Honegger, Arthur (1892–1955, France/Switzerland) Martinů, Bohuslav (1890–1959, Czech Republic) Humperdinck, Engelbert (1854–1921, Germany) Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai (1844–1908, Russia) Gottschalk, Louis Moreau (1829–1869, USA) Offenbach, Jacques (1819–1880, Germany/France) Hasse, Johann Adolph (1699–1783, Germany/Italy) Locatelli, Pietro (1695–1764, Italy/Netherlands) Zelenka, Jan Dismas (1679–1745, Czech Republic/Germany) Sweelinck, Jan Pieterszoon (1562–1621, Netherlands)ĭ'Anglebert, Jean-Henri (1629–1691, France)īuxtehude, Dieterich (c. Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179, Germany) Janáček, Leoš (1854–1928, Czech Republic)įinally the honorable mentions (130 and counting), grouped by period/style for ease of reference: Weber, Carl Maria von (1786–1826, Germany) Let's call them the Nearers, in order of birth only (since we're entering relatively obscure territory I'm including their full name and also their DOB and country of origin in parentheses): The man was indeed greater than the myth.Īs for the rest I actually posted a tentative ranking of the top 30 earlier this year but here it is again, expanded to 50 names with a few changes to the original top 30:Īnd these are the ten composers who missed the cut but could easily be swapped with some of the above. He wasn't as gifted as Bach and (as Ludwig himself painfully admitted) Mozart and didn't share the duo's natural ear for the human voice (the "Ode to Joy" finale of his Ninth Symphony being the most infamous example), but nobody has left a deeper imprint on his music which by turns is as tempestuous, serene, violent, peaceful, impassioned, withdrawn, outgoing and enigmatic as humanly possible. Salieri (the fictional one, for the record) had every reason to curse the Almighty for endowing this heavenly creature with so much talent and yet taking him away from us all too soon.īeethoven - The most widely influential, daringly innovative and intensely personal musician in history. He happens to be my least favorite of the Big 3 as I find most of his oeuvre too polite, but Don Giovanni, the sublime closing pages of The Marriage of Figaro and Sarastro's high arias in The Magic Flute stand supreme as pinnacles of musical theater, and the legendary unfinished Requiem remains the most bone-chillingly frightening music ever written. Mozart - The greatest natural genius in the history of Western music, if not the greatest natural genius period. In my book there's Bach and there's everyone else. His miraculous command of counterpoint remains unchallenged to this day (even Wolfgang struggled with it at times), and at his most inscrutable he has been matched only by Beethoven in his great successor's late piano sonatas and string quartets. Let's do the primers:īach - The most perfect synthesis of emotion and intellect in music. Others may have their defenders (especially the Wagnerians) but none of 'em can match this trio in depth AND width. Click to expand.The Big 3 are indeed in a class of their own and you can make a strong case for each.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |