# I'll Make You Famous (NON-operatic edition)



## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Yesterday, I was listening to Ravel's _Le Tombeau de Couperin_ when I had the following thought: I mean no disrespect to Couperin, but how many MORE people know _Tombeau_ than ANYTHING by Couperin?

The Classical Music world has a number of these pieces that touch on other less-famous artists (and it's by no means limited to composers and musicians). So I thought I'd open the floor to mention of other examples of this. Go ahead...

(Note- I'd like to exclude opera from this discussion as I think discussion of operatic examples of this phenomenon are sufficiently numerous to merit its own thread.)


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## Trout (Apr 11, 2011)

Beethoven's Diabelli Variations...


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I'm not sure if its true for most people, but Hindemith's symphonic metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria Von Weber is maybe in the ball park? Maybe it was originally intended as such.

For the longest time, knowledge of Vivaldi was through whatever Bach felt like doing with his music.

Rachmaninov and Paganini are maybe about even?


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Tchaikovsky's _Mozartiana_ is a reference to some obscure Austrian composer. Or was he French? I can't remember.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Ysaye's opus of sonatas dedicated to his pupils. Sort of obscure, I suppose, but at least Ysaye is a well known name...?


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Polednice said:


> Tchaikovsky's _Mozartiana_ is a reference to some obscure Austrian composer. Or was he French? I can't remember.


Moldavian, wasn't he?


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Hilltroll72 said:


> Moldavian, wasn't he?


That's the one! I think his most ingenious composition was called _Leck mich im arsch_.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I wonder how many pieces Liszt wrote that make known the existence of some complete and total unknown? I'm curious now...


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

And how about "I'll make me famous through your work and not give you credit?" Say melodies from Brahms's hungarian dances? Not to derail the thread, OP is the most important and interesting.


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Strauss' "Sinfonia Domestica", just as good as his other more famous tone poems for my taste. Also his Oboe Concerto and Duett-Concertino for Clarinet and Bassoon.


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

Mussorgsky's _Pictures at an Exhibition_ is about a thousand times more famous than the actual paintings by (I had to look him up) Viktor Hartmann.


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## pjang23 (Oct 8, 2009)

Maybe the most famous of all: Giazotto's Albinoni's Adagio


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

Somehow I think that J.S. Bach has eclipsed the fame of Johann Gottlieb Goldberg.


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## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

Vaughan Williams--*Fantasia* *on* *a* *Theme* *by* *Thomas* *Tallis*


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## Rasa (Apr 23, 2009)

I wouldn't go as far as to call Tallis not well-known. Infact, Vaughan Williams is pretty much unkown himself in the francophone regions...

Liszt and Rachmaninov's variations and usage of that Paganini theme certainly fit the category.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Rasa said:


> Liszt and Rachmaninov's variations and usage of that Paganini theme certainly fit the category.


Ahem! Brahms too...


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

Rasa said:


> I wouldn't go as far as to call Tallis not well-known. Infact, Vaughan Williams is pretty much unkown himself in the francophone regions...
> 
> Liszt and Rachmaninov's variations and usage of that Paganini theme certainly fit the category.


I wouldn't exactly call Paganini unknown...


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Klavierspieler said:


> I wouldn't exactly call Paganini unknown...


Although, he probably would be if it weren't for him greatly expanding violin technique. As far as I've heard his music by itself isn't much to write home about.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Benjamen Britten - Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge? Well, I guess they are of equal notoriety.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

waldvogel said:


> Somehow I think that J.S. Bach has eclipsed the fame of Johann Gottlieb Goldberg.


Such a surprise.

When I first saw this thread, I immediately thought of the almost infamous violinist Fritz Kreisler, who wrote a bunch of pieces and passed them off as the work of other composers--reverse plagiarism, if you will. Highlights include Vivaldi, Tartini, Boccherini, Martini, Pugnani...and those are just the composers whose names end in "NI!"

And yes, most of the composers he "wrote for" were largely unknown in his day, hence his writing in their name; he admired them and wanted to get others to know them.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Chi_townPhilly said:


> (...it's by no means limited to composers and musicians).


And with that in mind, Mahlerians who know about G.M.'s on-again/off-again perspective on denoting music as programmatic (or not) cannot get through program notes on Symphony #1 without mention of the otherwise obscure novel _Titan_ by pseudonymous German author Jean Paul.


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