Friday, January 23, 2009

1875


I made this chart using data I produced using a simple computer program. It shows how many of the composers from my list of 51 (see Composers) were living during each year, from 1678 to 1976.

The single highest total for any year was 28, in 1875. If you were alive in 1875, you could have met the following people:
  • Tchaikovsky
  • Brahms
  • Verdi
  • Grieg
  • Debussy
  • Liszt
  • Dvorak
  • Sibelius
  • Puccini
  • Wagner
  • Strauss II
  • Rachmaninov
  • Bizet
  • Ravel
  • Saint-Saens
  • Rimsky-Korsakov
  • Elgar
  • Strauss
  • Massenet
  • Faure
  • Mahler
  • Gounod
  • Nielsen
  • Glazunov
  • Mussorgsky
  • Bruckner
  • Vaughan Williams
  • Offenbach
During 1875, the world saw the premieres of Bizet's Carmen (in Paris) and Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 (in Boston). Bizet died later that year, a few months after Carmen's premiere.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is the most interesting graph yet. It'd be cool to do for other disciplines too, like literature or inventors.

Bill Krueger said...

I wonder if the graphs would have things in common. It's interesting how all the arts tend to mirror one another. On the other hand, I've always thought there is more of a consensus opinion for classical music than there is for other arts. Maybe it's because classical music (especially before 1900 or so) is more mathematical in nature.