To Ulvi, Pablo, and everyone:
        Strange!  I had thought I was enjoying Bach and Beethoven all these
years.  I was even PLAYING Bach this very morning and enjoying it.  (Of
course, it WAS the "Italian" Concerto.)
        I'm delighted to be an honorary Italian.  But I had always thought
the essence of Bach was melody.  Isn't that what counterpoint is,
interweaving melodies?  If they include harmonies and rhythms along the way,
that's all right, too.
         Dorothy
----- Original Message -----
From: Pablo Massa <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2000 7:18 AM
Subject: Re: Poetry and Prose


>Ulvi Yurtsever replies to Dorothy Smith:
>
>>>Does regarding melody as the most important element in music (and I
plead
>>>guilty here) make one prosaic rather than poetic?
>>
>>I wouldn't use the term prosaic, but it certainly makes you miss out
>>on some of the greatest pleasures in life (much of Bach and Beethoven,
>>for example).
>
>I know that Ulvi is not referring here to "all" of Bach's and Beethoven's
>music, but this statement reminded me another one from Stravinsky, who
>criticized Beethoven (and Berlioz too) because of his lack of melodic
>ability. He made also the panegyric of Bellini, because in his opinion, he
>had this ability in a highest degree. Of course, to compare Beethoven with
>Bellini (favourably to the last one) is an assertion made "pour epater les
>bourgeois". However, since --due to financial problems-- I'm no longer a
>"bourgeois", then  I'm no longer "epatee", and now I think that this is
>only another stupid statement made by a great composer. Beethoven had the
>melodic "touch" maybe in the highest degree (uh, what a discovery: nobody
>needs examples of this). If one takes a look on Beethoven just as a
>melodist, one finds the most original and beautiful output of his century.
>This fact is usually forgotten when one looks at the "Historical" and
>"Progressive" Beethoven (all that stuff of the sonata form, the structure
>and "woow, look what he did wit that Diabelli's cheap waltz!").
>
>PS 1. Ulvi: the adjective "stupid" is valid only for Mr. Stravinsky's
>statement, of course. I'm agree partially with your opinion, since in
>*some*  Beethoven's works, melody is not really the most important
element.
>
>PS 2. Dorothy: regarding melody as the most important element in music
>doesn't makes you a prosaic, but an italian.
>
>Pablo Massa (an italian)
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>