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brycon: In this post, I am referring more to what is called the Darmstadt school-a post WWII movement, than Vienna or Stravinsky. Once again, I feel we are wrong to lump together composers as different as Bruno Maderna, Boulez and Ligeti. Though it is true that composers of the past such as Zelenka and the Bach of the "Art of the Fugue" were extremely cerebral and even mathematical, it is the mathematics of the soul: there is always strong emotion in even their most abstract works, which you don't get in Boulez and Luigi Nono and which they didn't BELIEVE in. I personally would like to champion very independent composers like the French composer Maurice Ohana, some pieces by Hans Werner Henze, etc. (every country had/has one). composers more interested in expression than ideology (though it is true that Henze was an orthodox communist and Messiaen a devout Catholic). ps: what kind of ligature do you use? ha, ha!

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I think what happened was that audiences and musicians got tired of playing music that was either ugly, overly complicated, or able to be appreciated by only those cogniscenti (sp?) who specialize in it.

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Basically, most people want a tune, not a tone row.