# A music challenge



## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

Back in 2012, this board had a lengthy thread that resulted in a very long lists of composers ranked by votes within that thread. This thread is not a debate of that thread, but a challenge. 

The challenge is to see how far down that list you can go before you cannot whistle, hum, sing, or whatever a tune from a composer on the list(basically anything to show that you know and can recall something from that composer.) 

Please post the composer that tripped you up, should you wish to participate.

Here's the top 200 from that thread:

1. Bach
2. Mozart
3. Beethoven
4. Schubert
5. Brahms
6. Wagner
7. Haydn
8. Schumann
9. Handel
10. Mahler
11. Mendelssohn
12. Debussy
13. Dvořák
14. Chopin
15. Tchaikovsky
16. Stravinsky
17. Ravel
18. Prokofiev
19. Shostakovich
20. Strauss, Richard
21. Liszt
22. Bartók
23. Verdi
24. Monteverdi
25. Sibelius
26. Vivaldi
27. Berlioz
28. Bruckner
29. Saint-Saëns
30. Elgar
31. Fauré
32. Vaughan Williams
33. Rachmaninoff
34. Puccini
35. Purcell
36. Scarlatti, Domenico
37. Mussorgsky
38. Schoenberg
39. Grieg
40. Palestrina
41. Messiaen
42. Janáček
43. Britten
44. Rossini
45. Rimsky-Korsakov
46. Josquin
47. Berg
48. Bach, C.P.E.
49. Barber
50. Bach, J.C.
51. Gluck
52. Rameau
53. Scriabin
54. Ligeti
55. Webern
56. Nielsen
57. Bizet
58. Lully
59. Copland
60. Villa-Lobos
61. Weber
62. Telemann
63. Satie
64. Strauss II, Johann
65. Adams
66. Glass
67. Gesualdo
68. Donizetti
69. Ives
70. Biber
71. Bellini
72. Tallis
73. Buxtehude
74. Machaut
75. Victoria
76. Respighi
77. Hummel
78. Haydn, Michael
79. Byrd
80. Borodin
81. Reich
82. Pärt
83. Holst
84. Delius
85. Scarlatti, Alessandro
86. Gershwin
87. Corelli
88. Couperin, François
89. Dowland
90. Hildegard - 274
91. Penderecki - 263
92. Franck - 262
92. Wolf - 262
94. Schütz - 248
95. Smetana - 246
96. Walton - 239
97. Rott - 235
98. Hindemith - 234
99. Arnold - 230
100. Albéniz - 224
101. Varèse - 220
102. Schnittke - 217
103. Bax - 213
104. Dufay - 208
105. Boccherini - 200
106. Alfven - 197
107. Glazunov - 193
108. Massenet - 190
109. Charpentier - 186
110. Spohr - 156
111. Offenbach - 146
112. Stockhausen - 143
113. Boulez - 142
113. Takemitsu - 142
113. Vogelweide - 142
116. Perotin - 128
116. Szymanowski - 128
118. Poulenc - 125
119. Brian - 119
120. Novak - 114
121. Crumb - 113
122. Lassus - 110
123. Honegger - 105
123. Xenakis - 105
125. Chausson - 104
126. Zelenka - 102
127. Ockeghem - 101
128. Graun - 95
129. Lutoslawski - 93
130. Alkan - 91
130. Ippolitov-Ivanov - 91
132. Martinu - 88
133. Falla - 85
134. Gabrieli, Giovanni - 82
135. Cage - 77
136. Alwyn - 75
136. Rodrigo - 75
138. Gombert - 74
139. Albinoni - 73
140. Medtner - 72
141. Enescu - 64
142. Clementi - 62
143. Korngold - 61
144. Lalo - 58
144. Tveitt - 58
146. Paganini - 57
147. Kodály - 56
147. Piazzolla - 56
149. Gorecki - 53
150. Hasse - 52
151. Gounod - 51
151. Weiss - 51
153. Leifs - 50
154. Tippet - 49
155. Schumann, Clara - 48
156. Dussek - 47
156. Pachelbel - 47
158. Cherubini - 46
158. Gibbons - 46
160. Bach, W.F. - 45
161. Berio - 40
161. Glinka - 40
163. Bernstein - 34
164. Barrios - 32
164. Graupner - 32
164. Harbison - 32
167. Khachaturian - 31
167. Milhaud - 31
167. Schuman, William - 31
170. Granados - 30
170. Sorabji - 30
172. Frescobaldi - 28
173. Leonin - 26
173. Locatelli - 26
173. Mompou - 26
176. Ries - 24
177. Golijov - 23
177. MacDowell - 23
177. Pergolesi - 23
177. Rubinstein - 23
181. Dukas - 22
181. Farrenc - 22
181. Henze - 22
184. Canteloube - 21
184. Hovhaness - 21
186. Berwald - 20
187. Carter - 19
187. Harris - 19
189. Allegri - 18
189. Gubaidulina - 18
191. Arensky - 17
191. Balakirev - 17
191. Stamitz - 17
191. Vierne - 17
195. D'Indy - 16
195. Skalkottas - 16
195. Zemlinsky - 16
198. Parry - 15
198. Weinberg - 15
200. Abel - 14
200. Hartmann - 14
200. Wohlfahrt - 14
200. Zimmerman - 14


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

My result is kind of embarrassing...........Mahler tripped me up. I can't really recall anything I've heard from him. But, I have a pretty poor memory for recalling music. I have listened to Mahler, I just can't recall any specific melodies.


