Should Contemporary Composers Write With Downloads In Mind?

Yes, this may be totally off the wall...but:

I was wondering - would it make sense for contemporary 'classical' composers to write music that was specifically targetted for a) home listening, delivered via b) internet download?

If one looks through music history, one finds that almost all of the great composers wrote music of a functional nature, ie: not destined for the ivory tower or posterity. Certainly, 95-percent of Bach's music was written on demand for the church or the court. He employed the music delivery systems that were commonplace in his day - keyboards, choirs and orchestras - to be performed in the venues of his day - churches and courts. Telemann wrote music to lunch by. Mozart wrote various pieces to dance by. So did Beethoven and Haydn. Such music was intended to be part of a listener's life, and such music was not necessarily written to be the prominent feature in a situation where the arts were combined. The court needed to dance a pavane, so the composer wrote a pavane.

When music moved into the concert hall, it was not uncommon for composers to arrange longer works into shorter forms for public consumption. Thus, works like Die Fledermaus and Un ballo in maschera were stripped of their costumes, singing and scenery where they took on new life in the concert hall in the form of Quadrilles. The quadrille encapsulated the themes of a 3-act opera into a piece lasting only minutes. Ballet scores might become suites, etc.

Today, a large portion of classical listeners get their music by reproducing it at home on their stereos and computers. Would it be such a stretch for an enterprising and talented composer to write or re-format music to fit the venue and delivery systems of today's home listener (ie: the type of listener that has arisen with the advent of the phonograph)? Maybe someone with the talent of a Schoenberg could take a Dvorak or Bruckner symphony's themes and compose an entirely NEW work for computer listening. Sure there's strictures involved (length of the work and file size), but such restrictions have always been there in music (ie: form and function). Some composers - obviously, those who work best in minatures like a Grieg or a Wolf - would be more successful than those wedded to the long forms.

The closest comparable thing I can think of in our time would be those few operas that were written specifically for TV (Amahl).

Am I off my rocker here? Does anyone happen to know of a composer who is already doing this?

On 29 Jan 2003, Mark Stenroos wrote:

I used to know of one but, trust me, I am glad that lately I haven't heard of him anymore.

regards,

letters to be typed in

As a matter of fact, it has already been done:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~yavelow/docs/CnDnIntro.html

This has been on the Web for at least five years.

If you're talking about a real recording made by real human performers, well then I think it's a great way to reach an audience.

But if you're talking about synthetic, computer-generated tones...fuhgeddaboutit.

One of the most important ingrediants to a composition is the human quality. This elusive element adds the final touch to any work.

I sure would rather hear Bach play less than flawlessly by a wonderful, thinking musician than a perfect synthetic reproduction. The same is true for any piece I'd write.

Well, there's always <http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp? ReviewNum=3046>...

Indeed, I recall reading that one fine spring morning a couple of years ago. Must have been early in April.

Of course, one should read that review first, and then this item immediately afterwards:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news? tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030120/ap_wo_en_po/ na_sci_spain_dna_s_top_40_1

or:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?P2C415643

(Don't worry, this is the real Matthew, commas and all!)