Two weeks ago, Anthony Tommasini, chief music critic for the New York Times, set out to determine the 10 best classical composers in the history of the world. In a very interesting two weeks, he documented his research online, allowing devoted readers to follow along with videos, articles, and conversations with commenters. The whole thing is definitely worth a read, if not for the insights into classical music themselves (though there are, of course, many) then for the innovative packaging. In an age when transparency is all but clamored for at every turn, a world-class critic has laid open his journey from thought to thought — at least to the extent that it’s interesting, which is all the public wants anyway. Today, Tommasini posted his final article, revealing his list of the ten best classical composers ever — click through to see the list and weigh in with your own favorites.
10. Bartok
“[He is] an ethnomusicologist whose work has empowered generations of subsequent composers to incorporate folk music and classical traditions from whatever culture into their works, and … a formidable modernist who in the face of Schoenberg’s breathtaking formulations showed another way, forging a language that was an amalgam of tonality, unorthodox scales and atonal wanderings.”
9. Wagner
“A production of Wagner’s ‘Ring’ cycle has become the entry card for any opera company that wants to be considered big time. The last 20 minutes of “Die Walküre” may be the most sadly beautiful music ever written… Wagner was an anti-Semitic, egomaniacal jerk who transcended himself in his art.”
8. Verdi
“That a new production of a Verdi opera, like Willy Decker’s spare, boldly reimagined staging of ‘La Traviata’ at the Metropolitan Opera, can provoke such heated passions among audiences is testimony to the enduring richness of Verdi’s works”
7. Brahms
“At his best (the symphonies, the piano concertos, the violin concerto, the chamber works with piano, the solo piano pieces, especially the late intermezzos and capriccios that point the way to Schoenberg) Brahms has the thrilling grandeur and strangeness of Beethoven.”
6. Stravinsky
“Stravinsky was still around in the 1960s, writing serial works that set the field of contemporary music abuzz.” [Ed note: Yet another creative great rocking the Lennon frames!]
5. Debussy
“With his pioneering harmonic language, the sensual beauty of his sound and his uncanny, Freudian instincts for tapping the unconscious, Debussy was the bridge over which music passed into the tumultuous 20th century.”
4. Schubert
“You have to love the guy, who died at 31, ill, impoverished and neglected except by a circle of friends who were in awe of his genius… Schubert’s first few symphonies may be works in progress. But the ‘Unfinished’ and especially the Ninth Symphony are astonishing.”
3. Mozart
“If you were to compare just Mozart’s orchestral and instrumental music to Beethoven’s, that would be a pretty even match. But Mozart had a whole second career as a path-breaking opera composer.”
2. Beethoven
“He struggled to compose, and you can sometimes hear that struggle in the music. But however hard wrought, Beethoven’s works are so audacious and indestructible that they survive even poor performances.”
1. Bach
“For his matchless combination of masterly musical engineering (as one reader put it) and profound expressivity.”
Do you agree with this list? Anyone snubbed that you listen to daily? Let us know in the comments!
Comments (41)
Karlheinz Stockhausen is the greatest composer that ever lived. People will recognize that in 100 years. We need technological assistance in the form of computer implants in the brain to fully understand and appreciate his music.
Bach, Haydn (for goodness sake how can you miss him?!), Mozart, Beethoven, Sibelius, Shostakovich, and while we’re at it: Palestrina, Buxtehude, Byrd and Tallis and what about Handel and whoever invented Gregorian chant???
Rachmaninoff, Tchaik. Come on :<
Hello???! Franz Liszt
Was a disc made of some of the pieces that can be obtained>
I was glad to see that Haydn didn’t make Tommasini’s top 10. I’ve always wondered why he is played as much as he is; most of his music is so very boring.
I agree with Corinne. Haydn’s music is good and alright, but it’s boring. I think Duncan was just listing all the classical composers he could.
I’d like to see Vivaldi on this list though.
i’d love to hear what alex ross makes of this.
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rawksavvy, i believe the original NYTimes article mentioned that he was close friends with Alex Ross, and i think he was consulted on the list.
I like the list, but i would have Rachmaninoff in there somewhere.
ah, thanks kevin!
I would probably eliminate Bartok (though I am a huge fan), Brahms, Debussy and maybe Schubert (though all have music that I love) in favor of:
Shostakovich
Mahler
Britten
Messiaen
Bubbling under would have to be Copland, Takemitsu, and Elliott Carter. And please don’t wait 100 years to hear the mind-blowing, emotionally rich music of Osvaldo Golijov!
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you guys put it all on one page! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What? Beethoven is first in line? Really? Sergei Rachmaninoff’s compositions have a beautiful complexity like no other. He should replace Beethoven.
This reads like the seasonal lineup from a second-tier suburban orchestra — safe, bland and inoffensive.
Haydn – boring? The Nelson Mass boring? The concertos? The symphonies? Haydn virtually invented the latter!
Duncan you are a man of rare discernment; Haydn is magnificent!
beethoven bland? uh,suuuuuuuuuure
You said it yourself, “Wagner was an anti-Semitic, egomaniacal jerk…” So, replace him with Mendelssohn, whom he persecuted.
Haydn and Buxtehude, and yes probably Byrd and Tallis too! By the by, I think Veronica’s(?) comment is a little bit bitchy!
Yep Haydn for sure, and for Kaiser!
I do think I’d have dropped Verdi and Stravinsky in favor of Haydn and Liszt, in some order… whatever I think of Wagner as a person (I try not to. at all. his personal faults form a long, long, long list…) – his music can be wonderful and its _influence_ was up there, and is. Perhaps dropping Schubert in favor of Monteverdi, among the most influential and perhaps among the best composers pre-Bach…
(I have other personal favorites that get very little orchestra time – with some wonderful exceptions, like a Swiss orchestra that has played much Raff recently… – but I’m less concerned whether they get to other peoples’ top 10, so long as they keep making good recordings of the best of these and the best of them. Personal preference also ranks Beethoven above Bach- but not by very much at all and not always; love them both and dearly. Up with Bach’s cantatas, especially!)
Anyhow, I babble. Thanks!
I’d put Beethoven first (for his late string quartets and piano pieces), and I’d move Bach lower. I’d also dump Stravinsky, Verdi and Bartok for Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Gustav Mahler, all of whom wrote absolutely incredible music that is on a level with the great composers who came before them. Of course, that biases the list even more heavily towards Vienna, but I’m okay with that…
Also, I’m glad Schubert made the list, it took a long time for his greatness to be recognized, but he was a true genius and wrote some of the most sublime music ever, especially in his last seven years.
I’m surprised Tchaikovsky didn’t make the list. The man essentially defines the Russian tradition, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a composer with as strong an influence on the world’s musical imagination. I’d also like to throw in a vote for George Gershwin. It seems to me like a lot of this list is based off of how influential the composers were for the development of Western classical music, and in that regard I think Gershwin deserves a lot of credit for finding a way to fuse the classical and jazz traditions. An exceptionally difficult task, which he performed to obviously great effect. Still, I can’t complain too much about the list. Being descended from the Mendelssohns, I’m ecstatic that Brahms beat out Wagner!
i’d say beethoven first. get rid of stravinksy and verdi for scriabin and chopin. both created entire worlds unto themselves and reinvented their instruments.
and of course the two girls would think haydn is boring. levelheaded, reasonable, thoughtful music thats orderly and sober – not exactly the kind of stuff that would click with a womens brain.
I’d replace Wagner with Ives. And it’s hard to leave out Chopin, too.
re: the Stockhausen comment from above: I don’t believe that needing technological assistance to understand someone’s work means that person is the greatest composer who ever lived.
I loved following this article, and good post! Interesting how seven of the ten are prolific pianists, a fact that shouldn’t be ignored. Which is probably why I have a hard time not missing Chopin when I view the list…
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what about Rocmonenoff
Top three is fairly clear: Mozart, Bach, Beethoven. After them it is harder. Schubert there, for sure, for someone of songs. Haydn, Händel. But who then? Should it include Vivaldi, Listz, Chopin, Tchaikovski, Strauss or those in the list above?
“Handel is the one composer to whom I would bow down.”
There seems to be little support on Dvorák side. I must say, he deserves to be at least considered for the list.
This list is horrible aside from the top 3 that anyone minimally interested in classical would have guessed (beethoven should be first though) the rest is very bad. Haydn defined the symphony invented the string quartet,the piano sonata and the sonata form. His chamaber music (both string quartets and piano trios) are among the greatest chamber music ever created he is a top 5 not just top 10! schubert, debussy, bhrams and wagner yes but certenly not by that order. stravinsky is debatable i would replace him with tchikovsky but he would be like 11. HAENDEL is a very bad miss! verdi and bartok are good but not top 10 not when there are composers like haydn, haendel, tachaikovky, schumann or liszt or even dvorak and chopin waiting.
No Chopin?
Perotin, Rachmaninov, Chopin and Hildegard von Bingen should be on that list. The first three are not on Tommasini’s list because they aren’t Germanic; the fourth fails to appear because her music is calm and meditative, something Tommasini and his ilk abhor.
One more thing: Bach, Mozart and Beethoven should not be in the top 3 spots. We classical musicians have been trained to believe they should be from infancy, which is the only real reason people keep listing them. Bach might be at no. 4, with some Medieval composers coming before him. Mozart makes the top 10, but Beethoven and his angry, hysterical music should not be considered a great composer, period.
HAYDIN intolerable
Um George Frideric Handel come on. Some of the most epic and enjoyable work ever! Could bump Schubert or Bartok to squeeze the ‘Messiah’ in!
Noah you sad sack wots a matter Beethovens works too hard for you to play, these medieval composers you talk about they weren’t chasing king arthur about wi coconuts by any chance. Numpty period.
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