Schoenberg et al. were famous while they were alive. Their works were performed publicly, and adored by the cogniscenti, for decades.
And this is still the case! There’s been no “falling out of favor”. On the one hand, you have elite musicians, who mostly admire Schoenberg; on the other hand, you have musical laypeople, who mostly don’t. Same as it’s always been!
You’ve already demonstrated before that you don’t know what’s going on in music today. Why do you keep making authoritative-sounding pronouncements on the matter?
(BTW, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven all made special studies of Bach’s music in the 18th century; so I’m skeptical of the “Bach had no reputation as a composer” argument.)
He had a tremendous reputation as a composer—among those in a position to know about his work. That wasn’t a very large group.
No; I was contrasting Schoenberg with Bach. Given the chance, most people liked Bach. Given the chance, most people didn’t like Schoenberg.
Schoenberg may be good for people with decades of specialized training. Having fashion dictated by those people with specialized training resulted in a peacock’s-tail runaway selection, and the effective extinction of the greatest family of music in history. IMHO.
You can’t have it both ways. Your faction can’t be both the underdog and the triumphant party at the same time. If Schoenberg et al fell out of favor and ended up in the dustbin of musical history, then you can’t complain about his influence. If, on the other hand, you think he is responsible for the “extinction of the greatest family of music in history”, then you must concede that he is still taken seriously by those in the know.
And this is still the case! There’s been no “falling out of favor”. On the one hand, you have elite musicians, who mostly admire Schoenberg; on the other hand, you have musical laypeople, who mostly don’t. Same as it’s always been!
You’ve already demonstrated before that you don’t know what’s going on in music today. Why do you keep making authoritative-sounding pronouncements on the matter?
He had a tremendous reputation as a composer—among those in a position to know about his work. That wasn’t a very large group.
No; I was contrasting Schoenberg with Bach. Given the chance, most people liked Bach. Given the chance, most people didn’t like Schoenberg.
Schoenberg may be good for people with decades of specialized training. Having fashion dictated by those people with specialized training resulted in a peacock’s-tail runaway selection, and the effective extinction of the greatest family of music in history. IMHO.
You can’t have it both ways. Your faction can’t be both the underdog and the triumphant party at the same time. If Schoenberg et al fell out of favor and ended up in the dustbin of musical history, then you can’t complain about his influence. If, on the other hand, you think he is responsible for the “extinction of the greatest family of music in history”, then you must concede that he is still taken seriously by those in the know.
Can’t you?