# 10 Favorite Composers



## neoshredder

Rather than going by what most think are going by as the best composers, pick the ones you enjoy the most based on your knowledge of classical music. Maybe this thread was done before as well but I'm lazy looking up for it. As you see I'm biased towards Baroque music on my list.
1. Bach
2. Vivaldi
3. Corelli
4. Albinoni
5. Beethoven
6. Mozart
7. Haydn
8. Handel
9. Tchaikovsky
10. Philip Glass
11.. Paganini


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## starthrower

There are 19 of these threads here.
http://www.talkclassical.com/search.php?searchid=244304


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## neoshredder

Sorry - no matches. Please try some different terms.


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## Polednice

Could I first ask your motivation for asking the question? We need to do some psychoanalysis before this thread can continue.


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## neoshredder

What everyones preferred style of music is.


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## Polednice

neoshredder said:


> What everyones preferred style of music is.


Interesting, interesting... I think perhaps that has something to do with your childhood relationship with your mother...

Could I also ask: do you want discussion or data?


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## violadude

Polednice said:


> Interesting, interesting... I think perhaps that has something to do with your childhood relationship with your mother...
> 
> Could I also ask: do you want discussion or data?


Oh Polednice.  hahaha. You should become the forums official hazer for newcomers.

Or is that a fazer? I don't know anymore :'( It's been too long since I was a freshman in Highschool.


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## Couchie

1. Wagner
2-10. TBD


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## violadude

neoshredder said:


> What everyones preferred style of music is.


My preferred style of music is the kind that doesn't suck.


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## violadude

Couchie said:


> 1. Wagner
> 2-10. TBD


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## neoshredder

People's music taste changes over a long period of time. Yes I know they can update the thread. I just couldn't find the right thread for it. Anyways, I know who to ignore in the future.


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## DavidMahler

My top 2 never changes:

1. Mahler
2. Brahms

usually Schubert is in position 3

Everything else changes with the wind.


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## Klavierspieler

1. Mahler
2. Liszt
3. Vivaldi
4. Cage
5. Brahms
6. Stockhausen
7. Ditters von Dittersdorf
8. Sebastian de Albero
9. Sorabji
10. Hypothetical Chinese Composer


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## Dodecaplex

Klavierspieler said:


> 8. Sebastian de Albero
> 10. Hypothetical Chinese Composer


I can't believe you made two (not one, but two!) references to composers whom I've been championing all the time I've been here. (Happiest day of my life ) 

And yes, de Albero was a fine composer. And the hypothetical Chinese guy is worthy of all the praise and greatness in the world.

Good stuff.


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## violadude

Klavierspieler said:


> 1. Mahler
> 2. Liszt
> 3. Vivaldi
> 4. Cage
> 5. Brahms
> 6. Stockhausen
> 7. Ditters von Dittersdorf
> 8. Sebastian de Albero
> 9. Sorabji
> 10. Hypothetical Chinese Composer


Hmm something doesn't seem quite right here...


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## peeyaj

I'll bite..

1. Franz Peter Schubert

2. Franz Schubert

3. F. P. Schubert

4. Schubert, Franz Peter

5. Schubert

6. Bach

7. Brahms

8. Beethoven

9. Grieg

10. Tchaikovsky


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## Vaneyes

Schnittke, Berio, Ligeti, Maderna, Boulez, Takemitsu, Lutoslawski, Szymanowski, Penderecki, Gubaidulina.


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## Trout

Bach
Beethoven
Brahms
Dvorak
Mahler
Mozart
Ravel
Schubert
Strauss
Stravinsky

Nothing really unique here...


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## Polednice

Every time I recite my favourites, a portion of my soul ceases to exist.


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## Klavierspieler

Polednice said:


> Every time I recite my favourites, a portion of my soul ceases to exist.


My guess your top ten is:

1. Beethoven
2. Tchaikovsky
3. Bach
4. Stravinsky
5. Schubert
6. Wagner
7. Strauss, Richard
8. Haydn
9. Dvořák
10. Prokofiev

(Please, everybody take part)


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## violadude

Klavierspieler said:


> My guess your top ten is:
> 
> 1. Beethoven
> 2. Tchaikovsky
> 3. Bach
> 4. Stravinsky
> 5. Schubert
> 6. Wagner
> 7. Strauss, Richard
> 8. Haydn
> 9. Dvořák
> 10. Prokofiev
> 
> (Please, everybody take part)


hahahaha.....TC inside joke....


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## tdc

A few changes since the last time I did this...

1) Bach
2) Ravel
3) Bartok
4) Mozart
5) Beethoven
6) Debussy
7) Mahler
8) Schubert
9) Monteverdi
10) Mendelssohn

There are a lot of composers who could go in that tenth spot depending on my mood...


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## Rapide

Vaneyes said:


> Schnittke, Berio, Ligeti, Maderna, Boulez, Takemitsu, Lutoslawski, Szymanowski, Penderecki, Gubaidulina.


Maderna also wrote some fine film scores.


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## science

Listing composers like this is not native to my experience of music, and I can't make a list that is true, but in a spirit of defiance I will do so anyway because within the limits of the terms of service and contrary to recent threads _I can do whatever I want_, so here's *a big middle finger* to the haters:

1. J. Strauss I
2. J. Strauss II
3. Chopin
4. Tchaikovsky
5. John Williams
6. Xenakis
7. Stockhausen
8. Boulez
9. Schoenberg
10. Berg


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## Trout

science said:


> Listing composers like this is not native to my experience of music, and I can't make a list that is true, but in a spirit of defiance I will do so anyway because within the limits of the terms of service and contrary to recent threads _I can do whatever I want_, so here's *a big middle finger* to the haters:
> 
> 1. J. Strauss I
> 2. J. Strauss II
> 3. Chopin
> 4. Tchaikovsky
> 5. John Williams
> 6. Xenakis
> 7. Stockhausen
> 8. Boulez
> 9. Schoenberg
> 10. Berg


Haters? Oh, and you probably should have put Cage there for added effect.


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## violadude

He also forgot Phillip Glass.


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## science

Very good suggestions. I wish I'd thought of them! 

I'll do a new anti-hater top 10: 

1. J. Strauss I
2. J. Strauss II
3. Chopin
4. Glass
5. John Williams
6. Cage
7. Stockhausen
8. Boulez
9. Schoenberg
10. Berg


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## science

I've had my Eureka moment. 

I've been hoping for a discussion of classical music free from condescension, and being disappointed not to find it. But condescension is of course an ineradicable part of human nature, and classical music is a field created precisely for condescension to flourish. It's always been this way, it always will be; perhaps the long-sought definition of "classical music" is "music whose listeners are condescending."


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## Sid James

neoshredder said:


> Rather than going by what most think are going by as the best composers, pick the ones you enjoy the most based on your knowledge of classical music. Maybe this thread was done before as well but I'm lazy looking up for it. As you see I'm biased towards Baroque music on my list.


These are a bit like my core group of composers, I often listen to their music, often feel a need to return to it -

_ These are like old friends, long time acquaintances_ -
Beethoven, 
Brahms, 
Janacek, 
Berg, 
Messiaen,
Walton

_These are more recent discoveries_ -
Schoenberg,
Tippett,
Peter Sculthorpe,
Hovhaness, Carter - probably my most listened to two Americans, but there are others too...


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## Polednice

Klavierspieler said:


> My guess your top ten is:
> 
> 1. Beethoven
> 2. Tchaikovsky
> 3. Bach
> 4. Stravinsky
> 5. Schubert
> 6. Wagner
> 7. Strauss, Richard
> 8. Haydn
> 9. Dvořák
> 10. Prokofiev
> 
> (Please, everybody take part)


Are you trying to offend me? Anyone who actually read my top 6 from another thread and can remember them gets a big piggy kiss. Then we'll see how much attention people pay to these things.


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## Xaltotun

I'll be outrageous and do exactly what the OP asked!

Top 10 for today

1. Bruckner
2. Wagner
3. Mahler
4. Sibelius
5. Beethoven
6. Brahms
7. Schubert
8. Rachmaninov
9. Mozart
10. R. Strauss


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## violadude

Polednice said:


> Are you trying to offend me? Anyone who actually read my top 6 from another thread and can remember them gets a big piggy kiss. Then we'll see how much attention people pay to these things.


I cant remember them in order...but

Brahms, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Schubert and Mendelssohn.


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## Polednice

violadude said:


> I cant remember them in order...but
> 
> Brahms, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Schubert and Mendelssohn.


Oh violadude, you know me so well! Now pucker up!


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## violadude

Polednice said:


> Oh violadude, you know me so well! Now pucker up!


hahaha. I don't know how I remember that. I just remember seeing your list of favorite composers and thinking "wow, Polednice must really like good melodies."


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## Klavierspieler

Polednice said:


> Are you trying to offend me? Anyone who actually read my top 6 from another thread and can remember them gets a big piggy kiss. Then we'll see how much attention people pay to these things.


Something like:

Brahms
Brahms
Brahms
Brahms
Brahms
Schubert

If I remember correctly.


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## appoggiatura

_Today's_ top 10 is:

1. Tchaikovsky
2. Beethoven
3. Rachmaninoff
4. Mozart
5. Schubert
6. Chopin
7. Dvorak
8. Brahms
9. Débussy
10. Franck

If Gershwin was reckoned to be a classical composer, he would be somewhere in my top three, but since he is too jazzy and there are a lot of discussions about him being a classical composer or not, I did not count him in.


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## Sofronitsky

1. Rachmaninoff
2. Beethoven
3. Shostakovich
4. Scriabin
5. Tchaikovsky
6. Sibelius
7. Liszt
8. Brahms
9. Copland
10. Bach

Suck on that, classical composers.


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## Klavierspieler

Seriously now:

1. Beethoven/Schumann
3. Bach
4. Chopin
5. Janacek
6. Vaughan Williams
7. Hindemith
8. Tschaikowsky
9. Dowland
10. Byrd


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## EarthBoundRules

Recently I've started rating all the pieces I listen to into a 'listening log', and with those results it seems this is my list:

1. Schubert
2. Berlioz
3. Sibelius
4. Beethoven
5. Mahler
6. Tchaikovsky
7. Bach
8. Brahms
9. Mozart
10. Shostakovich


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## poconoron

Today it is:

1. Mozart
2. Beethoven
3. Haydn
4. JS Bach
5. Schubert
6. Brahms
7. Dvorak
8. Rossini
9. Handel
10. Tchaikovsky

Mozart and Beethoven are always my 1,2..........the rest move around a little.


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## Webernite

Not in any order:

Schumann
Brahms
Bach
Beethoven
Mozart

They're practically all I've been listening to lately. Boring, I know.


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## Trout

Trout said:


> Bach
> Beethoven
> Brahms
> Dvorak
> Mahler
> Mozart
> Ravel
> Schubert
> Strauss
> Stravinsky
> 
> Nothing really unique here...


As of recent, I would add the great renaissance composer Josquin. If forced to remove one, I guess it would be Ravel.


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## chopianist

1. Chopin
2. Rachmaninoff
3. Debussy
4. Ravel
5. Bach

Beyond this, it rotates between Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Beethoven, etc. etc.


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## Zabirilog

My list looks like this at the moment:

1. Wagner
2. Beethoven
3. Liszt
4. Chopin
5. Mozart
6. Puccini
7. Rachmaninov
8. Mahler
9. Bach
10. Sibelius


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## ScipioAfricanus

1. Mozart
2. Beethoven
3. Schubert
4. Mendelssohn
5. Brahms
6. Bruckner
7. Wagner
8. Mahler
9. Liszt
10. Rheinberger


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## AClockworkOrange

Today, in no particular order my list would look like this:
1. Beethoven 
2. Schubert
3. Verdi
4. Tchaikovsky 
5. Mahler
6. Bruckner
7. R. Strauss
8. JS Bach or Vivaldi
9. Brahms
10. Mozart


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## Schubussy

In no particular order

Debussy
Schubert
Shostakovich
Prokofiev
Brahms
Schnittke
Stravinsky
Sibelius
Bach
Mahler

That's 10. Sorry Beethoven.


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## ScipioAfricanus

Schubussy said:


> In no particular order
> 
> Debussy
> Schubert
> Shostakovich
> Prokofiev
> Brahms
> Schnittke
> Stravinsky
> Sibelius
> Bach
> Mahler
> 
> That's 10. Sorry Beethoven.


a list without beethoven is blasphemy. You need to be exiled or stoned.


