# Poll - Favourite Classical Composers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [August 29, 2024, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426 "2024-08-29T17:32:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426/21 "2024-08-30T04:39:31Z")
Mine is Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, who isn’t on the list. I love the Russian Easter Overture. Second is probably Beethoven (my other favorite classical piece is the Moonlight Sonata). ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426/22 "2024-08-30T04:52:29Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > I was surprised to see Strauss missing from the poll, particularly given how well known his music is even to those who don’t consider themselves aficionados of classical music. If the OP is really not familiar with him, I’d recommend any of the various collections of his waltzes and polkas I was assuming you were referring to Richard until I got to “walzes and polkas”. ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426/23 "2024-08-30T09:30:28Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I’ve been trying to learn [this Kapustin piece (Op 40 No 6)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFiJjYb82Gk) lately. Jinju Jeong is the only pianist on YouTube who plays it at a brisk-enough pace. I like it, thanks. > [@JKellyMap](#): > > Nice to see you included Borodin. I almost didn’t, but then I remembered his [second string quartet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9zR8Q1vTqU) and _had_ to include him, especially since I had already kicked out Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. > [@JKellyMap](#): > > I love his C minor Piano Quintet (I love Brahms’ F minor Piano Quintet, too. And Dvorak’s A Major one. And Robert Schumann’s E-flat Major one) Add **Fauré** ’s and **Franck** ’s and we have the same list. For some reason, I find more masterpieces among piano quintets than among piano trios or quartets, although there are fewer of them. > [@JKellyMap](#): > > Thank you for including Clara, at least, as an option. Women composers have been neglected for centuries. They’re slowly being rediscovered and their music gets played and recorded more often. That’s why I thought it was important to include three whose music I am familiar with : **Clara Schumann** , **Sofia Gubaïdulina** and **Unsuk Chin**. I also considered adding **Fanny Mendelssohn** , **Alma Mahler** , **Lili Boulanger** and **Kaija Saariaho** , but didn’t because I haven’t heard their work, or did so long ago that I don’t really remember it in the case of the last two. > [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > And [Manuel de Falla](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_de_Falla), but I guess that including him would be asking a bit much. I considered adding him, as well as **Holst** , **Britten** , **Ives** and **Ginastera** who have also been mentioned. But again, 50 spots is really too few to cover almost 1,000 years of music. The most glaring omissions are **Anton Bruckner** , **Gustav Mahler** and **Richard Strauss** but I don’t care much for their music and I wanted to have a few recent composers too, including some who are still active. On a personal note, I really regret not having [**Pascal**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IO1u5ajhls) [**Dusapin**](https://youtu.be/kH3jj5NnD74?t=33) in the poll. Hard choices… Perhaps I should do a more granular series of polls (Medieval-Renaissance, Early Baroque, Late Baroque) then an have ultimate showdown, like @Mean_Mr.Mustard did a few months ago for pop-rock songs. What do you think ? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426/24 "2024-08-30T10:42:19Z")
Bartók is the one for me. Learning to play all the way to the end of _Mikrokosmos_ was life-changing. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426/25 "2024-08-30T14:10:47Z")
I can’t disagree with the top three (Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart), but I’m surprised three of the next four (Handel, Tchaikovsky, and Vivaldi) aren’t ranked higher. Handel would be at the very top of my list. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426/26 "2024-08-30T14:22:42Z")
So which one didn’t you vote for ?! * * * I took favourite to mean a combination of :- - Which ones wrote most pieces i like. - Which ones wrote my favourite pieces. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426/27 "2024-08-30T14:25:02Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > I was assuming you were referring to Richard until I got to “walzes and polkas”. Is Richard’s music really as well known as Johann’s? Surely most people could hum the opening bars of “The Blue Danube”, or would at least recognize it if it were played for them. That piece seems to crop up everywhere, including even baby toys. I bet Richard’s best-known melody is probably the Sunrise from “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, but I doubt it’s permeated into the popular conscious to the same degree. I think it’s known primarily from its use in _2001: A Space Odyssey_ and the many parodies and homages it spawned. ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426/28 "2024-08-30T16:23:22Z")
I assumed the reference was to Richard, not Johann (elder or younger), but clearly it wasn’t. I guess I’d agree that Johann the Younger’s music is the best known to the general public; but Richard did compose a lot more than “Zarathustra”. Many of his other tone poems (“A Hero’s Life”, “Don Juan”, “Till Eulenspiegel” etc) are also commonly performed; and his operas “Salome” and “Der Rosenkavalier” are staples as well. On a different note, this thread and poll has made it clear to me how hard it must have been to limit the list to 50… I didn’t even notice Mahler’s absence! ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426/29 "2024-08-30T16:29:18Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > So which one didn’t you vote for ?! I didn’t know we were limited to 1, so I voted for 4-5. Right now we’re really enjoying playing Handel’s Water Music and the Brandenburg concertos. This fall our orchestra is playing Beethoven’s 7th - what a BEAST! ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426/30 "2024-08-30T16:40:57Z")
You can vote for up to 20 … it’s just that you said you picked 4, then listed 5 which you said were pretty tough to beat ! ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426/31 "2024-08-30T17:06:02Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > I took favourite to mean a combination of :- > > - Which ones wrote most pieces i like. > - Which ones wrote my favourite pieces. Ditto. So I would add Johann Strauß II under the first heading, and Johann Strauß i (the _Radetzky March_) and Mikhail Glinka (the overture to _Ruslan and Lyudmila_) under the second. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426/32 "2024-08-30T20:12:03Z")
I became interested in classical music when I saw 2001. It is rumored that someone told Richard Strauss that Ein Neldenleben was “The most beautiful thing I ever heard” and Strauss replied, “I know.” ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426/33 "2024-08-30T21:31:19Z")
Conspicuous by their absence: John Field Enrique Granados Isaac Albeniz. For me, it’s The Bee all the way. The slow movement of the Hamerklavier sonata is probably my favorite piece of music. (Not including Visions of Johanna). ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2024, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426/34 "2024-08-31T01:37:15Z")
No Gioachino Rossini? Harrumph, I say! Harrumph! So I chose Verdi. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2024, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426/35 "2024-09-08T08:06:01Z")
Wait, we were only supposed to choose one? I chose a top ten, but Stravinsky’s my favorite of those mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2024, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426/36 "2024-09-08T11:42:36Z")
Just the one…?! I’m open to so many (well, not so keen on Wagner, Liszt, Bruckner and Percy Granger). I respond particularly to what I feel as a common thread I can’t quite define (wistfulness?) from Schubert to Brahms to Sibelius, and just now it’s Sibelius 5th Symphony, but it might be something completely different next month. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2024, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426/37 "2024-09-08T13:58:47Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Just the one…?! It’s the kind of poll that allows multiple selections. > [@Moonrise](#): > > I forgot to mention that you get 20 votes… ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2024, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426/38 "2024-09-08T15:12:15Z")
Ah well… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-favourite-classical-composers/1006426.md?page=1)