Re: How to get rid of *GNU Emacs* buffer on start-up?

[Alan Mackenzie]

Hi, David!

On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 12:36:38AM +0200, David Kastrup wrote:
> Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de> writes:

> > A danger of learning Lisp is becoming aware of the shortcomings of
> > lesser languages (nearly all others).

> Strike "lesser", "all" and "others".  You become aware of the
> shortcomings of greater languages as well, and of Lisp itself.

"Greater" than Lisp?  Assuming we're talking generically about Lisp, not
just Emacs Lisp, please give me an example of a greter language.  (This
isn't a rhetorical request; I'm genuinely interested.)

> If I take a look at the Allegro Assai in Sonata III for violin solo
> from J.S.Bach, it is completely unnecessary to put fingerings in the
> score.  There is just one sane way to play it.

Do you play the violin?  If, additionally, you can play a Bach solo
sonata on it, massive respect!

> The score is, in a way, an instrument-neutral way of describing music.
> And you can play this particular score on the piano, for example.  And
> it will be perfectly recognizable.

Well....  Up to a point.  The percussive nature of a piano, and its
richer harmonics will pretty much kill what JS wrote.  Also, a piano
can't play in tune as well as a violin.  (Of course, it can't play as
badly out of tune either ;-)  A skilled violinist can play nearly exact
intervals, where a perfect fifth is indeed perfect, a ratio of 1.5.  The
nearest a piano can get is 2^(7/12) = 1.4983.  A major third is even
worse, at 1.26 rather than 1.25.

> You can't play most piano scores on the violin, in contrast.  The
> violin is a lesser instrument with fewer possibilities.  It takes a
> good craftsman to create music where the violin appears like a perfect
> instrument, unrestricted.  It takes Bach to turn the restriction into a
> benefit and create music where the various counterpoints sit on
> different strings and thus get a different color.

> This is one of the reasons why the famous organ "Toccata and Fugue in D
> minor" which does not exercise quite a few of the possibilities of an
> organ is nowadays believed to be an adaption from a lost piece for solo
> violin.  When transposed into A minor (hm, on a viola you would not even
> need to transpose), you get something where even all the "dazzling"
> passages and styles have a playable rendition on the violin, something
> which is far from likely.

JSB was one of the last composers where you could play most of his
(instrumental) works on just about anything.  The 48 is good music
regardless of whether it's played on a harpsichord, an organ or a piano,
or even a brass band (but I'd draw the line at the Swingle Singers).

Anyhow, we're now as much off topic as the rest of this thread.  ;-)

> David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).