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## ptr

one ha to limit oneself, composers born in the 1950's:

Ludwig van Beetoven per ScipioAfricanus suggestion above and the rest is in no particular order:


Klas Torstensson
Heiner Goebbels
Wolfgang Rihm
Kaija Saariaho
Erkki-Sven Tüür
John Zorn
Judith Weir
Naji Hakim
Tan Dun
James MacMillan

/ptr


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## DeepR

Sigh. I don't feel qualified. I still have so much to listen to.

*Thinks of a certain quote by Rachmaninoff*


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## Art Rock

1. JS Bach
2. Mahler
3. Brahms
4. Schubert
5. Shostakovich
6. Dvorak
7. Sibelius
8. Ravel
9. Moeran
10. Gubaidulina


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## joen_cph

Could probably live with just 40 selected composers, but:

a traditionalist list:

Bach
Mozart
Beethoven
Schubert
Bruckner
Mahler
Debussy
Ravel
Stravinsky
Shostakovich

a somewhat more esoteric list:

Monteverdi
Scriabin
Janacek
Feinberg
Sibelius
Nielsen
Myaskovsky
Martinu
Pettersson
Nørgård


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## Tristan

Tchaikovsky
Rachmaninov
Shostakovich
Rimsky-Korsakov
Mahler
Glazunov
Prokofiev
Dvorak
Beethoven
Ravel

As you can see, I like Russians  I have always liked Russian classical music the most and that hasn't changed. Bach and Weber would be #11 and #12.


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## Sonata

1) Brahms
2) Mahler
3) Mendelssohn
4) Chopin
5) Tchaikovsky

After that, un-ordered: Ravel, Grieg, Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Puccini, Schubert, Schumann. That's a little more than ten, but close enough.


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## OboeKnight

I've got a lot of ,music still to listen to...so for now in no order:

Tchaikovsky
Dvorak
Vivaldi
Saint-Saens
Mendelssohn
Stravinksy


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## AvantThought

Kind of in order. (depends on the day)

Bartok
Machaut
Bach
Dowland
Stravinsky
Sweelinck
Beethoven
Gesualdo
Janacek
Schoenberg

Mostly pre/post-tonal stuff.


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## Feathers

For today at least, in a flexible order:

Shostakovich
Scriabin
Mendelssohn
Schumann
Mozart
Mahler
Tchaikovsky
Faure
Haydn
RavelBeethovenScarlattiBrucknerMompouAlkan

There we go. 10 composers.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese

Other than Edgard Varese

1 Gesualdo da Venosa
2 Scriabin 
3 Stockhausen
4 Hugo Wolf
5 Sorabji
6 Richard Wagner 
7 Smetana
8 Peter Warlock
9 Arenshy 
10 Alessandro Stradella


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## neoshredder

My latest list. Can't cut down to 10 though.
Tchaikovsky
Sibelius
Schubert
Dvorak
Haydn
Handel 
Corelli
Mozart
Bach
CPE Bach
Debussy
Beethoven

Honorary mentions
Vivaldi
Telemann
Mendelssohn
Buxtehude
Rameau
Ravel
Monteverdi
Strauss
Brahms
Grieg
Vaughan WIlliams


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## BartokBela

Bach
Bartok
Mozart
Schubert
Debussy
Schumann
Shostakovich
Rachmaninoff
Dvorak
Satie

These are the 10 I most listen to at the moment. No ranking, I think each one is the "best" composer in his own way.


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## Sonata

DeepR said:


> Sigh. I don't feel qualified. I still have so much to listen to.
> 
> *Thinks of a certain quote by Rachmaninoff*


There's no qualification or stringent requirements to post. What do you enjoy most out of what you've listened to?


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## EricABQ

There are five for me that stand out as particular favorites. In no particular order they are Alkan, Beethoven, Liszt, Mozart, and Bach.

There are certainly other composers that I listen to regularly, but those are the five that I'm most hooked on.


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## DeepR

Sonata said:


> There's no qualification or stringent requirements to post. What do you enjoy most out of what you've listened to?


Mozart
Beethoven
Schubert
Chopin
Liszt
Tchaikovsky
Mahler
Scriabin
Rachmaninoff
Ravel


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## Sonata

Nice list!! I haven't heard Scriabin yet, but I like all the rest.


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## DeepR

Sonata said:


> Nice list!! I haven't heard Scriabin yet, but I like all the rest.


I read your list and I'm sure you'll like him. Start with his earlier works.


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## Op.123

1.Mendelssohn - Chopin
2.Dvorak
3.saintsaens 
Many more


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## StlukesguildOhio

1. J.S. Bach
2. W.A. Mozart
3. L.v. Beethoven
4. Richard Wagner
5. Franz Schubert
6. Joseph Haydn
7. Richard Strauss
8. G.F. Handel
9. Gustav Mahler
10. Johannes Brahms

11. Claude Debussy
12. Piotr Tchaikovsky
13. Gabriel Faure
14. Antonio Vivaldi
15. Robert Schumman
16. Claudio Monteverdi
17. Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber
18. Carlo Gesualdo
19. Sergei Rachmaninoff
20. Maurice Ravel

The first ten are pretty much set in stone... after that things get tricky and change according to my latest obsessions.


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## Ethereality

*Beethoven, Borodin, or Broschi?*




ScipioAfricanus said:


> a list without beethoven is blasphemy. You need to be exiled or stoned.


Something like under 3% of people in online polls consider Beethoven as one of their top-favorite composers. So this forum in particular is very outlierish with its more group-think mentality (or I mean expert understanding.)

Here's just one example, Beethoven is a tad higher on this poll at a sweeping 3.9% of peoples' favorite. I also assume more voters of Beethoven are a bit newer to classical: there's an inherent popularity bias skew due to Beethoven always being listened to while other composers aren't known about: You want to start listening to classical? it recommends you Beethoven. Get rid of popularity bias and Beethoven would easily be down to 1%. For example, I personally began classical listening with Beethoven, so _by default_ I would be one of those individuals who voted for him as a favorite. Like the majority of voters however, I have indeed listened to Beethoven and many other composers, and I choose other composers.

Personally, I love Beethoven, but like the 97% of people out there, I don't have Beethoven in my top 10. He's definitely on my top 10 greatest inventors, but music evolves in plenty of other great ways. The facts speak for themselves.

Once you realize that all horses in a race are really fast and well-trained, there's no reason to assume any one significantly outclasses another by a large degree. A classical listener who doesn't even like Beethoven all too much doesn't even qualify for any sort of snarky remark or face: they're a predictable and expected statistic. There are so many different types of classical music and an endless list of unique composers to boot. Pick your potion.

