# Classical music is stuff like that Mozart guy



## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

I've had quite a nightmare.... In a few hundred years, classical music was so legendary it would be historic and untouchable.... What do you think about classical music losing its appeal eventually completely? I suppose... no one really listens to ancient Egyptian music anymore, though what if it takes only a few centuries?!


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I'm more concerned about managing to live that long


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

Nobody listens to ancient Egyptian music because they didn't bother to either record it or write it down in a way that is now comprehensible. Not really problems with Western Art music.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Hmm. You are suffering from a lack of awareness of Star Trek. Everybody familiar with that excellent program is well aware that classical music will be alive and kicking and still pack and emotional punch - even for Vulcans!






Besides which, why dally with the moderns like Mozart when there are so many fine older composers - Hildegard of Bingen, Léonin, Pérotin, Guillaume de Machaut, Guillaume Dufay? They've lasted for six hundred years.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

Nobody listens to ancient Egyptian music because ancient Egypt itself is long dead and gone, and modern Egypt with its culture does not have a great deal of cultural influence in the world. Likewise it may happen to our Western musical tradition: when the civilization that has created it, that continues to uphold it and to spread it throughout the world, ceases to exist, then this musical tradition will also gradually fade and be reduced to something that belongs in museums, like an ancient Egyptian mummy. People will maybe marvel at it for a while, as a remnant of an ancient and bygone culture, but hardly anyone will want to bring it back to life because most people will be more interested in whatever culture/civilization manages to assert itself the best in the future. In simplest words, nobody will want to listen to Beethoven or even to Hildegard von Bingen, whose music has survived for six hundred years, a few centuries after the European/German civilization that has created them, either vanishes from the map or is reduced to powerless third-world status.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I cannot think that classical music will ever die, just as I can't envisage an age where Shakespeare's plays will not be read or performed; or Michelangelo & Titian treasured. True, it could happen in some world cataclysm that reduced us all to pockets of hungry ignorant survivors. But not because it's gone out of fashion or become 'irrelevant' to some more modern age.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Ancient music wasn't preserved or notated so it couldn't last the fall of ancient empires. I often imagine that music in Ancient Greece was the best of all, along with their great mathematics, philosophy and architecture. Why not?

Classical music won't be forgotten because it can be preserved, but in the future technology and disposability will be more prevalent and so I don't know if durable new music will be much listened to...


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## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

As already pointed out, no-one listens to ancient Egyptian music because there is none of it left to listen to. That said, there is some scholarly interest in recreating ancient instruments, which can be reconstructed through literary and visual accounts. In fact, some people have put out CDs of Ancient Greek music, and although the authenticity of these pieces is highly questionable, it nevertheless makes for an intriguing and tantalising listen. All I would say is that one should not underestimate the extent to which the study of ancient, long-gone civilisations still captures the imagination of modern audiences. In many cases, after a civilisation perishes, the art is the one thing that survives.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Western classical music has universal appeal. it will never die.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

> in simplest words, nobody will want to listen to Beethoven or even to Hildegard von Bingen, whose music has survived for six hundred years, a few centuries after the European/German civilization that has created them, either vanishes from the map or is reduced to powerless third-world status.


You silly, what about Asians. By the time Vienna will perish, the Chinese will already make full-scale copy or even two, with all Mozart statues and museums included. And the Japan will host the Chopin Piano Competition long after Europe becomes part of the muslim world.


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

My fear seems to be that nobody will have interest enough to expose their children to it anymore, and it will eventually disappear.
..


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

mstar said:


> My fear seems to be that nobody will have interest enough to expose their children to it anymore, and it will eventually disappear.
> ..


Have no fear. People who have an affinity for it will find it. I did. And my folks never exposed me to it. That came through movies, cartoons, radio and tv. And me seeking from there.


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

Parents exposing children to the music is far from the only way to get people interested. My parents don't care for music at all; when they do listen, it's whatever the radio is currently playing. The Internet gives people access to much information, and some people will get curious to see what music was listened to before their time.


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

No matter what happens, _*4' 33" *_will never, ever cease to be "heard", making John Cage a true immortal.


