Does Every Composition Have A Life-Span Beyond Which Its Relevance And Merit End?

Is this true for even the greatest masterpieces? Is it true when you take it personally, concerning the pieces you like most (meaning that you grow to like them less and less over the years)? Is it true when taken universally, for humanity at large? Are the relevance and merit that every composition offers limited by time? How much can a composer immunize their compositions against the ravages of time that will eventually exhaust their riches? Do you as a composer actually try to do that in your compositions, try to conquer time? Is not every composer actually at some level trying to conquer time in the very act of composition, in that they are trying to outlive their life, to remain relevant and to survive beyong their lifespan?

For me, that isn't the case. I don't think consciously how this piece will be perceived in the future. Unless you are writing pieces that are referential to things of this time period, I don't think one needs to worry to much about being relevant in the future. How your music is perceived in the future depends on so many more factors than your compositional skills. Bach's music is only known to us because of his sons and Mendelssohn; he had no intentions of his music to live beyond his own life. He would have assumed that his music would have been destroyed by the next organist that takes his post. That is going to be the case for us. Our legacy and relevancy is all going to depend on factors out of our control, despite what masterpieces we write. 

For me, that isn't the case. I don't think consciously how this piece will be perceived in the future. Unless you are writing pieces that are referential to things of this time period, I don't think one needs to worry to much about being relevant in the future. How your music is perceived in the future depends on so many more factors than your compositional skills. Bach's music is only known to us because of his sons and Mendelssohn; he had no intentions of his music to live beyond his own life. He would have assumed that his music would have been destroyed by the next organist that takes his post. That is going to be the case for us. Our legacy and relevancy is all going to depend on factors out of our control, despite what masterpieces we write. 

I somewhat agree with the first part of what you said. However, I don't think that Bach's genius would have been lost to us so easily due to circumstances. Also, I don't think that Bach was unaware of his own greatness. I believe that it is part of greatness to be aware of one's own greatness. As such, Bach as perhaps the greatest composer that ever lived, couldn't have been clueless of his own greatness. That would be totally absurd.

However, I agree that at some level the legacy and relevance of us mere mortals composing-wise "is all going to depend on factors out of our control, despite what masterpieces we write."

I somewhat agree with the first part of what you said. However, I don't think that Bach's genius would have been lost to us so easily due to circumstances. Also, I don't think that Bach was unaware of his own greatness. I believe that it is part of greatness to be aware of one's own greatness. As such, Bach as perhaps the greatest composer that ever lived, couldn't have been clueless of his own greatness. That would be totally absurd.

 

However, I agree that at some level the legacy and relevance of us mere mortals composing-wise "is all going to depend on factors out of our control, despite what masterpieces we write."

He probably wasn't ignorant to his talents, but it was not a priority for him. Its the culture during this period that contributed to this. Musicians were hired servants and were treated as such (you can read his contract and disciplinary notes from his employers). Bach himself destroyed all the music of the organist before him, as expected of all new organist to do. The preservation of music were not priorities in the Baroque period. Bach during his life was known mostly as an organist, a great organist, but mainly an organist. It took the rise of celebrity status for composers during the romantic period did his genius was recognized fully.