# Best Ten-Year Period in CM



## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

A friend of mine on social media asked what the best single decade of music was. I offered 1800-1809, because of Beethoven 1-6 and his many chamber works in that span.

What decades would you offer and why? They need not start with a "zero year."


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

I can offer a suggestion that said decade might be found within the range of productivity of "the 5th generation after Bach" (composers born 1801-1825)


Hector BerliozFelix MendelssohnFrederic ChopinRobert SchumannFranz LisztRichard WagnerCharles-Valentin AlkanGiuseppe VerdiCharles Gounod
Cesar FranckAnton Bruckner
and more...


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

1905-1914

Sibelius Violin Concerto 
Stravinsky Firebird
Stravinsky Petroushka
Stravinsky Rite of Spring
Vaughn Williams Symphony no 2
Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending
Mahler Symphonies 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10
Mahler Das Lied von der Erde
Ives Central Park in the Dark
Delius Brigg Fair
Sibelius Symphonies 3 and 4
Elgar Symphonies 1 and 2
Elgar Crown of India


I could go on.......


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

senza sordino said:


> 1905-1914
> 
> Sibelius Violin Concerto
> Stravinsky Firebird
> ...


That's... quite a solid list. I add:

R. Strauss' _Salome_
R. Strauss' _Rosenkavalier_
Puccini's _La fanciulla del West_
Holst's _Planets _(Mars, Venus, and Jupiter)
Fucik's _Winter Storms Waltz

_*Edit*: and Weingartner_ Symphony No. 3_ !

If this decade proves to be likely the most fruitful one, think of the implications about what the Great War and its consequences really meant for classical music.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

also - Schoenberg got going with his studies in atonality during that decade c1904 - 1914


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

I say 1958/1959 (the start of sonorism) through 1967/1968 (before minimalism became a movement).

It amazes me that a number of composers of differing geographies and nationalities undertook their own paths toward textural sound sculptures as alternatives to strict dodecaphony. Serialism was reigning during the 1950s and some questing composers pondered upon how could one continue being be 'contemporary' without using 12-tone techniques and not traversing backwards into tonal/modal Romanticism. Scelsi signaled the arrival of his 'mature' works with _quattro pezzi per orchestra_. Penderecki was doing _Anaklasis_ & _Strophes_. Stockhausen was doing his _Zyklus_. Xenakis did a musique concrete piece for the Philips Pavilion. _Artikulation_ & _Apparitions_ were issued forth by Ligeti. Friedrich Cerha commenced on his mammoth _Spiegel_ sequence. Etc.

To my mind, this '58-'59 period must have been watershed years with respect to 'new' music (this was before I was born, so I cannot speak from personal experience - but I consider it amazing nonetheless!).


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Of course it goes without saying that 1819 - 1828 deserves mention...


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## etipou (Dec 4, 2020)

I'll vote for 1784-1793.

You get nearly everything important from Mozart: the da Ponte operas and the Magic Flute, a bunch of concert arias, the Requiem and _Ave Verum Corpus_, symphonies #38-41, piano concerti #14-27, the clarinet concerto & 3 horn concerti, the Gran Partita serenade, the important string quintets and quartets (minus three) plus the divertimento-trio & Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, the piano quartets and trios (minus the early one), the clarinet trio and quintet, the quintet for piano and winds, and a handful of the better violin sonatas and piano sonatas.

From Haydn, the Quartets Op. 42, 50, 54/55, 60, 71/74, plus the Paris symphonies, the first six London symphonies, the great in-betweeners (#88-92) and a few earlier ones, the sinfonia concertante, the Seven Last Words, and a big fistful of piano trios.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

etipou said:


> I'll vote for 1884-1893.
> 
> You get nearly everything important from Mozart: the da Ponte operas and the Magic Flute, a bunch of concert arias, the Requiem and _Ave Verum Corpus_, symphonies #38-41, piano concerti #14-27, the clarinet concerto & 3 horn concerti, the Gran Partita serenade, the important string quintets and quartets (minus three) plus the divertimento-trio, the piano quartets and trios (minus the early one), the clarinet trio and quintet, the quintet for piano and winds, and a handful of the better violin sonatas and piano sonatas.
> 
> From Haydn, the Quartets Op. 42, 50, 54/55, 60, 71/74, plus the Paris symphonies, the first six London symphonies, the great in-betweeners (#88-92) and a few earlier ones, the sinfonia concertante, the Seven Last Words, and a big fistful of piano trios.


You mean 1784-1793?

This is a pretty good stretch, containing both Mozart and Haydn like that.


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## etipou (Dec 4, 2020)

MatthewWeflen said:


> You mean 1784-1793?


Good catch, how embarassing!


