# Your top ten composers from each period of classical music.



## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Which would be your choices for "top" (read "favorite", please) ten composers from the Pre-Baroque*, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Modern** and Contemporary*** eras of classical music? It's up to you to decide to which period belongs any transitional composer.

Ten is a nice number of choices in my opinion, but you can choose any number of names varying from five to twenty according to your wish.

*: Both Renaissance and Medieval eras are considered here;
**: By _Modern_ I mean all styles that diverge from the Romantic aesthetics and that belong to the twentieth or the twentieth one centuries, including movements such as Expressionism, Impressionism, Neoclassicism, Avant-garde, Minimalism etc.
***: The definition of a Contemporary composer here is of any classical composer that is still alive.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Well, I'll start. My selections today are (I have a lot to discover yet, and I feel that these choices can still change a lot in the next years):

*Pre-Baroque:*

1. Josquin;
2. Gesualdo;
3. Hildegard;
4. Palestrina;
5. Machaut.

*Baroque:*

1. Bach;
2. Vivaldi;
3. Handel;
4. Couperin;
5. Purcell;
6. Lully;
7. Rameau;
8. Fux;
9. Telemann;
10. D. Scarlatti.

*Classical:*

1. Beethoven;
2. Mozart;
3. Schubert;
4. Gluck;
5. Haydn.

*Romantic:*

1. Wagner;
2. Brahms;
3. Tchaikovsky;
4. Berlioz;
5. Mendelssohn;
6. Chopin;
7. Schumann;
8. Dvorák;
9. Rachmaninoff;
10. Verdi.

*Modern:*

1. Debussy;
2. Prokofiev;
3. Mahler;
4. Shostakovich;
5. Holst.

*Contemporary:*

(-)*

*: I don't know this period enough to make a list.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Baroque:

1. Bach
2. Handel
3. Telemann
4. Rameau
5. Couperin, L.
6. Zelenka
7. Couperin, F.
8. Lully
9. Purcell

Classical:

1. Haydn
2. Mozart
3. Hummel
4. Spohr
5. Ries

Early Romantic:

1. Beethoven
2. Schubert
3. Weber

Romantic:

1. Schumann
2. Chopin
3. Berlioz
4. Brahms
5. Dvorak
6. Gade
7. Wagner

Late Romantic/Early 20th Century:

1. Mahler
2. Shostakovich
3. Scriabin
4. Prokofiev
5. Ravel
6. Reger


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Interesting list, Bulldog. Certainly unique, to say the least. Never heard of Gade. Any recommendations?


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Some folks think that Gade's music sounds similar to Mendelssohn's; personally, I don't hear it and enjoy Gade much more.

As for recommendations, I consider the best of Gade to be his vocal/orchestral work "Elverskud". The best version I know is on a Chandos recording along with other Gade works. His chamber music is very enticing, and he has 8 symphonies you can sink your teeth into. Also, CPO has started a series devoted to the chamber works. As it stands, there are many Gade recordings on the market; you could easily spend many weeks listening to only Gade although I don't recommend that level of concentration.


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

Pre-Baroque: none

Baroque:

1. *Bach*
2. Handel
3. Rameau

Classical:

1. *Beethoven*
2. Mozart
3. Haydn
4. Schubert

Romantic:

1. *Brahms*
2. *Bruckner*
3. Berlioz
4. Schumann
5. Dvorak
6. Mendelssohn
7. Tchaikovsky
8. Raff
9. Chopin
10. Mussorgsky

Post-Romantic

1. *Sibelius*
2. *Shostakovich*
3. Mahler
4. Prokofiev
5. Debussy
6. Bartok
7. Stravinsky
8. Copland


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## josquindesprez (Aug 20, 2017)

I hardly listen anything post-Baroque any more, so other than maybe 2-3 of each of those groups they don't get much of a listen. Groupings are a bit tricky down there too, so there's maybe some wiggle room as to whether they're Romantic or Modern.

*Pre-Baroque:*
Josquin
Dufay
Ockeghem
Tallis
Gesualdo
Striggio
Allegri
Willaert
Obrecht
Victoria

*Baroque:*
Monteverdi
Bach
Zelenka
Biber
Buxtehude
Purcell
Pergolesi
Cavalli
Frescobaldi

*Classical:*
Gluck

*Romantic:*
Beethoven
Bruckner
Wagner
Grieg
Bizet
Offenbach
Saint-Saëns
Weber

*Modern:*
Bartók
Poulenc
Schoenberg
Vaughan Williams
Mahler
Janáček
Strauss
Dukas
Britten


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## Trout (Apr 11, 2011)

Pre-baroque:
1. Josquin
2. Gesualdo
3. Dufay
4. Tallis
5. Machaut
6. Byrd
7. Ockeghem
8. Palestrina
9. Lassus
10. Dowland

