5 Worst Composers Ever!!

[Cato]

You'd be wrong. The true forerunner of Hitler, extermination of the Jews included, is none other than Martin Luther. Check if in doubt.

Thomas Mann makes that connection in his novel Doctor Faustus.

A candidate worthy of the topic:


Richard Proulx, who apparently received a music degree from Larry's School of Fine Composition, is the name at the top of a card with "music" for the Mass which Catholics in my diocese are supposed to try to sing. 

It seems he died a few years ago, and was a choral conductor and "prolific composer" of church music.

"Prolific" might explain the ptomaine turkey he cranked out which I mentioned earlier.

[Karl Henning]

... the ptomaine turkey....

Delightfully incisive!

[Florestan]

Thomas Mann makes that connection in his novel Doctor Faustus.

And Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn amply documents it in Liberty or Equality with abundant and relevant quotes from Luther.

[jlaurson]

And Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn amply documents it in Liberty or Equality with abundant and relevant quotes from Luther.

I'd place the burden of Hitler-just-being-Hitler on no man's shoulders, not even in small part... except for all his contemporaries who colluded, voted, executed (literally and metaphorically).

But certainly Luther, in his late years -- undoubtedly annoyed that now that he had fixed everything that was wrong with Christianity, the remaining holdouts (=Jews) STILL wouldn't convert -- wrote anti judaic tracts that put Wagner's narcissistic anti-Mayerbeerian ramblings into perspective.

So if this is the picture you've got (Photoshop be thanks), it's the wrong one:

[The new erato]

Good post Jens!

[Karl Henning]

Good post Jens!

+ 1

[Karl Henning]

Yes, but I don't need a Hitler connection to dislike Wagner's music.

Just sayin' ...

Nor to think him, morally speaking, an entire boil on the backside of humanity.

[snyprrr]

Never a word about the anti-goy Composers.

[Mirror Image]

In my view, what Wagner did in his personal life and what he believed should never deter or alter someone's judgement of his music. I think there's definitely a problem with someone who doesn't listen to a composer's based solely on what they thought or how they lived. I don't listen to Wagner everyday, but what he did or didn't do makes no difference to me. I'll always listen to the music.

[Karl Henning]

Never a word about the anti-goy Composers.

You are a funny one.

[71 dB]

I listen to Wagner's music very seldom. Pappano's Tristan und Isolde and Steinberg's Der Fliegende Holländer are the only Wagner operas I have.

I respect Wagner's music for it's bold chromatism. I know Wagner is the most influential composer in history. To me Wagner was a visionary opera composer. I'm just not so much into opera. Parsifal on Blu-ray would be cool...

[Florestan]

I know Wagner is the most influential composer in history.

Oh yes, Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven are heavily indebted to him... 

[Lake Swan]

I know Wagner is the most influential composer in history.

[Lake Swan]

Okay, worst:

Schoenberg
Berg
Webern
Ives
Stockhausen

Or something like that. 

[Karl Henning]

The propagandists have won, it would seem.

[jlaurson]

Okay, worst:

Schoenberg
Berg
Webern
Ives
Stockhausen

Or something like that. 

That *is* a joke, meant to rile us. Right? If you really are the former MN Dave whom I vaguely remember as someone who spread reason and common sense in this forum.

Doesn't the headline "Worst" imply at least the pretense of making it objective, rather than just hanging one's own self-satisfied lack of understanding out to dry, for all to see?

There have GOT to be horrible composers (apart from the above mentioned Jenkins, Rutter, Webber et al., which are serious contenders certainly in my book) where the justification isn't just a petulant: "Because I don't get it, that's why they're terrrrrible." Four of the above five are composers that should be acknowledged as "great", even by those who don't like their music.

[Lake Swan]

That *is* a joke, meant to rile us. Right?

Did it work?

Silly thread, silly answer. But no, I don't listen to any of those guys. And if that's due to my lack of understanding, oh well. I'm just a happy idiot. 

[jlaurson]

Did it work?

Silly thread, silly answer. But no, I don't listen to any of those guys. And if that's due to my lack of understanding, oh well. I'm just a happy idiot. 

Do you like Mahler?

[Lake Swan]

Do you like Mahler?

I don't hate him but I don't find myself listening to him much. Brahms is where I get off on the classical music timeline,  though I do enjoy composers like Ravel, Prokofiev, Sibelius and Shostakovich.

[Sergeant Rock]

I don't hate him but I don't find myself listening to him much. Brahms is where I get off on the classical music timeline...

You'd get on well with my mother-in-law 

Sarge