindley and Isacoff relied on Edward Lowinsky for this material. The difference is that Isacoff presented Lowinsky's complete argument, and Lindley didn't. Mr. Lehman is therefore actually criticizing the renowned musicologist Edward Lowinsky.
Isacoff gives credit to the Lowinsky source in his bibliography, which contains some 300 items. Oddly, Mr. Lehman claims this is too short. Why? Temperament isn't either a textbook or an esoteric treatise. It's a popularization aimed at the general public, more like the "Science Times" than like "Scientific American." That's why it's so readable.
The rest of Mr. Lehman's entry contains several careless statements. For example, he suggests that Isacoff should have consulted Rita Steblin's dissertation, which demonstrates that there was no general agreement about the nature of key color. Yet that is exactly the position Isacoff takes.
Most objectionable is Mr. Lehman's allusion to Nazism. He skirts the edges of libel by implying that Isacoff's description of equal temperament as "the final solution" to tonal music is in some unfathomable way akin to "the way somebody else's `final solution' eliminated human beings." That is a shameful insinuation, and it is not only illogical, it is irresponsible.
For the record, Temperament has been used by such prestigious centers of learning as Harvard, MIT and Brown.
 EXCELLENT GOAL; FAILED EXECUTION August 3, 2005
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
I was caught up in the early chapters, but when the author lost his focus it was total disappointment. The book became a laundry list of names and theories; many unrelated to the subject at hand. As a teacher I liken this to many of the Master's theses to which I was subjected.
As a musician it explains things I've wondered about May 13, 2005
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
Stuart Isacoff's book is a history channel approach to a sterile and often boringly treated subject.
His stories are great, his examples clear, and his math simple enough for me to follow (and it's been a few decades since math class!).
As a guitarist, this helps explain the anomalies I've encountered and frustrations I've endured in properly setting up and tuning my instruments. The book is an easy read, and for those who may want to delve deeper, a good start.
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