Eunice Norton on Well Tempered Clavier Book I #12, #13

September 23, 2007 10:40 AM

Eunice Norton (1908-2005) wiki, great-great-grandstudent of Beethoven, gives a detailed, analytical tour of Bach's Well Tempered Clavier #12 in F, Bk I (part 1, part 2, part 3) and #13 in F#, Bk I (part 1, part 2) in a 1989 video.

I can't take credit for noticing this. In an e-mail from my dad (links are mine):

Another interesting thing: Go to YouTube and search for Eunice Norton [recordings] and her discussions of Bach's WTC ## 12 and 13. She made these videos when she was 80, and she demonstrates Bach much as he likely sounded in his own time. It is quite extraordinary. She lived in Pittsburgh from about 1934 until a little after 2000. One of her teachers in the 1930s was Artur Schnabel wiki, probably the greatest pianist of the 20th century. He, through his teachers and their teachers, was a very direct link back to Beethoven, who practiced the WTC every day and considered Bach to be the master. What Norton says about Bach comes directly from Schnabel and probably comes equally directly from Beethoven. She died in 2005 but she too had a number of students who continue the link.

The structure that Norton so expertly describes perhaps explains why Bach's music can transcend even... unconventional performances.

posted by tss (6 comments total)

great post, thanks for that.
posted by Afreemind2007 at 1:39 PM on September 23, 2007

This is exceptional. This makes YouTube and Metafilter worthwhile. This makes my otherwise boarderline totally unproductive Sunday, worthwhile.

My feelings about Bach are irrational and pathological so I won't go into them here, but in short I don't think anyone can have too much Bach in their life.

Thanks for helping introduce a little more into mine.
posted by From Bklyn at 1:40 PM on September 23, 2007

i'm a total atheist, but at the same time i am forced to admit that bach's piano music is irrefutable proof of the existence of god.

fantastic post.
posted by facetious at 3:03 PM on September 23, 2007

Great. Favorite-ing this to watch later, I looove Bach.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 4:39 PM on September 23, 2007

What "transcend"? The Swingles (and that guy) prove that Bach is best heard in the medium of the human voice.
posted by DU at 5:16 PM on September 23, 2007

Can anyone tell me what the music is in this video? All the credits say is "music arranged from a piece of J. S. Bach."
posted by homunculus at 6:00 PM on September 23, 2007