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Autumn 1818- Autumn 1828

For Late Beethoven, Schubert, and early Mendelssohn

The 1740s (Bach and Handel) and mid 1880s to mid 1890s (Mozart and Haydn) were wonderful as well.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

senza sordino said:


> 1905-1914
> 
> Sibelius Violin Concerto
> Stravinsky Firebird
> ...


Bartok String Quartet no. 1


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

ORigel said:


> The 1740s (Bach and Handel) and mid 1880s to mid 1890s (Mozart and Haydn) were wonderful as well.


You mean mid 1780s to mid 1790s?

This is a pretty good stretch, containing both Mozart and Haydn like that.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

MatthewWeflen said:


> You mean 1784-1793?


1771~1780 would also be good, as far as the Classical period is concerned:

Michael Haydn requiem in C minor (1771), Missa sancti nicolai Tolentini (1772), Missa sancti joannis Nepomuceni (1772), Missa sancti Hieronymi (1777), Responsoria in coena Domini (1778), 
C.P.E. Bach symphonies for Hamburg, keyboard sonatas,
W.A. Mozart symphony in G minor K.183 (1773), Litaniae de venerabili altaris sacramento K.243 (1776), sinfonia concertante K.364 (1779), Vesperae de dominca K.321 (1779), Idomeneo re di creta (composed in 1780, performed in January 1781), etc.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

hammeredklavier said:


> You mean mid 1780s to mid 1790s?


Good catch, how embarassing!


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

senza sordino said:


> 1905-1914
> 
> Sibelius Violin Concerto
> Stravinsky Firebird
> ...





ORigel said:


> Bartok String Quartet no. 1





Fabulin said:


> R. Strauss' _Salome_
> R. Strauss' _Rosenkavalier_
> Puccini's _La fanciulla del West_
> Holst's _Planets _(Mars, Venus, and Jupiter)
> ...


I'm still sticking to my original answer of 1905-1914 and I'll add (after doing some research)

Debussy Preludes Books 1 and 2
Debussy Children's Corner, Jeux, Images for Orchestra
Nielsen Violin Concerto, Symphony no 3
Delius On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring
Schoeberg Pierrot Lunaire
Tanayev Piano Trio
Elgar Violin Concerto
Ives Symphony no 3
Puccini Madame Butterfly


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

hammeredklavier said:


> You mean mid 1780s to mid 1790s?
> 
> This is a pretty good stretch, containing both Mozart and Haydn like that.


Yes, that's what I meant.


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## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

senza sordino said:


> I'm still sticking to my original answer of 1905-1914 and I'll add (after doing some research)
> 
> Debussy Preludes Books 1 and 2
> Debussy Children's Corner, Jeux, Images for Orchestra
> ...


If I may add the following links to your post - my apologies in advance if I may have overstepped any boundaries...

- Sunny

1905 in Classical Music

1906 in Classical Music

1907 in Classical Music

1908 in Classical Music 

1909 in Classical Music

1910 in Classical Music

1911 in Classical Music

1912 in Classical Music

1913 in Classical Music

1914 in Classical Music

=========================================================

If anyone is interested in any other year - just type "(year) in music" in the search engine of your choice.


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

I think that 1950-1960 was important because it was the start of the Golden Age of Classical Music recordings with a sound that could capture the tail end of Toscanini, Furtwangler, Mitropoulos and Pablo Casals, with a reasonable level of clarity. But you also have so many others in there too: Jascha Heifetz, Isaac Stern, Yehudi Menuhin, Vladimir Horowitz, Artur Rubinstein, Serkin, Arrau, young Glenn Gould, young Leonard Bernstein, Herbert Von Karajan, Reiner, Szell, Stokowski, Ormandy, Solti, Munch, Monteux, Bruno Walter...

Then there are the opera singers...

I think that this decade really set the standard for classical music recordings.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

2200 BCE - 2190 BCE

This decade gives us:

Og's Symphonies 5, 6, and 7 (aka the "Woolly Mammoth" symphony)

Kal's Double Concerto for Rock and Tree Trunk

and especially...

Za's Rock Operas "The Marriage of T-Rex" and "The Magic Triceratops"


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

There are too many good ten-year stretches to pick just one.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

consuono said:


> There are too many good ten-year stretches to pick just one.


Pick two then. That's 100% more than one.


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

MatthewWeflen said:


> Pick two then. That's 100% more than one.


Still too many. It would be hard to single out any of those already mentioned. If pressed, I'd have to go with those who've said ~1780-1790ish. Mozart's greatest operas, symphonies and piano concerti and great music by Haydn as well. But there's also 1720-1729, 1890-1899, 1820-1829, 1800-1809...


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

1920-1930

Reasons:

1) The first commercial radio broadcast on Nov. 2, 1920. Led to wide dissemination of classical music throughout the world. Brought music to people who wouldn't hear it otherwise.

