At 11:02 AM -0500 1/28/06, David W. Fenton wrote:
On 28 Jan 2006 at 7:17, dhbailey wrote:
There are many more composers over the past century than just
Schoenberg. And audiences respond very favorably to many of them, if
they're just given a chance to hear the music.
While what you say is certainly true, there's an unintended knock at
Schoenberg (intended to represent what the audiences think, not what
David Bailey thinks), and I think Schoenberg definitely gets a bum
rap.
If you actually known any significant body of his work, you'd
recognize that there's an enormous variety of styles and sounds, even
in the serial works, and the reputation for severity is completely
undeserved, in my opinion. While I wouldn't say that Schoenberg's
music overall is "easily accessible," it ain't that tough.
David (F) makes an important point. Schoenberg was a superb composer
long before he adopted pantonality, atonality, or serialism, and he
remained a superb composer in spite of his adoption of serial
techniques. Much the same can be said of Berg, whose music
transcends his compositional techniques. The excerpts I have heard
of "Wozzeck" are chillingly powerful and make Wagner look like a
beginner. I doubt that Webern was ever in the same class as either
of them.
But the academics throughout most of the 20th century who attempted
to shove serial techniques down the public's throat (and not so
incidentally down the throats of their own students!) and who lacked
some or all of the superb musicianship of those composers are the
ones who lost contemporary audiences and gave "modern music" a bad
name. (Academic: A composer who earns a living teaching because
s/he cannot write music that earns a living, but argues that any
music that sells is a sellout.) IMHO it is the unrelenting sameness
of constant tension throughout a piece without relief or relaxation
that makes the music unpleasant to listen to, not serial technique
per se. Unchanging ANYTHING is simply the hallmark of a composer who
has nothing interesting to say.
My own specialization is in early music, so I have not sampled the
great majority of 20th century composers whose music might appeal to
me, let alone 21st century. Much of what I do hear I like very much,
but I seldom have any great desire to hear it a second time.
John
--
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
_______________________________________________
Finale mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
