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a century hence ago
Nov. 23rd, 2009 09:25 amThis is the second part of the post on the history of musical taste that I began here.
It's 1909. What are the symphonies by currently-living composers that have been most often played by major American orchestras in the last ten years?
And then, how often were those works played in the decade 50 years later? A century later?
( The numbers )
Aside from the further canonization of Mahler and a few other composers, the interesting rediscovery of the neglected Elgar First, and the even more curious disappearance of d'Indy's "Symphony on a French Mountain Air" (the last remaining piece of a once-popular composer), not a lot happened to the list between 1959 and today. The sorting-out process had already pretty much taken place by then. But look at the 1900s column - how many of the works played in the 1950s and even more the 2000s were unheard then, and how many had disappeared. Some of them are still well-recognized names, like Balakirev and Glazunov, who've made Elgar-like resurrections in recent years, but more on record than in concert. But others are still forgotten.
You can't make too much out of the original 1900s list. Of the 27 orchestras analyzed by Mueller, only eleven were yet in business by 1909, and most of them didn't play a lot of concerts. Special favor on a local boy would be enough to make the list. William Gilchrist, for instance, was from Philadelphia and was only ever played there. Henry Hadley, on the other hand, was a widely popular composer, and not just at the orchestras where he served as music director, until the 1930s when he died and so did his music. I'd heard of him, but more as a conductor: I know nothing of his compositions.
And look at Karl Goldmark's "Rustic Wedding" Symphony (really more a symphonic poem). Not a totally forgotten work by any means, but until I compiled these statistics I'd had no idea how hugely popular it was in its heyday. In the 1900s decade it was the 15th most-played of all symphonies by any composer, living or dead, and those ranked above it, and just about as many immediately below, are all still standard repertory works. It was tied with Brahms's Third and Schubert's Great C Major. Imagine that!
It's 1909. What are the symphonies by currently-living composers that have been most often played by major American orchestras in the last ten years?
And then, how often were those works played in the decade 50 years later? A century later?
( The numbers )
Aside from the further canonization of Mahler and a few other composers, the interesting rediscovery of the neglected Elgar First, and the even more curious disappearance of d'Indy's "Symphony on a French Mountain Air" (the last remaining piece of a once-popular composer), not a lot happened to the list between 1959 and today. The sorting-out process had already pretty much taken place by then. But look at the 1900s column - how many of the works played in the 1950s and even more the 2000s were unheard then, and how many had disappeared. Some of them are still well-recognized names, like Balakirev and Glazunov, who've made Elgar-like resurrections in recent years, but more on record than in concert. But others are still forgotten.
You can't make too much out of the original 1900s list. Of the 27 orchestras analyzed by Mueller, only eleven were yet in business by 1909, and most of them didn't play a lot of concerts. Special favor on a local boy would be enough to make the list. William Gilchrist, for instance, was from Philadelphia and was only ever played there. Henry Hadley, on the other hand, was a widely popular composer, and not just at the orchestras where he served as music director, until the 1930s when he died and so did his music. I'd heard of him, but more as a conductor: I know nothing of his compositions.
And look at Karl Goldmark's "Rustic Wedding" Symphony (really more a symphonic poem). Not a totally forgotten work by any means, but until I compiled these statistics I'd had no idea how hugely popular it was in its heyday. In the 1900s decade it was the 15th most-played of all symphonies by any composer, living or dead, and those ranked above it, and just about as many immediately below, are all still standard repertory works. It was tied with Brahms's Third and Schubert's Great C Major. Imagine that!
