Re: Re: Re:

[King Fai <cliffl@ece.ubc.ca>]

On Sun, 18 Jul 1999, jerry and judy wrote:

 |>Gee, I thought Bach improvised, too.
 |>
 |>SH
 |
 |Yes, but he didn't see fit for any of his 'these musings' to become
 |representative of his developmental outpouring.

But what about the 3-part ricercar in A Musical Offering?  It's allegedly
based on his improv before the king.

 |Even <I> can sit down and endlessly outgas chordal relationships and
 |melodic 'fragments' that would be hopefully entertaining.  But what JSB,
 |Mozart and Beethoven allowed to part of their permanent 'record' was in
 |line with their general vision.  Improvisation was a means to an end, but
 |it was never THE art form.

Just like there may be un-improvised jazz, but it's surely not yet the
dominant form of jazz performance---people listen to jazz for the
spur-of-the-moment inspirations and darings.  I should think that
improvisation is meant for live, rather than recorded, performance. 

Similarly, I think that people listen to art music mainly for the
refinements (the breadth and subtleties) that come only after SOME
contemplation and elaboration.  I believe JSB, Mozart, and Beethoven did
use some good ideas from their improvisation in their "written-out"
compositions.  But we'll never know.

---
Clifford