Quote:
Originally posted by GreasyBruce
I always wondered what Mozart would think if someone played him "Drunk in Love" or any of the pop girl music of today (apart from amazement at the fact that recorded music exists).
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God I think about this every day.
A: Classical composers lived in a much quieter environment so the music would be really loud
B: A pop song does not contain much dynamics (not layering of instruments but actual loudness and softness), he would probably think it was bland in that sense
C: Most importantly, the timbre would amaze him whether it is positive or negative amazement
D: If I think the music is basic, the world's greatest genius would too. I think he'd hear it musically as folk music. It's interesting because I have to keep in mind specific time periods. Mozart was not exposed to pentatonic music, a scale the most pop musicians (especially blues, and later Mariah and then pop vocalists in general) like to elaborate on. Debussy, a later composer, on the other hand perfected the use of this scale in classical music. He'd still react similarly to Mozart in terms of the other elements.
E: Who knows what the hell he'd think of the singing. (1) Mozart loved to write high pitched vocal melodies for coloraturas, melodic peaks would be low by his standard. (2) The singing technique is so different. He probably would see it as whiney and miniscule. Singers were required to sing over orchestras and fill theatres with their voice alone.
These are just practical things. I think the spot on assumption of mine is his amazement and probably confusion of timbre and tone color. Composers were very focused on the color of their instrumentation and electronically produced music changes everything in that area.
I like to keep in mind that at 9 years old, Mozart would watch a symphony being performed and then hours later he would go home and transcribe the whole thing if he pleased. The classical language is so complex and vast, if he could transcribe a symphony, then in a matter of like 5 songs he'd probably understand the whole format of pop music and any possible manipulations of it.
