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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
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To: Revolting cat!

Laaa da deeeeee da da da doooooooooo....

621 posted on 03/02/2006 1:30:31 PM PST by GunRunner
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To: Reaganesque

Tchaikovsky & Mozart are excellent composers. But most classical piano music is pleasant...


622 posted on 03/02/2006 1:34:31 PM PST by Mrs. Darla Ruth Schwerin
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To: Reaganesque

There are so many great works of music, but here a couple worthy of the history books.

Frank Zappa-Joes Garage
Bruford-One Of A Kind


623 posted on 03/02/2006 1:34:31 PM PST by miloklancy (The biggest problem with the Democrats is that they are in office.)
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To: MozartLover

How could I forget Pavarotti's Nessun Dorma?
(A: I gave up coffee for Lent).
BEST love song of all time. I pretty much never cry, but it always brings tears to my eyes.


624 posted on 03/02/2006 1:41:53 PM PST by PalestrinaGal0317 (We should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity-Ann Coulter)
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To: Reaganesque
The late great Robert Bartley once quipped that anyone who likes merlot must not like wine. I think that something similar applies to Ravel's Bolero. The merlot of classical music.
625 posted on 03/02/2006 1:46:41 PM PST by Revolting cat! ("In the end, nothing explains anything.")
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To: ecurbh

Interesting, ecurbh. For decades my favourite piece has been Mahler's 9th. All that death stuff suits me right down to the ground. :^) Alban Berg was nuts about it too, not that that is necessarily a good advertisement.


626 posted on 03/02/2006 1:49:10 PM PST by Argh
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To: Reaganesque

The Lumberjack Song from Monty Python's Flying Circus.


627 posted on 03/02/2006 1:53:55 PM PST by rfp1234 (I've had it up to my keyster with these leaks!!! - - - Ronald Reagan)
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To: Cyclopean Squid

I thought it ironic that the Threnody sounds like a radiation burn must feel. I believe he gave it that name only after he wrote it, like Debussy and his Preludes.


628 posted on 03/02/2006 1:57:53 PM PST by Argh
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To: Reaganesque

Pachebel's Canon in D-Major


629 posted on 03/02/2006 2:07:05 PM PST by BlueLancer (Der Elite Møøsënspåånkængrüppen ØberKømmändø (EMØØK))
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To: luvbach1

That's exactly why.


630 posted on 03/02/2006 2:15:23 PM PST by Argh
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To: Reaganesque

Beethoven's ninth for me also....followed by the 3rd and 5th symphonies.

Mozart is great but a little to cutsie for me sometimes.


631 posted on 03/02/2006 2:15:24 PM PST by TheLion
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To: dfwgator

Yes, Otto the conductor was Werner's dad. They came over to the U.S. in the 30's to get away from Hitler (Werner was 15 at the time).


632 posted on 03/02/2006 2:31:15 PM PST by Argh
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To: rollo tomasi

I still prefer Klemperer's Brahms' German Requiem to all the others I've heard (especially as remastered for EMI's Great Recordings of the Century, MUCH more detail comes through). And I've heard most of the recordings ever made of it (or so it seems). :^)


633 posted on 03/02/2006 2:39:15 PM PST by Argh
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To: Wolfstar; ohioWfan; JustaCowgirl
I've been thinking about this today and, IMHO, I can't recall a better song than "Amazing Grace".

It's the only song that will reduce me to tears in seconds, whether I hear the lyrics sung in a choir or just the song itself played on bagpipes.

634 posted on 03/02/2006 4:01:56 PM PST by silent_jonny ("... anger rests in the bosom of fools" -- Ecclesiastes 7:9)
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To: Swordmaker
It's particularly poignant when you learn that its author, John Newton, was the captain of a slave ship... and the hymn is autobiographical.

yeah, I know. gives even more meaning to the song.

635 posted on 03/02/2006 4:08:47 PM PST by JavaTheHutt ( Gun Control - The difference between Lexington Green and Tienanmen Square.)
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To: hobbes1

Frankenstien? What is that supposed to mean?


636 posted on 03/02/2006 4:08:58 PM PST by MeekMom (Praise Jesus! We have so much to be thankful for!)
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To: Swordmaker
and raise you "It's a small, small, world"

nana nana nana nana nana nana BATMAN! nana nana nana nana nana nana BATMAN! nana nana nana nana nana nana BATMAN!

637 posted on 03/02/2006 4:10:20 PM PST by JavaTheHutt ( Gun Control - The difference between Lexington Green and Tienanmen Square.)
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To: rmh47
Some notes: No popular contemporary piece can possibly make the list. They are just too short. The constraints of radio make that necessary, and no piece that lasts only three or four or five minutes can possibly measure up.

I guess that would depend on who is making the list, because nothing you mentioned would make it on my list anywhere in the top 500.

638 posted on 03/02/2006 4:13:27 PM PST by JavaTheHutt ( Gun Control - The difference between Lexington Green and Tienanmen Square.)
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To: silent_jonny; ohioWfan; JustaCowgirl
I love 'Amazing Grace' also. Like I said, how can anyone reduce all of the music created by human kind down to a selection of one piece and claim it's the greatest ever?

The underlying premise of the thread is that only European classical symphonic music is worthy of being on a list of the greatest music of all time. I think that takes too narrow a view of the subject. There are so many different kinds of music, and probably as many different tastes in music as there are people on the planet.

639 posted on 03/02/2006 4:17:50 PM PST by Wolfstar (I am sailing, home again 'cross the sea. I am sailing stormy waters, to be near you, to be free.)
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To: rmh47
And, yes, fellow freepers, there is a right answer.

Was the selection made by some committee somewhere, or is this "right answer" yours?

640 posted on 03/02/2006 4:21:31 PM PST by Wolfstar (I am sailing, home again 'cross the sea. I am sailing stormy waters, to be near you, to be free.)
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