Having written software that composes classical music, I am wondering
if such music will ever be acceptable to CM types.  I was wondering what
about CM makes it appealing to people and have determined the following
possibilities:

Its historical value - that it was written in another time
Its musical value - that is it musically well done, emotional, pleasing, etc.
Its composer - that it was written by, for example, Beethoven, Bach,...
Its performance value - that it was performed by, for example, Rubenstein

These four, there are possibily more, should add up to 100% of its value.
Those who give a high percentage to, say, historical value, would tend to
like any classical music regardless of who wrote it or who performs it.
Others may give a high percentage to its musical merit, and liike it (and
but it) even if it was written by a high school student last month.  Some
may like any music performed by Horowitz.

There are ramifications to this survey.  For example, if high ranks are
given to, say, historical value, then modern composers have litle chance of
being famous until 100 years have gone by.  If a lower ranking is given to
musical merit, then the same goes for good amateur composers and computer
generated music as well.  Would a great piece of music, written by Mozart,
lose its value if it was learned that its was actually written by a music
student in the style of Mozart, that is, its the composer - stupid, not the
musical merit.

Interested persons might reply like this:

Historical - 5%
Composer - 40%
Musical merit - 50%
Performer - 5%

or

Historical - 30%
Composer - 10%
Musical merit - 50 %
Performer - 10%

I realize that this might vary from composition to composition but in
general the categories should work for all calssical music.

This might also explain
- why much good classical music of old is not well known - its good music,
- why people would buy a CD of a given performer without hearing it first,
- why modern composers have difficulty exposing their music

I will summarize the results and you may write me privately to make if you
don't want the list to know how you feel about it, least the list members
mightl think you are a CM snob:-).

Bill
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