RC Question 4 Explanation
DISCUSSION: Ringer is introduced in the final paragraph. He argued that the “London Pianoforte school” was a true school. They may have influenced Beethoven, and there is some evidence of an organized group of musicians headed by Clementi.
___________
- CORRECT. Ringer thought Beethoven had to look outside of Austria to find innovative composers who wrote music for the Broadwood Piano.
(Lines 41-42 and 49-55)
If Austrians were also writing for the Broadwood Piano, then maybe Beethoven found his Broadwood inspiration within Austria. - This tells us that Clementi was composing at the right time to have influenced Beethoven. It doesn’t weaken the idea that there was a school.
- Who cares about continental musicians? We only cared whether the London Pianoforte school influenced Beethoven.
(London is not in continental Europe) - This would strengthen the idea that the Pianoforte school was a true organized school.
- This makes it sound like the group was organized ,around Clementi. We want to show there was no organized group.
Okay but for A it never says when that became available to the Austrians. What if it became available after Beethovens death? Or produced in parts of the country Beethoven never overlapped with? I feel as though we have to make a lot of assumptions with this answer to make it work. Please let me know how I am utterly wrong and delusional though because I am sure I am.
You’re not delusional, it’s good to think critically about assumptions! But in this case, your “after Beethoven’s death” argument doesn’t hold. Paragraph 4 tells us Beethoven responded to the advances of the Broadwood piano, meaning it was available during his lifetime. And since A says the musicians composed innovative music as soon as the piano became available, that would suggest this occurred during his lifetime.
You’re right that neither the passage nor answer A specifies exactly when the Broadwood piano reached Austria, but in the absence of any indication that Austria lagged significantly behind, it’s reasonable to assume they had access around the same time. It would actually be less reasonable to assume otherwise, since Austria is a major cultural hub with a big music scene, not an isolated or developing nation with no significant composers.
The same logic applies to your other point. Yes, it’s technically possible those Austrian innovations happened in regions Beethoven didn’t directly overlap with. But that’s far less plausible than assuming that a composer of his stature (who’s aware and attuned to developments abroad) would know about innovations happening in his own country.
The LSAT allows and expects us to make reasonable assumptions. So within the logic of the passage, it’s fair to assume that Beethoven would have access and awareness of Austrian innovations if they existed. That’s why A still clearly undermines Ringer’s claim: if Austria already had composers innovating with the Broadwood piano, Beethoven wouldn’t have needed to “turn outside Austria” for creative models.
Hope that helps! Apologies for the delayed response.