What do you think about the state of music? Do you also feel that since the 19th century it has only been down hill?

Erudite music (i.e. what we call classical Music)?

I think it managed to hold off a bit more, we still have Bizet, Rachmaninoff, Sibelius, even Stravinsky and others composing great (fantastic, in some cases) pieces in the first half of the 20th century.

But then, a bunch of Jonh Cages came along...