American Music’s "Elder Statespeople" Comment on the Future of Music George Rochberg
|
“Res Severa Verum Gaudium.” (“Serious things [bring] true joy.”)
The past is in every present, hence in every future.
“Eternity is in love with the products of Time.” (Blake)
Surfaces keep changing, never substrata. The 18th/19th centuries’ in-gatherers all loved Res Severa. Their reward, Verum Gaudium, The Beautiful. Surfaces keep changing, not substrata. The 20th century Hell branded Mahler, Bartok, Stravinsky, Schoenberg. Yet they laid claim to Verum Gaudium because they loved Res Severa. Surface changed radically, not substrata. The future of music? Who can predict its sounds, its surfaces? The substrata will remain. Their RSVG rules because it is one of Eternity’s unchanging faces.