J.S. Bach...
Hi gareth,
What I do remember is that when young JSBach moved in with his older brother in Ohrdruf, JSBach spent many a night, up in the attic with a small, measly candle for light and copied onto manuscript the choral melodies and harmonies of past masters. He was caught in the act by his brother one night and, well, supposedly all his efforts went up in smoke. The strain on his eyes during all those *midnight-oil* sessions had probably caused the damage to his eyes for which he was later to suffer.
JSBach was probably very much an *auto-didact*(self-learner), and to think about all those years he spent at Thomaskirche in Leipzig, where the teachers of the Thomasschule(part of the Thomaskirche)were also professors at the University of Leipzig - what a heady learning environment!:up: :up: :up:
Ponder also that Richard Wagner was a product of Thomasschule - that says something about the excellent education one could get at a church-run institution. The Thomasschule most likely had the same academic rigor of a modern day college or *Hochschule* if you will, even though it was a kindergarten through twelvth-grade institution.
Giovanni :tiphat: