Posted by Carl on September 05, 2001 at 16:02:41:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Seating Question posted by Steve Dedman on September 05, 2001 at 15:24:23:
Steve typed:
>I think if someone wants to experiment
>with alternate instrumentation [in Berlioz' music],
>more power to 'em
I've posted this quote from Berlioz in the past, but it seems particularly appropriate here. Berlioz' views on others altering his music:
"No, no, no, a million times no! You musicians, you poets, prose-writers,
actors, pianists, conductors, whether of third or second or even first
rank, you do not have the right to meddle with a Shakespeare or a
Beethoven, not even to bestow on them the blessings of your knowledge and
taste."
"Is this not the utter ruin and destruction of art? And ought not we, all
of us who are in love with the glory of art and vigilant to protect the
inalienable rights of the human spirit, ought we not, when we see them
attacked, to rise up in our wrath and pursue and indict the malefactor, and
cry aloud for all to hear, "Your crime is contemptible--despair! Your
stupidity is criminal--die! May you be scorned! May you be hissed and
hooted! May you be accursed! Despair and die!"
(quotes are from Memoirs of Hector Berlioz, Norton)
But thanks for sharing, Steve...