Baroque:
1. Bach
2. Monteverdi
3. Handel
4. Biber
5. Rameau
6. Purcell
7. Buxtehude
8. Zelenka
9. Vivaldi
10. Charpentier

Classical:
1. Beethoven
2. Mozart
3. Haydn
4. C.P.E. Bach
5. Cherubini
6. Gluck
7. Kraus
8. Hummel
9. Spohr
10. Abel

Romantic:
1. Wagner
2. Fauré
3. Brahms
4. Schubert
5. Tchaikovsky
6. Bruckner
7. Berlioz
8. Mussorgsky
9. Verdi
10. Magnard

Modern:
1. Debussy
2. Messiaen
3. Mahler
4. Bartók
5. Ives
6. Schoenberg
7. Berg
8. Stravinsky
9. Finzi
10. Boulez

Contemporary:
1. Reich
2. Ligeti
3. Glass
4. Schnittke
5. Saariaho
6. Dhomont
7. Adams
8. Romitelli
9. Abrahamsen
10. Ferrari

As I made these lists, I factored into account each composer's overall body of work (that I'm familiar with), emphasizing both quality and quantity. The upshot is that I had to cut a lot of composers, mainly for the modern and contemporary lists, who may have composed a piece or two that I really love but otherwise lack a great body of work.


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## 1996D (Dec 18, 2018)

I think it's important to distinguish the importance of the composer in the development of music, to how enjoyable you think his music is. My list is a mix of the two, because importance and influence cannot be ignored.

Baroque: 1. Bach 2. Handel 3. Monteverdi 4. Scarlatti 5. Telemann 

Classical: 1. Beethoven 2. Mozart 3. Haydn 4. Schubert 5. Gluck 

Romantic: 1. Wagner 2. Brahms 3. Schumann 4. Liszt 5. Chopin

Post: 1. Mahler 2. Debussy 3. Stravinsky 4. Schoenberg 5. Sibelius


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## Haydn70 (Jan 8, 2017)

1996D said:


> I think it's important to distinguish the importance of the composer in the development of music, to how enjoyable you think his music is. My list is a mix of the two, because importance and influence cannot be ignored.
> 
> Baroque: 1. Bach 2. Handel 3. Monteverdi 4. Scarlatti 5. Telemann
> 
> ...


Without knowing how much weight you put on influence I will just say that Bach (granting that he is arguably the greatest composer who ever lived) had virtually none (at least not in the 18th century) and Haydn had *MUCH *more than Mozart...but you probably know these things.


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## 1996D (Dec 18, 2018)

It's a mixture of enjoyability and influence. 

Bach influenced Brahms a great deal.

Mozart influenced Wagner, Mahler, and Schoenberg. 

I feel it's very important to recognize the accomplishments of who they influenced. Composers looked to the past to find inspiration, and in which regard they held their predecessors is widely documented.


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## Guest (Mar 20, 2019)

Pre-Baroque
1 Josquin des Prés
2 Tallis
3 De Lassus
4 Ockeghem
5 Von Bingen
6 De Machaut
7 Palestrina
8 De Cabezon
9 De Victoria
10 Allegri

Baroque
1 JS Bach
2 Monteverdi
3 Schütz
4 Händel
5 L.Couperin 
6 Rameau
7 Pergolesi
8 Purcell 
9 Lully
10 D.Scarlatti
11 Vivaldi 
12 Corelli
13 Biber
14 Telemann
15 CPE Bach

Classical
1 Haydn
2 Mozart
3 Boccherini
4 Gluck
5 Cherubini

Romantic
1 Beethoven
2 Wagner
3 Schubert 
4 Brahms 
5 Schumann
6 Verdi
7 Bruckner
8 Berlioz
9 Dvorak
10 Bizet
11 Chopin
12 Puccini
13 Farrenc
14 Tchaikovsky
15 Scriabin

Modern
1 Mahler
2 Stravinsky
3 Bartok
4 Schoenberg
5 Debussy
6 Ravel
7 R.Strauss
8 Stockhausen 
9 Ligeti
10 Sibelius 
11 Britten
12 Shostakovich
13 Messiaen 
14 Radulescu
15 Prokofiev
16 Schnittke
17 Carter
18 Ustvolskaya
19 Takemitsu
20 Pettersson

Contemporary
1 Xenakis
2 G.F.Haas
3 Reich
4 Scelsi
5 Gubaidulina
6 J.L.Adams
7 Norgard
8 Ades 
9 Saariaho
10 Manoury
11 Dusapin
12 Riley
13 Hillborg
14 R.Saunders
15 I.Mundry
16 Rihm
17 Widmann
18 Ferneyhough
19 Posadas
20 J.Tower


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

* Baroque:

**1. **Bach
**2. Vivaldi
3. Handel
4. Telemann

Classical:

