Temperament

[jim phillips]

Bill Hibbert wrote:-

'it is worth matching the temperament of the existing ring, not that
many people will know, but it cannot do any harm'

Last year I visited Bangor Cathedral and was in that building when the organ
started to play. I detected an electronic sound whilst the rest of the
family thought it was a pipe organ. An argument swiftly ensued which
required settling and an electronic organ known as 'The Phoenix Organ' was
discovered and which was originally designed for Liverpool Cathedral with a
specification drawn up in consultation with Ian Tracey, the organist at
Liverpool. It was installed in Bangor where the pipe organ is under repair.
What I found fascinating was that the temperament was from Equal,
Weckmeister, Valloti, Silberman at the throw of a switch. Have these other
temperaments ever been used in bell tuning and how do they differ from Equal
temperament?