• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

The 'big three' classical composers

I

Infinite Bubble

Guest
Bach, Mozart and Beethoven are often regarded as the three giants of classical music (the umbrella term, not the period per se). Yeah, they're long gone but it's just for fun, so what do you think? My guesses:

Bach- INTx
Mozart- ENFP
Beethoven- INxJ
 

Aesthete

Gone
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Messages
384
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
1w2
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
I can't say anything as I don't know enough about them. However, I could agree on Mozart: it does have a sort of ENFP-style.:D
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
50,192
MBTI Type
BELF
Enneagram
594
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
What does an "ENFP" style sound like?
 

Aesthete

Gone
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Messages
384
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
1w2
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
What does an "ENFP" style sound like?

I was waiting for somebody to ask that.:D

By "ENFP style", I don't meant that ENFPs will all play similar tunes, but that it has an Ne-like playfulness and jumping-about nature. I don't know if he was ENFP, but, judging by his music, he could have been.
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
50,192
MBTI Type
BELF
Enneagram
594
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Does ESFP sound significantly different? Or ISFP?
 

Aesthete

Gone
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Messages
384
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
1w2
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
Does ESFP sound significantly different? Or ISFP?

No, not really. I guess we could also add those to the list of possibilities.:D I just don't see him as an INTJ or something of the sort, though: we need less serious types for him.
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
50,192
MBTI Type
BELF
Enneagram
594
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
No, not really. I guess we could also add those to the list of possibilities.:D I just don't see him as an INTJ or something of the sort, though: we need less serious types for him.

Wagner is thought to be an INTJ; his work definitely is glorious, but I guess "fun and airy" would not fit him as well. Lol.
 
I

Infinite Bubble

Guest
Mozart had spliced together different styles and melodies that wouldn't normally have worked, but such was his genius that it did. He (probably) absorbed many influences from his tour. Most likely Ne. He also loved partying and the like. He was obviously a Fi-user, if you've read any quotes.

I can see Ti and Si for Bach so I'm heading towards INTP for him.

Not too sure on Beethoven. He was supposedly cold around people, stubborn and difficult to get along with. His music reveals his deep emotional side; Fi. More likely INTJ on this note.

---

I can see Wagner as INTJ. For what it's worth, Chopin was most likely IxFP.
 

Aesthete

Gone
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Messages
384
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
1w2
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
Wagner is thought to be an INTJ; his work definitely is glorious, but I guess "fun and airy" would not fit him as well. Lol.

If I had any ability in reading and writing music, and I decided to become a composer, I think my music would be more similar to Wagner's than to Mozart's. :D Maybe a similar Fi?
 

Aesthete

Gone
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Messages
384
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
1w2
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
Not too sure on Beethoven. He was supposedly cold around people, stubborn and difficult to get along with. His music reveals his deep emotional side; Fi. More likely INTJ on this note.

Feelers can also be cold, stubborn, and difficult to get along with.
 

Stanton Moore

morose bourgeoisie
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
3,900
MBTI Type
INFP
So Beethoven's alleged coldness was a result of his personality being INTJ? Come on. The circularity of typology comes around again.
 
I

Infinite Bubble

Guest
There was no intended emphasis on him being cold. It was merely a reference point. Obviously INTJs can be warm, affectionate and vice-versa for INFJ. But Fi seems to suit him more IMO. If you can see INFJ (or some other type), then by all means, lay down your argument.
 

Aesthete

Gone
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Messages
384
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
1w2
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
There was no intended emphasis on him being cold. It was merely a reference point. Obviously INTJs can be warm, affectionate and vice-versa for INFJ. But Fi seems to suit him more IMO. If you can see INFJ (or some other type), then by all means, lay down your argument.

No, I see Fi, too (judging from the music), but I wouldn't settle on INTJ because of misanthropy.
 

Aesthete

Gone
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Messages
384
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
1w2
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
There was no intended emphasis on him being cold. It was merely a reference point. Obviously INTJs can be warm, affectionate and vice-versa for INFJ. But Fi seems to suit him more IMO. If you can see INFJ (or some other type), then by all means, lay down your argument.

No, I see Fi, too (judging from the music), but I wouldn't settle on INTJ because of misanthropy.
 

Stanton Moore

morose bourgeoisie
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
3,900
MBTI Type
INFP
My reasoning could only consist in descriptions of certain character traits of the person in question. The four letters do just that, only more squishy.

Sure. That's true of typing any person you have never met, and frankly, typing anyone. It's all guess work and imprecision. Typology...party trick!
 

Emotionalogic

New member
Joined
Sep 28, 2013
Messages
123
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
5w4
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Bach: INTP 9w1 I don't know much about his life, but his mastery of counterpoint and craftsmanship suggest t-dom. Counterpoint requires entertaining multiple melodies at once (ne works), and he was a traditionalist (si). He had a big family, which suggests fe.

Mozart: ESTP 3w4 I see se in his hedonism, aestheticism, and focus on the present. He was ti-fe; he produced all his music from his head fully formed, never amending or correcting (ti), and he was social and emotionally open (fe).

Beethoven: INTJ 4w5 A really obvious fi-te; he had no regard for politeness, social standards, or the feelings of others, but he had a very rich inner world of emotion (fi). Unlike Mozart, he would constantly rework his scores until he had them just right (te, implied xxxj). Like House, his inferior se can make him look like a perceiver; he was definitely a slob. But he was also directive, driven, arrogant, single-minded, selfish, uncompromising and controlling. He was an introvert who preferred to focus on his private work rather than form social connections. And he was a Ni user with a strong appreciation for metaphor and archetype (fate knocking at the door...). Of the three big composers, he was the only major innovator (ushering in the romantic movement), and he was certainly ahead of his time. It makes strong intuitive sense for Bach to be a t-dom, Mozart to be an s-dom, and Beethoven to be an n-dom. And I see little ne, he was single-minded and obsessive. INTJ 4s are rare, which is why he's often typed as a fi-dom. Not every tortured artist is fp.
 

Polaris

AKA Nunki
Joined
Apr 7, 2009
Messages
2,529
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
451
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
I think the question of whether Bach (the best music composer ever and my adopted grandfather) was more of a Te type or a Ti type is highly debatable. His music is procedural and rule-based, and much of it is structured using external templates and principles. On the other hand, he had an exceptional talent for drawing out the contrapuntal potential in a melodic passage, and seems to have done so partly as a hobby, judging by the fact that some of his most exemplary work in that regard had little financial potential.

We do have a little bit of information about Bach outside of his music. Going by what I've read about his personality, he seems to have been much more comfortable with controversy than any INTP I've ever encountered. I would say that he was probably a T, though, since he seems to have been largely devoid of interpersonal finesse (people will point to his technical excellence as a sign of him being a T, but that's nothing to go by. There are plenty of Feeler artists who have a strong ability and desire to make their works technically rich, and in Bach's time, technical skill in a composer was much more highly valued than it is today).
 
Last edited:
Top