Conrad Henfling

Who is Conrad Henfling?

Conrad Henfling, musicologist, musician, mathematician and lawyer was an official and privy councilor at the court of the Margrave of Ansbach, Germany. He also invented a new type of keyboard for organ and harpsichord, the design of which was extended by Paul von Janko in his 1882 patent for a keyboard layout.

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. Leibniz had Henfling's work published as "Epistola de novo suo systemate musico" in Miscellanea berolinensia, in 1710.