I'm surprised no one has mentioned Puccini, oh the horror of it all
Classical music is sometimes stereotyped as 'boring' and other such ignorant comments, yet in the UK the radio station Classic FM has the most amount of listeners gained each year than any other radio station. I was quite overjoyed when they introduced the Classic FM tv channel a few years ago (nerdy of me I realise) mainly because they play alot of contemporary Classical stuff aswell as New Age. I've always been a huge admirer of this genre, I believe it's the BASE and source for all other genres.
Have to say I do have a soft spot for Mozart. What a guy! Has anyone seen the film amadeus amadeus? He would write his music from the top of his head. No mistakes. No crossings out. Every note was exact and precise, almost as if some kind of force was feeding him the information. Mind boggling stuff.