Jocelyn Wang replies to me replying to her:

>>>However, no such justifications have been offered, because they do not
>>>exist.
>>
>>Justifications have indeed been offered - a variety of them.  You just
>>don't accept any.  And, come to think of it, you've offered only one
>>justification, which apparently several people don't accept.  Are we
>>any forwarder on this point?
>
>Again, no justification has been made to overrule the will of the
>composer.

Justifications:

1.  We don't know what the composer's will is, only what he wrote - quite
another thing.

2.  The composer may want something worse than is possible.  In that case,
since aesthetics is about better and worse, go with better.

3.  The composer cannot know everything, including a later change in
attitude toward certain conventions, like repeats.  Consequently, it makes
little sense to contribute to the ruin of the composer's reputation under
the banner of honoring him.

4.  Even if the composer wants it and you know exactly what it is he wants
and it's better than anything anyone could think up (and that's everything
you claim), you may simply want to hear it the way you want to hear it -
eg, the Eroica played by a kazoo band (no repeats, thank God).  There
are lots of people eager to limit one's musical choices for all sorts of
virtuous reasons which will undoubtedly reward them in musical heaven.
They are free to disapprove.  However, music isn't about approval, but
enjoyment.

>I offered only one, yes, but mine agrees with the composer's intent.  You
>attempted to justify your position by claiming that the composer could
>somehow be in error concerning the form he wanted his own vision to take,
>but failed to state any basis that could possibly be used to determine
>this.  Therefore, your attempt fell short.

No.  I invited people to imagine such a situation, which you apparently
believe impossible.  If so, the line of argument makes no sense to you.
I left the details of failure up to each person, since I didn't want to
argue by-the-ways.  The general point doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
After all, failure is far more prevalent in art than success, as many
artists have admitted.  And, just so you don't think I've gone napping,
your position does not agree with the composer's intent, but only with
what he wrote.

Steve Schwartz