Top Ten Most Prolific Composers

[m***@gmail.com]

What about Telemann?

TOP TEN MOST PROLIFIC COMPOSERS
ranked by hours of music composed, based on a survey
conducted by _Classical Music_. Source: Russell Ash,
_The Top Ten of Everything 2000_ (NY: DK [Dorling
Kindersley] Publishing, 1999), p. 163.
Haydn (1732-1809) 340 hours
Handel (1685-1759) 303
Mozart (1756-91) 202
Bach (1685-1750) 175
Schubert (1797-1828) 134
Beethoven (1770-1827) 120
Purcell (1659-95) 116
Verdi (1813-1901) 87
Dvorak (1841-1904) 79
Liszt (1811-86) 76
Tchaikovsky (1840-93) 76
I'm sure that Vivaldi wrote more that 76 hours of
concerti for 1, 2, 3, and 4 HeckelFones alone and
Telemann at least that much table music.
I wonder how many of Beethoven's 120 hours were
published with opus numbers.
A division of the hours into instrumental and vocal
would also be useful.
Frank Forman

[Phillip Helbig (undress to reply)]

Post by m***@gmail.com
What about Telemann?

Indeed. Bach wrote about 1000 pieces; Telemann about 6000, most of
which have been lost. Bach wrote 4 ouvertures or orchestral suites;
Telemann about 1000, most of which have been lost.

Telemann is seriously underrated in terms of quality.

Post by m***@gmail.com

I'm sure that Vivaldi wrote more that 76 hours of
concerti for 1, 2, 3, and 4 HeckelFones alone and
Telemann at least that much table music.

Bach wrote 2 violin concertos (maybe a couple more which have been
lost), Vivaldi about 150, and about 400 concertos altogether.

[n***@gmail.com]

Re: most prolific composers, what about Alan Hovhaness? 500 works, including 67+ symphonies. And, everything he wrote was long. Then, there's Shostakovich.

[Phillip Helbig (undress to reply)]

Post by n***@gmail.com
Re: most prolific composers, what about Alan Hovhaness? 500 works,
including 67+ symphonies. And, everything he wrote was long. Then,
there's Shostakovich.

Telemann: about 6000 pieces.

[j***@gmail.com]

While they are all masters in their own terms, when it comes to Western classical, people outside the Indian diaspora rarely know about the world's most prolific film composer ILAIYARAAJA. He has composed more than 1000 films and 5000 songs. As you know, Indian films have a minimum duration of 2 hours. Considering 1 hour of silence in each film, his background scores still make 1000+ hours of music.

TOP TEN MOST PROLIFIC COMPOSERS
ranked by hours of music composed, based on a survey
conducted by _Classical Music_. Source: Russell Ash,
_The Top Ten of Everything 2000_ (NY: DK [Dorling
Kindersley] Publishing, 1999), p. 163.
Haydn (1732-1809) 340 hours
Handel (1685-1759) 303
Mozart (1756-91) 202
Bach (1685-1750) 175
Schubert (1797-1828) 134
Beethoven (1770-1827) 120
Purcell (1659-95) 116
Verdi (1813-1901) 87
Dvorak (1841-1904) 79
Liszt (1811-86) 76
Tchaikovsky (1840-93) 76
I'm sure that Vivaldi wrote more that 76 hours of
concerti for 1, 2, 3, and 4 HeckelFones alone and
Telemann at least that much table music.
I wonder how many of Beethoven's 120 hours were
published with opus numbers.
A division of the hours into instrumental and vocal
would also be useful.
Frank Forman

[j***@gmail.com]

It seems to me that Mozart was the most prolific composer, given that he died at half the age of Haydn. Had Mozart lived to the same age as Haydn, he would have produced well over 400 hours of music. In which case, today we would be enjoying his K.1252 or so.

[Phillip Helbig (undress to reply)]

It seems to me that Mozart was the most prolific composer, given that he di=
ed at half the age of Haydn. Had Mozart lived to the same age as Haydn, he=
would have produced well over 400 hours of music. In which case, today we=
would be enjoying his K.1252 or so.

What about Telemann? He lived to be old, but wrote about 6000 pieces of
music.

