King Kong versus Godzilla

The Germans are here and ready to rumble in the World Cup of Composers. This group has several contenders who could take it all.

This bracket is brimming with rivalries and they’re not friendly. We’re talking about rivalries like Duke versus North Carolina in basketball, or Auburn versus Alabama in football.

Brahms, Schumann, and Mendelssohn all want to take Wagner out behind the woodshed, but do any of them have the stones to take him down?

Meanwhile, Wagner wants to beat Meyerbeer senseless.

There are also a couple of “one-hit wonders” in this bracket — Pachelbel and Orff come to mind immediately.

Of course, the 900-pound gorillas in this group are Bach and Beethoven. It’s like King Kong versus Godzilla up in this mug.

Here are the seedings.

• 1. Beethoven versus 16. Paul Hindemith.
• 2. Bach versus 15. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.
• 3. Wagner versus 14. Giacomo Meyerbeer.
• 4. Brahms versus 13. Heinrich Schütz.
• 5. Richard Strauss versus 12. Georg Philipp Telemann.
• 6. Schumann versus 11. Johann Pachelbel.
• 7. Mendelssohn versus 10. Christoph Willibald Gluck.
• 8. Carl Maria von Weber versus 9. Carl Orff.