Also for those who go on to remark "But Beethoven is winning all the polls, dummy", thank you for pointing that out, though you missed the entire point of my post. A total of 97% of people never _voted_ for him, for plenty of personal reasons. That's what's being addressed here and the only thing that's being addressed here. I thought it'd be an interesting piece of information to share with this place. It's also interesting to see all the Beethoven fans here, where we usually don't see that many.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist

The poll allowed for multiple votes... it's safe to say that far more than 3.93%, and likely even more than 50% (i.e. a majority) voted for Beethoven. Look at pretty much any top 10 / top 100 composer list online (here's one: https://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best-classic-comp.html ); Beethoven is almost always in the top 3. I think it's safe to say that the majority of classical music fans at all levels of experience and knowledge would have him in their top 10.

Even ignoring your deeply flawed use of evidence, though, your point is still incorrect. While it's true that Beethoven's music is known by more people than that of other composers, it's not as if he is regarded as a worse composer by those with more musical expertise. In fact, I think you'd probably even see a positive correlation there.

If you don't have Beethoven in your top 10, that's perfectly fine. I guess it just means you're missing out


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## Strange Magic

Ten Favorite Composers. This brings up questions of quality v. quantity: to what degree do a few extremely affecting works by composer A offset or at least equal a far larger number of pleasant works by composer B? And of course any composer who combines both attributes--deeply appreciated pieces, and in quantity--must head my list. Therefore, at the top:

Brahms and Prokofiev: densely combining both quality and quantity 
Next, Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Sibelius
Then come Mozart, Debussy, Bartók
I finish with Bach and Hovhaness

As a champion of the validity of one's own individual aesthetic, I "explain" this ordering by merely asserting that certain works by certain composers are my favorites, and that some pieces are so satisfying/involving that they figure very large in determining who gets onto the list--Bach and Hovhaness are on board due each to a small handful of compositions of truly exceptional idiosyncratic personal appeal.

This list cannot be taken to mean that I do not like the music of Beethoven!


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## flamencosketches

Hmm let me try...

Beethoven
Schubert
Bach
Mozart
Chopin
Ravel
Debussy
Scriabin
Webern
Haydn

I reckon that's as close as I'm going to get to a decent list. And these are in no order.


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## rice

My favourites are Rachmaninoff, Mahler, Liszt. 
They are the three that stand out a lot among the composers I like. 
I guess I just have a very narrow taste of music. :lol:
I'm learning about Shostakovich's music and so far he's getting very close to my favourite list!


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## flamencosketches

Sounds like you know what you like 

My tastes so often change but the ones I listed are the ones that generally stick around, with a few new additions.

Some names that are really growing on me include Sibelius, Mahler, Shostakovich, Bartók, Schoenberg, Berg, and Brahms.


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## Brahmsian Colors

Brahms (never varied from #1)
Mozart and Haydn
Vaughan Williams
Sibelius
Ravel
Debussy
Mendelssohn, Dvorak and Schubert


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## Common Listener

This is an entertaining thread if you go back and read the whole thing. 



tdc said:


> A few changes since the last time I did this...


I hope to have a few changes myself, though my broad Top 10 list seems to have been something like this forever. I could almost make a narrow Top 10 of my top 8 Baroque composers and Haydn and Mozart but that's what Top 10 Baroque Composers lists are for.  So, being slightly broader in range (I can't be much broader) and pretty boring and putting it In chronological order:

Vivaldi
Telemann
Bach
Handel
Haydn
Mozart
Beethoven
Schubert
Mendelssohn
Brahms



tdc said:


> There are a lot of composers who could go in that tenth spot depending on my mood...


Same here (#10 being Mendelssohn most days).


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## Ethereality

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> The poll allowed for multiple votes... it's safe to say that far more than 3.93%, and likely even more than 50% (i.e. a majority) voted for Beethoven. Look at pretty much any top 10 / top 100 composer list online (here's one: https://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best-classic-comp.html ); Beethoven is almost always in the top 3. I think it's safe to say that the majority of classical music fans at all levels of experience and knowledge would have him in their top 10.
> 
> Even ignoring your deeply flawed use of evidence, though, your point is still incorrect. While it's true that Beethoven's music is known by more people than that of other composers, it's not as if he is regarded as a worse composer by those with more musical expertise. In fact, I think you'd probably even see a positive correlation there.
> 
> If you don't have Beethoven in your top 10, that's perfectly fine. I guess it just means you're missing out


The issue is your data assumption of 50% is wrong, (no offense however), but you're right that Beethoven or Bach wins the polls, but you've missed the point: Multiple votes only in this poll, for example, all it demonstrates is that 96.1% of classical listeners would not include Beethoven in their top list. 96%. You go to only single-vote favorite composer polls and Beethoven is even lower, the difference doesn't matter much.

Like I said, sure, Beethoven and Bach wins the polls, but about 100 other composers do equally as well on them and only 3% of votes ever click Beethoven. Not 50%, that data is totally made up. 3%.


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## flamencosketches

It appears you are misinterpreting the data, Ethereality. That poll you linked doesn't say that 3.9% of voters chose Beethoven, just that 3.9% of the total VOTES are FOR Beethoven. One person, for example, could have used 10, 20, 30, 50 votes, depending on how many favorite composers they have. In any case, Beethoven is still clearly in first place, making him more popular than any others in the poll.


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## Ethereality

Yes but mathematically it's the same if you work it out. Most other popular polls match this data. I posted this poll as an example, but there are many other polls (where you need to view the total data and not come to assumptions based on who's percentage is a_ bit_ higher.) Around ~3% of votes go to Beethoven.

I'm not saying Beethoven and Bach don't win the polls. I give them their full credit. I'm only saying poll winners are not as important because people misread data in this way, thinking that, because Beethoven wins the polls that 50% of people vote for him. In truth he's only the tiniest fraction of a community.


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## flamencosketches

Ethereality said:


> Yes but mathematically it doesn't change the result either way because all popular other polls match this data.


It does change the result. Being that it doesn't list the number of total voters anywhere on the page, it is impossible to know what percentage of voters chose Beethoven, but it would surely be higher than 3.9%.

Anyway, can you link to another one, preferably one in which a percentage of voters is tallied, and not total votes?


