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In a thread by Debrucey there's mentioning that the Rach Prelude in C#m is weak and definitely not his strongest work (rather far from that. I happen to agree.

Other extremely popular works are the fur Elise, Clair de Lune, and whatever else...

None of the above show the particular strengths of the composer (in a very personal opinion) and they are more catchy and beautiful than masterful. This doesn't take away from their value, but it does appear that more knowledgeable listeners, or performers, or musicians appreciate other works and are turned off by such popular works.

If we take the above (personal, I repeat) premise as a fact, what does this mean for the general audience then? Why isn't the hammerklavier as popular as fur Elise? Why isn't L'apremidi d'un Faune (spelling... YIKES) more popular than Clair De Lune (I know this one. Because Clair De Lune was used in 'Twilight'...).

Are we 'doomed' to have less masterful works as the most popular works? IS a performer 'doomed' to have to perform such works? Is a composer 'doomed' to have to compose in such ways?

I wouldn't take it as a fact. IMO absolutely every classical work I can think of that has "caught on" tremendously with the general public, deserves it in some way. I think the reason some or many of those works may seem less-than-great to us is that they're so familiar that they've lost their impact for us, and/or that they're less complex and "deep" than some other works. But they make up for the latter with other qualities.

OK....I guess I've just answered what I think is a thing that it means for the general audience: Complexity and depth don't matter that much, and might even be negatives. But you need great beauty, or great striking drama, or something else very direct and powerful.


Complexity and depth.


Too hard to spell.


If you want something to catch on with "the general public," make it pretty simple, and make it something that they can go out humming.

Yes.



Ask Pollini.



Ask Kurtag.


It's always been the case - the more refined and sophisticated the art, the less popular it is (there are exceptions, but I think that general rule is still true). The reason why this is true should be fairly obvious - learning how to perceive and appreciate subtlety, nuance, complexity, cultural references, creative adventure, etc., requires a kind of interest and devotion that many people just don't want to invest, for whatever reasons.

Maybe, for them, the payoff isn't great enough to get them to become connoisseurs of the art. Because, basically, that's what it takes to move beyond the "easy-listening" and "highly accessible" stage of appreciation. You don't jump directly from de Falla's "Ritual Fire Dance" to his Harpsichord Concerto, without first experiencing a good deal of growth as a music connoisseur, IMO.

I also think there are cultural feed-back loops that tend to wildly emphasize popular "classical hits" in a weird way. For example, the use of Barber's Adagio for Strings to signify "sad". Or how the Funeral March from Chopin's 2nd sonata became the go-to funeral march. Or even how a piano playing an Alberti bass has become a kind of short-hand for classical music (usually of the prissy and stuffy sort, I think, and probably derived from the opening of "that" Mozart sonata in C major).

Many of the pieces named in the OP are relatively easy or at least offer a big payoff in terms of their difficulty. Thus they are popular with intermediate pianos students and become popular in general.

Fur Elise, on its first(and many students seem not to get much beyond there), page offers relatively little technical challenge because except for a few cross overs the hands stay in one position. It also offers a very Romantic sounding Beethoven which may appeal to younger students. If Fur Elise was missing its first page I don't think it would have any popularity and might be virtually unknown as I think it's weaker than most of the other Bagatelles.

Rachmaminov's C# minor Prelude offers an appealing and soaring melody but mostly the opportunity to play those gigantic chordal and octave passages that will again have great appeal for a young piano student. I bet many PW members can recall their thrill at first playing those passages. It offers a chance to impress a listener with a piece that probably sounds more difficult than it is. I think the C# minor Prelude is like the Brahms G minor Rhapsody. I do not think the Brahms is one of his better works but it is extremely popular as a teaching piece because it offers a big payoff for relatively modest technical demands. The opening octave passages will be highly appealing to young students and also offers a piece where their octave technique can be worked on.

Clair de Lune is among Debussy's easier works and at least on the first two pages offers the chance to play those appealing jazz like chords and relatively small technical demands. CDL offers a souped up Romantic introduction to Impressionist music. Later works by Debussy are more sophisticated harmonically and probably wouldn't have as much appeal to a young student.

