Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site unm-cvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!houxm!houxz!vax135!floyd!cmcl2!lanl-a!unm-cvax!janney From: janney@unm-cvax.UUCP Newsgroups: net.music.classical Subject: Re: composers popular in their day Message-ID: <924@unm-cvax.UUCP> Date: Mon, 4-Jun-84 02:35:41 EDT Article-I.D.: unm-cvax.924 Posted: Mon Jun 4 02:35:41 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 6-Jun-84 04:22:59 EDT References: <295@ames-lm.UUCP> Organization: Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque Lines: 48 <- kills bugs dead for months > While I am not an authority on music, I had the impression that > most of the pre-20th century composers we currently honor were quite > popular in their own time. Examples include Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Beethoven, > Tschaikovsky, Liszt, Chopin, Mendelssohn... I think I could continue > in this vein forever. But I'm not sure I could name a single pre-20th > century composer who was *not* popular in his own time (except for some > who still aren't popular). J. S. Bach was not popular in his time. Interestingly enough, his music was considered stuffy and old-fashioned. His music did not become widely known until the 19th century when it was popularised by, I believe, Mendelssohn. Handel and Vivaldi were indeed quite popular in their time. Beethoven was extremely controversial in his time. He departed radically from the current musical conventions, and this disturbed many of his musically knowledgeable contemporaries. There is a story that Clementi (a pianist and composer of the period) said to Beethoven (about his op. 59 quartets): "Surely you do not consider these works to be music?" to which Beethoven replied: "Oh, they are not for you, but for a later age".* Liszt and Chopin were best known as virtuoso pianists. I don't know about Tschaikovsky. Mendelssohn was independently wealthy. > Up until somewhere around the time of Mozart, I believe, composers > depended on a patron to provide their living, and therefore had to be > appreciated by at least some of their contemporaries, or they'd have > starved. The idea that Great Art will not be appreciated until long after > the creator is dust seems a modern idea, and not supported by the evidence. Beethoven was the first composer to deliberately write for later ages. Before that, music was written to be performed for a few years and then thrown away: this is why Vivaldi wrote so many concertos and why Haydn wrote so many symphonies, most of which are no longer extent. Beethoven was also the first composer to make a reasonable living without depending on a particular patron; he accomplished this in part by shrewd business practices. *Grout, A History of Western Music, revised edition, page 525 Jim Janney {{convex,ucbvax,gatech}!unmvax, {purdue,lbl-csam,cmcl2}!lanl-a}!unm-cvax!janney Help! My postilion has been struck by lightning!