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

True, even witty Vesteralen's comment. We can't, though, ignore that classical music is becoming more ignored by societies everywhere every year.... Classical music is in decline in terms of popularity.... I find it disturbing that it might eventually become history.


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

I agree with what Ingelou said. Some of these things are timeless. It doesn't mean all classical music will always be remembered, but a good amount of it will I think, even if only as an "ancient art form", I think it will always be revered and remembered.

But I do agree that it has certainly last popularity over the centuries with the increase in amounts of popular music. Popular music was once restricted to folk songs and music with dance, now it has millions of sub-genres that more easily appeal to most people.


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## Katie (Dec 13, 2013)

Perhaps no music has an inherent shelf-life, but rather is sustained in historic popularity by perpetuation of the culture that spawned it. Thus, the longer a Western European, judeo-christian paradigm for economic, social, and political organization maintains its global hegemony, the greater chance it's musical heritage remains prevalent.

I mean, surely some people - more likely in current proximity to its geographic origin - are still listening to "Egyptian music", but Egyptian culture hasn't cast a significant shadow since the slow decline of the New Kingdom beginning around 1000 BC and ending with occupation by Rome in 30 BC....or I could just be spittin' in the wind./Katie


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Your concern is genuine, mstar.

I don't think any of us have the answers.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

mstar said:


> We can't, though, ignore that classical music is becoming more ignored by societies everywhere every year.... Classical music is in decline in terms of popularity....


Says who?

Sure, CM is less popular than other forms of music, but I really don't know that there was ever a time when that wasn't true. And even if there was such a time, that doesn't mean that the trend is negative today. I find it very hard to believe, for example, that CM got less popular after the great majority of the entire Western canon suddenly became available to almost everybody for free.


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

I do hope to meet many classical music listeners in my field of work and in college, though as for now, I know no one besides myself or my music teacher who do.... True, being exposed to clasical music at a young age is not vital to loving it eventually, though it is certainly important, and will have to do with listening habits when children are older. Having classical music be nothg but an allegory but smartness among the people (around my age) I know is worrisome.... 

The truth is, the average person is not usually able to discuss classical music with many people anymore, not nearly so much as one would be able to talk about pop or rock music....


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

mstar said:


> The truth is, the average person is not usually able to discuss classical music with many people anymore, not nearly so much as one would be able to talk about pop or rock music....


If only there was some kind of Internet forum about classical music.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

ahammel said:


> If only there was some kind of Internet forum about classical music.


Such a thing would expose this high-class music to the unwashed masses, and I cannot stand for letting such a thing stand! We should take steps to destroy anything like that in case it may arise.


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## Pantheon (Jun 9, 2013)

I see where you are coming from mstar... Hence why forums such as this one are so brilliant. I always swore to myself that I would pass on all my music collection to my children and in fact anyone interested enough.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Mahlerian said:


> Such a thing would expose this high-class music to the unwashed masses, and I cannot stand for letting such a thing stand! We should take steps to destroy anything like that in case it may arise.


I think such high class music would only give the masses a vision of beauty and would not be sullied by their unwashed state. To misquote Shakespeare:



> Age cannot wither it, nor custom stale
> Its infinite variety; other music cloys
> The appetites they feed, but it makes hungry
> Where most it satisfies.


Therefore a forum, offering an opportunity for converse about the joys of classical music can only be a good thing.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Classical music will always find a new audience. If it "dies" in the Western world, who will pick it up? On the African and Asian continents, no doubt about that. It's already happening. Who are you to tell a Congolese classical enthusiast/musician "Sorry, man, _we_ don't like that stuff anymore" when their culture never knew it for centuries?


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

This is one of those subjects where one's own personal experience can be at odds with what seems to be the case in the world at large. I personally know just as many and just as few people who have some interest in classical music as I did forty years ago. And, from a listener's perspective, there has never been so much choice and quantity of recordings.

Attendance at live concerts, however seems to be down. And so is funding, though that could be as much a political problem as anything else. So, in short, I'm not sure what to think. Popularity has never been a concern of mine. But I don't try to make my living as a classical musician, either.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Classical music will always find a new audience. If it "dies" in the Western world, who will pick it up? On the African and Asian continents, no doubt about that. It's already happening. Who are you to tell a Congolese classical enthusiast/musician "Sorry, man, _we_ don't like that stuff anymore" when their culture never knew it for centuries?


