Greatest Composers of All Time

I think it's pretty safe to put Bach, Beethoven and Mozart as the top three, far and away--and forget about rating them against one another.

I personally would list Baroque stalwarts such as Handel, D. Scarlatti and Telemann up there with many of the "also-ran" great composers of later years who seem to get mentioned.

Schubert, I'm curious to know if you're "into" string quartets very much...

Yes, but more than anything that simply says that LVB grew up a generation later than WAM. He came along as music was emerging from a church and court medium to a point where the newly-emerging middle class was creating an outlet that previously did not exist.

Personally, I'll take Beethoven over Mozart most of the time, but that's just my opinion. Again, there is no one absolute best.

If Beethoven was 16 he as not yet started (he lived another 50+ years) and Mozart was 32 and almost finished. Mozart was at the very front end of public concerts and publishing. These were far better established by the time Beethoven came of age (I think).

I have a friend who was a father at 17, grandfather at 34 and great-grandfather at 50. This was certainly not uncommon in the 18th century. I don't regard those two men as from the same generation. I don't regard someone 16 years older or younger than myself as the same generation.