Here is an excerpt from the actual text written by Vespucci: Amerigo Vespucci's Account of His First Voyage
(see the whole text at http://www.bartleby.com/43/3.html )
"For so much as we learned of their manner of life and customs, it was that they go entirely naked, as well the men as the women.. They are of medium stature, very well proportioned: their flesh is of a colour the verges into red like a lion's mane: and I believe that if they went clothed, they would be as white as we: they have not any hair upon the body, except the hair of the head which is long and black, and especially in the women, whom it renders handsome: in aspect they are not very good-looking, because they have broad faces, so that they would seem Tartar-like: they let no hair grow on their eyebrows, nor on their eyelids, nor elsewhere, except the hair of the head: for they hold hairiness to be a filthy thing: ..."
The above might interest men so inclined, but consider this passage from the same text:
"The wealth that we enjoy in this our Europe and elsewhere, such as gold, jewels, pearls, and other riches, they hold as nothing; and although they have them in their own lands, they do not labour to obtain them, nor do they value them."
"Pornographic"? I think not. More likely this text appealed to greed.
..........
. jason kanter . jason.kanter@wamu.net . jkanter@rollingball.com
. vp/manager . learning & performance development
. consumer loan servicing . washington mutual bank
. office 206 490 6708 . cell 425 830 1561
...............................
----- Original Message -----
From: "gordon stelter" <lclgcnp@yahoo.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2003 5:02 AM
Subject: Americus Vespucci
| After his first visit, Americus Vespucci wrote a
| pornographic book on the sexual prowess of the native
| women here, which was a runaway best seller all over
| Europe, greatly inciting interest ( among uncouth men,
| at least ) in travelling to the "New World".
| And that, dear friends, is the actual reason why
| these lands were named in his "honor".
| No kidding.
| Thump
|
| --- A440A@aol.com wrote:
| > R. Moody writes:
| > >>who was Columbus's navigator?
| >
| > I said:
| >
| > > Americus Vespucci. Our country is named for him.
| >
| > >> Unless the Encyclopedia Britannica is wrong,
| > Vespucci was not on board in
| > 1492, he did
| >
| > not meet Columbus until the 3rd voyage.
| >
| > Actually, my elem. school teachers were wrong
| > first so I was taught
| > otherwise, but Vespucci wasn't with Columbus. He
| > sailed 5 years later,(and
| > many history books have argued whether he did that
| > or not!)
| >
| >
| > Moody again:
| > >>but where, when and how was "well-temperament"
| > taught and by
| >
| > whom? Hipkins makes no mention of it, nor does
| > Ellis, or Montal,
| >
| > or Mersenne. Where actually in the historical
| > record are these
| >
| > "wells" mentioned?
| >
| > Thomas Young presented his to the Royal Society
| > in 1799, Werckmeister's
| > writings have been referred to for centuries, and
| > Kirnberger waged a pretty
| > solid war with his. Jorgensen lists a lot of this.
| > What is more important,
| > to me, is that ET was discussed, at length, prior to
| > 1850, and it mostly
| > seems like it was absent.
| >
| > According to Jorgensen (Tuning, pg. 455)
| > George Grahame wrote in the Encyclopedia
| > Britannica of 1842 that "The
| > unequal temperament is that usually adopted".
| >
| > Joseph Loehr, writing in 1836, says" "There
| > never was a man capable of
| > tuning by ear a pianoforte or organ so as not to
| > leave some inequality of
| > temperament".
| > and:
| > " Before Mr. Scheibler's invention(the set of 12
| > tuning forks), no such
| > means existed by which even a tolerable equality of
| > temperament could be
| > obtained. In theory, and upon paper, the requisites
| > of such a temperament
| > were indeed known long ago: the precise number of
| > vibrations for each
| > semitone had been correctly calculated, and the
| > necessary deviations from the
| > mathematical scale pointed out. But when it came to
| > practice, when a musical
| > instrument had actualy to be tuned, then all the
| > calculations of the
| > theorists proved so much worthless rubbish, because
| > practice knew of no other
| > means or criterion to regulate the pitch of the
| > different sounds and their
| > ratios to each other, than the ear. snip<> "The
| > perfection of intonation(ET)
| > is such as cannot be obtained by the finest musical
| > ear".
