1 Introduction
2 Data and network construction
3 Topology of the composer network
3.1 Fundamental network properties reveal the small-world property, a high clustering, and wide differences in composer prominence
Rank
|
Bipartite degree
(
q
)
|
Projected degree
(
k
)
|
Eigenvector centrality
|
Betweenness centrality
| ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name
|
Period
|
Name
|
Period
|
Name
|
Period
|
Name
|
Period
| |
1 | WA Mozart | C | JS Bach | B | JS Bach | B | JS Bach | B |
2 | JS Bach | B | WA Mozart | C | WA Mozart | C | WA Mozart | C |
3 | Beethoven | R | Handel | B | Handel | B | Handel | B |
4 | Brahms | R | Brahms | R | Brahms | R | Piazzolla | M |
5 | Schubert | R | Mendelssohn | R | Mendelssohn | R | Brahms | R |
6 | Verdi | R | Debussy | M | Schubert | R | Gershwin | M |
7 | Tchaikovsky | R | Schubert | R | Debussy | M | Debussy | M |
8 | R Schumann | R | Beethoven | R | Beethoven | R | Mendelssohn | R |
9 | Handel | B | Saint-Saëns | R | Saint-Saëns | R | Schubert | R |
10 | Wagner | R | Tchaikovsky | R | Tchaikovsky | R | Beethoven | R |
11 | Chopin | R | Ravel | M | Ravel | M | Villa-Lobos | M |
12 | Haydn | C | Gershwin | M | Fauré | R | Ravel | M |
13 | Liszt | R | R Schumann | R | R Schumann | R | Tchaikovsky | R |
14 | Mendelssohn | R | Fauré | R | Liszt | R | Copland | M |
15 | Debussy | M | Liszt | R | Chopin | R | Saint-Saëns | R |
16 | Puccini | R | Vivaldi | B | Vivaldi | B | Vivaldi | B |
17 | Vivaldi | B | Piazzolla | M | Rossini | R | Stravinsky | M |
18 | Dvor̆ák | R | Rossini | R | Rachmaninoff | M | Britten | M |
19 | Ravel | M | Chopin | R | Haydn | C | Hindemith | M |
20 | R Strauss | R | Verdi | R | Gershwin | M | Bernstein | M |
3.2 Composer centralities reveal the relationship between the network and composer characteristics
3.3 Common artistic style and period designations in western classical music
3.4 Assortativity and community structures reveal artistic styles and periods as the main factor behind connections between composers
-
Community 1A: William Byrd (1540-1623, Renaissance) and Henry Purcell (1659-1695, Baroque)
-
Community 1B: Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741, Baroque), Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750, Baroque), George Frideric Handel (1685-1759, Baroque) from the Baroque period, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791, Classical), and Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809, Classical) from the Classical period.
-
Community 2: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) and Franz Schubert (1797-1828) who are considered transitional between Classical and Romantic; Robert Schumann (1810-1856, Romantic), Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849, Romantic), Franz Liszt (1811-1886, Romantic), Johannes Brahms (1833-1897, Romantic), and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893, Romantic) from Romantic.
-
Community 3: A US-centric Modern community, with two highest-degree Modern composers being George Gershwin (1898-1937, Modern) of Rhapsody in Blue and Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990, Modern) of West Side Story. Scott Joplin (1867-1917, Modern) and Billy Strayhorn (1915-1967, Modern), both prominent Jazz composers, and Richard Rodgers (1902-1979, Modern) and Irving Berlin (1888-1989, Modern), both Broadway composers, are also included.
-
Community 4: Another US-centric community. Including the likes of Charles Ives (1874-1954, Modern) of The Unanswered Question, Aaron Copland (1900-1990, Modern) of Appalachian Spring, Samuel Barber (1910-1981, Modern) of Adagio for Strings, and John Cage (1912-1992) of 4′33″, this can be said to represent the 20th-century American vernacular style of classical music [38]. More contemporary US composers, Terry Riley (1935-current, Modern), Steve Reich (1936-current, Modern) and Philip Glass (1937-current, Modern), are also in this module.
-
Community 5: Composed of mainly Modern (89.3%) and Romantic (10.2%) composers, it includes transitional figures such as Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924, Romantic), Claude Debussy (1862-1918, Modern), and Maurice Ravel (1875-1937, Modern). In contrast with Community 4, this community represents the non-US branch of modern music, including Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951, Modern, Austria), Manuel de Falla (1876-1946, Modern, Spain), Béla Bartók (1881-1945, Modern, Hungary), Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971, Modern, Russia), Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959, Modern, Brazil), Paul Hindemith (1895-1963, Modern, Germany), Francis Poulenc (1899-1963, Modern, France), Ástor Piazzolla (1921-1992, Modern, Argentina), and Luciano Berio (1925-2003, Modern, Italy).
4 Growth and evolution of the composer network
4.1 Network growth process hints at the uneven growth of oldboys and newbies
4.2 Evolution of bipartite degree distribution indicates predictability for top-ranked composers and explains the rich-get-richer phenomenon in classical music industry
Rank
|
Weight
|
Pair
| |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name
|
Period
|
Active year
|
Name
|
Period
|
Active year
| ||
1 | 680 | Giacomo Puccini | Romantic | 1891 | Giuseppe Verdi | Romantic | 1857 |
2 | 613 | Beethoven | Romantic | 1798 | WA Mozart | Classical | 1773 |
3 | 417 | Giuseppe Verdi | Romantic | 1857 | Gaetano Donizetti | Romantic | 1822 |
4 | 389 | Beethoven | Romantic | 1798 | Johannes Brahms | Romantic | 1865 |
5 | 384 | JS Bach | Baroque | 1717 | WA Mozart | Classical | 1773 |
6 | 381 | Gioachino Rossini | Romantic | 1830 | Giuseppe Verdi | Romantic | 1857 |
7 | 368 | JS Bach | Baroque | 1717 | GF Handel | Baroque | 1722 |
8 | 355 | Giuseppe Verdi | Romantic | 1857 | WA Mozart | Classical | 1773 |
9 | 352 | Maurice Ravel | Modern | 1906 | Claude Debussy | Modern | 1890 |
10 | 350 | Franz Schubert | Romantic | 1812 | WA Mozart | Classical | 1773 |