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John,
I am still trying to come to terms with the central idea of the original article. Are you saying that all Chaconnes written within the "rules" by all Baroque composers are equal? How does the thrust of your article make J.S the greatest Bach, when there were many others (just including his kids) and aren't you saying there is no way to decide who is better between them?
As you say we have to be more restrictive in our classifications. For example are we talking about Composers or composing, Writers or writing, etc.? There are many parts (qualities) to composing a piece of music just as there are many parts to writing a book. I may be setting myself up again, but as great as I think LVB is, he was not a great melodist. I would give Puccini, Tchaikovsky and Gershwin props in that department.
How about numbers of masterpieces? Leoncavallo and Mascagni are basically known for a single work, while Puccini has at least a half dozen or more. Is there nothing to say about Puccini's body of work as opposed to Leoncavallo or Mascagni?
"But is the ability to spin the most music out of the smallest fragment of a theme really the most important measure of musical greatness?" Maybe not musical greatness, but what is the point of attraction of Paganini's 24th Caprice to composers? Surely it's not just the notes. I can't believe that Rachmaninoff wrote his composition without thinking that he could bring something different or dare I say better than the other composers who used it? How about the Diabelli Variations? Don't you think LVB was making a statement that he was much better than all the others that submitted but one variation?