| >
| > Jorgensen also quotes Ellis writing in 1864
| > "On the pianoforte the Hemitonic system is
| > universally adopted in
| > intention. It is, however, so difficult to realize
| > by the ordinary methods
| > of tuning that "equal temperament" has probably
| > never been attained in this
| > country, with any approach to mathematical
| > precision."
| > Fast forward to 1876 and we have Robert
| > Bosanquet, a fellow of St. John's
| > College in Oxford,(can we accept that he knew of
| > what he spoke??) saying,
| > "There are few tuners that can produce a tolerable
| > equal temperament".
| > In 1880 we have A.J. Ellis writing that "Equal
| > temperament is that which
| > is usually aimed at, though seldom really obtained".
| >
| > So, what was in use in the mid 1800's? We have
| > some documentation here
| > that says ET wasn't. If not that, then what? AT
| > best, it seems that ET was
| > a theoretical ideal that was being pursued by
| > tuners, but according to some
| > very learned observers of the century, was not being
| > actually produced. If
| > this is so, then the musicians of the time were not
| > writing under the
| > influence of equality, but rather, the historical
| > bias that had existed on
| > keyboards since their invention. It is not
| > coincidence that virtually all of
| > the deviations found in the Broadwood survey shared
| > similar directions. That
| > is certainly evidence of the well-tempered bias.
| >
| > The nomenclature of the time is not ours today.
| > According to Jorgensen,
| > "Well-Temperament" was not a term used while these
| > tunings were in vogue.
| > The same goes for "Meantone", a term that arose
| > long after the tuning to
| > which it referred was out of fashion. It is not
| > illogical that what we call a
| > well-temperament today was viewed as "equal" in
| > contrast to the "keyboard
| > tuning"(meantone) that proceeded it.
| > In light of the number of authors of the time
| > specifically stating that
| > ET wasn't being produced, it seems illogical to
| > claim it was widespread
| > because it was simply known of, or that some
| > theorists proposed it. The
| > concept of a perfect circle is simple, does that
| > make it possible for a
| > person to draw one freehand? I don't think so, a
| > tool must be used. The
| > concept of ET is simple, but can you tune one
| > without the techniques
| > published in the the mid to late 1800's? I don't
| > think so. It is for that
| > reason that I cannot accept that composers in 1800
| > had the pan-tonal nature
| > of ET in mind when they chose the keys that they
| > did.(and once again, the
| > choice of keys used during this period in keyboard
| > music certainly seems to
| > indicate that not all keys were the same.....)
| >
| > Now, to today.......
| >
| >
| > > >>Consider how it {well-temperament} is proposed
| > to be
| >
| > > tuned-------by machine.
| >
| > Actually, Owen J. led the charge into the earlier
| > tunings with his
| > booklet, "How to tune the historical temperaments by
| > ear". (Barbour hadn't
| > really made it very accessible). It had little
| > effect on the trade, but in
| > 1993, with his publication of "Tuning" with its
| > offsets, coinciding with Al
| > Sanderson's programmable SAT, we begin to see a
| > rapid rise in interest.
| > Today, as always, tuners are making use of the
| > latest technology to progress
| > beyond the normal procedures. It is slow,yes, but
| > not nearly as slowly as it
| > appears instrument builders and musicians of the
| > 18th and 19th century were
| > to move away from a tonally based temperament.
| >
| >
| > >> When you say "the aural tradition has taken
| > the biggest hit
| >
| > in the history of tuning.." are you are gloating or
| > lamenting?
| >
| > Neither, an observation need not carry a value
| > judgement. The influence of
| > the machines on the general quality of tuning today
| > is obvious. Perhaps a
| > very small percentage of tuners can match or surpass
| > the machines results,but
| > on full sized pianos with good scales, it is very
| > rare.
| >
| > >>Is there no interest in how tuners such as Bill
| > Garlich or Franz Mohr, or
| > the
| >
| > tuners in London, New York, Berlin
| >
| > Moscow, Paris or where ever tuning is done by ear,
| > is there no
| >
| > interest in how they were trained, how they tune
| > and how they are
| >
| >
| === message truncated ===
|
|
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