Composers who wrote just one symphony

[Wheesht]

Unless I simply have not found it in the wealth of information in UC, nobody has yet started a list/discussion of unsung composers who wrote just one symphony. I recently listened to a CD again that I had almost forgotten I had - and I thought the only symphony by André Messager (written when he was 22) was actually quite a charming work that merits repeated listening. It is on a Skarbo CD (SK3921), a live recording from 1992 played by the Orchestre Symphonique du Mans conducted by José-André Gendille and probably long since deleted. The couplings are the Allegro Symphonique by Fauré and the Variations Symphoniques by Franck. Does anyone else know this work? I'll also be curious to see what other single-symphony composers UC members come up with.

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks Wheesht. Rather than just naming a single-symphony composer, it would be more interesting to know something about his work and its merits - as you have done with Messager's very appealing work.

[ewk]

Hi all,

Korngold is one of these composers (I still think he's unsung even if his violin concerto is performed quite often), his symphony in F Sharp is a pure masterwork, the slow movement is one of the greatest symphony slow movements since mahler. The symphony dates from the early 50s, when he returned from America, it was one of his (Failed) attempts to regain his reputation as a composer of concert music. It makes excessive use from themes from his film scores, for example, in the slow movement, one of the main themes from »the private lives of elizabeth and essex« with Bette Davis as queen elizabeth is used.
Korngold wrote a sinfonietta op. 5 which is in fact his first symphony (it's as large and as long as a real symphony), but korngold didn't call it symphony, so I don't count it in that way.
He started a second symphony, but couldn't complete it until his (far too early) death in 1957, only 60 years old. According to Brandan G. Carroll (I hope I got his name right), the sketches are uncompletable due to some kind of shorthand used which noone except Korngold himself could read. I still hope that someone will be able to read it some day!

[Mark Thomas]

The sole symphonies of Woldemar Bargiel and Ignaz Brüll merit mention. Both are four square in the Germanic symphonic tradition and at one level are wholly conventional four movement works of around half an hour duration from the third quarter of the 19th century. But each has a charm, vitality, individuality and, in the case of Brüll's Symphony, modesty, which I find quite disarming. They are neither of them works of genius but they demonstrate such exquisite judgement and craftsmanship that they are still capable of being a rewarding and enjoyable listen.

[Balapoel]

More fodder for discussion. Here's a list of 1-symphony composers born between 1760 and 1880. Mileage may vary.

Birth   Composer
1760   Cherubini
1777   Berger, Ludwig
1780   Lessel
1786   Kuhlau
1789   Maurer
1791   Mozart, Franz Xaver
1791   Vorisek
1794   Moscheles
1798   Reissiger
1804   Glinka
1806   Arriaga
1806   Veit
1808   Balfe
1809   Pacius
1816   Verhulst
1818   Josephson, Jacob
1820   Vierling
1821   Bystrom
1822   Franck, Cesar
1823   Lalo
1824   Smetana
1824   Olander
1826   Rubenson
1826   Staehle
1827   Grimm
1828   Bargiel
1829   Dietrich
1830   Heise
1834   Blodek
1835   Winding
1837   Winter-Hjelm
1838   Castillon
1840   Goetz
1841   de Lange
1842   Hofmann
1843   Stephanescu
1843   Grieg
1845   Faure
1846   Brull
1848   Malling
1850   Scharwenka, Franz
1850   Hagg
1850   Urspruch
1850   LeBeau
1850   Olsen
1851   Stolpe
1851   Chapi
1854   Kopylov
1854   Moszkowski
1855   Chausson
1856   Bird
1857   Lazzari
1858   Franck, Richard
1858   Rott
1859   Schjelderup
1860   Heubner
1860   Paderewski
1860   Wallace
1860   Franchetti
1861   Volbach
1861   Catoire
1861   Thuille
1862   Boellmann
1862   Wagenaar
1863   Blumenfeld
1863   Parker
1863   Somervell
1863   Vitols
1864   D'Albert
1865   Dukas
1865   Boeck
1867   Beach
1868   Mortelmans
1868   Motta
1869   Wagner, Siegfried
1870   Vierne
1870   Stojowski
1870   Suter
1870   Mlynarski
1871   Lie
1871   Biarent
1871   Liljefors
1873   Jongen
1874   Marteau
1874   Holst
1875   Coleridge-Taylor
1875   Tovey
1875   Ciurlionis
1876   Karlowicz
1877   Dunhill
1877   Karg-Elert
1877   Mielck
1879   Wiklund
1879   Harty
1879   Ostrcil
1879   Gaubert
1879   Olsson, Otto

And a few later romantic composers
1881   Cadman
1882   Turina
1882   Marinuzzi
1882   Kodaly
1882   Hurum
1883   Webern
1883   Kuula
1883   Konjovik
1883   Dyson
1884   Soro
1885   Pejacevic
1886   Guridi
1887   Dieren
1887   Lindberg
1888   Gablenz
1888   Bohnke
1889   Kreek
1890   Medins, Janis
1891   Raitio
1893   Benjamin
1894   Irgens-Jensen
1894   Moeran
1897   Korngold
1899   Baines
1900   Ferroud

[Alan Howe]

Of these, one of the most important is that in D minor by Albert Dietrich - a definite 'missing link' between Schuman and Brahms and a fine, memorable work on its own terms. Another is that by Julius Otto Grimm (for similar reasons). Otherwise, there's the wonderfully romantic symphony by Goetz (which G. B. Shaw considered superior to Brahms), Hofmann's Frithjof Symphony (heavily influenced by Raff), and the Urspruch (too long, but glorious in its mingling of Brahms and Dvorak (6).

