This reminds me of editions in music. I suppose the biggest difference in music is that at some level editors of music are allowed to add in their own opinions of how the music is supposed to work (Hence why editions by famous musicians - the Elgar Cello Concerto edited by Jacqueline Du Pre for example - can be popular), whereas in literature this is somewhat less sunshine and roses. Take, for example, a very famous piece of music with many editions - the 6 Cello Suites by J.S. Bach. There's a reason this piece has so many editions - We don't have a version in Bach's own hand. the closest we have are two editions - One by his wife, Anna Magdalena Bach, and another by Johann Kellner. They're Pretty close in terms of dates (the Kellner likely being a few years earlier), but so much is different. Bowings, Rhythms, even notes are different in these two editions. Because the two closest manuscripts to Bach's own hand are so divergent, a great deal of other editions have been spawned over the years. It's almost given people free reign to interpret. I wonder if you could view translation outside of native language in the same way? because words can have multiple meanings and subtexts, it almost gives people free reign to interpret and edit because it's impossible to get to the "truth" of what someone meant hundreds of years ago in another language.
This is fucking interesting and I would love to know more. Question 1. How do we know these Bach manuscripts aren't forgeries? Question 2. Do people actually try to pass of forgeries of classical composers? Question 3. People seem to think doing covers of songs in various new styles as something that's nifty. For example, maybe a country cover of a pop song. Is this something that was done in the time of Bach, Listz, etc.? IS THERE A A GUY OUT THERE THAT HAS TRANSLATED LISTZ TO BANJO OR SOME SHIT? PLEASE SAY YES. ::Ahem:: Pardon me. I got carried away for a moment there. Question 4. Has this problem pretty much resolved itself with the introduction of recording equipment or is it still an issue today? Question 5. Seriously. If someone took Mozart or something and moderned it up, that'd be some pretty cool shit. Question 6. Did you know Question 5 was actually a statement or did you only realize that after I pointed it out?
forgive me if I have to answer this tomorrow. my music nerdery literally cannot be kept in once let out and I need to sleep so i can work at 6:30am answers to all your q's. I promise.
OK! Here we go. 1.) How do we know that the manuscripts aren't forgeries? well, we know for sure that the people I named are the people who wrote these manuscripts out. we've got lots of samples of these people's handwriting. They were both prolific copiers for Bach - Anna Magdalena as a way to help out her Husband who had a ton of jobs, and Kellner because he was a big fan and fellow keyboardist. With that in mind, it's pretty clear that they are what they say they are on the tin. 2.) there HAVE been forgeries, though. I wrote an essay about this, actually. there's this dude from the turn of the century named Henri Casadesus and he (with his brother Marius) are infamous for forging pieces. most famous are a Mozart Violin sonata and a J.C. Bach (J.S. Bach's son) Viola Concerto. I actually have a pet theory that Marius and Henri didn't even write this music. I figured out that someone (most likely Henri) copied some pieces by Luigi Borghi, arranged them as a sonata for viola and Bass, and marketed as by G.B. Borghi. It's possible that the Casadesus brothers did the same with the Mozart and J.C. Bach. 3.) Two videos for you: and alternatively 4.) Well, in my opinion, it hasn't - for example: and same composer, different editions. which one is the "correct" edition. Should you try to play it exactly like either of them? if you didn't, you would create your own "edition", right? what if your edition of an earlier work becomes more known and more popular than the original? ( it's possible that this is not even a Leadbelly tune, and may indeed be older). 5.) see 3. 6.) no, i didn't. but i think it's because even though there's no questin mark, it still asks a question in its way.