been thinking about which classical composers are “one-hit wonders” or have one piece that is so popular that it completely overshadows all their other work. Three that spring to mind are:
Car Orff “Carmina Burana”
Joaquín Rodrigo “Concerto de Aranjuez
Allegri “Miserere”
You could argue that “Carmen” potentially overshadows the rest of Bizet’s work and possibly even the “Four Seasons” does as well for Vivaldi.
^On Bizet, to make matters worse, Carmen was considered to be a flop in the composer’s lifetime, and only really because successful after he died.
Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherezade. This masterpiece is much loved, but who knows: Symphony No. 2, Antar (Op. 9)? The composer regarded this as one of this most important works.
There’s an awful lot of Vivaldi in the catalogue. Certainly “The Four Seasons” gets an enormous amount of airplay, but I hardly consider him a one hit (or four hit) wonder.
As for Bizet - his Symphony in C was used for one of the best ballets of last century. This video from 1973 is the only complete version on YouTube.
Carl Czerny was a prolific composer, but these days is mainly remembered for his technical exercises for piano. Much of his other work is now out of print or lost completely.
Great idea, there could be hours spent debating this. Of course that list would evolve over time (centuries, in this case).
One could mention Boccherini’s Cello Concerto, although these days his string quartets (La Musica Notturna delle Strade di Madrid, for example) are becoming more popular.
Pachelbel is to me - I’m an organist - not a one hit wonder. He’s written many compositions which are on a very high level.
It’s often the case that someone is known for certain works - eg JS Bach for his cello sonatas - but there’s an extensive corpus of other work waiting there not seen or heared because people simply don’t know it.
Ah, this morning I was still in Nürnberg, Pachelbels place
Well, according to a quick and dirty check on Spotify (other platforms which underpay artists are also available), the following have all got more plays than anything from the Requiem:
Again, that’s his best known work, but Dvorak must be one of the best loved composers of all time. The last three symphonies (including “The New World Symphony”) are all part of the core repertoire. (Check the others out - they’re incredibly tuneful and exciting.) His cello concerto is arguably the greatest ever composed. He wrote a number of great chamber works. And much more.