On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 11:06:33PM +0530, Rustom Mody wrote: > 1. The great western classical tradition which started around Bach (or a few > hundred years earlier depending on how you look at/hear it) suddenly died > around 1900. > Classical music degenerated into varieties of insanities like serialism etc > and pop/rock etc emerged over the next 50 years out of what was earlier > simple folk music. That's quite an extreme way to put it I'd say. The 'great western classical tradition' is by no means a continuum, it is divided in periods that each had their own foundations and idioms. There are composers bridging the gaps of course, but that doesn't much change the basic historic structure. But yes, the early 20th century was surely a turning point in Western science and culture - mathematics and physics went through a crisis and came out stronger than ever, and in the arts - not only music - everything was turned over and the outcome of this is still unsure. Much of this was questioned in the final quarter of the 20th century (the postmodern movement), without IMHO offering anything in exchange. What we have today is some form of 'eclectism' that has its place in contemporary society but in itself has little power to survive. > 3. The 'greatest' wars that humans have ever fought happened in the 20th > century What is a 'great' war ? This reminds me of the field manual that general Turgidson (IIRC) is waving around in Kubrick's 'Doctor Strangelove' - the title of it is 'World Targets in Megadeaths'. Ciao, -- FA There are three of them, and Alleline. _______________________________________________ Linux-audio-user mailing list Linux-audio-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-user
