I wrote:
><< I recall reading somewhere (I don't know where) that the jazz pianist >Bill Evans liked to quote a statement of Goethe's along the lines of >the following: Anyone can be a master who is willing to work within >his limitations. > >Judy (or anyone else that could help), do you have any idea where >Goethe might have written that? >>
and Judy replied:
>I'm not really anyone's idea of an expert on Goethe, but I am pretty handy >with a search engine! Here's what I found: > >The line "In der Beschraenkung zeigt sich erst der Meister" is from a sonnet >written by Goethe upon the opening of the new Playhouse in Lauchstaedt on >the 26th of June, 1802. It was a part of the prologue, Scene 19. This was a >thought he was wandering around with at the time. In my little Insel Verlag >_Goethes Gedichte in zeitlicher Folge_, 1.489, it is grouped with another >sonnet with the same thought. It is often called just Sonett or Natur und >Kunst. It means: "It is not until limitations are put on him that the >master really shows himself."
THANK YOU JUDY! I've asked loads of people about the quotation and until you nobody has had a clue. Although what you found doesn't express the same thought as the one I recall reading, it is very close in spirit and for all I know Bill Evans misquoted Goethe. Like you, I'm pretty good with a search engine but I don't know German. What would be the titles I should like for in English?
John Link
P.S. I find it interesting that the line "It is not until limitations are put on him that the master really shows himself" shows up in a thread started by mike writing about how George W. became President Bush.
http://www.mp3.com/JohnLinkFeldenkrais
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