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Fw: Kunin response to Mr Sklyarenko
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response to Mr Sklyarenko
----- Original Message -----
From: D. Barton Johnson
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Sunday, April 18, 2004 10:51 AM
Subject: Kunin response to Mr Sklyarenko
----- Original Message -----
From: Carolyn Kunin
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Sunday, April 18, 2004 9:03 AM
Subject: response to Mr Sklyarenko
"So, I suggest VN has somehow foreseen not only the future accusation of plagiarism, but also your message to the List in which you mention a gypsy tune "stolen" by Beethoven."
Dear Alexey,
I congratulated Michael Maar on making a discovery. I do not know if Nabokov read the von Lichberg story, nor have I read it -- as you know it hasn't been re-published and I don't read German anyhow.
My argument is simply that this deserves to be followed up. Why is this so dreadfully upsetting?
You did not read my note very closely. I never said Walter Starkie was my professor (he wasn't) and I never said that Beethoven "stole" anything. Walter Starkie did his research and established that Beethoven frequented a pub in Vienna where gypsies provided the musical entertainment, and that therefore Beethoven certainly could have heard the tune.
I am fascinated by such sources (for lack of a better word), and I find that they throw light on the ability of creative genius to transform dross into gold. Most of the examples I am aware of are musical and I am fascinated by them. Tschaikovsky re-worked (just barely) a melody by Offenbach to create the famous Sleeping Beauty waltz. If I were a musicologist I would find this a delightful riddle to solve: Did Tschaikovsky realize he did it or not?
There is no shame cast either by Michael Maar or myself by this interest.
Carolyn
p.s. You and I disagree on one thing certainly: I do not confuse Vladimir Nabokov with God.
----- Original Message -----
From: D. Barton Johnson
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Sunday, April 18, 2004 10:51 AM
Subject: Kunin response to Mr Sklyarenko
----- Original Message -----
From: Carolyn Kunin
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Sunday, April 18, 2004 9:03 AM
Subject: response to Mr Sklyarenko
"So, I suggest VN has somehow foreseen not only the future accusation of plagiarism, but also your message to the List in which you mention a gypsy tune "stolen" by Beethoven."
Dear Alexey,
I congratulated Michael Maar on making a discovery. I do not know if Nabokov read the von Lichberg story, nor have I read it -- as you know it hasn't been re-published and I don't read German anyhow.
My argument is simply that this deserves to be followed up. Why is this so dreadfully upsetting?
You did not read my note very closely. I never said Walter Starkie was my professor (he wasn't) and I never said that Beethoven "stole" anything. Walter Starkie did his research and established that Beethoven frequented a pub in Vienna where gypsies provided the musical entertainment, and that therefore Beethoven certainly could have heard the tune.
I am fascinated by such sources (for lack of a better word), and I find that they throw light on the ability of creative genius to transform dross into gold. Most of the examples I am aware of are musical and I am fascinated by them. Tschaikovsky re-worked (just barely) a melody by Offenbach to create the famous Sleeping Beauty waltz. If I were a musicologist I would find this a delightful riddle to solve: Did Tschaikovsky realize he did it or not?
There is no shame cast either by Michael Maar or myself by this interest.
Carolyn
p.s. You and I disagree on one thing certainly: I do not confuse Vladimir Nabokov with God.