Schoenberg to Bach...as Wiles to Fermat (?)

[Elisha Tseng <elisha-jt@juno.com>]

Hi Fminors, I saw a sort of interesting analogy between what Mr. Lehman
said about Gould applying 12 tone technique to analyze Bach's
composition.  I remember one of my friend (who's a violinist) and asked
her how long can a beginner learn violin before he or she can tackle the
solo violin sonatas/partitas of Bach.  As with anyone who had some formal
piano lessons, Bach is one of the first composers that we were exposed
to.  Surprisingly enough, for violin it's quite different.  In fact she
said that the solo pieces by Bach was so difficult that it is often
reserved for advanced players.  Since I don't play the violin, I don't
know much about it, so there might be works by Bach that are taught for
not-so-advanced players.  I would like to know some of those
compositions.

I guess the point is, sometimes works written long ago can be expressed
better when applying modern techniques.  Mr. Lehman's analysis reminds me
of a recent discovery of the proof Pierre de Fermat's Last Theorem,
written over 300 years ago but was proved in 1993 by a mathematician name
Andrew Wiles.  The technique that Wiles used for his proof were all 20th
century discoveries, and couldn't possibly be the 'missing' proof of
Fermat (that is, if he had one).  But it worked, and all 200 pages (!) of
the proof killed the problem that frustrated mathematicians for hundreds
of years.

So, in order to play the solo violin sonatas of Bach, one much study
modern compositions first (I suppose).  To solve a 300 year problem took
all the advance modern techniques of 20th century.  For Gould, he applied
his knowledge of 12 tone techniques to Bach's works.

May be we should've all been kidnapped as a small child and be isolated
in a pure 12 tone environment.

Strong conviction is necessary against prejudice.  The proof: Glenn
Gould. --Nathan Perleman

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