Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about what makes great music. There is so much to this subject. We could talk about inventiveness, melody, rhythm, or orchestration. There are countless aspects of music that, together, make music great. Take a composer like Mozart. Now, when Mozart was alive, what other great composers were around? Haydn was around, and Beethoven and Schubert were a little bit later. Were those the only composers? No, of course there were hundreds of composers. But what is it about Mozart and Beethoven? What is it about these great composers? And even in the 20th and 21st centuries, what is it that separates The Beatles from hundreds of other bands that were producing similar music?
What separates the great composers from their contemporaries?
You listen to their music, and if you analyze it, you can’t really say what’s so different about their music from that of their contemporaries. Same thing with The Beatles. I think what separates the greats from their contemporaries is that every single composition is a unique statement. Beethoven wrote 32 piano sonatas. There are no two that are really alike. They’re all unique compositions. Take a look at the Beatles. You may love the Beatles, or they might not be your favorite band, but you have to admit that every single album is different from every other album. And every song on each album is unique. This is a really hard thing to achieve.
In pop music, for example, you might have a one-hit wonder.
Somebody writes a great song and the rest of the album is not so great, or there’s one great album and that’s the end of it. You may never hear from the band again. But the Beatles kept coming up with great albums. They’re not the only band; I’m just using them as the quintessential band of all time that just kept churning out great music. Look at Brahms, four symphonies, and they are completely unique musical statements, every one of them. Now, you might say that Mozart is more similar in his works than other composers, but each one has its own character, its own motifs, and its own structure. The rules of form are slightly altered here and there, keeping the audience interested.
What really separates great composers is their originality from composition to composition.
The originality is just astounding in the works of composers who are remembered over generations. I’m interested in your opinion on this! If you think there are other aspects of great music that deserve to be mentioned, do it here in the comments at LivingPianos.com and YouTube! Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.
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6 thoughts on “What Makes Great Music?”
Originality does not seem enough to me. You can have several bad pieces very different one from the other! Very originally bad indeed. I do not think that a rule can be established. There are so many components that bring people to love a piece of music and a particular author. Can you imagine Chopin in the XV century? He was great because he expressed the sentiment of his time better than others. Of course, he had also to be original.
Sometimes there are composers who are great innovators and other composers who are more derivative. There are examples of each who wrote great music. For example, Scriabin was way ahead of his time in many respects in his writing whereas Brahms was quite traditional. Yet both of them wrote great music!
I agree about Scriabin! Wayyy ahead of his time.
It is one thing to get an original sound and an original composition. It is another thing and another level to have your listener coming back to listen to your track and original composition again and again. I think the originality is key but also the novelty of the song.
I have created an imaginary skyscraper in which Beethoven lives alone in the penthouse, with the grand view of the countryside! On the floor below him are apartments for Mozart, Haydn and Schubert! Then an entire floor for Bach, and below him live Verdi and Wagner! Etc. etc. As for the Beatles, while I was a rascal teenager, they lived in another skyscraper with Elvis in the penthouse, etc. :))
I like your neighborhood!