James Tobin wrote:

>In science a failed experiment can tell you something, truth-wise," maybe
>even something important.  In the arts isn't a failure simply sent to
>oblivion?

Except that you can never count something definitively out in art (or
hardly ever).  A case in point, I think, is the kind of harmony you hear,
for instance, in Lasso, which was rejected by the likes of Bach and Handel,
who in turn pretty much established the orthodox way of doing harmony for
several centuries.  But in the 20th century, when a lot of people had
gotten tired of the orthodoxy, a number of pre-Bach composers have suddenly
gotten a new lease on life, sounding fresh and new.  I recently heard a
radio interview of Steve Reich in which he revealed that he got his start
precisely by taking the pre-Bach period seriously.

Jon Johanning // [log in to unmask]