Left to his own devices, Mozart would have had trial and error compositions with no criticism or as we would say today, feedback. In our scenario, we expect Mozart to discard what does not work and to keep what does. How would he know, through trial and error alone, what works? The implied answer, gentle reader, is that Mozart had taste. Taste is one of those nebulous terms that I don’t like to use-I know taste, like pornagraphy, when I experience it.
Today one can see “modern” sculptures on the local college campus. i don’t care if these works of art cost ten or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Their prices can not be justified by either the artist's time or his ability. Using the Mozart analogy, would these sculptors create these same works without society's current values and “tastes”? - I do not think they would.
Do these artists say to themselves “I have created a work for the ages-these works will outlive me”? If they do say this in their heart, then in my mind I wonder by what standard would this confer immortality. Are they “artists” because they are driven to create or driven by something else? Demonic possession is beyond my sphere of competency, so I will neither imply nor state unequivocally that these works are of Satan. If these modern works could speak what would they say? -I will give them a voice -”We accuse our creator of bad taste”.