# At last: The composer comparison that was promised!



## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Many months ago, I said I was messing around with the results of my 43 composer polls, to produce a table that would comprehensively show "Of the people who liked composer A, x% also liked composer B".

Well, it's finally here: go to the composer "leaderboard" (on a Google Sites page), and down at the bottom is a file called "Composer Polls - Composer comparisons", which can be downloaded in Excel or Open Office/Libre Office format. (I've tried opening the Excel version via Google documents and it didn't work)

As always, I must stress this is all just a bit of fun for people who are curious about this sort of thing. No firm assertions can be made, but there's lots of intriguing ideas to consider.

Those who don't wish to download the file may post their queries here...


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

There's a lot of data there. At first glance there do not appear to be many "unusual disparities" (i.e. those who strongly like Mahler, like Bach much less). That's naively what I would expect. 

Thanks for all the work.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

mmsbls said:


> There's a lot of data there. At first glance there do not appear to be many "unusual disparities" (i.e. those who strongly like Mahler, like Bach much less). That's naively what I would expect.
> 
> Thanks for all the work.


Yeah, the main feature is that the data tend to confirm expectations. For example, I don't think anybody would be surprised to find that Offenbach fans aren't too enamoured of the Second Viennese School, or that fans of the latter are a little less likely than others to enjoy Liszt. Or that fans of Ireland also tend to like Bridge and Alwyn. And so on.


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## Johnnie Burgess (Aug 30, 2015)

Could not read the results.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Johnnie Burgess said:


> Could not read the results.


In what sense? Couldn't download? Presentation of results didn't make sense? Lost your glasses?


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## Johnnie Burgess (Aug 30, 2015)

Nereffid said:


> In what sense? Couldn't download? Presentation of results didn't make sense? Lost your glasses?


Could not see the document at all.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

It does not open for me either (Chrome, signed in as a google user).


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

I would've expected Brahms and Chopin to at least beat Prokofiev and Ravel... I normally associate popular polls with a lack of more difficult, challenging music but I guess that's wrong on TC


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

You may have to download the file, I'm afraid.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

Interesting. No real surprises.


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

JeffD said:


> Interesting. No real surprises.


Verdi at 58


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## Faustian (Feb 8, 2015)

Tallisman said:


> Verdi at 58


That was a shocker for me as well.


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

There's no Ernst Toch anywhere on the list! I think I'm going to have a heart attack!

Also, like Art Rock, it doesn't open for me.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Portamento said:


> There's no Ernst Toch anywhere on the list! I think I'm going to have a heart attack!


Selecting the composers was a difficult process. I regret nothing!


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Portamento said:


> Also, like Art Music, it doesn't open for me.


The name is Rock. Art Rock. Fact. Pure and simple.


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

Art Rock said:


> The name is Rock. Art Rock. Fact. Pure and simple.


eh heh... ehha... that was embarrassing...


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Tallisman said:


> Verdi at 58


Yes, I would have thought he'd come in around 20. We have quite a few strong opera enthusiasts, but the popularity seems to drop off quickly.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Portamento said:


> There's no Ernst Toch anywhere on the list! I think I'm going to have a heart attack!


Quick! Play Toch's Third Symphony. It contains some sort of hisser machine/instrument which may well serve as a resuscitator!


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

Very cool. I've been trying to find something particularly surprising, but I haven't yet.

95% of Salieri fans like Mozart, and 24% of Mozart fans like Salieri. Both numbers are above the overall average.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Thanks again for all the good and great work Nereffid.


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## Johnnie Burgess (Aug 30, 2015)

Nereffid said:


> You may have to download the file, I'm afraid.


That did not work either.


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## Guest (Jul 27, 2017)

Nereffid said:


> Many months ago, I said I was *messing around *


This doesn't look like 'messing around' to me. Splendid work, and thank you.

A silly side thought: how many 'multiple identity' members voted?


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

MacLeod said:


> A silly side thought: how many 'multiple identity' members voted?


A couple of trollish members voted, but between them only voted for 3 composers. There are a couple of others whose sincerity I doubt somewhat, but again they didn't have much overall impact.

I also found it interesting that I got an enthusiastic response from some people whose names were totally unfamiliar to me, including some who seem never to have posted on TC at all. I suppose in theory they could be spoof accounts too, but there's no evidence suggesting they are.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Johnnie Burgess said:


> That did not work either.










15 characters is what it needs


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

An example of how the comparison table might be useful:

Let's say you're a big fan of the "lighter" end of classical music and have decided to be adventurous and see what modern music has to offer. Take Offenbach as an example of the sort of music you like. According to the table, the favourite Romantic composers of Offenbach fans (for the purposes of the table, I treat "Romantic" purely chronologically, referring to composers born between 1800 and 1869) are:
1. Saint-Saens (100% of Offenbach fans like him)
2. Grieg (94%)
3. Chopin (94%)
4. Bizet (94%)
5. Tchaikovsky (94%)
6. Berlioz (91%)
No big surprises here, I think.

So, what about Modern composers? The figures are a lot smaller here, meaning a lot of Offenbach fans just don't like modern music at all, but of those who do:
1. Ligeti (42%)
2. Adams (42%)
3. Reich (42%)
4. Gorecki (42%)
5. Williams (41%)
6. Glass (40%)

We can also flip the question round and ask, "Which are the modern composers whose fans are most amenable to Offenbach?"
And we get this:
1. Gorecki (43% of Gorecki fans like Offenbach)
2. Adams (40%)
3. Reich (40%)
4. Glass (39%)
5. Piazzolla (35%)
6. Rautavaara (34%)

Perhaps if, as someone who enjoys Offenbach and Grieg, you want to explore modern music then these should be the composers you start with - statistically speaking they seem to be the most "compatible" with your tastes. As a point of contrast, we can note that only 17% of Offenbach fans like Berio, and only 20% of Berio fans like Offenbach.


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

I looked at composers in the top 300 and found each one by era with the highest percentages that liked the top 5 modern composers.

*Ligeti * ← Nono ← Antheil ← Wolf ← Hummel ← Couperin ← Froberger ← Palestrina ← Dufay 
*Rautavaara * ← Adès ← Antheil ← Koechlin ← Cimarosa ← Rameau ← Gesualdo ← Ockeghem ← Pérotin
*Schnittke * ← Silvestrov ← Babbitt ← Stanford ← Stamitz ← Couperin ← Gesualdo ← Gombert ← Pérotin
*Pärt * ← Vasks ← Antheil ← C. Schumann ← Sor ← Couperin ← Gabrieli ← Gombert ← Dufay
*Boulez * ← Murail ← Scelsi ← Koechlin ← Field ← Rameau ← Frescobaldi ← Ockeghem ← Pérotin


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