Between what two years were most of your favorite pieces composed?

[kyjo]

Hopefully this can be a fun, non-stressful thread! The title of the thread says it all. For me, it would be 1880 and 1950. I like quite a few pieces written outside of this time period, but it's harder to come by pieces not written between these two dates that I actually love. Please try to keep your dates as specific as possible and preferably within 100 years of each other!

[North Star]

Another extremely silly topic
I would be happy with just about any 100 years that includes a part of the 19th century. 1837-1936 perhaps.

[kyjo]

Another extremely silly topic

Silly, but fun! A very "Kyjo-esque" poll, if you will!

[kishnevi]

Between 1450 and 2000.

Sorry, but the music I like has such a wide chronological spread, that I can't be more specific.

[jochanaan]

1-2013.

[amw]

1-2013.

What do you have against Ancient Greek and Sumerian hymns? Those are great!

[mahler10th]

Most specifically, from aboot 1790 to 1948.  158 years of glorious music!   0:)

[Brahmsian]

I'm going to make this easy by taking the question literally:  Between which two years?  Very easy choice:  1827-1828

The final year of Beethoven and Schubert's life.  A massive lightning bolt in the history of classical music.

[Brahmsian]

My least favorite period has always been the classical era ca. 1730-1820. Love Baroque & of course the 20th century.

James, ok I'm reading least favourite period.  Thus, assuming there are some works you do enjoy in the classical era.  Any particular works or composers from the classical era that have had a favourable impact on you?

[ibanezmonster]

For me, it would be 1880 and 1950.

Same here, mostly, other than Brahms, Penderecki, Xenakis...

[Brian]

ChamberNut-style two-year-only answer: 1885-1886
1885:
Johannes Brahms - Symphony No. 4 op. 98 in E minor
Antonín Dvořák - Symphony No. 7 op. 70 in D minor
Johann Strauss II - Der Zigeunerbaron
1886:
March 21, 1886 - Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 is performed for the first time publicly in Vienna, conducted by Hans Richter.
Gabriel Fauré - Piano Quartet No. 2 op. 45 in G minor
Alexander Glazunov - Five Novelettes for String Quartet, Op. 15
Camille Saint-Saëns - The Carnival of the Animals, Symphony No. 3 (Organ)
Original literalist answer: 1720-2013

[Sergeant Rock]

1772 (Haydn's op.20 "Sun" Quartets published) to 1975 (the death of Shostakovich).

Sarge

[jochanaan]

What do you have against Ancient Greek and Sumerian hymns? Those are great!

Point taken; gotta love the Psalms and that Skolion of Seikelos!  Revised dates: beginning of history to this moment and beyond.

[Bogey]

1782-1791

Papa, Wolfie and Ludwig not only gracing our planet at the same time, but also all composing.

[Mirror Image]

The Year 1935

This particular year saw the creation of Berg's Violin Concerto, which is still one of my fondest musical experiences and a work that still haunts and inspires me.



When Berg received a commission for a concerto from the violinist Louis Krasner in January 1935, he was busy working on Lulu and set the commission aside. On April 22 of that year, the beloved daughter of his friend Alma Mahler, Manon Gropius, died at the age of 18, and Berg ceased work on the opera to compose his Violin Concerto as a memorial. Working at an unusually fast pace, Berg completed the score by August 11, though did not live to hear its premiere in April 1936. Some commentators have lamented the fact that work on the Violin Concerto prevented Berg from completing Lulu, which many view as his most important work. Yet the Violin Concerto has become Berg's single most popular and regularly programmed work. Beyond the firmly tonal works of his youth, the Violin Concerto is also Berg's most accessible score in its compelling combination of both tonal and atonal idioms.

As with many of Berg's pieces, the concerto follows a program governed by a strict formal design. The four movements are may be grouped into two parts of two movements each, with only a short break between movements two and three. The first two movements are structured like a Classical sonata-allegro and dance movement, respectively, and together form a musical portrait of the girl. The second part reverses the typical pattern of the Classical symphony, placing an Allegro, in this case an intense and elaborate cadenza-like movement first, followed by an Adagio, a set of variations after the Bach chorale It Is Enough. These movements represent the catastrophe of death and, ultimately, the sublimity of transfiguration.

Berg's use of tonality in the Violin Concerto is unique. The tone row upon which the work is constructed begins on a string of thirds that alternately outline minor and major triads, lending a distictive tonal element to passages that are apparently otherwise atonal. The work's tonal aspect is futher embodied in Berg's incorporation of a Carinthian folk song in the second movement and the aforementioned use of Bach's chorale, with Bach's own harmonization, in the third. (The last four notes of Berg's row, in fact, "coincide" -- certainly by design -- with the first four of Bach's chorale. Throughout, Berg's juxtaposition of tonal and atonal elements, as well as the alternation of richly lyrical, even Romantic passages with more formalized, deterministic sections, create a musical analogy for the more general theme of lost youth.

[Article taken from All Music Guide]

[North Star]

The Year 1935

This particular year saw the creation of Berg's Violin Concerto, which is still one of my fondest musical experiences and a work that still haunts and inspires me.

Notice how my chosen period ends the following year - some would think it's just coincidence.

[Christo]

The First Punic War and the present Civil War in Syria.

[springrite]

There is an obvious need to narrow the time between the two years to, say, a couple of decades or, at most, half a century, or this poll would be pointless, other to rule out Early Music or VERY modern stuff.

[mc ukrneal]

The 26 years between February 29, 1792 (birth of Rossini) and February 29, 1904 (birth of Jimmy Dorsey). Unlike most of you, I don't need so many years!!

[Madiel]

The 26 years between February 29, 1792 (birth of Rossini) and February 29, 1904 (birth of Jimmy Dorsey). Unlike most of you, I don't need so many years!!

Well, you appear to need a lot more than 26...