[starry]

And some composers, even Bach perhaps, don't even give the idea of writing one any thought.

Probably most composers. And I think it just helps distort the perspective of a composer's work anyway, as if everything is supposed to lead up to one piece.

 

[HaydnBearstheClock]

Hm, I wouldn't agree with the Nelson mass as Haydn's magnum Opus - it's great of course but the Creation is a more original composition using much more elaborate orchestration and containing a wide spectrum of Haydn's styles.

 

[Avey]

wouldn't Beethoven's magnum opus be the Missa Solemnis?

YES! YES, it would!

+ that one heroic piece, Bonaparte, or something like that.

 

[Celloman]

No, Wellington's Victory is OBVIOUSLY his magnum opus. Everyone knows that! :lol:

 

[DavidA]

Haydn - The Creation
Mozart - the three Da Ponte operas.
Beethoven - Missa Solemnis or Diabelli variations
Bach - St Matthew
Liszt - Sonata
Handel - Messiah
Schubert - Wintereisse
Schumann - Fantasie
Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique

 

[HaydnBearstheClock]

those who don't have Haydn on their lists are missing out .

 

[Op.123]

Bach: Mass in B Minor, Well Tempered Keyboard
Beethoven: Symphony 9, Piano Concerto 4
Brahms: Symphony 4, A German Requiem
Chopin: Piano Concerto 1, Fantasy in F Minor
Liszt: Faust Symphony, Piano Concerto 2
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto, Symphony 4
Mozart: Symphony 40, Piano Concerto 20
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto 2, Piano Concerto 3
Schubert: Symphony 8, Symhony 9
Schumann: Piano Concerto, Fantasy in C Major
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake, Piano Concerto 1

 

[Skilmarilion]

My completely subjective take for these five composers:

Tchaikovsky - Symphony #6
Mendelssohn - Symphony #3
Beethoven - Symphony #5
Mozart - Piano Concerto #20
Mahler - Symphony #9

 

[hpowders]

Haydn, The Creation.
Mozart, String Quintet in g minor.
Beethoven, Missa Solemnis.
Bach, WTC.
Berlioz, Les Troyens.
Schubert, String Quintet in C.
Bruckner, Symphony #8.
Mahler, Symphony #9.
Shostakovich, Symphony #8.
Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet Ballet.
Schumann, Fantasie in C.
Schuman, Symphony #6.
Ives, Concord Piano Sonata.
Tchaikovsky, Sleeping Beauty Ballet.

 

[QuietGuy]

I agree with composers/works so far.

To this I'd add:

Copland: Appalachian Spring
Debussy: Afternoon of a Faun
Griffes: Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan

 

[Roi N]

D. Scarlatti - K. 490 Sonata 'Cantabile' in D Major (A truely unbelieveable yet somehow unknown piece)
G.F Handel - Julius Caesar (By far the best Baroque opera)
J.S Bach - 'The Well-Tempered Clavier' (Seems as if he ment it to sum up everything, using every key twice...)
Franz Joseph Haydn - The London Symphonies (The best set of symphonies to ever be composed)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - 41st Symphony (That Fugue, am I right?), 22nd Piano Concerto
Beethoven - 5th symphony (The second movement is the best slow movement in existence)
Mendelssohn - String Octet in E-Flat Major (I know it's an early piece, but it's a peak not him nor any other composer would reach again).
Brahms - Orchestral Variations on a theme by Haydn (Show me a better set of variations then that please)
Tchaikovsky - String Serenade (Constructing the entire finale on the introduction of the 1st movement? And then revealing it in the most clever of ways? Yes, it is the peak of string serenades as a whole)

 

[hpowders]

Agree on Handel and Bach.

 

[Op.123]

Brahms: Symphony No. 4
Schumann: Piano Concerto
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
Puccini: Madama Butterfly
Mozart: Symphony No. 40
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4
Schubert: Piano Sonata No. 21
Dvorak: Symphony No. 4/8
Verdi: Requiem
Faure: Requiem
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Frank: Symphonic Variations
Grieg: Piano Concerto
Liszt: Piano Sonata
Chopin: Fantasy in F Minor
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto No. 2
Bruch: Scottish Fantasy
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Bach: Goldberg Variations
Handel: Messiah
Haydn: Symphony No. 99
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3
Saint-Saens: Piano Concerto No. 2
Elgar: Cello Concerto
Mahler: Symphony No. 2
Sibelius: Violin Concerto
Vivaldi: Four Seasons
Stravinsky: Sacre du Printemps
Berg: Violin Concerto
Schoenberg: Piano Concerto
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Ravel: Piano Concerto for Left Hand
Korsakov: Scheherazade
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
Paganini: Caprices
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
Copland: Appalachian of Spring
Debussy: Preludes

 

[hpowders]

FJ Haydn, The Creation.

You can take this one to the bank.

 

[Dustin]

Mozart - The Magic Flute
Beethoven - String Quartet 14, Op 131
Schubert - String Quintet
Bach - WTC
Brahms - Clarinet Quintet
Chopin - Barcarolle
Haydn - Op 76 Quartets (Couldn't pick one but the first is as good as any)
Handel - Messiah (Its popularity doesn't affect my opinion of it at all, it's simply unreal. I think it was Beethoven who also was described as marveling in awe over it and praising it on his deathbed)

 

[Morimur]

K. Stockhausen: Licht (Opera Cycle)

 

[Murray]

Beethoven's Opus 97 trio; each listening and every performance brings more from the music. Among the highest achievements of the human intellect.

 

[hpowders]

For Beethoven, I would say either the 4th Piano Concerto or A Minor Quartet, the latter is more Brahmsian in parts than Brahms.

 

[hpowders]

For Brahms, it's the fourth symphony.

 

[hpowders]

For Prokofiev, it's Romeo and Juliet.