# Bragging Rights



## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

A friend put this on facebook. It's a list of 240 composers from Aron Copland to Zoltán Kodály arranged in first name order. The challenge is: for how many of these composers have you heard music? I scored 111 which got me two stars. What about you?

A second question is, how good is the list? Is it really representative?

There's also a list of the 100 most listened to Classical Composers which is also fun.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

194 for 3 stars - mainly missing out on renaissance composers as usual.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

I scored 164 and got 3 stars. I didn't "check" couple of early music composers that seemed familiar but I couldn't recall what and how much did I really listen to. The list contains many minor artists (Amy Beach, eh?) in favor of some considerable names missing.

Edit: I've refreshed the site and diffrent names popped up. The list is randomly generated for each person, it seems.


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## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

I scored 158! I was pretty good with my Renaissance composers but the modern ones let me down a bit. Another challenge might be: from how many of these composers can I actually recall a melody? Certainly not 158...


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

I don't remember the names of all the composers I've heard some music of. And of course just because you've heard something doesn't make you hugely familiar with them anyway. And I'm sure there's some names who wouldn't be featured who could probably deserve to be just as much as some of those listed.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

118 for 2, counting composers who I distinctly remeber hearing something by, even if I can't remeber anything else about it or them.

Who is this Charles Ives Society fellow?


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## Guest (Nov 29, 2013)

I86. I didn't notice any stars, though.
And 85 for the second one.
Time for an ice-cream.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

Winterreisender said:


> I scored 158! I was pretty good with my Renaissance composers but the modern ones let me down a bit. Another challenge might be: from how many of these composers can I actually recall a melody? Certainly not 158...


"Recall a melody" is a bit vague, though. I know Iannis Xenakis and Tristan Murail pretty well, but I certainly couldn't hum anything by them!


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

I scored 161 and got 3 stars.
For a good half of my 80 names missing I didn't know they were composers.

Many modern missing, just some examples: Luigi Nono, Bruno Maderna, Einojuhani Rautavaara,...


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I scored a lowly 88, with two stars. But the thing is, I wouldn't have scored even half that six months ago. TalkClassical has done wonders for me - thank you! :tiphat:

(And 65 on the second one: 3 stars, very satisfying *pling* - *pling* - *pling*!!!  )


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I got 202. What knocked me down mostly were the opera composers. That probably won't get fixed anytime soon. 

I'm glad the poll was who you listened to, not who you liked. There were a few I've heard only once, and that's by choice. 

I think some composers were thrown in just to keep you honest, like Walter Van Der Vogelweide. 

I got 67 on the 100 most listened to composers. Again, those pesky opera guys.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

Walter von Stolzig cites Walter van der Vogelweide as his poetry teacher* in _Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg_, which is the only reason I'd even heard of him.

* Meaning he learned by reading poetry and hasn't any formal education in it.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

I have just gone through the other list http://www.listchallenges.com/the-100-most-listened-to-classical-composers and I scored 96.

I think I haven't ever heard anything from Francesco Cilea, Franz Xaver Gruber, Fritz Kreisler and Ambroise Thomas.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

"Everyone" has heard a Gruber composition (Silent Night).


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Art Rock said:


> "Everyone" has heard a Gruber composition (Silent Night).


Oh, rats. I could have got one more point.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I scored 98/100 on the popular names, with Meyerbeer and Thomas spoiling it (come to think of it, I may actually have heard a Thomas overture).


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Art Rock said:


> "Everyone" has heard a Gruber composition (Silent Night).


Ok, my score is then 97...


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

GioCar said:


> I think I haven't ever heard anything from Francesco Cilea


LIVING IN MILANO - SHAAAAMEEEE... SHAAAAMEEEE.... SMAAAAAMEEEE. I'm not the greatest fan of his operas myself but this is very famous operatic excerpt and the opera from which it comes from was premiered at La Scala:


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## Guest (Nov 29, 2013)

198 on the longer list first. I used to be an avid listener of BBC Radio 3's night time program "_Through the Night"_, where lots of the less well known composers were often played. They were mostly pre-20th C composers. I used to tape anything that sounded interesting and finished with literally hundreds of names. I can't say that I listen to many of them. In fact, I'd forgotten that had many of them until I checked.

100/100 on the second list.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Aramis said:


> LIVING IN MILANO - SHAAAAMEEEE... SHAAAAMEEEE.... SMAAAAAMEEEE. I'm not the greatest fan of his operas myself but this is very famous operatic excerpt and the opera from which it comes from was premiered at La Scala:


Although I live in Milano, I am not particularly fond of Italian Opera, sorry! 