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## flamencosketches

Ethereality said:


> Yes but mathematically it's the same if you work it out. Most other popular polls match this data. I posted this poll only as an example, but there are many other polls (where you need to view the total data and not make assumptions based on who's percentage is a_ bit_ higher.) Around ~3% of votes go to Beethoven.


Again, 3% of total votes going to Beethoven does not mean that 3% of voters are choosing Beethoven. If it was one vote per voter, then yes, you would be right. But the poll allows multiple votes per voter.


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## flamencosketches

Ethereality said:


> Yes but mathematically it's the same if you work it out. Most other popular polls match this data. I posted this poll as an example, but there are many other polls (where you need to view the total data and not come to assumptions based on who's percentage is a_ bit_ higher.) Around ~3% of votes go to Beethoven.
> 
> I'm not saying Beethoven and Bach don't win the polls. I give them their full credit. I'm only saying poll winners are not as important because people misread data in this way, thinking that, because Beethoven wins the polls that 50% of people vote for him. In truth he's only the tiniest fraction of a community.


I'm not sure why you're editing your post rather than responding to me with new posts, but I'll bite.

Think about it. Say for example one person votes for Beethoven as his favorite composer, and uses no other votes. Beethoven now commands 100% of the votes. Now, a second person votes for Beethoven and 8 other composers. So now, even though 100% of the voters have chosen Beethoven as a favorite, his percentage of actual votes drops to 20%. A third person votes for Beethoven and 29 others: Beethoven drops to 13.3% of the votes, despite the fact that 100% of the listeners sampled chose him as a favorite. And so on and so forth. Eventually, the percentage of actual votes drops to be very low, even if people are continuously voting for Beethoven. With polls like this, we can't tell the number of actual voters choosing him. It is wrong to interpret this data as a sign that "only the tiniest fraction of a community" is listening to Beethoven. A tiny fraction of total votes, sure, but not listeners.

The data you presented does not support what you are saying at all.


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## Ethereality

flamencosketches said:


> I'm not sure why you're editing your post rather than responding to me with new posts, but I'll bite.


No need to be that way. This is a forum not a chatroom, it has editing capabilities because it's a totally different platform for information than a chatroom.

In any case, I think maybe we need to make a poll on this forum, for single-vote only favorite composer. And not "greatest composer.". Then we can see the data at least amongst members of this community.


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## flamencosketches

Ethereality said:


> I think maybe we need to make a poll on this forum, for single-vote only, favorite composer. Then we can see the data at least amongst members of this community.


I could support that.

I'll tell you this much, my one vote would not go to Beethoven. :lol:

Edit: It wouldn't even have to be single vote as long as we ensured that everyone used the same number of votes (say, 5) so we could use the data to interpolate the number of total voters.


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## KenOC

flamencosketches said:


> I'll tell you this much, my one vote would not go to Beethoven. :lol:


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## Ethereality

A Favorite Composer poll should include as many composers as possible, but here's the updated list with more composers added, and their birth year included https://strawpoll.com/w3p1g5ee

Hopefully we can include at least the top 49 composers and one 'other' option.



flamencosketches said:


> Edit: It wouldn't even have to be single vote as long as we ensured that everyone used the same number of votes (say, 5) so we could use the data to interpolate the number of total voters.


I'd personally rather have the #1 favorite data only, because I think Beethoven would come out a lot higher on this forum. The question is, do people want to vote only for 1, more than they want to be forced to vote exactly for 5? 5 would be more user-friendly, 1 would be more telling.


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## flamencosketches

I for one would be less inclined to vote at all in a number-one favorite composer poll, because if I have a number-one favorite at all, it's constantly changing.


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## Ethereality

Who is your number 1 now?


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## flamencosketches

Couldn't even pick... maybe JS Bach. He's not the composer I listen to the most, but probably the one I feel most consistently about these days. 

Boring choice, I know.


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## Rubens

Hi everybody,

My current top 10:

Mahler
Beethoven
JS Bach
Brahms
Schumann
Chopin
Schubert
Rachmaninoff
Mozart
Shostakovich

Names have always been the same, but the rankings change every minute.


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## Bulldog

Polls can be fun but the data is unreliable. I go by the ArkivMusic numbers:

Bach - 6,889
Mozart - 6,352
Beethoven - 5,334

Brahms - 3,968


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## flamencosketches

What do these numbers represent?


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## KenOC

An older poll from the Amazon forum:
1 - Beethoven
2 - Bach
3 - Mozart
4 - Haydn
5 - Mahler
6 - Schubert
7 - Brahms
8 - Stravinsky
9 - Handel
10 - Tchaikovsky

A more recent poll with 261 voters here on Talk Classical.
1 - Beethoven
2 - Bach
3 - Mozart
4 - Wagner
5 - Mahler
6 - Tchaikovsky
7 - Schubert
8 - Stravinsky
9 - Brahms
10 - Haydn

Remarkably, nine composers appear on both lists.


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## flamencosketches

Wagner and Handel being the only two wild cards. Interesting. I feel like each of those two has a somewhat problematic reputation compared to your average great composer: Wagner for completely extramusical reasons (and I guess anti-operatic bias, maybe), Handel simply because many doubt his greatness (and maybe some more anti-operatic bias). 

Does Stravinsky seem high to anyone else? He's a great composer, but I'm not so sure he is one of the top 10 composers in discussion here. No Debussy or Ravel on either? I feel like each is more popular than Stravinsky, maybe. Same goes for Schumann, Mendelssohn, Chopin, and Liszt.


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## KenOC

flamencosketches said:


> ...No Debussy or Ravel on either? I feel like each is more popular than Stravinsky, maybe. Same goes for Schumann, Mendelssohn, Chopin, and Liszt.


Well, you'd have to bump composers off the lists to add new ones. Aside from Stravinsky, who would that be?


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## flamencosketches

Fair enough! MAYBE Tchaikovsky, a month ago I'd have said certainly Mahler. But all in all that sounds just about right as is.


