This question was actually brought up at a marketing forum, of all places and while I gave a brief response there I really want to dive into this one in depth because it’s really a fascinating topic when you think about it and one that can be written about in novels. Well, I’ll try to keep this to about 1,000 words. Please don’t shoot me if I run over by a bit, or a lot because there is a lot that can be said on this subject.
Let’s start with this question.
Who is to say what’s “better?” Look, there is a lot of music from the 1800s that I can’t stand, just like there is a lot of music from today’s era that makes me want to throw my radio out the window. So right off the bat, we are talking about something that is highly subjective.
I mean it’s not like we’re comparing two oven cleaners. Sure, if you use them both and one gets your oven cleaner than the other, it’s better. If one knife is sharper than another it’s going to do a better job of cutting through a tough piece of meat.
But how the heck do we measure greatness in music? Do we go by technical composition skills such as adherence to the rules (no parallel 5ths, etc.) or do we go by popularity? Do we let what the masses like dictate and determine what is great? If that’s the case then I think the world is in serious trouble. I won’t single out or mention any specific genres because I don’t want to offend anybody, but there is a lot of stuff that’s popular (extremely so) that I personally can’t even listen to.
So until we can even come up with a definition or way to describe greatness in music, this is all an exercise in futility. One man’s greatness is another man’s “Please God, make it stop before I slit my wrists.” But for the purposes of this article, let’s assume that we can arrive at some way to determine greatness. We can plug a piece of music into an equation and come up with a greatness factor for each genre and this equation works fine as long as all the pieces of music are in that same genre. In other words, we can compare two pieces of classical music and determine which one is greater. We still have another problem.
There is more than one genre of music. And if we’re going to say, “Yeah, but nothing (in general) is greater than classical music” then we’re just being musical snobs and there’s no point in even having this discussion. Classical music is not the be all and end all. And for that matter, within the “classical” realm, there are so many different types of classical music. Are we then going to nitpick even further and come out with some ridiculous statement that the romantic era of classical music is the greatest of them all? How absurd do we want to make this? And so what, all the other composers are inferior?
So since we can’t say a particular genre is better than another, we therefore have to include ALL genres of music. Yes, I mean pop, rock, electronic, soul, reggae, Latin, classical, and on and on. And of course ultimately that’s what we’re doing when we ask the question, “Are composers today better than yesterday’s?”
Well, let’s see. Who is considered one of today’s great composers? I think, at least in the area of “classical” like music, John Williams would certainly be up there. If nothing else, he has certainly composed a lot of stuff.
In fact, in going through John Williams’ list of compositions, he has done 113 film scores and about 20 or 30 other works including TV themes and various “classical” compositions. That’s not bad.
Hmmm, let’s see. Mozart has done 41 symphonies, 29 pieces for piano, 12 pieces for violin, 6 pieces for horns, 8 pieces for woodwinds…Okay, let me stop. Mozart had written over 500 works. And all of them in a brief life of 35 years.
John Williams is 82.
So if you want to go by who has more guns, Mozart wins this war as Williams is terribly outgunned.
But can you measure greatness by quantity alone, if at all? If that’s the case, I’ve got ’em both beat as I’ve written over 6,000 pieces in my brief 56 years on this planet. So I win.
Seriously, this is not a “whose is bigger” contest. Bigger is not always better. The old gas guzzlers of the 60s and 70s are living proof of that. God, those cars were awful. But I digress.
So what do we have to do? Well, I guess we have to listen to all of the compositions of Mozart’s and Williams. Great, when you have the 10 years in your life to be able to pull that off, let me know. Me? I have better things to do with my time, not that I wouldn’t mind listening to all that music. It’s just I do have a life and have to make a living. Nobody’s going to pay me to undertake this one.
But let’s for argument sake say that we take the top 10 pieces as voted by the many people throughout the years who have listened to the works of Mozart and Williams and listen to them all and analyze them all. How do we determine “greatness”?
Again, if it’s by technical accuracy, I seriously doubt either one makes any mistakes.
But isn’t that irrelevant? Don’t we listen to music with our hearts? Isn’t it how the music makes us feel that determines how great it is? In this case, there are pieces by Mozart and Williams that all make me feel great o make me cry or exhilarate me. You want me to choose between the two? That’s like trying to choose between your two children. Good luck with that.
If you haven’t yet seen the futility of trying to compare composers of two different eras, or two composers of the same era for that matter, then I could write another thousand words and it wouldn’t make a bit of difference. I don’t know if today’s composers are greater than yesterday’s, nor do I care.
All I know is there is a lot of great music in this world and I’ve yet to hear a fraction of it.
Mozart or Williams?
Hey, what about that McCartney guy?
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim