A curated collection of 300 classical works and cycles: symphonies, concertos, keyboard music, opera, chamber and choral music. Explore composers, background and listening guides.
One entry per work or cycle. Whole symphonies, operas and sets count as one entry. The collection draws on the supplied candidate lists and is presented alphabetically rather than as a definitive ranking.
300 matching works | Showing 151-175 | Page 7 of 12
Composition: 1899-1900
Mahler built his Fourth Symphony around a pre-existing song that presents a child's vision of heavenly life. The soprano enters only in the finale, after three instrumental movements have prepared its musical world. Sleigh bells,...
Composition: 1901-1902
Mahler's Fifth returns to an entirely instrumental symphonic design after works that used voices. Its five movements are grouped into three larger parts, beginning with a trumpet-led funeral march and moving through a large central...
Composition: 1903-1904; revised before and after the 1906 premiere
Mahler's Sixth combines a forceful march character with an exceptionally large finale. Cowbells and more distant orchestral colors interrupt the denser writing, while hammer strokes mark major events near the work's conclusion. The...
Composition: 1904-1905
Mahler placed two movements titled Nachtmusik around a central scherzo, creating a five-movement symphony with contrasting kinds of night music at its centre. The second Nachtmusik introduces guitar and mandolin into the orchestra. A...
Composition: 1906 (principal composition)
Mahler's Eighth brings voices to the center of its entire two-part design. A Latin hymn invoking the creative spirit is paired with the closing scene of Goethe's Faust, joining texts from very different periods. Themes connect the two...
Composition: 1909-1910
Mahler's Ninth surrounds two more animated middle movements with exceptionally spacious outer movements. Dance rhythms become unsettled in the Landler, while the Rondo-Burleske uses tightly interwoven lines and sharp contrasts. The...
Composition: 1945
Martinu completed his Fourth Symphony in the United States in 1945 and dedicated it to Helene and William Ziegler. Its four movements include a scherzo before the slow movement, with a broad finale completing the sequence. The score...
Composition: 1951-1953
Martinu's final symphony carries the title Fantaisies symphoniques, reflecting a freer approach to the growth of its musical material. Short motifs are repeated and transformed across three movements, and a passage recalls his opera...
Composition: 1840
Mendelssohn described Lobgesang as a symphony-cantata, with three instrumental movements leading into a substantial sequence for solo voices and chorus. Biblical texts organize its progression toward collective praise. The musical...
Composition: 1842 (completion)
Mendelssohn linked the beginning of this symphony to impressions of Holyrood during his Scottish travels. He completed the work more than a decade later, shaping four movements intended to follow one another closely. Darker introductory...
Composition: 1833 (first version)
Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony reflects impressions from his travels without supplying a detailed narrative. The buoyant opening contrasts with a measured slow movement and a graceful third movement. The finale uses rapid Italian dance...
Composition: 1844 (completion)
Mendelssohn developed his E-minor concerto in consultation with violinist Ferdinand David. The soloist enters almost immediately, and the cadenza appears within the first movement's unfolding structure rather than simply at its end....
Composition: 1946-1948
Messiaen's ten-movement Turangalila-Symphonie combines a virtuoso piano part with the electronic sound of the ondes Martenot and a large percussion section. Recurring themes connect movements concerned with love, time, joy, and...
Composition: 1937
Moeran's four-movement symphony brings together broad orchestral writing, a slow Lento, a quick Vivace and a finale that begins slowly before accelerating. He composed much of it in County Kerry and specifically connected the slow...
Premiere: 1787 (Prague premiere)
Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte treat the Don Juan story through an unstable mixture of comedy, social conflict, and supernatural judgment. Servants and aristocrats pursue different plans while the central character repeatedly evades...
Composition: 1787
Eine kleine Nachtmusik is a string serenade whose familiar opening combines a forceful arpeggio with an immediate answering gesture. Its surviving movements include a Romanze, minuet and trio, and a lively finale. Mozart's own catalogue...
Premiere: 1785
Mozart's D-minor concerto opens with restless orchestral motion before the soloist introduces a contrasting idea. It is one of only two of his original piano concertos in a minor key. The central Romance creates a calmer setting but...
Composition: 1785
Mozart's C-major concerto sets a ceremonial orchestral manner beside delicate exchanges with the piano. The famous slow movement is only one part of a work whose outer movements are more animated and dramatic. Like his other Vienna...
Composition: 1786
Mozart gives this A-major concerto a particularly warm wind sound by using clarinets in the ensemble. Its lyrical first movement is followed by a slow movement in F-sharp minor, an unusual key in his output. The finale restores animated...
Composition: 1791 (unfinished by Mozart)
Mozart's final Requiem survives as a mixture of completed music, unfinished sections, and additions made after his death. The commission was associated with Count Franz von Walsegg's memorial for his wife. Constanze Mozart arranged for...
Composition: 1773
Mozart's first G-minor symphony opens with repeated syncopations and angular melodic motion. The expanded horn group adds weight to the orchestra, while contrasting sections show a growing command of longer instrumental forms. Its...
Composition: 1774
Mozart's A-major symphony achieves considerable variety with a relatively small orchestra. The first movement begins quietly with a distinctive octave gesture, allowing the music to gather energy rather than announce itself at full...
Composition: 1782-1783
Mozart first wrote this music for a Salzburg celebration honoring the Haffner family in 1782. He then reshaped it for a Vienna concert as a four-movement symphony, removing celebratory material and adding flute and clarinet colour to...
Composition: 1783
Mozart wrote the Linz Symphony during an unplanned stop in that city in 1783, when a concert required a new orchestral work at short notice. It was his first symphony to open with a slow introduction. Four movements combine ceremonial...
Composition: 1786
Mozart brought this symphony to Prague, where The Marriage of Figaro had been enthusiastically received. The work has three movements and no minuet, but its long opening introduction and intricate main movement give it substantial...
The 300-entry selection uses the 100 general favorites in the supplied classical list, then adds the earliest 200 nonduplicate symphony candidates in the supplied order. It is a curated discovery collection, not a universal popularity ranking. One work or cycle counts as one entry; movements and performances are not separately counted. Titles, musical forms, chronology and version notes are reviewed against the cited sources. Composition, premiere and publication dates are labeled separately; uncertainty is retained. Era and listening suggestions are editorial aids.
1960-2025. Each year contains 150 selections.