lamb@mhuxl.UUCP (LAMB) (01/04/84)
In my book, calling J.S. Bach one of the finest composers who ever lived
*is* underrating him. In my humble opinion, he is not only THE finest
composer but perhaps the finest intellect in the recorded history of this
world.
John Lamb
...mhuxl!lamb
CSO (We are one), INC.ken@ihuxq.UUCP (ken perlow) (01/04/84)
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I give five *'s to JSB too. In fact, I put him right up there
with Newton, who was so far ahead of his time that he had to
formalize a new system (calculus) to express his concepts.
Thus it was with JSB and the well-tempered scale. All that,
and a family man too. Douglas Hofstedter characterized the
complexity of the six-part fugue in the "Musical Offering"
as equivalent to playing sixty games of chess
simultaneously, blindfolded, and winning every one.
--
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..ihnp4!ihuxq!ken *** ***keesan@bbncca.ARPA (Morris Keesan) (01/05/84)
---------------------------- >. . . Newton, who was so far ahead of his time that he had to >formalize a new system (calculus) to express his concepts. >Thus it was with JSB and the well-tempered scale. > >ken perlow ***** ***** ------------------------------- I think you have it backwards in the case of Bach. I believe someone else invented the well-tempered scale, as the end result of an evolutionary process that included previous attempts such as mean tuning, and that Bach was one who immediately saw the possibilities inherent in the system. The Well-Tempered Clavier was thus a response to the well-tempered scale, rather that the impetus for it, and can be seen as analogous to a child playing with a new toy. Someone with more musical scholarship than I should correct me if I'm wrong. More similar to Newton inventing calculus is the case of the 20th century composer Harry Partch, who was dissatisfied with the tempered scale and invented a large number of new instruments so that he could physically realize his ideas regarding "just intonation". -- Morris M. Keesan {decvax,linus,wjh12}!bbncca!keesan keesan @ BBN-UNIX.ARPA