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