I'd enjoy hearing what are the most impressive post-Baroque opus 1s for other forum members? (I'm avoiding the plural, opera, on purpose.) For me, the first names that come to mind are Beethoven, Draeseke, Brahms, Stenhammar, and Dohnányi. To make the game harder, let's restrict ourselves to composers, preferably unsung, who actually used opus numbers. Had Sibelius designated his breakthrough work, the first A-minor string quartet, as opus 1, I would also have included it in the list. But he didn't. So I have to cheat and talk about it anyway.
I'm hoping we can compile a list of really really good opus 1s (or numerical near misses) from the romantic period and not just a laundry list of opus 1s.
Here are several that come to mind - not all, I guess, masterpieces, but......
Sterndale-Bennett Piano Concerto 31 in d
Rozycki King's Fool sym poem
Cliff Symphony #1 in c
Burgmuller Piano Concerto in f#
Smyth String Quintet in E
Converse Violin Sonata in A
I'd say most of these are fairly impressive
jerry
Ooh... I agree, what were some really good ones- a challenge (not a challenge as in there are none, but what were the best of the best unsung Romantic Master Pieces, "Hello I'm Here"s...)
*Hans Bronsart(von Schellendorf)'s opus 1 trio (really good piece...)
*Hrm, maybe Josef Suk's piano quartet opus 1 ? (Does he still count?)
I agree about the five names (including the Dohnanyi- what a lovely first quintet. The 2nd one isn't bad either, but the first quintet- even if it's the finale that stays most in -my- mind- is lovely :) ) - ... er... anyway.) I have this notion I should be able to add to these two names above with no difficulty at all, but for now, Bronsart's trio and Suk's quartet (the Suk not his best work, not when compared to the wonderful 2nd string quartet or to Asrael, but an impressive opener all the same.) (I'd include Xaver Scharwenka's piano trio op.1, if I but knew it!)
btw among sung composers even the first version of Rimsky's opus 1, his first symphony, is also really impressive as I recall but yes, such a list becomes difficult to construct in any case. Ah well!! (... hrm. Niels Gade is considered wholly sung in this forum, isn't he :) )
Among the sung composers also, how could you forget Rachmaninoff's 1st PC? OK, so he revised it years later. Still, he kept it as Op. 1...
there -is- a recording or two of the earlier verisons of Rach 1 (and of Rach 4), I think, but yes, usually when people think of those works (when they think of those lesser-known of his 4 concertos) it's the revisions, I think. :)
Guessing that Hiller's opus 1 (the first of his piano quartets - though it may be his second opus 1, judging from an account in a journal - well- hrm. His own ms. worklist may clarify that bit) might have been moderately impressive if in a needs-work sort of way (like his early string quartets from around the same time which had viola chords that went below the Cline, glub, glub. Watch it, pianists. Thanks to friend for pointing that'n out...) I think I have heard Pfitzner's opus 1, a fine cello sonata.
(Guessing I'd want to include Thuille's opus 1 (violin sonata no.1) once I hear it. I may have to get that new Naxos CD :) ... ok, ok. (And Reger's op.1 - same genre, same instrumentation, same key...))
Gade's Echoes of Ossian is quite a feat for an Opus 1...
While I'm not too big on his Op. 1 No. 1 (Scherzo ala Russe), Op. 1 No. 2 (Impromptu in Eb) of Tchaikovsky is a very nice bold piece.
And Johann Strauss Jr.'s Op. 1 is fine waltz as much as any of his earlier work.
Hrm. Sticking with fairly obscure composers whose opus 1s I've heard, Ernst Mielck's opus 1, a string quartet in G minor (1895?), is good stuff...
The Donizetti Variations by Henselt is a stunning fully blown romantic work.
Used to keep it in my repertoire until the effort to keep it there became too much.
Thal
The obvious Romantic-period works would be, I guess, the first Rachmaninov concerto, the Brahms piano sonata and Chopin's Rondo (though it's the weakest of the three). The post famous op.1 might well be the Berg Sonata, but that's obviously outwith the thread specifcations.
Amongst comparatively unsung composers, Alkan's Steibelt variations spring to mind, as does (for obvious personal reasons!) the Martucci paraphrase on La Forza del Destino.
Dohnanyi's Piano Quintet no 1., op. 1. A masterpiece for sure
Sorry, I missed Dohnanyi's name in the first post
Oscar Raif: Piano Concerto (no recording, alas - but I have read the score)
Also, I must second Eric's nomination of the Op. 1 Piano Trio of Bronsart - it's a really good piece.
Not a masterpiece - but in my view a hugely enjoyable work. And far better than its reputation (which is largely attributable to commentators who haven't paused to give it much of a chance) - Hamilton Harty's String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 1 from 1900.
I agree that the Bronsart trio is very impressive, but I think my favourite Op.1 chamber work would probably be the gorgeous Piano Quartet in A minor by Suk, just ahead of the beautiful String Quartet in A minor by Svendsen.