1. Beethoven
2. Mozart
3. Schubert
4. **Haydn
**5. **Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges
**
Romantic:

1. Wagner
2. Scriabin
3. Tchaikovsky
4. Berlioz
5. Rachmaninoff
6. Glazunov
7. Schumann
8. Bruckner
9. Rimsky-Korsakov
10. Mily Balakirev

Late Romantic - Early to Mid-Modern:

1. Atterberg
2. Myaskovsky
3. Debussy
4. Ravel
5. Schmitt
6. Bax
7. Ireland
8. Vaughan-Williams
9. Roslavets
10. Skulte
11. Puccini
12. Lehar
13. Nielsen
14. Sibelius
15. Melartin
16. Ives

Modern:

1. **Shostakovich**
2. Prokofiev
3. Enescu
4. Walton
5. George Lloyd
6. Bernstein
7. Diamond
8. Creston
9. Boris Tchaikovsky
10. Weinberg
11. Tubin*


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## RockyIII (Jan 21, 2019)

Allerius said:


> The definition of a Contemporary composer here is of any classical composer that is still alive.


After they die, will they become modern?


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

ArsMusica said:


> Without knowing how much weight you put on influence I will just say that Bach (granting that he is arguably the greatest composer who ever lived) had virtually none (at least not in the 18th century) and Haydn had *MUCH *more than Mozart...but you probably know these things.


Beethoven frequently played Bach on the keyboard, in fact, Bach's keyboard music was generally fairly well known among the music community throughout the 18th century. Beethoven's Benedictus in his mass was even inspired by Bach's Benedictus in his mass in B minor. So although Bach's choral and orchestral works did not gain any widespread popularity until the Bach revival in the 19th century I don't think saying he had virtually no influence is very accurate.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

BachIsBest said:


> Beethoven frequently played Bach on the keyboard, in fact, Bach's keyboard music was generally fairly well known among the music community throughout the 18th century. *Beethoven's Benedictus in his mass was even inspired by Bach's Benedictus in his mass in B minor.* So although Bach's choral and orchestral works did not gain any widespread popularity until the Bach revival in the 19th century I don't think saying he had virtually no influence is very accurate.


Are you sure about the claim in bold? I may be wrong, but I think that Beethoven wasn't aware of Bach's BWV 232 at all when composing the Missa Solemnis.

Beethoven's Benedictus from Op. 123 seems to have influenced editors of BWV 232 though. Look:

"Aria for tenor with obbligato instrument in B minor, no autograph tempo marking, 3
4 time signature.
Butt writes that Bach "forgot to specify the instrument" for the obbligato;[78] Stauffer adds the possibilities that Bach had not decided which instrument to use or that he was "indifferent" and left the choice open.[79] *The Bach-Ausgabe edition assigned it to the violin, and Stauffer suggests this choice may have been influenced by Beethoven's use of the violin in the Benedictus of his Missa solemnis.* Modern editors and performers have preferred the flute; as Butt notes, the part never uses the G-string of the violin, and modern commentators "consider the range and style to be more suitable for the transverse flute."
William H. Scheide has argued that it is a parody of the fourth movement of the lost wedding cantata Sein Segen fliesst daber wie ein Strom, BWV Anh. I 14, for which the text begins "Ein Mara weicht von dir" [74] Stauffer, however, entertains the possibility that it may be new music.[75]" 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_in_B_minor


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

RockyIII said:


> After they die, will they become modern?


For the purpose of this thread, my suggestion is that yes. I think that the definition of "modern" by the Google Dictionary fits with what I want here:

"mod·ern
/ˈmädərn/
adjective
1. relating to the present or recent times as opposed to the remote past.

"the pace of modern life"
synonyms: present-day, contemporary, present-time, present, current, twenty-first-century, latter-day, recent, latest
"in modern times"

noun
1. a person who advocates or practices a departure from traditional styles or values."


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

ArsMusica said:


> Without knowing how much weight you put on influence I will just say that Bach (granting that he is arguably the greatest composer who ever lived) had virtually none (at least not in the 18th century) and Haydn had *MUCH *more than Mozart...but you probably know these things.


The 19th century was when composers like Mendelssohn started introducing JS Bach to the public. Sebastian's influence on the major composers before that was still enormous. First and foremost, he had huge influence on his sons, Emmanuel and Christian, who were also great composers who themselves had huge influence on the Haydns (Michael, Joseph) and Mozart.

