One-hit wonders in classical music - Definition

A one-hit wonder is usually thought of as a popular musician who had a single song reach the Top 40, but then faded into obscurity. Extending the term to classical composers is more subjective since there are no comparable sales rankings for classical music. The primary problem is determining what constitutes a "hit" in classical music. Without ready access to recording sales records and classical concert programs this must be determined by a subjective guess. This guess can only be based on a collective idea of what is frequently performed in concerts, played by classical radio stations and recorded by a variety of orchestras.

Another problem is that a composer may have a single work achieve popularity outside classical circles but have several other works achieve popularity among classical music enthusiasts. For example, the final section of the overture to Rossini's William Tell is known to millions of people through its association with The Lone Ranger, but most opera-lovers are probably more familar with some of his other overtures. Would this qualify as a one-hit wonder? Yet another problem could be a composer who had a single work become popular (in or out of classical circles) but other works become popular in a particular niche.

Since qualifying as a one-hit wonder in classical music is subjective some composers listed here may fall into the gray area where they may or may not have multiple hits. These composers are marked with an asterisk (*).

Medieval

Renaissance

Baroque

• "Canon in D" by Johann Pachelbel * See these articles for detailed information on its meteoric rise to popularity in the 1970s.

Classical

• "Cassation in G for Orchestra and Toys" (Toy Symphony) by Leopold Mozart
• "Minuet" by Luigi Boccherini*

Romantic

• "Polovtsian Dances" from "Prince Igor" ("Kismet: A Stranger in Paradise"), Alexander Borodin*
• "Symphony on a French Mountain Air" by Vincent D'Indy
• "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" by Paul Dukas
• "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1" by Edward Elgar*
• "Spinnerlied" ("Spinning Song") by Albert Ellmenreich
• "Symphony in D Minor" by César Franck*
• Symphony no. 3 in B Minor, "Ilya Mourometz," by Reinhold Glière*
• The Rustic Wedding Symphony, by Carl Goldmark
• "Hänsel und Gretel" (opera) by Engelbert Humperdinck
• "In a Persian Market" by Albert Ketelbey
• "Symphonie Espagnole" by Édouard Lalo
• "Merry Widow Waltz" by Franz Lehár*
• La Poeme de l'extase (Poem of Ecstasy) by Alexander Scriabin
• "Light Cavalry Overture" by Franz von Suppé*
• "Narcissus" by Ethelbert Nevin
• "The Dance of the Hours" from "La Gioconda" ("Camp Granada") by Amilcare Ponchielli
• "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov*
• "Vltava" ("The Moldau") by Bedřich Smetana*

20th Century

• "Midsommarvaka" ("Swedish Rhapsody") by Hugo Alfven
• Schelomo, Hebrew Rhapsody for 'Cello and Orchestra, by Ernest Bloch
• "Romanian Rhapsody" by George Enescu*
• Symphony No. 3, (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs), Henryk Gorecki*
• "Grand Canyon Suite" by Ferde Grofe
• "The Planets" by Gustav Holst*
• "Pacific 231" by Arthur Honegger
• "Escales" ("Ports of Call") by Jacques Ibert
• "Sabre Dance" from "Gayaneh" (Ballet) by Aram Khachaturian* This is an example of a piece of classical music that literally was a popular hit, twice in fact in 1948 in recordings by the Woody Herman Orchestra and as a Sabre Dance Boogie by Freddy Martin. Khachaturian is considered a significant composer, and other pieces are fairly well-known to classical aficionados. An Adagio from Gayaneh was used in the motion picture 2001: A Space Odyssey to highlight the loneliness of the astronauts in space.
• "Háry János Suite" by Zoltán Kodaly*
• "Cavalleria Rusticana" by Pietro Mascagni
• "Carmina Burana" by Carl Orff
• Bachianas Brasilieras by Heitor Villa-Lobos
• "Puffin' Billy by Edward White, 1910-1994 Familiar to millions from its use as introductory music to the U. S. children's television program Captain Kangaroo.

References

• One Hit Wonders (http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp;jsessionid=5EAA6B49EDDCE1447CF5CE13A453BDF0?album_id=61378), 2003, Dg Deutsche Grammophon, catalog number 472700. The composers DG includes in this compilation are: Richard Addinsell, Tomaso Albinoni, Hugo Alfvén, Samuel Barber, Luigi Boccherini, Joseph Canteloube, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Jeremiah Clarke, Léo Delibes, Paul Dukas, Reinhold Gliere, Ferde Grofé, Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Dmitri Kabalevsky, Aram Khachaturian, Edward MacDowell, Pietro Mascagni, Jules Massenet, Jean Joseph Mouret, Carl Orff, Johann Pachelbel, Amilcare Ponchielli, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Emil Waldteufel, Peter Warlock, and Charles-Marie Widor.