Why don't they compose music like Bach any more?

Re:Why don't they compose music like Bach any more? by pclmulqdq on Friday July 19, 2024 @11:26AM (#41007429)

I think (1) is sort of wrong. Many good/great composers do want to compose Bach-like music, and there's a subculture in the classical music world of them. What really stops people from building "masterpieces" in this way is the money. There's just no financial reason to do it.

On commissions, when you are charging $500/minute of symphonic music (a mid-market rate), you just can't write a minute of a Bach cantata and have it make financial sense. It takes a long time to develop the material for a big work of counterpoint like that, and even Bach didn't write his cantatas off of nothing - he was a working church organist, so he had plenty of time to try his new material (improvising at the organ during services) that was paid for.

Music has always been a business and there's no money in neo-Bach.

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Re:Why don't they compose music like Bach any more? by Jensson on Friday July 19, 2024 @02:50PM (#41009765)

> Many good/great composers

I think you are using great differently here, I assume he meant "one per generation" great or similar, you wont have many such people.

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Re:Why don't they compose music like Bach any more? by unparagoned on Friday July 19, 2024 @03:06PM (#41009924)

If the music was actually really good and people liked it then the money would be there.

Maybe Bach style music isn’t really a good as modern music.

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Re:Why don't they compose music like Bach any more? by pclmulqdq on Friday July 19, 2024 @07:51PM (#41012698)

Bach probably brings in more money for classical musicians than most classical composers, and that music definitely is "good" according to many people. There just aren't good economics in writing more music that is Bach-like.

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Re:Why don't they compose music like Bach any more? by cykros on Friday July 19, 2024 @08:30PM (#41012950)

The money in modern music isn't there for greatness. It follows the lowest common denominator. See: Taylor Swift and Beyonce.

Bach was writing pieces that were commissioned. Commissioned artwork always has a different character than artwork created for mass consumption.

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Re:Why don't they compose music like Bach any more? by pclmulqdq on Friday July 19, 2024 @10:16PM (#41013474)

The money today for classically-trained composers is also mostly in film music. The next biggest market is video game music. After that, symphonic works (eg openers and large works for full symphony orchestras) are a distant third.

The money has always been in commissioned music,* it's just about what is getting commissioned. Counterpoint rarely gets commissioned, let alone enough counterpoint to become Bach.

* Mozart's catalog is a great example: Salzburg Mozart wrote masses and organ fugues, while Vienna Mozart wrote operas and secular pieces. It's what he was paid to write.

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