10 Iconic Musical Feuds: Composer vs. Composer Insults

Sir Thomas Beecham, a renowned 19th and 20th-century English conductor, was celebrated for his revolutionary contributions to orchestras throughout the UK. Equally famous were his sharp wit and unyielding critiques on music, spanning critics, instruments, compositions, and even their creators.

Beecham famously compared the harpsichord's sound to “two skeletons copulating on a tin roof during a thunderstorm.” He dismissed Beethoven’s 7th Symphony as “a herd of yaks leaping around.” Edward Elgar’s 1st Symphony, he said, resembled “the architecture of St. Pancras station.” Bach, he claimed, suffered from “an excess of counterpoint—and worse, Protestant counterpoint.” When asked if he had ever performed works by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Beecham allegedly quipped, “No, but I once stepped in something similar.”

Sir Thomas Beecham wasn’t alone in his candid critiques of fellow musicians. From Beethoven to Stravinsky, here are 10 of the most scathing remarks ever made in the classical music world.

1. WEBER ON BEETHOVEN

Beecham wasn’t the only one unimpressed by Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, even though it became an immediate sensation during its premiere in 1813. Beethoven himself conducted the debut, delivering a wildly animated performance that he later hailed as one of his finest achievements. The famous Allegretto movement, famously featured in the finale of The King’s Speech, was so well-received that the audience insisted on an encore. However, Carl Maria von Weber, a contemporary of Beethoven, was less enthusiastic. In an 1840 biography by Anton Schindler, Weber remarked, “This genius’s excesses have reached their ne plus ultra,” adding that Beethoven was “clearly ready for the madhouse.”

2. BEETHOVEN ON ROSSINI

While Weber criticized Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, Beethoven himself was equally vocal about his peers. Gioachino Rossini, the composer behind The Barber of Seville and William Tell, was the target of one such remark. Beethoven allegedly joked that Rossini “could have been a great composer if his teacher had disciplined him more.”

3. BEETHOVEN ON HAYDN

Regarding Josef Haydn, Beethoven once remarked, “I never gained any knowledge from him.” This statement came despite Haydn having served as Beethoven’s piano instructor at one point.

4. BERLIOZ ON HANDEL

Beethoven held George Frideric Handel in high regard, once calling him “the greatest composer who ever lived.” Haydn also admired Handel, reportedly shedding tears of joy upon hearing the "Hallelujah Chorus" for the first time. Mozart, too, praised Handel, describing his music as “striking like a thunderbolt.” However, the French composer Hector Berlioz was far less complimentary, dismissing Handel as “a tub of pork and beer.”

5. MENDELSSOHN ON BERLIOZ

If Berlioz’s critique of Handel seemed harsh, Felix Mendelssohn offered a scathing rebuttal. In an 1831 letter, he described Berlioz as “a complete oddity, utterly devoid of talent.”

6. SHOSTAKOVICH ON PUCCINI

During the late 1960s, amidst the Cold War, English composer Benjamin Britten formed a close friendship with several Russian composers, including Dmitri Shostakovich. In one of their Moscow meetings, they discussed Giacomo Puccini, the Italian composer behind La Bohème and Madame Butterfly. “His operas are terrible,” Britten confessed. “No, Ben, you’re mistaken,” Shostakovich responded. “He composed brilliant operas, but the music itself is awful.”

7. TCHAIKOVSKY ON BRAHMS

Like Sir Thomas Beecham, playwright George Bernard Shaw was notorious for his unfiltered opinions, including his take on German composer Johannes Brahms. “Some sacrifices shouldn’t be asked of anyone twice,” Shaw once remarked, “and one of them is enduring Brahms’ Requiem.” Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was even harsher. In his diary entry from October 9, 1886, Tchaikovsky wrote, “I’ve played through the works of that rogue Brahms. What a talentless wretch!”

8. COPLAND ON RACHMANINOFF

As Soviet Russia imposed restrictions on artistic expression in the early to mid-20th century, many of Russia’s renowned composers and artists fled to the West. In reaction, Western composers, including American composer Aaron Copland, began to develop their own distinct styles and resist Russian influences. Copland once remarked, “The thought of enduring one of his lengthy symphonies or piano concertos frankly disheartens me. So many notes... but for what purpose?”

9. PROKOFIEV ON STRAVINSKY

East vs. West critiques were already sharp, but Sergei Prokofiev took it further by targeting fellow Eastern European composer Igor Stravinsky, claiming his music resembled “Bach hitting all the wrong notes.”

10. STRAVINSKY ON VIVALDI

Stravinsky held a dim view of Antonio Vivaldi, the Italian Baroque composer famous for The Four Seasons. He dismissed Vivaldi as “wildly overrated” and, even more harshly, “a tedious individual.”