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

16. Stravinsky tripped me up.


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## DrKilroy (Sep 29, 2012)

Bartok tripped me up... 

Best regards, Dr


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## StevenOBrien (Jun 27, 2011)

Bartok, followed by Monteverdi, followed by Saint-Saens.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Being a know-nothing with the senior moments crowding in thick & fast - it was number 7, Haydn. (I shall remember the tunes I know I know of his at about half-past two tomorrow morning, sitting bolt upright in bed.)
But I feel really peeved that after him (& skipping Mahler) come loadza people I could have got, like Handel & Schubert & Chopin & Tchaikovsky & Ravel. 
Is the order set in stone? 
And why doesn't Monsieur Lully come in till number 58?
Chiz!


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

Bach, jk!
Debussy over Dvorak? Nonsense!

Berwald should be much higher on the list. I didn't have much power at the time...


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

12. Debussy....


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Mahler almost got me if I hadn't been listening to the Symphony No. 1 recently trying to get into him, and remembered a very famous sort of nursery tune it incorporates.

Bartok almost got me too, but I remembered an Emerson Lake and Palmer piece that (with great liberties) uses one of his themes.

After that it was a breeze for a while, until Saint-Saens, but I remembered the song from the movie "Babe" based on a theme from one of his piano concertos.

*Puccini* finally did me in. Getting even that far may just prove I don't have a life.

I realize there are little hints in this post that may help others if they read it first.


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## Petwhac (Jun 9, 2010)

24 Monteverdi, although I have listened many times to the vespers and madrigals and recently saw his 'The Return of Ulysses', I couldn't recall any tunes. Hrmmpph.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Liszt....I usually don't listen to anything of his twice...

I could probably hum/sing Mahler's entire oeuvre. Not that anyone would want me to...

And for the record, I think Debussy deserves a higher spot.


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## Feathers (Feb 18, 2013)

The first names that really jumped at me were Janacek and Palestrina, both of whom I have heard very few works from. 

After looking at the list in order more carefully, I realized I had to stop at Monteverdi. I simply can't remember any tunes from him.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Mendelssohn. I can do a clean stretch from 12-39 and many others beyond that, but no Mendelssohn.


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

Mahlerian said:


> I could probably hum/sing Mahler's entire oeuvre. *Not that anyone would want me to...*


Don't be so sure. 

I couldn't get past Stravinsky.

Others that I couldn't do in the top 35: Ravel, Bartok, Verdi, Monteverdi, Bruckner, Vaughan Williams


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Still bound by the antique Orphic myth, are we... i.e. if we can't hum the tune or dance to it something is lacking in the music?

*If the only criterion was 'whistle that tune (or motif),' truly, the jig was up with the arrival of polyphony, contrapuntal or homophonic.*

ADD: once music went to instruments, the range of music went beyond the range of the human voice  Seems we couldn't get enough making it on our own and decided on more / further.

If you have familiarity listening to Liget's Lontano, for example, you can recall a great deal of it, but there is no tune or motif to sing, hum, etc.

I can recall the "sound of", anyway, the music of all but these I have not heard, or have never heard of:
90. Hildegard - 274
113. Vogelweide - 142
120. Novak - 114
128. Graun - 95
130. Ippolitov-Ivanov - 91
138. Gombert - 74
164. Barrios - 32
164. Graupner - 32
173. Leonin - 26
177. Golijov - 23
181. Farrenc - 22
191. Arensky - 17
198. Parry - 15
198. Weinberg - 15
200. Abel - 14
200. Wohlfahrt - 14
200. Zimmerman - 14


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

Palestrina, followed after a while by Josquin.


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## stanchinsky (Nov 19, 2012)

Bartók, I can't think of anything by him.


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

got to Monteverdi. I still maintain that this list is worthless **


edit: an abbreviation used solely for the purpose of self censorship... is censored. Eventually they're going to put little things to censor the asterisks. DUMB is the only word to describe that nonsense.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

stanchinsky said:


> Bartók, I can't think of anything by him.


Try this at full volume: 




I'm sure you will not forget it. :devil:


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## StevenOBrien (Jun 27, 2011)

PetrB said:


> Still bound by the antique Orphic myth, are we... i.e. if we can't hum the tune or dance to it something is lacking in the music?
> 
> *If the only criterion was 'whistle that tune (or motif),' truly, the jig was up with the arrival of polyphony, contrapuntal or homophonic.*
> 
> ...


