Most influential musician in history (2nd ver.)

[Peter Bolton]

Originally Posted by Ron Ofir

What do you mean by increased emotion? I mean, I find Bach's 3rd Air and his Concerto for two violins in D and Guns N' Roses far more emotional than many Romantic compositions.

I was not implying that there was no highly emotional music prior to Romanticism. Heavens, think of Dido's Lament! Neither was phrase extention something new, it merely became more prevelent. It's purpose is to add additional suspense before the final close. Used well it potentially increases tension and adds power to the music as Bach knew full well. Similarly, phrase truncation can be used to provide shock and surprise. Incidentally, Grieg preferred to stick to the four bar phrases almost exclusively (some regard this as a weakness!).
It is pointless to generalise but most of the pieces that knock me for six when i hear them belong to the Romantic tradition. However, that tradition came almost directly out of the reestablishment of the Bach legacy.

[ttw]

Guido. Invention of the staff inter alia.

[Gazzura]

I, personally, would vote for Brahms. I don't know if it's really true but during my A level course, when analysing the third movement of his Piano Quintet, my teacher said that Brahms tried to make each instrument just as important as each other, as opposed to most Baroque peices (Well, I'm just guessing that). You can also see it thoughout the score

I'm not saying Brahms was the first to do that, though, but it does inspire me when I compose. I tend to try and make each instrument important throughout the movements. That's why I'm not too good when trying to write a concerto... The accompanyment seems to do just as much as the solo instrument.

[Student]

Well, considering any of the older composers influence the newer ones... the older the composer the more influential. Of course, the question is silly since music and history is an ocean of different currents controlled by one overall tide.

[high_school_bassoonist]

philip glass needs to be included, nuff said

[sax_appeal]

Originally Posted by high_school_bassoonist

philip glass needs to be included, nuff said

I would second that.

[sean009]

I would like to go for Beethoven.Really love his music.

[stevel]

I don't know if I already said this or not, but since this is the 2nd version:

Most influential musician in history. Easy. The first.

:-)

Steve

[rockthebox]

HANDS DOWN! Miles Davis

[Dittersdorf]

Anyone interested in learning new stuff related to this topic might want to research Johann Fux. I haven't seen his name mentioned yet. I'm sure some here know of him, but for those who don't, he ought to be one of the high-ranking names any time you're learning about influential musicians.