Around the turn of
the 19th century, the term "organology" was an alternative name for
the pseudoscience of phrenology. Phrenologists believed that the bumps
on a person's head were directly linked to particular personality traits
and moral character.
A440
Hz did not become the ISO (world) standard for
pitch until 1955 (ISO 16). It was almost 439 Hz, but scientists
complained because 439 is a prime number, which would make dividing the
frequency awkward. Over the last few centuries European pitch standards
have varied widely, even within the same city; it was not uncommon for a
European city to have one pitch for church organs and music (often
called "quire pitch" in Britain) and another for everything else.
The French composer
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632 - 1687) died from an gangrenous infection caused by stabbing
himself in the foot with his baton/staff while marking time during a performance.
"Catgut" strings, once used on violins, guitars and other stringed instruments (and still used on modern reproductions of historical instruments), were never made from the guts of actual cats. There were instead made from sheep's or goat's intestines. I have yet to to inform my own two cats of this fact; I do not want them to get complacent.
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