Book Quotes

Plausible but worthless

~From Roots of the Classicalby Peter Van der Merwe, page 300:

In view of these associations, it was probably inevitable that these patterns should attract the censure of Authority: 'It will be quickly realized that sucha common formula... however plausible it may sound, has little musical worth; it belongs to the realm of "salon" at best, or the lowest type of popular dance music, or sentimental "sacred solo".'

Yuck. I cringe when I hear quotes like that. How can something sound plausible but have little musical worth? In my opinion, musical worth is based on, gee, I don't know... how plausible it sounds! Maybe I'm just reading it wrong... it kind of reminds me of that Mark Twain quote: "Wagner's music is better than it sounds." Please note, I think Mr. Twain was trying to be funny. If he wasn't, he's an idiot. And unfortunately his quote is only funny once.

Labels: Roots of the Classical

posted by Sean Hannifin @ 1:42 PM