Music of the Future

Robert Barry reminds us that the question of a future music has been consistently on the minds of critics and philosophers for centuries. Some writers, such as Charles Fourier, have even gone so far to envision a kind of music-oriented society, where everything is arranged according to western classical theory, modes and scales of interests and priorities, literally with an opera theatre at the centre of the city. Such wild ideas have been proposed, such as Berlioz’ fantasy society that fundamentally revolves around a yearly operatic production, and such ideas have been experimented with, including the Wagner & Bayreuth festival in Germany where a small Bavarian town is overtaken and transformed into some reflection of Berlioz’ ‘Euphonia’.