Non-authentic Music
General Discussion
The error that occured was that minutes before the ball, the stream that we usually use in the Duch was playing some very somber music. Our gracious host, Dr. Pekel Panacek, requested that we play music that was more lively, such as viennese waltzes. Upon searching the public listing directory, we found what appeared to be an ideal stream. However, the music soon changed to 20th and 21st century music, and the announcer on the stream commented that "this selection was especially requested by the King and Queen". We realized that the stream was actually the same one that was being presented at the Orange Nassau ball. We reverted back to our default stream as soon as possible (after suffering a Blue Screen of Death!).As to the music that was performed at both balls: The owners of the Duch de Coeur sim highly respect the owners of the Orange Nassau sim. Like us, they spend a great deal of their own income to provide a place for people with similar interests to gather. Their selection of music that spans the ages ranging 250 years into the future is apparently appropriate for their audience. Their sim is one of the longest lasting Enlightenment environments, and their own personal relationship has lasted for years. What they do is obviously working for them, and they have consistently been one of the most admired couples we know.The Duch tends to be more historically accurate with music in some areas, but we too would not hesitate to perform a Strauss waltz. Mendelssohn's incidental music for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" would have been entirely appropriate for our ball, even though it was written more than 50 years in our future. Everyone certainly seemed to enjoy listening to Tchaikovsky's "The Sleeping Beauty", which was written more than 100 years in our future.One comment we heard was that perhaps we should have been listening to the music of J.S. Bach. However, to be accurate, one would likely not have heard the music of Bach in the late 18th century because his music fell rapidly out of favor after his death in 1750. There were some minor revivals by Mozart and others, but it was not until the 19th century that Bach's music once again became loved.The music of our period is considered "classical", as opposed to "baroque" or "romantic". Classical music focused on simplicity. In the late 18th century, the complexity of polyphonic forms of the baroque era had fallen out of favor. The deep passion of the romantic era was still waiting for Beethoven to mature.My personal preference in music ranges from baroque through romantic. Depending on my mood and what I am doing, I prefer to listen to baroque while focusing on my work, romantic when I want to get involved with the music (try sitting still to Beethoven's 7th!), and classical when I want something light. Of course their are exceptions in all genres - the adagio from "Clarinet Concerto in A Major" by Mozart can move you to tears, and Bach's Brandenburg Concert #3 is so energetic that it became one of the 20th century's most popular classical hits, and it was performed on a synthesizer!While I agree with the premise that the sims allow us to particate in an immersion of time travel, we are also attempting to reach out to a broader audience and to promote friendships among those with similar tastes. Our desire is to attract and retain those that are much like us. It is not necessarily to reproduce a world that was, to be honest, far more unpleasant than our current world. The duch deliberately avoids some accurate RP as is practiced by certain other sims because we find it unpleasant. We expand our choices of music to cover all of classical music because we enjoy much more than a narrow range of genres.To the point about the cost of providing specific music: Many visitors seem to not understand that the cost of running these sims is very high, and it is the residents, merchants, and owners that allow everyone to enjoy these virtual environments. The monthly cost to the Lindens for the Duch de Coeur is over 720,000L. The upfront cost for the duchy sim was nearly 2.5 MILLION Lindens! None of the sims charge for attendance to musical events, yet all events cost each of us thousands of lindens to produce. We are very fortunate that we have exceptionally generous benefactors and very talented residents. Many performers and DJs require a relatively high fee. Occasionally, the owners have to provide streaming services which can be relatively expensive, and we have to cover costs that extend what our sponsors have donated.If someone wants to create a perfectly accurate RP environment, we invite you to make the investment, pay the Lindens up front and each month, make arrangements with the performer and be sure to cover their cost for their streaming server or make one available for them. Though you should be sure that your sim has dead air time throughout most of your guest's visits, because you would rarely hear any music at all in our time period. Be sure to treat your guests poorly unless they are of noble birth. Be sure to spit and throw things on them from the theater balconies. Be sure to ignore them when they pass by or punish them for not lowering their eyes when you pass. And pray that they return.Thank you, but no thank you. I personally prefer the inaccuracies of the Duch de Coeur and Orange Nassau sims and our 20th century moral values (which apparently aren't the same as 21st century moral values, judging by the behavior of some younger people).We should advise everyone that the Duch de Coeur Art and Music Festival is 80% OOC. You can expect jazz and funk performances on synthesizer and visual art that is clearly modern. We will hear some classical music that has current interpretations and rock/pop music that has a fun 'cinnamony' taste.Absolutely non-authentic music!
I suppose it really isn't that important between France and the states in America since it takes weeks to get there. 