Joseph Haydn was one of the first composers to obtain a copy of Well Tempered Clavier.
The choral music of Johann Ernest Eberlin (1702~1762) hugely inspired Mozart in the early stage of his career, but by the time Mozart came to Vienna in his mid-twenties, he had known enough Bach to know that Bach was the real badass. 
_"Despite Leopold Mozart's great opinion of Eberlin, and having sent his son some of Eberlin's best-known works, his keyboard pieces, the young Mozart later tired of them, writing in a letter of April 20, 1782 that Eberlin's works were "far too trivial to deserve a place beside Handel and Bach.""_ 
The opening motif of Fantasy in C minor K475 - a clear homage to Musical Offering. I had discussed this work's influence on Beethoven piano sonatas, Schubert Fantasy in C minor D993, Tchaikovsky vocal quartet "Night" Op.88 in other threads.

Interestingly, there was analysis conducted by academic institutes to find out the amount of influence each composer had on others over the 500-year period of classical music.
https://epjdatascience.springeropen.com/articles/10.1140/epjds/s13688-015-0039-z
_"In the composer-composer network JS Bach has the highest degree, k=1,551, approximately 103 times that of average degree k=15.1, followed by WA Mozart with k=1,086."_

"The Bach Motet that Inspired Mozart"
http://thelistenersclub.com/2017/11/13/the-bach-motet-that-inspired-mozart/



hammeredklavier said:


> _"As Wolfgang Plath has pointed out, the influence of Mozart's Fantasy in F minor, K. 608 was considerable in the nineteenth century. Aside from the editions, manuscripts, and arrangements already mentioned, many public performances can be documented. Beethoven owned the work and made his own arrangement of the fugue. Schubert's F Minor Fantasy for piano four-hands, op. 103 (D. 940, 1828), suggests his reaction to the whole of Mozart's piece, whereas Franz Lachner's Wind Octet in B flat, op. 156 (1859) demonstrates his reception of the Andante"
> "As already mentioned, the two principal manuscript copies of K. 608 are on four staves; one is in the Staatsbibliothek Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, the other in the library of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Vienna. The four-staff version of the work in both manuscripts and in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe can without further ado be played four-hands," _
> https://www.loc.gov/collections/mol...e-to-archives/allegro-and-andante-in-f-minor/
> 
> So they are indeed 'parallels' in some ways, as I suggested


https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lecture/transcript/print/mozart-quartet-in-c-major-k465-dissonance/
_"However, the set of six quartets that Mozart wrote in the first half of the 1780s, to which the 'Dissonance' belongs, is very different, and the differences come precisely in the absence of that clear division between 'old-style' counterpoint and 'new-style' melody and accompaniment. The string quartet, at least in the hands of Mozart, found a new balance, one sometimes associated the very ideals of the Enlightenment. It is as if the elements of old-style fugal writing, with its strict independence of the voices, has somehow been combined with the new-style, melody-and-bass simplicity, in a 'modern' texture which has obvious elements of melody and accompaniment, but which constantly injects into this a sense of independence among the parts. No single instrument accompanies for very long: each of them plays an essential part in both the melodic development and its accompaniment. People near the time gave this new, more complex texture a severe-sounding German name; they called it thematische Arbeit, thematic working - all elements of the ensemble are independent (and individual), but each works with the others to produce the total effect.

How did this revolution come about? Mozart gives as a broad hint in his dedication to the published version of the six quartets, which came out in 1785. He said that the quartets had been 'the fruit of a long and laborious endeavour' (and this much can be borne out by a glance at his autograph score, which sits less than a mile away from here in the British Library, and is full of evidence of second thoughts and improvements). And he dedicated them to 'a very celebrated Man' who is 'at the same time his best Friend'. The man was none other than Joseph Haydn, and there's plenty of evidence that Haydn's recent collections of quartets, in particular his Op. 33, were part of the inspiration for this new burst of thematische Arbeit that Mozart indulged in these quartets. I say 'part of' because these musical developments weren't merely being passed between two great men: a gathering complexity of musical language, a rebelling against the simple melody-and-bass regime, was being felt in many genres, and in the work of many composers.

But Mozart, to the consternation of many at the time, undoubtedly went further in these quartets than anyone had before. Each of them seems consciously to explore new ground; the sense of experimentation, the 'long and laborious endeavour', is evident throughout the set. As it happens, though, the most radical of all is probably the 'Dissonance' quartet. Like all these six works, It's divided into four movements; an opening Allegro in sonata form, a slow movement, a Minuet and Trio and then a Finale. Its individuality is not, though, in manipulations of these outer forms (which are quite conventional), but in the inner workings of the movements: in the intricate way the instrumentalists interact with each other, and, in particular, the way in which Mozart enriches this inner working by constantly injecting into the harmonic vocabulary surprising twists and turns. The quartet is in the key of C Major, but this sunny, 'open' tonality is constantly interrupted by the intrusion of new, startlingly different harmonic colours (we call it, technically, 'chromaticism'), injections of complexity that trouble the surface."
_


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## 1996D (Dec 18, 2018)

1996D said:


> I think it's important to distinguish the importance of the composer in the development of music, to how enjoyable you think his music is. My list is a mix of the two, because importance and influence cannot be ignored.
> 
> Baroque: 1. Bach 2. Handel 3. Monteverdi 4. Scarlatti 5. Telemann
> 
> ...


