In addition to melody, great and beautiful classical symphonies must display a mastery of structure and orchestration, a command of tone color and harmony, and an expertise in developing musical ideas. Here are the ten most beautiful symphonies ever composed.
“Imagination creates reality.”
—Richard Wagner
Though beauty is an absolute reality, we human beings see through a glass darkly, and the space between objective beauty and our own personal taste can be fuzzy. Any list that seeks to rank the most beautiful works of any kind is thus going to be subjected to fierce debate. All this, I suppose, is an attempt to inoculate myself against the harshest of criticism, which I will undoubtedly receive, for the attempt below to rank the ten most beautiful symphonies ever composed.
In picking my top ten, I evaluated pieces largely on their mysterious ability to touch the deepest part of the soul. Only pieces that have great melodies can do this. Though melody is only one component of musical composition, it is the bone on which a piece is built, “the essence of music,” as Wolfgang Mozart put it. Melody largely went out of fashion as the twentieth century wore on, as lesser composers incapable of writing a decent tune tried to turn the concept of beauty on its head by creating new standards for composition and by mocking the masters of melody as vulgar populists. The great villains here at those three stooges of atonality, those emperors without clothes of the Second Viennese School: Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern.
In addition to melody, of course, great and beautiful symphonies must display a mastery of structure and orchestration, a command of tone color and harmony, and an expertise in developing musical ideas.
Joseph Haydn and Mozart were the greatest, earliest exponents of symphonic form. Their symphonies and orchestral works, however, were generally intended to entertain, to dazzle and not to plumb the depths of the soul. Haydn may never have aimed to create works with this end in mind, and for Mozart it was within the dramatic structure of opera that he would attempt such feats. These great composers therefore do not appear on this list, despite their seemingly inexhaustible ability to generate wonderful melodies.
Symphonic works began to aim at expressing the deepest emotions during the so-called Romantic period, which developed in the early 1800s and ended in the mid-twentieth century. Beethoven helped birth the Romantic period, and the era saw its final great exponents in Sergei Rachmaninoff and Gustav Mahler. The compositions on this list come from this period.
10. Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Symphony in F sharp major, op. 40
It is a shame that Korngold is thought of mainly as a film composer (having written the musical score for, among other films, several Errol Flynn swashbucklers and Bette Davis dramas), for he composed plenty of “serious” classical compositions as well, most significantly his sole symphony (composed in 1952). It is a mighty creation, its ominous opening grabbing the listener’s attention immediately. After a first movement that is both mysterious and beautiful follows an energetic scherzo, then a meditative adagio, and a jaunty finale. Indeed, Korngold’s symphony is the last great work composed in this genre.
9. César Franck: Symphony in D minor
Written in 1888, Belgian composer Franck’s symphony was largely ridiculed after its premier by French critics, who thought it both simplistic in concept and overblown in execution. But the work was instantly popular in the rest of Europe and in the United States. Though it slowly fell out of favor with the public as the twentieth century progresses, it deserves a revival in the concert hall today, as it is both beautiful and brilliant. Arranged in three movements (instead of four as was the case with most late-Romantic symphonies), the symphony combines a French cyclic thematic structure—with the central motif, based on the famous “Muss es sein?” theme of Beethoven’s last string quartet—with Germanic orchestration. In the wake of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, such a musical fusion was politically incorrect—another factor in the work’s initial unpopularity. The first movement opens mysteriously, then soars dramatically; the second, is lugubrious, with pizzicato strings and a haunting theme played on cor anglais; the third movement is one of tremendously high spirits that introduces a new, ebullient theme, and at the same time summarizes earlier themes. “They do not return as quotations, however,” the composer explained. “I have elaborated them and given them the role of new elements.” Franck’s symphony fulfills the definition of a great artistic creation in that it innovates, but only organically from musical tradition.
8. Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C major, D. 944
Though some may argue for his famous “Unfinished” symphony (No. 8) instead, Schubert’s Ninth is a mighty ninth indeed, full of majesty and power. If it lacks that one searing melody that burns through to the soul, it compensates by a sheer hour of unabated excitement, from the fetching horn call of its opening, through the galloping syncopations of the first movement, to the mysterious tread of the second movement and the chrysalis-like undulations of the third, and at last to the unrivaled high spirits of its finale. In listening to this work, one feels himself a giant striding the tallest mountain peaks, breaking through the enigmatic fog, and stretching towards the very outskirts of eternity.
7. Felix Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 2 (“Hymn of Praise”) in B flat major, Op. 52
Despite its numbering, the “Lobgesang” (“Hymn of Praise”) is actually the the fourth of five symphonies composed by Felix Mendelssohn and is something of a hybrid symphony-cantata. Its clear model is Beethoven’s great Ninth Symphony; both works begin with three purely orchestral movements followed by a massive finale with soloists and chorus, which recalls themes from the earlier movements. Whereas Beethoven used words from Friedrich Schiller’s poem “Ode to Joy,” Mendelssohn—a Jewish convert to Protestantism, whose surname was officially changed to Mendelssohn-Bartholdy—set words of Scripture to music. The “Hymn of Praise” was commissioned to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press and was first performed in 1840. Its opening, noble theme, played on trombones, is unforgettable, and its return at the beginning of the finale, followed by the initial outburst of the chorus singing words from Psalm 150, is positively thrilling.
6. Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 6 in A minor
Known mainly for its dreadful opening march and the hammer-blows of fate that conclude the piece, Mahler’s generally turbulent Sixth contains one of his most heart-rending passages. With the lilting, pastoral tune of the third movement (sometimes placed second, as Mahler himself pondered whether to do this), complete with cowbells, we are suddenly wandering in Elysian fields and through the passages of mountains whose high peaks seem to reach to Heaven itself. Storms and judgment loom on both sides of us, but for this interlude at least, we are at peace with the Creator.
5. Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125
Though sometimes dubbed the “Choral” symphony, Beethoven’s mighty Ninth is technically a symphony with voices in the fourth and final movement; both soloists and chorus sing the words of Friedrich Schiller’s poem, “Ode to Joy.” The theme of that movement is the most famous melody in the work, yet it is the sublime third movement that wins the Ninth a place on this list. This is not Beethoven storming the Heavens, as he did so often, but carrying us gently upwards into Elysium.
4. Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, B. 178 (“From the New World”)
An argument can be made that his Seventh and Eighth Symphonies are greater than his final essay in that form, but there is no denying that the second movement of the “New World Symphony” contains one of Dvořák’s most gorgeous tunes. This is claiming quite a bit, for the Czech composer was one of the greatest geniuses of melody in the history of music. A Nationalist like his compatriot, Smetana, Dvořák spent three years in America, conducting in New York and residing for a summer with the Czech community of Spillville, Iowa. Dvořák sought to incorporate traditional American tunes and idioms, including those of Native and African Americans, in the music he composed for his host country. In so doing, he created a music for America greater than that of any native-born composer.
3. Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 82
Jean Sibelius was sometimes derided in his day (the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth) for being too conservative, an observation that is probably not true, and if it is, hardly constitutes a criticism. Critics were largely jealous of his ability to write brilliantly and melodically within established symphonic forms—a feat that may be more difficult than achieving radical originality. “Never pay any attention to what critics say,” Sibelius was reported to have said. “Remember, a statue has never been set up in honor of a critic!” Sibelius’ symphonic oeuvre contains many wonderful melodies, but it is his Fifth Symphony that probably tops them all. It begins right away with a gorgeous tune, like the sunrise over a wintry, Scandinavian landscape, and it concludes with a pulsating melody that seems to cast its light across that landscape and into every dark corner of the world. “I begin to see the mountain that I shall surely ascend,” Sibelius said as he composed this work. “God opens his door for a moment and His orchestra plays the Fifth Symphony.”
