Unsung Composer Nations?

[Christopher]

Abkhazia? (Recognised by only Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Nauru! Though legally part of Georgia...)  There are some!  I have a CD of Abkhaz music...

Kosovo?
South Ossetia?
Transdnistria?
Nagorno-Karabakh?
Tavolara?
Seborga?!
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (recognised as a sovereign entity by over 100 states)?

[alberto]

Somewhere...I have a Marco Polo CD containing music by Manuel Martinez-Sobral and Ricardo Castillo (A.  de Almeida, Moscow Symphony Orch.) belonging to a "Guatemala Composers Series" (I don' know sequels).
I can assure Christopher that "Tavolara" and "Seborga" (if meant as "independent" from Italy) do not exist.
Tavolara is a small island near Sardinia: no inhabitants, since ever, and a NATO base.
Seborga is a tiny village on the hills with a wonderful sea landscape (near the Italian-French border) where some guys have invented "the independent state" (maybe existing in early middle ages) in order to have some tourists for a dinner or a supper. 

[Christopher]

Yes, Seborga was a joke!  Tavo, however, has some claim.  There is even a portrait of the Tavo royal family in Buck Palace reportedly! According to the font of all knowledge (...) "In the 19th and 20th centuries, Tavolara was ruled by the Bertoleoni family as the Kingdom of Tavolara, one of the smallest kingdoms on the planet. It is now simply part of Italy, although it was never formally annexed. In 1836, King Charles Albert of Sardinia visited the island and acknowledged Giuseppe Bertoleoni as an independent sovereign monarch. When he died in the 1840s, his eldest son became King Paolo I. After Italian unification, King Paolo actively sought recognition from Italy. During his reign, in 1868 the Italian government began operating a lighthouse on the northeast end of the island. Tavolara's sovereignty was reconfirmed in 1903, when Victor Emmanuel III of Italy signed a treaty of friendship with the nation. Tavolara, the royal graveAfter Paolo's death in 1886, he was succeeded by his son, Carlo I. In 1900, Queen Victoria sent the Royal Photographer to Tavolara in order to make an official portrait of the Tavolara Royal Family, and include it in her collection of royal portraits. Carlo was succeeded upon his death in 1928 by his son King Paolo II. Paolo went abroad, however, and left Carlo's sister Mariangela as regent in his absence. Queen Mariangela died in 1934, leaving the kingdom to Italy. Her nephew Paolo II still claimed the kingdom, however, and ruled it until his death in 1962. That year marked the installation of the NATO station and the effective end of Tavolaran sovereignty."

So, in the spirit of light-heartdness, any Tavolaran composers?!

More seriously, though, a perfectionist tackling this question would look at a map of Europe from our chosen period (which seems to be the Romantic era?) and see scores of German principalities, Italian kingdoms and republics, etc....and realise he would have his work cut out!!

[Ser Amantio di Nicolao]

Somewhere...I have a Marco Polo CD containing music by Manuel Martinez-Sobral and Ricardo Castillo (A.  de Almeida, Moscow Symphony Orch.) belonging to a "Guatemala Composers Series" (I don' know sequels).
I can assure Christopher that "Tavolara" and "Seborga" (if meant as "independent" from Italy) do not exist.
Tavolara is a small island near Sardinia: no inhabitants, since ever, and a NATO base.
Seborga is a tiny village on the hills with a wonderful sea landscape (near the Italian-French border) where some guys have invented "the independent state" (maybe existing in early middle ages) in order to have some tourists for a dinner or a supper.

I have one of those Guatemalan discs, too, lying around the house somewhere...

I wonder if there's any music on CD by the only Nauruan composer, Baron Waqa? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_Waqa  I don't know what sorts of things he writes...

[Christo]

Yes, Seborga was a joke!  Tavo, however, has some claim.  There is even a portrait of the Tavo royal family in Buck Palace reportedly! According to the font of all knowledge (...) Tavolaran sovereignty."

Great story - mailed it to another enthusiast (and found the Wikipedia entrance, many thanks!)

[Peter1953]

I didn't realize felllow Dutchmen - or are you Frisian? - would compete, here. 

Hello Christo, no, I'm not Frisian although I love Fryslân with its many lovely old villages, surrounded by beautiful lakes.
If Tobias reads this post, he will find two additions on his list of 20th century violin concertos, written by Paulus Folkertsma (1901-1972):
Romance for Violin and Orchestra in C major,18 voices, op. 6 (1925)
Concertino for Violin and Small Orchestra in A minor, op. 70 (1967)

[Ser Amantio di Nicolao]

Abkhazia? (Recognised by only Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Nauru! Though legally part of Georgia...)  There are some!  I have a CD of Abkhaz music...

Kosovo?
South Ossetia?
Transdnistria?
Nagorno-Karabakh?
Tavolara?
Seborga?!
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (recognised as a sovereign entity by over 100 states)?

Abkhaz music?  Interesting - who are the composers listed?

I've got a couple of Egyptian piano pieces in anthologies.

[Christo]

two additions on his list of 20th century violin concertos, written by Paulus Folkertsma (1901-1972):
Romance for Violin and Orchestra in C major,18 voices, op. 6 (1925)
Concertino for Violin and Small Orchestra in A minor, op. 70 (1967)

Great to learn, many thanks, I'll be playing them soon. (So far, my small Frisian shelve contained only pop music.  )

[violinconcerto]

If Tobias reads this post, he will find two additions on his list of 20th century violin concertos, written by Paulus Folkertsma (1901-1972)

I read it and added it 

Thanks and best,
Tobias

[eschiss1]

Another Cuban composer, by the way, was Jose (Joseph) Comellas (born Matanzas 1842, died Havana 1888) (several of whose piano works were published by Schirmer, Martens Brothers, etc. in the 1870s and 1880s, including a 30-page 3-movement Sonate brillante in G minor for piano by Schirmer in 1876... small potatoes by European standards, but ambitious by North American 19th century instrumental standards before the late 1800s...)'

(Edit: looking at the Comellas sonata - just uploaded it from Library of Congress to IMSLP - I'm not a pianist but I think I like the looks of this. And yes, I appreciate a well-turned melody- very much, in fact. Which relates to the opening of the sonata's somewhat Brahmsian (yay! ) Andante.)
Eric