Bach FAQ 128

The "Classical Music Top 10, Top 25, Top 40, Top 100" ... Are These Lists Good for Children and Beginners?.. 

“Classical Music: The Best Classical Works of All Time,” “Classic – Top 30 – The Best of Classic,” “Top 100 of Classic,” “100 Masterpieces of Classical Music,” and for now, one final headline should suffice: “The Top 40 Compositions in Classical Music.”..

No, no, no ... is the answer to the question at the very top, regarding my Bach FAQ 128. That is, whether such lists – in general and specifically on Google – are effective and useful for children looking for Classical Music works or for beginners in Classical Music. No ... and once again, emphatically: No! None of them are right for children. And none of them are suitable for Classical Music beginners. But: Why is my “verdict” so “terribly harsh”? So dramatic? And so uncompromising?..

It’s not really about ranking the “most famous” or “greatest” Classical Hits in a Top 100, Top 50, Top 40, Top 25, or Top 10 list. In practice, it’s usually about using the list to achieve a practical goal. In your case, that’s probably finding well-liked Classical Music..

This is because not a single true fan of Classical Music would search for a “Top 50,” a “Classic Top 10,” or a “Classical Music Top 25 List.” After all, he or she already knows which works are likely the most famous and popular in the Classical Repertoire. Setting aside the personal musical tastes of the authors of these top lists for a moment. Passionate musicians, professional musicians, music teachers with a love for Classical Music, and simply … Classical Music enthusiasts are far “beyond the need” for a Top 100 list of Classical Works or a “50 Best Classical Pieces” list..

As a ballpark figure, Classical Music fans already know the most well-known, famous, and greatest Classical Works anyway … and as for the differences between the various lists, it’s simply the individual author’s taste that determines the order. So, whether a piece is included … or not. We therefore conclude together: For people who have been involved with Classical Music for a long time – that is, who love classical music or perform it (... or both) – such Top 100 lists, Top 50 lists, and especially the relatively nonsensical Top 25 lists and Top 10 lists are not meant for them. But then who are they good for?..

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But why am I “ranting and raving” so fiercely against these “Classical Top 100” and “Top 50” lists ... and even more fiercely against the “Classical Music Top 25” or the list of the “best” ten Classical Masterpieces? When I offer a “Classic Top 100” myself?..

Who is Composer Number 4? It is none other than the composer who wrote the first Popular Classical Music piece of all time..

Because all lists – except mine, of course – and I don’t mean this as a qualification or to boast ... lead to a “trap”: Classical Music beginners and children click on them, hoping that this link and the resulting page will provide a list of the most beautiful Classical Works. To be perfectly clear: “Somehow” one assumes that the most beautiful pieces are there. And not the “most famous” ones. Because one assumes that the most famous and well-known pieces are also the most beautiful Classical Works..

But that’s not the case. That’s because the “list compilers” include more pieces in the “Top 100” based on entirely different criteria. And those criteria lead to entirely different results. The sheer lengths of many famous works alone make them unsuitable for a test listen if you’re just starting out on your “journey into Classical Music.”..

Then there is also each author’s desire to distribute the best works, whether it’s the Top 10, Top 25, Top 50, or Top 100, as “evenly” as possible: It simply can’t be that Tchaikovsky “contributes” six fantastic pieces to a list, while the great composer associated with Bonn, Germany and Vienna, Austria, Beethoven, contributes only two. Or that the Viennese composer who was born and died there, Schubert, isn’t represented at all..

Complicated? Complicated! And the worst part of it all? You choose a search result from Google – usually the first through third results – and click. You land on the relevant website or the relevant page of a portal. And there they are: the Classical Masterpieces. You click on them … and, with some pieces, you have to wait for the actual piece to “really get going.” You hear violins, piano, organ, singing, or sometimes “nothing at all” at the start. And then “the Classical Music begins” ... many, many minutes, half an hour, an hour, and even longer. The Ring of the Nibelung is one of the greatest, most famous, and most brilliant Classical Works … but it’s a total disaster as an experience for a Classical Music beginner who’s just “giving it a listen”! And it’s “poison for kids”!..

These are the composers that come to mind when people talk about Classical Music. But the ones listed above are exclusively the best of the best when it comes to conservative Classical Music. There is, however, much more to Classical Music than that.

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And because I’d spent my whole life wondering why I’d always “wanted to like Classical Music but never did,” and because I’d always “wanted to write something” titled “Oh … that’s by him!”, that was the solution to the mystery. A eureka moment. Eureka is Latin and means “I’ve found it!”..

I hadn’t heard of the term or the name “Popular Classic” for a long time, and that’s why I didn’t realize that Popular Classic was exactly what I had been searching for for 50 years. And today, my mission is to share my “discovery” with the world, especially with kids, so that more people can find their way to wonderful Classical Music. With and on my journey there. And not just after turning 50.

You can find real treasures if you know where to look. The St. Thomas School, located to the right of the world-famous St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Thuringia, Germany – where Bach lived and worked for 27 years –unfortunately no longer exists today..

In doing so, I deliberately and gladly provoke many “serious Classical Music fans.” My "end justifies the means." I do many things differently. I also quite enjoy provoking people (… only on websites, not elsewhere in life). Anyone I can introduce to Popular Classical Music will eventually find their own way to the much broader – and often more serious – world of Classical Music. Just the way conservative Classical Music lovers like it.

By the way: No beginner in Classical Music will not become a Classical Music fan just because I offer him or her too much trivial stuff in the subject of Classical Music. For example, my entire provocative section on young, popular Classical Music. But I really don’t let any interested person – young or older – “get away”. Just because he or she “gives up” after what feels like an endless 30 minutes of the Mass in B minor or an hour of Wagner! Because he or she wasn’t “ready” yet for such a wide range of Classical Offerings.

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My top recommendation for getting to know the 100 “most Popular Classical Works,” the “greatest Classical Compositions” – in short, the “Classic Top 100” –which includes as many as 300 (!) Popular Classical pieces, is therefore my website What Is Classical Music? at the address “Classical Music Top 100.” And from there, with a second click, you can scroll down on this page ... to the collection.

To the 100 most important Bach FAQs.

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