Pablo Massa wrote:

>Is the composition of a fugue (the most obvious example of musical
>"craft") a pure rational or mental process?.  I am tempted to say that it's
>not: it seems to be less the resolution of an equation than an "intuitive"
>process in some way.  How could Bach improvise a fugue?.  It's true that a
>fugue has some standard and schematic elements that are often regarded (or
>not) by the composer, but there are also, in the process of composition,
>certain moments of "nirvana", in which he doesn't know exactly what he's
>doing, as a painter with the nose too near to the canvas.  ...

This is very well put.  Unfortunately, I can think of nothing to add to
make the point any more cogent.

As a young teenager, I feel in love with the fugues of Bach -- especially
those written for organ.  I had absolutely no idea what a fugue, a subject,
a counter-subject, an episode were at the time.  I just enjoyed the sound
that all of those notes made.

Dave Pitzer