# Composers with one-hit wonders that make you wish for more.



## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

Every time I listen to Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne or Vincent d'Indy's Symphony on a French Mountain Air, I couldn't help but get mad at them for not composing more with these styles. 

Let us make a compilation of our favorite's one-hit wonders.

P/S: the criteria may be subjective. Many people will regard Bizet as a one-hit wonder dude with Carmen, but I think he composed many great pieces.


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## Heliogabo (Dec 29, 2014)

Carl Off: Carmina Burana for sure...


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

silentio said:


> Every time I listen to Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne or Vincent d'Indy's Symphony on a French Mountain Air, I couldn't help but get mad at them for not composing more with these styles.
> 
> Let us make a compilation of our favorite's one-hit wonders.
> 
> P/S: the criteria may be subjective. Many people will regard Bizet as a one-hit wonder dude with Carmen, but I think he composed many great pieces.


Right back at you... d'Indy composed lots of interesting works (there is a Chandos series with 4 or 5 CD's worth of orchestral music).

We had a thread like this a few months ago (with heated debates around Holst). Someone mentioned Durufle, which I think is a perfect example.


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## Boston Charlie (Dec 6, 2017)

silentio said:


> ...Many people will regard Bizet as a one-hit wonder dude with Carmen, but I think he composed many great pieces.


Without taking a thing away from "Carmen", where almost every number is a hit; I'd contend that Bizet's most beautiful "tune" is the duet from "Pearl Fishers". I first heard the duet from a box set I borrowed from the library that featured Fritz Wunderlich and Herman Prey singing a German translation version. I recently heard on the radio a version with Luciano Pavarotti that was also excellent. I forget who the baritone was, but I recognized Pavarotti's smooth tenor right away.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

silentio said:


> Every time I listen to Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne or Vincent d'Indy's Symphony on a French Mountain Air, I couldn't help but get mad at them for not composing more with these styles.
> 
> Let us make a compilation of our favorite's one-hit wonders.
> 
> P/S: the criteria may be subjective. Many people will regard Bizet as a one-hit wonder dude with Carmen, but I think he composed many great pieces.


When I saw the title of this thread the very first thing that came to mind was the Canteloube piece.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

list of one-hit wonders from wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-hit_wonder#Classical_music_one-hit_wonders
is Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez a one-hit wonder?


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

To repeat discussions from the previous thread: you cannot talk about "one hit wonders" without defining for which segment of the public. The 15 listed by Wikipedia are all over the place. Barber is only a one hit wonder for people who have just some interest in classical music or only know classical from use in movies - around TC his violin concerto and Knoxville are very popular. On the other hand, after 30+ years of listening to classical music, I can say I have never heard of Tekla Bądarzewska-Baranowska – Maiden's Prayer (and after searching for it on YouTube, just now is the first time I heard it).


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Fromental Halévy, Fromental Halévy, and, again, Fromental Halévy. Known (if at all) for _La juive_, which is a GREAT opera. Powerful scenes, gripping drama, complex characters, beautiful music, interesting orchestration.

But the rest of his works?

A heavily abridged _Magicienne_; _Charles VI_, in OK sound; _L'éclair_ in German, and, again, not great sound. Two DVDs of unrepresentative works: _Noé_, his last opera, unfinished, completed by his son-in-law Bizet; and _Clari_, an Italian opera composed for Malibran.

I saw _La reine de Chypre_ in Paris last year, and, even without a tenor, it's a stunning work - easily on par with the best Donizetti and most of Verdi. No CD, as yet.

And that's all. And yet Berlioz, Wagner, and Mahler all admired him. Wagner wrote a 20-page article about _La reine_, and Halévy's influence can be seen in _Meistersinger_ and parts of the _Ring_.

I want to hear his other works, particularly _Le juif errant_ (Théophile Gautier, a Wagner fan, saw it as a major philosophical work), _Guido et Ginevra_, _Jaguarita l'indienne_, _Les mousquetaires de la reine_, _La fée aux roses_, _La tempesta_, and _Le val d'Andorre_ (which Berlioz raved about).


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## ancore (Jan 11, 2018)

Scriabin: d sharp minor etude


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

ancore said:


> Scriabin: d sharp minor exude


But Scriabin wroth lots of other stuff.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)




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## ericdxx (Jul 7, 2013)

I could get slammed for this and I apologize because I don't know the works of these composers that well but anyway here we go:;

Gustav Holst: Only like the Jupiter and Mars sections of his Planets suit....But I love that music...wish I could discover more great stuff from Holst but I tried many of his works and they just didn't click with me.

