RSSTriumph of the Cyborg Composer
Cope attracted praise from musicians and computer scientists, but his creation raised troubling questions: If a machine could write a Mozart sonata every bit as good as the originals, then what was so special about Mozart? And was there really any soul behind the great works, or were Beethoven and his ilk just clever mathematical manipulators of notes?
Cope’s answers — not much, and yes — made some people very angry.
This comes from a very interesting article, but I take issue with the former of these questions and answers. As a student in an introductory counterpoint class, I wrote chorales, canons, and fugues in the style of Bach, of Beethoven, and of Brahms. Any second- or third-rate composer can write “in the style of” a great composer. What is “so special about Mozart” is that no one wrote like him until him. That someone, even a computer, can write like him after-the-fact is only as impressive as someone today painting in the style of Michelangelo.