Why isn't there a classical composer like Beethoven, Chopin or Mozart today?

Question

Why there aren't composers writing in a classical style today? Why don't we hear of classical composers today like we do of Beethoven, Chopin or Mozart?

Answer 1

Your question is a complicated one. The teerm Clkassical refers to a broad range of muisic written between 1700 and roughly 1920. Music during this time evolved from a very simplistic format and harmonic structure to very complex forms and even more complex harmonic structures by the year 1900. What we call tonality in the earliest classical works was a rather uncomplicated system,for the most part. There are always exceptions to everytrhing.Bach's harmonies are good examples of the music of his era. But, even he was somewhat experimental. Look at the 24th fugue of Book 1 of the Well Tempered Clavier. The subject uses all 121 notes of the chromatic scale. This is something that was also put forth at the end of the 19th century by Schonberg in his theoretical 12 tone system of composition.

The composers of the first half of the 20th century were a very diverse group. Debussy and Ravel were dealing with Eastern harmonies, whole tone scales and the like. Theyh also experimented with polytonality. As did other composeres of those years. Jazz was becoming popular and Gershwin was a proponent of its use in his music. Aaron Cop[land also experimented with jazz. As did the French composwer Milhaud. Edgard Varese was an iconoclast.After World War 2 the public rejected anything that was too dissonant. So concerts stopped programming those works. Then composers decided to become minimalists. They also started to return to tonalities likle the older composers. Only one problem, they were just mimicking them.

So, if tyou are intewrested in being a composer find a new voice to express yourself.

Answer 2

There are classical composers today. Most college music degree programs include degrees in composition. Though there are a couple reasons why it may seem like there aren't modern classical composers.

First, there are a couple definitions of classical music. One is an overarching, general definition that has basically come to mean music of the past, especially within the time of composers like Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Brahms, Bach, etc. There is a much more specific definition of classical music that refers to a specific musical era (approx. 1730 (the death of Bach) - 1820 (Beethoven)). This definition fits in a list of musical eras based on year and style changes: Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Modern, 21st Century (the last two have a myriad of subcategories).

Second, modern classical composers use a wide range of styles to compose. Some work within the styles of the various eras but those are classified either in a modern category or considered neo-classical (or neo-baroque, neo-romantic, etc.). Others work with atonal or experimental styles. One of the characterizations of current "classical" music that differentiates it from other eras is that almost anything goes.

Third, historical classical music was the popular music of the time, while today we make a distinction between popular music and what we think of as a classical style. You would never hear a modern classical composer on a top 40 radio station so it sounds very different than solo piano repertoire or a large orchestral work.

Music of every era is going to sound a little different than the others while also including some similarities.

Here is a very short list of some 21st Century piano composers within my personal experience (Google will offer more):

George Crumb

Yiruma (more popular)

Jon Schmidt (of Piano Guys more popular)

Paul Paccione (my theory professor)

James Caldwell (my theory professor)

Hong-Da Chin (WIU music professor)

Answer 3

When we talk about "classical" music, we are mainly referring to a specific time in history. Beethoven and Mozart belonged to the Classical Era of music, which broadly encapsulated the 18th century, Chopin was composing in what we refer to as the Romantic Era, or broadly the 19th century.

We sometimes refer to all composers of symphonic and chamber music as being composers of "classical" music regardless of the time in which they lived. For example, we might still hear Chopin called a classical composer even though he lived during the Romantic era.

So, there are two answers to your question: first off, well there aren't any classical composers today because nobody from the 18th century is still alive. But, if you are talking about stylistically Classical, then there most certainly are composers of that type of music around today. There are still many people composing music for the opera, or for the orchestra or chamber ensembles that we could say fall under the umbrella term of "composing classical music." In the 21st century there are about as many styles of music being created as there are stars in the sky!