Obscure Composers 3

A third and final meditation on fame, obscurity and the meaning of life

By: John Sarkett

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

"Wonderful compilation" -- Henry Fogel, Dean, Chicago College of Performing Arts, Roosevelt University; former president, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra League

"An enjoyable read, and a great conversation starter." -- James McCarthy, Limelight magazine, Australia

"...for those seeking to shake up their listening habits and explore musical rarities -- Opera America

A sequel, volume three. Some 90 composers profiled.

Provides answers to questions like those found in the Obscure Composers 3 Quiz:

1. After his passing, some of his compositions were found as wrappings around rose bushes, and for meat in a butcher shop.

2. In his time, this composer was also regarded as the ‘greatest oboe player.’

3. The progenitor of the modern symphony.

4. The progenitor of the modern piano concerto, wealthy and heralded in life, but died broke.

5. He criticized Haydn as a “writer of little songs,” and a “fashion follower.”

6. This eminent philosopher was first a composer.

7. The teacher of Mozart, Beethoven, Hummel, and Moscheles.

8. His eight piano concertos, and 96 operas!, were a direct influence on Mozart.

9. His plays provided the basis for the most operas, 200.

10. He came in second, his plays were made into 70 different operas.

11. Name the four composers who developed 19th nationalist Hungarian music that held interest for Liszt, Bartók, Kodály and Weiner.

12. This German romantic was so taken with Mozart he added one of his names to his own. His literary creations outstripped his compositions for fame.

13. This 19th century female composer produced 49 opus numbers, including three symphonies and a nonet that helped her get a raise in her post as professor of piano, Paris Conservatory.

14. What is a nonet?

15. During his own time, he was a) a more popular opera composer than Verdi, and b) founder of the Vienna Philharmonic, and c) passed on much too young at 37, victim of a stroke.

16. The greatest violin concerto that no one knows.

17. His Symphony No. 7 In the Alps (1877) presaged and may have provided some influence on Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony (1915)

18. Like Giuseppe Martucci (1856-1909), profiled in Obscure Composers 2, this composer helped catalyze a rebirth of Italian instrumental music in the latter 19th century vis-à-vis the predomination of opera.

19. The Bizet Symphony in C, one of the most popular of the early Romantic French symphonies drew its métier and inspiration from this composer, who taught Bizet.

20. This composer was Clara Schumann’s little brother, in fact, her younger half-brother.

21. Senior member of the Boston Six.

22. Sole female member of the Boston Six, she was regarded as “one of the boys.”

23. This member of the Boston Six was particularly drawn to creating chamber and piano music, especially miniatures; only two of his 80 opus numbers bear the designation “sonata.” He never tried his hand at symphony or opera.

24. This member of the Boston Six didn’t have the necessary musical ability to enter conservatory as a regular student, but he worked hard, and eventually was appointed director of that conservatory, which he turned into a formidable institution.

25. He died at just 23 having written just two opus numbers but was an inspiration to Norwegian composers like Grieg.

26. His masterwork The Bride of Messina earns him, in our estimation, the title “the Czech Wagner.”

27. The New York Times called this German composer the “Forgotten Romantic.” His overture to his sole opera (Donna Diego) became the theme for both a popular radio and TV series (think Canadian), and his daughter was a spy for England in WWII.

Plus much, much more.