Thread: Top 25 Composers (Please, Everyone Take Part!)

Originally Posted by mamascarlatti

I don't take this seriously either, but I'll add my little opera-lover's list, which of course looks different from a general classical list

1. Mozart
2. Wagner
3. Verdi
4. Handel

You have identified the four greatest opera composers of all time, which many folks in the know seem to often agree upon.

1- chopin
2- lizst
3- beethoven
4-alkan
5-debussy
6-mozart
7-tchaikovsky ( for his beautiful barcarolle)
8-sibelius
9-edvard grieg
10- wagner
11-J.S.Bach
12-... unknow composer. ((Maybe henry VIII) greensleeves)


I like the time of Ressanaince and Romance which were the most beautiful at all times!

Originally Posted by HarpsichordConcerto

You have identified the four greatest opera composers of all time, which many folks in the know seem to often agree upon.

Hehe you're right, but it gets a little more idiosyncratic after that compared with a more general list.

Couple of things. Air:

Originally Posted by Air

1) Bach
1) Mozart
1) Prokofiev
4) Schumann
4) Wagner
6) Villa-Lobos
7) Beethoven
7) Bruckner
9) Schubert
9) Bartok
10) R.Strauss
11) Medtner
11) Ravel
11) Varèse
11) Stravinsky
15) Janáček
15) Brahms
15) Ligeti
18) Liszt
19) Handel
19) Mahler
21) Schoenberg
21) Sibelius
23) Alkan
24) Ives
25) Rameau
25) Walton
25) Berlioz
25) Berg

I think you've slightly miscounted. Though I'd prefer no ties, I'll accept them, but down to Ives is 25. I think the error occurs when you listed R. Strauss as '10)' rather than '11)'

In total, there are 29 names on your list so I've excluded the last four, who are all joint 26th (rather than joint 25th). You can amend it if you want to, though.

Oh and, please, anyone amending their list late, tell me (I don't think you can edit your original post anyway), so that I can change the data I've entered into the compiler.

ricardo_jvc6: You've only listed 11. I suppose I can accept the odd shortened list, as it's still useful data to add, though I would prefer if you listed 25 (if possible).

My pathetic attempt to break the ties. I did this for you, bud. Hope it makes the work easier.

1) Bach
2) Mozart
3) Prokofiev
4) Schumann
5) Wagner
6) Villa-Lobos
7) Beethoven
8) Bruckner
9) Schubert
10) Bartok
11) R.Strauss
12) Ravel
13) Varèse
14) Stravinsky
15) Medtner
16) Janáček
17) Brahms
18) Ligeti
19) Liszt
20) Handel
21) Mahler
22) Schoenberg
23) Sibelius
24) Ives
25) Berlioz
n.b. Alkan

Thanks Air

In no particular order:

1. Handel
2. Beethoven
3. Mozart
4. Schubert
5. Zemlinsky
6. Schoenberg
7. Xenakis
8. Carter
9. Lutoslawski
10. Feldman
11. Alkan
12. Liszt
13. Stockhausen
14. Partch
15. Varese
16. Ginastera
17. Ives
18. Berg
19. Webern
20. Bartok
21. Dutilleux
22. Ligeti
23. Tippett
24. Schnittke
25. Messiaen

I struggled after a while, so my bottom few are based upon a scanty knowledge of a few works...

1. Mozart
2. Beethoven
3. Handel
4. Bach
5. Tchaikovski
6. Haydn
7. Wagner
8. Schubert
9. Verdi
10. Monterverdi
11. Mahler
12. Stravinski
13. Schoenberg
14. Rossini
15. Sibelius
16. R Strauss
17. Bartok
18. Debussy
19. Saint Saens
20. Hildegard de Bingen
21. Palestrina
22. Shostokovitch
23. Chopin
24. Brahms
25. Prokoviev

