Who Will Stand the Test of Time?

Jmcgrogan2, My worst fear is that the movie Idiocracy is a forward looking documentary, in which case you may very well be right.

Schutz, Bach, Bach, Stamitz, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Bruckner, Mahler, Shostakovich, Madonna, Bieber, Swift--- I guess that sounds about right.

Our culture seems to be on a mission to prove Darwin wrong.

Classical music was the only way to create something different in the 18th-20th century. The people had no rights (reigned from a king, supervised from the church) and after the WWI it was done. The destruction was so big, so many people/knowledge died, there was no way to discover something new. After WWi (and WWII) there were the best conductors and orchestras, but from the composing it was more or less done.
The next revolution came with Rock 'n' Roll and the music up to the 80's...
Listening to classic music will be always alive because it is in our cultural roots...but the area from 1950 will live forever, it is a kind of music which touches the soul of the masses and is based in our democratic evolution and independence.

Maybe Computer (Vangelis) music will be dominant in 200 years, who knows..but the touch from the human voice, the singer (singing) itself will never die.

There's a scene in the movie 'Prometheus' where the captain (Idris Elba) is playing a concertina and tells Charlize Therons character that it was once owned by Stephen Stills and she dismissively says "Am I supposed to know who that is?"

That takes place a mere 75 years into the future and I think it speaks volumes as to what matters and to whom. It's all subjective.

Right now I can sorrowfully relate of many people I know who are just as dismissive about what we here consider the classic geniuses. We live in sad times indeed.

All the best,
Nonoise

@Brownsfan, you evolution like this? LOL!!!

Assuming that some semblance of civilized society still exists in 300 years, it is inconceivable to me that the music of 20th century classical composers such as Prokofiev, Stravinsky, and many of the others who have been mentioned will not have withstood the test time over that period.

But does that mean that those composers will be broadly known and have wide appeal at that time? Not at all. Is the music of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, etc. broadly known and possessed of wide appeal today? Sadly, my perception is that it is not. Remarkably, not even among a majority of high-end audiophiles, as I perceive it.

For evidence of that, look no further than this very forum. While we certainly have many members who are extremely knowledgeable about and/or interested in classical music, such as pretty much everyone participating in the current 140+ post Beethoven Symphony thread, my perception has been that the musical tastes of a majority of our members extend little further than rock music. (Yes, I know, there are lots of jazz enthusiasts too). And I would expect that the fraction of the general population having an interest in classical music is far smaller than it is here.

In saying that, I hasten to add that I am not casting any aspersions on that kind of music. I happen to like a lot of rock music myself, and it comprises a significant fraction of my collection, although most of my collection and most of my listening is classical. But I would have to say, consistent with Brownsfan's well put comment, that I would expect very little of it to have staying power over the centuries.

Consider, for instance, the substantial number of recordings that were released during the early part of the rock & roll era that were re-do's of "old standards" from earlier in the century. They were typically done so differently than the earlier versions as to make any claim of the staying power of those tunes (as well as the artists who originally performed them) pretty much meaningless. And that was all essentially within a time frame of one generation, not centuries.

Regards,
-- Al