Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Greatest composers

In your opinion, who are the 10 greatest composers in history? Order doesn't matter.

Bonus: your greatest 5 (if you can)

Yes it does.

1. Chopin

That's what I thought when I was a teenager.
Then I matured (as if were) and I was "mature" for many years.
But now I've come back to where I started: Chopin is #1.
Sorry.

2. Bach
3. Beethoven
4. Mozart (sorry for the Eurocentricism; I'm afraid I just don't know enough about any others)
5. Schubert
6. Brahms

After that, I'm at a loss, because I think the rest of the top 10 are composers that I either don't know well enough to rank (like, all the opera composers -- like Wagner, Verdi, maybe Rossini -- and many of those who composed mostly orchestral music, like Berlioz) or composers whose music I don't love enough to want to rank them (e.g. Debussy, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Schönberg), and really I suspect that I'm not doing some of those composers justice by not having them in the top 6.

If I'm just listing composers that I do know well enough and love enough, here's the next 4:

7. Schumann
8. Tchaikovsky
9. Scriabin
10. Haydn
"Honorable mention": Scarlatti, Liszt, Scott Joplin

BTW, this old thread may be of interest:
"The Top Composers, to be selected by NYT critic"

You can start and end this list with J.S. Bach, I know you asked for ten but if I could only have one this is who it would be.

You don't have to apologize for that. He's on the same plane as the holy three in my opinion. Just take it from Debussy. “Chopin is the greatest of all, for with the piano alone he discovered everything.” Is he wrong?

I also think Chopin has the highest ratio of inspired to uninspired works of any composer. Granted, his total output was much less than most, but he never wasted a note. There's almost never any fluff in his music anywhere after his adolescent period. His mature works, even the larger ones, are inspired all the way through. This is something most composers seem to be able to do here and there, but he did it basically every time.

Bach
Mozart
Beethoven
Schubert
Chopin
Schumann
Brahms
Wagner
Debussy
Stravinsky

And if I could add four more....
Haydn
Mendelssohn
Verdi
Tchaikovsky

In my personal chart, the "Pakparade", the following "classical" composers made it to the Hall Of Fame.

Category A:
L.v.Beethoven
G.Rossini
J.Haydn

Category B:
W.A.Mozart
C.Orff
F.Schubert

(A is higher than B. An artist who enters the Hall Of Fame enters in category B and can later progress to A)

Not in the Hall of Fame, but still with victories in the Patparade:
D.Shostakovich
G.Eisenhardt
C.M.v.Weber

Of course, what a "classical" composer is, is a matter of opinion. What about A.L.Webber (category A) or P.D.Q.Bach (category B)?

J.S.Bach
F.F.Chopin
L.van Beethoven
R.Wagner
J.Brahms
W.A.Mozart
M.Ravel
G.Puccini
R.Strauss
A.Bruckner

J.S. Bach
Mozart
Beethoven
Schubert
Chopin
Schumann
Tchaikovsky
Debussy
Prokofiev
Shostakovich

My list in order:

Beethoven
Bach
Mozart
Schumann
Wagner
Ravel
Handel
Chopin
Monteverdi
Schubert

My list in no particular order:

Bach
Beethoven
Mozart
Liszt
Chopin
Verdi
Puccini
Donizetti
Tchaikovsky
Wagner

Tricky, because there are plenty, but here goes - in no particular order:
Beethoven
Mozart
Chopin
Mendelsson
Dvorak
Sibelius
Tchaikovsky
Bach (J.S)
Rachmaninoff
Puccini

Palestrina
Monteverdi
Bach
Mozart and Beethoven can fight it out for 4 and 5
Haydn

Idk from there. Handel?

Any list that doesn't include Palestrina and Monteverdi... Well, I just heard an unbelievable performance of the Pope Marcellus Mass in an incredibly beautiful church, and I was truly beside myself. And without Monteverdi there is no Bach.

I agree with you here. I'd say Ravel also matches this description; I can't think of a single moment in any work of Ravel that isn't outstanding. His "fluffiest" works are Tzigane and Rapsodie Espagnole, but those are still masterpieces. Of course, Ravel's output was even smaller than Chopin's (I think? I could be wrong)

I base "greatness" on the extent of their influence upon subsequent generations. So here are my Top Ten, pretty much based on chronology:

Palestrina
Monteverdi
Bach
Handel
Mozart
Beethoven
Chopin
Brahms
Debussy
Stravinsky

I do feel the need to add "honorable mentions" in addition,though:

Haydn
Schubert
Schumann
Ravel
Prokofiev

Chopin
Beethoven
Rachmaninov
Schubert
Prokofiev
Stravinsky

That's six! I'm tearing my hair bringing them into an order that I'm really 100% behind (apart from the top 2, that's unlikely to change ever), let alone all the rest of them!

It's like that other impossible question, "what are your favourite authors" - arrrrgh

Thank you! At last.

For me :

Bach
Beethoven
Schubert
Chopin
Liszt
Debussy
Prokofiev
Rachmaninoff

I'm finding it hard pressed to make it up to ten. I have developed an interest in Sorabji recently although I'm not sure he's one of "The best" so to speak, but interesting nevertheless.

I'm not a particular Mozart fan, unfortunately.

Could probably think of a couple more if I tried hard.Nothing coming up for now, though. Scriabin? Handel? Haydn? Not a massive fan of Handel or Haydn, probably prefer Handel. Scriabin's cool if you're in the mood.

Actually, could one whack Scarlatti in there? I was very impressed by the Jean Rondeau CD, I think it was CyberGene who first pointed that out on this forum, and yes I do now like Rondeau's rubato. Apologies if it wasn't CyberGene, but can't be arsed to look it up.

Doesn't most of this result in just a popularity contest? Whom do I like better or best?

Regards,

Some (most) things in life are not a competition.

It's a hybrid of that and that, isn't it?

I answered in terms of a hybrid, not exactly intentionally but unavoidably.
If I were answering just in terms of what I like better or best, my list would have been different.
Maybe some people are doing the list almost entirely according to their own likes. It seems to me that most aren't.
I don't think it's possible, though, to be totally objective about it.

Actually it's a good question: Is it even theoretically possible to attempt a list of "greatest" without including a factor of personal liking?
I think not, because even if one did it just by some objective criteria, the choosing of the criteria would necessarily reflect subjective preferences.