without bach there would have been no mozart. without mozart there would have been no beethoven. without beethoven, we would have had no chopin, no rachmaninov, no gershwin, no prokofiev. its really hard to say, but bach is the base that all those that followed worked from. that is why i go with him. mozart was genius undoubtedly, and prolific. beethoven was the next to revolutionize music, in the expansion of the symphony, both in size and in length, and in the breaking away from the abac form in composition. this set the stage for all the greats of the romantic era. chopin and liszt revolutionized what could be accomplished on a keyboard, while paganini and mendelssohn changed the way stings were utilized. not to mention richard wagner and giuseppe verdi who made opera the art of arts that it is today. skipping a few years we run across rachmaninov who changed keyboarding yet again, specifically in his concertos, but also in his etudes tableau. rachmaninov paved the way for the most influential musicians of the twentieth century in their genre. that being sergei prokofiev and igor stavinsky. both completley revolutionary. thats not even to mention the likes of maurice ravel, who took debussy's notion of impressionist composition and expanded on it. off in another wing of the classic tradition, infused with the jazz of his native harlem, george gershwin penned some of the most endearing pop tunes along with some more classical style works that more than hold their own. lastly, the great aaron copland certainly deserves mention. if ever there was a composer who wrote 'american music' it was copland. the appalachain suite is an absolute marvel, as are the billy the kid suite, and who doesnt enjoy fanfare for the common man?
i guess that sums up my breif history of music that i think is worthwhile.
Mercy's eyes are blue
When she places them in front of you
Nothing holds a roman candle to
The solemn warmth you feel inside
