Composers famous for one work only.

[John H White]

I'm thinking of people like Johann Pachelbel (Canon), Henry Litolff (Scherzo from Concerto Symphonique No 4), Otto Nicholai ( Merry Wives of Windsor Overture) and I can't even remember the name of the chap who wrote The Entry of the Gladiators. I know that Litolff  wrote 4 more concertos symphonique and Nicholai's 1st symphony was runner up to Lachner's 5th in the 1834 competition held by the Vienna Friends of Music, but what happened to the rest of these composers' repertoire? Surely they must have written something else worth hearing.  Maybe someone can add more names to the above list or suggest sources of scores or recordings from their largely unsung musical output.

[Alan Howe]

I can't even remember the name of the chap who wrote The Entry of the Gladiators.

It's by Julius Fučík (1872-1916). Who?

[TerraEpon]

I love Fucik's music. He wrote a lot of great light music  -- and he's certainly well known /enough/ for the Florentine March, and possibly Children of the Regiment (which I've even heard used in a video game) as far as being performed and recorded goes.

The problem with this topic is "one work that's well known by the public" (Pachelbel and Fucik) vs "one well known by the typical classical lover (Nicolai, Enescu, Alfven). It's a wierd topic and I've seen it come up elsewhere (usually as 'one hit wonder') and much argument was had about what that even MEANS. Obviously Pachelbel fits, but it's really hard to find anyone else who does until you dig a bit more into 'major classical lover' (which is where one would put Litolf and Nicolai).

[eschiss1]

Re Nicolai: besides his opera the Merry Wives of Windsor (his best-known work), his 2nd symphony (his 1st, which you mention, has disappeared, I think) and 4 overtures have been recorded as has a 2nd volume of orchestral works, but I can't pretend that his music has flooded the repertoire, no. As to Franz Lachner, you're more familiar with his music than I am, since you sequenced his 6th symphony (though I could point out some improvements that would make it sound less like Milhaud. Well, to be fair, it sounds bimodal, not bitonal. Otherwise wonderful stuff, though, and recommendable... those issues haven't stopped me from listening to that recording a whole lot and wishing, too, that the work were played and recorded quite a bit...)

[John H White]

Many thanks, Alan and TerraEpon, for filling me in on Fucik. Maybe Eric it was Nicholai's 2nd symphony that came 2nd in that symphony contest. I'm glad you like Lachner's 6th symphony even though I was rather disappointed with it after the boost it had been given by Robert Schumann in his capacity as a music critic. I'm afraid I don't really understand what you mean by bimodal and bitonal. I just copied the notes down from the printed score into Sibelius software. What you hear is an interpretation by "Sibelius Sounds". Maybe a different set of sound fonts, such as Garritan Personal Orchestra, would produce a more authentic sounding performance.

[eschiss1]

it may just be me. there seem to be some sections where there are very dissonant clashes in transitional contrapuntal sections in the exposition where one line insists on major mode while another line insists on minor (hence, semitonal clashes that are either very forward-looking, or errors in the score or parts... or as you say, a problem with my setup! Rather consistent in the exposition, the repeat, and in the recapitulation (of the first movement).)

[Hilleries]

What about Dukas? The general public knows only The Sorcere's Apprentice, and that with help from Fantasia.

[eschiss1]

Movies are responsible for a few of these, I'm guessing... (a very incomplete list (I mean, Borodin but no "Kismet"?) here still mentions many I didn't know of, not surprisingly, e.g. some de Bériot in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (then again, haven't seen the movie...) (and the "Gade" in that list is Axel, composer of the Tango Jalousie- not his father Niels. There's a one-hit wonder on a small scale for you, I suppose- if Axel Gade is known for anything, it's that tango (recorded and arranged a number of times, though more 100 years ago than now...), though a couple of other things, e.g. a concerto, have been recorded and I know I've put in a wishlist request for a ms. quintet of his... )

[TerraEpon]

Axel Gade?

