A Composer’s Immortality
February 26, 2008 by VinceL
In the world of music composition, the desire to experiment, to advance the state of the art, tugs against the siren call of popular acclaim. Risk the new, or refine the familiar? In the world of music reviews, experimentation seems more often praised than populism. The “great composer” label seems most frequently awarded to those who push musical boundaries by developing new sounds and structures (or avoid them). The “populist” label is almost derisively applied to those whose work enjoys limited appeal due to local attitudes, fashion, and the sensibilities of the times.
I suppose that truly “immortal composers” manage both to push the musical boundaries of their age, while creating works with lasting popular appeal (though their popular acclaim may arise from their continual repetition).
Will Beethoven, Mozart, or Bach ever be dethroned? How long will Shostakovich or Copland last? These names are already assumed to be immortal.
There aren’t a lot of immortal composers in the Western Classical tradition. Would you put the essential list at 10? Maybe 20 at the outside? Fortunately, there are 1,000s more who veered toward “excessive” experiment or populism. So, as listeners, we have plenty of opportunity to dangle a foot in the experimental, then indulge in the popular.
Recently, I’ve enjoyed listening through the Naxos Music Library’s collection of Dmitri Kabalevsky’s work. So, he severly limited his experimentalism to created populist music (to keep his Soviet masters happy? Because he believed in the aesthetic of Socialist Realism?) Whatever. I like the music, particularly his Comedians suite.
New or familiar? Experimental or Populist?
What makes a great composer (or work)?
On a related thought, Harold Fromm touches on how the preimmenently immortal Bach fails to capture personal sympathy in J.S. Bach in the Twenty-First Century: The Chapel Becomes a Larder from the Hudson Review. Fromme writes, “When we hear ‘Mozart’ or ‘Beethoven,’ we think of a person behind the music. When we hear “Bach,” we think only of the music itself…”
What do you think?
