Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/140

* TEMPE. 112 TEMPERAMENT. and was constantly praised In song. The name finally came to be applied to any beautiful and sequestered vale. TEMPELTEY, tem'pel-ti, Eduard (1832—). A German ilraniati.st, born in Berlin. He studied at the University of Berlin, and subsequently took up journalism. In 1802 he entered the service of the Duke of Coburg. Among his other duties was the superintendence of the Court theatre. He was the author of several popular dramas, among them Clytemnestra (1857) and Croimcell (1883). TEMPERA (It., from Lat. femperare, to proportion, modify), or Distemper. In its or- iginal sense tempera signifies any fluid medium with which pigments may be mixed ; but the term is usually restricted to a glutinous medi- um, such as egg, size, or gums, as distinguished from oil; and especially to that in which the yolk of eggs is the chief ingredient. In Italy the egg was diluted with the milky juice of young sprouts of the fig tree; in Germany and the North with vinegar and honey. Tempera dif- fers from fresco in that the pigments are not applied to the fresli plaster, but to the dry sur- face; they may be applied to any kind of surface. When tempera paintings have been coated with an oil varnish for purposes of preservation, it is difficult to distinguish them from oils. They are usually clear and brilliant in color, precise in form and outline ; the rapid drying of the color preventing any blending of color or out- line. Tempera is probably the most venei'able kind of painting, having been used in ancient Egypt, Babylon, and Nineveh, and by the Greeks for interior decoration. It was the favorite medium throughout the Middle Age, even for wall decora- tion. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the increased technical skill led to the more frequent use of fresco, which had to be executed with great rapidity (see Fbe.sco) ; but tempera was used for the finishing touches, even by such a consummate master of fresco as Michelangelo. It continued to prevail for panel paintings until the perfection of the new oil medium by the Van Eycks (q.v.) displaced it in the North. In Italy its use lingered until about 1500, nearly all of the greatest paintings of the early Renaissance which are not frescoes being executed in this medium. Tempera painting has been lately revived, with some success, by Baron von Pereira at Stuttgart. A form of tempera in which the colors are mixed with glue is employed in scene painting and house decoration. Consult Hanierton, Graphic Arts (London. 1882) ; Pereira, Leitfaden fiir de Tem- pera mnlcrei (Stuttgart, 1893). TEMPERAMENT (Lat. temperamentum, due proportion, from Icmperare, to proportion, modify, from temptm. time, season; connected with Icel. ff/mfe, an outstretching, Lith. teiiipiii, I extend). Emotional constitution, i.e. dispo- sition toward a given type of emotional reaction. An individual's temperament is said, e.g., to be 'impulsive' if the individual responds, as a rule, quickly and with feeling to situations; the temperament of the opposite type is said to be 'cold and sluggish.' 'The usual classification of temperaments is that formulated by Galen: choleric (energetic, 'objective'), sanguine (warm, impressionable, changeable), melancholic (sentimental and 'subjective'), and phlegmatic (quiet, slow, and persistent). The manner in whicii these differ both in strength and in the rapidity of alteration in the affective reaction may be e.pressed as follows: Strong Weak Quick Choleric Sanguine Hlow Melancholic Phlegmatic The word temperament is also used more wide- ly to cover any general mental characteristic or aptitude; e.g. 'nervous' or 'musical' or 'artistic temperament.' BiBUOCiRAPiiY. Sully, Human Mind (New York, 1802) ; Lotze. .Uicrocos7)iws (Eng. trans., 4th ed.. New York, 1890) ; Wundt, Physiologische Psychologic (Leipzig, 1893) ; Kiilpe, Outlines of Psychology (New York, 1895); Galton, Natural Inheritance (ib., 1889). See Tendency; Mental CoNSTiTrTiox ; Disposition. TEMPERAMENT. In music, a system of compromise in keyed instruments for the avoid- ance of the necessity presupposed by the strict relation of musical intervals of having a sepa- rate row of keys corresponding to each tonic. Taking C as keynote, the ratios of the notes of the diatonic scale, as derived from the number of vibrations in a given time of a stTing sound- ing that note, are : CDEFOABC 24 27 30 32 36 40 45 48 The intervals between these notes are by no means equal, and may be thus expressed in numbers by logarithms: CD EFG A BC 61 46 28 61 46 61 28 We have here three species of intervals, of which tho.se represented by 51 are called major tones; those by 46, minor tones; and the smaller in- tervals represented by 28, semitones. These in- tervals will evidently only serve with C as key- note. If, for example, we start from D instead of C, we find E a tolerable, though not quite correct, second to D; but the third and seventh of the scale are entirely wrong. Were the major and minor tones equal, and each semitone exactly half a tone, the insertion of a note in the middle of each tone dividing the seven in- tervals would make it immaterial where the scale began, any one of the twelve notes becoming alike available as a keynote; and though such equality is contrarj' to the im- mutable principles of harmony, an arrangement based on it is found practically to give but little offense to the ear. In what is called the equal temperament, the twelve intervals are all of the same length, and no advantage is given to one key over the rest. This is, in theory at least, the temperament adopted in the pianoforte. By means of this equal temperament it is possible to start from any tone of the scale and. going always by the interval of a fifth, arrive at the same tone six octaves above or below the start- ing-tone. Acoustically. c° is 74-73 higher than the sixth octave of C. Instead, therefore, of using the acoustic fifth the tempered fifth is used, which makes b* identical with c^ Hence the possibility of free modulation through all keys, which in recent times has led to the recog- nition of tonality (q.v.). As soon as the principle of equal temperament was understood the mod-