Conrad Henfling (1648–1716

Ansbach Ansbach (; ; East Franconian: ''Anschba'') is a city in the German state of Bavaria. It is the capital of the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Ansbach is southwest of Nuremberg and north of Munich, on the river Fränkische Rezat, a ...

, Germany),Leibniz und Der Briefwechsel zwischen Henfling Conrad by Rudolf von Herausgegeben Haase, Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main, 1982,

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

, musician, mathematician and lawyerBaierisches Musik-Lexikon by Lipowsky, Felix Joseph, Munich, 1811, page 122. was an official and

privy council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

or (Hofrat) at the court of the

Margrave of Ansbach The Principality or Margraviate of (Brandenburg-)Ansbach (german: Fürstentum Ansbach or ) was a principality in the Holy Roman Empire centered on the Franconian city of Ansbach. The ruling Hohenzollern princes of the land were known as margrave ...

, Germany. He also invented a new type of keyboard for organ and

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

,La musique, une pratique cachée de l'arithmétique?
by Patrice Bailhace, ''Studia Leibniztiana'', Actes du colloque L'actualité de Leibniz: les deux labyrinthes, Cerisy, 1995 the design of which was extended by Paul von Janko in his 1882 patent for a keyboard layout.Janko Keyboard Piano
on Piano World In a letter dated 30 August 1706, he wrote to

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathema ...

dealing with many issues of

music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...

he sets out detailed calculations for a method of

musical temperament In musical tuning, a temperament is a tuning system that slightly compromises the pure intervals of just intonation to meet other requirements. Most modern Western musical instruments are tuned in the equal temperament system. Tempering is the ...

, using

Euclid's algorithm In mathematics, the Euclidean algorithm,Some widely used textbooks, such as I. N. Herstein's ''Topics in Algebra'' and Serge Lang's ''Algebra'', use the term "Euclidean algorithm" to refer to Euclidean division or Euclid's algorithm, is an eff ...

in his reasoning.Musical pitch and Euclid's algorithm
/ref> Leibniz had Henfling's work published as "Epistola de novo suo systemate musico" in ''Miscellanea berolinensia'', in 1710.Grove Music Online (Oxford University Press, 2006, acc. 3/21/06) Rudolf Haase

References

German musicologists German music theorists People from Ansbach 1648 births 1716 deaths 17th-century German mathematicians 18th-century German mathematicians Number theorists 17th-century German writers 17th-century German male writers 18th-century German writers 18th-century German male writers {{Germany-academic-bio-stub

Further reading

Not music related

References