I'm afraid most in the second list aren't a fit for UC...

[eschiss1]

By the way, how many symphonies did Carl Gottlob Reissiger (1784-1859) write? There's no.1 in E-flat op.120 (ca.1837), I haven't come across a no.2 anywhere* (of course, some composers wrote "no.1" on their symphonies in hopeful mien - while some composers, who ended up writing eight symphonies, well, their first symphonies are still published as just "Symphony" *cough*Frankel*cough* (to the extent his first symphony is still published and not just stored, at all...))

If that list threatens to get overlong (which, composers being as many as they were especially after a certain point...), happy to store it in an editable section of my mediafire or Google Drive, e.g. if that's acceptable- I like such things (probably relates to my condition (HUSH, Eric. ))

*There is a partial worklist in Karl Gottlieb Reißiger, published by Pfeil in 1879 (Anonymous? written by the composer at some point? I don't know?...) which is at BSB (and uploaded to IMSLP also) - I'll see if it mentions a 2nd symphony, though it may be restricted to works with opus number. (I should really start a separate thread about that book, for a certain reason.)

[eschiss1]

BTW, 3 more entries-

(1) There's organist Henri Dallier (1849-1934), whose premiere symphonie (for orchestra) in F minor, op.50, published by Fromont 1908, seems to have remained his only one (again despite the hopeful adjective ) (score at IMSLP...). (I'm tempted to add Richard Kleinmichel too, but Wikipedia claims he wrote 2. Interesting. Didn't know about the other, just the op.52 - maybe it's unpublished ... Anyone?)
(2) British composer Oliver King (1855-1923) wrote a symphony "Night" in F Op.22 published by Novello in 1884, also, I believe?, a singleton (see IMSLP for score) (as mentioned in another thread, produced in Boston 1880 October.)
(3) Georges Bizet (1838-75). Or are you counting something as his 2nd symphony? (Sometimes Roma is, I suppose... sometimes and usually not, though.)

(also (4) Frederic Lamond (1868-1948) ; hrm. I think this one's been recorded on Hyperion, but I'm not positive... - ah, there it is, symphony op.3. Did he write a second?... )

Wikipedia has Jacob Adolf Hägg down as producing 4 symphonies (so 3 after the Nordische Op.2) though I'm not sure which ones they are- but I do seem to recall having heard that being fact, yes.

[eschiss1]

(And besides Bizet, Alberto Nepomuceno (1864-1920) should have come to my mind immediately too as someone whose singleton symphony made a strong impression- will listen again very soon, I think- and which I'm particularly add to the list.

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) belongs too- his Symphony in C; his symphony in E is really no more a counter-example to the "1-symphony" listing rule than is Moeran's "symphony no.2", although it is more elaborated. Or are we really counting such very incomplete works too now?

[TerraEpon]

Bizet's Roma is as much a symphony as it is anything. In fact, Bizet himself considered it "my symphony" (having washed his hands of his now-popular teenage effort).

[JimL]

At least 2 of the "one symphony" composers actually composed a 2nd symphony, but it has been lost.  Right off the top of my head, Goetz and Dietrich come to mind.

And you missed Dukas (in C Major, 1895), Balapoel.

[Mark Thomas]

Dietrich composed a Second? Sources please, Jim!

[Mark Thomas]

According to the brief 1879 biography and more comprehensive work list available at IMSLP, Reissiger's Symphony op.120 is his only one but, according to Hofmeister, both the piano four hands arrangement and the orchestral parts were published in 1837/8 by Schlesinger as his First Symphony. As Eric says, though, that doesn't imply that there's a Second.

[Peter1953]

Yes, the Dietrich would be my choice as well. But I have an alternative. Not pure romantic in style, more late classical with early romantic moments. I nominate Gänsbacher's Symphony in D major (1807). As I have said in other threads, this is a most enjoyable work full of catching, memorable themes, especially in the glorious first movement. A symphony that can make you feel very happy, even if you're in a bad or sad mood.

[eschiss1]

You forgot to give Herr Gänsbacher's birthdate (1778- ok, >1759 so acceptable )
I forgot Reissiger was born in 1798, and was looking for him in the wrong place- unless he was inserted into the list last night, there he is.
Jim- it goes by birthdate, and there's Dukas, in 1865, unless he's been doing a lot of surreptitious editing (I don't think so, I think I just missed those two being in the list myself. If the latter, I'm guessing Bizet is absent since he's so sung. - so much so, that attending what I think was an open-air rehearsal of his symphony in C is one of my earlier concert experiences, that I remember - though I was born well after its discovery date... )