2. Sergei Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27
If ever a great composer was wrongly derided for his supposedly superficial ability to spin tunes, it was Rachmaninoff. Though he may not have excelled in every genre of music composition at which he tried his hand, when it came to the symphony he created an indisputable masterpiece. The Second Symphony boasts heartbreaking melodies in the first and, especially, the fourth movements. These are intertwined within a powerful symphonic structure that renders this piece one of the greatest achievements of the Romantic era and of music history.
1. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 (“Pathétique”)
Few pieces rival the catharsis of Tchaikovsky’s final symphony. Beginning quietly and darkly, a tune of almost unbearable melancholy soon blossoms from the mists. After a turbulent section kicked off by an orchestral thunderclap, the melancholy main theme reappears and then dissolves to close out the massive, twenty-minute-long first movement. The second movement, which one conductor described as “the ladies and gentlemen skating on the ice,” is a waltz that provides a balm to the listener; yet there are hints of trouble beneath the surface calm. This is thin ice indeed. The third movement is a powerful march, which should take flight into a carefree, jaunty martial celebration… yet again something is wrong, something is held back by Tchaikovsky. The fourth movement is a radical conclusion to a symphony, a brooding adagio, which erupts at times into nightmarish storms, and which decays into nothingness at the conclusion, the symphony ending much as it begun. Has the Angel of Death, who hovered over the entire piece, at last arrived? In an incredible innovation, Tchaikovsky has no single instrumental group play this movement’s main theme; that theme is instead a product of the interaction among different sections of the orchestra. The listener is hearing a tune that no one is playing.
“I have put my whole soul into this work,” Tchaikovsky said of the symphony he deemd “the best thing I have composed.” He died a few days after conducting its premier. Tchaikovsky gave the symphony a Russian title, “Патетическая” (“Patetitčeskaja”), which best translates into English as “passionate.” (The French nickname given to this work, “Pathétique,” unfortunately is too close to our meaning, “evoking pity.”) It was discovered after his death that Tchaikovsky, who intended the work to be programmatic, had appended titles to the four movements: “Life,” “Love,” “Disappointment,” and “Death.”
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This essay was first published here in November 2013.
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How one ranks the Mahler symphonies with respect to each other is always interesting…..
Great choices, but I’d hate to let “villain” be the last word on Arnold Schoenberg. “Verklarte Nacht” (“Transfigured Night”), one of Schoenberg’s early works, is a beautiful composition. So enchanting is the piece that I once ran a stop sign while listening to it in my car. No injuries.
Thanks for the list. But I think Mozart’s later symphonies fit your criterion of “plumbing the depths of the soul.” The longing — for heaven? for love? — in the 2nd movement of No. 40 is incomparable. Go listen.
Mark Cole: Mahler’s Fourth would have been #11. Kenneth Cote: OK, I will give “Verklarte Nacht” a listen again after 20-some years.
Ah, Christophe, Mozart has long been my favorite composer. I considered the late symphonies, and one of them would have been in the 12-15 range for sure on my list.
Where is Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony??
No Brahms?
Ah, John, yes, Schubert’s “Unfinished” was considered also. Another runner-up.
I am very fond of the American romantic, Howard Hanson. His Second Symphony has a profound sense of landscape, the pioneer spirit, and a truly American voice, although perhaps one might call him the American Sibelius. I would also suggest Elgar’s symphonies as examples of works that suggest the greatness of a civilisation and nation. Vaughan Williams, too, deserves to be high on our list of great achievements – RVW often creating a peculiar atmosphere of mystery, and unanswered questions.
As with the opera article, I found myself reflecting on the idea that beauty will overcome PC, because whatever is done to make the music/operas “correct” ends in disfiguring so as to create ugliness. They either have to leave it alone (yay for the good guys), or banish it (wherein it becomes desirable as a forbidden fruit.)
Interesting choices but I think I would have placed the Rachmaninov 2nd in the Number 1 spot. To me the third movement is the most beautiful music ever written. It will be played at my wake and I shall hear it.
