Anthony Tommasini, the New York Times classical music critic, has just concluded an effort to identify the top composers of all time. I like the idea, and I would like to undertake a similar effort, based on my own methodology. I was educated as a humanist, but I currently work at an engineering school, where data and statistics are considered essential tools in decision making.

I propose identifying the top composers by applying four criteria to the search: 1) The inherent quality of the composer’s works, as measured by generally accepted indicators of quality such as originality, creativity, innovation, and artistry; 2) The extent to which the works influenced later composers and advanced Western music; and 3) the extent to which the composer wrote some individual great works that have become time-honored classics, and 4) the extent to which the composer wrote in a wide number of genres, instrumental formats and musical forms.

I propose to rate each composer under consideration on a 1 to 5 point scale against each of these criteria, with one being the lowest and five being the highest score.

Like Tommasini, I would like to limit the composers under consideration to those who wrote and were most active during the 300 years from about the mid-17th to the mid-20th Century.

You can see how some of these criteria will favor some composers, while other criteria may disadvantage those same composers. Chopin, for example, will score high on criteria 1 (inherent quality) and 3 (wrote works which have become classics), but poorly on criterion 4 (wrote in different genres), as he wrote almost exclusively for the piano.

I will choose the top ten from among a set of composers generally considered the greatest in each cultural and nationalistic tradition. My list: Bach, Barber, Bartok, Beethoven, Berg, Berlioz, Brahms, Britten, Bruckner, Chopin, Copland, Debussy, Dvorak, Faure, Gershwin, Grieg, Handel, Haydn, Ives, Liszt, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Nielsen, Prokofiev, Puccini, Rachmaninov, Ravel, Schoenberg, Schubert, Schumann, Shostakovich, Sibelius, Richard Strauss, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Vaughn Williams, Verdi, Vivaldi, and Wagner.

I realize that it’s dubious to think you could come up with an “objective” list of the top composers; any such list will be shot through with subjectivity. But everyone who considers this question must have some criteria for their choice. I’m just being explicit with mine.

In my next blog, I will apply these criteria and come up with my (unranked) list of the 10 greatest composers of all time. I invite others to come up with their own criteria and lists.

Incidentally, I realize there are no women on the master list of composers; there are myriad cultural and historical reasons why this is so. Still, there were some great women composers, whom I plan to explore at a later time.