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Short sci-fi story involving revival of a classical composer


I read this story a long time ago and cannot remember either the title or the author. It was written in the 60s or 70s. The setting is sometime in the 21 century.


Here is a summary of the plot.


One of the great classical composers (maybe it was Schubert, I'm not sure) is revived with some future technology. All the guys in the lab are very happy about it, the world cheers the achievement. The composer is also quite excited to be alive. Naturally, he is asked to perform a concert. He asks for ink and music paper. Nobody knows what that is: in those days everybody writes music directly in "frequency spectrum" and similar stuff.


The composer, excited to create music again, tries to come up with something but he doesn't like anything he writes. The music is well written, but lacks something essential, it doesn't sound like his real music. Finally, the composer realizes that the lab guys recreated his mind from reviews by music critics, and his music just sounds like that. He performs the concert. The audience enjoys it, applauds and bravos. Not only to composer, but also to the lab guys.


At the end, if I remember it right, the composer gloats over the primitive taste of the audience. The audience who writes music in frequency spectrum and applauds to lab guys at the music concert did not see the failure in the concert and ate it as it is.


Does someone recognize the story?


PS all the recent talk of advent of AI machines with Machine Learning algorithms reminded me of this story.



Answer



Although a bit older than what you suggest, this may be James Blish's 1956 short story A Work of Art.



The reincarnated composer is Richard Strauss. The end is somewhat as you state, Strauss is disappointed with his concert.



And suddenly, in the middle of the last act, he understood.


There was nothing new about the music. It was the old Strauss all over again - but weaker, more dilute than ever.



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