The literature thread that’s going on inspired this, but now that the 20th century is over I have to wonder if it will have left a lasting musical mark. The era of “modern” music has gone on for about as long as the Romantic era- a period of music that has produced a never-ending supply of classics.
So what 20th century pieces do you think listeners (not just academia though) will be enjoying in 100 years?
I can’t help but feel that alot of 20th century music will be forgotten. I’m reminded that 14th century music also featured very complex rhythms, unusual harmonies (double leading tones, anyone?) and even a type of serialism (isorhythms and whatnot). And honestly, how often to you hear 14th century music performed or talked about these days? I wonder if modern music will suffer the same fate.
But anyway:
The Bartok and Stravinsky works of the early 1900s are sorta like gimmes. Beyond that, I imagine that Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire may survive. And Ives’ The Unanswered Question has just the right combination of accessibility and artistic merit to be popular.
But those are just a few ideas- what do you guys think?
Messiaen will surely be remembered, particularly for Turangalîla.
Berg’s Violin Concerto
Penderecki’s Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima
Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Fanfare for the Common Man
I’m not sure how I think posterity will treat Phillip Glass and John Adams.
A lot of classic-style orchestral music that will endure from the twentieth century was composed for film scores. The orchestral suite arranged from the score of The Empire Strikes Back, for example, is a very powerful concert piece.
I would think that The Planets will be popular for centuries to come.
Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Some Benjamin Britten works, I would think. Probably A Ceremony of Carols at least.
Sir Edward Elgar - Enigma Variations
Aaron Copland - Appalachian Spring, Rodeo, Fanfare for the Common Man.
Leonard Bernstein - West Side Story
George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue
Copland and Gershwin seem to have been mentioned a couple of times while I was composing (!) my post just above, so I guess that’s confirmation of their greatness!
So is it safe to say that the guys who gave tonality a quick kick in pants probably won’t be remembered (not saying that’s a good or bad thing)? Or at the very least they will be greatly overshadowed by the Coplands and such.
It is strange though, if you ask someone today what they think of modern classical music they would probably think you meant that “weird” atonal stuff. I even have an old textbook from 1968 that intends to be asurvey of 20th century music- it barely even admits that Copland exists and instead focuses almost entirely on serialists.
Strange - to me the defining characteristic of the 20th century music scene was the “battle against tonality” that happened early to mid century. And yet, it seems perfectly plausible that this century will instead go down as the time during which “West Side Story” and “Metropolis Symphony” were written.
Makes you wonder what wacky musics of the past have been forgotten…
Maybe a variety of jazz pieces will be considered the “classical” music of the 20th Century and will include the work of Tom Jobim, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, George Shearing…
Some of Glass’s work will most definately be remembered. His score for Koyaanisqatsi if for no other reason than the film has had such a powerful impact on filmmaking. Adams, I have no idea, though Nixon in China stands a good chance, since it’s the first (if not only) opera about a US President.
Gyorgy Ligeti’s early works (piano pieces and “micropolyphony” choral works) will certainly survive. His “Musica Ricercata” is an important example of how some composers responded to Stalinism, and his “Requiem for Soprano” is simply hands down one of the most beautiful pieces of the century. However, I doubt his later works will survive, as scatological humour doesn’t last long (with the exception of Shakespeare).
Any number of works by Richard Strauss, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Aaron Copeland
Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”
Prokiev’s “Peter and the Wolf”
Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and “Symphony for Piano and Orchestra in F Major”
Barber’s “Adagio for Strings”
Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story” (Some might quibble that this is not classical, but I think future generations will come to consider it a classical piece, and Bernstein has written a symphonic piece based on West Side Story’s songs)
Duke Ellington’s “Black, Brown, and Tan,” and possibly other of his pieces, will be absorbed into the classical repertory
I think works by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Lerner & Lowe, Jerome Kern, and Hoagy Carmichael will come to be included in the classical repertory in years to come for much the same reasons that some classical stations now play Stephen Foster’s songs. At least I know WFIU-FM, 103.7, Indiana University’s station, plays Foster occasionally.
Henryk Gorecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, a requiem for those who died in the Holocaust will also be played, I’m sure. If you haven’t heard it, it makes Barber’s Adagio for Strings look like dance music.
Hate to rain on the parade, but for those of you thinking wistfully about Gershwin, Bernstein, et al: it’s more likely to be Webber who gets remembered.
