"Sungs" who championed "Unsungs"?

[monafam]

I'm not sure what prompted this to come into my mind, but I figured this was the place to go regardless!

I think part of what could make one unsung is that they may not have had the sort of support that some more "popular" composers had (although the more I read, it seems that a lot of "popular" composers today were anything but in the era they lived).   I was curious if there are any/many examples where a particularly popular composer really championed or supported someone that never really caught on (except for on this forum).   

It's possible that the support alone would propel an otherwise unknown out of the "unsung" category altogether; however, I thought maybe there might be some examples where popular composer "A" really supported and promoted relatively unknown composer "B", who unfortunately didn't gain near the notoriety at that time.

Hopefully this makes sense!

Again, thanks in advance for any replies.   

[chill319]

Not sure if this is on target, but Dohnanyi comes to mind. Brahms promoted him in Vienna after hearing his extraordinarily assured opus 1.

Does Dohnanyi qualify as "unsung"? Hmm. As a former Floridian with a sister in Australia I would say that ending up in Tallahassee, FL in the 1940s would be about the same as ending up in Wagga Wagga, NSW today.  You wouldn't be playing tennis with Schoenberg anytime soon.

[John H White]

Brahms also persuaded his own publisher, to publish the score, parts and a 2 piano reduction of Robert Fuchs's First Symphony in 1885.
    Mendelssohn was also a great promoter of young talent, inviting William Sterndale Bennett to be his guest at Leipzig in1839, where he conducted the premiere of Bennett's 4th Piano Concerto.

[Marcus]

A.Liadov (1855-1914), might just fit into this category. His  few compositions are gems, but what might have been ?, He probably qualifies because of his reluctance to apply himself to his work, with the result his output was minimal. Colleagues encouraged him & tried to prod him to action. He was dismissed from the St.Petersburg Conservatory because he refused to study.Most would agree that he had the ability & potential to become a great composer.  He was an alcoholic, but his lack of self confidence may have been caused by untreated depression, a condition  that was not dealt with, or acknowledged in those days. Diaghilev aprroached him for a score for "The Firebird", but because he took so long to answer, and seemed to show no interest, the commission  was offered to Stravinsky. I would imagine the Liadov score would have been very different to Stavinsky. Our loss ! We can only wonder.
Marcus

[Hovite]

I was curious if there are any/many examples where a particularly popular composer really championed or supported someone that never really caught on

Schumann's writings are full of praise for now unknown composers, but without hearing their music it is impossible to say whether they are unjustly overlooked.

[eschiss1]

Liszt, often. Though the then-"unsungs" he championed aren't always so "unsung" today (Schumann, Borodin, Glazunov, Wagner, Berlioz...) it was in some cases a very uphill struggle. (But also the help he provided Cornelius, Rubinstein, von Bulow and Draeseke, if maybe less so Raff musically.)