The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #151558 Message #3542763
Posted By: GUEST,Grishka
28-Jul-13 - 12:51 PM
Thread Name: Would J.S.Bach have played banjo?
Subject: RE: Would J.S.Bach have played banjo?
c.g., Bach indeed needed whatever money he could earn. He even complained that the weather was so healthy that only few Leipzigians died and earned him money for the funeral service. Nevertheless, he occasionally refused jobs he did not like. In other jobs he sorely lacked "customer orientation" - among the few extant documents, a large part are complaints. Thirdly, he composed pieces that he knew would never earn him a pfennig, but rightly assumed to keep his fame alive for centuries. Thus, to convince him to compose for the banjo, it would have taken money and some persuasion as for the cultural relevance. The fifth string however, as mentioned in the OP, would have posed him a welcome challenge.
Bach is still a model of meticulous artistic work, putting those to shame who compose by copy-and-pasting "licks and rolls".