It does make for interesting speculation what would happen to the relative popularity of classical composers in the future if Europe and North America disappeared tomorrow. Would non-Western composers rocket to the top of the average top 10 list? Would the three B's be ousted by the three T's; Toru Takemitsu, Tan Dun and Mari Takano?


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Pfffft . . . 

In a couple of decades teenagers will rebel against their grandparent's Lady Gag and that rapper guy, Enema or whatever he calls himself, and they'll swap underground nano-beads of Mozart, Beethoven and Bach with each other. Never fear.


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

Life is a never-ending relay race. You shouldn't worry about what happened before you nor what follows you. You simply take what you're given, run your leg, and pass the baton. Not worrying does not mean disregarding. It just means controlling what you can control. I would be sad if you told me that Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach would be lost in 200 years. Those who are alive at that time will have no idea what they are missing so my sadness would be fruitless. How many amazing works of music and art have already been lost? Paintings destroyed? Books burned? Music never documented? How many people knew these works in their time and felt then as we feel now? I feel no loss for what I never knew, nor will future generations.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

We're just back from a performance of the Messiah in Norwich. I beheld a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues - and that was just the choir! Seriously, the cathedral was full - roughly 2000 people, there was an excellent amateur choir of about 60 people, there was a Baroque ensemble playing on period instruments; this on a cold night in December. Given the size of the city, that shows that classical music is alive and well and flourishing.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

ahammel said:


> It does make for interesting speculation what would happen to the relative popularity of classical composers in the future if Europe and North America disappeared tomorrow. Would non-Western composers rocket to the top of the average top 10 list? Would the three B's be ousted by the three T's; Toru Takemitsu, Tan Dun and Mari Takano?


Western classical music is *huge* in China, by all accounts, so I think the three B's would survive.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

Ingélou said:


> Western classical music is *huge* in China, by all accounts, so I think the three B's would survive.


I'm given to understand that in Japan they're given to singing the finale of Beethoven 9 where Britons would sing _Jerusalem_.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Nobody listens to ancient Egyptian music because ancient Egypt itself is long dead and gone...



So because Ancient Egypt is long gone its arts and culture no longer have any relevance?


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## hreichgott (Dec 31, 2012)

mstar said:


> no one really listens to ancient Egyptian music anymore


Have some ancient Egyptian music. These guys seem to think it's still important.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Nobody listens to ancient Egyptian music because ancient Egypt itself is long dead and gone...
> 
> 
> 
> So because Ancient Egypt is long gone its arts and culture no longer have any relevance?


Sure, they do: as a monument of a long gone civilization and (for most people) as a tourist attraction. But they are not a living, vibrant culture any more. People go on tours of Egypt, marvel at the pyramids, the Sphinx, the mummies, think about the people who created them - what they were like and how they lived - and then go home to their own way of life and their surrounding culture. But nobody creates art like this nowadays.

Likewise, if the more pessimistic scenario of history turns out to be true, in a thousand years from now tourists willl come to the remains of the Cologne or the Aachen cathedral















(provided some new owners of these lands will not simply tear them down and build their own temples in their place) and wonder about the people who had built these structures - what gods they worshiped there, what music they played there, what values they believed in, what their life was like. But the worship and the music themselves will be no more. Also, how can for example, Wagner's operas or Schubert's lieder continue to be performed and loved as much as they are nowadays, if there are no more people alive who speak the language of Wagner and Schubert? If you point to Latin masses as a counterexample, they are much more formulaic, you can get by without ever getting what they are singing about.

Also, I do not believe the Chinese or Japanese will care about our music much after we are gone as a civilization. They have plenty of their own, and will be busy asserting it, making sure everyone in the world knows who Tori Takemitsu was. And why should they, if even the creators of this music will not have succeeded in preserving and upholding it? The notion of timeless, universal art is a noble, romantic one (most likely originated sometime in the 1800s on the plains of Central Europe) but it is unfortunately not shared by everyone. It is only up to us and our descendants to make sure that our life as civilization, our culture and our art do not vanish from the earth.