2) Electrical Recording techniques invented. The astonishing improvement of recorded sound over previous methods let to the popularization, production and marketing of a large number of classical works. And some of the greats still alive were able to have their performances preserved for all time, such as Elgar and Ravel.

3) Just a few of the works from this decade:

Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending, A Pastoral Symphony, Job
Ravel - La Valse
Stravinsky - Pulichinella, Symphony of Psalms
Bax - The Garden of Fand, Symphonies 1-4
Korngold - The Dead City
Holst - The Perfect Fool
Enesco - Oedipus
Nielsen - Symphonies 5 & 6, Clarinet Concerto
Grainger - Shepherd's Hey, Irish Tune from County Derry
Milhaud - The Creation of the World
Walton - Facade
Sibelius - Symphonies 6 & 7, Tapiola
Sessions - The Black Maskers
Respighi - The Pines of Rome, Three Botticelli Pictures
Prokofiev - Symphonies 2, 3 & 4, The Dance of Steel
Honneger - Pacific 231
Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue, Piano Concerto, An American in Paris
Shostakovich - Symphony 1, The Age of Gold, Lady Macbeth
Janacek - Sinfonietta
Puccini - Turandot
Gliere - The Red Poppy
Bartok - Piano Concerto 1
Kodaly - Hary Janos
Weinberger - Schwanda, the Bagpiper
Berg - Lulu
Roussel - Symphony 3
Elgar - Pomp and Circumstance March no. 5
Smyth -The Prison
Hanson - Symphony 2


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## Axter (Jan 15, 2020)

ORigel said:


> Autumn 1818- Autumn 1828
> 
> For Late Beethoven, Schubert, and early Mendelssohn


Exactly what I had on mind to submit.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I will choose my decades carefully: From 1803 through 1812 (from Beethoven’s Kreuzer Sonata through his 8th Symphony, Archduke Trio, and the Serioso). Again, from 1821 through 1830 (with some cheating, all of late Beethoven from his last three piano sonatas forward, all of mature Schubert through his death, and just capturing the turn of the wheel with Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique).


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

Ten years is a little narrow for what I had in mind, but if pushed I would go for c. 1915-25. This timeframe gave us Impressionism, Expressionism, Neoclassicism, Serialism, Constructivism/Futurism and the influence of jazz in classical forms while still accommodating the Late/Post-romanticism of R. Strauss, Sibelius, RVW and Puccini. This was an incredibly fertile era when, as with the late 1960s in pop/rock, the musical scenery seemed to be permanently shifting.


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## gregorx (Jan 25, 2020)

mbhaub said:


> 1920-1930
> 
> Reasons:
> 
> ...


Yes, good call. The Jazz Age, with its cultural implications, probably felt like a counter movement to Classical. Because of the way the decade ended and its stark contrast to the 1930s, it certainly stands out.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

John Harbison once opined that, in terms of musical masterpieces, the most prolific period in CM were the 20 months that began withe the death of Beethoven (March 1827) and ended with the dearth of Schubert (November 1828).


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

*2001-2020*

And the next ten years ....


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

*Best Ten-Year Period in CM*



SanAntone said:


> *2001-2020*
> 
> And the next ten years ....


The "Best Ten-Year Period in CM" is most certainly _the next ten years to come_, especially if I am around to experience it. Whatever new music will be composed is one thing, but because of our current technology we have access to all that which came before, in all of those other "decades" folks are naming as "the best ten-year period." What could be better than that?


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## etipou (Dec 4, 2020)

MarkW said:


> John Harbison once opined that, in terms of musical masterpieces, the most prolific period in CM were the 20 months that began withe the death of Beethoven (March 1827) and ended with the dearth of Schubert (November 1828).


An astonishing period - the 9th symphony, the 6th mass, the quintet, the Eb piano trio, the F minor fantasia, the three piano sonatas, Winterreise and any number of beautiful songs.

The only rival I can think of is Mozart around 1786-mid 1787: _Le Nozze_, _Chio mi scordi di te_, the Prague symphony, piano concerti #23-25, horn concerto #4, the great C major & G minor quintets, the Hoffmeister quartet, the Eb piano quartet, the piano trios in G and Bb, and the Kegelstatt trio.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

etipou said:


> The only rival I can think of is Mozart around 1786-mid 1787: _Le Nozze_, _Chio mi scordi di te_, the Prague symphony, piano concerti #23-25, horn concerto #4, the great C major & G minor quintets, the Hoffmeister quartet, the Eb piano quartet, the piano trios in G and Bb, and the Kegelstatt trio.






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"it was suggested in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe that K. 341 actually dated from Vienna in 1787-91, when Mozart was hoping to be appointed Kapellmeister of St. Stephen's Cathedral."


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