Jocelyn Wang replies to Donald Satz:

>>If Mozart were writing the same works, I speculate that none of them would
>>even see the light of day.  There's a time and place for everything, and
>>Mozart's music wouldn't stand a chance in the 20th century.
>
>The critics and pseudo-intellectuals would pooh-pooh it, but that would be
>a poor reflection on them, not the music.

Now that's interesting:  how do you distinguish between intellectuals and
pseudo-intellectuals.  Is every music critic a pseudo-intellectual?

>>Of course, if Mozart were born in 1956, he wouldn't write the same music.
>>Personally, I don't even think he would be writing any classical music.
>>Maybe jazz or progressive rock, but not classical.  My belief is that the
>>majority of potentially great classical composers in the latter half of the
>>20th century stayed clear of classical music.  They went where the money
>>and fame reside.
>
>I believe they stayed with classical music, and suffered obscurity because
>of it.

I can't belive that.  Mozart was so innovative and liked a good expensive
life so much he would have jumped headfirst into what electronic music,
pop music, rock music, jazz, classical music and sampling could offer him.
He would be the king of the charts and I would fancy this.

>The fact that Mozart's father and publisher were on his case to write more
>to the public's taste shows that he went where his artistry took him rather
>than pander to the masses.

Sorry but this sentence makes no sense unless the public's taste and the
real artistry were accidentally the same.

>No, he wouldn't have written the same works, because his influences would
>have been different.) Neither would Beethoven have written the same works
>back then if Mozart had been transplanted 200 years later, because he would
>have had no Mozart to influence him.) But Mozart was too much of a genius
>to merely cater to the public.  To say that he was merely a pop composer
>of his time does a disservice to his talent and output.

What I don't like about a lot of classical music lovers is that they treat
their heroes like gods and that it is blasphemy to say things like "Mozart
was a pop musician" or call Wagner "Little Richard".  Goodness, treat
humans like humans.  And have a little bit of humour.  I for one don't like
to sit in a concert hall like I do in a church.  Classical music is the
finest form of entertainment for me but still entertainment.  And Mozart
is my Frank Sinatra of the classic epoch.

Robert