How easily can cultural tidbit attain 'immortality'?

[Al B. Sure!]

sigh... i was taught this by one of my english teachers... i don't have any websites or nothing to cite. i can try to look it up though but you know how it is searching on google for something as vague as this...

Imran, and yet the name rap still remains to describe this genre after over 20 years... disco is no longer in the mainstream and its successors are not called disco... (and don't go and claim it was called hip hop back in the day cause that's actually not true... that Sugar Hill Gang song that 'started' rap was called RAPper's Delight)

[mindseye]

But they may not be reverently recording and re-recording, say "Blue Train," the way we now record and re-record Beethoven's 5th.

Well, in Bach's time, at least, people were not interested in hearing the same pieces performed and re-performed as they do now. They were much more interested in the novelty of new pieces. Also, some elements of baroque (bass lines, ornamentation) were performed spontaneously. Go back a step further to Renaissance music, and improvisation was central to performance. Spontaneity may not be a limiting factor in cultural staying power.

On the other hand, both Renaissance and Baroque fell all but completely out of favor until they were "revived" in the 1900s. Who can predict the fluctuations of taste?

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Albert Speer
why mozart still is known i dont know...

Gee...it could be because he wrote some of the most spectacularly brilliant music ever conceived...

but i'm sure 75% of his contemporaries (such as Salerie) never achieved any fame beyond their generation...

Salieri was more famous and well-respected in his lifetime than Mozart was. Despite the dramatic license of "Amadeus," Salieri was not insanely jealous of Mozart--indeed, Salieri had no reason to be jealous of anyone, since he was one of the most popular musicians of his day.

Times change, however, and fame is fleeting. It wasn't until well after Mozart's death that most of his works became known again, mostly through the championship of musical giants like Beethoven. The same is true for Bach, who was never well-regarded during his life as a composer, but rather was famous for being a church organist. It was Mozart who actually brought Bach's music back into the limelight, ironically enough.

The reason the music of Bach and Mozart endured is because it is timelessly great music. Recording technology has indeed helped make more musicians longer lasting in our memories. The fact that the great classical masterpieces are remembered in spite of their not having been recorded until decades or perhaps centuries after their composition is simply testament to how great this music is.

As for music in 1904: The delineation between classical and popular music did not really exist as it does today. People certainly had access to music in 1904, in the form of live performances. Every town, even most of those in the U.S., had live music venues, and musicians toured the country giving concerts. Opera companies enjoyed immense popularity. There was also, of course, vaudeville and other music hall-type stuff.

Most music, though, was heard in the sitting rooms and salons of middle- and upper-class homes. Private recitals were quite common, either performed by local hired musicians, guests or the homeowners themselves. Music was a far more interactive affair then than it was 50 years later, and only now with the advent of computerized help is it starting to become so again.

[MrFun]

How about Mario?

[st_swithin]

Amadeus was AMAZING - the first time I actually sat through an entire movie without getting up at least once.

F. Murray Abraham is a GOD.

[Odin]

Originally posted by MrFun
How about Mario?

He'll be around as long as Nintendo is.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by MrFun
How about Mario?

Which one?

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov


Which one?

Well, duh -- the guy in the trousers that stomps on Koopas.

[Odin]

Originally posted by MrFun


Well, duh -- the guy in the trousers that stomps on Koopas.

[st_swithin]

And Goombas.

[MrFun]

and Bob-Ombs

[Odin]

Originally posted by MrFun
and Bob-Ombs

BOOM

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Odin


BOOM

ok -- not those guys then

[st_swithin]

Anyone else remember the jumpy sock level of Super Mario III?

I musta played that level a thousand times - I'd play all the way through the entire game to get the infinite lives, then play through to that level. I'd kill Mario before completing the level, so I could start the jumpy sock level again.

[Odin]

Originally posted by st_swithin
Anyone else remember the jumpy sock level of Super Mario III?

I musta played that level a thousand times - I'd play all the way through the entire game to get the infinite lives, then play through to that level. I'd kill Mario before completing the level, so I could start the jumpy sock level again.

Jumpy Sock level? which world is that in (i haven't SMB3 for a while)?