4 ms·

Yes, the article is definitely overgeneralizing from a number of anecdotes, imho. While I tend to agree with the notion that classical music tends to signal a c

Yes, the article is definitely overgeneralizing from a number of anecdotes, imho. While I tend to agree with the notion that classical music tends to signal a certain remoteness -- thus correlating with villainy -- that's not its only use in movies. One example: I recall when Star Wars came out, a lot of my friends bought the soundtrack. It served as sort of a gateway to classical music. It's hard to measure, of course, but I'd bet that that had a larger positive impact on classical attendance than, say, Hannibal Lector killing people to Bach's Goldberg Variations had a negative one. To your lack of visual stimuli hypothesis, I'd also add as other more likely drivers of classical's decline: a) Live classical music is expensive and getting more so. b) Sound quality in a concert hall is different than via digital means. It doesn't wash over you like it does when listening via your Bose headphones. It's less visceral and more distant. And you have to tune out the other sounds of coughing, people shifting in their seats, etc... c) And finally, we have the best recordings of any work available on demand. In economic terms, that creates really cheap substitutes. Speaking for myself, I'd rather just listen to the Vienna Philharmonic on the couch for free than dress up, drive across town, find parking, and pay $100+ to hear the Austin Symphony play the same work.

howard941 8y ago
> I recall when Star Wars came out, a lot of my friends bought the soundtrack. It served as sort of a gateway to classical music. Same for my generation w/r/t the soundtrack to 2001
- makapuf 8y ago
  Except that 2001 was already existing as classical music. (Strauss and maybe others.)
  - dvtrn 8y ago
    That's not up for debate, really here--is it? Rather the pointed argument seems to be that for some of a certain age group, their exposure to the genre was Star Wars. It seems merely in this case, yours was a different movie. Besides that, there's an important difference between 2001 and Star Wars: 2001 utilized existing classical scores that are excellent for their own reasons, whereas John Williams composed entirely new scores for Star Wars that were similarly excellent. It is just my personal opinion, but I think it will be a very long time before we see another symphonic movie score that embeds itself so deep into the cultural fabric as Star Wars did. Not only was the music phenomenal and stands well on its own, so many of them are elevated because of the action taking place with them on screen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_OSeRxhGOY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_OSeRxhGOY Still gets me as excited today as it did when I was 8.
mr_toad 8y ago
> I recall when Star Wars came out, a lot of my friends bought the soundtrack. I recall Lucas saying in a DVD commentary that he got some push-back in the industry for the idea of using a classical soundtrack in Star Wars. I’m glad he stuck with it, it’s hard to imagine Empire without the Imperial March.

howard941 8y ago

> I recall when Star Wars came out, a lot of my friends bought the soundtrack. It served as sort of a gateway to classical music. Same for my generation w/r/t the soundtrack to 2001

makapuf 8y ago
Except that 2001 was already existing as classical music. (Strauss and maybe others.)
- dvtrn 8y ago
  That's not up for debate, really here--is it? Rather the pointed argument seems to be that for some of a certain age group, their exposure to the genre was Star Wars. It seems merely in this case, yours was a different movie. Besides that, there's an important difference between 2001 and Star Wars: 2001 utilized existing classical scores that are excellent for their own reasons, whereas John Williams composed entirely new scores for Star Wars that were similarly excellent. It is just my personal opinion, but I think it will be a very long time before we see another symphonic movie score that embeds itself so deep into the cultural fabric as Star Wars did. Not only was the music phenomenal and stands well on its own, so many of them are elevated because of the action taking place with them on screen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_OSeRxhGOY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_OSeRxhGOY Still gets me as excited today as it did when I was 8.

mr_toad 8y ago

> I recall when Star Wars came out, a lot of my friends bought the soundtrack. I recall Lucas saying in a DVD commentary that he got some push-back in the industry for the idea of using a classical soundtrack in Star Wars. I’m glad he stuck with it, it’s hard to imagine Empire without the Imperial March.