Hi Philip,

For those with a bent towards scholarship, if we are referring specifically to the notion of ‘le bon goût’ in 18c France, then there is a great deal to be found written on this topic in answer to your question, both now and then. There is a paper directly on the topic in Music and Letters, Vol 92 No. 2, 2011 by David Chung, entitled ‘Revisiting ‘Le Bon Goût’: Observations on the irregularities and inconsistencies in French harpsichord music 1650-1730’.

Allow me to quote from the paper (p. 198), in which he refers to Rousseau:

"In cultivating the French feeling, the modern performer may be guided by Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s perceptive observatiobs on ‘Goût’. His lengthy article (published in his 1768 Dictionnaire), which summarised over one hundred years of discussion on the subject, is worthy of consideration in full by all performers. The following except re-emphasizes the dualism of the French notion of taste, in which the creativty of the individula is – in its ideal state – blended into universal order and protocol:

'Every man has a particular taste, by which he gives to things he calls beautiful and good, an order that belongs to him alone… But there is also a general taste on which all people who are well constituted agree; and it is this alone to which we can unequivocally give the name of taste.’
"

Andrew



On 8/01/2016, 08:13, "Harpsichords and Related Topics on behalf of Philip Kimber" <[log in to unmask] on behalf of [log in to unmask]> wrote:


What is this good taste? I feel there are many answers -  and that's great!



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