# Classical Music World Champions - Your List



## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

Instead of the typical "top" lists, I would be interested who do you think were the No. 1 at a given point in time in the periods that interest you.

This way composers are ranked only against their contemporaries, and one picks a living favourite at any given point in history, until a new musical challenger of greater skill and, perhaps, invention, arrives.

Feel free to get inspiration from this, as I did:





Here is my rough list (with years of "championship"):

1703-1704 Vivaldi	1
1704-1750 J.S. Bach	46
1750-1767 CPE Bach	17
1767-1773 Haydn	6
1773-1791 Mozart	18
1791-1805 Haydn 14
1805-1827 Beethoven 22
1827-1828 Schubert	1
1828-1840 Chopin	12
1840-1847 Mendelssohn 7
1847-1853 Schumann 6
1853-1883 Wagner	30
1883-1893 Tchaikovsky 10
1893-1897 Brahms	4
1897-1911 Mahler	14
1911-1913 Schönberg 2
1913-1950 Stravinsky 37
1950-1975 Shostakovich 25
1975-2020 Williams 44

Some end/beginning dates are the deaths of stronger competitors, and some are points where I feel the body of compositions of a new challenger started to show greater strength than the contemporary work of the champion.

Remember this is all for fun, so please don't argue about nazis, religions, plagiarism accusations, and other such rabbit holes in this thread.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

Poor Schubert. The window opened wide for him to reign as champion, and he died a year into it.

Of course, also poor us, for not getting 20-30 more years' worth of Schubert compositions.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Based on my personal taste and what I know of music _today_, and considering orchestral soundtracks as classical music:

1607-1643: Monteverdi (35);
1644-1663: Cavalli (20);
1664-1687: Lully (24);
1688-1695: Purcell (8);
1696-1703: F. Couperin (8);
1704-1711: Vivaldi (8);
1712-1750: J.S. Bach (39);
1751-1757: Handel (7);
1758: Telemann (1);
1759-1761: Haydn (3);
1762: Gluck (1);
1763-1772: Haydn (10);
1773-1791: Mozart (19);
1792-1798: Haydn (7);
1799-1827: Beethoven (29);
1828: Schubert (1);
1829: Chopin (1);
1830-1842: Berlioz (13);
1843-1883: Wagner (41);
1884-1887: Brahms (4);
1888-1893: Tchaikovsky (6);
1894-1897: Brahms (4);
1898-1905: Debussy (8);
1906-1910: Mahler (5);
1911-1914: Stravinsky (4);
1915-1929: Sibelius (15);
1930-1953: Prokofiev (24);
1954-1975: Shostakovich (22);
1976-1998: Williams (23);
1999: Moore* (1);
2000-2020: Williams (21).

*: I really like the OST of _*Outcast*_.


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

Very interesting list! I now have quite a few picks of yours to revisit :tiphat:

I've never heard the Outcast before, but I like what I'm hearing. I know very few videogame scores as good as this.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Fabulin said:


> Very interesting list! I now have quite a few picks of yours to revisit :tiphat:
> 
> I've never heard the Outcast before, but I like what I'm hearing. I know very few videogame scores as good as this.


It's my current favorite videogame soundtrack. In my opinion it's a pity that it is mostly unknown due to the game have been a complete commercial failure. It's a cult classic though and I think that any videogame enthusiast should play it some day.

I wish they hadn't included in the video from the link I posted the pot-pourri at 19:12 and the bonus sections starting at 1:05:12 though.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

hammeredklavier said:


>


Interesting video. Somehow I wasn't aware of the popularity of Mahler's symphony #4, and now I'm feeling a bit frustrated because it's the only one of his symphonies that didn't 'click' with me yet. I will probably listen to it later today.


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

Allerius said:


> Interesting video. Somehow I wasn't aware of the popularity of Mahler's symphony #4, and now I'm feeling a bit frustrated because it's the only one of his symphonies that didn't 'click' with me yet. I will probably listen to it later today.


