# Is your favorite work by your favorite composer?



## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

I just wanted to see how the numbers split on this forum. 

I had one idea I thought of, in compiled greatest lists, it appears that maybe people prize works if they're more familiar or warmed-into a composer, but if one-hit wonders are circling around their recommended list they might listen and then forget to return as often, even though they're meant to be listened to and understood just as equally as the rest: just an idea, but what we decide to listen to like "The Great Cycles of Haydn' or 'Brahms" maybe in turn can create light biases in our expectations or values against more unique masteries of compositions, like The Rite, or Pictures, and perhaps we block these new compositional masteries out as equally being the best qualities in music. But this poll isn't concerned with this idea specifically, still it is interesting to wonder about.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Bach is my favourite composer, but my top two favourite works are by Mahler (composer ranking #2, Das Lied von der Erde) and Bruckner (composer ranking #9, Symphony No. 9). Bach's St Matthew Passion woulde definitely be in my top 10 though.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Yes. Beethoven is my favorite composer, and his _Choral_ symphony is my current favorite music piece of all-time.


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

Possibly. My favourite composer is Mozart but, though there isn't just one work by any composer that I would choose to nominate as my single favourite right across the repertoire, the Brahms violin concerto has been on my desert island list longer than any other.


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

My favourite composers are Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Mahler and Sibelius. The 7th Symphony by Sibelius is my all time favourite composition.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

My favorite composer is Beethoven.
I don't really have a single favorite work but Beethoven wrote my favorite chamber and piano/keyboard pieces, probably also my favorite symphonies and his piano concertos 4+5 would at least be candidates for my favorites (other contenders some Mozart or Brahms). Missa solemnis might be edged out by Bach's St. Matthew but it would not be my overall favorite piece, I think. 
So I think I can say that my favorite work is by my favorite composer, even without naming a single favorite work


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## LKB (Jul 27, 2021)

I've been fortunate in being able to sing in choruses for Mahler's " Resurrection " Symphony - No. 2 - on six occasions, starting in 1980 and most recently in 2013. Mahler became my great favorite in 1975, and his Second has been my favorite work for nearly as long.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

My favorite composer is Beethoven, and my favorite works are his late string quartets.


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## Terrapin (Apr 15, 2011)

ORigel said:


> My favorite composer is Beethoven, and my favorite works are his late string quartets.


Same with me!


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

I can't vote because I don't have a single favorite composer or a favorite work. As a sideline to the poll, I'd be curious to see if agnostics like me are a statistically significant faction. Are we?


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

I have long felt that my favorite work is Beethoven's 9th symphony. He is my second favorite composer.


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

I have actually enjoyed reading all these posts! listening to your favorite works and contrasting some to your favorite composers. Thanks everyone.



EdwardBast said:


> I can't vote because I don't have a single favorite composer or a favorite work. As a sideline to the poll, I'd be curious to see if agnostics like me are a statistically significant faction. Are we?


Truthfully, I can't picture how a question about favorite _x_ is helped by one who doesn't slightly assume a favorite. Maybe you can make one up? Here's a free hat 🎩


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Ethereality said:


> I have actually enjoyed reading all these posts! listening to your favorite works and contrasting some to your favorite composers. Thanks everyone.
> 
> 
> 
> Truthfully, *I can't picture how a question about favorite x is helped by one who doesn't slightly assume a favorite.* Maybe you can make one up? Here's a free hat 🎩


I'll try to assist your imagination. The OP seems to take it for granted that people have favorite composers and favorite works. I thought it might be helpful and mind expanding to know that some people find this notion weird.


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

Thanks. I personally don't find it unusual that some make no value judgement between Einaudi's _Le Onde_ and Beethoven's _9th_, or extend their fuzzy judgement to fairer levels. It's also meaningful to note all the other discussions that don't involve value judgements, and am not surprised if they're more fruitful. It seems discussion about Classical music stems from it being well-received in the first place, and a fruitful discussion about Beethoven instead of Einaudi seems common, based on the former being more well-received or likely to be a favorite.


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Ethereality said:


> I just wanted to see how the numbers split on this forum.
> 
> I had one idea I thought of, in compiled greatest lists, it appears that maybe people prize works if they're more familiar or warmed-into a composer, but if one-hit wonders are circling around their recommended list they might listen and then forget to return as often, even though they're meant to be listened to and understood just as equally as the rest: just an idea, but what we decide to listen to like "The Great Cycles of Haydn' or 'Brahms" maybe in turn can create light biases in our expectations or values against more unique masteries of compositions, like The Rite, or Pictures, and perhaps we block these new compositional masteries out as equally being the best qualities in music. But this poll isn't concerned with this idea specifically, still it is interesting to wonder about.


