Best Composer ever

[GeorgeChopin]

Mozart.
I mean, who else is Mozart?

I don't listen to him as much as I do Rachmaninov/Liszt/Chopin/Beethoven though, but he is just the number one composer.

Second best has to be Beethoven for me.

[lobsteh]

Best Composer - Bach, undoubtedly. His work with counterpoint amazes me...

[drurylane5]

prokofiev!

[fungus]

"The greatest composer" vs. "my favourite composer" - the answers to those questions are not necessarily the same.

I agree.
The greatest composer, I believe, would be Mozart. The genius of his work, how perfectly flawless it is, amazes me. If one composer can produce so many recognizable melodies, how can he not be consider the greatest? Think about how many Mozart melodies have become so famous, from Rondo Alla Turca (Piano Sonata No. 11) to Symphony No. 40 (The "Great" G minor). Also, as a horn player, I have Mozart to thank for his four great horn concertos-which have become essential in the repertoire of most hornists.

However, the sound of Mozart does not move me emotionally as much as the sounds of the late romantic period. Therefore, I would have to argue my favorite composers are Richard Strauss (specifically his tone poems), Tchaikovsky, Mahler, and other similar composers.

[metrognome]

My old music textbook (the canonic History of Western Music by Grout/Palisca) would have it that Beethoven was the greatest composer. I'll push against this claim in a moment, but wish to examine this institutional perspective for a minute. While Mozart is lumped with Haydn and Bach with Handel and Rameau, Ludwig the primadonna gets an entire chapter to himself. This editorial decision seems to rest on the fact that every composer after Beethoven struggled to step out of the old man's shadow. With the Ninth Symphony, Beethoven had upped the ante for large scale works that were then considered the index of musical genius. "How the heck am I supposed to compete with that," asked a long line of composers from Schubert to Schoenberg.

Beethoven's world significance, however, extends beyond his formal innovations to the symbolism both he and we have attached to his music. During both World Wars, the Allies attempted to little avail to institute a moratorium on the performance of German music, but the campaign proved problematic. Try imagining a concert program without any German music. The audience became antsy. Germany could keep Mozart and Schoenberg but Beethoven's music with its message of heroism and universal brotherhood, the Allies backpedalled, belonged to the world. This is perhaps the historical basis for why we tend to hear Beethoven at Fourth of July concerts here in the U.S. and Olympic ceremonials around the world even though he has very little to do with the history of non-German nations.

Personally, though, I side with the Bachants. If Beethoven was the most innovative composer, then Bach was the most inventive. By inventive, I mean the older meaning of the word, inventio, a term of rhetoric which signified imaginative resourcefulness. Bach never failed to maximize the potential of his raw materials. I take this resourcefulness to be the composer's index of what makes a great composer (as opposed to a great melodist like Mozart or Rachmaninoff). Give Bach the musical equivalent of popsicle sticks and he could transform them into the most glorious cathedral. I never cease to be amazed with what he does with his musical ideas. I reckon that there are more homages to Bach in music literature than to any other existing composer. (Specific musical works and techniques by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Liszt, Wagner, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Janecek, Busoni, Reger, Schoenberg and co., Shostakovich, instantly come to mind). Hence from this standpoint, Herr Bach takes the title. I could die happy if I could learn his entire works for keyboard.

Does anybody know Reger here, by the way?

I have Marc-Andre Hamelin's recordings of the Variations. Some years ago, I attempted the Variations on a Theme by Bach. The fugue at the end is an absolute marvel of contrapuntal technique. It's got everything from diminution and augmentation to a retrograde transformation of the fugue subject. But while I appreciate the complexity of all his latticework, listening to the music itself can be taxing on the ears.

[Sathrandur]

I believe the greatest composer ever to be none other than Sergei Rachmaninoff. He wrote the most heartfelt and touching music, while at the same time being a virtuoso at a level that I believe no one else has ever reached. His music is complex, demonstrating his superior composition skill but incredible creativity.
I am quite disappointed that I have not seen him come up yet that much (if at all) in this forum. Also, I think he is also the greatest pianist of all time.
One other note, an earlier post on the forum from last year I believe, suggested our favourite composers may be the one's most like ourselves. This is so true of me when I compare myself to Sergei. Sergei's music was also deeply emotional, not depressive as some people ignorantly suggest.

[Yagan Kiely]

My old music textbook (the canonic History of Western Music by Grout/Palisca) would have it that Beethoven was the greatest composer. I'll push against this claim in a moment, but wish to examine this institutional perspective for a minute. While Mozart is lumped with Haydn and Bach with Handel and Rameau, Ludwig the primadonna gets an entire chapter to himself. This editorial decision seems to rest on the fact that every composer after Beethoven struggled to step out of the old man's shadow. With the Ninth Symphony, Beethoven had upped the ante for large scale works that were then considered the index of musical genius. "How the heck am I supposed to compete with that," asked a long line of composers from Schubert to Schoenberg.