I thoroughly agree with you. Just Listening to the Gergiev/Kirov version as I type this. Although i would quickly follow it with the last 2 movements of Mahler’s Ressurrection to ensure a speedy entry though the pearly gates (or not)
!. Any Beethoven or Brahns symphony over anything by Mahler. The Pastorale Symphony is amazing.
2. Mozart’s later symphonies are soul-stirring. they’re just not neurotic.
3. What about Gluck’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits. Take it over the Siegfired Idyll any day.
To Mr. Kempke: I had the Rachmaninov 2 anywhere between #2 and #5 in my earlier drafts. I would never place it above the Tchaikovsky 6 though. To Mr. Grimm: I was bending things as it was by including a 20-minute tone poem in this article; a 7-minute piece would have been breaking my own rules. I would still put the Idyll above the DOTBS in any case. The former plumbs the depths, while the latter is pretty music, in my opinion. As I said above, I did consider Mozart’s late symphonies for this list.
Sibelius 7
1. Schumann’s Fourth or Third
2. Schumann’s Fourth or Third
3. Tchaikovsky’s Fifth or Sixth
4. Tchaikovsky’s Fifth or Sixth
5. Dvorak’s Ninth
and then there is a lot of room before others.
No Bruckner? He seems always to be overshadowed by Mahler.
Gorecki’s 3rd (beatiful-maudlin/uplifting) Brahm’s 3rd (beautiful-makes me feel like a warrior)
Thanks very much for your insights and for posting the list.
I’m an ignoramus when it comes to classical music. I only know that I enjoy it. So, thank you for this article, I’m looking forward to many hours of musical joy 😀
I’ve always loved Brahms’s 1st and 4th Symphonies, but his hatred of cats, like Wagner’s hatred of Jews, makes me deeply suspicious about the state of his own soul.
In my opinion a top 10 most beautiful symphony list must include Beethoven’s 3rd Sympohoiny (Eroica) and Mahler’s 2nd (Resurrection)
I usually agree with 95% of what IC stands for. But this Top 10 has a subjective dimension and I would like to mention some important unavoidable works: 1. Beethoven’s Eroica, 2. Brahms’ 1st Symphony, 3. VERY IMPORTANT – Anton Bruckner’s 7th and 8th Symphonies, 4. Schubert’s Unfinished, 5. Mahler’s Titan, 6. Tchaikisvki’s NEGLECTED Manfred Symphony, 7. Richard Strauss’ Alpensinfonie und, indeed, 8. Schoenberg’ Verklarte Nacht. 🙂
Why do people always consider Tschaikovsky’s 6th to be so amazing? It’s a good work, for sure, but I know of a few that are much better. Shostakovich’s 5th, for example. Or Beethoven’s 3rd, 5th, or 6th. Or Brahms’s 1st or 4th.
I’m a musical ignoramus, but I like what I like, and came upon this website to find a great Mahler symphony. Years ago – decades ago – I’d tried Mahler and found nothing there for me. Yet many, like Stephen K, include Mahler in their lists of greatest composers. Time to try Mahler again.
So I’m writing this after listening to the recommended Symphony #5.
Meh. Allowing that yes, the 4th movement is sublime.
Now I’m trying #6. So far, also meh. Lot of artificial excitement that goes nowhere.
Both were part of the Leonard Bernstein “Complete Symphonies” CD set, borrowed from the public library, if that matters.
I loved “Melody largely went out of fashion as the twentieth century wore on, as lesser composers incapable of writing a decent tune tried to turn the concept of beauty on its head by creating new standards for composition and by mocking the masters of melody as vulgar populists.” Incapable of writing a decent tune! Ha! And perfectly said.
It’s a warhorse, but Beethoven’s 5th has to included in any list of greatest symphonies. I happened to hear his 9th just the other week (in San Antonio). Yes, with a huge wonderful choir, and yes, it’s magnificent, but the 5th is the one I’d keep if forced to choose between them.
Glad to see Dvorak’s New World on this list. It’s so beautiful I fear it often gets neglected as not “serious” enough. A symphony I loved in my youth, and still do today fifty years later.
