On Sep 2, 2011, at 5:44 PM, Mathias Rösel wrote: > Where can I read what you seem to quote?
Secondary sources commenting on the writings of CPE Bach, Quantz, a few others, maybe even JS. I don't remember, and I'm not going to put in the time to track all that down. You can be certain that I wasn't making it up. > I was under the impression, rather, that judgments of taste (how > tasteful > and elegant they would sound, and how much emotion, via "affekt" > they could > portray) were left to masters and weren't part of lessons. That's my > assumption, though. That would depend on the level upon which master and student were communicating. I'm sure Gaultier and Mouton had very erudite discussions. > I think that taste was a matter not of personal preference > and whim, but of education. No individual choice, but skill. I said nothing about whim. I think that taste was something one developed as part of one's education, certainly. If a person is conscious, he is making individual choices. As for skill, many musicians develop great technical skill, but play completely without taste. As they did back in the day. Once again, I'm not going to run to ground the primary source for this, but CPE Bach railed against players who were little more than note-machines. Here is one quote from Dr. Charles Burney, upon hearing CPE Bach at the clavichord: I prevailed upon him to sit down to a clavichord and he played with little intermission till near eleven oclock at night. During this time he grew so animated and possessed, that he not only played but looked like one inspired. His eyes were fixed, his underlip fell, and drops of effervescence distilled from his countenance. He said that if he were to set to work frequently in this manner he should grow young again. That paints a somewhat different picture than an old master, possibly more like CPE's father, faithfully grinding out the authorised versions of his work. I like those types of descriptions: they assure me that there's more to historical music than systematically- applied historical academics. DR -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