I have to say, that's quite impressive .


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

stanchinsky said:


> Bartók, I can't think of anything by him.


Try the opening of The Miraculous Mandarin....
Ultimately hummable, whistleable, etc.


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## Kleinzeit (May 15, 2013)

Crudblud said:


> Mendelssohn. I can do a clean stretch from 12-39 and many others beyond that, but no Mendelssohn.


bet you can


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Kleinzeit said:


> bet you can


Better yet: 




I think everyone in here knows that Mendelssohn tune, even if they don't know it's Mendelssohn.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

StevenOBrien said:


> I have to say, that's quite impressive .


Far less so than it may seem if you consider how many decades I've been in it and at it....


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I got to D. Scarlatti!    Do I win do I win??

I got over the bumps of Monteverdi and Purcell thanks to music history class, where we listened to opera works by them. I was able to hum major melodies from an opera of each. We got to D. Scarlatti and studied something by him, but I just can't put a tune to it unfortunately. It was a keyboard sonata, and all I can remember is it sounded Spanish, like a fandango.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

PetrB said:


> I can recall the "sound of", anyway, the music of all but these I have not heard, or have never heard of:
> 90. Hildegard - 274
> 113. Vogelweide - 142
> 120. Novak - 114
> ...


I'll cure your unheardness of those 2 bolded Russian composers in a jiffy!

I-I's "one-hit-wonder" :





Arensky:




If that silly little repetitive motif in the upper register doesn't get drilled into your head, besides that gorgeous main theme from 1 listening, there's no help for getting you to remember something by Arensky.  

:tiphat:


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Bartok tripped me up as well... although I'll probably be embarrassed when I recognize this or that snippet that I certainly know. I just haven't listened enough to him lately.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> I'll cure your unheardness of those 2 bolded Russian composers in a jiffy!
> 
> I-I's "one-hit-wonder" :
> 
> ...


Thank you. Most kind.

But I don't WANT to remember anything by Arensky. After some earlier exposures to this period, I assiduously avoid almost all of it, only lately having succumbed to a curiosity about the seeming rage for Medtner, etc.

I find nothing there for me at all, on the dry theoretic intellectual plane or on the visceral front -- can not help but wonder why anyone would want that stuff, thinking most or all of not worth the waste of materials in ink or paper


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

PetrB said:


> I find nothing there for me at all, on the dry theoretic intellectual plane or on the visceral front -- can not help but wonder why anyone would want that stuff, thinking most or all of not worth the waste of materials in ink or paper


Phoo! You should be glad I have cool temper... but if it's the era you don't like, very well. I'm that way with early Romantics, that's my least favorite era.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Post Schumann --- then picking it up again with Mahler defines my lacuna where it just doesn't say anything to me, the greats, even, let alone the second and third, fourth tier. Not a romantic, at all, I fear.


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

PetrB said:


> Still bound by the antique Orphic myth, are we... i.e. if we can't hum the tune or dance to it something is lacking in the music?
> 
> [


I did throw in a "whatever" to capture any other way by which a person can satisfy his or herself that they recalled a piece of music.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

For the humming/whistling criterion:
22. Bartók

I have plenty of his works on CD, but sitting behind the computer right now I could not recall a single line.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Arsakes said:


> Bach, jk!
> Debussy over Dvorak? Nonsense!
> 
> Berwald should be much higher on the list. I didn't have much power at the time...


Nonsense! Nonsense!


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

EricABQ said:


> I did throw in a "whatever" to capture any other way by which a person can satisfy his or herself that they recalled a piece of music.


Saw that in the OP, but listed last after hum, whistle, etc. thought the "Whatever" angle deserved a healthy bump


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

for those who can't remember anything by Monteverdi:






I stumbled at Brahms. I wish he was lower down the list, as I'm fine for a good chunk afterwards.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

deggial said:


> for those who can't remember anything by Monteverdi:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Isn't the music, and the performers, just tremendous?
NICE CORNETTO!
It is lovely to see & hear this, thank you!
Here's the same, studio recording I think. Bears repeating.





These may be familiar to all those who had the music appreciation course, but know little else.
_Orfeo_ ~ _the prelude / introduction_ (Link is the complete opera, Jordi Savall, conducting.)




Perhaps the most commonly known madrigal, _Lasciate mi morire_


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

PetrB said:


> Isn't the music, and the performers, just tremendous?


oh, yes. I often times just have it on repeat for an hour or so 

and thank you for the studio version.


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## hreichgott (Dec 31, 2012)

I couldn't produce a tune by Verdi or Monteverdi.
There's a difference between "can actively produce a tune" and "can recognize it if we heard it", isn't there?


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

I'm joining the Bartók club, unless you count the bit of the Concerto for Orchestra that sounds like Shostakovich's 7th symphony .
After that, Domenico Scarlatti was my next point of failure.


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