Advice on whom to study

Hello. First off let me start by saying the only composer I have any familiarity with is Bach. And that's good and all, he's a deep study but... I really need to expand my horizons. The only thing classical I've liked previous to Bach is "Dragon Quest" music.

Whether its baroque or romantic or modern isn't so important.

So who should I tackle? Franz Liszt? Vivaldi? One of Bach's sons? Chopin? Mozart? Beethoven?

What are these guys known for that I should study them? Or who else would you recommend?

In order of priority for each era:

Classical: Mozart. Beethoven. CPE Bach.

Romantic: Brahms. Mendelssohn. Chopin.

20th Century: Debussy. Ravel. Bartok. Stravinsky.

21st Century: The major works forum on this site.

:)

You may enjoy Bartok. His use of counterpoint might remind you of Bach, except with a very different tonal vocabulary.

21st Century: The major works forum on this site.

Which are rarely representative of the 21st century.

Don't discount art music not from the Western Art Tradition.

The Residents are a great art-rock band, the technological prowess of yujio dill or Aphex Twin, and the extended techniques of european free jazz are all worth studying, so that they can be applied within your personal style.

It depends on what you're working on. If you're working on a piece for strings....study string pieces by....everyone.

That's how it kinda works. I really enjoy studying Stravinskky and Mahler. They kinda run the gamut.

I will agree it stems from whatever you are looking to write at the time. I am currently in the planning stages at University of a Wind Quintet. My supervisor told me to look at Stravinsky's Octet and his Symphonies of Wind Instruments.

Do you have any pieces on here which we can look and see if we can better recommend someone? I have just woke up and am too lazy to search.

Thanks for the suggestions so far everyone. I'll be addressing several different peoples posts in this response, but I'll try to keep it from being too confusing.

At the moment I know nothing of instrumentation, but I try to keep in mind human fingering limitations with keyboard instruments.

This isn't research for a project. I am ignorant, and I want to do something about it. If I get the chance to attend college classes on music theory or music history, or classical music/etc, you can bet I'll go for it. What value is there in life if not to enjoy your passions when time and life permit it?

As for composing, we'll see what happens. Trying to write fugues has been an impossible obstacle to overcome. I still have to prove to myself I can produce one without screwing it up too badly.

As for work I've done, raining hall, here's a passacaglia and (incomplete) fugue I wrote in B minor.

Lament of the Drowned Sailors

I've also done these (most/all incomplete). Yes... I choose crappy project names.

Dust_covered_mistakes

PreludeInDsharpMinor

fminorthing

Dminorharpsilude

PreludeGmFace

Unkey

FugueEm

FugueCm

Thanks for the music - I am confused however, are you after composers to study as part of music history or composition?

I don't know if this will help you but here are some books which I have used as part of my University course which may help.

Music History

A History of Western Music - D Grout (As far as I am concerned unless you have access to Grove, this is the next best thing)

Composition

Fundamentals of Musical Composition - Arnold Schoenberg (don't worry its not focused on Serial music)

Composing Music: A New Approach - Russo (a very good book which I got when I was starting out (before University), full of different styles and exercises for you to try)

Instrumentation and Orchestration

Essential Dictionary of Orchestration - Dave Black (a pocket sized guide which while out of print is easy to find second hand and is very cheap)

Treatise on Instrumentation - Hector Berlioz (there are several books which I can recommend which are slightly more modern but I have found that this was easy to approach when I was completely new at Orchestration)

There are more but unless you have access to a library, that little lot would set you back enough as it stands (not that I am saying you MUST buy these.) These would give you a little more understanding of which ever aspect you would like to learn more about.

Study as many different composers as you can, and not only the most popular ones!

Schubert and Bach, for examples, were forgotten about and considered insignificant composers during their own time until Mendelssohn dug them up and established how important they really were. I think Mendelssohn, also, was forgotten about until he was dug up as well, but I can't remember by whom.

I make a point to study composers that are significant but hardly known. Of course this presents a challenge because, well, they are hardly known. Thankfully, I still have old contacts of mine who do similar things and are helpful in providing resources.