“The Musical Canon” In this work, an analytical look at changes in concert programming will be presented. Data from Weber1 will be used to provide historical data roughly representing the years 1770 through 1870. Present day data is provided from the concert season 2000 to 2001 for two symphony orchestras; 1,2 these orchestras are the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Since for the scope of this discussion, only the 2000 – 2001 concert season was examined for 2 orchestras, it must …showed first 75 words of 809 total…

…showed last 75 words of 809 total…an increased difficulty for new composers to have their works appreciated or even acknowledged, a sense of excessive reverence to the ‘masters,’ and a crippling of the evolution of this musical taste. Weber1 concludes that the ascent of mass culture and elevation of the classical masters in the nineteenth century was a symbiotic relationship. Now, it is perhaps a stagnant relationship that has peaked, since appreciation of this musical type no longer comprises mass culture.