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Comment by coldcode | Hacker News Reader

Nothing any of us do today will exist in 500 years, but I suspect Beethoven's Ninth will continue to inspire.

For comparison, the 500th anniversary of Jean d'Okeghem's death was commemorated in 1997, and there is small but significant scholarly and performance community active today which are devoted to his works. Although there is no unbroken tradition of performance for Okeghem's music, we would like to think that we are his heirs in some way. There was a particular touching anecdote relayed by Fabrice Fitch that on the very evening of the Okeghem anniversary after the conference, he gathered with a few fellow musicologists, and, using a photocopier as a lectern, sang the 16th century lament "Ergone conticuit" written in remembrance of Okeghem.

Similarly, the 500th anniversary of Josquin des Prez, a much bigger star, was celebrated last year via numerous CD releases, journal papers, and concerts. Josquin is so famous that even though he may have been neglected for 100-200 years he may well be considered part of the enlarged classical canon today. In fact Robert Levin in a lecture explicitly mentioned Josquin when he asked the very same question about Beethoven. Going by these examples, it seems likely that Beethoven will endure.

Symphony No. 9 was composed between 1822 and 1824, so around 200 years ago. It probably will still be as popular in 300 years time, but that is not a given. It is hard to say what society will look like and value 300 years from now.

I cite math papers written in the 19th century, and I suspect many people here will write math or comp sci-related papers cited in 200 years time. Certainly the contributions of contemporary mathematicians and scientists will endure, even if their names are lost to time.

Beethoven is better than Bach in his life time. The whole classical era is a revolt against complexity. Hence you get the “pop” music of Mozart.

Beethoven is an exception than cross many eras. His latest is really not classical but very post-modern. But even him has issue that later need Liszt to have concerts so to have money to keep Beethoven music alive.

The sit down and go to a concert hall … it is hard to tell. Love to see Bach and Beethoven survive. But hard to tell.

Beethoven bridged the Classical (think Haydn and Mozart) and the Romantic eras of classical music. In his early career was was very Classical, a student of Haydn and interpreter of Mozart. He's often considered the transitional composer between the two periods, and can hardly be considered "Modern," much less post-modern.

He is, of course, timeless.

We're coming up on 500 years of Thomas Tallis, a composer whose works are still popular and frequently performed.

I would guess that if there are still humans around in 300 years, they will still be discussing Beethoven.

I think a name like Einstein will stick around though. It's too embedded in the public consciousness to disappear, and his breakthroughs are too big to forget.

I suspect one of the longest lived names will be Julius Caesar; first his military and Roman history, then he is the name of a Shakespeare play which is a fame of its own, then he’s the name of the month July, and proxy related to August from Augustus Caesar. He’s the name of the Caesar Cipher in cryptography, and tangled up in the etymology of the Caesarian Section method of childbirth (which he probably didn’t have), the Caesar Salad (actually Caesar Cardini but often misunderstood (whom was the chef named after tho?)), and the German word Kaiser for Emperor e.g. Kaiser Wilhelm.

It’s a bit like if Martin Luther King became the dominant meaning of the word “King” and that became the reason “King” echoed down the centuries; famous things named after him so that everything King which isn’t named after him is often thought to be, or is a reminder of him.

In some animated cartoon, a character who sounds like a stereotype of an NYC construction worker complains to someone who cut the line: “Hey Copernicus! Navigate yourself to the back of the line!”

Most people don't understand special relativity, much less general (or the photoelectric effect) so it's not at all a given that Einstein will remain a household name.

Nowadays "Hitler" is the default bad guy but before him it was "Napoleon" in much of Europe, and before that "Pharaoh". I'm pretty sure the same will happen to $DEFAULT_SMART_GUY

We (collectively) remember Newton, even if the average person doesn't understand gravity beyond "keeps us on the ground" or calculus. We can go back thousands of years and we still remember Pythagoras.

Einstein's association with nuclear energy will be what keeps his memory alive.

I am not claiming that Einstein will be forgotten, only challenging the conjecture that he will be a figure well known and cited by the general public. I really doubt that most people on the street would remember even having heard of Newton, much less referring to him in any context.

Don’t worry, the same will be true of kardashians, probably sooner than It happens to Einstein.

I challenge the assumption that the average person associates nuclear energy with Einstein (or the other way around).

and I challenge the assumption that even physicists know much about gravity beyond "keeps stuff on the ground." We may have general relativity, but it somehow seems to miss something to say physical models of gravity are that well flushed. It doesn't explain something like 80-90% of the gross movements of large masses seen in the universe by astrophysicists. We know a heck of a lot more about the small scale.

But this is a silly point I'm making, I admit ;)

> Most people don't understand special relativity,

but most people recognize the formula E=MC^2 even if they don't know what it means, and can tell you the name of the dude sticking out his tongue in a picture.

Understanding someone's work is orthogonal to them being well known.

And hey, at least Einstein's equation is something Einstein was both responsible for and proud of - Schrödinger is famous for his thought experiment that's just supposed to show how ridiculous the Copenhagen interpretation is. In popular culture Schrödinger ends up standing for specifically the thing he disagreed with.

Archimedes?

Plato?

Beethoven sonatas are here to stay as well. Besides the "Moonlight" I think the "Hammerklavier", the "Waldstein", the "Tempest" and the "Pathetique" are absolute masterpieces (and probably others).

Fur Elise is so overplayed that I cannot take it seriously tbh:(

> I suspect Beethoven's Ninth will continue to inspire

I hope and suspect so, but taste is a fickle thing. It may be hard to believe but Bach, nowadays considered by many as the greatest composer ever, almost faded into obscurity.

The problem was, as often, that works fade out of fashion quickly and are put aside. Bach's style had been superseded by (the precursors to) Classical, and sounded old-fashioned at the end of the 18th century. It didn't take very long for it to be rediscovered, though: some 80 years. Rediscovering isn't even the correct word: the tradition was kept alive, but a bit underground. Mendelssohn got his inspiration from his teacher (Zelter), who had a profound love for Bach, and probably also from his aunt Sarah Levy who had studied with Bach's eldest son (W.F. Bach) and supported another (C.Ph.E).

Not hard to believe, even now Bach is considered an acquired taste

But many are acquiring it. Source: me. I have sung Bach for a living in my life. :)

“Ahhhh Bach”

True words. Enjoy the moment we are here!

Speak for yourself.

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