Great Works of Music

The Great Works Music list is not intended to be comprehensive or exhaustive. The list is simply a representation of some of the great musical creations in the world. You need not experience the music below, though the music you do choose to experience should be of similar quality.

Medieval/Renaissance

Gregorian chants
Machaut, Messe de Nostre Dame
Byrd, Mass for Four Voices
Farmer, Fair Phyllis
Monteverdi, Vespers
Tallis, Spem in alium

Baroque/Classical

J.S. Bach, Brandenburg Concertos
Handel, Messiah
Vivaldi, The Four Seasons
Haydn, The Creation
Mozart, Marriage of Figaro
Beethoven, Symphony No. 9

Romantic

Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique
Brahms, Symphony No. 4
Chopin, Piano Concerto No. 2
Dvorak, New World Symphony
Liszt, Faust Symphony
Mendelssohn, Elijah
Schumann, Carnival
Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker
Wagner, Tristan and Isolde

20th Century

Bartok, Concerto for Orchestra
Copland, Appalachian Spring
Debussy, Three Nocturnes
Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue
Mahler, Symphony No. 1
Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 2
Ravel, Le Tombeau de Couperin
Strauss, Don Juan
Stravinsky, Rite of Spring