[h***@aol.com]

TOP TEN MOST PROLIFIC COMPOSERS
ranked by hours of music composed, based on a survey
conducted by _Classical Music_. Source: Russell Ash,
_The Top Ten of Everything 2000_ (NY: DK [Dorling
Kindersley] Publishing, 1999), p. 163.
Haydn (1732-1809) 340 hours
Handel (1685-1759) 303
Mozart (1756-91) 202
Bach (1685-1750) 175
Schubert (1797-1828) 134
Beethoven (1770-1827) 120
Purcell (1659-95) 116
Verdi (1813-1901) 87
Dvorak (1841-1904) 79
Liszt (1811-86) 76
Tchaikovsky (1840-93) 76
I'm sure that Vivaldi wrote more that 76 hours of
concerti for 1, 2, 3, and 4 HeckelFones alone and
Telemann at least that much table music.
I wonder how many of Beethoven's 120 hours were
published with opus numbers.
A division of the hours into instrumental and vocal
would also be useful.
Frank Forman

Telemann's cantatas alone would be more than 300 hours, 2000 cantatas, each cantata on average about 10 minutes. His TWV list has more than 3600 works and his total output must be well over 600 hours.

The Austrian composer Simon Sechter wrote 5000 fugues, but I don't know how many minutes they are on average.

[m***@gmail.com]

So Schubert wrote all of his output in about 13
years, while Haydn took about 50 years to write all of his music. Schubert
music for almost 30 years. Bruckner started to write his music well after
his 30s,
Mario

Not so. Schubert was writing from a very early age, so had a career of around 20 years, despite his early death. Some of his works that are still performed date from his early teens. Conversely, Bruckner wrote a lot of religious choral music, and some organ music, in his twenties and thirties; it is merely that his canonical works (i.e. his symphonies, which are inexplicably still performed) date from the latter half of his life. it is almost certainly correct, however, that on the basis of hours of music (or opus numbers) per year of life, Schubert is the most industrious.

[Phillip Helbig (undress to reply)]

Post by m***@gmail.com
it is almost certainly correct, however, that on the basis of hours
of music (or opus numbe> rs) per year of life, Schubert is the most
industrious.

But not more so than Telemann. Telemann lived a very long life, but
wrote about 6000 pieces of music.

[o***@vienna-event-tickets.com]

TOP TEN MOST PROLIFIC COMPOSERS
ranked by hours of music composed, based on a survey
conducted by _Classical Music_. Source: Russell Ash,
_The Top Ten of Everything 2000_ (NY: DK [Dorling
Kindersley] Publishing, 1999), p. 163.
Haydn (1732-1809) 340 hours
Handel (1685-1759) 303
Mozart (1756-91) 202
Bach (1685-1750) 175
Schubert (1797-1828) 134
Beethoven (1770-1827) 120
Purcell (1659-95) 116
Verdi (1813-1901) 87
Dvorak (1841-1904) 79
Liszt (1811-86) 76
Tchaikovsky (1840-93) 76
I'm sure that Vivaldi wrote more that 76 hours of
concerti for 1, 2, 3, and 4 HeckelFones alone and
Telemann at least that much table music.
I wonder how many of Beethoven's 120 hours were
published with opus numbers.
A division of the hours into instrumental and vocal
would also be useful.
Frank Forman

is nice
but ranked on composed hours of music per year of life Mozart is of course the leader.

[Phillip Helbig (undress to reply)]

TOP TEN MOST PROLIFIC COMPOSERS
ranked by hours of music composed, based on a survey
conducted by _Classical Music_. Source: Russell Ash,
_The Top Ten of Everything 2000_ (NY: DK [Dorling
Kindersley] Publishing, 1999), p. 163.
Haydn (1732-1809) 340 hours
Handel (1685-1759) 303
Mozart (1756-91) 202
Bach (1685-1750) 175
Schubert (1797-1828) 134
Beethoven (1770-1827) 120
Purcell (1659-95) 116
Verdi (1813-1901) 87
Dvorak (1841-1904) 79
Liszt (1811-86) 76
Tchaikovsky (1840-93) 76

Considering the fact that Telemann, who admittedly had a long life but
wrote about 6000 pieces of music (so, say, 1500 hours), the list was
obviously compiled by someone of little knowledge.