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Originally Posted by noumenal
Apparently Wagner said, "The real dignity of the virtuoso rests solely on the dignity he is able to preserve for creative art; if he trifles and toys with this, he casts his honour away. He is the intermediary of the artistic idea." That's from Grove--somebody quoted it on Wikipedia too.
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I suspect Wagner said that because he didn't want those damned musicians getting any ideas above their station - i.e. the composer creates, and the musician serves the composer. Not a bad thing, in a way - I mean, how much rotten music has been made by "democratic" groups?
My idea of a virtuoso would be someone like J Hendrix, Cecil Taylor, Jimmy Page, David S Ware and so forth - musicians with fantastic facility, but who at the end of the day are possessed to communicate something that is emotive and visceral.