Roman Turovsky wrote: >> "Originality" has not always been held in such high >> regard, particularly during the time that the lute was >> so very much a part of mainstream western music, >> The cult of originality is really an invention >> of the Romantics, taking Beethoven as their model. >> Music became a means for individualized personal expression, >> using a distinctively personal musical style.. > Arthur, we finally have somethinf to disagree on. Originality as an ideal > certainly predated Romanticism by at least 100 years (and a lot more than > that in arts other than music), and was unequivocally practiced by JSB's > children and students. Romanticism simply abolished other modi operandi. > RT
I'm not sure it's much of a disagreement. You seem to be saying more or less the same thing: the concept of originality was always known and understood, but didn't become all-important in serious music until after Beethoven. A century before then, to take the most obvious example, Handel didn't think twice about appropriating or rewriting music by Keiser, Urio, Stradella, Telemann or himself. This was neither unusual nor a sign of moral turpitude on Handel's part, as we might think it today. HP To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
