Showing posts with label Rite of Spring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rite of Spring. Show all posts

Friday, February 27, 2026

Classical Works: Top 100

Classical Works:

Top 100

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. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 5 (1808)
2. Richard Wagner The Ring Cycle (Der Ring Des Nibelungen) (opera, 1848-1874)
3. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 7 (1812)
4. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (1824)
5. Antonin Dvorák Symphony No. 9 in E minor (From the New World) (1893)
6. Antonio Vivaldi The Four Seasons (1725)
7. Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 (1875)
8. George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, & Dubose Heyward Porgy and Bess (1935)
9. Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 in B Minor (“Pathétique”) (1893)
10. Georges Bizet Carmen (opera, 1873-74)

11. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) (1786)
12. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 6 “Pastorale” (1808)
13. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 3 in E-flat “Sinfonia Eroica” (1804)
14. Hector Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique (1830)
15. Johann Sebastian Bach Goldberg Variations (1741)
16. Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 4 (1885)
17. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Don Giovanni (opera, 1787)
18. Richard Wagner Tristan Und Isolde (opera, 1857-59)
19. Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg Concertos (1719-21)
20. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 40 in G minor (1788)

21. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) (1791)
22. Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor” (1811)
23. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 (1785)
24. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 (1785)
25. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter” (1788)
26. Johann Sebastian Bach Cello Suites (1717-23)
27. Giacomo Puccini La Bohème (The Bohemian Life) (opera, 1896)
28. Giacomo Puccini Tosca (opera, 1900)
29. Gioacchino Rossini Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) (opera, 1816)
30. Ludwig van Beethoven Violin Concerto in D Major (1806)

31. George Friedrich Handel Messiah (1741)
32. Franz Schubert Symphony No. 8 “Unfinished”) (1822)
33. Giuseppe Verdi La Traviata (The Fallen Woman) (1853)
34. Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor (1904)
35. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A Major (1791)
36. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Requiem Mass in D minor (1791)
37. Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 in D minor (1937)
38. Franz Schubert Piano Quintet in A Major (“Trout”) (1814)
39. Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 2 in C minor “Resurrection” (1894)
40. Igor Stravinsky The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre Du Printemps) (ballet, 1913)

41. Claudio Monteverdi L’Orfeo (Orpheus) (opera, 1607)
42. Sergei Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor (1901)
43. Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C minor (1876)
44. Béla Bartók Concerto for Orchestra (1944)
45. Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet No. 14 (1826)
46. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor (1786)
47. Giacomo Puccini Turandot (1926)
48. Giuseppe Verdi Rigoletto (1851)
49. Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet No. 13 (1826)
50. Giuseppe Verdi Aida (opera, 1871)

51. George & Ira Gershwin An American in Paris (classical soundtrack, 1951)
52. Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 1 in D major (“Titan”) (1884-88)
53. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23 in C minor (1786)
54. Franz Schubert Symphony No. 9 in C major (1828)
55. Henry Purcell Dido and Aeneas (1689)
56. Claudio Monteverdi Vespers of the Blessed Virgin (1610)
57. Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet No. 15 (1826)
58. Ludwig van Beethoven Fidelio (1805)
59. Modest Mussorgsky Tableaux d'une Exposition (Pictures at an Exhibition) (1874)
60. Johannes Brahms Violin Concerto in D major (1879)

61. Felix Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor (1845)
62. Edvard Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor (1868)
63. Giovanni Pierluigi Palestrina Missa Papae Marcelli (Pope Marcellus Mass) (1562)
64. Johann Sebastian Bach Mass in B Minor (1749)
65. Giacomo Puccini Madame Butterfly (Madama Butterfly) (1904)
66. Antonin Dvorák Cello Concerto in B minor (1895)
67. Vincenzo Bellini Norma (1831)
68. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 38 in D major (1787)
69. Richard Strauss Der Rosenkavalier (The Knight of the Rose) (1911)
70. George Friedrich Handel Water Music (1717)

71. Sergei Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor (1909)
72. Franz Josef Haydn String Quartet No. 5 in D major (Largo) (1797)
73. Franz Josef Haydn String Quartet No. 3 in C major (Emperor) (1797)
74. Johann Sebastian Bach St. Matthew Passion (1736)
75. Felix Mendelssohn Octet for Strings in E flat major (1825)
76. Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Sonatas (32) (1795-1822)
77. Claudio Monteverdi L’incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppaea) (1642)
78. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 8 in F major (1812)
79. Franz Josef Haydn Symphony No. 104 in D major (1795)
80. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major (1791)