There, I’ve displayed for all the world to see that I’m an idiot.
Oh yes, I’ve tried Mahler too, and except for that immortal 5th symphony 4th mov I find his music largely dysfunctional, wandering, noisy, lost, unpleasant to the ear, and generally disorienting. May be just my ignorance.But it feels like music completely out of my zone. I still wonder how he even featured on the list of greats! What a fall from Beethoven to the 20th century!
And in my list would be Beethoven 9,7,6,5,3. Mozart 41, 40. Brahms 1,2,3,4. Schubert unfinished.
I quite agree with you. Beethoven’s symphonies should be on the top. I would also include the 4th one. Not too popular but stunning (I have just discovered it recently).
happy to see korngold and rachmaninoff in here. great list!
Has anyone heard Brahms 2! second movement has some incredible harmonies
Who could ever possibly say what the most beautiful, greatest is? I was a ballet dancer for years, I adore Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Pas de Deux. Gives me chills when I hear it. I adore Gershwin, Brahms, Rachmaninoff. There is no possible way to choose any list of the greatest …just my opinion. Any and all music is “to each their own”, within their soul!…
Kelley, I hear you…because I had the same problem when compiling my Deserted Island Music list. Here’s how the tenth/last entry started:
“Well, here I am, at the last of my ten Deserted Island selections. Where’s the blues? The bluegrass? The jazz?
And especially, where’s the classical?
Now how is it possible to choose just one CD of classical music? Even one composer of classical music?
The CDs on my shelf include works by Bach, Beethoven, Bizet, Chopin, Dvorak, Gershwin, Grieg, Haydn, Khatchaturian, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Offenbach, Orff, Paganini, Puccini, Rachmaninoff, Rossini, Schumann, Sibelius, St Saens, Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi ….
How can I possibly choose the “best” or “favorite” of them?
So I’m backing out. I’m choosing none of them.”
I chose Philip Glass.
Choosing one’s favorite music is like choosing one’s favorite child. I’m sure somebody’s already said that.
Excellent choices, only awesome symphonies here. That said, I would like to say that I missed a Brahms symphony somewhere in it though.
I am astonished that you did not put Shostakovich’s Symphony no 10 near the top. He is off the list completely!
i found number three like all the others im sure but its melody of the instruments all playing at different timbres is incredible and im not usually one who listens to this kind of mucic but it was truly beautiful.
Elio Zappulla
Mr, Klugewicz has exquisite taste! Bravo!
what about Smetana’s Vlatava (moldau)
It’s not a symphony.
Mendelssohn 2! Love it. The inner movements are indescribably gorgeous; the watchman sequence and finale soul-stirring and thrilling. And then there’s that heavenly duet. Wonderful choice.
I think he nailed it with this list. The second movement of No 6 is quite possibly the most beautiful thing in all of Creation… in music or otherwise.
Great list, I was surprised by Rachmaninov in the top few and now having heard it for the first time I agree, beautiful. However I’m further surprised to see Mahlers nihilistic 6th in there rather than his 3rd, 5th or 7th, and unlike a previous post I would have say Mahler for me takes music to a place unimaginably beautiful for mortal man! 🙂
Is the dictum “De Gustibus non est disputandum” not applicable? Is beauty NOT subjective? Is that right? As long as you’re willing to put 2500 years of aesthetic criticism in the wastebasket. What about the “Sublime”?
There are innumerable lists put out by reputable sources of the ten greatest symphonies, but it ultimately must remain a personal choice.
