Is classical music dead?

Question

This question was asked to my music theory class, and I was curious what the rest of the world thought about it. Yes, no and why?

These results are similar to those in my theory class, so just to add another twist, I'll ask the question my teacher asked us: If classical music is not dead, then how do you explain the lack of modern classical composers? Can you think of a modern classical composer who is well known by many, like Mozart was in his day? I mean, Mozart was a child star around all of Europe in his time. He was composing at age 4. Today, that just doesn't happen. So is classical music dead, dying, or alive and well?

Answer 1

Classical Music is always evolving and even incorporates pop music now (although you may not recognize the pop elements right away.) Classical music is music of depth that looks upon itself for development. A true art form and actually not easy to define. The modern arts are not typically well-known by the public, but most certainly thrive. This is more true now than ever. In fact, the classical music written today is far more cutting edge than most pop music--so cutting edge that many people don't know it because it is not very marketable (this is not a cut against pop music, for which I have utmost respect.) Most Classical composers were not house-hold names in their day. Composers such as Bach or Mahler were quite unknown in their lifetimes. Remember, we live in a Mass Market pop culture environment--composers in the past just did not have that type of publicity.

Probably the best known Classical composer that is living today is Phillip Glass. Until his death a decade or so ago, John Cage was one of the best known living composers. Igor Stravinsky was treated like a hero until he died in 1971. Leonard Berstein was respected world over and he only died several years ago. John Corigliano is pretty well known too, as is Tan Dun, Michael Torke, Pierre Boulez, George Crumb, William Bolcom, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Gorecki, Penderecki, and Steve Reich just to name a few living classical composers that are very well known.

There are thousands of modern Classical composers world over who are still writing music and premiering pieces with orchestras and making recordings. If you want to know about a classical composer near you, just visit your local University, and you'll find a few teaching there (probably a music theory class!) Are why are there still hundreds of people receiving doctorates in (classical) music composition every year? Note that the internet makes people simultaneously famous and obscure--one could have millions of followers without anyone in the general public having ever heard of you.

Some of the biggest organizations of composers in the U.S. are the Society of Composers Inc. http://www.societyofcomposers.org/
the American Composers Forum http://www.composersforum.org/
the American Music Center http://www.amc.net/
the National Association of Composers in the USA http://www.music-usa.org/nacusa/
and the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States http://www.seamusonline.org/
--and that's just in the U.S. every country has several organizations like this.

So no matter what anyone thinks, it most certainly is not, and will never be, dead.

P.S. just in case anyone is confused, Yanni (New Age), Andrew Lloyd Webber (musical theater), and John Williams Film scores are not considered classical music by those who study and write about classical music.

P.P.S. you music theory teacher sounds like an idiot, "Why is there a lack of Classical composers"? There isn't, there's more today than there ever was at anytime in history (it can even be proven.) Why is this person teaching music theory if they don't know this relatively basic fact? (Or perhaps he's testing you, to see if you can actually figure out that his statement was false....hmm.)

P.P.S. yes there are MANY children still who develop high talent at a young age like Mozart, however this is not considered all that unique (and doesn't mean it will continue onto adulthood anyway...) You know, just because Mozart was talented at 4, doesn't mean everyone in the world knew who he was at that moment (they didn't put him on cable TV or start a webpage) that story was popularized later.

Answer 2

How could it be dead? I don't know where you live; I live in the New York City area, and they are having the Mostly Mozart Festival in Lincoln Center even as I keyboard this.
I notice that when people talk about music being dead, they are usually comparing the sales of that music to the sales of some pop artist or some rapper or something. Example: the people who said that jazz was "dead" in the sixties;they were comparing the sales of jazz to the sales of British acts like the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.Even though jazz was being used in soundtracks for hit television shows and various movies,they overlooked this fact because they had an issue with the sales and the commercial power of these British acts.
Classical music is very much alive today, not only in terms of things like the Mostly Mozart performances in NYC and live classical performances elsewhere, but also in the influence that classical music had and continues to have on artists and composers who do not immediately appear to be classical artists.E.G., there was recently an interview with a guy who is touring with the band "Tower of Power," and he talked about how he studied classical music in college, and he feels that he would not be as successful today as he is if he had not.
Classical music dead?
I think not.

Answer 3

No, classical music is not dead, it's just not good for selling sodas and gamesets.

Classical music is alive and well, with new pieces being written every day. Just as there are new operas and musicals and operettas and ballets being written every day. The reason the question is valid is because these things are no longer mainstream.

Public radio is a very good place to hear new pieces being introduced into the culture, and I personally have at least 5 Internet stations which play classics from specific centuries and brand new compositions. And then there's the various concerts and performances which pop up in every major American city each season.

Yes Virginia...there is a living classical society out there.

Answer 4

If classical music were dead, then it would no longer exist. However, I still hear classical music on NPR, recitals, competitions, and master classes. Classical music is very much alive, but it does not have the same popularity as it once had. I am a pianist, and I would be very sad at the moment if I heard that classical music was "dead." Classical musicians are born everday, and the best go on to teach and win competitions such as the Tchaikovsky or Cliburn competition.

Answer 5

Definitely not. Classical music is "classic" so it will always outlive most of the junk that comes along. Don't get me wrong, I like the "junk" stuff but know enough to appreciate classical music. My mother, then my husband exposed me to it and I've come to love some of it, not all. Some of my favorites are Chopin and Liszt, some of the more romantic ones. My husband prefers Beethoven and Mozart.

Answer 6

It will never be dead.
Nothing has replaced it.

Most music today is short lived.

Will "Rhapsody in Blue" die?
Where are the new "Gershwins", aside from the old masters?

I like most of the new genres, but there are times when they get tiring. Classics never do that when one is relaxing.

Theory is interesting, huh? Wish I had started young.

Answer 7

No! Classical music is so beautiful, and you hear it without sometimes even recognizing it, like in movies, for instance. Give me Beethoven, Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, etc. any day!

Answer 8

No because there is some very nice classical music and a lot of fans who support it.

Answer 9

Its called classical for a reason, it won't die. Anyone that says yes, watches to much MTV.

Answer 10

No way...I love classical and many others still do too