Relevant exceptions: Verdi (only Falstaff, Otello, Rigoletto in this order), Puccini (most of his opera), Rossini (most of his opera).
I don't like very much Bellini, Donizetti, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Giordano, etc...

Don't tell anything to my fellow citizens...

...but I just had the opportunity to listen to Carreras singing Cilea, so my score is now 98/100. Thanks!


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

224, due to the presence of a lot of early music composers as well as the obscure "Billings" and "Traetta", and a lot of my listening being superficial knowledge. Overall, it´s very much "the usual suspects" - as far as I recall, 4 composers in total from Scandinavia, for example.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

I did poorly, just 238 of 240 (  ), two totally unknown names that I don't believe I've heard any music by: Jean Mouton and Jacopo Da Bologna and one misspelled name : Ellen Zwillich Taalich (aka Ellen Taaffe Zwilich)

Just proof that my interest in music more lies in the contemporary then the ancient... :tiphat:

100/100 on the shorter list...

Its relevance in selection is Ok, even if I wonder what selective process lies behind the choices...

/ptr


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

217 on the first, leaving familiar but not sure unchecked. Also a bit average, the ones not gotten are earlier baroque, remaissance figures.

98 on the other.

I feel like I was just in school again -- after a very long time away.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

I managed 202 and got three stars. But found it difficult to recognise the composers from the stone Age who were writing for orchestras of instruments made from dinosaur bones !


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## leepee (Nov 23, 2013)

I did the 100 list and got 94. I couldn't find the 250 list.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

leepee said:


> I did the 100 list and got 94. I couldn't find the 250 list.


In the first sentence Taggart wrote "THIS"---press that.


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## Stargazer (Nov 9, 2011)

I only scored a 101...my classical acumen has hereby been shamed!! Now it's time to go listen to some music by George Chadwick and Enrique Granados


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Well, I got 100 on the second list but don't believe that Hindemith is one of the most listened to.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

208. Probably ignorance of opera guys, mostly. 96. Cilea, Giordano, Gruber, Thomas. Unknown, or unsure (Giordano). Interesting that a lot of those I've heard, I don't care to hear again.


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## Guest (Nov 29, 2013)

Considering I've been listening to classical music for about a year now, I'm pleased with my 96. And there are so many other names on my radar that I didn't check because I haven't listened yet.


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## Yardrax (Apr 29, 2013)

A satisfying 104. The big gaps where I had no idea where a tad frightening though.


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## Feathers (Feb 18, 2013)

Got 175, but it's not very representative of how much I actually know, since some of them I've only heard literally once.


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## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

177 - many, many powder-wig non-entities on my selection some of whom I actually knew from going to end-of-year recitals in my conservatory days. Very few C20/21 composers on my selection so it's good to see this is fairly random rather than weighted towards oldies


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

156, barring one's I've only heard a work or two from.


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## SimonNZ (Jul 12, 2012)

227 - this time next week it'll be 240. 

But that's just "heard". How many I could discuss intelligently, demonstrating a carefully considered opinion might be a somewhat smaller number.

And I thought that list was a good interesting mix.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

200! Thank you Music History for 3 semesters! LOL! I would never have even heard of those names if not for my Medieval/Renaissance Music History Course, and I even got to hear pieces by a good deal of those composers.

I could add a 100 or so more to that list too, upwards of 300 points possible. 

I wonder who made that.....


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

198 here, counting those I've only heard a couple of times due to disinterest or dislike.


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## Schubussy (Nov 2, 2012)

93.

Very disappointed.


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## SimonNZ (Jul 12, 2012)

Is Franz Xavier Gruber really on the "most listened to composer" list solely because of "Silent Night"? They may as well add Patty and Mildred Hill's names to the list. Can't agree with Ambroise Thomas or Umberto Giordano being on a most listened list, either, especially if the criteria is "most recordings available on ArchivMusic".


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I got an even 200.


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## SimonNZ (Jul 12, 2012)

Turns out I've got and heard Beatriz De Dia on a couple of Martin Best and Rene Clemencic Troubadour albums, but if I can't identify the name immediately there's no point counting it.


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

123/240 on the long list and 83/100 on the short one. I am not disappointed...


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## Ravndal (Jun 8, 2012)

128! Missed a couple composers in there though.


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## Bas (Jul 24, 2012)

95, but I have not checked anything I could not at least either:

- recall exactly how the cd cover looked like, 
- sing a melody from,
- know at least 4 pieces of.

(I for example have not checked Wagner, as I have not explored his music yet)


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## EricABQ (Jul 10, 2012)

72, but I have to admit that many of those were just composers I've heard once on the radio or once via youtube links from various threads here.


