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There is definitely a lot of forgettable fluff in the history of music. On the other hand, there are many great composers that deserve to be better known -- not

There is definitely a lot of forgettable fluff in the history of music. On the other hand, there are many great composers that deserve to be better known -- not particularly obscure, but at the same time without the kind of name recognition of the top tier, except to serious fans of classical music. C. F. Abel, Biber, Albicastro, Molter, Sances, Marais, Blavet, Leclair, Heinichen, Forqueray, Carbonelli, Carissimi, Cavalli, Bonporti, Busoni, Zelenka, Agricola, the Caccinis, Couperin, Gesualdo... Very hard to find concert programs featuring many of these!

p1esk 7y ago
I think Couperin stands out on your list. He’s better known and more popular than the rest.
- JasonFruit 7y ago
  That may depend on your experience; some of his list are very well known to vocalists, others to violinists, others to keyboard players, and so on.
  - p1esk 7y ago
    I was speaking from the point of view of non-musician/non-specialist. In my subjective opinion, Couperin would definitely make the top 100 of best classical composers, while I'm not so sure about the rest. Sure, he's no Bach, but he's still one of the top composers of baroque period: https://www.baroque.org/baroque/composers https://www.baroque.org/baroque/composers
njonsson 7y ago
I’ve performed Jean-Marie Leclair in recital — the violin sonata, op. 9 no. 3 in D major (see https://imslp.org/wiki/12_Violin_Sonatas%2C_Op.9_(Leclair%2C_Jean-Marie) https://imslp.org/wiki/12_Violin_Sonatas%2C_Op.9_(Leclair%2C... ). There are beautiful recordings of this piece by Szeryng and Oistrakh.
JasonFruit 7y ago
All this is true, even though I'd still hold that they don't have works that stand with the best of the recognized greats' works. But again, some of these composers have works that are firmly in the general repertoire — Biber's Mystery Sonatas, Marais' amazing suites, the Leclair 2-violin sonatas — and others are real mainstays of early-music performances. I'd say they have the approval of that long-term taste filter that we were talking about. (I'd quibble about the long-term staying power of Busoni, but the point still stands.)
pyrale 7y ago
Gesualdo has a pretty solid reputation as a composer. His lack of recognition is probably due to madrigals going out of fashion. Then again, part of the reputation of composers like Bach or Mozart lies in that they were able to create music of any kind their era had imagined.

p1esk 7y ago

I think Couperin stands out on your list. He’s better known and more popular than the rest.

JasonFruit 7y ago
That may depend on your experience; some of his list are very well known to vocalists, others to violinists, others to keyboard players, and so on.
- p1esk 7y ago
  I was speaking from the point of view of non-musician/non-specialist. In my subjective opinion, Couperin would definitely make the top 100 of best classical composers, while I'm not so sure about the rest. Sure, he's no Bach, but he's still one of the top composers of baroque period: https://www.baroque.org/baroque/composers https://www.baroque.org/baroque/composers

njonsson 7y ago

I’ve performed Jean-Marie Leclair in recital — the violin sonata, op. 9 no. 3 in D major (see https://imslp.org/wiki/12_Violin_Sonatas%2C_Op.9_(Leclair%2C_Jean-Marie) https://imslp.org/wiki/12_Violin_Sonatas%2C_Op.9_(Leclair%2C... ). There are beautiful recordings of this piece by Szeryng and Oistrakh.

JasonFruit 7y ago

All this is true, even though I'd still hold that they don't have works that stand with the best of the recognized greats' works. But again, some of these composers have works that are firmly in the general repertoire — Biber's Mystery Sonatas, Marais' amazing suites, the Leclair 2-violin sonatas — and others are real mainstays of early-music performances. I'd say they have the approval of that long-term taste filter that we were talking about. (I'd quibble about the long-term staying power of Busoni, but the point still stands.)

pyrale 7y ago

Gesualdo has a pretty solid reputation as a composer. His lack of recognition is probably due to madrigals going out of fashion. Then again, part of the reputation of composers like Bach or Mozart lies in that they were able to create music of any kind their era had imagined.