Jalousie was written by Jacob Gade, who last I checked was unrelated to Niels
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Gade
He would fit though, the melody still shows up now and again as source music in films and ice skating programs, etc

[alberto]

Julius Fucik enjoys not a small discography and had among his best advocates Vaclav Neumann and Vaclav Smetacek.
Recommendable and accessible the Apex-Warner 0927-48752-2 (Neumann and Czech Phil).

[Ilja]

What about Dukas? The general public knows only The Sorcere's Apprentice, and that with help from Fantasia.

I think the Symphony in C, while certainly semi-sung, is well-known enough to keep Dukas from being a one-hit wonder.

Another suggestion: Wilhelm Peterson-Berger. The Summer's Song from his Frösoblomster-suite is about the only thing regularly heard. And you have heard it, even if you don't know about it.

[kvizy]

Another suggestion: Wilhelm Peterson-Berger. The Summer's Song from his Frösoblomster-suite is about the only thing regularly heard. And you have heard it, even if you don't know about it.

May I perhaps add D'Indy 's SYmphonie "cévenole" op 25

~kvizy~

[mbhaub]

Dukas symphony familiar? Where? Not in my part of the world. I hang out with a lot of musicians and none of them know it. That's the problem: we on this site are so familiar with the forgotten corners of the musical realm that we forget what it was like to be a novice or an "average" music listener. To those people, Sorcerer's Apprentice is the only thing Dukas wrote.

I would suggest these one-hit-wonders as being typical of the average listener:

Enescu: Romanian Rhapsody #1. Even musicians are shocked to learn how much other music he wrote.
Grofe: Grand Canyon Suite
Elgar: Pomp & Circumstance #1.
Franck: Symphony in d, but nowadays most people never hear this at all.
Widor: Toccata from 5th Organ Symphony
Glazunov: The Seasons ballet
Handel: Messiah
Hanson: Symphony #2
Bloch: Schelomo
Balakirev: Islamey
Kabalevsky: overture to Colas Bruegnon

[eschiss1]

Handel- the Hallelujah chorus, not all of Messiah.
(How about Jean-Joseph Mouret- Rondo from Suite No.1 -- used as theme music to a program called "Masterpiece Theatre" in the US? What else would almost anyone, including many classical music fans, know by him?)
Kabalevsky- hrm. I think a few other works are played - the "Galop" from his Comedians Suite, e.g., in movies- even if again name recognition is not attached.
(A quick look at least at IMDB suggests that Franck's violin sonata and other works at least are heard, though again not with credit, on a fair number of recognizable movies too. Hrm. As to Elgar, tend to agree, though there was "An Education" - an enjoyable movie with a very odd Elgar-related musical episode (or should I say, Elgar/Payne related musical solecism.))

[Dave]

Dukas symphony familiar? Where? Not in my part of the world. I hang out with a lot of musicians and none of them know it. That's the problem: we on this site are so familiar with the forgotten corners of the musical realm that we forget what it was like to be a novice or an "average" music listener. To those people, Sorcerer's Apprentice is the only thing Dukas wrote.

I would suggest these one-hit-wonders as being typical of the average listener:

Enescu: Romanian Rhapsody #1. Even musicians are shocked to learn how much other music he wrote.
Grofe: Grand Canyon Suite
Elgar: Pomp & Circumstance #1.
Franck: Symphony in d, but nowadays most people never hear this at all.
Widor: Toccata from 5th Organ Symphony
Glazunov: The Seasons ballet
Handel: Messiah
Hanson: Symphony #2
Bloch: Schelomo
Balakirev: Islamey
Kabalevsky: overture to Colas Bruegnon

What you said is so true, and unfortunate. I came across people who had no idea that Tchaikovsky wrote operas. I agree with your list, although Glazunov's Violin Concerto is perhaps more of a one-hit wonder than "The Seasons" (a mystery to me, for this composer wrote many fine scores, some of them great). I would also add Khachaturian's Sabre Dance from "Gayane" (or "Gayaneh") whose popularity annoyed the composer like no other (personally, I find the ballet to be very fine and Lezghinka more interesting).