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The Greatest [Top Ten Composers of all time revealed!]
NY Times Blog ^ | January 21, 2011 | ANTHONY TOMMASINI

Posted on 01/23/2011 1:38:09 PM PST by Pharmboy

HERE goes. This article completes my two-week project to select the top 10 classical music composers in history, not including those still with us.

Left, 1. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). From top left, 2. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), 3. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 — 91). 4. Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828). From middle left, 5. Claude Achille Debussy (1862 — 1918), 6. Igor Stravinsky (1882 — 1971), 7. Johannes Brahms (1833 — 97). From bottom left, 8. Giuseppe Verdi (1813 — 1901), 9. Richard Wagner (1813 — 83), 10. Bela Bartok (1881 — 1945).

I am about to reveal my list, though as those who have been with me on this quest already know, I’ve dropped hints... And the winner, the all-time great, is ... Bach!

My top spot goes to Bach, for his matchless combination of masterly musical engineering (as one reader put it) and profound expressivity. Since writing about Bach in the first article of this series I have been thinking more about the perception that he was considered old-fashioned in his day. Haydn was 18 when Bach died, in 1750, and Classicism was stirring. Bach was surely aware of the new trends. Yet he reacted by digging deeper into his way of doing things. In his austerely beautiful “Art of Fugue,” left incomplete at his death, Bach reduced complex counterpoint to its bare essentials, not even indicating the instrument (or instruments) for which these works were composed.

On his own terms he could be plenty modern. Though Bach never wrote an opera, he demonstrated visceral flair for drama in his sacred choral works...

The obvious candidates for the second and third slots are Mozart and Beethoven. If you were to compare just Mozart’s orchestral and instrumental music to Beethoven’s, that would be a pretty even match....

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: bach; beethoven; mozart
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To: little jeremiah

Vivaldi and Handel are both greats, too. Gabrieli should be mentioned. Coreli. So many that had no models to draw from and that pioneered musical harmonies and forms that we still use today.


121 posted on 01/23/2011 6:40:45 PM PST by paulycy (Liberals suck all the joy out of America. Make them stop.)
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To: crazydad

You get no argument from me. :-)


122 posted on 01/23/2011 6:48:35 PM PST by Lauren BaRecall (Eric Cantor is my current congressional heartthrob.[v. Hoyer, re House Schedule, CSpan 1/20/11])
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To: The Comedian
The long version of Whole Lota Love is sheer genius. But Tommy is at least a rock opera. What say you?
123 posted on 01/23/2011 6:52:09 PM PST by Lauren BaRecall (Eric Cantor is my current congressional heartthrob.[v. Hoyer, re House Schedule, CSpan 1/20/11])
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To: Lauren BaRecall

Absolutely. Though George did work with others as well. But Ira was the BEST!


124 posted on 01/23/2011 7:12:31 PM PST by left that other site
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To: Gapplega

Oh yeah! I LOVE “Danse Macabre”! All those bones rattling!


125 posted on 01/23/2011 7:13:51 PM PST by left that other site
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To: libh8er
But as a composer, Mozart has no equal. There’s Mozart, and there’s everybody else.

Worth repeating.

Vivaldi must be on the list.

126 posted on 01/23/2011 7:19:08 PM PST by FatherofFive (Islam is evil and must be eradicated)
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To: Lauren BaRecall

I saw a PBS special on Copeland (American Masters ?) and I could not believe the way the commentators were fawning all over him, and then they would play an excerpt. snore.

He was what he was. But not deserving of worship! But then of course, he was a reported homosexual, so they JUST HAD to present him as the greatest genius of all time.

That’s PBS for ya.


127 posted on 01/23/2011 7:22:11 PM PST by left that other site
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To: Lauren BaRecall
The long version of Whole Lota Love is sheer genius. But Tommy is at least a rock opera. What say you

Yeah, agreed, but The Who weren't...how do I put this...

Universal.

Zep tapped into a transcendent melodic vein. Strum shields and all.


Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

128 posted on 01/23/2011 7:41:06 PM PST by The Comedian ("Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice" - B. Goldwater)
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To: Irishgirl
I'm playing a particular disk of Barber's music quite a bit recently. It's Marin Alsop leading the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in

1. Overture to Sheridan's School for Scandal. Whatta hoot! Similar in structure and intent to Bernstein's Candide overture, Barber's comes several years before.

