# Great works by nearly-forgotten composers



## Handel (Apr 18, 2007)

One aspect of classical music I like is to "discover" forgotten/underrated talents. I always enjoy to find gems when listening music from some unknown composers.

Some examples:

Friedrich Fesca, Josef Martin Kraus, Ernest Wilhelm Wolf, Johann Stamitz, etc. 

Do you have any nearly-forgotten (and unjustly forgotten) composers/works to share with us.


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## Guest (May 6, 2007)

I do, but he's not from the same time period of Kraus and Stamitz, if that's ok!

Roberto Gerhard. His ouevre is divided into pretty pieces and beautiful pieces. Pieces in both are topnotch. I started with "Collages," his symphony number three for tape and orchestra. (It's one of the beauties.)


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## Latinlover (May 7, 2007)

Hans Rott, a disciple of Bruckner and a fellow student of Mahler and Hugo Wolf in the Vienna conservatory. He had the potential to become the great symphonist of his time. He wrote 1 Symphony (and I write Symphony with the capital S) in C and a couple of ouvertures and chamber works. I have only listened to the Symphony and it is almost a liftime masterpiece. It was written when the composer was 20 yeasr old and it has a surprising resemblance with Mahler's 1st, but written 10 years earlier! Rott died at the age of 26 in a mental asylum, probably sufferyng from schyzophrenia or syphilis. The thing is that when he was 22, and being already eccentric and emocionally unstable, the final crisis was triggered after his Symphony lost a contest for a scolarship (he was kind of poor), in which Brahms was the judge and mistreated Rott horribly and told him he should quit music altogether. A sad end to a brilliant and very promising composer. His death was a hard blow for his teacher Bruckner, for Mahler, for everyone who knew him and his work, and for music in general.


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## Kurkikohtaus (Oct 22, 2006)

Hello admins, I think this thread and others are in need of a little moderation, to keep the discussion compact and the thoughts flowing. Any chance they could be merged or something?

Here are the similar threads, the titles are links:

*Which piece do you love that is not famous?*

*Nearly-fogotten works by famous composers*

I am aware of the subtle differences between these ideas, so if you deem that no merge is necessary, at least these links will stay in this thread to lead new readers to the "alternative" threads.


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## Handel (Apr 18, 2007)

Kurkikohtaus said:


> Hello admins, I think this thread and others are in need of a little moderation, to keep the discussion compact and the thoughts flowing. Any chance they could be merged or something?
> 
> Here are the similar threads, the titles are links:
> 
> ...


I'm sorry if the thread title may confuse people. But I thought this thread was justified since many great works were composed by obscure/little known composers. Maybe the thread title could be modified a little bit to avoid confusion.


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## Kurkikohtaus (Oct 22, 2006)

*Handel*, the thread is fine, for people who have been here for a while, they will sense and understand the difference between this thread and the other 2, because many of us have read and posted in the other 2.

The problem that I fealt could creep up is that when _new_ readers find this thread, they will duplicate ideas that have already been posted in the other 2 threads _that they probably have not read_, and the discussion will not move forwards. So while a *thread-merge* at TalkClassical is unlikely, I encourage new posters to at least sift through the other threads that I have linked to before replying to this one!

Favourite Not-Famous-Pieces Thread

Nearly-Forgotton-Works Thread


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