Critic: Most chorale preludes were written for the organ, and most gre

Question

Critic:  Most chorale preludes were written for the organ, and most great chorale preludes written for the organ were written by J. S. Bach. One of Bach's chorale preludes dramatizes one hymn's perspective on the year's end. This prelude is agonizing and fixed on the passing of the old year, with its dashed hopes and lost opportunities. It does not necessarily reveal Bach's own attitude toward the change of the year, but does reflect the tone of the hymn's text. People often think that artists create in order to express their own feelings. Some artists do. Master artists never do, and Bach was a master artist.

If the critic's statements are true, then on the basis of them which one of the following CANNOT be true?

A. Bach believed that the close of the year was not a time for optimism and joyous celebration.

B. In composing music about a particular subject, Bach did not write the music in order to express his own attitude toward the subject.

C. In compositions other than chorale preludes, Bach wrote music in order to express his feelings toward various subjects.

D. Most of Bach's chorale preludes were written for instruments other than the organ.

E. Most of the great chorale preludes were written for instruments other than the organ.

750Barrier · Answer

should be A, IMO.

Shikhar22 · Answer

C is the answer. ( artists create in order to express their own feelings. Some artists do. Master artists never do, and Bach was a master artist.)

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unraveled · Answer

Critic:  Most chorale preludes were written for the organ, and most great chorale preludes written for the organ were written by J. S. Bach. One of Bach's chorale preludes dramatizes one hymn's perspective on the year's end. This prelude is agonizing and fixed on the passing of the old year, with its dashed hopes and lost opportunities. It does not necessarily reveal Bach's own attitude toward the change of the year, but does reflect the tone of the hymn's text. People often think that artists create in order to express their own feelings. Some artists do. Master artists never do, and Bach was a master artist.

If the critic's statements are true, then on the basis of them which one of the following CANNOT be true?

MCP ----> O
MGCP ----> O ----> JSB
A JSB's CP's perspective ----> tone of hymn (agonising, dashed hopes and lost opportunities, NOT necessarily JSB's attitude/tone)

Generally, people think artist's feelings can be felt in his/her hymn.
However, JSB was a master artist and master artists are good at deceiving in hiding their own perspective/feelings/tone.
(Last sentence basically undoes what is all mentioned earlier in the passage and that is the key to the passage.)

A.  Bach believed  that the close of the year  was not a time for optimism and joyous celebration . - CORRECT. It looks like an answer at first instance but given the time bound situation it needs to be given one may not chose it at first go. But this eventually is saying that JSB's belief and the tone of one of the mentioned JSB's CP are going along with each other which subsequently negates the fact that JSB was a master artist, and we all know that master artists never express their own feelings in their compositions. Thus, this can't be true at all.

B. In composing music about a particular subject, Bach  did not write the music in order to express his own attitude  toward the subject. - WRONG. Yes, that's exactly what passage suggests

C. In  compositions other than chorale preludes , Bach wrote music in order to express his feelings toward various subjects. - WRONG. Yes, this is also possible since passage deals only in CPs and whatsoever other than CPs is possible, however, not necessarily.

D. Most of Bach's chorale preludes were written for instruments other than the organ. - WRONG. Let's say JSB wrote 100 CPs out of which 40 were written for organ and rest for other instruments. This statement makes sense then. However, we can't be sure if was so. It might be possible that 60 were written for organ and rest for other instruments. So, this is a may or may not be case.

E. Most of the great chorale preludes were written for instruments other than the organ. - WRONG. Again, CPs for other instruments is not dealt here. So it may or may not be true. There is an equal likelihood that it was so and it was not so. We need to have a situation where only one possibility exists.

Answer A.

