# Neglected and Over-loved Eras of Classical Music



## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I've been finding lots of towering masterpieces in music both before and after the most popular eras in CM, namely Baroque, Classical, and Romantic. I believe these masterpieces are overlooked, when there is still so much interest in lesser works by the Mozart, Beethoven, etc., and in lesser composers of these popular eras who wrote much lesser work (individually a matter of subjective opinion for one of two of these lesser composers, but as a collective whole is very unlikely).

I'm a huge Mozart fan, but there are more recordings of his earlier symphonies and piano concertos and sonatas than even established masterpieces like Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli and Bartok's Music for Celesta, Percussion and Strings. Even say Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, it is charming to a certain point, but there is no justification for it being heard more than other masterpieces even by Mozart himself. How about Hummel, Raff, and countless others? Yes, they deserve to be heard more than Mozart's or Beehtoven's first symphony or piano concerto, but at the expense of much greater masterworks?


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

It's natural that some composers or periods will be more popular than others, but to some extent fashion moves on and different pieces will be in vogue, and composers will be newly 'discovered' or reinterpreted - e.g. I'm sure the film Amadeus would have stimulated interest in Salieri's music. And don't forget that Bach was right out of vogue during the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries - so even the greats can be rediscovered as fashion dictates. 

My favourite period, Baroque, is chock-full of composers, most of a high standard - even someone starting early on listening and living to a ripe old age is not going to do them justice, let alone someone like me, who's turned to classical music in retirement. 

That's why it's so important that if you discover a 'lesser-known' treasure, even from one of the more popular classical-music periods, you should share it with us on Talk Classical so that I can 'cut to the chase'. :tiphat:


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Over-loved: Atonal music after Schoenberg.

Over-loved: Hypocritical Renaissance Church music, far less effective than their persuasive conversion torture machines. "Under-loved"?


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## mathisdermaler (Mar 29, 2017)

Neglected: Paul Hindemith


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Overrated: Atonal and minimal music.


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

Overrated: classical music from Händel until Schumann.
Underrated: 21th century classical music


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## Gradeaundera (Jun 30, 2016)

Overrated: All opera


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Gradeaundera said:


> Overrated: All opera


"In opera there is always too much singing." --Claude Debussy


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Gradeaundera said:


> Overrated: All opera


Except opera is not an era of music but spans most eras of classical music. So perhaps there is an era of opera that is over loved. Baroque perhaps?

And what exactly is over loved anyway? Can something be loved too much? Is it that one era is loved to excess causing the loss of love for another era?


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Florestan said:


> Except opera is not an era of music but spans most eras of classical music. So perhaps there is an era of opera that is over loved. Baroque perhaps?
> 
> And what exactly is over loved anyway? Can something be loved too much? Is it that one era is loved to excess causing the loss of love for another era?


Yes, i believe that is the case as in my OP.


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## Myriadi (Mar 6, 2016)

Given that we now have the opportunity to listen to European music from the past 800 years or so, and yet most people listen to music from just two centuries (the 18th and the 19th) with maybe a bit from a third century (the 20th), the answer seems kind of obvious...


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Phil loves classical said:


> Yes, i believe that is the case as in my OP.


All I had to do is read the OP.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

Over-loved: Romantic
Neglected (relatively): everything else


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