George Buelow, an IU professor of musicology and baroque specialist,
mentioned in one of his lectures that Bach and Handel were both operated on
for cataracts by the same quack doctor (his term). I don't know what his
source was. I've also heard that some of Bach's visual problems came from
his hand-copying The FitzWilliam (cap?) Virginal Book by moonlight.
I've always wondered how blind composers (Joaquin Rodrigo is the first that
comes to mind) manage to set their work down.
Aaron J. Rabushka
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