I think I have to go with Brahms before Wagner now, his chamber works are outrageous, just keep getting better and better.

How long a piece is enjoyable, for an intellectual mind with a great working and long term memory, is crucial for determining its greatness.


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## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

*Baroque.*

Bach J.S
Bach P.E
Monteverdi
Lully
Mattheson J.
De Mondonville J.J.
Cavalieri E.
Rossi L.
Scarlatti D.
Rameau J.P

*Classical*

Beethoven L.
Schubert F.
Salieri A.
Mozart W.A
Cherubini L.

*Romantic.*

Liszt F.
Thalberg S.
Tschaikowsky P.I
Donizetti G.
Bellini V.
Boito A.
Field J.
Chopin F. 
Bruckner A.
Mahler G.
Schumann R.
Wagner R.
Bruch M.
Berlioz H. 
Franck C.
Bizet G.

*Late & Post Romantic*

Strauss R.
Rachmaninoff S.
Scriabin A.
Vaughan W.
Parry H.
Steinberg M.
Korngold E.
Faure G.
Busoni F.
Wallace W.
Hanson H. 
Bernstein L.
Gershwin G.
Copland A.

*Modern era & Contemporary Composers.*

Shostakovich D.
Khachaturian A. 
Shchedrin R.
Xenakis I.
Jenkins K.
Takemitsu T.
Skalkotas N.
Kalomiris M. 
Berg A.A 
Knieper J.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

*Baroque*

1-Vivaldi
2-Handel
3-Bach

*Classical*

1-Tied: Haydn, Mozart
3-Beethoven

*Romantic*

1-Brahms
2-Dvorak
3-Schubert
4-Mendelssohn
5-Grieg
6-Borodin
7-Wagner
8-Tchaikovsky
9-Rimsky-Korsakov
10-Schumann

*Late/Post Romantic*

1-Vaughan Williams
2-Sibelius
3-Tied: Ravel, Debussy
5-Mahler
6-Rachmaninoff
7-Faure
8-G. Butterworth
9-Prokofiev
10-Stravinsky


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

This was more difficult than I was expecting. Ten from each era sounded reasonable. I am relatively new to exploring _*early *_music but some names stand out already for me
- Binchois, Machaut, Byrd, Tallis, Dowland, Ockeghem, Palestrina, Taverner
and I already know there are many more.

I could come up with 10 _*Baroque *_composers who I revere more than any of the others but only just:
- JS Bach, Handel, Purcell, Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Buxtehude, Telemann, Zelenka, Biber, Scarlatti
And that is only because I don't really enjoy the French Baroque yet.

But for _*Classical *_composers, really, is there anyone really worthy of reverence aside from CPE Bach, Haydn and Mozart? Perhaps Cherubini?

I guess I can manage 10 _*Romantics *_even though I just cannot think of Beethoven or Schubert as anything other than Romantic. There are many others I like but I am satisfied that these are my top 10:
- Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, Schumann, Schubert, Chopin, Mahler, Wagner, Bruckner, Strauss

And then for _*Modernists *_I just found too many
- Stravinsky, Bartok, Ravel, Schoenberg, Berg, Prokofiev, Britten, Shostakovich, Lutoslawski, Schnittke, Nielsen, Dutilleux, Messiaen

And even that was only possible by creating a second category, _*Late Modern*_
- Boulez, Carter, Ligeti, Murail, Grisey, Maxwell Davies, Nono, Stockhausen, Xenakis

And _*contemporary *_(as defined by still living) must include 
- Benjamin, Kurtag, Eotvos, Birtwistle
and a good number of others who I am not yet so familiar with that I can choose between them.

And I still don't know where to include Debussy and Sibelius - who must definitely be included somewhere.

I wonder if this imbalance demonstrates that I somehow love Modern music (and probably Early music) more than the others. But, if I were asked to come up with my top 4 composers I am not sure that any would be later than Romantic and very possibly Mozart would be #1! No, I experience the imbalance as being my feeling that the period since, say, 1890 onwards has been particularly rich in classical music, a real golden age!


