Here's a composer I found out about a while ago while looking for unsung composers who composed much waltzes, polkas, galops, etc..
His name is August Labitzky and I could've posted this earlier but I wasn't sure yet because the only piece I know from him is the "Bückeberger-Walzer", which is in my opinion a very nice waltz.
His father Joseph Labitzky (1802-1881) was also a composer, but he was far more prolific than his son August.
I'll list these unsung composers here in chronological order.
Joseph Lanner (1801-1843) Austrian (not that unsung, but I came across him while searching.)
Joseph Labitzky (1802-1881) Czech (mentioned earlier in this post.)
Joseph Gung'l (1809-1889) Austrian, today Hungary (his Hungarian March has been transcribed by Liszt.)
Hans Christian Lumbye (1810-1874) Danish
Philipp Fahrbach der Ältere (1815-1885) Austrian
Friedrich Zikoff (1824-1877) Prussian, today Poland
Carl Faust (1825-1892) Polish
August Labitzky (1832-1903) Czech (mentioned earlier in this post.)
August Lanner (1835-1855) Austrian (son of Joseph Lanner.)
Franz Behr (1837-1898) German
Alphons Czibulka (1842-1894) Austro-Hungarian, today Slovakia
Philipp Fahrbach der Jüngere (1843-1894) Austrian
Karl Michael Ziehrer (1843-1922) Austrian
Richard Eilenberg (1848-1927) German
Karel Komzák II (1850-1905) Czech-born Austrian
Oscar Fetrás (1854-1931) German
Joseph Hellmesberger, Jr. (1855-1907) Austrian (I'm aware of his family members, but I only found music by this one.)
Rudolf Nováček (1860-1929) Czech/Serbian
Julius Fučik (1872-1916) Czech
Siegfried Translateur (1875-1944) German, today Poland
I'm interested if any of you are aware of others so I can add them in the future?
Check it out:
http://www.johann-strauss.org.uk/composers-a-m.php (http://www.johann-strauss.org.uk/composers-a-m.php)
And Naxos (Marco Polo) just recently released two discs (plus a digital only "vol. 3" of three pieces) of music by "Contemporaries of the Strauss Family' which includes a bunch of the above list. I don't have them yet but the samples all sound great.
Does Karel Komzak II fall in this category? Or well-known enough? I've played some of his works - pleasant enough and a nice change from all the Strauss family stuff we play.
All I can say is that the dance material I do listen to is not something we discuss on this board.
Tom
Hans Christian Lumbye (1810-74) is now somewhat "sung", but hopefully still unsung _enough_ for this board (not sure what our standards are but that's going off tangent (a sine, I know, I know.))
If not, then, well, you misspelled Gung'l, and you left out (among very, very, very very many others of course, but just to choose three well-knowns... once...) the once (I gather) quite popular Carl Faust (1825-92), the somewhat successful Friedrich Zikoff (1824-77), Franz/François Behr (1837-98)...
sdtom: where dance music is concerned I probably go more for musical theater (somewhat older things, or among the postwar generation (but still my parents' generation) maybe Sondheim- not the "Allerneueste" style and manner and... right. There are (rather few) classical concert composers writing in the late 20th century/early 21st (more the latter; most died by 2000, others by 2015...) I like, but rather fewer dance or theater composers.)
Thanks! I wasn't even aware of those three. I'll put them in the list.
I was aware of Lumbye, but I thought he was too famous for the list, but I've put him in, just in case.
Waldteufel has always been a particular favorite of mine. Marco Polo brought out 11 vol.'s of his dance music. I was hoping for a complete collection. I'd so love to hear the Manolo waltz that set his career off!
Waldtefel certainly was a one hit wonder but his so many of his waltzes are just truly infectious -- perhaps even more so than the master himself (his other dance music is somewhat reletively limited in number, comparatively). He also wasn't as prolific as his OP numbers would lead you to believe, so while the 11 discs is hardly complete, it's still a somewhat decent chunk.
not positive I should have included Behr, whose output I think was largely of brief piano works many but not all of which happened to -be- dances.
why "-be-"?
I would add the Czech composer Julius Fučík (1872 – 1916), most famous for his March of the Gladiators.
Let's not forget Offenbach and his unexplored orchestral waltzes [dance music]... Has anyone heard the "Evening Papers" waltz which is always mentioned in any summery of Strauss's "Morning Papers".
Didn't know Offenbach composed a waltz but I don't feature composers in the list who composed but a few pieces like waltzes or polkas. It's about the main genre.
Offenbach wrote quite a number of waltzes and other dances, though the majority was for piano -- there's three discs of piano music on CPO and anyone who likes the composers in this thread would likely find them very enjoyable. There are a few orchestral dances as well which have had a couple recordings.
Obviously Offenbach's main genre is squarely operetta though -- of course, many of the others wrote those too.
Speaking of which, I would definetly add Carl Michael Ziehrer, who like Strauss wrote quite a number of dances and a bunch of operettas.
He's already included.
I have recently come across music by the first ever (for me) composer from Luxembourg, Lou Koster. She was born in 1889 and died in 1973, but her music most certainly fits in here, IMHO. A CD with her Suite dramatique, Ouverture légère and five Waltz Suites (one from 1914, the others from the 1920s) was released by Naxos earlier this year. While the music may not be utterly memorable, it is very tuneful light music with a certain Gallic charm, and I have listened to the disc a couple of times now with ever growing pleasure.
Re Luxembourgish composers btw - see Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Luxembourgish_composers) :)
Thanks - that's quite a list for such a small country...
Two composers who were more famous in other fields than dance music that wrote a considerable amount of it of high quality were the overture-machine Kéler Béla (1822-82) and Paul Lincke (1866-1946). Quite a few of Kéler's waltzes have recently been uploaded to IMSLP in the original Bote & Bock orchestral parts, though strangely not his most famous one, "Am schönen Rhein gedenk ich dein", op. 83; he was a catchy melodist, an excellent orchestrator, and the dances have real zip. Their occasional weakness (especially in the early ones) is tonal variety, but some of the codas are both surprising and effective. Lincke's best concert waltzes, like "Verschmähte Liebe" ("Spurned Love"), "Hochzeitsreigen" ("Wedding-Dance"), and "O Frühling, wie bist Du so schön" ("Spring, Beautiful Spring") are as good as Lehár's, and were repeatedly recorded all over the world up to the 1930s. The support and awards given Lincke by the Nazis have no doubt contributed to the relative obscurity of his compositions outside Germany to-day.
Another much more obscure Viennese theatrical composer who was a contemporary of Lehár and Lincke, Heinrich Reinhardt (1865-1922) also wrote some lovely dance music; the waltz he made from his operetta "Die Sprudelfee" ("The Spring Maid", 1909) has luscious melodies and a wonderful coda. I have the American orchestra parts and would love to hear a modern recording; Frederick Ecke conducted the Edison house orchestra in an enchanting performance in 1910 on an Amberol cylinder which is very hard to find copies of in decent condition.
And this doesn't even touch the accomplished American waltz composers like Abe Holzmann and John T. Hall, the latter having the dubious distinction of serving two years in a Federal penitentiary for mail fraud!
Of course, Americans leaned toward marches -- you could easily put Sousa in this category (obviously not unsung) -- he in fact wrote a couple waltz suties -- and a huge heap of other composers, especially in the early 20th century.
Many of them also of course wrote rags and other more 'popular' sounding type pieces. but talking about waltzes there's even Joplin and co. (something like Harmony Club Waltz is very much in the Viennese style). Many such pieces are represented throughout the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra's discography (Holzmann included). I'll grant this might be learning away from the site's "remit" here but I do think a lot of them fit...