The handbook, to be understood more as a reference work than as a „book to be read through“, serves in particular players of historical musical instruments to understand this seemingly complicated matter. Well-formulated and graphically presented, it opens up a world that has possibly received too little attention in historical performance practice and in the interpretation of lute music. Written in German, 607 pages The Handbook of Tunings and Temperaments is a compendium of the experience of the author’s eighteen years of intensive practical and theoretical engagement with these musicological topics. Particular attention is given here to the frictionless combination of fretted and keyboard instruments, which is particularly reflected in the tables section. In a brief analysis, the various tunings and temperaments are illustrated and classified according to their characteristics. The fretted instruments are given detailed consideration in the following part. It is shown that the required gradations of the frets on the individual strings is the common case, with only one exception.
