On Wed, 8 Sep 2010 17:04:37 -0700 Ken Restivo <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Fri, Sep 03, 2010 at 08:55:34AM -0400, David Santamauro wrote: > > On Fri, 3 Sep 2010 17:56:13 +0530 > > Rustom Mody <rustompmody@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > > > There are two voices I hear here vis-a-vis Bach: > > > 1. Art for art's sake -- the romantic idea > > > 2. Art for money's sake -- the distinction of commercial vs > > > commisioned being a fine semantic distinction. > > > > > > Bach himself expressed a view however which does not fit in with > > > either: * > > > Anything done other than for the service of God is vanity* > > > > "The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the > > glory of God and the refreshment of the soul." > > > > God, unfortunately, doesn't pay for food directly. The refreshment > > of the soul alone would have left him starving as well. > > Brother had like 18 kids or something? He made plenty of money; he > had a lot of mouths to feed. 10 that made it past infancy, actually, but I'd say that's plenty. > > > > Although he was extremely devote and clearly most of his inspiration > > was generated by that religious stance, he was not above squabbling > > for better pay. The fact that his employer was the church might > > also had something to do with that stance as well. > > > > "He regarded himself as a conscientious craftsman doing a job to the > > best of his ability for the satisfaction of his superiors, for the > > pleasure and edification of his fellowmen, and to the glory of > > God." [ Grout & Palisca: A History of Western Music ] > > > > I think it helped his music. He could have made decent, forgettable > music and it would have gotten him paid well enough. Since he thought > he was writing music for god, that's a pretty heavy gig, and I'm sure > it drove him to take his music to levels of perfection and > immortality he might not otherwise have acheived. It definitely helped his music, much the same as a broken heart, the birth or death of a loved one and many other sources of inspiration, including the love of money. David _______________________________________________ Linux-audio-user mailing list Linux-audio-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-user
