[Xisten267]

I'm passionate about him and his music and think in him as a kind of god of music, but there are two and only two composers that I love even more: Wagner and Beethoven.

 

[Xisten267]

Schubert takes way too long to make his argument. And there's no skillful use of contrast (consonance vs dissonance) in the voice leading. Overall, the impression is like "shoving large amounts of unspiced, unsalted meat down your throat". To me, he is the antithesis of Bach.

I like the extended expositions of Schubert, and I think that his melodies (for example that of the first movement D 960, or those of some of his songs, his specialty) are very lyrical and poetic and can be as good as the best around. Some say that he wasn't skilled in counterpoint as other contemporary composers, but I think nevertheless that some of his accompaniments (for example those in the first movement of D 804) are brilliant and that his use of variations (for example in the second movement of D 810) can be very expressive. I think that the use of dissonances is only one of many ways of achieving contrasts and that Schubert has no difficulty in being dramatic and contrasting at all when he wishes to (see for example how the opening melody and the first and second themes of the first movement of D 759 are contrasting in mood and instrumentation, or how he achieves climaxes in the development section of the same work by varying the dynamics).

It's always a personal pleasure to listen to the beautiful and profound music of Franz Schubert.

 

[Xisten267]

about Mozart, you need to change your mindset. He composed fun and joyous music. This is best illustrated in his operas, for example the Marriage of Figaro. My advice is not to take the music that seriously.

That's torturous for me - I prefer his more profound outings.

Mozart is IMO a very expressive composer and can be very profound, and should be taken seriously. My suggestion is that you try some of his late compositions such as the clarinet concerto K. 622, the last four symphonies (I think for example that the G minor was written in grief for the lost of his father because of a thematic connection between it and the aria Se il padre perdei from his earlier opera Idomeneo), the Requiem K. 626, the unfinished "Great" mass K. 427, the adagio and rondo for glass harmonica K. 617 and the operas Don Giovanni K. 527 and Die Zauberflöte K. 620.

If for example the Et Incarnatus est from Mozart's K. 427 isn't sublime and profound, then I don' know what is:

 

[Xisten267]

"1. 'Ta, ta, ta, lieber Maelzel`, WoO 162 - canon a 4
Some believe Anton Schindler wrote the canon based on the Allegretto scherzando theme from the 8th Symphony but there is no conclusive evidence as there is no manuscript nor printed edition from those days available."

Anyway, (regardless of whether Beethoven really did write it or not)...

"Probably a forgery of Anton Schindler, which was not written down before 1843

For a long time, it was believed that Beethoven wrote the famous Mälzel canon, in which the theme of the 2nd movement of his 8th symphony is written, for his friend, the inventor Johann Nepomuk Mälzel, in 1812 and thus commemorated the inventor of the metronome. Today we know better: the canon is not at all from Beethoven's pen, WoO 162 is one of Anton Schindler's many inventions, which he later pushed on to the composer.

Schindler was his unpaid secretary and nurse in Beethoven's last months. From this contact with the composer, after Beethoven's death, he derived absolute authority in all questions regarding the biography of the master. With regard to the interpretation of Beethoven's works, Schindler also appointed himself the trustee of Beethoven's legacy. One of the central issues for Schindler was the tempo question, because in his opinion, a wrong tempo during the performance could distort the original character of the composition (or what Schindler thought was the original character). In this discussion, however, confusion created Beethoven's own metronome statements, which were not always feasible or contradict Schindler's perceptions of tempo. Schindler particularly complained that he thought that his contemporaries' tempos were much too fast, above all Felix Mendelssohn. To support his view of slow tempos, Schindler published the so-called Mälzel canon in Hirschbach's "Musical Repertory" in February 1844. The theme of the canon comes from the 2nd movement of Beethoven's 8th Symphony, and the text makes the reference to Mälzel's metronome clear. Authentic handwritten sources do not exist for the composition. Schindler also provided the history of the event and the occasion (but reported them differently in different publications and with different dates, which caused irritation even among contemporaries). To underpin the authenticity of the canon, Schindler added fake entries in Beethoven's conversation books," - Source here.

 

[Xisten267]

Last week I started a quixotic attempt to listen through all the cantatas chronologically based on BWV number (I know this isn't "true" chronological listening, but it's most convenient for me). I think it is my favorite body of work in all of music. There has not been a single cantata so far (and I'm on BWV 11) that has not made me drop my jaw in awe and admiration of the dazzling emotional and compositional variety of the music.

I don't know all J.S. Bach's cantatas yet and probably should do the same, as I've been impressed by what I've listened so far. By the way, it's possible to listen to them in chronological order using this website which not only contains them sorted by date of composition but also has interesting info about each cantata.

 

[Xisten267]

I expect that this poll (as of 10th June 2020 Bach is favourite for approximately 1 in 4) is consistent with Bach coming second as per 'The greatest composer?'

It's reasonably in line with the ranked popular composers exercise I facilitated end of last year: 8/40 of the ranked submissions had Bach as their #1.

I think that it's interesting to note that because this year is special for Beethoven, more people interested in his music may have entered this community in the last months than people interested in the music of other composers. Note that the accumulated votes over the years in the Bach vs Beethoven poll still gives the edge to the baroque master (Bach has 51.75% and Beethoven 48.25% of the votes there as I write this).

 

[Xisten267]

With just a small caveat that that poll is specifically:

Not "the best" but simply...who gets more listening time where you are?

You're right. I didn't notice this.