[archagon]

“Five Antonio Salieris won’t produce Mozart’s Requiem. Ever. Not if they work for 100 years.”

Can I just point out how absurd this argument is? Even putting aside the issue of Salieri’s talent (which he had in abundance), the fact is that most of the Requiem wasn’t even written by Mozart, except for scattered bits here and there. And as far as the movement that everyone knows is concerned — “Lacrimosa” — Mozart only penned the first eight bars!

So yes, even people with a fraction of Mozart’s talent have and will continue to create things that are just as good as his own work. (Heck, maybe even better!) The rest is inspiration and marketing.

[_dps]

I am too ignorant of musical history to evaluate the analogy, but taking the myth-story as given in popular understanding (presumably based on "Amadeus") I think the content of the argument is clear, even if he picked terrible examples to highlight his case.

Having said that, I appreciate you pointing out these facts about Salieri and Mozart. Thank you for educating me a bit today!

[archagon]

I just think it’s especially ironic that the Mozart piece everyone knows and loves is in fact the one that’s a bit crowd-sourced!