1 Mozart
2 Beethoven
3 Bach
4 Schubert
5 Haydn J
6 Brahms
7 Wagner
8 Handel
9 Schumann
10 Tchaikovsky
11 Mendelssohn
12 Stravinsky
13 Chopin
14 Liszt
15 Dvorak
16 Verdi
17 Mahler
18 Debussy
19 Prokofiev
20 Berlioz
21 Strauss, R
22 Shostakovich
23 Vivaldi
24 Monteverdi
25 Bruckner

-1 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
-2 Richard Strauss
-3 Giacomo Puccini
-4 Johann Sebastian Bach
-5 Ludwig van Beethoven
-6 Joseph Haydn
-7 George Frideric Handel
-8 Guiseppe Verdi
-9 Sergei Prokofiev
10 Richard Wagner
11 Peter Tchaikovsky
12 Claudio Monteverdi
13 Maurice Ravel
14 Frederic Chopin
15 Franz Schubert
16 Gioacchino Rossini
17 Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
18 Jean-Philippe Rameau
19 Johannes Brahms
20 Vincenzo Bellini
21 Antonin Dvorak
22 Kaija Saariaho
23 Robert Schumann
24 Gaetano Donizetti
25 Leos Janacek

Originally Posted by bassClef

One of the reasons I do like perusing lists of people's favourites (rather than generic lists of the "greats" who we all know) is when it throws up some peculiarities. It would be better with some narrative, but even just a name I've not heard of starts me on an exciting quest. I'm trying some Grisey and Rolla as we speak.

This is always the case with lists, whether it be for music, film or anything else. The consensus list is normally quite boring but the individual lists are more interesting. I've never really understood why people always seem more interested in the final consensus list in such things rather than the individual ones which make them up.

01. Dmitri Shostakovich
02. Ludwig van Beethoven
03. Gustav Mahler
04. Alfred Schnittke
05. Richard Strauss
06. Leoš Janáček
07. Georg Friedrich Händel
08. György Ligeti
09. Jean Sibelius
10. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
11. Johann Sebastian Bach
12. Benjamin Britten
13. Anton Bruckner
14. Alessandro Scarlatti
15. Hector Berlioz
16. Maurice Ravel
17. Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber
18. Alban Berg
19. Arnold Schoenberg
20. Igor Stravinsky
21. Camille Saint-Saëns
22. Edgard Varèse
23. Iannis Xenakis
24. Sergei Prokofiev
25. Johannes Brahms

Why not?

1. Mozart
2. JS Bach
3. Beethoven
4. Schubert
5. Chopin
6. Scarlatti
7. Ravel
8. Liszt
9. Enescu
10. Tchaikovsky
11. Haydn
12. Monteverdi
13. Handel
14. Mendelssohn
15. CPE Bach
16. Debussy
17. Verdi
18. Wagner
19. Vivaldi
20. Stravinsky
21. Donizetti
22. Boulez
23. Scriabin
24. Hindemith
25. Corelli

Here's the 25 composers who I personally like so much I'd go out in the snow to hear. The ranking is almost arbitrary, because these composers can't stand head to head - Beethoven was dealing with a different set of rules than Dufay or Varese - but they're ranked according to either ability or influence on other composers.

Beethoven
Mozart
Bach
Handel
Haydn
Bruckner
Brahms
Ockeghem
Stravinsky
Schoenberg
Debussy
Dufay
Mahler
Bartok
Obrecht
Josquin
Palestrina
Webern
Sibelius
Varese
Vivaldi
Ravel
Satie
Glazunov
Mendelssohn

1. W A Mozart
2. J S Bach
3. L V Beethoven
4. R Wagner
5. J Haydn
6. I Stravinsky
7. F Schubert
8. J Brahms
9. G F Handel
10. P I Tchaikovsky
11. F Mendelssohn
12. D Scarlatti
13. D Shostakovich
14. G Mahler
15. R Schumann
16. A Vivaldi
17. G Verdi
18. A Bruckner
19. R Strauss
20. F Chopin
21. S Prokofiev
22. G P Palestrina
23. C Debussy
24. A Schoenberg
25. C Monteverdi