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Pardon me while I digress for a moment:

One of the things this thread has made me ponder is the various kinds of focus listeners place on music. Several times in this thread I've read things like "will Bach and Beethoven survive?" What if they do, but not _as such_? Would that be good enough for us?

What I mean is that classical music lovers from the nineteenth century till now, but more so now, I believe, tend to think of music with the focus on the _composer_. Popular music of today tends to focus on the performer. And, other music, including folk music and much of the music of the past, like medieval and renaissance music, seemed to focus more on the use to which the music was put. Is it only because we are so composer-centric in our thinking that who wrote those Vespers or that Mass or those Troubadour songs becomes an issue? Did it really matter a lot to the people of the time in which it was written?

It irks classical music lovers today when some person outside the pale says, "Oh! That's the "Ode to Joy!" or "That's the 4 Seasons!" without knowing (or caring) who wrote it. What if in the future some of the music we love survives, but few if any people care who composed it?

Would people of that time think we were silly for convincing ourselves that the composer was the focus, to the point that if we really liked one or two things that person wrote, we could convince ourselves that we like _everything_ they wrote and that they must needs be one of the Top 10 composers of all time?

Just wondering....


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Composer mania is a bit like brand loyalty. I like coffee or beer or whatever, I prefer brand X because that suits me. I like baroque music and prefer Bach or Handel or Telemann or Vivaldi because that suits me.

There's also a classification issue, this is by Bach so it's Baroque so play it like this.

Picking composers is just like picking your favourite single malt - you know it's going to hit the spot. 

Looking at Baroque in particular, we also have to realise that these people were writing for the moment. If Bach needed a new setting, he was quite happy to cannibalise an old one, similarly bits of Handel keep getting re-used because they were good tunes. Same thing happens in folk -if you hear a good tune that you like better then nick it for your favourite song. We can spot this with the tune Monks Gate (used for To Be a Pilgrim). Vaughan Williams collected this in Sussex where it was used for a variant of the "Valliant Sailor" and then later in Herefordshire as "A Blacksmith Courted Me".


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

You can say that classical music will be around for as long as human being are around _*only if*_ you think that classical music expresses something about the survival instinct of man.


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

mstar said:


> no one really listens to ancient Egyptian music anymore,


The Bangles made certain of that.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

_So because Ancient Egypt is long gone its arts and culture no longer have any relevance?_

Siegendeslicht- Sure, they do: as a monument of a long gone civilization and (for most people) as a tourist attraction. But they are not a living, vibrant culture any more.

And this is different from Mozart or Beethoven how? For those who love art and music and literature the great achievements of the artists of the past are as much alive and vibrant as most living artists. The achievements of the Egyptians in the realm of the visual arts is far more than merely a tourist attraction or a monument to a long-dead culture.

People go on tours of Egypt, marvel at the pyramids, the Sphinx, the mummies, think about the people who created them - what they were like and how they lived - and then go home to their own way of life and their surrounding culture. But nobody creates art like this nowadays.

Certainly there is a fascination with the past... with our own mortality... that is part of the appreciation of older works of art... but it is far from being the central concern... at least not to those with a passion and understanding of the arts. There is a reason that the Egyptians continue to fascinate audiences centuries after the fact far more than other ancient cultures such as the Carthaginians or Nubians... and that reason is that Egypt left such a spectacular wealth of art that has survived. If Egyptian... and Ancient Greek and Roman music has been forgotten... it is not because it is ancient and outdated, but rather because it has not survived. It was not given a form that could be passed down for generations. For the most part, that which we deem "folk music"... or even the "popular music" of the past did not survive because they lacked a means of preserving the work.

Likewise, if the more pessimistic scenario of history turns out to be true, in a thousand years from now tourists will come to the remains of the Cologne or the Aachen cathedral.

How are Aachen or Köln currently any different from the Pyramids or the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut?

(provided some new owners of these lands will not simply tear them down and build their own temples in their place) and wonder about the people who had built these structures - what gods they worshiped there, what music they played there, what values they believed in, what their life was like.

There is always the possibility of such happening... but this would presume the loss of history such as that which led to the destruction of many creations of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, etc...

