Klarinet Archive - Posting 000355.txt from 1997/01

From: "William D. Edinger" <wde1@-----.EDU>
Subj: Infallibility Doctrine for composers?
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 1997 08:08:08 -0500

When it comes to treating whatever was written by a composer as if
it came down on tablets from Mt. Sinai, I have to agree with what
Gary Young wrote. My faith in the infallibility of the great
geniuses of music was permanently altered the first time I heard
Beethoven's "Wellington's Victory." What on earth _could_ he have
been thinking?? Of course, Mozart is a different matter - he and JS
Bach are the only ones still infallible : ). All the rest - a
little leeway has got to be allowed. Otherwise, we'd never learn
anything. Aaron Copland felt that there was no reason that a
conductor couldn't be a better interpreter of a piece than the
composer himself.

Bill Edinger