GMG's Top 10 Composers

[Florestan]

So these outcomes can't just be appropriate to rank composers as the outcome of who's considered the greatest composer.

This is not what the poll is about. The OP specifically stated "your top 10 favourite composers", allowing thus for the inherent subjectivity.

"The greatest composer" is meaningless for me.

[karlhenning]

This is not what the poll is about. The OP specifically stated "your top 10 favourite composers", allowing thus for the inherent subjectivity.

"The greatest composer" is meaningless for me.

QFT

My ten favorites . . . as listed today:

Stravinsky
Shostakovich
Schoenberg
Prokofiev
Ravel
Berlioz
Tchaikovsky
Sibelius
Chopin
Rakhmaninov

[mc ukrneal]

Just to clarify, the question is about the top 10 composers. How to decide who they are and what criteria to use is in no way limited. This makes things harder. For example. I don't know if Beethoven is in my top 10 favorite (he probably is), but his impact on music is enormous. Thus, regardless of what I think of his music, he is definitely a top 10 composer for me. But I used other criteria for other composers. There are no set rules. This was how the NYT set it up (even asking what criteria should be used).

[Florestan]

My criterion is simple and empirical: I picked up from the list the 10 composers whose music I find myself listening to the most, as compared to the rest. Therefore I don't regard them as "top 10 greatest composers" (a concept which I plainly reject) but as "my top 10 favourite composers".

[Bulldog]

My criterion is simple and empirical: I picked up from the list the 10 composers whose music I find myself listening to the most, as compared to the rest.

An excellent way to go about it.

[The Diner]

My criterion is simple and empirical: I picked up from the list the 10 composers whose music I find myself listening to the most, as compared to the rest. Therefore I don't regard them as "top 10 greatest composers" (a concept which I plainly reject) but as "my top 10 favourite composers".

Yep.

[Brahmsian]

My 10 (today)

Beethoven
Brahms
Bruckner
Mozart
Schubert
Schumann
Shostakovich
Stravinsky
Tchaikovsky
Wagner

Honorable mentions (we need a Top 30 list  ):  Bach, Berlioz, Dvorak, Mahler, Prokofiev, R. Strauss

[karlhenning]

My ten favorites . . . as listed today:

Stravinsky
Shostakovich
Schoenberg
Prokofiev
Ravel
Berlioz
Tchaikovsky
Sibelius
Chopin
Rakhmaninov

I had to edit that . . . it was a wrench to drop Nielsen, but then, I couldn't bear the thought that I had omitted Chopin again . . . .

[Brahmsian]

Looking at the lists so far, and haven't yet quite found my 'musical soul-mate'.     Two or three GMGers had six of the same as my list in their Top 10s.  I'll check at a later date to see if someone has 7 or more. 

Alas, Karl, we only share 3. 

[Sergeant Rock]

Looking at the lists so far, and haven't yet quite found my 'musical soul-mate'.     Two or three GMGers had six of the same as my list in their Top 10s.  I'll check at a later date to see if someone has 7 or more. 

Well, two of your honorable mentions are on my list, and one of my two regrets (Schubert and Schoenberg) is on yours, so we're damn close to seven, Nut 

Sarge

[Cato]

For those who might be wondering:

Beethoven

Brahms

Bruckner

Dvorak

Ives

Mahler

Prokofiev

Rakhmaninov

Schoenberg

Wagner

Alexander Scriabin   (WHY is his name missing?!          )    is my #9.1 and  Karl Amadeus Hartmann is my #9.2, before going on to Wagner. 

Under-rated as always: Gesualdo       Chopin and Schumann.

[Brahmsian]

Well, two of your honorable mentions are on my list, and one of my two regrets (Schubert and Schoenberg) is on yours, so we're damn close to seven, Nut 

Sarge

Yes Sarge, I was actually a bit surprised that Schubert didn't make your list.

[DavidRoss]

Hmmm ... Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Sibelius, Mahler, Debussy ... getting tough ... Prokoviev, Brahms ... getting tougher ... Stravinsky ... er, really tough ... uh ... er ... alright, today it's Tchaikovsky!

[Leon]

I read the poll ( and voted) according to those composers I consider the greatest, not my favorites. 

Bach
Beethoven
Brahms
Mozart
Haydn
Stravinsky
Schoenberg
Bartok
Verdi
Wagner

If I were voting for my favorites a different group would emerge - with only a few that are on both lists:

Gershwin
Faure
Poulenc
Haydn
Stravinsky
Copland
Berg
Puccini
Mozart
Rossini

[The Diner]

GMG has good taste. 

[Brahmsian]

So far, after 40 voters:

1 - Beethoven - 33
2 - Brahms - 30
3 - Bach, Mozart - 26
5 - Mahler - 20
6 - Schubert - 18
7 - Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Sibelius - 15
10 - Tchaikovsky, Bruckner, Wagner - 14

[nigeld]

So far, after 40 voters:

1 - Beethoven - 33
2 - Brahms - 30
3 - Bach, Mozart - 26
5 - Mahler - 20
6 - Schubert - 18
7 - Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Sibelius - 15
10 - Tchaikovsky, Bruckner, Wagner - 14

very Germano-centric.

Where on earth are the Italians?

Verdi / Vivaldi / Puccini / Rossini anyone?

[Sergeant Rock]

Yes Sarge, I was actually a bit surprised that Schubert didn't make your list.

I made up for it by cheating on Lethe's poll 

Sarge

[Lethevich]

very Germano-centric.

Where on earth are the Italians?

Verdi / Vivaldi / Puccini / Rossini anyone?

I agree on Verdi, but I find Italian baroque composers on the whole to have written quite lazy and simplistic music*, which I guess is why it so easily became the lingua franca of baroque Europe. Take heart that Vivaldi will always be ranked much higher than my beloved Rameau, a writer of far more interesting and complex music

*This is devil's advocate when phrased this way, of course, but I feel it largely to be true.

[Sergeant Rock]

very Germano-centric.

Where on earth are the Italians?

Verdi / Vivaldi / Puccini / Rossini anyone?

Of course many of us love the Italians. The first three you mention occupy a sizable place in my collection (and Verdi I picked as one of the 10 greatest composers in another thread). But yeah, they don't make my favorite top 10. Sorry. I just love the Krauts and Limeys more 

Sarge