Handel: Suite No. 5 "Harmonious Blacksmith" + temperament explanation
Handel's fifth keyboard suite in E major HWV 430 played by Simon Lloyd. Included after the suite (14:50) is a short explanation of the temperament used for the recording.
0:00 - Prelude
2:20 - Allemande
7:24 - Courante
9:35 - Air & Variations "The Harmonious Blacksmith"
14:50 - Temperament discussion
Handel published eight keyboard suites in 1720 because, as he explained, 'surrepticious and incorrect Copies of them had got Abroad.' The origin of the nickname "The Harmonious Blacksmith" given to the last movement, Air & Variations, is unknown and a number of popular explanations have been disproved; certainly it is not a title given by Handel himself.
In the following temperament explanation I intentionally try to keep matters accessible; I know that I'm simplifying things quite considerably! For people who were perhaps unaware that different temperaments/tuning systems existed, I wanted to show briefly why some sort of temperament is needed and to illustrate some of the choices one could make. My temperament base for the suite was 1/6 comma meantone with adjusted accidentals. Where possible, I prefer to arrive at a tuning from meantone than use a more circulating temperament such as the ubiquitous Valotti; there's no match for pure thirds!
The harpsichord used is a double-manual harpsichord after Mietke by Alan Gotto (2015). Further information available on my website. Alan's website is also linked below.
https://simon-lloyd.com
http://www.dsn.co.uk/agotto/