Conrad Henfling

Conrad Henfling (1648–1716 Ansbach, Germany),[1] musicologist, musician, mathematician and lawyer[2] was an official and privy councilor (Hofrat) at the court of the Margrave of Ansbach, Germany. He also invented a new type of keyboard for organ and harpsichord,[3] the design of which was extended by Paul von Janko in his 1882 patent for a keyboard layout.[4]

In a letter dated 30 August 1706, he wrote to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz dealing with many issues of music theory he sets out detailed calculations for a method of musical temperament, using Euclid's algorithm in his reasoning.[5] Leibniz had Henfling's work published as "Epistola de novo suo systemate musico" in Miscellanea berolinensia, in 1710.[6]

Further reading
  • Leibniz und Der Briefwechsel zwischen Henfling Conrad by Rudolf von Herausgegeben Haase, Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main, 1982, ISBN 3-465-01534-7, preview at Google Books
  • La musique, une pratique cachée de l'arithmétique? by Patrice Bailhache
  • The Hänfling/Bümler Temperament, a Trigger for Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier?

References
  1. Leibniz und Der Briefwechsel zwischen Henfling Conrad by Rudolf von Herausgegeben Haase, Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main, 1982, ISBN 3-465-01534-7
  2. Baierisches Musik-Lexikon by Lipowsky, Felix Joseph, Munich, 1811, page 122.
  3. La musique, une pratique cachée de l'arithmétique? Archived 13 February 2013 at Archive.today by Patrice Bailhace, Studia Leibniztiana, Actes du colloque L'actualité de Leibniz: les deux labyrinthes, Cerisy, 1995
  4. Janko Keyboard Piano Archived 2 August 2003 at the Wayback Machine on Piano World
  5. Musical pitch and Euclid's algorithm
  6. Grove Music Online (Oxford University Press, 2006, acc. 3/21/06) Rudolf Haase



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