Greg Conn wrote:
>Wasn't J.S. Bach largely self-taught and untrained though? I can think of
>other examples also which show that, in some instances, such "training" is
>in fact not necessary to some persons who are extremely musically "gifted"
>with the ability to compose.
Not at all. Bach had the advantage of intense study with his father,
his brother and other formal teachers. For a complete account of Bach's
education and his own teaching, please read Christoph Wolff's excellent new
book, "Johann Sebastian Bach, the Learned Musician." I am afraid that to
say that Bach was self taught and untrained is completly false.
Kevin Sutton