Michael Nyman: Love his theme for the Piano movie but tried to listen to some of his other works and I wasn't impressed

Allan Pettersson: His symphony no.7 blows me away. One of the greatest symphonies that I've ever heard. I try to get into his other stuff and it's mind numbing and boring....

Hanns Eisler: Auferstanded aus ruinen is the greatest national anthem of all time yet I find no pleasure in anything else the man has composed


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Jacck said:


> list of one-hit wonders from wikipedia
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-hit_wonder#Classical_music_one-hit_wonders
> is Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez a one-hit wonder?


From that list:



> Aram Khachaturian - "Sabre Dance" from the ballet Gayane, although Khachaturian's "Masquerade Suite" is also well known


The adagio from Spartacus is also well known:


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## pokeefe0001 (Jan 15, 2017)

Heliogabo said:


> Carl Off: Carmina Burana for sure...


As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, it really depends on who you ask. Most people familiar with O Fortuna have never heard of Carmina Burana or Carl Orff. But those who know Orff know he wrote a lot more than just Carmina Burana. Cartulli Carmina is very interesting.

And then there is his collection of music to be used in Schulwerk - his method of teaching music. There was a wonderful recording released in the 1960s or 70s called Gassenhauer (Streetsong) - named after one of the pieces in the collection - that contains some of the Schulwerk pieces. They are certainly much more simple the Carmina Burana but well work a listen.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Jacck said:


> list of one-hit wonders from wikipedia
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-hit_wonder#Classical_music_one-hit_wonders
> is Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez a one-hit wonder?


Not in my opinion; he wrote a great deal of music and a lot of it is at the same standard as Aranjuez, in my ever so humble opinion. It is true though that for some reason, none of it became as a well known. It's a shame, really.


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## pokeefe0001 (Jan 15, 2017)

brianvds said:


> Not in my opinion; he wrote a great deal of music and a lot of it is at the same standard as Aranjuez, in my ever so humble opinion. It is true though that for some reason, none of it became as a well known. It's a shame, really.


Actually, Fantasía para un gentilhombre gets some air time.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

Holst is the ultimate one hit wonder for me. Why he felt he needed to change stylistically after The Planets will always perplex me.


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## EchoEcho (Jan 31, 2016)

Felicien David - Le Desert.









As with all one hit wonders, there are a few more works if you dig deeper.


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## EchoEcho (Jan 31, 2016)

silentio said:


> ...Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne...


IMHO, Canteloube's best work is on this album: Suite "Dans la montagne"









Oh how I would love to find more such works from Canteloube!


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## R3PL4Y (Jan 21, 2016)

Beethoven: Symphony no 5
I heard that this composer may have written some other music, but I wouldn't know any of it.


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

EchoEcho said:


> IMHO, Canteloube's best work is on this album: Suite "Dans la Montagne"
> 
> View attachment 100950
> 
> ...


Yes, such a shame he didn't compose more.

Another favorite one-hit wonder of mine is *Maria Theresia von Paradis*' Sicilienne. von Paradis is an acquaintance of Mozart, Haydn, and Salieri.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

pokeefe0001 said:


> Actually, Fantasía para un gentilhombre gets some air time.


It does. But his other concertos and works for solo guitar also deserve to be heard more.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Triplets said:


> Holst is the ultimate one hit wonder for me. Why he felt he needed to change stylistically after The Planets will always perplex me.


Holst was maturing and evolving as a composer; that's a good thing.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

I enjoy some of Holst's music other than the Planets as well, for example Ode to Death.


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## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

I would not consider Holst a one-hit wonder. If the criteria is for other music that is not performed, or played on classical-music stations then sadly he comes close (although I routinely hear his St. Paul's Suite). But by that criteria several if not many of the composers posters on this site consider great would also make that list as orchestras have their own agendas that dictate what is performed.

If the criteria is the amount of recordings of different compositions, then that would be a fairer way to judge a one-hit wonder.

But probably it lies somewhere in-between, when the amount of recordings and performances, etc so outnumbers anything else the composer does, the public feels, unjustly perhaps, that he or she is a one-hit wonder. Rimsky-Korsakov might then be considered a one-hit wonder as well as Bizet. 

However most classical music aficionados know that all three Holst, Rimsky-Korsakov and Bizet are in the conversations of 100 or so of the greatest composers and IMO would/should eliminate them automatically from the one-hit conversation. 

Composers like Cantaloube who is nowhere in the conversation of 100 or so greatest composers and with the criteria of recordings and performances of one composition so-dominating everything else, then I believe we have a true one-hit wonder. I would then add Pergolesi (Stabat Mater) and Jeremiah Clarke (Trumpet Vountary) to Halevy and Cantaloube.

