This was originally posted as a top 10 on the DMDB Facebook page on 2/21/10 and then expanded to a top 50 on 5/2/2011. This list was determined by an aggregate of more than 30 classical-music-focused, best-of lists combined with the works’ standings in the overall Dave’s Music Database. Here’s the top classical works (which includes operas, symphonies, concertos, etc.) according to the DMDB. Note: most of these are considered “albums” based on their lengths. Those works noted with an asterisk (*) are shorter pieces and not considered album-length works.
Check out other best-of-genre/category lists here.
Composer Name of Work (year composition was finished)
1. George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, & Dubose Heyward Porgy and Bess (1935)
2. Antonio Vivaldi The Four Seasons (1725)
3. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 5 (1808)
4. Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 (1875)
5. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (1824)
6. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 7 (1812)
7. Johann Sebastian Bach Goldberg Variations (1741)
8. Claudio Monteverdi L’Orfeo (Orpheus) (opera, 1607)
9. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Don Giovanni (opera, 1787)
10. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) (1786)
11. Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor” (1811)
12. Giovanni Pierluigi Palestrina Missa Papae Marcelli (Pope Marcellus Mass) (1562)
13. Richard Wagner Der Ring Des Nibelungen (The Ring Cycle) (opera, 1848-1874)
14. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 3 in E-flat “Sinfonia Eroica” (1804)
15. Hector Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique (1830)
16. Richard Wagner Tristan Und Isolde (opera, 1857-59)
17. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 6 “Pastorale” (1808)
18. Georges Bizet Carmen (opera, 1873-74)
19. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 (1785)
20. Claudio Monteverdi L’incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppaea) (1642)
21. Henry Purcell Dido and Aeneas (1689)
22. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 40 in G minor (1788)
23. Antonin Dvorák Symphony No. 9 in E minor (“From the New World”) (1893)
24. Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg Concertos (1719-21)
25. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) (1791)
26. Claudio Monteverdi Vespers of the Blessed Virgin (1610)
27. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter” (1788)
28. Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 4 (1885)
29. Gioacchino Rossini Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) (opera, 1816)
30. George Friedrich Handel Messiah (1741)
31. George & Ira Gershwin An American in Paris (classical soundtrack, 1951)
32. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 (1785)
33. Ludwig van Beethoven Violin Concerto in D Major (1806)
34. Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 in B minor (“Pathetique”) (1893)
35. Thomas Tallis: “Spem in Alium, Motet for 40 Voices” (1570) *
36. Johann Pachelbel “Canon in D major” (1694) *
37. Giacomo Puccini Tosca (opera, 1900)
38. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A Major (1791)
39. Franz Schubert Piano Quintet in A Major (“Trout”) (1814)
40. Franz Schubert Symphony No. 8 “Unfinished”) (1822)
41. Giovanni Gabrieli Canzona Noni Toni (Canzoni for Brass Choirs) (1612)
42. Giuseppe Verdi La Traviata (The Fallen Woman) (1853)
43. Johann Sebastian Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Violin (1720)
44. Modest Mussorgsky Tableaux d'une Exposition (Pictures at an Exhibition) (1874)
45. Giacomo Puccini La Bohème (The Bohemian Life) (opera, 1896)
46. Johann Sebastian Bach Mass in B Minor (1749)
47. Claudio Monteverdi Madrigals of Love and War (Madrigali Guerrieri ed Amorosi) (1638)
48. George Friedrich Händel Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Julius Caesar in Egypt) (1724)
49. George Friedrich Handel Water Music (1717)
50. Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Sonatas (32) (1795-1822)
51. Johann Sebastian Bach St. Matthew Passion (1736)
52. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor (1786)
53. Sergei Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor (1901)
54. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Requiem Mass in D minor (1791)
55. Giuseppe Verdi Aida (opera, 1871)
56. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23 in C minor (1786)
57. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 38 in D major (1787)
58. Ludwig van Beethoven Fidelio (1805)
59. Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 2 in C minor “Resurrection” (1894)
60. Johann Sebastian Bach Cello Suites (1717-23)
61. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A Major (Stadler) (1789)
62. Felix Mendelssohn Octet for Strings in E flat major (1825)
63. Johann Sebastian Bach “Toccata and Fugue for Organ in D minor” (1708) *
64. Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor (1902)
65. Béla Bartók Concerto for Orchestra (1944)
66. Igor Stravinsky Le Sacre Du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) (ballet, 1913)
67. Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major (1806)
68. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 35 in D major (1782)
69. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 8 in F major (1812)
70. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 39 in E flat major (1788)
71. Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor (1800)
72. Giuseppe Verdi Rigoletto (1851)
73. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 4 in B flat major (1806)
74. Johannes Brahms Violin Concerto in D major (1879)
75. Giacomo Puccini Turandot (1926)
76. Franz Josef Haydn Symphony No. 104 in D major (1795)
77. Vincenzo Bellini Norma (1831)
78. Franz Schubert Symphony No. 9 in C major (1828)
79. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major (1791)
80. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) (1781)
81. Felix Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor (1845)
82. Johann Sebastian Bach Violin Concerto No. 2 in E major (1723)
83. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major (1784)
84. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Cosí Fan Tutte (Thus Do They All) (1790)
85. Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartets (16) (1798-1826)
86. Edvard Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor (1868)
87. Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 1 in D major (“Titan”) (1884-88)
88. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 9 in E flat major (1777)
89. Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 in D minor (1937)
90. Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 9 in D major “Farewell” (1912)
91. Luciano Pavarotti/Placido Domingo/Jose Carreras The Three Tenors in Concert/Mehta (1990)
92. Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C minor (1876)
93. Richard Strauss Der Rosenkavalier (The Knight of the Rose) (1911)
94. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 14 in E flat major (1784)
95. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major (1786)
96. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major (1784)
97. Antonin Dvorák Cello Concerto in B minor (1895)
98. Sergei Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor (1909)
99. Alban Berg Wozzeck (1922)
100. Giacomo Puccini Madame Butterfly (Madama Butterfly) (1904)
Resources and Related Links:
First posted 2/21/2010; last updated 10/4/2023. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment