Expert: Marbeth - 9/20/2008

Question
Hi Dr. Marbeth:

I am typing this as I listen to Moonlight sonata 3rd movement before I start studying for my Anatomy exam.

I have no background in Music but I am incredibly interested in Musicology. I am particularly interested to learn lives of great composers and those era in Europe - cultural, religious etc history of those times.

Also, in the current times, do we have composers, musicians like Beethoven, Bach, Chopin etc? or is it that there are that type of composers but we have not been able to appreciate them yet?

Another question.. What cultural or other elements inspired such a rich music culture in Europe?

Would you be able to recommend any resources or books where I can learn more about these topics, especially about the lives of the great composers and the time they lived in Europe?

Thank you very much and have a great day.
Shahab

Answer
I think you have the right of it.  We are too "close" to their music to be able to evaluate who will be important representatives of music of the 20th and 21st centuries.  For example, probably George Gershwin.  Maybe the Beatles.  

It's important to remember that during the times of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, etc., there were many, many composers of perfectly good - - or even perfectly wonderful - - music who were not remembered. Perhaps because they didn't get the exposure to the public because of where they lived (isolated in the Alps of Switzerland, for example).  Or they had a precarious source of income, relying on commissions (that's "100% commission" today).  Or they couldn't find a publisher.  Or they lived in a place without a tradition of public concerts.  Or the person who booked the concerts didn't like the composer and/or the music and so refused to book the works.  Or their manuscripts were burned in a house fire.  In a fit of jeaoulsy or anger, someone threw out the manuscripts.  There are all kinds of reasons.  

And, of course, there were a large, large number of composers whose work just wasn't very good.

As to inspiration, I'm thinking that because the European states are small and thus there are many of them "clustered" on the continent, that there was a lot of cross-fertilization.  Styles and ideas flowed freely across borders.  Also during this time (pre-1900) there was a lot of  travel to and from the Middle East; and, to a lesser extent, to Asia.  Lots of new ideas from these places.  Because the U.S. was so geographically-separated, very little cross-fertilization happened until about 1920, when quicker trans-Atlantic travel allowed the more- rapid and efficient transmission of ideas.  Ragtime was one of those things.  Look at the works of Debussy ("Golliwog's Cakewalk" and "The Minstrels" are good examples of the introduction of ragtime in European music).  Jazz, too, of course.  

~~~As to books about composers:

http://www.amazon.com/Lives-Great-Composers-Harold-Schonberg/dp/0393038572

http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Music/MusicHistoryWestern/~~/dmlld...

both good general sources

for particular composers, start with Google or at Wikipedia

~~~Also check on the web:

http://www.essentialsofmusic.com/composer/composers.html
pretty comprehensive

http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/public-domain/composers/
also excellent

You are most welcome! mb