was only in tune when sung, could be played on the keyboard. Later he applied the same keyboard layout to the arciorgano, a microtonal keyboard for the organ. While these keyboards did not achieve wide popularity, they did offer a way of playing music in meantone temperament in all keys. The standard way to modulate through all keys on a keyboard instrument later became to divide the octave into twelve equal parts, called 12-tone equal temperament, in which the major and minor thirds are not well tuned. Vicentino's solution in effect divides the octave into 31 equal parts, with good intonation for the thirds and sixths but somewhat beating narrow fifths. Notes References and further reading Jonathan Wild. "Genus, Species and Mode in Vicentino's 31-tone Compositional Theory", Music Theory Online 20.2. This article includes several remarkable recordings of vocal groups, retuned in the studio to the 31-tone system. Henry W. Kaufmann. The Life and Works of Nicola Vicentino. American Institute of Musicology, 1966. OCLC 906570. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. Edwin M. Ripin: "Arcicembalo", Henry W. Kaufmann/Robert L. Kendrick, "Nicola Vicentino," Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed January 8, 2005), Grove Music Online Vicentino, Nicola. (1555) L' antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica. Antonio Barre, Rome. (Gallica) Barbieri, Patrizio. Enharmonic instruments and music, 1470-1900. (2008) Latina, Il Levante Libreria Editrice Nicola Vicentino. Ancient Music Adapted to Modern Practice. Translated, with Introduction and Notes, by Maria Rika Maniates. The Arch-Musician. BBC Radio 3 programme broadcast Saturday 27 March 2010; rebroadcast Saturday 23 July 2011 Grantley McDonald. “Music, Magic, and Humanism in Late Sixteenth-Century Venice: Fabio Paolini and the Heritage of Ficino, Vicentino and Zarlino.” Journal of the Alamire Foundation 4 (2012): 52–78. Grantley McDonald. “Proportions of the Divine: Nicola Vicentino and Augustine’s Theology of the Trinity.” In Proportions. Science, Musique, Peinture & Architecture, ed. Sabine Rommeneaux, Philippe Vendrix and Vasco Zara (Turnhout: Brepols, 2012): 169–179. External links Nicola Vicentino on LastFM 1511 births 1570s deaths 20th-century Italian musicians 20th-century Italian male musicians Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian music theorists Microtonal composers Renaissance composers Vincentino, Nicola People from Vicenza Pupils of Adrian Willaert