We are told in the passage that some artists "create in order to express their own feelings." The passage then states that "master artists never do, and Bach was a master artist."
Let's diagram the last sentence.
"Master artists never do [create in order to express their own feelings],"
PR: MA ==> not CEOF CEOF ==> not MA
"Bach was a master artist."
P: MA
The unstated inference here is that, therefore, Bach did not create in order to express his own feelings.
Answer choice (C) states: "In compositions other than chorale preludes, Bach wrote music in order to express his feelings towards various subjects."
As we have deduced, this cannot be true because Bach was a master artist, and master artists never create in order to express their own feelings.
Hope that was helpful! Please let us know if you have any other questions.
AdvaithAugust 24, 2015
Why is E not the correct answer?
NazSeptember 3, 2015
(E) is not correct because we have not been given any info in the passage to lead us to it.
We are told that most chorale preludes were written for the organ and most great chorale preludes written for the organ were written by J.S. Bach.
We have been given no info on great chorale preludes in general. Thus, we cannot infer anything about them.
Hope that clears things up! Please let us know if you have any other questions.
stormbeelerSeptember 8, 2015
I chose A for the same reason that C is right. Trying to show Bach wrote about his feelings. Is A wrong because it doesn't match up perfectly with the exact theme of the chorale explained In the passage? Thanks.
NazSeptember 15, 2015
We are told that master artists never CREATE in order to express their own feelings.
Answer choice (A) is not above Bach creating music in order to express his own feelings. (A) merely describes how Bach feels about the close of the year. There is no reason given to us in the passage why (A) couldn't be true.
Hope that helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.
jacaroeJune 26, 2017
I still don't understand why it isn't e. The passage says "most chorale preludes were written for the organ". Does the word "great" in answer e make "great chorale preludes" different than the "chorale preludes" in the stimulus?
rinavalerianoMarch 17, 2020
I agree that I chose A because it seems to contradict. The passage says that the prelude shows negative feelings towards the past year. I figured that A cannot be true because he would not express those feelings being a master artist. Please explain more.
shunheMarch 28, 2020
Hi @jacaroe and @rinavaleriano,
Thanks for the questions! Let me start off with addressing jacaroe’s question about why it isn’t (E). It’s not (E) because first of all, we aren’t told about instruments other than the organ, and so we can’t conclude that a statement about instruments other than the organ CANNOT be true. It is also true that there is a distinction between chorale preludes and great chorale preludes, since looking at line 1 of the stimulus, the stimulus itself draws this distinction, and so we should also keep this distinction in mind.
As for why the answer choice isn’t (A), we actually need to look at the fourth sentence of the stimulus. The fourth sentence tells us that “[the chorale] does not necessarily reveal Bach’s own attitude toward toward the change of the year.” In other words, we can’t conclude anything about the close of the year based on the chorale, and so we cannot say that it must be false that Bach believed that the close of the year was not a time for optimism and joyous celebration, since we simply don’t know based on the information in the passage.
Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.
hassay18February 18, 2024
Yes this makes sense but I also chose A because the passage says that the prelude was about the same thing that Bach was feeling at the end of the year. How is that possible? If he is a master artist, his prelude would NEVER correlate with his own feelings. I'm really confused with this. Any help would be appreciated.
Emil-KunkinFebruary 21, 2024
The passage doesn't say that Bach expressed that the year's end was not a time for joy in the composition. It says that it expressed that the end of the year is a time for grief. It is possible Bach's views were truly in the middle somewhere, that it is not a time for joy but also not a time for mourning.
