Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

What Is the Greatest Musical Work of All Time?
3/1/2006 | Reaganesque

Posted on 03/01/2006 7:54:55 PM PST by Reaganesque

I was sitting here tonight listening to Mozart's Requiem and I got to thinking: what do I consider to be the best work of music ever? For my part, Mozart's work really does the trick for me when I need to be re-energized. Therefore, I believe that his Requiem is the greatest work of all time. There just isn't another work that is as powerful and passionate. When the chorus sings the final "Amen" at the end of "Lacrimosa" I get the feeling that he knew it was the last thing he would ever write. It gives me chills at times.

Other favorites are:

Handel's Messiah

The 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: composers; favorite; music; teafortwo; vanity
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 541-560561-580581-600 ... 741-748 next last
To: Reaganesque
Some of this guys stuff :)



http://www.newmusicjukebox.org/composers/c_bio.asp?ComposerID=18428&ActorID=38777

http://www.baltimorecomposersforum.org/members/spicka_george/
561 posted on 03/02/2006 8:28:40 AM PST by George - the Other (400,000 bodies in Saddam's Mass Graves, and counting ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Reaganesque

This is almost an impossible question to answer IMHO because it's so undefined. Best classical work? Best jazz work? Best rock work? Best country work? Best pop work? Best Broadway show tunes work? Best operatic work? Personally, I could give you a top 20 and wouldn't even make a microscopic scratch in the surface of what I think would be contenders for this title.


562 posted on 03/02/2006 8:30:17 AM PST by GB
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: absolootezer0

Which Metheny composition are you referring to?


563 posted on 03/02/2006 8:31:36 AM PST by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 559 | View Replies]

To: Always Right
(Gravy)
On my Mashed Potatoes
Give me (gravy)
Come on and treat me right (gravy)
You're the greatest
So gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme gravy tonight

564 posted on 03/02/2006 8:32:08 AM PST by Revolting cat! ("In the end, nothing explains anything.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 555 | View Replies]

To: Reaganesque

ROCKYTOP!


565 posted on 03/02/2006 8:32:47 AM PST by badgerlandjim (Hillary Clinton is to politics as Helen Thomas is to beauty)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Reaganesque

Neil Diamond's Jonathan Livingston Seagull--or maybe--The theme from Victory at Sea.


566 posted on 03/02/2006 8:35:27 AM PST by taillightchaser (!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: P-Marlowe

It's been said that the 4th mvt. of the 9th is actually the weakest of the four movements. Beethoven didn't really have a knack for writing for the human voice.


567 posted on 03/02/2006 8:35:47 AM PST by Borges
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 427 | View Replies]

To: Reaganesque

Miserere Mei by Allegri is certainly the music of the angels in heaven!


568 posted on 03/02/2006 8:36:39 AM PST by kalee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: johnnycap
Beethoven's 9th, hands down. If there is music playing when we arrive in Heaven its the Choral from Beethoven's ninth. You want to know what God listen's to? Hint, the deaf guy from Germany received it straight from the divine.

Yep.

569 posted on 03/02/2006 8:37:37 AM PST by Skooz (Chastity prays for me, piety sings............Modesty hides my thighs in her wings......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 419 | View Replies]

To: Skooz
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is the magnum opus of the human race. It is the ultimate artistic achievement of mankind.

It is, without question, the greatest work of music ever.

I couldn't agree with you more.


570 posted on 03/02/2006 8:40:31 AM PST by Hemingway's Ghost (Spirit of '75)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 560 | View Replies]

To: Xenalyte
"Shut UP. Skynyrd sucks.

Nothing personal, mind you. It's just that Skynyrd sucks so much."

I did not know that Neil Young was a freeper. Who'd of thought!
571 posted on 03/02/2006 8:40:37 AM PST by reagandemo (The battle is near are you ready for the sacrifice?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: reagandemo

I'm nowhere near Neil Young. I'm a chick.


572 posted on 03/02/2006 8:42:25 AM PST by Xenalyte (Numba one in tha hood, G!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 571 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator
Which Metheny composition are you referring to?

i think its "first circle". its the 2d track on "the road to you" live album.
573 posted on 03/02/2006 8:43:28 AM PST by absolootezer0 ("My God, why have you forsaken us.. no wait, its the liberals that have forsaken you... my bad")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 563 | View Replies]

To: badgerlandjim
ROCKYTOP!

"Good Old Rocky Top, woo! Second in the SEC!"

574 posted on 03/02/2006 8:44:51 AM PST by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 565 | View Replies]

To: absolootezer0

First Circle, what a great tune!!! Have you heard 'The Way Up' (all 68 minutes) yet?


575 posted on 03/02/2006 8:45:36 AM PST by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 573 | View Replies]

To: msjhall

Thanks! There was a story behind it, as with some others I posted. I was traveling around with Lee Greenwood and some other stars promoting a series of concerts at the time the song became popular.

One of our "stops" was an appearance at the Republican National Convention in Dallas. It didn't matter how many times I heard him sing it, my eyes welled up every time -- and when you're in a place like that, or my hometown/city at the time, where literally *everyone* DOES "stand up" when he sings, "I'd gladly STAND UP next to you and defend her still today" - believe me, you'd STAND UP, too, for the men who died who gave that right to you!

I probably should not have written the song title that way, though, because I was just humming opening verses to myself. I *should* have written

GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.!!!


576 posted on 03/02/2006 8:45:37 AM PST by Rte66
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 536 | View Replies]

To: Reaganesque

577 posted on 03/02/2006 8:47:07 AM PST by Revolting cat! ("In the end, nothing explains anything.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rollo tomasi; sitetest; xsmommy
Excellent choice!

I just love my recording by Klemperer. Not up to date on the latest thinking re baroque performance practice of course (get John-Eliot Gardiner for something like that), but 3.75 hours of utter glory. And after the passages of violin harmonics whenever Fischer-Dieskau's voice comes in as that of Jesus...
578 posted on 03/02/2006 8:48:01 AM PST by Argh
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 480 | View Replies]

To: Reaganesque

Really, what everyone is doing here is naming "favorites" instead of "the greatest," because again I think it's almost impossible to name a "greatest." That being said ... how 'bout Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" for classical ... how 'bout the Sinatra album "In The Wee Small Hours," which IMHO shows his greatness more than any other of his albums, although I do love the swinging stuff ... how 'bout Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd" from Broadway, although I'd also have to take "Guys and Dolls" to a desert island because that is sheer perfection in musical theater ... how 'bout the Beatles album, British version of course, "Hard Day's Night," because Sgt. Pepper, Rubber Soul, Revolver, etc., get all the attention, but you look at the track list for that album and there is not one weak note in any of the songs ... how 'bout Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Hot Sevens from jazz, simply because that was the starting point and a direct line can be drawn from that music to Jimi Hendrix and anyone else who actually got in the forefront and soloed on an instrument.


579 posted on 03/02/2006 8:48:04 AM PST by GB
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Xenalyte

"I'm nowhere near Neil Young. I'm a chick."

How long have you been hooked up with Neil then? ;-)


580 posted on 03/02/2006 8:52:56 AM PST by reagandemo (The battle is near are you ready for the sacrifice?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 572 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 541-560561-580581-600 ... 741-748 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson