Here is yet another of my favourite quotes from Mattheson’s Der vollkommene Capellmeister:

“Others, who think they know much more about [The Origin of Song] and who maintain no small reputation to this day, seem yet more wrong to me than the previous ones: since they, with Lucretious as their leader, made the unthinking bird the inventor of divine music. Hence, one of these may write that the first inventors of vocal music had been monkeys, because they aped this art from birds; in this however, in my opinion, the good man really acts quite apish. For anyone who has nothing sensible to say has no cause to abuse.”

Hehe, I can just imagine the conversations Mattheson and Darwin would have had if they’d ever met.

One of my favourite quotes from Mattheson’s Der vollkommene Capellmeister is from the foreword: “…the four principal rivers wich originate ther [in Paradise]. But now the most common opinion on the location of Paradise is that it was situated in Mesopotamia toward Armenia, thus Eden must have been on the land which stretches between the Tigris and Euphrates up to the Armenian mountains. Certainly a fine spot!”

Certainly a fine spot indeed. Looks like a great place for a holiday trip.

I’d like to quote Mattheson from Der vollkommene Capellmeister. In his foreword (I read from the english translation that’s close to impossible to get hold of these days. Publishers take note: this book requires a reprint!) he writes:
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In France they say:

Scholars are all of the opinion that it would be impossible for an individual to bring even only one branch of knowledge to perfection; but, in order to do this, it would be absolutely essential that many scholars pool their resources, render mutual assistance, and work collectively. For experience shows that nothing of significance is achived until matters are taken up through such cooperation.
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I think this is one of the nicest places I’ve ever found support for the open source movement. And science for that matter. Words of note: mutual assistance, work collectively. Go out, do your work, share your insights and show us how you did it

Peter Spiro wrote an article making the argument to use Nikkor lenses on Canon EOS cameras. It fits nicely with the manual focus argument I’ve been making. Out of special interest, he has copied a table comparing 50mm lenses. I’ve decided NOT to go for a Canon 50mm lens, even though I’ve used my friends f/1.4 extensively.