Death of an eminent Scottish symphonist, 76

Tod Unctious says:

Classical music as we understand it effectively died out as an art form at the end of the nineteeth century, Brahms in his letters to Clara Schumann and the Herzogenbergs clearly felt he really was the Last of the Mohicans. What followed on was a gradual decline caused by two massive World wars which more than likely killed off anyone with talent and ability who could compose music one would want to listen to. Those composers left alive reacted to these events by going wrong note etc It is possible to construct a mathematical model to show this steep decline from 1900-1950 and then a further decline onwards from 1950 to 1999. What about our time from 2000 onwards, is it getting better, no it is not, composers now are academics with safe day jobs, they do not have to earn income from their music, which partly explains why it is so bad. As GB Shaw rightly remarked, those who can do, those who can’t teach. Schubert for example gave up his dull day job to compose full time, he got the odd tenner from his pals and earned very little from his songs etc. Had he not got infected with the Pox he would have easily made a living giving Schubertiads and chamber concerts filling the gap from 1830 to 1868 when Brahms and Bruckner arrived in Vienna. So his career never really took off as he died way too early.

A bad trend in the nineteeth century was over specialisation, some composers like Chopin only did piano music, some like Wolf just did songs, some like Bruckner did only Symphonies and some like Verdi and Wagner just operas, instead of composing a wide range like Brahms.
One aspect largely forgotten is that so called classical music evolved gradually from a mixture of sources, Court dance music, the church, theatre and folk music, the latter being very important in the baroque and Romantic eras. For example, Martin Luther used folk tunes in his chorales, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer and Heinrich Ignaz Franz v Biber both were influenced by folk fiddle music. Chopin and Liszt, and others in the nineteeth century were influenced by folk music as was the composer of symphonic cowpats Ralph Vaughan Williams. What came after was a complete break from reality, mainly due toa singular lack of talent and creative ability. It is contrary to popular belief rather difficult to compose an original melody and elaborate on it, the Pop industry has already ran into the problem of a lack of tunes, which explains why Pop now sounds all the same. Is there a way out of the boring tunnel, in the 21st century, not until they give up composing dirges and start composing stuff folk would willingly pay to listen to, which is unlikely. Hence we end up going to concerts to listen to old favourites , Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Handel, Haydn etc. Contemporary music is as popular as a rattle snake in a lucky dip, which is why audiences avoid it. Composers need to understand that life is too short to listen to wrong notes, we want a tune and if they cannot provide one we will just stick to our old favourites. I can see folk still listening to them for the next few centuries.

They certainly will not be buying CDs of John Borstlap! It would be interested to know what music if any will exist in 3000/4000 AD. At least “My lovely horse” will still be enjoyed for generations to come! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzYzVMcgWhg