Rococo

[Jim Morrison <jim_morrison@sprynet.com>]

> > > PS: Totally unrelated trivial topic.   Is there a name (surely a silly
one)
> > > for the few years after Bach's death in 1750 (the end of the Baroque
era)
> > > but before Mozart's birth in 1756?  If not, how about let's making one
up?
>
> Er...the established 19th century term that retrospectively describes that
> period is
> "Rococo."  (Sounds like someone laughing heartily, doesn't it?  Ro-co-co!
Or a
> pirate.  Arrrrrr!  Avast, ye mateys!  Rococo!)
>


It definitely is a fun word and thanks for the information, but I think
there may be a misunderstanding
here.

I'm not asking really for a term to describe the music of the time, but a
term
to describe those years when neither Bach nor Mozart strided the earth.
Seems like an interregnum, if you know what I mean.  A very sad time
perhaps.

rococo covers too much, from 1720-1780, referring to music as well as
architecture.

Take those capital G Great composers Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner
(heck, why not throw in Brahms, Strauss and Mahler and Schoenberg while
you're at it) and you can see
that there is at least some overlap between the times they were alive.

But there is no overlap from Bach to Mozart.  Can we take this as a symbolic
fall from Eden to the Earth?  In a way, Bach strides alone into our year
2000.  Well, that's overstating the case, but I do like naming things
and think there ought to be a name for 1750-1756.

I know that Haydn bridges the gap, but doesn't the series
Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner look a little  bit strange?
Which one does not belong?


Those six Mozartless and Bachless years, the lost years.  A name for the
brief  non sequitur period, that's what
I'm hoping to find.  It's no big deal, but I can't help thinking that Gould
was secretly pleased that Bach and Mozart didn't live at the same time.

Jim