I'd be a bit cautious with thinking it is one of his most popular. The list seems a bit skewed towards Mahler works that are less costly to put on and no. 4 is certainly his least 'big' symphony.


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

Had to trim some names and dates around. This is my best estimate of mostly 5 year periods.
1692-1704 Charpentier (13)
1705-1707 Couperin (3)
1708-1750 JS Bach (42)
1751-1759 CPE Bach (9)
1760-1774 Haydn 
1775-1789 Mozart (15)
1790-1799 Haydn (25)
1800-1813 Beethoven
1814-1816 Cherubini (3)
1817-1818 Beethoven (16)
1819-1823 Hummel (5)
1824-1828 Schubert (5)
1829-1834 Mendelssohn (5)
1835-1853 Schumann (19)
1854-1856 Liszt (3)
1857-1873 Brahms
1874-1876 Lalo (3)
1877-1879 Brahms
1880-1884 Brahms / Borodin (2.5)
1885-1889 Brahms (27.5)
1890-1894 Chausson (5)
1895-1899 Dohnanyi
1900-1904 Sibelius
1905-1909 Taneyev (5)
1910-1914 Dohnanyi (10)
1915-1919 Sibelius (7) / Bax (1.5) / Bloch
1920-1924 Bloch (6.5)
1925-1929 Bartok (5)
1935-1939 Martinu (5)
1940-1944 Moeran (5)
1945-1949 R Strauss (5)
1950-1954 Shostakovich
1955-1959 Finzi (5)
1960-1964 Shostakovich
1965-1969 Dutilleux / Shostakovich (12.5)
1970-1974 Crumb (5)
1975-1979 Dutilleux / Williams
1980-1984 Williams (5) / Hovhaness (2.5)
1985-1994 Broughton (5) / Sculthorpe (5)
1995-2001 Uematsu (3) / Vasks (2) / Yoshimatsu (2)
2002-2004 Dutilleux (8)
2005-2009 Furrer (5)
2010-2014 Abrahamsen (5)
2015- ?


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## StDior (May 28, 2015)

I start with my great favourite Machaut, who wrote his first motet in 1324. 
1324-1377	Machaut 54
1378-1386	Jacobo da Bologna 9
1387-1397	Landini 11
1398-1412	Ciconia 15
1413-1414	Wolkenstein 2
1415-1474	Dufay 60
1475-1505	Obrecht 31
1506-1521	Josquin des Prez 16
1522-1526	Gombert 5
1527-1543	Taverner 17
1544-1552	Cristóbal de Morales 9
1553-1561	Ortiz 9
1562-1586	Palestrina 25
1587-1602	Gabrieli 16
1603-1643	Monteverdi 41
1644-1676	Cavalli 33
1677-1702	Buxtehude 26
1703-1717	Vivaldi 15
1718-1750	JS Bach 33
1751-1759	Handel 9
1760-1760	Telemann 1
1761-1786	Haydn 26
1787-1791	Mozart 5
1792-1804 Haydn 13
1805-1827	Beethoven 23
1828-1828	Schubert 1
1829-1829	Rossini 1
1830-1830	Berlioz 1
1831-1849	Chopin 19
1850-1856	Schumann 7
1857-1870	Wagner 14
1871-1875	Verdi 5
1876-1894	Brahms 19
1895-1900	Mahler 6
1901-1904 Dvorak 4
1905-1911 Mahler 7
1912-1912	Puccini 1
1913-1916	Stravinsky 4
1917-1922	Prokofiev 6
1923-1928	Janacek 6
1929-1936	Bartok 8
1937-1955	Shostakovich 19
1956-1961	Stockhausen 6
1962-1966	Xenakis 5
1967-1983	Ligeti 17
1984-1996	Gubaidulina 13
1997-2002	Boulez 6
2003-2008	Radulescu 6
2009-2016	Boulez 8
2017-???? Gubaidulina 4


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