Bach works were written by his second wife, claims academic

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | April 23, 2006 | Barbie Dutter in Sydney and Roya Nikkhah

[COBOL2Java]

IIRC, Bach had terrible eyesight, and was nearly if not completely blind later in life. It would not surprise me if Anna Magdalena was the principal transcriber of his works, and as Professor Rose indicated, she corrected, refined and revised many of his compositions. Does that make her the composer? I don't think so.

The first thing that occurred when reading this is they are trying to pull a "DaVinci Code"-type historical rewrite on poor old Johann...

[sitetest]

Dear COBOL2Java,

Yes, I remember that JS Bach actually had eye surgery in the last few years of his life, which apparently didn't work out well.

However, this author is citing her possible interventions back to at least 1720, and even to 1713, decades before his death.


sitetest

[GadareneDemoniac]

Another day, another can't-be-proved-or-disproved theory from a crackpot academic.

"More research is needed!" = "More tax-funded grant money, please!"

Since this isn't an evo-crevo thread, I'll refrain from pointing out that Charles Darwin University started out as a kindergarten about 20,000 years ago.

[new cruelty]

First we find out that Eminems is having domestic trouble, and now this! Stop the insanity!

[Psycho_Bunny]

Prof Jarvis claims that there is musical evidence to prove that the Cello Suites - whose exact date of composition has never been established - were not written by Bach.

I claim Professer Javis is an asscramp trying to make a name for himself.

And between our two claims, mine is far more plausible.

[Frenetic]

I think its just another attempt by the left to discredit and anything having to do with western civilization.

[Cyclopean Squid]

I think the researcher has been spending too much time praying at the temple of Bach-us. (okay, that may be a bit of a stretch)

[MineralMan]

"Steven Isserlis, the cellist, who is working on a recording of the Suites, said: "We can't say that it is definitely not true, in the same way that we can't prove that Anne Hathaway did not write some of Shakespeare's work, but I don't believe this to be a serious theory."" ========================================

This Anne Hathaway? I'm not sure she was around back then. She sure is cute, though. She could write my plays if she wanted to:

[Borges]

How does his wife writing something have a part of anything other then Western civilization. Do you feel the same way about the 'Shakespeare didn't really write Shakespeare' bunch?

[Argh]

What a load.

[D-Chivas]

Bach is dead
Bach is dead
Bach is dead
Bach is dead
Walking women want to see
The Southern Cross at night
And so they set aside a sock
And tie their laces tight
Yes mournful is the melody
That echoes in their heads
Without a beat they march along
Believing Bach is dead
Bach is dead

[sitetest]

LOL!

[Felis_irritable]

"...uniquely symmetrical nature of the work..."

""When you examine Bach's other music there is no structural symmetry present in that sense," he said"

Well in what sense IS it present? I'm no musical genius, but the thing I like most about my favorite composer (and what drives Mrs Felis nuts) is the symmetry of his music. Or her music.

[LexBaird]

I think the researcher has been spending too much time praying at the temple of Bach-us.

He should be told to "keep johanns offen Bach!"

[Borges]

He should be told to "keep johanns offen Bach!"

I don't think they can-can.

[Cyclopean Squid]

I wonder which fast food restauarant Bach would have preferred. Wendy's or McDonald's. You know, which was his favorite BrandenBurg-er.

[AnAmericanMother]

I might give a listen to this, but for the fact that the feminist claptrap that passes for scholarship these days has made a HABIT of claiming that the women in EVERY famous man's life "actually" did the work attributed to the man. This is usually supported by the argument that the women "couldn't have published it themselves" because they were not taken seriously, so had to use their husband as a conduit or nom de plume.

I ran across a book recently that claimed that the women in the pre-Raphaelite painters' lives actually did a lot of their work . . . problem was, the book made the mistake of showing examples of the women's surviving sketches, and there was no way any of them could have drawn a Happy Face, let alone the work of Burne-Jones, Millais, Brown . . . or even Rosetti (I'm not a fan of his - man couldn't draw.)

[COBOL2Java]

Oh, understand that the timeline is much earlier than Bach's later career. I believe that he always suffered from poor vision - some posit that it was caused by Bach's studying manuscripts by candlelight as a child.

Thanks very much for the posting by the way. Music history is one of my most beloved avocations (BA Musicology, 1976).

[sitetest]

As the originator of this thread, I hope no one blames me for all the bad puns.

;-)

[COBOL2Java]

Oh, understand = Oh, I understand...

Posting too quickly there...