Favorite Era...

What is your favorite era of classical music?

Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionist, 20th century, or 'contemporary'?

EDIT: Earnestly, I don't know for certain what my favorite is. I suppose I lean strongly toward the Romantic Era.

Also, this should be a generally favorite era (i.e. your favorite composer is Stravinsky, but you have a large quantity of admired composers in the Romantic Era; choose the latter).

I'd say 20th century. The past 10 years have created a lot of interesting evolutions and developments, but I thikn they're all based on 20th century forms and concepts....

prove me wrong

Yes, that is certainly true in many respects.

I'd say 20th century, too. That's quite a broad term, now, though. Since there have been so many movements within that time-frame. I mean, there have been neo-classicists, minimalists, modernists, post-modernists, electronic composers (not necessarily meaning the composers were electronic ;)).. The list goes on, and let's not even forget about all the different kinds of Jazz..

I voted for Classical because, IMHO, in the classical era the aesthetics of tonality accomplished the highest value of esteem so far: pure musicality, balance of consonance and dissonance, concinnity of form and structure in the musical material, all of which coincides best with Eduard Hanslick's maxime (see my signature below) "The content of music is tonally moving forms" (as translated by Geoffrey Payzant in Hanslick on the Musically Beautiful, p. 53). I would even go a step further and define music (not only classial music) as "Musik ist zu Klangbewegung geronnene Zeit", i.e. "music is congealed time of sound-motion" (which might even apply to modern 'noise- & sound-scape' composition

I don't have one...

Well, that's good, jujimufu; I suppose I should have made an option for 'no favorite'... at the same time though, I don't have a true favorite, but I tend to enjoy more music from the Romantic Era. I suspect that could change any day, and I wouldn't be ashamed if it did.

How about musics from other cultures? Which "era" do they belong to? :(

Ah... ahem. Well, you see, I meant just in the "classical" music world this time around, which I guess I wasn't careful enough to point out specifically. I actually thought of making a cultural music poll, though.

I said impressionism even though I love contemporary and 20th century music two. But the things I most like about those two are things that impressionism focuses on, interesting new sounds and cool harmonies

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i voted romantic; it has the most beautiful music (especially for piano)

Well, that's good, jujimufu; I suppose I should have made an option for 'no favorite'... a

fixed

classical indian music? :x

^:w00t:

I once played a few scales on sitar. I want to try sarangi, though. Although I also want my fingers intact.

fixed

Cheers ;)

Since I voted "none" I feel obligated to explain why.

I absolutely love some music from all eras... Debussy, Beethoven, Franck, Liszt, Bach, Schein, Var

I find the Classical Period to be completely dull and systemic and held back, yet I admire their strict adherence to form and thematic development.

Grr.

Hey, don't bully him for expressing his opinion! Especially when that opinion is the correct opinion. :P

Yeah, I like the early twentieth century best. Debussy + Hindemith + Berg + Ravel + Stravinsky + Ives + Griffes + Sibelius + Prokofiev + Vaughan Williams + Webern + Schoenberg + Bartok + ... = awesome

Although I like some romantic, renaissance, baroque, and contemporary music quite a bit. Classical is my least favorite. :P

Thanks, QC.

I have come to realize how limited this poll is; how can one say that Baroque is one's favorite era when Bach is the biggest thing in that era, and other Baroque composers are somewhat insignificant? I say, "Choose the era that has a large amount of composers you enjoy"... but it's flawed thinking on my part, I tell you. EDIT: Bach is actually my favorite composer at this time, yet I choose Romantic Era because I like more composers in that era; for this reason, this poll has struck me as being imbalanced.

Furthermore, as jujimufu brought up, "What about other classical music"? While I sympathize with myself on the choice of western classical music only, for this thread, I have to ask myself, "Wouldn't it be interesting to see how the preference for non-western music styles stand up?".

Hey, don't bully him for expressing his opinion! Especially when that opinion is the correct opinion. :P

Yeah, I like the early twentieth century best. Debussy + Hindemith + Berg + Ravel + Stravinsky + Ives + Griffes + Sibelius + Prokofiev + Vaughan Williams + Webern + Schoenberg + Bartok + ... = awesome

Although I like some romantic, renaissance, baroque, and contemporary music quite a bit. Classical is my least favorite. :P

Seconded!

Yay!

I have come to realize how limited this poll is; how can one say that Baroque is one's favorite era when Bach is the biggest thing in that era, and other Baroque composers are somewhat insignificant?

Really? Are you really calling Handel, Corelli, the Scarlattis, Biber, Vivaldi, Buxtehude, Lully, Rameau, Purcell, Telemann, Pergolesi, Pachelbel, Charpentier, and Couperin insignificant?

Plus Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, and Peri, if you want to include early baroque.

Really? Are you really calling ... Corelli, the Scarlattis, Biber, Vivaldi, Buxtehude, Lully, Rameau, Purcell, Telemann, Pergolesi, Pachelbel, Charpentier, and Couperin insignificant?

Plus Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, and Peri, if you want to include early baroque.

Who? :mellow:

...

[Couperin's unmeasured preludes are really nice]

I chose Romantic Era..

because I feel that is the era that describes me the best.

I don't understand how so many people have picked romantic era on this poll, considering that I don't usually see much strong support for it.

I believe in the ideals of organization and expression that people seemed to believe in the Romantic era.

Composers that listen to regularily and enjoy: Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Wieck, Hensel, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Bruch, Liszt, Dvorak, Sibelius, and Hanson

I don't understand how so many people have picked romantic era on this poll, considering that I don't usually see much strong support for it.

Because the common man and the intellectual can relate to it. Intense emotions and theoretical genius make truly amazing music, and romanticism appeals to both.