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 ...
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.
You get no argument from me. :-)
Absolutely. Though George did work with others as well. But Ira was the BEST!
Oh yeah! I LOVE “Danse Macabre”! All those bones rattling!
Worth repeating.
Vivaldi must be on the list.
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.
Yeah, agreed, but The Who weren't...how do I put this...
Universal.
Zep tapped into a transcendent melodic vein. Strum shields and all.
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.
In that case, could Palestrina be put on the list?
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...
Ira was very gifted in his own right, and continued to be successful after George died.
Interesting take. Thanks.
If it’s not Baroque, don’t fix it.
Your posts have been exquisite, and I’m enjoying them greatly. :-)
I can’t believe the NYTimes is making such a big deal about a bunch of dead white guys.
Exactly.
I also like real old fashioned Appalachian mountain music, and Indian ragas, and gamelan...
I play plain ol’ guitar though.
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*.
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.
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