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

There were some periods where I couldn't mention 10 favorite composers, so I made my biggest effort:

Renaissance

Monteverdi
Palestrina
Tallis
Victoria


Baroque

J.S. Bach
Biber
Corelli
Händel
Pergolesi
D. Scarlatti
Telemann
Vivaldi


Classicism (1750-1820)

Beethoven
Boccherini
Clementi
J. Haydn
Hummel
Mozart


Romanticism (around 1820-1890)

Berlioz
Brahms
Bruckner
Dvorak
Liszt
Rimsky-Korsakov
Saint-Saëns
Schubert
Smetana
Tchaikovsky
Wagner


Late-romanticism and Impressionism (around 1890-1930)

Atterberg
Bax
Janacek
Langgaard
Mahler
Nielsen
Ravel
Respighi
Sibelius
Strauss
Vaughan Williams


20th century - Modernism (tonal or partly tonal)

Arnold
Bartók
Hindemith
Martinu
Prokofiev
Shostakovich
Stravinsky
Tubin
Villa-Lobos
Walton

20th century - Modernism (non-tonal or partly tonal)

Ligeti
Lutoslawski
Norgard
Penderecki
Pettersson
Rouse
Schnittke


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

I've tried to list the composers in order of how frequently I listen to their music, per era (from 1-10), although of course it varies from month to month, depending on the various listening projects that I set for myself:

Pre-Baroque (my favorite period)

1. Josquin Desprez
2. Guillaume Dufay
3. Guillaume de Machaut
4. Johannes Ciconia
5. Johannes Ockeghem
6. Philippe de Vitry
7. John Dunstable, or Dunstaple.
8. Thomas Tallis
9. William Byrd
10. Orlando di Lasso, or Lassus.

Other favorites include Giovanni & Andrea Gabrieli, Heinrich Isaac, Antoine Brumel, Jean Mouton, Gilles Binchois, Antonie Busnois, Guillaume Faugues, Firminus Caron, Perotin, Léonin, Gregorio Allegri, John Sheppard, John Dowland, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Alessandro Striggio, Lionel Power, Orlando Gibbons, Francisco Guerrero, Cristöbal Morales, Tomás Luis de Victoria, & many anonymous composers, etc..

Baroque

1. J.S. Bach
2. G.F. Handel
3. Arcangelo Corelli
4. Antonio Vivaldi
5. Claudio Monteverdi (transitional composer)
6. Eustache du Caurroy (transitional composer)
7. Domenico Scarlatti
8. Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber
9. Jean-Philippe Rameau
10. François Couperin

Others favorites include Johann Schmelzer, Jean-Féry Rebel, Alessandro Scarlatti, Heinrich Schütz, Henry Purcell, Johann Kuhnau, Jan Dismas Zelenka, Giuseppe Tartini, Tomaso Albinoni, Jean-Baptiste Lully, etc.. Although I'm still exploring the Baroque era, as there are many composers whose music I don't know, or don't know well.

Classical--Among composers of the Classical era, I listen almost exclusively to the music of F. J. Haydn, W.A. Mozart, Beethoven & Schubert; although I'll occasionally listen to composers 5 to 7 (& several others), as well.

1. Franz Josef Haydn
2. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
3. Ludwig van Beethoven
4. Franz Schubert (transitional composer)
5. Jean-Jacques Charpentier
6. Michael Haydn
7. Joseph Martin Kraus

Romantic & Late Romantic:

1. Jean Sibelius
2. Robert Schumann
3. Gustav Mahler
4. Richard Wagner
5. Johannes Brahms
6. Anton Bruckner
7. Frederic Chopin
8. Richard Strauss
9. Franz Liszt (transitional composer)
10. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (transitional composer)

Other favorites include Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Felix Mendelssohn, & Alexander Scriabin.

Modern (including French Impressionism--one of my favorite eras)

1. Claude Debussy (a transitional composer--although I see Debussy's music as more romantic than modern)
2. Maurice Ravel
3. Serge Prokofiev
4. Gabriel Faure
5. Igor Stravinsky
6. Dmitri Shostakovich
7. Charles Koechlin
8. Erik Satie
9. Bela Bartok
10. Samuel Barber

Others that I listen to: Albert Roussel, Alberic Magnard, Guy Ropartz, Leos Janacek, Vaughan Williams, Nikolai Tcherepnin, Fartein Valen, Rued Langgaard, Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, etc..

Post-WW2 composers: If you don't mind, I'd like to change the title of your category "contemporary composers" to "Post-WW2 composers", and by "Post-WW2" I mean anyone that was still composing in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s, & 90s, up until today, regardless of styles:

1. Vagn Holmboe
2. Joonas Kokkonen
3. Federico Mompou
4. Bohuslav Martinu
5. Oliver Messiaen
6. Witold Lutoslawski
7. Andre Jolivet
8. Allan Pettersson
9. Vincent Persichetti
10. Elliott Carter

Other Post-WW2 composers that I listen to: Eduard Tubin, Henri Dutilleux, William Schuman, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Magnus Lindberg, Arvo Part, John Tavener, Per Nørgård, Paavo Heininen, Pierre Boulez, Oliver Knussen, Harri Vuori, John Harbison, Ib Nørholm, Ivan Moody, Gavin Bryars, Poul Ruders, György Ligeti, George Rochberg, etc..