Beethoven's world significance, however, extends beyond his formal innovations to the symbolism both he and we have attached to his music. During both World Wars, the Allies attempted to little avail to institute a moratorium on the performance of German music, but the campaign proved problematic. Try imagining a concert program without any German music. The audience became antsy. Germany could keep Mozart and Schoenberg but Beethoven's music with its message of heroism and universal brotherhood, the Allies backpedalled, belonged to the world. This is perhaps the historical basis for why we tend to hear Beethoven at Fourth of July concerts here in the U.S. and Olympic ceremonials around the world even though he has very little to do with the history of non-German nations.

Personally, though, I side with the Bachants. If Beethoven was the most innovative composer, then Bach was the most inventive. By inventive, I mean the older meaning of the word, inventio, a term of rhetoric which signified imaginative resourcefulness. Bach never failed to maximize the potential of his raw materials. I take this resourcefulness to be the composer's index of what makes a great composer (as opposed to a great melodist like Mozart or Rachmaninoff). Give Bach the musical equivalent of popsicle sticks and he could transform them into the most glorious cathedral. I never cease to be amazed with what he does with his musical ideas. I reckon that there are more homages to Bach in music literature than to any other existing composer. (Specific musical works and techniques by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Liszt, Wagner, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Janecek, Busoni, Reger, Schoenberg and co., Shostakovich, instantly come to mind). Hence from this standpoint, Herr Bach takes the title. I could die happy if I could learn his entire works for keyboard.

Agree completely about Beethoven, and mostly about Bach. While is music is by far the most educational harmonically and theoretically, it does lack certain things, such as a very simple but easily whistle-able and memorable melody and many orchestration techniques.

An addition to Beethoven, while a fair amount of his pieces are very much masterpieces, the other large chunk is quite average.

[kendrickkoo]

I do not reckon there would be a single "best" composer, though one could perhaps nominate masters in certain areas...

bach: master of the fugue and counterpoint
mozart: can't really define, he just connects with humanity
beethoven: ditto
r. strauss: master of orchestration
shostakovich: master of tonality
schoenberg: master of atonality
messiaen: in a whole world of his own, with a soundscape unlike any other
ligeti: perhaps the cumulation of 400 years of western musical tradition?

not to say that any composer not above mentioned is not great in their own right!

[Sebastian]

My favorite composer is always the composer I'm playing or listening to at a particular moment.

Scriabin, Bach, Rachmaninov, Schumann, Scarlatti and a few others appear most regularly, but many more musicians have written music that when I hear it outshines everything else. Sheherazade, Gaspard de la nuit, Le sacre du printemps, Grieg's Ballade or Piano concert, lots of pieces by Prokofiev and many many other works blow me away and leave no space in my mind for any other music or composers until the piece is over.

But if I had to go to a remote desert island bringing with me the music of only one composer of my choice, It would be Bach.

When talking about composers on a certain artistic level I guess it's impossible to say that one is better than another. The reason why they became known as great composers in the first place was perhaps because they did outshine everyone else in their own individual.

[Crystalviolin]

I don't care if I sound like a geek or anything, but I think it is either Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, or... Nobuo Uematsu.

But, if I were to choose, Bach.

[PianoDen]

Hmm, I'd say Bach would be the best, followed by Beethoven. Also:

Classical - Mozart
Romantic - Liszt
Early Modern - Shostakovich
Late Modern - Ligeti

[bachrocks1312]

Johann Sebastian Bach. No question, for me at least. I like all of them but Bach is....I go on and on and on for hundreds of internet pages and not come close to describe what Bach is.

[ras1]

Bach? I would never have guessed, given your login name!

[ZacPB189]

Mahler, Bruckner and Bach are THE bests...
Brahms is THE worst

[fungus]

I also believe that the developments of each musical era culminated in the work(s) of a single (or a couple) composers.

For the Baroque period, it can be said that Bach was the highlight, although composers such as Handel, Vivaldi, etc. played a major role.

For the Classical Period, Mozart stands out the most, although Haydn is certainly up there.

Our friend Ludwig fits in somewhere between these periods...

For the Romantic period, Richard Strauss's tone poems stand out; along with Mahler's symphonies; Tchaikovsky's symphonies, overtures, and other works; Brahms' symphonies and more; and the Impressionistic genius of Ravel, Chabrier, Roussel, and Debussy also stand out.

For the modern period, Shostakovich, stands out with his symphonies, string quartets, and piano sonatas; Stravinsky stands out with his Rite and Firebird; Copland with his great Fanfare for the Common Man (and other works); and Phillip Glass for his...interesting works. But the modern period includes what is being written today, and it is quite possible we have not yet seen the culmination of this period.

It is hard to choose one composer out of this long list, as each period is so different. It is easy to say the romanticism of Strauss sticks out above all others, but does not the flawlessness of Mozart? the perfection of Bach? and the oddity of Glass...?