Bach > Beethoven and Mozart.

[onehandle]

Fight!

Yeah, I'm going with J.S.

3 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Bach
	3 (100%)
	Beethoven
	0 (0%)
	Mozart
	0 (0%)
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[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I like them all! I could not choose one over the other...

So There!

[Flaxbee]

2. I'll always go for Bach, but I love Beethoven

Mozart, too, certainly. But B&B first and second for me.

[MuseRider]

3. Chose Beethoven

but would rather go with Brahms, R. Strauss and Mahler to name just 3 .

[Art_from_Ark]

4. It is said that Beethoven once exclaimed:

"Nicht Bach, sondern Ozean!" This was a pun on Bach's name, which can mean "brook" in German. So Beethoven was describing J.S. Bach and his works as "Not a brook, but an ocean!"

And Beethoven's name supposedly means "a garden of beets" in Flemish

[MiddleFingerMom]

5. Bach only has four letters in it... Beethoven and Mozart have 15. Duh!!!

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

6. For me, the most incredible piece of music ever written is this piece for solo violin by Bach

I'm referring to the Chaconne, written just after the death of his wife. Even if Bach had never composed anything else, this would be enough. As a lifelong amateur violinist, it's a piece I would be content to completely master, even if I could only play this one piece. It's a part of Bach's Partita No. 2 for solo violin. Here's what others have stated about it (from wikipedia):

"...Johannes Brahms, in a letter to Clara Schumann, said about the ciaccona:

On one stave, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings. If I imagined that I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth-shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind.[2]

Yehudi Menuhin calls the Chaconne "the greatest structure for solo violin that exists".[3]

Violinist Joshua Bell has said the Chaconne is "not just one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, but one of the greatest achievements of any man in history. It's a spiritually powerful piece, emotionally powerful, structurally perfect. ..."

Virtuoso Nathan Milstein at 83 years of age chose to end his career of public performance by playing this:

Here's another take on it by another virtuoso, Itzhak Perlman, playing the entire breathtaking Partita No.2. Keep is my this is only one of six Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin by Bach, all of incredible beauty and complexity.

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[Moondog]

7. All three are wonderful.

And I lack the technical skill to differentiate.

So I am left with this - I prefer the one that most suits the mood that I happen to be in at that particular moment.

[OriginalGeek]

8. Eine Kleine Nachtmusik!

[onehandle]

9. An immortal masterpiece. nt

[robertkdem1965_h89]

10. I love most classical music in general

Especially the 3 you mentioned. But in the end, Bach is the best IMO.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. Welcome to DU, robertkdem1965_h89!

I hope you will always have a good time here!

[Victor_c3]

12. Bach, absolutely

Beethoven wrote some absolutely beautiful music, but whenever I play or listen to his stuff I always detect or feel a sense of pompousness from his music that I just can't shake. I'm sure it is all in my head, but it just leaves me with the feeling that Beethoven was just a major dick - and it can be felt in his music.

There is a tremendous amount of music that Mozart wrote that I adore and he is one of my favorites, but Bach has to be my absolute favorite (with Chopin a close second). I love his St. Matthews and St. Johns Passion, his organ works (even better, the ones that Franz Liszt transcribed to solo piano), and his Inventions were a staple of my childhood. I spent lots and lots and lots of my pre-teen years playing and mastering those pieces on the piano.

I hardly get to play the piano anymore, but the few times I do get to sit down and play, almost always the first piece that rattles off of my fingers is one of those Bach Inventions. I just love the way they feel and the sound brings back a rush of feelings and emotions from my childhood.

Mozart's piano sonatas are tremendously fun to play too. However, when it comes to solo piano, Chopin is hard to beat.