At 10:53 AM +0000 1/29/06, Owain Sutton wrote:
Some good points, perhaps, although I think you need a bit more evidence before making such claims about Dufay or Josquin with such certainty!
In DuFay's lifetime the popularity of one's music can be measured by the number of manuscripts containing that music, and his is in lots of them. And Ottaviano Petrucci in Venice was one of the first printers of polyphonic music, a successful businessman, and therefore a shrewd judge of his own marketplace, and he chose to print and publish much of Josquin's sacred music.
However, moulding one's music to fit the market expectation is *not* necessary in order to make a living from composing, and there *are* composers who do so with music that nobody would describe as toned-down or sold-out.
Yes there are, and I don't mean to deny it. But that's a matter of creating a market that didn't exist before by presenting something appealing and putting it before those to whom it might appeal, and not necessarily meeting PAST market expectations. That's two key factors: music that is appealing (and music CAN be appealing without being watered down!), and making it known. The first is the creative side of a composer's job description; the second is the business side, which composers are often clueless about.
However, your general tone seems to look on the composer purely in a utilitarian manner - particularly in the suggestion that wind band music is the way forward.
OK, I consider composers to be highly skilled craftsmen and women, exactly as they considered themselves through the end of the 18th century. If that is utilitarian, then so be it. I do not consider composers "artistes" who are "inspired" and "must compose what they must compose." That's romantic BS. Or not. But it isn't something I've ever felt, nor has my wife, who is the real composer in the family.
And as to the wind band as the movement of the future, it simply is. And I, personally, believe the traditional symphony orchestra to be the closest thing possible to a perfect ensemble to express virtually anything in music. But the OrchestraList is full of weeping and gnashing of teeth by conductors searching for new audience members and composers seeking a first performance of their works, let alone a second, while the wind band world is wide open to creative and challenging works by living composers. It lacks the flexibility and tonal possibilities of the orchestra, but it is where the greatest growth outside pop music is bound to take place in the 21st century. (You heard it here first!)
Please don't think that I'm advocating this, but I am aware of many different facets of the music world and I'm simply describing what I see.
John -- John & Susie Howell Virginia Tech Department of Music Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
