ABSTRACT
Today, in the age of theory, it is still the case that a single genuine musical ‘idea’, converted into actual sound, will immediately render all theories irrelevant. If, in addition, the composer possesses the strength, the determination and the discipline not only to ‘have’ an idea but also to carry out in the course of his piece whatever that idea requires of him, then all talk of theory becomes superfluous. And if matters were left to actual experience, that would be the end of the question.