Here is a list, from someone with more than a half-century of listening experience, who is a lay expert in musicology and the cultural context of art. While Symphonic poems are a newer genre I’ve included a few as well
1) and 2) Beyond discussion-Beethoven’s 3rd “Eroica” and the 9th (it is acceptable to flip flop their relative position)
3) Brahms 4th
4) Beethoven 7th
5) Brahms 3rd
6) Mozart 40th
7) Dvorak 7th
8) Schumann 2nd
9) Tchaikovsky 6th “Pathetique”
10) Any of the first 6 of Haydn’s “London or Solomon Symphonies”
11) Mozart 41st “Jupiter”
12) Berlioz Symphony Fantastique
13) Brahms 2nd
14) Dvorak 9th “From the New World”
15) Beethoven 6th “Pastoral”
16) Beethoven 5th
17) Mendelssohn 4th “Italian”
18) Schumann 3rd “Rhenish”
19) Strauss Symphonic Poem: “Ein Heldenleben”
20) Schoenberg “Pelleas et Melissande”
21) Mahler 2nd
22) Bruckner 8th
23) Holst “The Planets”
24) Mozart 39th
25) Tchaikovsky 5th
I look at symphonies that are amazingly melodic all the way through without too much stormy outbursts. I would select these. Mozart Symphony. No. 29, Schubert Symphony No. 5, Beethoven Symphony No. 3 (which was Beethoven’s favorite), Sibelius Symphony No. 2, Any of the ‘London’ Symphonies of Haydn. You really beat the ‘Clock’ / the ‘Military’ / the ‘London’ Symphonies for pure melodic content and humor. In the Romantic era I would select Brahms Symphony No. 2 and Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5. My favorite Mahler Symphonies for pure melodic are Nos. 4 & 7. I am particularly fond of Bruckner’s Sym. 4 ‘Romantic’
I think Elgar’s Symphony # 1 is more beautiful than any of these.
If only it had a single good tune!
Schubert’s Ninth is the supreme masterpiece. But why no Haydn (Military) or Mozart (Jupiter) in the list. How about Vaughan Williams numbers three and five?
Apparently I know neither the definition of “Beautiful” nor “Symphonies”. For, how does this essay last for 10 years and receive probably 50 additional symphonies for consideration, and not once does Handel’s Messiah not get mentioned once!?!
Was there some fine print criteria I missed that excluded pop holiday tunes by artists who sold out for mass distribution? 😉 Of course, I am enculturated to the extent that I might have added the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack to the list if that exclusion was not in place. So what do I know?
Saint-Saens ‘Organ Symphony’, Beethoven’s entire symphonic output from the 3rd on, Mozart’s late symphonies….
I’m so glad the Korngold is in there! What a pleasant surprise. I think Nielsen’s Fourth Symphony would make my list.
Bruckner ?
Beethoven’s 3rd: his autobiography without a doubt. 1st movement, brilliant young composer — not your father’s Mozart. 2nd movement funeral march — his Heiligenstadt torment. Short 3rd buoyant, commitment movement — his decision to live and write. Magnificent 4th movement, confident and soaring — his launch into a new type of composing and taking the world of music forever with him.
A beautifully researched and well-written article. I like Tchaikovsky 4 better than 6, and Mahler 1, 5, and 9 at least as well as 6. But a list of top symphonies without Brahms 4 or 1? Now that’s a serious issue.
Personally, I would have cited Mahler’s 5th Symphony, rather than the 6th, which also a masterpiece. However, the 5th draws you in right away with a foreboding trumpet call, then leads you on an emotional rollercoaster for the next 90 minutes, featuring one of the single most beautiful and emotional pieces ever written: The 4th movement.
Your introduction and descriptions of symphonies I are excellent. However it is beyond me how you OMIT JOHANNESBURG BRAHMS’ 4 masterpieces from this conversation. I am attending 2 Carnegie Hall performances of these 4. The EROICA OF Ludwig van must be included. I as other astute listeners rank it number one for development, intense emotion, and great thematic material. RECONSIDER s. Get Korngold out of there!
How could you leave Brahms out? His are some of the most melodic, harmonic, and emotional of all composers.
Dear sir it’s unbelievable that you didn’t include any of the Mozart symphonies at least the Prague Symphony should be in this article please give it a listen and reconsider sir
I would replace the Mendelssohn 2nd and the Franck D Minor with the Bruckner 7th and the Shostakovich 5th.