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## Common Listener (Apr 6, 2019)

My Pre-Baroque and Modern are short at 8 and 3 (and Contemporary is non-existent - though I do love the _Star Wars_ soundtrack ). Without doing violence to chronology, I may have been loose with some period assignments for those periods with too many or too few composers. Things are especially shaded towards the very short Classical period. While I like all these composers and love many and expect that to continue, I still hope this list changes a lot in the future after more great discoveries.

*Pre-Baroque:*

Byrd
Gabrieli, A.
Gabrieli, G.
Josquin
Lassus
Monteverdi
Palestrina
Tallis

*Baroque:*

Albinoni
Bach, J.S.
Boyce
Corelli
Handel
Purcell
Scarlatti, A.
Scarlatti, D.
Telemann
Vivaldi

*Classical:*

Bach, C.P.E.
Bach, J.C.
Beethoven
Boccherini
Dittersdorf
Haydn, J.
Haydn, M.
Hummel
Mozart
Stamitz, C.

*Romantic:*

Bizet
Brahms
Dvorak
Grieg
Mendelssohn
Rimsky-Korsakov
Rossini
Schubert
Schumann
Weber

*Modern:*

Holst
Respighi
Warlock


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

@Josquin13, just out of curiosity: For Liszt, do you rate him as transitional from Classical to Romantic, or from Romantic to Modern? To me, he always seemed firmly early-to-mid-Romantic. 

Let me give it a shot.

Renaissance:
1. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
2. Josquin Desprez
3. John Dowland
4. Lluís de Milà

Can't say I'm familiar with many others.

Baroque:

1. J.S. Bach
2. G.F. Handel
3. Claudio Monteverdi
4. Domenico Scarlatti
5. Antonio Vivaldi
6. Henry Purcell
7. François Couperin
8. Jean-Phillippe Rameau
9. Dieterich Buxtehude
10. Jan Dismas Zelenka

Classical:

1. W.A. Mozart / Ludwig van Beethoven (complete toss up)
2. Franz Schubert
3. Joseph Haydn
4. Fernando Sor
5. CPE Bach
6. Luigi Boccherini
7. John Field
8. Friedrich Kuhlau
9. J.N. Hummel

That's all I've got for now. Still, between Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Haydn, it's my favorite era.

Romantic:

Skipping this one for now. Too many difficult calls.

Modern:

1. Claude Debussy
2. Maurice Ravel
3. Dmitri Shostakovich
4. Anton Webern
5. Jean Sibelius
6. Igor Stravinsky
7. Béla Bartók
8. Erik Satie
9. Alban Berg
10. Sergei Prokofiev

Postmodern:

1. Arvo Pärt
2. Henryk Górecki
3. Steve Reich
4. György Ligeti

I think that's all I got there.

Probably missing some important names... Well, at least I gave it the old college try.


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## Common Listener (Apr 6, 2019)

Incidentally, after thirteen votes [sorry, this doesn't include flamencosketches votes] , some might find the total so far interesting. Allowing for some ambiguities (ironed out as best I could with the remainder noted below), and disregarding specific rankings, ninety-eight composers have received two or more "votes." Oddly, no one received nine votes.

13 Bach
13 Beethoven

12 Mozart
12 Schubert

11 Handel
11 Haydn
11 Mahler
11 Wagner

10 Brahms
10 Schumann

8 Berlioz
8 Bruckner
8 Debussy
8 Monteverdi
8 Prokofiev
8 Shostakovich
8 Tchaikovsky
8 Vivaldi

7 Chopin
7 Dvorak
7 Rameau
7 Sibelius
7 Stravinsky
7 Telemann

6 Bartok
6 Josquin
6 Purcell
6 Ravel
6 Scarlatti, D. [maybe 7 for Domenico or 2 for Alessandro - 1 was "Scarlatti"]
6 Tallis

5 Biber
5 Gluck
5 Palestrina
5 Rimsky-Korsakov

4 Bach, C.P.E. [one was "P.E." but that must mean "C.P.E"]
4 Bizet
4 Corelli
4 Faure
4 Hummel
4 Lassus
4 Liszt
4 Lully
4 Machaut
4 Mendelssohn
4 Ockeghem
4 Rachmaninoff
4 Schoenberg
4 Scriabin
4 Vaughan Williams [maybe 5 - 1 was "Vaughan, W."]

3 Boccherini
3 Byrd
3 Cherubini
3 Dufay
3 Gesualdo
3 Grieg
3 Ligeti
3 Messiaen
3 Pergolesi
3 Pettersson
3 Schnittke
3 Strauss, R. [presumably 5 - 2 were "Strauss"]
3 Verdi
3 Victoria
3 Weber
3 Zelenka

2 Allegri
2 Atterberg
2 Bax
2 Berg
2 Bernstein
2 Britten
2 Buxtehude
2 Carter
2 Charpentier
2 Copland
2 Couperin, F. [presumably 3 - 1 was "Couperin"]
2 Couperin, L.
2 Haydn, M.
2 Holst
2 Ives
2 Janacek
2 Kraus
2 Lutoslawski
2 Martinu
2 Mussorgsky
2 Nielsen
2 Norgard
2 Puccini
2 Reich
2 Respighi
2 Saariaho
2 Saint-Saens
2 Spohr
2 Takemitsu
2 Tubin
2 Walton
2 Xenakis

1 ~119 composers ["Adams" and "Adams, J.L." got votes, so that could be "2 Adams, J.L."