There would be composers caught in-between like Dukas and Orff who are very-likely outside that 100 but who might be in the conversation of 150-200. I would also eliminate both based on the amount of recordings of other works and the critical praise by musicians, writers and the public of these compositions.


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## EchoEcho (Jan 31, 2016)

I've seen Nielsen referred to as a one-hit wonder.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

EchoEcho said:


> I've seen Nielsen referred to as a one-hit wonder.




What would be the one hit then?


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

EchoEcho said:


> As with all one hit wonders, there are a few more works if you dig deeper.


Its true. That makes this thread kind of fascinating.

In the popular music world a one hit wonder is a bit more clearly defined.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

EchoEcho said:


> I've seen Nielsen referred to as a one-hit wonder.


Huh?? The Berlin Philharmonic,which isn't exactly a bastion of the Nordic repertoire, has performed 3 of the symphonies and 2 of the tone poems within the last few years ... I'm not sure which of them, if any, were the one-hit wonder.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

JeffD said:


> In the popular music world a one hit wonder is a bit more clearly defined.


except that in my experience many posters on pop/rock bulletin boards mean one-hit wonder in the USA without saying so. For a European (let alone a UK national), seeing Status Quo mentioned as a one hit wonder is bewildering.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

Art Rock said:


> except that in my experience many posters on pop/rock bulletin boards mean one-hit wonder in the USA without saying so. For a European (let alone a UK national), seeing Status Quo mentioned as a one hit wonder is bewildering.


That is a real good point.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

................


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Triplets said:


> Holst is the ultimate one hit wonder for me. Why he felt he needed to change stylistically after The Planets will always perplex me.


Quite possibly because he didn't want to repeat himself. Stravinsky is another example. After his Russian period-the Firebird, Petrushka, the Rite of Spring-he never went back to it and started writing his neo-classical works. He may have felt that he could not possibly duplicate those successes in the same style. But I can understand the regret that some listeners have that certain composers didn't try.


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

EchoEcho said:


> Felicien David - Le Desert.
> 
> View attachment 100952
> 
> ...


_Le désert_'s rather fine; Middle Eastern exoticism, 19th century French style! In that line, have you heard Reyer's _Sélam_? (



)

Do you know David's operas (_Herculanum_, _Lalla-Roukh_)?


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

EchoEcho said:


> I've seen Nielsen referred to as a one-hit wonder.


More like a six-hit wonder...


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## Rys (Nov 26, 2016)

Could very well be put in "Currently Listing". 




Found this earlier in the week, wish there was more to explore.


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## JLi (Jan 31, 2018)

Hermann Necke: Csikos Post
Pietro Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana
Ruggiero Leoncavallo: (I) Pagliacci
Amilcare Ponchielli: La Gioconda
Julius Fucik: Entry of the Gladiators "Circus Music"
Badarzewska: The Maiden's Prayer
Braga: The Angel's Serenade

I don't really agree with Khatchaturian, Rodrigo, or Bizet. They all have one famous piece, but they also wrote lots of other good, well-known music.


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## Denerah Bathory (6 mo ago)

Art Rock said:


> except that in my experience many posters on pop/rock bulletin boards mean one-hit wonder in the USA without saying so. For a European (let alone a UK national), seeing Status Quo mentioned as a one hit wonder is bewildering.


Or how in Canada great rock bands like UFO, Saxon, and Marillion are quite unrecognized, to the point where they seldom perform in this country. I understand, with the costs of touring, and why they would stick to Europe where they are known and appreciated.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

R3PL4Y said:


> Beethoven: Symphony no 5
> I heard that this composer may have written some other music, but I wouldn't know any of it.


And, what is worse, he stole that opening motif from someone who knocked on his door.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Patty and Mildred J. Hill, lyricist and composer of "Happy Birthday To You."


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

Hans Rott: I love his Symphony no.1, but there's a fair bit more of his music around and none of it offers anything like the appeal of that Symphony, IMHO of course.

George Whitefield Chadwick: his Symphonic Sketches (effectively his third symphony) constitute a fine piece of work but, as with Rott, there's quite a lot else besides and none of it comes close.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Given that Rott died at age 25 and had been in an asylum for some time, it's hardly surprising, albeit very unfortunate.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I feel Albinoni may be regarded as a one-hit wonder with the piece by Giazotto to the casual Classical fan. But he wrote a lot more superior music to that Adagio by Giazotto, which I find an insult to Albinoni.


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## Bernamej (Feb 24, 2014)

Julius Reubke's piano sonata.


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## PeterKC (Dec 30, 2016)

Mussorgsky? I mean...without other people finishing or orchestrating his works, who would know.


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

Heliogabo said:


> Carl Off: Carmina Burana for sure...


That's one hit that doesn't make me wish for more...


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