# Most Classical Music Is Ephemeral



## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

You often hear people today lamenting that a composer today gets one performance of a new work by an
orchestra and then nobody else plays it again . Why haven't there been any works premiered recently which 
have become as popular as the symphonies and concertos of Beethoven, Brahms and Tchaikovsky ?
The answer is that this has been true for centuries . For every symphony, concerto , sonata ,
string quartet ,cantata , oratorio , opera or lied etc that has become a part of the standard repertoire , there are who knows how many 
which have been forgotten and which are gathering dust in libraries somewhere in Europe .
In opera alone, it has been estimated that since the early 17th century , approximately 40,000 operas have been
written . How many are performed today ? Mozart,Haydn and Beethoven had many contemporries who produced
and enormous number of works , and some of them were well known and respected composers . 
But you almost never hear their music at concerts today . It was the same with Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi .
Much of this music was formulaic hackwork to be frank , and about as interesting to hear as static on the radio . 
So most of the music written within the still young 21st century and the latter half of the 20th century 
has had the same fate .
Of course, many genuininely high quality works have also fallen into neglect over the centuries , both by famous
and not so famous composers , but they have been revived and recorded in our time . 
Beethoven, Bach,Mozart , Schubert, and so many other famous composers are known to the gemeral public by
only a small part of their considerable output . Some of their neglected works were potboilers and of little
consequence , others not , yet still rarely performed . 
Other composers, such as Dukas , Humperdinck, Mscgni,Leoncavallo,Holst and Orff etc are known by only one or two
works, yet wrote other works which deserve to be heard .
Others, such as Roussel, Zemlinsky, Franz Schmidt, Myaskovsky, Nielsen, Pfitzner, Busoni , and others were rarely if ever perfomed
but are starting to gain more recognition .
So there classical repertoire, far from being " ossified" as many claim, in in fact, in constant flux .
But vast mounts of music have been deservedly forgotten . Only time will tell which of the many works written in recent
years will survive .


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

Because there's limited space for things to occupy the limelight, or in this case repertoire, some things will fall into fashion and some out of fashion. Sound recordings have opened things up more, but even there some things will get one recording and hardly be heard of again.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I lament, too. Why do some pieces get played again and again, to the exclusion of other great works by these very same masters? Fortunately, there is the CD. Those other works get airplay in my home  But, for me, economic considerations play a big role: I simply am not able to buy everything. I could subscribe to a streaming service, of course, but that would still not increase the amount of time I have available for listening. I _do_ want to hear the music I have purchased more than once every few years


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

superhorn said:


> So there classical repertoire, far from being " ossified" as many claim, in in fact, in constant flux .


And I'm glad for that. Back when I studied music, Erik Satie was finally emerging from the "genius with little talent" smear that the old Encyclopedia Britannica labeled him and was beginning to be appreciated for his contributions. And the 12-tone tyranny back then has loosened up to where composers can write tonally with approbation and I can listen to them without feeling like a child of a lesser god.

I'm not sure the one-performance problem is the curse it once was. Between companies like Naxos and Spotify, if they can get recorded, they can be preserved. Or just a YouTube recording of the one-time performance can keep the piece out there for curious listeners. Sure, there may only be one recording, but at least it's there for a future champion.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

Youtube videos don't last forever, and I suspect Spotify won't either.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

starry said:


> Youtube videos don't last forever, and I suspect Spotify won't either.


Maybe not forever but, with luck, long enough.


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## Stargazer (Nov 9, 2011)

Unfortunately, with only 24 hours in a day, you have to pick and choose what to do with your spare time. And when music, for most people, occupies only a fraction of that time, it leaves little room to explore the vast collection of works that have been created throughout the centuries. I know for a fact that there are some downright amazing pieces that I haven't heard yet, and it is a shame that there are many that I never will hear. It's a shame, but what can you do?


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

Most art of any kind is not "for the ages." same with most sphere of human activity. Most basketball players won't make to the NBA. Most business people won't be president of a Fortune 500 company. "ephemeral" may not be the word I would use -- but I get what you're saying.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

But the fact remains though, that Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Schubert etc. as mentioned in the OP are still the composers who give most classical music listeners listening joy. Posterity has a way with things "naturally". It's almost as if there is natural selection going on over time, survival of the best.


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## Guest (Oct 15, 2013)

Logically, if things have truly been forgotten, then you don't really know if what has survived is the best, do you?

It's survived, and you like it, may be. But the best? No way you can know. Only if nothing has been forgotten, and you have listened to everything, could you know.

(And even then, there's that whole issue of what "best" refers to.)


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

ArtMusic said:


> But the fact remains though, that Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Schubert etc. as mentioned in the OP are still the composers who give most classical music listeners listening joy. Posterity has a way with things "naturally". It's almost as if there is natural selection going on over time, survival of the best.


That is definitely not always the case, some music in it's own time can be underrated and pretty much thrown away. How can it then be recovered if it no longer exists?


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

Manxfeeder said:


> Maybe not forever but, with luck, long enough.


Is 'long enough' posterity? How long do people even mean when they say posterity?


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

If Beethoven and Mozart lived in "modern" times, say the last 70 years, I don't believe they would have wrote the kind of music that they wrote. The kind of music that they did write at the time, was "popular" music - the kind that filled concert halls. That kind of music doesn't fill concert halls today. I see them composing music such as Lennon–McCartney, or Andrew Lloyd Webber, or Rodgers and Hammerstein. I guess I'm kind off agreeing with the people that say the "classical repertoire is ossified".


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## badRomance (Nov 22, 2011)

ArtMusic said:


> Posterity has a way with things "naturally". It's almost as if there is natural selection going on over time, survival of the best.


I have doubts on this. "The invisible hand/market knows best" mantra is an enticingly simple idea but flawed. The works that survived today are works that survived not necessarily because all of them are the best.


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