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## zelenka (Feb 8, 2018)

nobody can even mention 10 classical era composers


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Today Sibelius, Stravinsky and Ravel would have to appear in my list.


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

*Baroque:
*1. Vivaldi
2. Bach, J.S.
3. Haendel
4. Stradella
5. Telemann
6. Rameau
7. Corelli
8. Buxtehude

*Classical:*
1. Mozart
2. Haydn
3. Clementi
4. Bach, CPE
5. Eberl
6. Hummel

*Classical-Romantic:*
1. Beethoven
2. Mendelssohn
3. Schubert
4. Czerny
5. E. Mayer
6. Lachner
7. von Weber

*Romantic:*
1. Wagner
2. Tchaikovsky
3. Berlioz
4. Brahms
5. Schumann
6. Liszt
7. Chopin
8. Bruckner
9. Dvorak
10. Saint-Saens

*"Late Romantic"*:
1. Debussy
2. R. Strauss
3. Ravel
4. Puccini
5. Schoenberg
6. Mahler
7. Holst
8. Korngold
9. Respighi
10. Vaughan Williams

*Neo-... / Modernist / 20th Century*:
1. Williams
2. Stravinsky
3. Shostakovich
...
4. Ravel
5. Khachaturian
6. Prokofiev
7. Messiaen
8. Copland
9. Goldsmith
10. Hindemith


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Favorite Classical Period Composer other than the 'big four'


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Pre-Baroque:
1. Gesualdo
2. Josquin
3. Tallis
4. Byrd
5. Machuat
6. Dufay
7. Hildegard von Bingen
8. Perotin
9. Palestrina
10. Gabrieli

Baroque:
1. JS Bach
2. Handel
3. Monteverdi
4. Vivaldi
5. Corelli
6. Lully
7. Purcell
8. Telemann
9. Charpentier
10. Schutz

Classical:
1. Beethoven
2. J Haydn
3. WA Mozart
4. CPE Bach
5. Cherubini
6. Gluck
7. Boccherini
8. Kraus
9. M Haydn
10. Wesley

Romantic:
1. Brahms
2. Schubert
3. Bruckner
4. Mahler
5. Dvorak
6. Felix Mendelssohn
7. Tchaikovsky
8. Berlioz
9. Sibelius
10. Verdi

Modern:
1. Bartok
2. Stravinsky
3. Schoenberg
4. Shostakovich
5. Schnittke
6. Ravel
7. Part
8. Ives
9. Xenakis
10. Berg


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

Need to explore much more in many areas, but:

Pre-Baroque (literally only heard around 3-4 cd's of this music )
1. Mundy
2. Palestrina
3. Allegri
4. Tallis
5. Hildegarde von Bingen

Baroque:
1. JS Bach
2. Handel
3. Vivaldi
4. Rameau
5. Buxtehude
6. Telemann
7. Purcell


Classical:
1. Beethoven
2. Mozart
3. Haydn
4. CPE Bach
5. Clementi
6. Kuhlau

Romantic:
1. Berlioz
2. Liszt
3. Schumann
4. Chopin
5. Brahms
6. Tchaikovsky
7. Alkan
8. Schubert
9. Mendelssohn
10. Mussorgsky

Late Romantic/Impressionism/Borderline/Transitional/Neo-Romantic from before 1950 etc

1. Strauss
2. Rachmaninoff
3. Sibelius
4. Debussy
5. Ravel
6. Scriabin
7. Elgar
8. Mahler
9. Albeniz
10. Puccini

Modern, came of age pre WWII

1. Stravinsky
2. Prokofiev
3. Bartok
4. Shostakovich
5. Schoenberg
6. Ives
7. Messiaen
8. Berg
9. Webern
10. Gershwin

Modern, come of age after WWII, now dead

1. Berio
2. Penderecki
3. Sculthorpe
4. Ligeti
5. Wuorinen
6. Boulez
7. Gorecki
8. Xenakis
9. Zimmermann
10. Stockhausen

Contemporary (living)

1. David Bruce
2. Raphael Cendo
3. Brett Dean
4. John Adams
5. Unsuk Chin
6. Carola Bauckholt 
7. Samuel Andreyev
8. Gyorgy Kurtag
9. Phillip Glass
10. Chris Dench


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