How many composers in your collection?

[drogulus]

     I don't want a poll. It should include composers represented by a single work, all media inclusive. If you only know approximately, give your best estimate. I know something like this has been done before, though I don't recall seeing it. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how various peoples collections are by composer, as opposed to how many performances of the same work they have.
   
     BTW, if this is inappropriate to General Classical Music, I ask the moderator to please move it to where it belongs. Thanks.

[Don]

I'm sure I have hundreds of composers, but I don't keep a data base so the number is unknown.  It's a great collection notable for its breadth and depth.  Then again, plenty of folks would probably think it sucks.

[drogulus]

I'm sure I have hundreds of composers, but I don't keep a data base so the number is unknown.  It's a great collection notable for its breadth and depth.  Then again, plenty of folks would probably think it sucks.

     A collection of that size is unlikely to suck by any reasonable standard. 

     I would like to get some hard numbers, though. In that part of my collection that's been ripped (80%) I have 94 composers. I expect there won't be many more added when I finish the project.

     

[Mark]

At the last rough count, 169. And rising.

[some guy]

Low estimate is 1500.

Probably more. I have many collections: several Czech CDs with four to six different composers, many of the Musik in Deutschland, Donaueschinger and Cultures Electroniques CDs, each with several composers per disc.

Does one count Crawling with Tarts as one composer or two? And what about AMM and MEV and the like?

[DavidRoss]

244 on CDs--they're cataloged.  I'm not about to go through all the LPs to extract all the obscure composers for winds and guitar on compilations.

Not counting jazz or any other form, including the quasi-classical crossovers recorded by the likes of Kronos Quartet, Yo Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and so on (I do love Kronos's rendition of Purple Haze, nonetheless!).

[SonicMan46]

Low estimate is 1500......

Some Guy - that's a remarkable number of 'classical' composers to own - just curious, how many CDs do you have? 

For myself, I just quickly went through the pages of my classical database - just over 400 composers listed; but I do collect a lot of the 'unknowns', so may have just 1 or 2 discs of quite a few of these forgotten composers - 

[some guy]

SonicMan, I have around three thousand CDs. Small but respectable collection. (A friend of mine has upwards of 15,000 CDs and many more LPs, that's how I gauge small.)

Aside from the collection CDs, each with four to eight different composers, I burned many of my LPs to CD before giving them away. (To friends with tiny collections.) And those CDs have many of them several composers on each.

There's lots of overlap, of course. Two CDs of music by Klaus Huber and other Huber pieces here and there. But with things like the Sub Rosa A-chronology collections, with sometimes a dozen different composers on each CD.... Well, you see how easy it is to have 1500 composers, even with the dozens of CDs devoted to individuals like Berlioz and Dvorak and Prokofiev and Cage and such.

Oh, it's fun!!

[hornteacher]

My focus is rather more narrow.  I have works by about 35 composers but I have pretty much everything written by those 35.

[some guy]

Well, don't get me wrong, I do have everything (or close) by about 45 people and many CDs (six or more) by about twenty others.

It's just that all those CDs with anywhere from four to fourteen people per disc really pump the numbers up. Now, if only I could remember all those people. You know, like Jan Slimáček or Dajuin Yao.

[Szykneij]

5 < X < 2,001

Seriously, I actually took the time to count all of the classical composers I have listed on my ipod and came up with 480 (481 if I count both Rachmaninov and Rachmaninoff)  .

Since most of my compilations and 20th century composer recordings aren't on my ipod, I think I could easily double that number for my total.

[ChamberNut]

Hornteacher, I'm in the same boat.  I have about 40 different composers represented, so far.

[karlhenning]

Seriously, I actually took the time to count all of the classical composers I have listed on my ipod and came up with 480 (481 if I count both Rachmaninov and Rachmaninoff)  .

Don't forget Rakhmaninov! 482.

Did we sneak some Henning in among those 482?

[Sergeant Rock]

454 on CD. I've never catalogued my classical LP collection (somewhere around 3000 LPs) but I'd estimate there are another 150-200 composers there (much early music and contemporary that I haven't duplicated on CD).

Sarge

[greg]

Ok, let me count....... expect a reply from me by Monday.

[Sergeant Rock]

Don't forget Rakhmaninov! 482.

Did we sneak some Henning in among those 482?

Damn, I forgot my Henning CD (it's not catalogued). Make my count 455 then  

Sarge

[greg]

Ok, let me count....... expect a reply from me by Monday.

I got to 5 and lost track. I give up.

[Don]

I got to 5 and lost track. I give up.

I laughed at that one - very good.

Having a more concentrated focus than most, I'm confident that my number of composers is quite low for the number of discs I own.  Also, I'm not much of a fan of compilations.  For example, I'd never purchase a disc such as the "Fiesta" one from Dudamel.

[greg]

I laughed at that one - very good.

True story, too. Most of my CDs are copied, so I got to Brahms, Bartok, and Berg and they were sort of mixed together- i was thinking, "wait, did i already count Brahms? did I skip counting Berg, and now do i have to count him?"

For example, I'd never purchase a disc such as the "Fiesta" one from Dudamel.

You mean this?

[Don]

True story, too. Most of my CDs are copied, so I got to Brahms, Bartok, and Berg and they were sort of mixed together- i was thinking, "wait, did i already count Brahms? did I skip counting Berg, and now do i have to count him?"
You mean this?

That's the one.  As it happens, a friend of mine in Moline sent me a copy of "Fiesta" that I quickly handed off to my daughter.