Unsung Composer Nations?

[Kriton]

Dear all, just a small question. Remembering Rheinberger was from Liechtenstein, I was wondering if there would be any other composers from Europe's smaller states. They would have to be unsung, because - without wanting to sound arrogant - I've never heard of them - or I just haven't got my facts straight...

I'm thinking of:
- Monaco
- Andorra
- Luxembourg
- San Marino
- Malta
- Vatican City

A composer from that last state would probably have written a lot of masses...

Anyway, thanks for possible responses!

[eschiss1]

Malta: Charles Camillieri, 1931-2009

[thalbergmad]

Monaco - Louis Abbiate

Immense PC that I prattled on about in the "French" thread.

Thal

[Hovite]

Dear all, just a small question. Remembering Rheinberger was from Liechtenstein, I was wondering if there would be any other composers from Europe's smaller states.

Many composers were born in small states that no longer exist: Mozart was born in the Archbishopric of Salzburg, Beethoven in the Electorate of Cologne, and Puccini in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

[eschiss1]

Andorra- I don't know about classical composers; Lluis Claret is an Andorran classical cellist of Andorran birth however.

Luxembourg: Louis Beicht (1886-1943) (operettas mainly apparently).
also Helen Buchholtz (1877-1953) and others. (see eg
http://lb.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kategorie:Lëtzebuergesch_Komponisten and translate, or the English version which has fewer composers listed ) (Only some apply of course, some being too recent...)
No Romantic symphonists I can see offhand in that country, but I am not being thorough...

Eric

[Langtons Aunt]

Malta: Nicolo Isouard (1775-1818); I have a recording of his Cendrillon on Olympia

[dax]

There are of course many worthwhile composers from Albania, although with the odd exception such as Fan Noli (who was prime minister in 1924), there were very few composers of concert music before WW2. Much orchestral music was written since the 1950s: a number of the best efforts seem to be for violin and orchestra, often written in an impassioned, concentrated style. Names such as Tish Daia, Feim Ibrahimi, Aleksandër Peçi, Thoma Gaqi, Çesk Zadeja, Nikolla Zoraqi and more recently David Tukiqi and Thoma Simaku.

[eschiss1]

Hrm. Already mentioned Schreker (Monaco-born) earlier in the thread, I see
As to Andorra, most famous person I see in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Andorrans is cellist Lluis Claret (who I also mentioned abuf... ah well!... ), but perhaps... don't know.
Re Malta, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Maltese#Composers, also Carmelo Pace.
Peruvian composers Daniel Alomía Robles (1871-1942) and Jorge Bravo de Rueda (1895-1940) might fit in there somewhere too though not asked for in the first post, still fitting the title of the thread maybe...

[JimL]

There are of course many worthwhile composers from Albania, although with the odd exception such as Fan Noli (who was prime minister in 1924), there were very few composers of concert music before WW2. Much orchestral music was written since the 1950s: a number of the best efforts seem to be for violin and orchestra, often written in an impassioned, concentrated style. Names such as Tish Daia, Feim Ibrahimi, Aleksandër Peçi, Thoma Gaqi, Çesk Zadeja, Nikolla Zoraqi and more recently David Tukiqi and Thoma Simaku.

All active during the Hoxha regime.  Probably composed in some form of 'Socialist realism' idiom.

[eschiss1]

Erm.. ok.

A quite brief, but not quite that brief, article from 2004 on classical music in Albania may be found here. (One should update that Tish Daia/Daija died the year the article was written, so 30/1/1926-3/10/2004 rather than b.1926.)

[dax]

There are of course many worthwhile composers from Albania, although with the odd exception such as Fan Noli (who was prime minister in 1924), there were very few composers of concert music before WW2. Much orchestral music was written since the 1950s: a number of the best efforts seem to be for violin and orchestra, often written in an impassioned, concentrated style. Names such as Tish Daia, Feim Ibrahimi, Aleksandër Peçi, Thoma Gaqi, Çesk Zadeja, Nikolla Zoraqi and more recently David Tukiqi and Thoma Simaku.

All active during the Hoxha regime.

apart from Fan Noli, as was made clear.

  Probably composed in some form of 'Socialist realism' idiom.

Indeed, but stylistically surprisingly varied despite the restrictions. Mind you, the "Hoxha regime" hasn't existed for 20 years, so things have moved on a bit. Peçi, for instance, composes quite different music these days.

The article linked by eschiss is unfortunately a little misleading, for example -

There is no doubt that the most famous composer in Albania of all the time is Çesk Zadeja (1927-1997) . . . rightly called the father of Albanian classical music

. Zadeja produced the first Albanian symphony in 1956, but it's certainly an overstatement to suggest that he's the "most famous" or "the father of Albanian classical music".

[mikehopf]

Lorenzo Perosi was a Vatican City composer... and, yes, he did write a lot of masses.

[Ilja]

Let us not forget Federico Consolo (1841-1906), who hailed from San Marino. Mainly violin pieces, if I recall correctly.

[alberto]

Lorenzo Perosi was born in Italy (1872) and was an Italian citizen at least for some decades : he was a Catholic Church Priest. Anyway since 1898 - but with a longish interruption- he was Director of the Sistina Chapel (in practice the official composer of the Vatican City, which is a tiny nation). He died in 1956.
Federico Consolo was born in 1841 in Ancona, which was then part of the (then large) "Stato Pontificio" or "Church State", but became Italy in 1861. He composed the National Anthem of the tiny "Repubblica di San Marino".

[Delicious Manager]

A perfect candidate for this thread is from a country not yet mentioned - the principality of Liechtenstein - Joseph Rheinberger (1839 - 1901)