Talk:One-hit wonders in classical music

message: I'm not sure Bizet qualifies as a one-hit wonder. I've heard his symphony in C and L'Arlesienne Suites played many times over the years on classical radio stations. Performed in the symphony myself. Rsduhamel 07:56, 10 Oct 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Bizet

message: Ditto Franck. His—what did he call his piano concerto?—"Symphonic Variations"—is wonderful and considered a staple of the repertoire as well as his Symphony in D Minor. Dpbsmith (talk) 21:02, 10 Oct 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Some of his other music gets quite a bit of air-time, at least here in the U.S. The Variations symphoniques, as you say, as well as Le chasseur maudit ("the accursed huntsman"), Psyche, the F minor piano quintet, and above all the great A major violin sonata (we used to call it the "Frank Sinatra" for violin and piano...)  I've played the string quartet, which gets programmed once in a while, and his organ music shows up on recitals pretty often.  Happy editing,  Antandrus 21:24, 10 Oct 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Franck

message: Votes to include Smetana
*No - I've heard "The Bartered Bride", the suite or portions frequently on classical radio. Rsduhamel 00:50, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Smetana

message: I'm putting this here on the talk page because I expect it to be shot down. And I have to admit that he has at least two hits: Bolero, and "Pavane for a Dead Princess." Still... Dpbsmith (talk) 01:16, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Ravel

message: Does "In the Steppes of Central Asia" qualify as a hit also? Rsduhamel 02:18, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Actually I think Borodin is more widely known (in the U.S. anyway--can't speak for the rest of the world) for the tunes in the musical Kismet, which came (mostly) from the 2nd String Quartet and the Polovtsian Dances than for any other single piece.  The Prince Igor overture is pretty well known (not the whole opera, though), as is the 2nd Symphony (there's two others I don't know).  Hard to say.  It may actually be that "In the Steppes of Central Asia" is more often programmed on U.S. classical radio stations than any other single piece, though I'd be willing to bet the Polovtsian Dances are a close second.  He wrote a lot of piano music and songs that are unjustly neglected, IMHO.  Antandrus 02:29, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Borodin 

message: Even though at least one of his cello concertos may qualify as a hit, his minuet is quite familiar outside classical circles. This gives him a popular one-hit. Rsduhamel 02:47, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Boccherini 

message: He should qualify because his "Flight of the Bumblebee" has transcended classical circles to become a popular one-hit.
*I think Scheherzade and Capriccio Espagnole should also count as Rimsky-Korsakov "hits." I don't think we should base this on crossover because the interest is composers who had only one significant achievement, not composers who had many significant achievements in classical circles but got popularized because they were used as theme music for a movie, radio, or TV show ("The Green Hornet," I think, in this case). See also List of popular songs based on classical_music. Dpbsmith (talk) 13:33, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rimsky-Korsakov 

message: His "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1" certainly qualifys as a popular one-hit. However, his Enigma Variations are somewhat populer in classical circles, a frgment of which was used in IBM commercials in the 1980s.
:Actually, I thought about adding this myself, but decided not to. His Enigma Variations are fairly well-known and so is his cello concerto. The latter was sort of a signature piece for Jacqueline du Pré. One of the problems I have with this page is: where do you draw the line? So much depends on how much familiarity one has with classical music. 
:Is Beethoven a one-hit wonder for the "Ode to Joy" section from the Ninth Symphony? It is certainly the only Beethoven piece many people know. Ditto Rossini and the William Tell" overture.
:Is Colin McPhee a "one-hit wonder" for Tabu-Tabuhan or is he a zero-hit non-wonder?
:Henryk Gorecki: one-hit wonder for Symphony 3, "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs," or zero-hits?
:Scriabine: one-hit wonder for Poème de l'extase, or many hits?
:Saint-Saens: one-hit wonder for "Carnival of the Animals," or does Danse Macabre bring it up to two? Or the Organ Symphony (parts of which were used by some Olympic figure skaters as dance music) to three?
::Gorecki is an excellent example of a huge one-hit wonder--the sales totals for the Symphony No. 3 were astonishing.  He's the only one of these several above that I think qualifies.  As far as I know he's still alive, so hopefully there will be more "hits" --IMHO the symphony deserves its reputation, it's an amazing piece.  Antandrus 00:33, 14 Oct 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: OK, in it goes... Dpbsmith (talk) 00:56, 14 Oct 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Elgar 

message: I think Suppé definitely qualifies because "Light Cavalry" is such a hit outside classical circles. However, I have to mention that there is a memorable "Popeye" cartoon where Popeye and Bluto battle over conducting an orchestra playing Suppé's "Poet and Peasant Overture". Rsduhamel 17:48, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Suppé 

message: Pachelbel is really not a one hit wonder.  While the "canon in D" has achieved a sort of iconic status, it has only done so in the last few decades; it certainly was not a "hit" in Pachelbel's day nor in the coming two centuries.  Further, the "canon in D" has only achieved popularity because of modern stylings of it.  During Pachelbel's lifetime, he was best known as an organist and composer of keyboard music.  The repertoire he left behind was extensive, and much of it survivies to this day.  This music is still heard regularly and considered part of the standard baroque organ repertoire.  The Uninvited Co., Inc. 16:55, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pachelbel 

message: Just added: "Bachianas Brasilieras by Heitor Villa-Lobos". But which one? Aren't there several? There's the little train, the cello orchestra, the soprano song. I wonder whether the entry is meant to encompass all of them or one in particular? David Brooks
:There are several of the pieces that Villa-Lobos wrote for guitar that are regularly played and are considered part of the standard repertoire for classical guitar. I know that I've heard at least two of them on the local classical music station recently (KUSC), so I really do not think that Villa-Lobos counts as a one-hit wonder. BlankVerse 14:46, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Villa-Lobos 

message: Ethan Mordden is quite entitled to an opinion, but having an opinion is not ground from it to be reported as fact.
"Outside of Britain, Holst's hold on the repertory depends almost exclusively on The Planets.'" 
#the validity of this fact is disputable. The likes of, for instance, the St. Pauls Suite or the Somerset Rhapsody are hardly obscure works. 
#the title of this article is One-hit wonders in classical music, not One-hit wonders in classical music outside of Britain
#simply being Holst's most well-known large-scale work doesn't make the Planets Suite a 'one-hit wonder'; moreover, as a suite, it isn't so popularly well-known as the short excerpt incorporated into the hymn I vow to thee my Country.
This list seems to be using all manner of different yardsticks to determine what qualifies for the silly (and encyclopaedically worthless) lable of 'one-hit wonder'. Being 'in the repetory' does not equate to 'being popular' or 'popularly well-known'. Anyone who is reasonably knowlegable on his genre will know of many works by Holst; someone who isn't won't--I suspect that many people, even if played extracts from The Planets Suite, wouldn't be able to identify the composer. The fact that people's musical interests and knowlege vary is not reasonable grounds for an encyclopaedia article. You may as well create a page called List of pieces of music I've heard of!
At least with the popular music 'one-hit wonders' list there is actually an objective yardstick for measuring popularity--record sales. This article, on the other hand, is a POV mish-mash seemingly comprising a mixture of pieces that different contributor's happen to know best from various composers, or, in Holst's case, Ethan Mordden's opinion. Someone's opinion alone does not justify the inclusion of anything in an ostensibly objective list. And if this list is not objective then it's pretty worthless. 80.255 00:06, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Holst