Tune, tune, tune.

I still remember what drew me originally to Beethoven as a child (and no, it wasn't the Hammerklavier). And what drew me to Rachmaninoff. And Mozart, and so on.

It was the catchy tunes.

Not the complexity, nor the harmonic invention, nor the brilliance of the writing.

I think, in order to seek the answer to your question, the first question to ponder is this: who defines what "masterful" means? I'm sure if you ask someone who believes the opposite to find that these works, which have stood the test of time and remain extremely popular, are in fact the greatest works of a genius composer, and are thus representative of their most masterful effort.

The problem is, art is 100% subjective on a long enough timeline.

I feel these pieces are musically accessible to the common ear, and I agree with some of the points made by lots of the posters in this thread.

I happen to agree with this. There's something to be said about a great tune. What makes a memorable tune? No one knows. It's just one of those mysterious things about humans.

I also think many of the more famous pieces are the shorter ones and have to do with many beginning pianists learning them. We are more likely to hear a million amateurs playing Fur Elise than a million amateurs playing the Hammerklavier.

A side note on Clair De Lune: This is one of those "overplayed" pieces that everyone knows. However, to me it represents a sort of perfection in structure and execution. It is just the right length, it is structured beautifully, and just seems like one of those pieces that the composer wrote in one sitting, where every note fell into place easily. This is all my opinion of course, but it really does have that perfect storm of inspiration going for it. It's sublimely beautiful no matter how many times I hear it.

I don't think "the" Rachmaninoff prelude has much of a tune. The whole piece is more like effective dramatic gesturing.

Glad you said this.

I always thought Clair de Lune was an early work - BUT (from Wiki): "Although Debussy wrote the piece in 1890 at the age of 25, it was not published until 1905. By that time it had been partially re-written as well as re-titled. The original name of this piece was “Promenade Sentimentale.” The new title for the movement comes from a poem by the same name written by Paul Verlaine.....”

Learn something new every day.

Indeed! I knew of the poem, but not of the background of the piece.

Unless there was major rewriting I would say that it remains an early work. It certainly is, even its revised form, in the style of what is considered his earlier period.

Yay, Diduougetthathing!


(In reference to Clair de Lune) "has that perfect storm of inspiration going for it. It's sublimely beautiful no matter how many times I hear it."

Same reason why we've been loving certain paintings forever

Another piece that I think fits this criteria for popularity instead of having a great tune is the Precipitato movement from Prokofiev's 7th piano sonata. A student at my school played this for a concert with a variety of groups and soloists, and deliberately played it faster and louder than usual for this particular audience. They loved it. I suppose there is a somewhat catchy tune, or motive in the bass, but more catching IMO is the rhythmic drive.

We had mentioned other things besides catchy melody that can make something a huge hit and which cover pieces like the Rachmaninoff and the Prokofiev. Like:

It's definitely an early work - even with the later modifications. But now I seriously doubt that Debussy had "moonlight" in mind when he composed it. Fortunately Debussy was able to rename the piece himself in 1905.

It's very easy to impress people. I heard someone say "how can someone play so fast?" when I played one of those runs in the Mozart d minor fantasy.

A few weeks ago there was a video of some chinese 6-year-old on the webpage of a popular yellow media newspaper. The title was something like "how can someone this young play this well?" The boy played pretty well for someone of his age, but in the end it was just an arpeggiated I chord, then the same chord being banged in forte. Then IV, I, V, I. After listening to the video I went to the piano and played the same by ear.

Yes, that's interesting info. And it was interesting to read that the Passepied was originally called Pavane, which kind of sort of maybe supports my hunch that everybody plays it much, much too fast.

Who defines "masterful" is described in the OP.

And he's right - mastery isn't about popularity, it's about what those who are knowledgeable and experienced in the art think. Which, by the way, is not 100% subjective.

Otherwise, we're just talking pop music, and not fine art.

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Yes, that's interesting info. And it was interesting to read that the Passepied was originally called Pavane, which kind of sort of maybe supports my hunch that everybody plays it much, much too fast.

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That is interesting - makes a lot of sense too. It does seem to be very Pavane-like.