2. Barber's 1st Symphony. Recorded a lot, but I hear fascinating details in this reading I haven't heard elsewhere. Then again, my first exposure to this work was in a transcription for concert band, back in the 60's.

3. First Essay for Orchestra. A major piece from the thirties. By that time, Toscanini was a Barber exponent and premiered this piece.

4. Finally, a very interesting Second Symphony. Barber composed this at the end of WW II, and it probably reflects on his experience in the Army Air Corps/Force. He suppressed the piece after initial performances for reasons known only to him. Thankfully, it was later restored (I presume after his death) from the orchestral parts. Stuffed with unusual effects; but the middle movement has the most heartbreaking elegiac passage in music (I count Barber's own Adagio a close second.) A symphony I am glad was rescued in the name of posterity.

129 posted on 01/23/2011 7:52:36 PM PST by Erasmus (Personal goal: Have a bigger carbon footprint than Tony Robbins.)
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To: Desdemona
Really, if you look at this list, it's more a list of composers who changed the game. Each was the initiator of a specific style.

In that case, could Palestrina be put on the list?

130 posted on 01/23/2011 7:56:54 PM PST by TotusTuus ("Prince of Music")
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To: paulycy

When I was a teenager back in the old days I had a huge Deutsche Grammphone record collection. I wonder what happened to it. I had a miserable life, so I would just sit and listen and live in the music.

I also had Mothers of Invention, Beatles, Fugs and John Mayall...


131 posted on 01/23/2011 8:09:55 PM PST by little jeremiah (Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. CSLewis)
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To: left that other site

Ira was very gifted in his own right, and continued to be successful after George died.


132 posted on 01/23/2011 8:36:22 PM PST by Lauren BaRecall (Eric Cantor is my current congressional heartthrob.[v. Hoyer, re House Schedule, CSpan 1/20/11])
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To: The Comedian

Interesting take. Thanks.


133 posted on 01/23/2011 8:44:25 PM PST by Lauren BaRecall (Eric Cantor is my current congressional heartthrob.[v. Hoyer, re House Schedule, CSpan 1/20/11])
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To: little jeremiah

If it’s not Baroque, don’t fix it.


134 posted on 01/23/2011 8:46:44 PM PST by Lauren BaRecall (Eric Cantor is my current congressional heartthrob.[v. Hoyer, re House Schedule, CSpan 1/20/11])
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To: InternetTuffGuy

Your posts have been exquisite, and I’m enjoying them greatly. :-)


135 posted on 01/23/2011 8:49:11 PM PST by Lauren BaRecall (Eric Cantor is my current congressional heartthrob.[v. Hoyer, re House Schedule, CSpan 1/20/11])
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To: Pharmboy

I can’t believe the NYTimes is making such a big deal about a bunch of dead white guys.


136 posted on 01/23/2011 8:50:55 PM PST by Moonman62 (Half of all Americans are above average. Politicians come from the other half.)
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To: Lauren BaRecall

Exactly.

I also like real old fashioned Appalachian mountain music, and Indian ragas, and gamelan...

I play plain ol’ guitar though.


137 posted on 01/23/2011 8:54:20 PM PST by little jeremiah (Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. CSLewis)
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To: left that other site
Upon reading your post, the possibility occured to me that he may have been a progressive.

Bingo!

And that's why PBS and all the rest did their fawning for lo these many years. His music stunk, but he was one of *them*.

138 posted on 01/23/2011 9:17:04 PM PST by Lauren BaRecall (Eric Cantor is my current congressional heartthrob.[v. Hoyer, re House Schedule, CSpan 1/20/11])
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To: little jeremiah

That’s a fascinating mix!

I don’t know if I’ve ever heard any authentic Appalachian mountain music, but a good banjo can get me revved up!

BTW, I heard a song in church that sounded like it came from an old Black Spiritual. I was so surprised to discover in the publication notes that the tune was an old Welsh folk song. Isn’t that something! I seem to recall reading somewhere that a lot of that stuff is related.


139 posted on 01/23/2011 9:29:44 PM PST by Lauren BaRecall (Eric Cantor is my current congressional heartthrob.[v. Hoyer, re House Schedule, CSpan 1/20/11])
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To: Revolting cat!
emoticon
140 posted on 01/23/2011 10:42:12 PM PST by americanophile
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