# Do you have one favorite composer?



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

For me it's Debussy. I love all of what I've heard thus far, eventually I'll listen to it all. Mozart gets a nod, but there isn't enough variation for me from work to work, but his highs are very high. 

What about you?


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Bach, although Mahler and Brahms are not far behind.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

Beethoven. Great symphonies, overtures, and chamber music.

This isn't to say I don't love my Brahms, Mozart, Bruckner, Strauss, or Sibelius, or innumerable others. But if I had to pick one, it would be good old Ludwig Van.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

......................


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Gosh, I'm not at all sure. I'd guess it's somebody named Ludwig and *not *with the surname Spohr!


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

Yes; Mozart

And that's all I've got to say about that.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Bach, followed by Maher, followed by a few others.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

I have at points in the past. Most notably Chopin, Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms. Admittedly, my enjoyment of Chopin has dwindled in recent years (though I am quite sad to admit it, and would like to find a way to retrieve the magic at some point), but for the most part I find my appreciation of music that I consider to be truly great (even on first hearing) rarely ever diminishes with time. I simply grow to appreciate more music, and like everyone else, go through my own phases as a listener. At the moment, I'd have to say I don't really have a single favorite. It's probably a tie between the 3 B's: Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. Mozart could just easily be included in that short list, and the more I listen to Wagner (whom I'm not nearly as familiar with as I am with the others I've mentioned), the more tempted I am to add his name as well.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Sibelius - not the early work, but those from about the forth symphony onwards. I'd also mention Vaughan Williams for whom my interest continues to grow.

It would seem that life's experiences - one's chemical make-up - may determine whether one is sympathetic or not to a certain composer. I find that with Sibelius (and RVW and some others) that I can perceive very clearly what they are trying to say - with what is essentially (my focus predominantly being instrumental music) an abstraction. The mental imagery such pieces evoke is startling.


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

I have many heroes, but I don't really have a favourite.

Perfection sounds like Tchaikovsky's highlights, but there is also a lot of his music that I find boring.
I could listen to virtually anything by Bernard Herrmann. In fact, as far as published music is concerned, I nearly already did.
The greatest influence on my musical imagination was probably Shostakovich. 
My favourite contemporary is John Williams.


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## NLAdriaan (Feb 6, 2019)

Well, my heart says Mahler, my mind says Bach, so it should be Mahler


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Difficult, but if pushed I'd say Shostakovich - when I binge on his music I tend to binge harder than usual, and it helps that he had a large and diverse output, even if some works are obviously going to be better than others. Apart from nearly all of the very early pre-first symphony stuff, works for unaccompanied choir and various transcriptions of his and other peoples work I have virtually everything that is available.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

I mentioned RVW - well perhaps his fifth symphony is worth referencing - composed during the second world war, it uses materials salvaged from his abandon opera 'The Pilgrims Progress'.

According to wikipedia:

"In January 1943, Vaughan Williams arranged for two of his friends to play through the newly completed piano duet score of the symphony. In later years his widow, Ursula, recalled that he was not impressed after hearing it, causing him to doubt his new work. After hearing the first orchestral rehearsal by the London Philharmonic on 25 May, he changed his mind."

He dedicated the work to Sibelius.

The third movement 'Romanza' is emotionally devastating imo:


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Brahms, Prokofiev, Ravel, Mozart..... But Brahms first.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Not one, no. If pressed I'd say it's a toss up between Berlioz and Verdi, but there are loads of other composers I love just as much.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I think the primary composer who speaks to me is Beethoven. In my burgeoning stack of CDs, he seems to be the one most represented.


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## Janspe (Nov 10, 2012)

If someone pointed a gun at my head and forced me to choose only one composer to take on a desert island, it would be Robert Schumann. His music speaks to me on a very personal and special way, and there's so much of it: piano music, orchestral works and concertos, chamber music, choral pieces, and of course the countless songs...

Fortunately such a choice is not required!


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

No secret about that.


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

No, I do not have a favorite composer - I have many favorite composers.


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## poconoron (Oct 26, 2011)

MOZART

due to the bewildering variety of masterpieces written in every genre ..........


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Beethoven, closely followed by Wagner and Bach.