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## Dustin (Mar 30, 2012)

73 for me but that's up from about 12 three years ago. It truly seems there is more classical music than someone can become really familiar with in a lifetime. Unless maybe you listen for hours a day from the age of 5 to 85 or something crazy like that. I'm talking really familiar, as in you've heard every piece at least 7 or 8 times.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

What! No von Suppe or Waldteufel!


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## mikey (Nov 26, 2013)

175. Hard to differentiate between heard and heard of!


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

mikey said:


> 175. Hard to differentiate between heard and heard of!


And also to remember what a composer sounded like! Some of those Renaissance composers, I completely forget what their music sounded like, although I did know it well at the time. Can that even count that I know them then?


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

143 for the first one, 94 for the second one.

A lot of composers at the fringes I haven't heard of. Most of the music I know is 1600-1960 so composers from before and after I am less well-acquainted with. But I'm happy with the first score; I was expecting it to be lower.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

bigshot said:


> What! No von Suppe or Waldteufel!


Skating on thin ice there. Most people will know the Mister Ed theme, but not that it's by Waldteufel and I think Les Patineurs has dropped out of the beginners' repertoire these days. Besides Waldteufel is a bit of a devil. von Suppé is one most people will have head through the 'toons but not spotted who he is. Both of them are "known" to the ear but not by name.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Your dad probably knows Poet and Peasant and Skater's Waltz! No different than Rossini's Wm Tell and Blue Danube.


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

All of them. Guess who used to work in a record store.:lol:
An occupational hazard was having to recommend works from those obscure turkeys.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Couac Addict said:


> All of them. Guess who used to work in a record store.:lol:
> An occupational hazard was having to recommend works from those obscure turkeys.


Well it was Thanksgiving.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I was a bit strict on myself and award points for music I have in my collection rather than only heard. I scored 122 altogether on the first list - I've not got all that much baroque (apart from Bach and Handel) and I've no rennaissance music at all.

And I scored 85 on the second list.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Taggart said:


> Skating on thin ice there. Most people will know the Mister Ed theme, but not that it's by Waldteufel and I think Les Patineurs has dropped out of the beginners' repertoire these days.


Wow, I had no idea. And he wrote The Skater's Waltz? Boy, the things you learn around here.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Taggart said:


> Skating on thin ice there. Most people will know the Mister Ed theme, but not that it's by Waldteufel and I think Les Patineurs has dropped out of the beginners' repertoire these days.


Wow, I had no idea. And he wrote The Skater's Waltz? Boy, the things you learn around here.

What next? That Brahms wrote a lullaby?


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## mwd (Apr 7, 2012)

171. A bit of fun, cant say I like some of their works though!

MWD.


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## SimonNZ (Jul 12, 2012)

(I don't want to derail or subvert the thread, but after everyone's done the counting and commenting thing we might be able to give or ask for recording recommendations for some of the names we didn't know but piqued our curiousity from the list...)


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

194. I think the list is fairly representative, though there's always one or two that fall through the cracks. 

The last time I counted composers in my collection, the figure was around 135. A few more now, from Contemporary. :tiphat:


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

SimonNZ said:


> (I don't want to derail or subvert the thread, but after everyone's done the counting and commenting thing we might be able to give or ask for recording recommendations for some of the names we didn't know but piqued our curiousity from the list...)


Not at all. I think that's a lovely idea. :cheers:


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

133 and 2 stars **** yeah!
But I still have a long ways to go on my classical knowledge adventure apparently


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> And also to remember what a composer sounded like! Some of those Renaissance composers, I completely forget what their music sounded like, although I did know it well at the time. Can that even count that I know them then?


If you don't remember a particular composer from that era don't worry just play another one--nobody will be any the wiser.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

moody said:


> If you don't remember a particular composer from that era don't worry just play another one--nobody will be any the wiser.


I bet you couldn't even pick out *Jonathan Livingstone Seagull* from the flock! 
(There are subtle differences.)


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## spradlig (Jul 25, 2012)

That's a fun site. I scored 99/240, which also got me two stars. There seems to be a typo: Charles Ives is listed as "Charles Ives Society" or something like that. Most of the composers I had never listened to I had never even heard of.

I'm not qualified to evaluate how good the list is. However, there is a huge omission: Erich Wolfgang Korngold!!!  He is much more famous than dozens or scores of composers on the list and probably a much better composer, too. Miklos Rozsa is also missing: not as famous and probably not as good as Korngold, but better-known and probably a better composer than many people on the list.

I just spotted an ENORMOUS omission: Claude Debussy!!

I just saw another poster write that the list is not the same every time one does the survey, which might explain the omissions.



Taggart said:


> A friend put this on facebook. It's a list of 240 composers from Aron Copland to Zoltán Kodály arranged in first name order. The challenge is: for how many of these composers have you heard music? I scored 111 which got me two stars. What about you?
> 
> A second question is, how good is the list? Is it really representative?
> 
> There's also a list of the 100 most listened to Classical Composers which is also fun.


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## spradlig (Jul 25, 2012)

I just did the survey "100 most listened to Classical Composers" (the second link) and I scored 81/100 for three stars, compared to only 81/240 for the first survey "Top Classical Composers" for two stars. Almost every person on the "100 most listened to Classical Composers" is universally regarded as a great composer (and there is someone named Ambroise Thomas: anyone familiar with him?).



Taggart said:


> A friend put this on facebook. It's a list of 240 composers from Aron Copland to Zoltán Kodály arranged in first name order. The challenge is: for how many of these composers have you heard music? I scored 111 which got me two stars. What about you?
> 
> A second question is, how good is the list? Is it really representative?
> 
> There's also a list of the 100 most listened to Classical Composers which is also fun.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Ingélou said:


> I bet you couldn't even pick out *Jonathan Livingstone Seagull* from the flock!
> (There are subtle differences.)


Oh but I could, because his second name is Livingston you know.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

spradlig said:


> I just did the survey "100 most listened to Classical Composers" (the second link) and I scored 81/100 for three stars, compared to only 81/240 for the first survey "Top Classical Composers" for two stars. Almost every person on the "100 most listened to Classical Composers" is universally regarded as a great composer (and there is someone named Ambroise Thomas: anyone familiar with him?).


He was a composer of opera ,but you don't hear much of him now. Maybe "Mignon" and sometimes one or two of his operatic overtures.


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## MagneticGhost (Apr 7, 2013)

175 for the main one

94 for top 100 most listened too.


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## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

213......................................


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## Guest (Dec 2, 2013)

98 and 214. I may have heard those famous operas by Cilea and Giordano, but I couldn't find any clips that I recognized. (That is, I gave up after auditioning parts of two clips.  <-- old school  )

And the 214 might be low. I only put the ones I was absolutely sure of.

Otherwise, I have two questions, natch. For the large list, representative of what? And for the small list, by whom?

That is all.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

99 and >= 225 (some of the remainder I don't recognize but suspect that I've heard). The only reason both are relatively high is that I have twice worked my way through the Naxos Music Library list of composers selecting one after another and listing to at least part of one composition.



some guy said:


> Otherwise, I have two questions, natch. For the large list, representative of what? And for the small list, by whom?


I guess representative of classical music composers. They are certainly representative but I doubt the list spans all genres and obviously not equally. The small list is titled "The 100 Most Listened to Classical Composers" but is actually the 100 composers with the most recordings available on Classical Music recording website ArkivMusic.com. The second list is well defined, but may very well not be the most listened to composers.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

My score appears to average, 175.

Did better with the second list. Scored 99. Even though I have heard of him, the only composer whose music I am unfamiliar with is Ambrose Thomas.


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## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

Giordano was my only (syuspected) missing name from the 100 list. Reckon I've got recordings by 90+ of them!
GG


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## Guest (Dec 2, 2013)

arpeggio said:


> the only composer whose music I am unfamiliar with is Ambrose Thomas.


I'll bet you're not, not really.













 (because the intro is charming as f***)




 (because it takes 4:33)

Just a guess. (Just trying to get you up to 100, yay!!)


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

96 and 218 respectively. There were probably others I have heard but whose names I just didn't remember. Not really fair though, since I have taught courses in music history and appreciation.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

some guy said:


> I'll bet you're not, not really.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have some big gaps in my music knowledge. My lack of knowledge of Schubert Lieder is disgraceful. My knowledge of opera leaves much to be desired, especially 19th century French Operas with the exception of Berlioz, Bizet and Saint-Saens.

OK, I have heard the Thomas "Polonaise" from _Mignon_. But if one played it for me and asked me what if was I would have guessed "My Athlete's Foot Itches" from the opera _The Soccer Mom_ by Murray Johnson.


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## jtbell (Oct 4, 2012)

I hit 170 on the big list (three stars). I was surprised by how many names I knew that I had to look up in my database to see whether they were actually in my collection: Dittersdorf (no), Gesualdo (no), Stanford (no), Granados (yes), Caccini (yes)...

I've been reading too many record-review magazines for too long.


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