81. Alban Berg Wozzeck (1922)
82. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A major (Stadler) (1789)
83. Johann Sebastian Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Violin (1720)
84. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 39 in E flat major (1788)
85. George Friedrich Händel Julius Caesar in Egypt (Giulio Cesare in Egitto) (1724)
86. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 35 in D major (1782)
87. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 4 in B flat major (1806)
88. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 14 in E flat major (1784)
89. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major (1786)
90. Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 9 in D major “Farewell” (1912)

91. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major (1784)
92. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 9 in E flat major (1777)
93. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major (1784)
94. Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major (1806)
95. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Cosí Fan Tutte (Thus Do They All) (1790)
96. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) (1781)
97. Johann Sebastian Bach Violin Concerto No. 2 in E major (1723)
98. Claudio Monteverdi Madrigals of Love and War (Madrigali Guerrieri ed Amorosi) (1638)
99. Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor (1800)
100. Luciano Pavarotti/Placido Domingo/Jose Carreras The Three Tenors in Concert/Mehta (1990)

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First posted 2/21/2010; last updated 2/27/2026.

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Tuesday, May 29, 2018

May 29, 1913: Stravinsky's Rite of Spring premiered

Last updated August 31, 2018.

Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring)

Igor Stravinsky (composer)

Composed: 1911-13

First Performance: May 29, 1913

Sales: --

Peak: --

Quotable: --

Genre: classical > ballet

Parts/Movements:

    Part I – Adoration of the Earth

  1. No. 1a, "Introduction"
  2. No. 1b, "The Augurs of Spring" – "Dance of the Adolescents"
  3. No. 1c, "Ritual Abduction"
  4. No. 1d, "Spring Round Dances"
  5. No. 1e, "Games of the Rival Tribes"
  6. No. 1f, "Procession of the Wise Elder"
  7. No. 1g, "Adoration of the Earth" – "The Wise Elder"
  8. No. 1h, "Dance of the Earth"

    Part II – The Sacrifice

  9. No. 2a, "Introduction"
  10. No. 2b, "Mystic Circles of the Young Girls"
  11. No. 2c, "Glorification of the Chosen Victim"
  12. No. 2d, "Evocation of the Ancestors"
  13. No. 2e, "Ritual of the Ancestors"
  14. No. 2f, "Sacrificial Dance"

Average Duration: 33:50

Review:

Initially, The Rite of Spring was not well received by critics. “In understanding early reactions…, it is worth considering that while Stravinsky was at a relatively early stage in his career, a cadre of older, well-known, more traditionally aligned composers – Strauss, Saint-Saëns, Sibelius, Elgar, and yes, Rachmaninov – remained active and retained a good deal of currency with audiences. At the same time, the scenario adopted by the Rite collaborators – Stravinsky, folklorist and artist Roerich, choreographer Nijinsky, impresario Diaghilev – was far from the usual genteel, sentimental, and romantic themes that had theretofore dominated ballet. This collection of ‘Scenes from Pagan Russia’ (the work’s subtitle) concerns itself with an exploration of nature, both human and that of the earth itself, through the rituals of renewal – ultimately, human sacrifice – of an earlier, ‘primitive’ society.” MR

“The titles of the ballet’s two main sections, A Kiss of the Earth and The Exalted Sacrifice, as well as those of their internal divisions, make clear both the ritualistic, sacred, and inviolable progression of events reenacted via music and choreography, and the elements of that progression. Stravinsky skillfully sustains and continually heightens a sense of brutal inevitability over the span of the whole work while encapsulating more specific elements in individual scenes. The Introduction raises the curtain on the earth itself, the distinctive bassoon solo plaintively establishing a hushed, reverent mood. More complex colors – which Stravinsky achieves through extreme instrumental ranges (as in the above instance), special playing techniques, and endlessly changing combinations drawn from his greatly expanded orchestra – gradually emerge and expand, only to be cut off subito by a remnant of the original bassoon theme. The Augurs of Spring begins with one of the most famous chords in music history, a crunching bitonal sonority hammered relentlessly in a constant 2/4 meter metrically undermined by unpredictably shifting accents.” MR

“Comparable instances of such rhythmic and harmonic harshness abound throughout the work, these elements assuming, along with instrumental color, both individual and collective roles in a manner analogous to those of the characters. Like the musical elements Stravinsky uses in their portrayal, the girls, youths, and elders function together within the identity of their society, at the same time assuming and asserting individual roles in relation to one another. The action forges ahead in an increasingly frenzied trajectory, finding culmination – in a sort of primal equivalent of cold logic – in the charged, uncompromising sacrifical dance which ends both the ballet and the cycle of its ritual.” MR

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