GMG's Top 10 Composers

[Leon]

There is something wrong with this poll.  Several inferior composers, but most glaringly, Dvorak and Schumann, received more votes than Haydn. 

Clearly a problem with the methodology.

[Mirror Image]

There is something wrong with this poll.  Several inferior composers, but most glaringly, Dvorak and Schumann, received more votes than Haydn. 

Clearly a problem with the methodology.

Inferior composers: Dvorak and Schumann? I think not!

[Brian]

Crap, I didn't realize it was supposed to be favorite composers. I thought it was supposed to be some kind of "ten best." If it were my ten favorites, I'd have to change 5 of my 10 votes! 

[The Diner]

Crap, I didn't realize it was supposed to be favorite composers. I thought it was supposed to be some kind of "ten best." If it were my ten favorites, I'd have to change 5 of my 10 votes! 

Same thing.

[MishaK]

Inferior composers: Dvorak and Schumann? I think not!

Yes, easily inferior, if by 'inferior' one means what Boulez means: i.e. less or no meaningful influence on what came after them. Haydn is essential. No Beethoven without him. Dvorak and Schumann, not so much. And now I feel guilty for not selecting Haydn. 

Speaking of Boulez, Boulez is missing, as is Monteverdi.

[Henk]

Rossini, Handel en Mendelssohn so little votes?

[Cato]

Rossini, Handel en Mendelssohn so little votes?

Saul will vote 10 times for Mendelssohn!

[Lethevich]

Schumann is just too sophisticated for some to understand properly

[Florestan]

Schumann is just too sophisticated for some to understand properly

I don't find myself too often in agreement with you, but this time I give you a big thumb up! 

[Sergeant Rock]

There is something wrong with this poll.  Several inferior composers...

Clearly a problem with the methodology.

The blame goes to Anthony Tommasini of the NY Times.

Sarge

[Todd]

The first eight were easy; the last two a bit tougher.

If Haydn doesn't crack the Top 10, there's gonna be a rumble!

[The Diner]

The first eight were easy; the last two a bit tougher.

If Haydn doesn't crack the Top 10, there's gonna be a rumble!

Yeah, it got tough towards the last few.

[Henk]

With this poll we also no the answer of the "Bach, Beethoven, Mozart poll".

[Mirror Image]

Yes, easily inferior, if by 'inferior' one means what Boulez means: i.e. less or no meaningful influence on what came after them. Haydn is essential. No Beethoven without him. Dvorak and Schumann, not so much. And now I feel guilty for not selecting Haydn. 

Speaking of Boulez, Boulez is missing, as is Monteverdi.

I don't give a crap what Boulez thinks. Dvorak and Schumann are NOT inferior composers. I didn't vote for them, but this doesn't mean I don't appreciate their art nor does mean I think they're not great composers. Your logic doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Why don't you go throw a "Schuman-Dvorak bashing party" with your buddy Boulez? I'm sure you two will have a lot to talk about.

[Henk]

It's a logic but not to praise or disqualify a composer by just this argument. The opposite logic counts too, some composers and their art represent the end of a development of some sort of style or era.

I think that music of so called transition composers, music that doesn't fit clearly in one style but is in between two styles, is not very interesting, but may have been very influential.

[Todd]

I don't give a crap what Boulez thinks. Dvorak and Schumann are NOT inferior composers. I didn't vote for them, but this doesn't mean I don't appreciate their art nor does mean I think they're not great composers. Your logic doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Why don't you go throw a "Schuman-Dvorak bashing party" with your buddy Boulez? I'm sure you two will have a lot to talk about.

Looks like you misunderstood Mensch's post.  I don't see him saying that either Dvorak or Schumann are not great, just that they are not as influential as others, and thus not as important to the development of music.  Another way of saying it is that they are not as great as some other greats.  This is true.  His logic is sound.

[Mirror Image]

This poll is about your favorite composer not who was the most influential (i. e. personal subjectivity). DUH! 

[Todd]

This poll is about your favorite composer not who was the most influential (i. e. personal subjectivity). DUH! 

Of course this is a subjective list; everything on this forum is.  However, I was merely pointing out that Mensch's logic was not flawed.

[MishaK]

Looks like you misunderstood Mensch's post.  I don't see him saying that either Dvorak or Schumann are not great, just that they are not as influential as others, and thus not as important to the development of music.  Another way of saying it is that they are not as great as some other greats.  This is true.  His logic is sound.

Thanks. But the logic belongs to Boulez, not me.

This poll is about your favorite composer not who was the most influential (i. e. personal subjectivity). DUH! 

It's not so much a subjective question, really. It's about as objective an attempt that one can make in measuring the importance of composers for the development of music generally. It's quite certain that although e.g. Schumann and Dvorak were highly accomplished practicioners of their craft, their influence on those who followed was relatively limited, when compared to the inescapable influence of such giants as Beethoven or Wagner or Schoenberg without whom the entire course of Western musical history would have been very different than what we know.

Along a different line of argumentation it is also difficult to rank composers who churned out piles of nearly identical works (even if a few might be considered legit masterpieces), like Rossini or Handel, on the same level as composers who continued to develop throughout their creative lives and hardly produced two similar works, like Beethoven or Mahler.

[mc ukrneal]

Taken with a grain of salt, seeing as it comes from someone who mispells Alan Berg's name ...

The spelling mistake was mine. I have now fixed it so that others do not do the same and just copy what I wrote. My apologies...