A-432 Tuning Fork in Pouch

The Rise of 432 Hz
Many musicians and non-musicians alike vehemently oppose the industry standard of 440 Hz as a reference for tuning. Just by typing “432 Hz” into any search engine, you’ll find many strong opinions about why A432 is the superior temperament to A440, going as far as to say that A432 contains universal and spiritual healing properties, compared to the “aggravating” and “irritating” properties of A440. 

To give a quick background of how 432 Hz came into the picture, we turn to Joseph Sauveur, a French physicist who, in 1713, came up with the concept of a scientific or philosophical pitch. Basically, this system doesn’t follow the A440 tuning reference, and instead places A4 at 430.54 Hz and middle C—C4—at 256 Hz.

He explained that, by placing middle C at 256 Hz, you can create a system where each octave—or factor—of C lands on an even integer, instead of containing "dreadful" decimals.

Giuseppe Verdi, an Italian composer of the 19th century, advocated heavily for the use of this tuning, as does the Schiller Institute.