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## howlingfantods (Jul 27, 2015)

Wagner, easily my favorite.


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## Littlephrase (Nov 28, 2018)

It’s an eternal toss up between Beethoven and Mahler (and Brahms and Schubert and...).


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## DBLee (Jan 8, 2018)

I don't normally think of things that way. I try to enjoy each piece of music for what it is. That said, the question being asked, my answer is Ludwig van Beethoven without having to think more than a second. He remains the master.


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## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

Sibelius.....

the one consistent throughout what could be described as a lifetime of listening ( Vanska and the Lahti S.O. performing the 3rd as I type!)


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

It's a close thing for me, Bartók being my favourite composer, but I cannot make a sensible argument that would put him quite at the same level as Beethoven, so Ludwig's my "greatest", Bela my hero.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

I'm a newbie to classical music. I'm coming up on one year of serious classical listening, the first such of my life. Thus, I don't want to name a composer and regret it later. There are a few composers whose music speaks to me so directly that I can't deny my love for them in the slightest: Ravel, Webern, Mahler, and a relatively new entry: Schumann. & then there are those composers who instill in me such awe that I just have to put them right at the top, even if I haven't fully explored their music and even if they may not have the same feeling as being "mine" as those that I mentioned...: Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Debussy, Schubert, Haydn. Between these names and so many more, I couldn't bear to choose one favorite, I think. Ask me again in another year.


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## Texas Chain Saw Mazurka (Nov 1, 2009)

"You can't have Bach, Mozart and Beethoven as your favorite composers: They simply define what music is!" -- Michael Tilson Thomas

Do you suppose he has a point?


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

premont said:


> No, I do not have a favorite composer - I have many favorite composers.


That's the spirit, so + 1


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Mozart gets a nod, but there isn't enough variation for me from work to work,


I like how Captain tries to convince everyone Beethoven has more variety and stronger voice than Mozart.
(Does Beethoven Have the Strongest Voice of the Big Three? is not the only time he did it.)
I have far easier time distinguishing Mozart masses K192 and K194 or vespers K321 and K339 by their melodies than remembering Beethoven's melodies in works such as fourth symphony (except the first movement) and Mass Op.86. This is the biggest issue I have with Beethoven. Certain pieces by him don't make much of an impression on me because of this. Mozart's melodies display colors of a rainbow, Beethoven's are often just plain blank white. It's like trying to distinguish white color from another type of white color.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Texas Chain Saw Mazurka said:


> "You can't have Bach, Mozart and Beethoven as your favorite composers: They simply define what music is!" -- Michael Tilson Thomas
> 
> Do you suppose he has a point?


If by 'define' MTT meant 'state or describe exactly the nature, scope, or meaning of', then no, those composers did not do so (indeed, no composer has); there would be little need for further composition if the 'scope' of music had already been outlined by the early 19th century. For me, those composers had only begun to scratch the surface - and that's not a slight - they undoubtedly produced some great works.

Edit: okay - they more than scratched the surface - but so much more was and perhaps is left to discover and push the envelope.


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## StevenOBrien (Jun 27, 2011)

Mozart.



Texas Chain Saw Mazurka said:


> "You can't have Bach, Mozart and Beethoven as your favorite composers: They simply define what music is!" -- Michael Tilson Thomas
> 
> Do you suppose he has a point?


I feel sorry for him if he genuinely thinks that those three composers have the same status as a dictionary.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Personally.....


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## Guest (Oct 22, 2019)

No.
....................


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Baron Scarpia said:


> No.
> ....................


What the Baron said.


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## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

Pierre Boulez! :lol: (to make my dearest Enthusiast happy)

And now (more) serious : Liszt, Chopin, Bruckner, Tschaikowsky, Beethoven, Berlioz, Wallace. 

To be (even more) to the point: LISZT, LISZT, LISZT! :lol:


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^ More than nominating him, you will have to listen to him! A fine composer if not many people's favourite.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Earlier I said a toss up between Berlioz and Verdi, but didn't define the others that are high on my list.

Debussy
Tchaikovsky
Sibelius
Ravel
Mahler
Britten
Handel

Plus the more obvious contenders - Mozart, Beethoven and Bach, whom I've only recently started to appreciate.

