Thanks for that outstanding explanation of the one player
problem in the Art of Fugue. Not even GG could have explained
it better. Grade: A+
Jacqueline wrote:
So I liked the idea of contributing to the anthology of the F Minor archives ! I agree with Birgit's comment = when do we start ! ?I've been corresponding off the list with someone about this idea (a purely academic exercise since neither of us has the time to start right now, but perhaps others will hoist the honour) and I'm afraid I am still the one who obstinately insists that even a digital-only version of an F Minor Anthology will meet with many hurdles, though not necessarily insurmountable ones. Then, Jacqueline's letter from Paris prompted consideration of yet another issue I hadn't previously thought about in the context of an anthology: language differences.
We native (or near-native) English speakers on the list generally take for granted the dominance of our tongue and it seems to me that there must be many subscribers who would prefer to contribute to an anthology in French, German, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Portuguese, Japanese, Urdu, Algonquin... perhaps even an essay on the Idea of North in Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit.
While it would not be easy to conduct a list such as this one without a lingua franca, which by default is English in our case, I think it is fitting and necessary once in awhile to acknowledge the tolerance and effort sustained by those of you who speak English as a second language. May we hear from some of you on this topic? I would be interested to know if you would sometimes prefer to post something in your own language. And if there is ever to be an anthology (why not a multilingual one?), would you prefer to contribute something in a language other than English, which could then be translated into English and published in both languages? After all, even Bruno Monsaingeon and Yehudi Menuhin chose to speak French for their interviews in Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, and both men could speak impeccable English.
I earnestly hope I have not offended anyone as I do appreciate immensely the messages composed by F_Minor's non-native English speakers. Even those of you who are very fluent and possess impressive English vocabularies sometimes structure your speech in ways that suggest a direct translation from your thinking language, and very often this produces forms of _expression_ that would not come naturally to an English speaker but which nevertheless create some strikingly beautiful, even startling, juxtapositions and windows of insight, much like poetry.
Birgitte