By Patrick Summers [Playbill, 20 February 2008]

Verdi, Wagner, Massenet, and Puccini wrote only opera, though they each made brief forays into other forms--I classify Verdi's monumental Requiem as his finest work. The focus of Handel's and Bach's lives was vocal music. Mozart, the exception to every rule, was creatively inspired by every musical genre and master of all of them, though he seemed to hold the most affection for stage works.