Shikhar22 · Answer

A is wrong because, 'creating not in order to express your own feelings' does not mean you can't have the same feeling toward the subject of your creation. The point is about intention and not about creating the absolute opposite of what you feel. And this line- 'It does not necessarily reveal Bach's own attitude toward the change of the year' -in the passage also gives away why he could be feeling the same as the tone of the hymn suggests. The use of necessarily opens the possibility of Bach feeling exactly the same as the tone of the hymn. C remains the best bet, then. And, i could be fatally wrong, but this is why i think C is the answer and A is not.

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unraveled · Answer

Yes, C was in contention for me as well, but i rejected it solely based on the fact that passage deals only in CPs, leaving aside others. For something to be not at all true we must be sure about it. A gave a hard time to chose but since C takes on altogether a different battlefield, i thought it can't be answer.

Let's see.

mavelous · Answer

Hi,

The prompt is asking for the one inference that CANNOT be true. 
"If the critic's statements are true, then on the basis of them which one of the following CANNOT be true?"

Since B is the only one that IS true, it does jump out, but you should eliminate it and any others that may or may not be true.
Eliminate until you find the one choice which based on the text CANNOT be true (not even maybe true).

VIGHNESHKAMATH · Answer

Option A is a trap, otherwise this question is quite straightforward. Just because Bach was not optimistic doesn't necessarily mean that he was negative, perhaps he was neutral.

Assuming extreme polarities are dangerous in CR questions.

Regards
Vighnesh

Hoozan · Answer

Argument:

• Let's say there are 500 chorale preludes. So out of 500 more than 250, let us say 300, were written for the organ
• Let's say there are 20 great chorale preludes written from the organ, out of 20 more than 10, let us say 15, were written by JSB
• One of JSB's chorale preludes is about last year: the lost hopes and opportunities of last year were conveyed in this particular prelude 
• Noe this "tone" of or "emotions conveyed" by the prelude  does not necessary   highlight JSBs own attitude about the year
• Some artists do create their work based on their feelings BUT JSB is a master artist and master artists NEVER express their own feelings

Notice:  The words "does not necessary" and "never" are strong words used by the critic. We should keep these words in mind as they express strong opinions

My thought:  Master artists NEVER express their own feelings in the work they create. We also know that JSB is a master artist. Thus, we can infer that JSB (a master artist) will never express his feelings through his work

Question Time: EXCEPT 
So 4/5 choices CAN be true while one choice will NEVER be true

Tricky but pay close attention to the words. The prelude itself spoke about the lost hopes and opportunities. The argument says  It does not necessarily reveal Bach's own attitude toward the change of the year . So we can infer that JSB CAN believe that last year was not a time of optimism and joy. We don't know what he believes BUT what we do know is that one of his beliefs CAN be no optimism and no joy.  Incorrect .

We know that JSB is a master artist and master artists NEVER express their feelings through art. So IT 100% CAN and will be true that JSB does not write music in order to express his own attitude toward the subject.  Incorrect

Can choice (C) be true? i.e. can JSB write music (a piece of art) expressing his feelings given that JSB is a master artist and that master artists NEVER express their feelings through a piece of art? NO. Hence (C) CANNOT be true.  Correct

Now (D) talks about JSB's work. It says more than half of JSBs work was written for instruments other than organ. Without going much in-depth we can see that (D) talks about a different set altogether. In other words, we do not know how many preludes JSB has made and hence we cannot infer anything about the number of is preludes dedicated to other instruments. To be more clear:

Based on the argument we assumed that there were 500 choral preludes, out of which 300 were written for the organ. 20 were great and 15 of these 20 were written by JSB. Now we have 200 choral preludes left. This 200 represents those preludes NOT written for the organ. So we could very well have a situation such that out of 200 JSB wrote 75. So we see that JSB wrote (75 + 15) 90 preludes in total out of which approximately 83% were written for instruments other than the organ. Thus, we see that (D) CAN be true.  Incorrect

Tricky but again notice that (E) talks about a different set. The argument  most great chorale preludes  written for the organ   talks about those great preludes that are written for the organ while this choice talks about ALL the great chorale preludes (organ + other instruments). Since we do not have information about ALL the great chorale preludes we CAN create a situation for (E) to be true. For instance:

Total Chorale preludes = 500
For the Organ = 300
For other instruments = 200
Chorale preludes for the organ that was great = 20
Chorale preludes for the organ that was great, which was written by JSB = 15
Chorale preludes NOT for the organ that was great, which was written by JSB = 75

So we could have a situation such that there were in total 100 great chorale preludes. Out of which 20 were for organ and 80 were for other instruments.