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## StlukesguildOhio

Back in 2013 I posted the following as my "Top 20":

1. J.S. Bach
2. W.A. Mozart
3. L.v. Beethoven
4. Richard Wagner
5. Franz Schubert
6. Joseph Haydn
7. Richard Strauss
8. G.F. Handel
9. Gustav Mahler
10. Johannes Brahms

11. Claude Debussy
12. Piotr Tchaikovsky
13. Gabriel Faure
14. Antonio Vivaldi
15. Robert Schumman
16. Claudio Monteverdi
17. Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber
18. Carlo Gesualdo
19. Sergei Rachmaninoff
20. Maurice Ravel

Before seeing this (above) list I made a new list of 20 today:

1. Bach
2. Mozart
3. Beethoven
4. Haydn
5. Wagner
6. Schubert
7. Mahler
8. Handel
9. Richard Strauss
10. Brahms

11. Tchaikovsky
12. Debussy
13. Chopin
14. Verdi
15. Puccini
16. Ravel
17. Stravinsky
18. Faure
19. Monteverdi
20. Vivaldi

The Top Ten retain the same 10 composers with a few shifts in placement. The second ten retains 6 of the same composers as in 2013 with the loss of Schumann, Biber, Gesualdo, and Rachmaninoff replaced by Chopin, Verdi, Puccini, and Stravinsky. Interestingly enough, all four of the composers replaced (Schumann, Biber, Gesualdo, and Rachmaninoff) were next in line... and might have made the Top 20 on any other given day. If anything, this suggests my musical taste hasn't changed a whole lot over the last 5 or 6 years.


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## Bulldog

flamencosketches said:


> What do these numbers represent?


They represent the number of recordings on the market. It isn't perfect, but it does reflect market transactions.


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## AeolianStrains

Bach, Johann Sebastian 6889
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus 6352
Beethoven, Ludwig van 5334
Brahms, Johannes 3968
Schubert, Franz 3695
Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich 3149
Schumann, Robert 2978
Handel, George Frideric 2672
Verdi, Giuseppe 2647
Mendelssohn, Felix 2543
Debussy, Claude 2540
Chopin, Frédéric 2470
Liszt, Franz 2223
Haydn, Franz Joseph 2200
Ravel, Maurice 2036
Vivaldi, Antonio 1923
Wagner, Richard 1913
Strauss, Richard 1798
Dvorák, Antonín 1779
Puccini, Giacomo 1643
Prokofiev, Sergei 1590
Rachmaninov, Sergei 1561
Shostakovich, Dmitri 1544
Saint-Saëns, Camille 1483
Rossini, Gioachino 1473
Mahler, Gustav 1336
Fauré, Gabriel 1299
Stravinsky, Igor 1234
Grieg, Edvard 1214
Bizet, Georges 1187
Britten, Benjamin 1039
Donizetti, Gaetano 1037
Gounod, Charles 986
Elgar, Sir Edward 971
Bartók, Béla 957
Massenet, Jules 956
Sibelius, Jean 936
Gershwin, George 931
Telemann, Georg Philipp 899
Franck, César 871
Bruckner, Anton 848
Vaughan Williams, Ralph 844
Strauss Jr., Johann 829
Mussorgsky, Modest 822
Berlioz, Hector 813
Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai 808
Purcell, Henry 801
Poulenc, Francis 797
Falla, Manuel de 695
Weber, Carl Maria von 674
Bernstein, Leonard 646
Copland, Aaron 605
Bellini, Vincenzo 603
Scarlatti, Domenico 600
Villa-Lobos, Heitor 592
Barber, Samuel 582
Hindemith, Paul 579
Gluck, Christoph W. 568
Monteverdi, Claudio 568
Scriabin, Alexander 553
Albeniz, Isaac 548
Paganini, Niccolò 531
Offenbach, Jacques 515
Satie, Erik 505
Byrd, William 503
Mascagni, Pietro 503
Holst, Gustav 500
Granados, Enrique 498
Leoncavallo, Ruggero 487
Janácek, Leos 472
Smetana, Bedrich 465
Kreisler, Fritz 422
Rodrigo, Joaquin 408
Respighi, Ottorino 397
Pachelbel, Johann 395
Borodin, Alexander 380
Nielsen, Carl 379
Walton, Sir William 373
Rameau, Jean-Philippe 372
Khachaturian, Aram 368
Boccherini, Luigi 367
Lehár, Franz 363
Delibes, Léo 354
Ives, Charles 354
Bruch, Max 353
Corelli, Arcangelo 347
Albinoni, Tomaso 345
Glazunov, Alexander 344
Pärt, Arvo 319
Korngold, Erich Wolfgang 274
Sarasate, Pablo de 274
Bloch, Ernest 256
Delius, Frederick 226
Ponce, Manuel 222
Hummel, Johann Nepomuk 206
Arnold, Malcolm 189
Bach, Johann Christian 185
Lully, Jean-Baptiste 143
Marais, Marin 123
Rautavaara, Einojuhani 105


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## AeolianStrains

Output will affect these numbers, of course. I'm also surprised Verdi and Schumann are as high as they are. And Rachmaninov below Richard Strauss? I wouldn't have guessed that.


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## Ethereality

*I have an official question*

Can some people help answer this question. When I choose a favorite composer, I intuitively weigh both their good and their bad together ie. overall I like x compositions but don't care for y compositions, so my intuitive rating of them is in between. Does anybody here just pick their favorite composers based only on good input and not bad input, or do people really like all the compositions by their favorite composer?

Personally, my experience is different: I have a difficult time liking all the compositions by many popular composers, but when I choose a favorite composer my mentality is "I can put everything this composer's ever written on a playlist and I will have a good time: it doesn't even matter if he's not an influential or inventive composer/if he steals a lot of material just to make all his compositions more well-rounded," it is simply something I'd rather listen to. I don't go by talent or influence because my choice is based honestly on the _overall enjoyment _I get from all their works, averaged. That is why when I post my list of favorite composers, there will be a lot of less influential or inventive individuals on my list, (not all though.)

Someone like Beethoven I really enjoy, but many other classical composers I don't. I feel there's this group-think mentality in classical where your favorite composer has to be one of the most influential compositional inventors. I just don't see what that would necessarily have to do with one's subjective taste in simple listening.

I think this is an important question that needs to be answered by various people, to get their opinion.


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## Bulldog

Ethereality said:


> Can some people help answer this question. When I choose a favorite composer, I weigh both their good and their bad together, almost intuitively, ie. I really like x compositions but don't care for y compositions, so my intuitive rating of them is in between. Does anybody here just pick their favorite composers based only on good input and not bad input, or do people really like all the compositions by their favorite composer?


This is entirely subjective, but I'll have a go at it. Bach's my favorite composer because I find so many of his works transcendent. Do I like all his music? No way; that would be odd. I don't care much for his flute sonatas, so I don't listen to them. However, I don't put Bach down a notch or two because of those sonatas.

