The best-known composers of classical music differed in style, skill, innovation. So making a list of the top classical composers often incites a heated debate among classical music scholars and fans, as to who should be included (although most agree to Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart occupying the top spots).
Best Classical Composers
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
German born Johann Sebastian Bach was a composer and organist of the Baroque period. While his music was not much appreciated by his peers, his music was rediscovered in the early 19th century which led to the so-called Bach revival, and suddenly he was considered to be one of the greatest composers of all time. His most-celebrated compositions include Brandenburg Concertos, The Well-Tempered Clavier, BWV 846–893, Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, BWV 1007–1012, Orchestral Suites, BWV 1066–1069, and Mass in B Minor, BWV 232. While Bach was aware of the new trends in music, he chose to dig deeper into his way of doing things.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
German composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven is widely regarded by many as the greatest composer who walked on this planet. He expanded the Classical traditions of Joseph Haydn, one of his teachers, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and experimented with personal expression. Be it sonata, symphony, concerto, or quartet, Beethoven’s works were audacious and indestructible. Beethoven’s notable works include Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125, Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67, Moonlight Sonata, and Für Elise.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–91)
Rumor has it that Mozart had the ability to play music when he was just three and to write music at age five. Mozart began his career as a child prodigy and went on to become one of the greatest composers of Western music. The Austrian composer of the Classical period is the only composer who wrote and excelled in various musical genres of his time. He had a whole second career as a path-breaking opera composer. Notable compositions include The Marriage of Figaro, Elvira Madigan, and Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K 581.
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Franz Schubert was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. He died at a young age of 31; he was ill, impoverished and neglected, except by his friends who were in awe of his genius. He composed hundreds of songs alone — including the haunting cycle “Winterreise”. Schubert’s first few symphonies were work in progress, but the “Unfinished” and especially the Ninth Symphony are astonishing.
Johannes Brahms (1833–97)
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist of the Romantic period. He wrote in many genres, including symphonies, concerti, chamber music, piano works, and choral compositions. Some of his best-known works include Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Wiegenlied, Op. 49, No. 4, and Hungarian Dances. When at his best (the symphonies, the piano concertos, the violin concerto, the chamber works with piano, the solo piano pieces), Brahms has the thrilling grandeur and strangeness of Beethoven.
Richard Wagner (1813–83)
German composer Richard Wagner extended the opera tradition and revolutionized Western music. Among his major works are the operas The Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Tristan and Isolde, Parsifal, and the tetralogy The Ring of the Nibelung, which includes The Valkyrie. A production of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle has become the entry card for any opera company that wants to be considered big time. The last 20 minutes of “Die Walküre” may be the most sadly beautiful music ever written.
Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
Many consider French composer Claude Debussy to be the father of modern classical music. Debussy proved that there could be tension in timelessness; he developed new and complex harmonies and musical structure. His major works include Clair de lune, La Mer, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, and the opera Pelléas et Mélisande.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–93)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was one of the most popular Russian composers of all time, who wrote music with broad emotional appeal during the Romantic period. Some of his best-known works were composed for the ballet, including Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker, Op. 71, but they also include Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23 and Marche Slave, Op. 31.
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
During the years when “The Firebird” and “The Rite of Spring” were shaking up Paris, Stravinsky was swapping ideas with his friend Debussy, who was 20 years older. Yet Stravinsky was still around in the 1960s, writing serial works that set the field of contemporary music abuzz.
Frederic Chopin (1810–49)
Polish French composer and pianist Frédéric Chopin performed during the Romantic period. He was one of few composers who focussed solely on the keyboard instrument, and fully exploited all the resources of the piano, including innovations in fingering and pedaling. He wrote primarily for the piano, notably Nocturne, Op. 9 No. 2 in E-flat Major, Nocturne in C-sharp Minor, B. 49, and Heroic Polonaise.
Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
Austrian composer Joseph Haydn played an important role in the development of the Classical style of music during the 18th century. He helped establish the forms and styles for the string quartet and symphony. A prolific composer, Haydn’s well-known works include Symphony No. 92 in G Major, Emperor Quartet, and Cello Concerto No. 2 in D Major. His compositions are often characterized as light, witty, and elegant.
Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)
Italian composer and violinist Antonio Vivaldi performed and composed during the Baroque period. He wrote music for operas, solo instruments, and small ensembles, but he is often celebrated for his concerti, in which virtuoso solo passages alternate with passages for the whole orchestra. He wrote around five hundred concerti, of which his best-known work is the group of four violin concerti titled The Four Seasons. His Mandolin Concerto in C Major, RV 425, Concerto for Four Violins and Cello in B Minor, Op. 3, No.10 and Concerto for Two Trumpets in C Major are equally playful and complex.
Did Bach Really Compose Some of the Works He Is Credited For?
We all know that Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the more popular composers, and several piano students learn some of his piano songs as part of their repertoire.
However, researchers feel that some of the famous works that are attributed to Bach were actually not composed by the great composer himself but by his second wife.
Here are some more instances.
According to research conducted by Schulze and listed in the Peters Edition of the Notebook, the keyboard pieces were composed by J.S. Bach himself, Couperin, Hasse, Böhm, his sons J. C. Bach and C.P.E. Bach, and Petzold, while some nine pieces are anonymous.
The familiar “Minuet in G” (BWV Anh. II. 114) and its partner piece, “Minuet in G minor” (BWV Anh. II. 115) were traditionally believed to have been composed by J. S. Bach. However, recent research, particularly on the part of Hans-Joachim Schulze, points to the German composer and organist Christian Petzold (1677-1733).
Recent speculation suggests that Anna Magdalena Bach (1701-1760) may have been the composer of several pieces attributed to her husband. Johann Sebastian wrote a number of compositions dedicated to her, most notably the two Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach. She regularly helped him transcribe his music.
Though there is no sure way to really prove this right or wrong, there is no doubt whatsoever that Bach clearly had a strong influence on most contemporary musicians; there are many students who are big fan of Bach.
The findings however have been described as “highly important” by Bach scholars and will be published in a doctorate, later this year. Bach scholar Professor Martin Jarvis suggests – on the basis of having used police forensic science techniques – that famous works attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach were not penned by the great composer himself, but by his second wife.
You can read more in this article in The Telegraph (on April 22, 2006).
You can also follow more discussions on various J.S. Bach-related subjects at the Bach-Cantatas website: www.bach-cantatas.com
Mozart and other great composers were not alcoholic, says British surgeon
A medical research conducted by a British surgeon has let him to conclude that Mozart was not an alcoholic, as suggested by many. In fact, he claims that all those tales of alcoholism, venereal disease and sexual impropriety (surrounding great composers) were simply gossip.
Johann Georg Edlinger’s final portrait of Mozart, made in 1790 (a year before his death), shows the composer as puffy and bloated, which led many to believe that his face was seemingly ravaged by the effects of alcoholism.
However, research into the matter by Jonathan Noble, a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and former Manchester United club surgeon, suggests that the Austrian symphonist did not have a serious drinking problem at all.
After going through several post mortem reports and medical notes, he found that many (of the great composers) did not suffer from the conditions attributed to them and that tales of alcoholism, venereal disease and sexual impropriety were simply gossip.
In the introduction to the book, the author states: “Many composers’ reputations have been sullied. An objective attempt is made herein to do justice to their reputations.”
Dr Noble said he found no evidence (the reports didn’t have any diagnosis of any health issues) to suggest that Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Mozart, Brahms, or Beethoven were alcoholics, as suggested by many biographers.
Here are some of his observations.
- Alcoholism cannot go hand in hand with serious, sustained musical composition. “If you’re a true alcoholic, there’s no way you can go around composing operas, symphonies or string quartets. Maybe alcoholism inspires great poetry, but with music you come to a very different conclusion.
- Sibelius, who is often portrayed as chronic alcoholic lived up to the age of 90 and maintained a good relationship with his family. The surgeon argues, “Chronic alcoholics seldom live to see their ninetieth birthdays, neither typically do they pursue a quiet, and seemingly well-ordered life with their wife of many years”.
- He also doesn’t believe that French composer Maurice Ravel, and English composer Benjamin Britten suffered from syphilis (a sexually transmitted disease). When he went through Benjamin Britten’s medical notes, he discovered he had a diseased heart valve, not syphilis. Britten’s doctor also told Dr Noble that his patient had acquired the reputation as an alcoholic from one cardiologist ‘largely on the basis of being an artistic type who liked a stiff drink before dinner’.
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