But the worship and the music themselves will be no more. Also, how can for example, Wagner's operas or Schubert's lieder continue to be performed and loved as much as they are nowadays, if there are no more people alive who speak the language of Wagner and Schubert? If you point to Latin masses as a counterexample, they are much more formulaic, you can get by without ever getting what they are singing about.

You are really stretching to make an argument. I, for one, can appreciate Schubert and Wagner in spite of a rather middling grasp of German. I can appreciate Russian and Italian and French opera without any grasp of the language. Indeed... I can appreciate the work purely as music... just as I can appreciate Islamic calligraphy without an ability to read the language...



Again, the arts of Egypt, Rome, Greece, etc... are just as much alive and studied/appreciated by art lovers today as the music of Beethoven or Mozart.

Also, I do not believe the Chinese or Japanese will care about our music much after we are gone as a civilization.

So you are assuming that Western civilization will disappear and be replaced by the East? That is a rather questionable assumption at best.

They have plenty of their own, and will be busy asserting it, making sure everyone in the world knows who Tori Takemitsu was.

Even if we were to assume that the East eventually eclipses the West you haven't faced the fact that China, japan, etc... have greatly embraced Western music, art, and literature... to such an extent that in many instances they have grossly undervalued their own achievements. Many Western nations have greater collections of the art of China, Japan, and India than do the nations from which they were born.

And why should they, if even the creators of this music will not have succeeded in preserving and upholding it? The notion of timeless, universal art is a noble, romantic one (most likely originated sometime in the 1800s on the plains of Central Europe) but it is unfortunately not shared by everyone. It is only up to us and our descendants to make sure that our life as civilization, our culture and our art do not vanish from the earth.

What makes you think classical music is in decline? John Cage probably reaches more individuals today than Mozart did during his lifetime. Mozart and Beethoven reach far, far more listeners than they ever did. Certainly classical music accounts for but a tiny portion of the music that is listened to and sold today... but this was always true. Its not like the masses were listening to Mozart and Haydn. The same is true of the "fine arts" and serious literature. Because of the mass media, publishing, and a higher degree of education across the whole of society we have far more individuals today who read, visit art galleries or even buy art, and attend the symphony... but the percentage of truly passionate art/music/literature lovers remains tiny... for the simple reason that it demands a certain degree of effort. This is as true whether you are a passionate aficionado of opera, the symphony, Renaissance painting, Romantic-era poetry... or Bluegrass, the Blues, Jazz, comic books, etc... The percentage of individuals willing to invest a great degree of time and effort into any art is limited. For most, the arts remain little more than entertainment... a form or relaxation... background noise, etc... Relevance in the Arts is not measured in terms of numbers... but rather by its ability to speak to and continue to resonate with that audience who are truly passionate about a given art.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

SiegendesLicht said:


> Also, how can for example, Wagner's operas or Schubert's lieder continue to be performed and loved as much as they are nowadays, if there are no more people alive who speak the language of Wagner and Schubert?


First of all, the language is so widespread that it's unlikely that it will ever die out. You might turn Germany and Austria into caliphate or blow it up so there is nothing left, other than dark hole in the surface of the Earth. The language still will survive in countless written sources and even with all native speakers dead, it will be possible to re-create it and people will be able to prepare a translation of Wagner's libretto and subtitles for recorded opera performance. This applies to all major languages.

Besides, Wagner was well known and appreciated all over the world in the era of translated opera, when every country performed the work in it's own language. Besides 2, sometimes it's better not to know the words in Wagner and Schubert works


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Vesteralen said:


> . . .
> What I mean is that classical music lovers from the nineteenth century till now, but more so now, I believe, tend to think of music with the focus on the _composer_. Popular music of today tends to focus on the performer. And, other music, including folk music and much of the music of the past, like medieval and renaissance music, seemed to focus more on the use to which the music was put. Is it only because we are so composer-centric in our thinking that who wrote those Vespers or that Mass or those Troubadour songs becomes an issue? Did it really matter a lot to the people of the time in which it was written?


I think ephemeral pop music may be focused on performers, but they are just that -- ephemeral. There are those who enjoy a deeper level of non-classical music who very much need to know which Beatle wrote which Beatles song, etc. There always will be. This is the same type of person who delves deeply into classical music as well, I'd wager.