Concerning popular composers, there are plenty I don't like including Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi, and Grieg. However, I recognize that each of them is considered top-tier and have no issue with it. They just aren't in my personal top ten or fifty.

I can't imagine that data or market numbers mean anything to the individual.


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## Ethereality

Interesting perspective. Part of the reason I'm asking is, I'm a big fan of contemporary tonal. I love much classical but I'm even more in love with a lot of the major works by Borodin, Stravinsky, Holst, Mussorgsky, Delius, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Dvorak, and an even a clearer example is John Williams'_ theft_ of others, as an arranger, is some of the best music I've personally enjoyed and sounds better than the original influences he took from, but here is my point: I feel it important not that a composer is _the best inventor / composer of his time_, but that he has good taste in what he may steal from others and_ how_ he compiles it into something more tasteful. This is a lot of what 'listening' is about: you want something that simply sounds good, regardless of its influences. This is why I feel I can always put them on a playlist and be satisfied, that there's not much bad I dislike from them _and_, if someone simply stole their music and improved it just a bit, I'd rather listen to this new individual.


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## AeolianStrains

Ethereality said:


> Can some people help answer this question. When I choose a favorite composer, I intuitively weigh both their good and their bad together ie. overall I like x compositions but don't care for y compositions, so my intuitive rating of them is in between. Does anybody here just pick their favorite composers based only on good input and not bad input, or do people really like all the compositions by their favorite composer?
> 
> Personally, my experience is different: I have a difficult time liking all the compositions by many popular composers, but when I choose a favorite composer my mentality is "I can put everything this composer's ever written on a playlist and I will have a good time: it doesn't even matter if he's not an influential or inventive composer/if he steals a lot of material just to make all his compositions more well-rounded," it is simply something I'd rather listen to. I don't go by talent or influence because my choice is based honestly on the _overall enjoyment _I get from all their works, averaged. That is why when I post my list of favorite composers, there will be a lot of less influential or inventive individuals on my list, (not all though.)
> 
> Someone like Beethoven I really enjoy, but many other classical composers I don't. I feel there's this group-think mentality in classical where your favorite composer has to be one of the most influential compositional inventors. I just don't see what that would necessarily have to do with one's subjective taste in simple listening.
> 
> I think this is an important question that needs to be answered by various people, to get their opinion.


I don't really do the ratio either. It's rather the number and quality of what I actually like. Re: John Williams, if the theft is both flagrant and of works I already like, then it's difficult for me to listen to it. But if it's borrowing a few bars here or there, it doesn't really affect me all that much. So long as it's not a pastiche, it's fine by me. Borrowing lines, whether in poetry or music, was a fact of composition for all but the 20th/21st century.


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## Ethereality

AeolianStrains said:


> If the theft is both flagrant and of works I already like, then it's difficult for me to listen to it. But if it's borrowing a few bars here or there, it doesn't really affect me all that much. So long as it's not a pastiche, it's fine by me. Borrowing lines, whether in poetry or music, was a fact of composition for all but the 20th/21st century.


Ah, that's really what I wanted to hear from someone! My take is the exact opposite. Theft doesn't bother me at all, I'd rather listen to an improved version of something (if it did indeed get improved), as to me, it's just about enjoying the music itself, enjoying improvements where they may occasionally happen. People come up to me and say "Why do you like these composers, don't you know they stole many ideas from so-and-so" and my response is, "I like these composers because they sound better." So-and-so Bach and Brahms are the geniuses who invented some of this music, but those particular inventions I enjoy are not part of their overall sound, nor etc do they include all these other great ideas I enjoy. So it really is about the overall subjective, the _complete musical honesty._ This is why I enjoy other musicians, I can hear their clear improvements on older ideas they took from everywhere.

These improvements however came from thousands upon thousands of people after Beethoven and Bach and aren't credited to just that last musician. It's the last individual however, who compiled these improvements together in a tasteful manner, who gets my credit because I simply enjoy listening to their music the most. Beethoven the other hand, always has stood above others as an original in beauty and elegance, so I like his music. People can't quite mock him.


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## flamencosketches

@Ethereality, I'd love to hear an example of a piece by a modern day composer that you see as an "improvement" on a similar piece of Bach's (or Brahms' for that matter).


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## Brahmsian Colors

.........Cancelled..........


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## AeolianStrains

Ethereality said:


> (if it did indeed get improved)


Everyone borrows, but usually the outright thieves don't improve upon the original. And "improve" is subjective anyway. It's not like I consciously decide that the thieving work is inferior to the purloined.


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## Ethereality

AeolianStrains said:


> And "improve" is *subjective anyway*.


Yes that's precisely it. @flamencosketches, I think if someone enjoys a composer more than Bach, you have to assume it's some kind of musical improvement to them, not always a direct 'stealing' but an incorporation of him and other influences to make a preferred style, even though subjectively to you it's not an improvement. Bach being so influential, there are lots of references to him in some of my favorite works, but they have a bunch of other influences in the same measures: Thousands of composers influenced music in smaller ways, so that collectively a new composer with just the right vision can piece something new and sensational out of that. It's actually a new evolution of composing: instead of rearranging notes, you totally rearrange hundreds of ideas that you think would sound good together.

Music is so complex in this way, that an artist's 'palette' can contain just ideas and not the 12 tone scale. Bach influenced so many composers, but those composers took from endless other smaller influences to make a preferred style. They didn't even strive to compose in the exact style or influence of Bach, I'm talking thousands of composers, and that should say something about their taste and their favorite influences, unless they're secretly composing Odes to Bach or something on the side.

It shouldn't be a surprise that one likes Bach more while one prefers quite varying styles more. Improvement on music in general, to each person, can happen in so many ways one wouldn't expect a Bach fan to always understand the subjective taste. I really enjoy the inventions of contemporary tonal music as well as late-romantic and jazz. It doesn't matter so much what I think is an improvement on Bach (indirectly into other styles/influences), because the next day you'll just hear a completely different taste from someone else. That's generally the fact in these polls.

Sorry if that seems like a roundabout way of answering your query @flamencosketches, but that's the true way to answer. Though I'm sure you already know. If a composer can piece something new and beautiful together out of thousands of other small influences, then it's probably _my_ personal preferred style of music. I love composers who do that, when it's done well. That's kind of a 'John Williams' or something type of thing.

