Steve Schwartz wrote:

>It's comforting to think that quality wins out in the long run,
>but this isn't always true.  There's plenty of old junk around, now
>sanctioned because it's old - think of something like Ralph Roysterdoyster,
>Elizabethan cotton candy that I've never heard anybody argue for as even
>mediocre, but which grad students have to suffer through (to get "a sense
>of the times").  If you think about it, masterpieces have probably
>disappeared through centuries of neglect.

I think that more masterpieces have disappeared through centuries of war
and conflict.  But it is comforting to know that Beethoven and Mozart
will continue to sell and that records that most pop music will not sell a
single copy after the generation that listens to it passes on to oblivion.
I think that people will still listen to the Beetles and other greats, but
most will simply fade to nothingness.  But this is to be expected.  Even
a Classical Music fan probably doesn't have the names of more than one
hundred or so composers commited to memory.  Even ignorant philistines
likely know the name of Bach, but what of one of his less-talented peers
such as Quantz, or even someone of lesser stature? History has a way of
forgetting the lightweights who have their fifeteen minutes in the
limelight and then are remembered only by history students studying the
questionable culture of the era.