Klarinet Archive - Posting 000473.txt from 1999/02

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Musical/mathematical interview
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 23:01:56 -0500

> From: MX%"klarinet@-----.71
> Subj: Re: [kl] Musical/mathematical interview

> On Thu, 11 Feb 1999, Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu wrote:
>
> > Lelia Loban told me something about Bach that I did not know.
> > (That's not a hard thing to do. I know very little about J.S. Bach.)
> > But this was a special thing. She suggested that Bach was interested
> > in Gemytria or the use of the number values obtained by taking the
> > numeric values of the letters of a word (in Hebrew mostly, but also
> > possible in Greek, Persian, Arabic, and a few other alphabets) and
> > calculatings the word's numeric value.
> > [snip]
> > I wonder if Bach knew that.
>
> I forgot to mention in my original message that there is evidence that
> Bach thought the numbers 14 and 5 were very important to him. (Fourteen
> because that is the total number of letters in his first, middle and last
> names, and five because the digits of "14" add to make 5) There are
> examples of fugue themes in 14 notes, etc. One of the problems with this
> line of inquiry is that, as far as I know, Bach didn't leave any writings
> which address his beliefs about this. So, all of the investigation must
> be done through secondary sources.

This, too, is very interesting Ed, but it is no longer gemytria. It
is numerology or the belief that ordinary numbers hold extraordinary
power and meaning. It too is a fascinating topic and you have
expanded my knowledge. In effect Bach was interested in both numerology
and gemytria if I understand you correctly.

>
> Ed Lacy
> el2@-----.edu
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
> Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
> Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
> Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org
>
=======================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
=======================================

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org