Because I have to judge a composer solely based on how much I enjoy their music: the honest way I hope everybody does, and not on how influential they were. I actually think the most influential prolific composers are usually not the best to listen to, because they're constantly writing other lesser things within their great moments, people just steal from their good moments. To me they're the constant hit-or-miss inventors, while my favorite composers are just brilliant _incorporaters_. They're rearranging a whole new vision. So I'm not downplaying how great Bach was at the influencing and inventing side of things. I think this newer, contemporary style of composing with a palette of older complex ideas, rather than composing with a palette of notes/theory, should be something to look deeply into.


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## Art Rock

Weighing composers for a ranking (my subjective ranking that is) involves a look at roughly how many outstanding works he/she has contributed, what I think in general of their work (consistency of quality), and handing out penalties for really awful works (again, to my taste), especially if these are popular. Originality and influence don't come into it for me. It is of course not science, and beyond the #5 ranking, grouping composers in tiers would make more sense than assigning numbers 6, 7, 8 and so on.


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## flamencosketches

Ethereality said:


> Yes that's precisely it. @flamencosketches, I think if someone enjoys a composer more than Bach, you have to assume it's some kind of musical improvement to them, not always a direct 'stealing' but an incorporation of him and other influences to make a preferred style, even though subjectively to you it's not an improvement. Bach being so influential, there are lots of references to him in some of my favorite works, but they have a bunch of other influences in the same measures: Thousands of composers influenced music in smaller ways, so that collectively a new composer with just the right vision can piece something new and sensational out of that. It's actually a new evolution of composing: instead of rearranging notes, you totally rearrange hundreds of ideas that you think would sound good together.
> 
> Music is so complex in this way, that an artist's 'palette' can contain just ideas and not the 12 tone scale. Bach influenced so many composers, but those composers took from endless other smaller influences to make a preferred style. They didn't even strive to compose in the exact style or influence of Bach, I'm talking thousands of composers, and that should say something about their taste and their favorite influences, unless they're secretly composing Odes to Bach or something on the side.
> 
> It shouldn't be a surprise that one likes Bach more while one prefers quite varying styles more. Improvement on music in general, to each person, can happen in so many ways one wouldn't expect a Bach fan to always understand the subjective taste. I really enjoy the inventions of contemporary tonal music as well as late-romantic and jazz. It doesn't matter so much what I think is an improvement on Bach (indirectly into other styles/influences), because the next day you'll just hear a completely different taste from someone else. That's generally the fact in these polls.
> 
> Sorry if that seems like a roundabout way of answering your query @flamencosketches, but that's the true way to answer. Though I'm sure you already know. If a composer can piece something new and beautiful together out of thousands of other small influences, then it's probably _my_ personal preferred style of music. I love composers who do that, when it's done well. That's kind of a 'John Williams' or something type of thing.
> 
> Because I have to judge a composer solely based on how much I enjoy their music: the honest way I hope everybody does, and not on how influential they were. I actually think the most influential prolific composers are usually not the best to listen to, because they're constantly writing other lesser things within their great moments, people just steal from their good moments. To me they're the constant hit-or-miss inventors, while my favorite composers are just brilliant _incorporaters_. They're rearranging a whole new vision. So I'm not downplaying how great Bach was at the influencing and inventing side of things. I think this newer, contemporary style of composing with a palette of older complex ideas, rather than composing with a palette of notes/theory, should be something to look deeply into.


I'm not surprised that you feel that way, and I've heard others say that before (newer composers improving on the works of their predecessors). I just wanted to hear an example of an improvement on Bach in your eyes. And I still do! 

But it appears I'm not going to get anything more specific. So what I gather from that, one of your answers is John Williams. Just in general? His film scores, etc. that I've heard, while they are good, none of them really draw much from Bach, it seems. He seems more derivative of Wagner and the late romantic tradition. He is certainly a master of the leitmotif. Personally, I don't get much out of film scores outside the context of the film.

Anyway, if you think of something, I would love to hear it. I promise, I'm not going to criticize or contest your view. I just want to hear what an improvement on Bach sounds like in your eyes.


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## Meyerbeer Smith

In roughly historical order:

Leonardo Vinci + Porpora
Gluck
Mozart
Rossini
Meyerbeer
Berlioz
Offenbach
Massenet
Sir Arthur Sullivan
John Barry


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## Enthusiast

flamencosketches said:


> I'm not surprised that you feel that way, and I've heard others say that before (newer composers improving on the works of their predecessors). I just wanted to hear an example of an improvement on Bach in your eyes. And I still do!
> 
> But it appears I'm not going to get anything more specific. So what I gather from that, one of your answers is John Williams. Just in general? His film scores, etc. that I've heard, while they are good, none of them really draw much from Bach, it seems. He seems more derivative of Wagner and the late romantic tradition. He is certainly a master of the leitmotif. Personally, I don't get much out of film scores outside the context of the film.
> 
> Anyway, if you think of something, I would love to hear it. I promise, I'm not going to criticize or contest your view. I just want to hear what an improvement on Bach sounds like in your eyes.


Yes. The idea that later composers render earlier ones defunct is madness. And when the example of an improver is John Williams I begin to sense that the poster might prefer sugary pastiche to real gritty music of great emotional (/spiritual/intellectual) power.


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## Ras

*My top 7 - not ranked - chronological order.*

*Dowland, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms.*


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## SixFootScowl

In alphabetic order:

Beethoven
Bellini 
Donizetti
Handel
Mendelssohn
Mahler
Rachmaninoff
Tchaikovsky
Verdi
Wagner


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## Guest

From my recollection of the many "favourite composer" polls (and similar exercises, e.g. the many "like" polls of a few years ago) there has always shown a large bunching of preferences among the same group of composers when averaged out across all respondents. 

Beethoven, Mozart and J S Bach nearly always feature in the top 3, although the exact order tends to vary from poll to poll, due partly to different weighting systems being applied. These three composers typically account for about 15% of the entire set of votes cast. 

Other composers who typically make up the rest of the top 10 include: Schubert, Brahms, Mahler, Wagner, Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Debussy. With the addition of these, the cumulative total of votes cast normally reaches about 40%. If the list is extended to the top 20, a further 20% can be added bringing the total to 60%.

I doubt that any new favourite composer poll would produce a spectacularly different set of results from those that have taken place before.


----------