I have no idea what my favorite work is. Is this unusual?


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## bagpipers (Jun 29, 2013)

Yes my favorite composer Beethoven has my favorite work the "A minor string quartet opus 132

My favorite symphony is "Schubert 9"

Favorite violin concerto " Berg"
Favorite violin sonata "Bartok" like them all no particular favorite

Favorite piano sonata "Schubert D959" 

However likely all the number 2's are all Beethoven


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Ethereality said:


> Thanks. I personally don't find it unusual that some make no value judgement between Einaudi's _Le Onde_ and Beethoven's _9th_, or extend their fuzzy judgement to fairer levels. It's also meaningful to note all the other discussions that don't involve value judgements, and am not surprised if they're more fruitful. It seems discussion about Classical music stems from it being well-received in the first place, and a fruitful discussion about Beethoven instead of Einaudi seems common, based on the former being more well-received or likely to be a favorite.


I have no idea why you wrote any of what you wrote, but it seems like it might be a response to me(?), so: My not having single favorites has nothing to do with any feelings about value judgments. It's about practical matters of selection. I might have a favorite piano sonata by Prokofiev, for example, although probably not consistently over time, and I might have two or three middle period sonatas by Beethoven I like better than the others, and the same for the late ones, but picking one favorite sonata from among all sonatas? Not likely. And that's just one subgenre. I enjoy symphonies, symphonic poems, chamber works, and songs (among other genres) just as much. It's a matter of how (and why) one is supposed to pick _one_.

Oh, by the way, Einaudi sucks.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

My favorite music is Bach's WTC, and he's my favorite composer. The Art of Fugue is my 2nd favorite work.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Brahms, of course. My two most favored: String Quintet no. 1 and the Third Symphony.


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## Terrapin (Apr 15, 2011)

EdwardBast said:


> I can't vote because I don't have a single favorite composer or a favorite work. As a sideline to the poll, I'd be curious to see if agnostics like me are a statistically significant faction. Are we?


I can rank my favorite composers, with No. 1 being my "favorite" I suppose, although there isn't much separating No. 1 from 2 or 2 from 3. However, I don't have a single favorite work, as there are about 20 works (orchestral and chamber) that I rate about equally and would be hard-pressed to rank.


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## SoloYH (8 mo ago)

Bulldog said:


> My favorite music is Bach's WTC


for real? i find the WTC pretty dry


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

It's also not one work, more like 48 or even 96 works


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

SoloYH said:


> for real? i find the WTC pretty dry


So down a few shots of vodka while listening - that will resolve your problem.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Kreisler jr said:


> It's also not one work, more like 48 or even 96 works


I always listen to it in one sitting, so it's one work to me.


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## SoloYH (8 mo ago)

Bulldog said:


> I always listen to it in one sitting


FOR REAL?!


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Terrapin said:


> Same with me!


I was going to say that also. Particularly the C# minor string quartet.


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

Bulldog said:


> I always listen to it in one sitting


Well at least he's not standing. I can just picture the_ look-at-this_ guy going "Wow okay! I can dig it, nya-hah, am I right" for 5 hours.


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## Bernamej (Feb 24, 2014)

I'm trying to find my favourite work. Seems impossible, I don't know how people can have one favourite work.


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

My 2nd favorite work - "Le buisson ardent" - is by my favorite composer Charles Koechlin.


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## hoodjem (Feb 23, 2019)

My favorite work is probably _The Lark Ascending_.
My second favorite work is probably Beethoven's Piano Sonata no. 30, opus 109.
My third favorite is the Rameau's Suite in E minor, RCT 2 (performed by Alexander Paley).

My favorite composer is Beethoven.
My second favorite composer is JS Bach.


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## lele23 (Sep 1, 2016)

Favorite work: The Creation
Favorite composer: Haydn
Second favorite work: None, too many options.


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

What are peoples' favorite note of their favorite work? Does your favorite work have your favorite movement? What is the greatest single _note_? Which musician sounded the greatest single note in the history of civilization, and when did it happen? Was it at night?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Here's another who doesn't have a favorite work or composer. The most I can say is that I generally prefer music by composers I prefer, which is generally why I prefer them.


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