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© Copyright 2001, Jim Loy
I think that most people will agree that the three greatest composers are (in alphabetic order) Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. And most will favor either Bach or Beethoven. If we prefer the one who had the most influence on music, we must choose Beethoven, by a long ways.
If you ask people in Russia, a very musical place, who is the greatest composer, you may get a surprise. It seems that Russians often call Tchaikovsky (Tschaikowsky and other spellings) the greatest of all composers. Now, if we were to name the four most popular composers, Tchaikovsky actually comes out ahead of Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. All four are extremely popular, and Tchaikovsky is number one. But is he the greatest? He may not have been great in some ways, but he produced more memorable melodies (thousands of them) than perhaps all other composers put together. His most famous music is heard almost too much; we get tired of it. But I can see how some may call him the greatest. But I would still say that Beethoven and Bach were greater.
Tchaikovsky is one of my favorites. I listen to the little known and unknown stuff (orchestral suites, quartets, other chamber music, piano pieces, little known operas, his second and third piano concertos, the Tempest, and much more). They are all beautiful. And the Nutcracker Suite was not the prettiest parts from the Nutcracker.