A New Mythology

To me, the closest thing we have to the ancient Greeks' mythological heroes in our current culture is the classical music composers. More than great scientists, more than great painters or writers, the lives and works of the great composers is the stuff of legend. We often hear of the "trinity" of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. We see images of Debussy riding the waves of the sea. We hear accounts of Rachmaninov's towering height and large hands, of Liszt's virtuosity at the keyboard, of Elgar's mustache.

There simply is not the same degree of general interest in someone like Howard Florey, who played a key part in the discovery of penicillin, as there is in Ludwig van Beethoven. Granted, some writers such as Shakespeare and Austen are quite revered, but how can they compete with Beethoven for mythological status when the very concept represented by Beethoven's name is grounded partly in his musical setting of Ode To Joy?

While the lives and personalities of the great composers of classical music might become increasingly mythicized in the future, we can rest easy knowing that their works will be left intact.