a e’ a’ d” ; bb f’ bb’ eb” ; b f#’ b’ e” ; c’ g’ c” f” ; g d’ g’ c”

The tuning a e’ a’ d”, and its variants, was especially popular in Western art music during the baroque period. Some notable examples where it was used:

Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (1620 – 1680): one trio sonata and one suite for violin and continuo;

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644 – 1704): Rosary sonata no. 14 “The Assumption of Mary”, partita no. 1 from Harmonia Artificiosa Ariosa, and violin sonata no. 4;

Johann Pachelbel (1653 – 1706): trio sonatas no. 2, 5 and 6;

Johann Joseph Vilsmayr (1663 – 1722): partita for solo violin no. 4;

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681 – 1767): Sonata a due violini discordati e cembalo;

The peculiar string quartet attributed to Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1780) uses a number of variations of this tuning for each instrument.

Sparse examples can also be found in different folk music traditions from Norway and Sweden.

A handful of Appalachian old time tunes is played on a e’ a’ d’ or g d’ g’ c”.