Composer Survey

Hi everyone,

I'm interested about what composers influence you or whom you consider among the great composers in history.  I also understand that some may find this type of exercise silly so I created an external survey for anyone who is interested in participating.  Your responses are anonymous.

You can reach it here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/63N8WHW

This is just to satisfy my own curiosity but I will be happy to share the results in this thread as they come in.

Best wishes to all.

Good idea to do a survey, but I didn't complete it, because you kept repeating the same question over and over again!
Try again ;)

Well, it's supposed to repeat the question since that is only way for me to allow the participant to make seven selections. It's a little unwieldy but I hope you'll try again!

I completed the survey, and I'm interesting in seeing what the final results will be. 

Wow, already 15 responses far more than I expected at this point!  Once I get 20, I think that'll be enough to provide some trends, though  I definitely should have put some film composers on the list over some of the more obscure composers, an oversight on my part.  Keep them coming!  The link is in the original message.

...  I definitely should have put some film composers on the list over some of the more obscure composers, an oversight on my part.

No matter what you think about their music, at least John Williams and Ennio Morricone deserve a place in the list. Some might claim that also Danny Elfman and/or Hans Zimmer are worth a spot.

*whispers* Howwwward.... Shhhhore...

He merits a place, I think. Also Edward MacDowell.

Its really hard to pick just a few from that list, lol. I eagerly await the results of this non-scientific survey

Done! And it's full of composers not picked from the list! ^^ o/

Preliminary results so far (22 responses total, though not everyone exercised all their 7 votes). 

1. Bach (J.S.)

2. Beethoven

3. Mozart

4. Tchaikovsky

5 (tied). Debussy, Mahler, Stravinsky, Wagner

9 (tied). Dvorak, Schubert

Other interesting tidbits:

People are modest (vast majority consider themselves beginner or intermediate level composers).

So far, 52 different composers got at least 1 vote, with 14 write-in's.  Howard Shore is the only write in with more than 1 vote.

One respondent voted for him/herself all 7 times.  Sadly, I cannot count this unless that person is willing to come forward and identify him/herself ;)

Since a few more votes came in, it was enough to change the standings a little with the French Impressionists being the main beneficiaries.

1. Bach (J.S.)

2. Beethoven

3. Mozart

4. Tchaikovsky

5. Debussy, Ravel

7. (tied). Mahler, Stravinsky, Wagner

I'm pleasantly surprised that there still has been a steady trickle of new responses.  Also since there appear to be new members to the site, I encourage all of you to participate as well!

You can access the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/63N8WHW

The current top 10 composers in history as rated by members of this site (37 responses)

1. Bach, J.S.

2. Beethoven

3. Mozart

4. Tchaikovsky

5. Mahler

6. Stravinsky

7. (tied) Debussy, Ravel

9. (tied) Brahms, Dvorak, Schubert, Vaughn-Williams

The top 4 are pretty close but way ahead of everyone else.

Most popular write-ins:

Howard Shore and John Williams lead with medieval composer Guillaume de Machaut the only other write-in with more than 1 vote.

I never met a Russian composer I didn't like.

I kind of forgot about this but recently revisited the survey and was pleasantly surprised to see quite a few more votes!  Over 50 members have voted.

Current Top 10

1. Bach, J.S.

2. Beethoven

3. Tchaikovsky

4. Mozart

5. Mahler, Stravinsky (tied)

7. Debussy

8. Brahms, Ravel, Schubert (tied)

For anyone that hasn't voted, you can access the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/63N8WHW

This is always a favourite topic but it's hard to choose, even though I regard the majority of composers as being of little interest. The ones which do interest me, however, interest me greatly, which is why it's a difficult choice. Also, I selected composers with a larger volume of work, while I also appreciate the works of some more "minor" composers, for instance Maurice Duruflé, who created very impressive works for the organ.