These are probably the composers I listen to most often, but there are a host of other composers I enjoy or who have written one or two works I like very much.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Texas Chain Saw Mazurka said:


> "You can't have Bach, Mozart and Beethoven as your favorite composers: They simply define what music is!" -- Michael Tilson Thomas
> 
> Do you suppose he has a point?


His approach certainly makes the OP question more interesting. Also, it does make sense to me to say that some of the very greatest do define what is possible in music. Leaving out the top dogs (and I would include Brahms in MTT's list), I might find a favourite among Haydn, Schubert, Mahler, Bartok, Britten, Stravinsky .... . No it's still impossible.


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

Bach, followed by Beethoven and Schumann.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Maurice Ohana at the moment.


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## Esau (Jul 31, 2016)

Sometimes I connect more fondly with Mozart and Bach works than any of the rest of the composers, but Beethoven has a place in my heart, because he taught me how to listen to classical music.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

I thought about this topic a bit more and changed my mind. I realized I do have an answer. I may not be able to identify who I think is the single "greatest" composer, but Brahms is my absolute favorite, bar none. I am listening to his first symphony now, for the first time in months, and despite knowing the piece's ins and outs, am (at least) just as stunned by the sheer beauty, perfection, nobility and genuine creativity of this work as I must've been the first time I heard it.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

No. Thanks for asking.


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## Razumovskymas (Sep 20, 2016)

hammeredklavier said:


> I like how Captain tries to convince everyone Beethoven has more variety and stronger voice than Mozart.
> (Does Beethoven Have the Strongest Voice of the Big Three? is not the only time he did it.)
> I have far easier time distinguishing Mozart masses K192 and K194 or vespers K321 and K339 by their melodies than remembering Beethoven's melodies in works such as fourth symphony (except the first movement) and Mass Op.86. This is the biggest issue I have with Beethoven. Certain pieces by him don't make much of an impression on me because of this. Mozart's melodies display colors of a rainbow, Beethoven's are often just plain blank white. *It's like trying to distinguish white color from another type of white color.*


Exactly why Beethoven is my favorite composer!!


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## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

Dimace said:


> Pierre Boulez! :lol: (to make my dearest Enthusiast happy)
> 
> And now (more) serious : Liszt, Chopin, Bruckner, Tschaikowsky, Beethoven, Berlioz, Wallace.
> 
> To be (even more) to the point: LISZT, LISZT, LISZT! :lol:


I always say to try new things, my dearest. But in vain… Let us hope, that the time will be found and Pierre will have his chances.


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## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

Texas Chain Saw Mazurka said:


> "You can't have Bach, Mozart and Beethoven as your favorite composers: They simply define what music is!" -- Michael Tilson Thomas
> 
> Do you suppose he has a point?


Absolute!!! Everybody who has studied music, accepts this as a fact. Beethoven, especially, is something so big, so beyond the rich for most of the people, that stands like a god in the musical universe. What this composer achieved with his music is equal with the invention of fire for the humanity. I say many times: I will not listen music today. I will listen Beethoven.


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

Prokofiev is on a pedestal. Everyone else is second.


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

(1) Beethoven
(2) Bach 
(3) Mozart
(4) Brahms
(5) Mahler
(6) Wagner
(7) Schubert
(8) Shostakovich
(9) Verdi
(10) Messiaen


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

*Alexander Borodin* is my favorite, likely till my death. 
Too many utterly supernatural works... or rather not enough.


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

Ethereality said:


> *Alexander Borodin* is my favorite, likely till my death.
> Too many utterly supernatural works... or rather not enough.


Imagine being a prominent chemist and simultaneously composing beautiful music...


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

Messiaen, Buxtehude, Pachelbel all rate equally for me. 

For present day composers my favorite is none other than Frederik Magle! 

I've been working on his composition "Lament" for organ lately.


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

I'm greedy and have two. Brahms and Schumann. Well, the two go together anyway


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

For me, it is my first love, after all theses years (40), Philip Glass.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

hammeredklavier said:


> I like how Captain tries to convince everyone *Beethoven has more variety and stronger voice than Mozart*.