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

Weston said:


> I think ephemeral pop music may be focused on performers, but they are just that -- ephemeral. There are those who enjoy a deeper level of non-classical music who very much need to know which Beatle wrote which Beatles song, etc. There always will be. This is the same type of person who delves deeply into classical music as well, I'd wager.


I hope so, for the future's sake.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

Vesteralen said:


> It irks classical music lovers today when some person outside the pale says, "Oh! That's the "Ode to Joy!" or "That's the 4 Seasons!" without knowing (or caring) who wrote it. What if in the future some of the music we love survives, but few if any people care who composed it?


For this to work, the nomenclature is going to need to be radically changed. You can't just go around saying "I really like that Symphony no. 3", or "I really like that String Quartet in E minor" and expect anybody to know what you're talking about. As it stands you really do need to know who composed most pieces of classical music in order to communicate with other people about it.

I'm not saying that it's impossible, but there would need to be a new way of talking about classical music first.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> So you are assuming that Western civilization will disappear and be replaced by the East? That is a rather questionable assumption at best.





StlukesguildOhio said:


> What makes you think classical music is in decline?


I am not assuming anything, and I do not think classical music is in decline right now or will be any time soon. I was talking about a _hypothetical_ very-distant-future scenario in which the Western civilization loses its political and economical power and the Western nations cease to exist as distinct entities. Only after that happens will the culture of the West, including classical music, also slowly lose influence and fade into oblivion (and that may take a few extra centuries). I don not see that happening any time soon. The final words of Hans Sachs from _Die Meistersinger_ that I have put into my signature, will hold true for a long, long time yet.


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

This thread has resulted in a sort of epiphany for me personally. I can't explain it fully yet, because the concept is sort of still growing in me. But, I am going to become a more work-centric and a less composer-centric listener.

I know this is nothing to do with why mstar started the thread, but it's just one of those weird things that happens sometimes.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Weston said:


> I think ephemeral pop music may be focused on performers, but they are just that -- ephemeral.


I think performers are more important than you seem to give them credit for in both classical and pop.


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

deggial said:


> I think performers are more important than you seem to give them credit for in both classical and pop.


I think you're both correct. The main difference I see is the ability to record and pass on those recordings. There are obviously no recordings of Beethoven on the piano or Vivaldi on the violin. What we know of Baroque, Classical, and many Romantic composers are their music and modern interpretations. The one constant being the documented music. With pop music, we usually have knowledge of the song writer's version or the original version as written. I personally get more out of music which was written by the performer. It gives me a sense of connection to the artist. This is impossible with 300 year old music. It's always Beethoven as performed by A or Schubert as performed by B. People latch on to favorite performances but revere the composer overall. Perhaps, if popular, contemporary music and recordings ceased for a few hundred years, but the compositions remained, then current pop music would be looked at in such a light. Artists like Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, and Gordon Lightfoot would be heralded for their writing but the performers of that age would be recognized for their interpretations. That is, if no current recordings survived.


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

scratchgolf said:


> I think you're both correct. The main difference I see is the ability to record and pass on those recordings. There are obviously no recordings of Beethoven on the piano or Vivaldi on the violin. What we know of Baroque, Classical, and many Romantic composers are their music and modern interpretations. The one constant being the documented music. With pop music, we usually have knowledge of the song writer's version or the original version as written. I personally get more out of music which was written by the performer. It gives me a sense of connection to the artist. This is impossible with 300 year old music. It's always Beethoven as performed by A or Schubert as performed by B. People latch on to favorite performances but revere the composer overall. Perhaps, if popular, contemporary music and recordings ceased for a few hundred years, but the compositions remained, then current pop music would be looked at in such a light. Artists like Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, and Gordon Lightfoot would be heralded for their writing but the performers of that age would be recognized for their interpretations. Thats it, if no current recordings survived.


Current recordings will most likely survive, with the technology we have today. As for classical music, can it be said that it has reached its height? It has certainly already peaked in popularity, which is now in decline, though.... I must say that I think it has. I could be wrong.... Could there be another era in classical music that would be so great that it would outdo the previous eras, in terms of popularity and everything??


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