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too optimistic. what the average person knows about classical music: 1. it involves violins and powdered wigs and is very aristocratic 2. some classical composers include beethoven, writer of "für elise"; mozart, writer of "eine kleine nachtmusik"; brahms, writer of the lullaby; handel, writer of the hallelujah chorus; bach, writer of an air about weird fetish underwear. all of these people lived between 300 and 600 years ago. 3. classical music stopped being written around 1900 when it was replaced by big bands and swing. the exception is movie music, all of which is written by john williams, danny elfman and hans zimmer 4. similar to classical music is opera, which is about fat women wearing viking helmets and plates on their breasts, and ballet, which is about thin women wearing leotards and puffy tutus. paradoxically, anyone who likes these things is probably gay 5. liking classical music is a clear sign of being a cat-stroking bond villain or possibly a nazi. normal people only listen to pop and r&b (if female) or rock and hip-hop (if male) replace with geographically-appropriate substitutes where desired

I'd rather have a composer of some proven success coming into this site and providing actual advice and knowledge to his younger peers, than the usual pointless jerks who contribute nothing and in fact attempt to drive valuable people away. The whole point of a Young Composers site is to be a place to exchange knowledge and learn from more experienced members, not to be just another dumping field for frustrated trolls.

Or we could try having mature discussions that don't digress to personal stabs at each other's composition styles. From what I can see, a large percent of the public admires Mozart's music because it's all they really know, and they like what they've heard. However, I would trust that most people on this website have been exposed to multiple other composers and styles, and thus, they have the right to take an informed position on what is better. If someone has listened to both classical and modern music and decides, "wow, classical music is waaayyyy better", then by all means they are entitled to that opinion. Regarding Mozart, I definitely think he was capable of writing bad music. I pretty much despise all of his symphonies up until the 20s, but have any of you ever heard his 39th, 40th, and 41st symphonies? I think it's pretty hard to deny that they're true masterpieces. I would also have to agree with Austenite that no one on this site has yet written something that can counter the perfection of one of Mozart's masterpieces. Of course, there are many who would denounce the criteria I would use to determine what a "masterpiece" really is, but I suppose I've already written too much.

Thanks for the submissions. I will let you know our decision shortly.

The way you want, bad news, you won't find. But you can mine at Google some parts, even that really used for recordings. Or you can do the Scott Smalley orchestration course, he gives 350 pages of scores he did for many films. Or harder yet, you can take it by ear.

i always found the slow movements of no. 41 in particular rather boring. i suppose the outer movements are masterpieces. the piano concerto kv 595 is kind of like a distillation of the last three symphonies into a structure that's interesting throughout, and for my money is the better work. that shouldn't be surprising considering the primacy of the piano concerto in mozart's output though. a lot of mozart's music is not very good but then he wrote 600+ pieces. not everything's going to be amazing with an output of that size. bach has missteps, too. well, no one on this site has the extensive experience & training that mozart did, nor do they live in a similar social context that would encourage them the same way mozart was, etc. there's really no comparison possible. the times are too different. it's not hard to write music "in the style of" mozart, beethoven, brahms, etc, that sounds reasonably convincing to an untrained ear. every music student's expected to be able to do it. i even wrote a whole symphony in the style of late haydn/early beethoven one time. the nature of our society is such that even if said copies were as good as or better than the originals they would receive nothing like the same attention, since the works of mozart et al. are preserved within a canon to which no new pieces can ever be added. essentially, popular opinion has it not only that mozart was the greatest composer in his style at the time, but that mozart is the greatest composer possible in his style—no one can ever outdo him on his own turf. that's perhaps a wrong assumption, but it's a persistent one.

I don't doubt that there are people like that, but anyone who knows his music well enough would be able to spot the deception, particularly his late-Salzburg/Vienna works which really sound nothing like anything else being written at the time. It's not that subjective; it's just a pain to define. Is there anyone here (or should I say, is there anyone here who doesn't want to be a dick) who thinks E.T.A. Hoffman was a better symphonist than Beethoven or that Mozart's 1st symphony is better than his 41st? There's a difference between bad and boring, but his boring pieces will get more exposure simply because they're by Mozart. Anyway, I wouldn't discount #38, which might have, in my mind, the greatest first movement of any of his symphonies (if only slightly). It's a bit of an odd duck because it lacks a dance movement and all the movements are in sonata form. Numbers 35 and 36 are also good, but maybe not on quite the same level as the ones mentioned. Yeah, but they're amusing themselves and that's all that matters to them.

Sorry, I can't resist: Knock knock. Who's there? Knock knock. Who's there? Knock knock. Who's there? Knock knock. Who's there? Knock knock. Who's there? Knock knock. Who's there? Knock knock. Who's there? Knock knock. Who's there? Knock knock. Who's there? Knock knock. Who's there? Knock knock. Who's there? Knock knock. Who's there? Philip Glass.

From what I've seen, that might be asking too much from some members. Worst thing - they don't even manage to be funny.

There's an idiotic, thread-derailing, pointless comment back there that you forgot to post. You're slipping up, man!

Too optimistic. I'd say the average person may know 10-15 dead classical composers and less than 2 living composers.

I've just added the Fugue Analysis to my Teilnehmer Suite and corrected some engraving errors (*cough). I believe there isn't anything to do, but to wait for the (far coming) results...

I remember the first time I used Google.