But _he does_...


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## Johnnie Burgess (Aug 30, 2015)

Too many great ones from the baroque to Shostakovich to pick just one.


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## leonsm (Jan 15, 2011)

Bach is the man


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

J.S. Bach. Though I must confess that I haven't listened to his music in about six months. Yet, if I had to choose one composer's works to listen to (exclusively) for the rest of my life, it would be his.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I'm already second guessing my Debussy pick. I'm so fickle! :lol:


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## MrMeatScience (Feb 15, 2015)

Mahler for me without much need for a second thought, but the second rank is loaded with composers that I wouldn't want to live without (Bach, Debussy, Ravel, Shostakovich, R Strauss, Stravinsky, Wagner, Berg, Brahms, and Mozart would probably make up that category).


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## Oldhoosierdude (May 29, 2016)

Lovely, lovely Ludwig van.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Deleted post, thanks!


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## Musicaterina (Apr 5, 2020)

If I had to choose one famous composer, it would probably be Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini. But I also like Bach (Johann Sebastian and sons), Beethoven, Haydn, Vivaldi and Dvorak. And also some rarely played composers like Nicola Antonio Porpora.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Yes! It is Mozart. I haven't heard all his pieces though. Discovered one yesterday, K 360 (only a variations piece), that I loved instantly. Of course...somebody else wrote the theme...


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## UniversalTuringMachine (Jul 4, 2020)

If I have to choose, I will have to choose LvB.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

As much as I have an affinity for Russian/Soviet, Czech, American and Nordic composers, I still would have to put Debussy above all others. His music casts a unique spell over me. I truly believe my soul is somehow connected with his and I know that sounds ridiculous to say, but I can’t quite say this about any other composer.


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

Mozart. His music grew relatively slowly on me when I was first starting out, but now - though there is an enormous amount of music by other composers that I'd hate to have to do without - if I could take only one composer's music with me to a desert island it would simply have to be Mozart's.


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## aioriacont (Jul 23, 2018)

Animal the Drummer said:


> Mozart. His music grew relatively slowly on me when I was first starting out, but now - though there is an enormous amount of music by other composers that I'd hate to have to do without - if I could take only one composer's music with me to a desert island it would simply have to be Mozart's.


explain fascination with mozart


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## aioriacont (Jul 23, 2018)

My favorite composer in our context is Bach

In other genres, it is probably Yuki Kajiura (soundtracks' composer)


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

No, I don't have a single favourite. My favourite qualities of music and philosophy behind it are spread over many artists.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

aioriacont said:


> explain fascination with


use this joke only on conductors


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

Zomart is the evil Mozart. Really great music, but nobody knows if he was responsible for Mozart's death. I personally believe he was the anti-hero not the villain.


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

Rare portrait of Zomart after his takeover in Vienna.


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## aioriacont (Jul 23, 2018)

hahahahahahahaaha this zomart thing made my day


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Ethereality said:


> Rare portrait of Zomart after his takeover in Vienna.


Are you sure that's the right one?









and this is his 5th symphony:


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Beethoven is my favorite composer, followed closely by Bach. However, I am not sure which composer I listen to most.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

ORigel said:


> Beethoven is my favorite composer, followed closely by Bach. However, I am not sure which composer I listen to most.


In this Beethoven year I do listen more to recordings of his work . :angel:


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## Donna Elvira (Nov 12, 2017)

No, I have 5 favorites, J.S. Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, Verdi, and last but not least, Mozart.
In reference to the person who started this thread, Debussy is in my top 10, though.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Beethoven is my favorite composer, and it gives me immense disgust to see trolls/haters trying to diminish his image. Sometimes I wish I was a musicologist so that I could defend him properly.


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## Wilhelm Theophilus (Aug 8, 2020)

Mozart & Wagner


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## Caesura (Apr 5, 2020)

My top 3 are Handel, Beethoven, and Mozart. Just out of that range are Bach & Vivaldi.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

The older I get - and I'm pretty old - the less possible it is to designate a single favorite in any category of thing, musical or otherwise. I guess my favorite snack is still peanuts, though - preferably with raisins.


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