Correct Answer:  (C)

KarishmaB   GMATNinja 
 My doubt:  The prelude in discussion talks about lost hopes and lost opportunities. We also know that JSB will never express his feelings. So can we infer that he does not believe that the close of the year was about lost hopes and opportunities? But then while considering (A) we see that JSB can believe that the close of the year was not a time for optimism and joy. So can we infer from all this information that JSB:

• Does not believe that the close of the year was of lost hopes and opportunities 
• Can believe that the close of the year was NOT a time for optimism and joy

In that case are the two possible to happen at the same time? I believe yes, but I would like you to share your views and make things a bit more clear.

KarishmaB · Answer

We cannot say that they believe opposite of what they write. The point is that their music will not tell us what they believe. They do not write to express their feelings. They just write. What they actually feel about it we will never know. We cannot say that if they have written something, it means they do not feel it. They may or may not, we cannot know. So if a master artist expresses "spring is beautiful," we cannot say what he thinks about spring. He may think it is beautiful or he may think it is not. He writes because he has to write, not because that is what he feels and he wants to express it.

Namangupta1997 · Answer

HI  Shikhar22

The highlighted portion is mentioned  just for the chorale preludes  in the passage. Option C says "other than chorale preludes". We have no information of compositions other than chorale preludes. How is C correct ?

Shikhar22 · Answer

No. The sentence highlighted does not refer back only to the chorale preludes. Read the sentence in isolation. It talks about master artist never creating to express their own personal feelings. Creation by an artist is not restricted to chorale preludes mentioned before. Creation can be of any kind. Stimulus brings new information, which is a generalization. In LSAT, the logic is extremely tight, each word stands alone unless almost repeated or synonymously referred. Hope this helps you

Raman109 · Answer

Understanding the argument - 
Critic: Most chorale preludes were written for the organ, and most great chorale preludes written for the organ were written by J. S. Bach. - Background Info. 
One of Bach's chorale preludes dramatizes one hymn's perspective on the year's end. - Still background Info. 
This prelude is agonizing and fixed on the passing of the old year, with its dashed hopes and lost opportunities. - Still background Info about one prelude. 
It does not necessarily reveal Bach's own attitude toward the change of the year, but does reflect the tone of the hymn's text. - Opinion. "necessarily" means may or may not. It doesn't mean certainty. 
People often think that artists create in order to express their own feelings. - Opinion of people. 
Some artists do. Master artists never do, and Bach was a master artist. - Opinion of the critic.

If the critic's statements are true, then on the basis of them which one of the following CANNOT be true?

A. Bach believed that the close of the year was not a time for optimism and joyous celebration. - The argument says, "It does not necessarily reveal Bach's own attitude," meaning it may or may not represent his view. We are not 100% certain. Wrong.

B. In composing music about a particular subject, Bach did not write the music in order to express his own attitude toward the subject. - It's true.

C. In compositions other than chorale preludes, Bach wrote music in order to express his feelings toward various subjects. - Bach was a master artist - overall and not just for chorale preludes for organ. So, a general master artist never writes his/her own feelings. 100% certain that it's false. ok.

D. Most of Bach's chorale preludes were written for instruments other than the organ. - May be or may not be. Wrong.

E. Most of the great chorale preludes were written for instruments other than the organ. - May be or may not be. The argument never share much data about how many are "great."

Critic: Most chorale preludes were written for the organ, and most gre

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Critic: Most chorale preludes were written for the organ, and most gre

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