Johan van writes:

>Isn't it funny that HIP opponents who always tell us how little we know
>about the wishes and intentions of composers of the past, seem to know
>for sure that they would have loved our instruments, had they known them?

Well, sure; this is conjecture.  'Bach would have loved a Steinway.'

Firstly, I imagine Bach would have (maybe a Boston rather more); but would
he have endorsed a Steinway as the keyboard instrument for the fifth
Brandenburg, or would he, rather, have written new music for it?

I think it's reasonable to assume that (a) a composer of the past, if
he/she were living, would certainly be interested in experimenting with
his/her existing music on these unfamiliar instruments.  I also think (b)
that some pieces would work better on these than others, and we should
assume that the somposer would have opinions about which would and which
wouldn't.

These are the most reasonable assumptions to make.

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