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?

Not music related

• Theses inaugurales iuridicae circa ius retorsionis iniuriarum verbalium by Conrad Henfling, Argentorati, 1678, at Google Books