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.

You’ve got to try out this (via Boing Boing)

A message forwarded from Rainer Böhm:

Dear colleagues,
the following instrument has been stolen:

g-Alt after Ganassi, made by Adriana Breukink
a=466 Hz
two parts
maple (no metal applied)
no signature

Please forward any useful information to:
Rainer Böhm
Joachim-Friedrich-Str. 41
10711 Berlin
Tel.: 030 / 893 52 95
Fax: 030 / 895 42 421
Email: rainerboehm.altamusica@t-online.de

Well, in Oslo at least, is Aktiv Klassisk in Øvre Slottsgate 5, 0157 Oslo, Phone +47 2233 6080. In case you feel like buying me a CD some day, you really can’t go wrong this place. And the staff are wonderfull