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7. II.
Pairamall :

Nin gegen Clavicin; 1 aus seinem Programmbuch; Berichtigungen u. Erwiderungen meinerseits, so insbes. über den verkannten nationalen Charakter der deutschen Musik; ein logischer Lapsus Volksmusik anderer musikalisch rückständiger Nationen mit der entwickelten Kunstmusik der Deutschen zu vergleichen. Noch [?trister] aber die künstlerische Einsichtslosigkeit die sich in der Verkennung des Postulates der Länge u. der damit verbundenen technischen Schwierigkeiten aüßert. Das Nivellierende der großen Form; ein Epos {25} aus lauter Epigrammen undenkbar; etwa Großstadt Kultur.

© Transcription Robert Kosovsky, 2007


February 7, [1912]
Pairamall :

Nin opposed to the harpsichord; 1 from his program book; corrections and responses from my side, so especially concerning the underappreciated national character of German music; [it is] a logical error to compare folk music of other, musically backward, nations with the developed art music of the Germans. Still more dismal, however, [is] the lack of artistic insight conveyed by the misappreciation of the postulate of long time-spans, and the technical difficulties associated with that. The levelling-down of large-scale form; an epic poem {25} made up of loud epigrams [is] unthinkable; rather like big-city culture.

© Translation Ian Bent, 2021


7. II.
Pairamall :

Nin gegen Clavicin; 1 aus seinem Programmbuch; Berichtigungen u. Erwiderungen meinerseits, so insbes. über den verkannten nationalen Charakter der deutschen Musik; ein logischer Lapsus Volksmusik anderer musikalisch rückständiger Nationen mit der entwickelten Kunstmusik der Deutschen zu vergleichen. Noch [?trister] aber die künstlerische Einsichtslosigkeit die sich in der Verkennung des Postulates der Länge u. der damit verbundenen technischen Schwierigkeiten aüßert. Das Nivellierende der großen Form; ein Epos {25} aus lauter Epigrammen undenkbar; etwa Großstadt Kultur.

© Transcription Robert Kosovsky, 2007


February 7, [1912]
Pairamall :

Nin opposed to the harpsichord; 1 from his program book; corrections and responses from my side, so especially concerning the underappreciated national character of German music; [it is] a logical error to compare folk music of other, musically backward, nations with the developed art music of the Germans. Still more dismal, however, [is] the lack of artistic insight conveyed by the misappreciation of the postulate of long time-spans, and the technical difficulties associated with that. The levelling-down of large-scale form; an epic poem {25} made up of loud epigrams [is] unthinkable; rather like big-city culture.

© Translation Ian Bent, 2021

Footnotes

1 Joaquín Nin (1879–1949), Cuban composer and pianist who included J. S. Bach’s music and that of other Baroque composers in his concert programs; his opposition to playing Bach’s keyboard music on the harpsichord led to his publicly challenging Wanda Landowska’s advocacy of the instrument. He produced books in 1909 and 1912. See Sonia Gonzalo Delgado, "‘Piano out Clavecin?’ Joaquín Nin’s Feud with Wanda Landowska’s Harpsichord," Journal of the Royal Musical Association 147, Part I (2022), 171–92.
As Delgado shows, Pairamall had had “some lessons with Landowska in Vienna and Munich,” talked with Nin in 1910, and supplied him with information from German-language sources (Delgado, 189–91). — The “Programmbuch” may refer to program notes that Nin had written for a recital in Brussels on January 31, 1912 (ibid, 181).