For a concerto, it's Stenhammar's first piano concerto (I defy anyone to resist that Andante!), and when it comes to orchestral Opus Ones there is no doubt - for me, it's Sullivan's incidental music to The Tempest. Gade's Concert Overture - Echoes of Ossian and Cliffe's Symphony No.1 in C minor are amazing Op.1s, and follow some distance behind.... :)
Allow me to nominate Atterberg's Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 1. Not a bad start to a career.
(This really should be in the "other forum", one notes.) I haven't heard it and I doubt it's been recorded, but a historically important opus 1, I think, would be Ernst Naumann's- the first sonata (intended primarily) for (standard) viola* and piano ever to be published (1854). (Mendelssohn's C minor sonata was composed before Naumann was born, but not published until a century and more afterwards. Beware that tendency to confuse composition and publication dates in worklists, etc.)
*as against viola d'amore, "viola da gamba" (which is not a viola), etc. Also not counting Onslow's sonatas for violin (or cello or viola) and piano, and other sonatas with viola alternates... (the Naumann has a violin alternate, I think- haven't seen it yet, but such is the description I've seen.) Such music as I have seen and heard (a quintet, thanks to Matesic) by Naumann encourages me to want to hear the viola sonata, anycase, not just because I used to be a (poor...) amateur violist.
It's mentioned in another thread that Peterson-Berger's opus 1 is a violin sonata (just recorded). Hugo Alfven's opus 1 is a violin sonata too; the score is available, and I know it's available on recording- has anyone heard it, any impressions? How good an entry-work is Novak's first piano trio (1892) (op.1 in G minor- the trio quasi una ballata trio op.27 in D minor is his trio no.2, that is...)? I'm curious... :) (in Novak's case, as with Ferdinand Hiller, there seem to be quite a few works preceding, but that's op.1)
(Edit - op.27. Novak's op.22 is of course the first of his three string quartets.)
Hrm. I was going to mention Vitols' symphony in E minor, but IMSLP's list seems pretty sure that Vitols' symphony is w/o opus number, and gives opus 1 to his piano sonata in B-flat minor. (Has that been recorded, I wonder? Ah. Yes, on Melodiia, in the 1970s, and I think on CD in 2006 also- there's a video on YouTube... The score (pub.1886 by Belaieff) is uploaded, anycase... apologies for throwing a couple of things out, though hoping that those who've heard them have a notion which really belong in a best-of list...)
(... among most impressive post-Baroque opus 1s sung or unsung, Schubert's song Erlkönig probably deserves its turn too, though one forgets of late that it was indeed his opus 1.)
I've just listened to Tovey's delightful Piano Trio in B minor, Opus 1.
Carl Nielsen's Little Suite for Strings, Op. 1. Hauntingly beautiful and a mature Op. 1!
This forum is amazing. Such riches. Thanks, everyone.
Indeed - one could almost live on all the Opus 1s mentioned here!
Just by chance I have revisited three Opus 1s in the last 2 days:
Suk: Piano Quartet in A minor (already mentioned by both Eric and Semloh - so it must be good!)
Dvorak: String Quintet 1 in A minor - a bit sneaky since it was Op 1 on the traditional catalogue, but now Burghauser 7.
And I can't resist the mention although it is not a romantic work and hence outside the scope of the forum (but forgive the rule-breaking): Britten's Sinfonia - was ever such a dazzling and technically accomplished work written by a teenager?
Hardly an example of sophisticated music criticism, but, oh golly, do not these works make one so heartily glad to be alive!
Bit confused about the Dvorak sometimes, since it's a posthumously-published opus 1 (not published at all I think until - 50 years ago or so?) but it's a really good piece, if, of course in part because it wasn't published, not as stunning a "hello world here I am" as some others... :)
Dvorak's Op. catalog is very messy, enough that I use the B numbers as a whole.
And if you wanna go by those....B 1 is "Forget Me Not Polka" which for some reason isn't recorded (I don't have it noted as lost...). B 2 is a destroyed mass. B3 which IS recorded on both the Naxos and Brillant complete piano cycles is also a polka -- and it's a very nice little piece.
After that, 4, 5, 6 are all lost, so said Op. 1 is still the first large multi-movement work in the catalog (and interestingly, B 8 is a string quintet....B 9 is Symphony No. 1)
Yes, very messy indeed.
Maybe the mistake is mine, but as B 8 I've got down the 1st String Quartet (not String Quintet).
I've got listed three String Quintets:
No. 1 is the present Op 1 = B 7 in A minor
No. 2 is Op 77 = B 49 in G major
No. 3 is Op 97 = B 180 in E flat major
Nos 1 and 3 are scored for 2 vn, 2 va & vc.
No. 2 for 2 vn, 1 va, 1 vc & double bass (though in one of my 3 recordings it is played with 2 va instead of va & db).
Whatever the messiness of the catalogue all are glorious works, and should be sung far more often. It is, in fact, a great pity that some of Dvorak is very much sung (but in my book can never be oversung), and a vast number of works (including those for solo piano) are very much undersung. I reckon that if I was restricted to a choice of just one composer to listen to in the great hereafter, then you couldn't go far wrong with Dvorak.
Yeah, my mistake. -_-