Timeless Music

Browsing the shelves of a used bookstore, I recently found a book about composers.  No surprise that I'd be interested in something like that, right?  Well, sometimes what's found between the pages can be even more interesting than the book.  Little notes and bookmarks left by previous owners.  I found such an artifact of the previous owner of this book. 

It was a page taken from an April 1943 edition of Good Housekeeping (cover pictured above).  The page was headed "The Most Popular Composers", written by George Marek.  Here's the first paragraph:  "With the people of a disordered world wanting more than ever the solid beauty of ordered sound, with more people than ever going to concerts - and this by bus and in street clothes, not by car and in evening dress - with more people making music and listening to records, we thought it would be timely to publish a quick summary of the most "popular" composers.  Popularity, as we consider it here, is a measure of a love that has lasted."

What I get most out of that paragraph is the sense that this could be written about today: disordered world, attending concerts and dressing casually, and the recognition of the timelessness of great music.  Also, the composers people loved in 1943 has remained practically the same.  A fascinating look at how in classical music, nothing ever really changes.  By the way, books by Mr. George Marek (including one on Schubert), can be found in print and online (including Portland stores).