The Tale of a Pipe Organ

It is known that Elizabeth I of England sent a magnificent pipe organ by
sea-route as present to Ottoman Sultan Murad III (the decadent sot and lover
of gold), delivered by the famed organ-maker Thomas Dallam to his son Mehmed
III (perpetrator of the greatest fratricide in history) who reigned after
the death of his dissolute father. It is said that the organ was a marvel of
technology with figurines dancing at certain hours of the day. Dallam was
expected to perform on the instrument, thus he practiced day and night with
a clavichord while on board the ship en-route to Istanbul. On arrival, he
noticed, much to his dismay, that the pipes were crushed and malformed
during the voyage. For months, he labored to repair them, and finally
managed to install the machine in a kiosk by the Topkapi palace.

I have read that he was admitted to a hidden portion of the Sultan's harem
while working on the organ, was dazed by the splendour and riches, and was
scared like hell when it was told him that the Sultan and the royal cortege
was visiting and that he should run for his life. Eventually, he was caught
while trying to escape, begged for his life, and was spared, by luck more
than his wits I might add.

He did perform for the sultan on this instrument it seems, and in cold sweat
as muscular black servants with scimitars in their hands clustered around
his `royal highness` who sat inches away from him. He tells us that he could
not remember how he finished the piece, but that it was liked by his
`excellency`.

Nevertheless, he was instructed to remove the instrument to some other
place. The fate of the machine is saddening. It was burned and destroyed
during the reign of Murad IV on grounds that music (especially by the
Western infidel) was forbidden.

Cordially,
Oz.

----- Original Message -----
From: "wallyesterpaulrus" <wallyesterpaulrus@yahoo.com>
To: <tuning@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: 20 Aral�k 2005 Sal� 2:58
Subject: [tuning] Re: enharmonics of different pitches (MMM: people's
perception of "microtonality")

SNIP

> > I think England was the leading producer of keyboard instruments
> for a
> > lot of this time.
> >
> > Clark
>
> Most keyboard instruments would either be tuned in the destination
> country (pianos, harpsichords) or would be too big and heavy to ever
> leave the origin country in the first place (pipe organs).
>
>
>