Question by auraming: Is Tchaikovsky one of the greatest composers of all time or is he overrated by the public?
Is he one of the greats? is he equal to Brahms or is he overrated? I personally love his music esp. his violin and piano concertos but I can’t help but think of the “architectural flaws” of his composition as pointed out by several music critics, but despite that I find the melody of his music very beautiful, so can he be in the top 10 greatest composers of all time?
Answers and Views:
Answer by joshuacharlesmorris
Ranking composers like that is futile and subjective. Tchaikovsky’s renown has gone back and forth over the past century, he briefly fell out of favor shortly after his death, though his star rose again after Bernstein championed his work and frequently performed it.
But to the more serious points stop and ask yourself a few questions.
1.Why do you care if other people agree with your taste in music.
2. Did you notice the “architectural flaws” in Tchaikovsky’s music BEFORE you read about them from other critics. If not, then the only reason those “flaws” bother you now is because you think they’re supposed to bother you.
3. Do you listen to music because you are looking for the “perfect” composition or are you looking for some other kind of enrichment from the music.
Read all the answers in the comments.
What do you think?
LucyUK says
Delicios manager-you don`t know much about Classical music,Russians Composers and Russian Culture.Just shut up.
Alberich says
He's certainly one of the most melodious and accessible; and is one of my three favorites, the other two being Richard Wagner and Jean Sibelius.
The great Arturo Toscanini – well-known for his strict adherence to the dictates of a score as penned by its composer – refused to conduct Tchaikovsky's music until late in his career; one could extrapolate from this that most CM "purists" would probably consider Tchaikovsky to be overrated.
"Is he equal to Brahms?" Certainly not when it comes to "form"; but why should this even matter? It doesn't to me: I love the music of both.
Bottom line: whether one is seeking inspiration, enjoyment or even upliftment, what pleases the ear or satisfies the intellect, neither should be of paramount consideration when choosing what music to listen to in my humble opinion – I've found ones "intuition of the moment", is the best guide.
Alberich
petr b says
He is both: a great composer and over-rated by the public.
If a composer's work is still being performed and listened to (i.e. consumed), that work still speaks to people. There are fashions in taste as there are in abstract thought, art, decorative objects and clothing.
That one composer's work is not played currently does not mean they are not 'great' (or of lesser interest.)
Best regards.
P.s. @ suhwahaksaeng: this is the umpteenth time you have posted something with the phrase, "The Conservatory Elite." I, for one, would like from you a definition of what makes a conservatory-trained musician / graduate "Elite." Considering there are probably a worldwide total of tens of thousands of conservatory graduates annually, this hardly qualifies as rare or elite. / Best regards.
Malcolm D says
The answer is YES. He is both one of the greats and (because the public know so little of his work) he is also overrated by the public, who only know of his most famous pieces and don't know enough about classical music in general.
Jonathan says
It's just a very collective decision: that one composer is one of the greatest.
I kind of hate Tchaikovsky yet he is a great composer for other people. So does that mean he's great because I don't like him or does it mean he's great whether I want him to or not?
I suggest you may be rephrase your question to a more strict question. Yours is too broad . . .
suhwahaksaeng says
Whenever anyone asks who is the most overrated and the most underrated composer of all times, I respond with Tschaikovsky's name for both questions.
The general public likes lovely melodies–which is Tschaikovsky's strong point–
while the conservatory elite respects ingenuity in organizing material–which is Tschaikovsky's weak point.
(Whenever anyone asks what is the most beautiful melody we've ever heard, I always answer with the well-known theme from Swan Lake.)
To test these two statements, listen to the first movement of any concerto or symphony by Tschaikovsky.
Betcha you will enjoy the first and last parts but not the middle part.
That's because the first part is the exposition, in which two or more melodies are presented.
The second part is the development, in which those melodies are fragmented, modulated, and contrapuntalized.
The third part is the recapitulation, in which those melodies are presented for one last time.
Of the lesser-known compositions mentioned by the third respondent, the only one I know is the Serenade for Strings.
His Russian folk songs for piano duet are nice.
That's because the task involved exposing, but not developing or recapitulating.
del_icious_manager says
Your question has many layers; each of which can have a different answer.
Tchaikovsky is certainly one of the 'greats' as far as the lazy listening public is concerned – as long as you don't ask most of them to be more adventurous than listening to the violin and first piano concertos, the last three symphonies, the 'Romeo and Juliet' overture or the 1812 Overture. There are some of Tchaikovsky's finest works that never (or hardly ever) make concert programmes (eg the 'Manfred' and third symphonies, the Second Piano Concerto, the three string quartets and the incidental music to 'The Snow Maiden'). The Serenade for Strings is certainly one of his finest moments and, I am glad to say, receives quite a few performances.
You are correct that Tchaikovsky's music often creaks at the seams structurally (the first movement of the First Piano Concerto and the last movement of the Fifth Symphony being two supreme examples). However, this hasn't stopped his music (or at least a handful of pieces) becoming very popular. It would be difficult to deny Tchaikovsky's lyrical melodic gift – he certainly knew how to write a good tune – or his ability to turn the emotional screws harmonically.
As good as Brahms? I'm not a great fan of Brahms, but his sense of form and structure was far more disciplined and well-executed than Tchaikovsky's. No, Tchaikovsky was not as great a composer as Brahms, but he wrote better melodies.
"Can he be in the top 10 greatest composers of all time?" Depends on your criteria. One of the most popular box office draws? Certainly. One of the top 10 truly GREAT composers? Of course not. I could easily rattle-off 10 composers' names who I think most people would agree would have to be considered 'greater' and more important than Tchaikovsky:
JS Bach
Beethoven
Brahms
Mozart
(there, those four were easy!)
Handel
Haydn
Monteverdi
Stravinsky
Verdi
Wagner
There! That was an easy 10 names – and I missed-out many more, of course.
drakolan says
Critics always find some problem with great composers.
Schumann had trouble with orchestration.
Verdi loathed Beethoven's 9th because of the way he uses the human voice.
Schubert from time to time would hammer away at a single idea far too much, etc. etc. etc.
Would you consider any of THOSE composers overrated?
i. jones says
Architectural flaws pointed out by music critics that you would never have discovered on your own.
… If we could just get past the overexposure of The 1812, Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Piano Concerto #1 .