Most influential musician in history (2nd ver.)

[MaestroX]

A agree very much with Somtow. Just think of how many young composers are influenced by Mozart's music and go on to replicate (or try to) his style (I know I did). I think one of the main reasons why is because its so accessible to people. Anyone can listen to his music and enjoy it

[Thorolf]

Originally Posted by MaestroX

Anyone can listen to his music and enjoy it

Except me

Regards

[MaestroX]

Except me ;-)

Well....Almost everyone can listen to and enjoy it

[somtow]

It's okay. When I was a kid I hated Mozart. I thought his music was simplistic, even puerile. When I was about 21 I realized that its very simplicity, the fact there seems to be nothing there, was deceptive; the more layers you strip away, the more layers it seems to contain. In fact, in his operas the characters are not only real people, they're you and me. And his concertos (from No, 18 on) are really operas, too, because for the first time the piano and the orchestra are characters who have real relationships with each other. But Mozart's not really about the Turkish march or Eine kleine Nachtmusik, these are just little throwaway pieces -- to see how deeply he has penetrated into the ambiguity of the human condition you really must get into the 7 last operas and the last 10 piano concerts.

[Thorolf]

I never hated Mozart in particular; when I was younger, I was generally indifferent to/had just no respect for classical music at all, with some notable exceptions from russian national romantic and expressionist music.

As I have grown older, I have found myself having three distinctly different musical personas: The Listener, The Performer and The Musicologist.

The Listener is exactly the same as I have always been—since before I was three years old!—I like now, what I liked then, and all I have liked in between, I still like!

The Performer discovered that I could endure—and actually sometimes like—to play baroque and classical music, even if I still don’t cared much for listening to it. When I grew up, I started to conduct, and found out I could enjoy conducting even more music, that I would never bother to listen to.

The Musicologist in me learned to respect and understand vast amounts of music that I would never have understood why was so loved and respected all over the world: Classical music esp.

The Musicologist soon discovered that The Performer’s pleasure of conducting was closely linked to the quality of the compositions.

Therefore, I like to conduct e. g. Bach, Mozart, and Brahms. But I have yet to put on a record or attend a concert with music by any of them for sheer listening pleasure.

It just doesn’t talk to my heart, even if the performer in me is thrilled by the possibilities that all well composed music gives me for executing a good performance.



Regards

[Peter Bolton]

Whilst Mozart may well have had this influence because the memorability of his tunes, the basic four bar structure in music with the balanced response is fundamental to dance music and will be found in abundance throughout the dance suites of the Baroque era.
It was the Romantic era that broke away from this tradition to use phrase extention and truncation to create added tension and give more power to the music (increased emotion).
However, Viva Mozart - definitely great and definitely influential.

[Ron Ofir]

It was the Romantic era that broke away from this tradition to use phrase extention and truncation to create added tension and give more power to the music (increased emotion).

What do you mean by increased emotion? I mean, I find Bach's 3rd Air and his Concerto for two violins in D and Guns N' Roses far more emotional than many Romantic compositions.

[Thorolf]

Originally Posted by Peter Bolton

[T]he basic four bar structure in music with the balanced response is fundamental to dance music and will be found in abundance throughout the dance suites of the Baroque era.

I didn’t think of that, but you are obviously right!

Originally Posted by Ron Ofir

What do you mean by increased emotion? I mean, I find Bach's 3rd Air and his Concerto for two violins in D and Guns N' Roses far more emotional than many Romantic compositions.

I assume that Peter Bolton’s remark was purely musicological: That e. g. phrase extension was introduced as a technique to add tension by breaking away from 2/4/8/16 bar structures. But e. g. Bach had no such bar structures to break away from (except in his passacaglias), and could extend any part for suspension, and gain as much emotion within his idiom as any romantic composer (I know too little G’n’R to comment on that)

Regards

[Ron Ofir]

Ok, I get it now It's just that every time I hear a certain genre/style being referred to as having more "feel" or being more emotional annoys me. Maybe I should go to a psychiatrist... And I was talking about Guns N' Roses Patience and not everything they ever made, naturally...

[Checking...]

Timing is also often very important regarding what comes out as influential