Changing Interpretations of Music

answers. In the light of widespread concerns about the basically negative reception given to contemporary musical compositions only from the general public but often from the experts, perhaps the question raised by Sparshott should be joined with another one asking, How is one to explain the positive acceptance of the works produced for the concerns of the past and rejection of the works which attempt to satisfy the concerns of the present? In short, I shall try to deal with the interpretation of the reception of music. We are told Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis! We live in the twentieth century and are supposed to have mutated and represent changed individuals when compared to our predecessors. We are of the 1980s and surround ourselves with the amenities of this age, and yet when it comes to listening to music of our own contemporaries, it appears that the majority prefers to revel in the music of the past. The picture which this state of affairs conjures up in my mind is that of a sleepwalker who is unaware of the path and yet proceeds along it and seemingly enjoys it. If one were to awaken the sleepwalker, one might be asking for trouble and could even endanger him. It is indeed strange that this should be happening at a when music envelops our lives more than ever before, surrounded as we are by Muzak and sounds from which we cannot escape and when in order not to lose time some persons listen to music even while walking with their Walkman earphones over their ears. Even in circumstances when one could avoid exposure to music one seeks it as a background (ask any student how he is studying!), whether one is involved in a gainful or relaxing activity. The more music surrounds us the more, it seems, we are out of tune with it. The last half century has created a real revolution in making music accessible to the populace, and at the same the rate of change

Art · Epistemology · Diverse Musicological Studies · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Philosophy