I don't know how much I can help, but I'll try.
- There was usage of the pentatonic scale before Beethoven (I seldom hear it being featured before the Romantics)??
If there is anything new under the sun, it's certainly not the pentatonic scale. If you're interested, you could check your local library for a copy of the out-of-print tome "Pentatonicism from the Eighteenth Century to Debussy" by Jeremy Day-O"Connell. Perhaps the Classicists used it sparingly because it didn't fit into the sound world they wanted to create.
- There ARE, or WERE, classical composers who composed 'erotic music', or music meant to stimulate sexual pleasure ('porn music'?) Considering the conservative nature of European art music it's possible these never existed.
I didn't know that there was any pure music now which really was effective at it; perhaps I just think another way than the target audience, though. There certainly was music made to simulate composer's views of erotic feelings, such as Grieg's Lyric Piece "Erotikk" Op. 43-5. Do lyrics and percussive noises (such as moaning) count for your question? They don't for my answer, so perhaps I misunderstand you.
- Which composers made a lot of works depicting the devil himself? What are these pieces called? Could they be considered precursors to what people today call "Black Metal"?
I don't know enough about black metal as opposed to any other kind of metal to give a proper answer, maybe, but it occurs to me that any attempt to directly depict either God or Satan in musical context is fairly certain to flop. Felix Mendelssohn said that he didn't want to have lyrics put to his SWW because he had ideas in composing them which were too distinct to be expressed in language. Now with these two beings we have philosophical concepts which, were they adequately understood would be too clear to put into music. With God you'd have to create a sense of peace, but peace overflowing with a grand vitality, a perfect, unsurpassable wholeness made more striking still by surrounding disparity, the satisfaction of a ray of sunlight bursting through a cold, overcast day and the unimaginably comforting relief of midnight in a tropical desert. It would have to be not only flawless, but point out the flaws in other things in such a way that you could still appreciate their value. It would have to say everything at once yet take forever to hear.
For Old Nick, such a work would need to be above all mocking, humiliating to listen to, reminding you of all the failures you've ever had while bringing up none of the successes. It would have to be far more unfair than the actions of, say, Mr. Potter in It's a Wonderful Life, more traitorous than an unfaithful spouse in a happy marriage, more warped than the wreckage of an Atomic Warhead striking a major city and more disgusting than the worst concentration camps. You'd be physically ill from something a minute fraction of the intensity of feeling it would necessarily provoke.
I'd be apt to laugh off the stage anything someone wrote supposedly directly depicting with any accuracy either of these beings. Perhaps there weren't any such pieces in previous periods because the composers were willing to respect their human limitations and were content sticking to what they could do well.
- What were some really early usages of the Blues scale, either intentionally or accidentally? Which pieces are these found in?
That's a gigantic question, and I'm sure if you looked hard enough you could find quite a lot of use of the intervals which make up the blues scale by major composers, but like the pentatonic I wonder if their apparent inability to put them together in a scale wasn't due to it's particular sound not fitting the visions they had for their compositions.
- If Beethoven lived today, do you think he would he utilize electronic instruments? How would he react to the popular music of today? Would he embrace it, fight it, ignore it, or steal ideas from it?
If LvB were alive today, assuming that he wasn't institutionalized or put on drugs by the jealous and insignificant members of medical and psychological establishments (he was an enormously prickly character, you'll recall) he'd probably be influenced to a large degree, of course, by the trends of popular music, though just maybe he'd be the one doing the influencing. Tell me, though, what you mean by your question: do you mean Beethoven grows up in the modern world, starts from scratch, or that he's pulled, already in adulthood, from the past and plopped down in a modern recording studio? If the second, which period of his life is he taken in? I personally think that much of Beethoven's greatness is not due only to his personal genius but also being the exact right man to receive the influence and training he did. If he'd never been exposed to Haydn (his "great master", as Andras Schiff says), would he have become nearly as great, never learning the compositional techniques he was to become the grandmaster of? I wonder...
- The erotic thing interests me a lot though. Sexual language seems to have evolved a lot over time. Are you sure it wasn't taboo back then? My reasons for the "conservativism" of classical music stems from my general knowledge about Western art music in that it was a product of wealthy, refined noblemen from Europe supporting talented musicians. I don't often imagine aristocrats in well-dressed garments subscribing to composers who utilized the carnal forces of nature.
You may have a slightly sanitized view of past generations... Jus' sayan.
- And lastly, if they were to utilize today's devices, WHY ARE WE STILL PLAYING 200 YEAR OLD INSTRUMENTS?! This seems weird to me now! We are, in effect, not really following the footsteps of the masters - we are simply echoing what they already did!!! Did Bach play Medieval music? Did Liszt do nothing but re-perform Beethoven's works? Have we failed to progress? Correct me if I'm wrong - I don't know much about modern piano composers. Why have we stopped evolving? Or is the new "Classical music" DJ sh*t?
I always wonder when people's main point is in their second post whether it was coming from the beginning or not. No matter. Is there any particular reason to abandon something because it's old? Is novelty for it's own sake something worthy of pursuing? If I happen to enjoy the music of Scarlatti or Vladigerov or Godowsky or Beethoven to an unhealthy degree (probably true), and I decide that one of their styles is the most enjoyable for me to write in, what exactly is ignoble about it? Schoenberg said there were plenty of good tunes waiting to be written in C Major, meaning that though he was an ultra-progressive musician he respected that people who are honestly drawn to the music of the past should not be harangued as long as they express it in their own way (Max Reger, who Schoenberg championed, comes to mind).
Perhaps we're using those old instruments because they produce attractive and versatile sounds. Why are we still using drums and percussion, may I ask? They're thousands of years old and they lack the ability to produce separate pitches. They can do nothing that other instruments can't do from a rhythmic standpoint, and don't contribute to the melody or harmony at all. Is it because they're innately attractive in some way?
Why should modern piano composers interest you? They're writing for a 200 year old instrument. What is modern classical music? Perhaps it's not possible for us to say what it is. Maybe it's the cream that will to the top of our era after it's away and bottled. Perhaps, as your posts seem to imply, it won't involve human performers. Is this problematic to anyone?
If I set out to compose modern classical music, what should I write? If I'm attracted, as I said, to the way other people wrote and wish to explore that idiom further still than they did, am I writing true modern classical music or derivative music? How can I tell?
- And sorry for the double post...but do you know any pre-ragtime piano pieces that are African-influenced? Who are some composers with African ethnicity apart from the "Joplin" genre? I read before about a certain "Black Mahler". Strange that, while more prolific than Mr. Joplin, he is hardly heard of.
He's not black, but a worthy composer who sort of fits your question is Mr. Louis Gottschalk, a 19th century composer-virtuoso pianist who was influenced by Creole culture, though the influence is mainly in particular, earlier pieces, such as Bamboula.
Best Regards,
CLF
Topic: A few curious questions