Norman Schwartz replies to me:

>>By those standards, no classical music composer is great.  The man in the
>>street would rather suck exhaust fumes from the tailpipe of a bus (only
>>slightly overstating here) than listen to classical music.
>
>Nonsense.  Just think about the music we have sent into outer-space to
>be appreciated by extra-terrestrials!

What if extra-terrestrials don't have ears?  Just fooling around.

>(On a very pessimistic note, if a composer's livelihood were dependent
>upon his/her's musics acceptance, their compositions would of necessity
>have to achieve wide appreciation.)

Would that this flow chart were valid.  I hate to bring this up, but
almost no classical composer - including those who write Lovely Tonal Music
- makes money from the work, unless it's work for the movies.  Commissions
usually don't cover costs, and the works aren't played often enough for the
composer to earn an income from royalties.  One of the big success stories,
however, is Hannibal Lokumbe, who publishes his own stuff and charges hefty
fees for score rentals and performing rights.  His African Portraits has
had close to 80 performances at least since the Chicago premiered it.  On
the other hand, Lokumbe doesn't write Lovely Tonal Music.  Samuel Barber
had family money and patrons through much of his career.  Copland and
Stravinsky had patrons and made real money when they conducted and
performed.  Vaughan Williams had family money.  Everybody else, without
these opportunities, has a day job.

Steve Schwartz