Which lost work would you most like discovered?

[Brian]

Beethoven's Oboe Concerto

[Guido]

Mozart's cello concerto is the prime one for me, but I would also have loved to hear the early piano concerto of Barber written just after his Dover Beach in 1931 - there's also a missing violin sonata from 3 years earlier which won a compositional prize - the current theory is that he destroyed both works. Luckily we have the later piano concerto, a masterpiece, and the cello sonata of 1932 which is extraordinarily beautiful, so I'm not complaining too much.

The Mendelssohn cello concerto is a curious one - the first (and only completed) movement went missing in transit to the soloist, but Mendelssohn certainly had the mental capacity and time to reconstruct it after it went missing, so if he had deeply cared about it, one feels that he probably would have done so.

[Marc]

Bach: Markus-Passion, secular cantatas, church cantatas.

(And the rest.)

[ChamberNut]

Brahms' Clarinet Concerto. 

Yes, I know he didn't write one, but he should have damn it!    To complement the quartet of great clarinet works he composed in the twilight of his career.

[Tapkaara]

SIBELIUS'S 8th!!!!!!!!

[Joe Barron]

The last two movements of Schubert's Unfinished.

[ChamberNut]

ChamberNut's Opus 1-120

My dog ate them. 

[Opus106]

The last two movements of Schubert's Unfinished.

Was the rest really lost? Maybe within Schubert's own head, but is there evidence to show that he had this symphony completed at some point?

[Joe Barron]

Was the rest really lost? Maybe within Schubert's own head, but is there evidence to show that he had this symphony completed at some point?

No, there isn't, but then, there was no evidence that the first two movements existed until they showed up in a drawer someplace. The discovery and first performance occurred long after Schubert's death, and to my knowledge, there is no definitive word that the symphony was not completed. But then, my knowledge may be faulty.

[Cez]

No, there isn't, but then, there was no evidence that the first two movements existed until they showed up in a drawer someplace. The discovery and first performance occurred long after Schubert's death, and to my knowledge, there is no definitive word that the symphony was not completed. But then, my knowledge may be faulty.

IIRC, there's a reasonably good chance that the 3rd mvt was, if not completely finished, then at least written out further beyond the torn out snippet that was found with mvts I & II. 

[Bogey]

All the works that Paul Dukas burned.

From the web:

After the premier of La Péri, Dukas only published two more pieces, La Plainte au Loin du Faune a piano piece in memory of Debussy published in 1920, and Sonnet de Ronsard, a song setting in 1924. He continued composing, but so harsh was his self-criticism that he burned many of his compositions a few weeks before his death, feeling they did not live up to the standards he set with his earlier pieces.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Another lost work: "Prometheus Unbound" for chorus and orchestra by Havergal Brian.

This work, which Brian wrote between (iirc) 1937 and 1944, isn't technically lost as such - the full score has disappeared, the vocal score is extant. But a re-orchestration is a task of such daunting magnitude, no-one has yet volunteered...

[Luke]

Oh come on then, give it here, I'll do it if I must....

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Oh come on then, give it here, I'll do it if I must....

Just sent it through the post.

[Luke]

I will install a bigger letter box, then....

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I will install a bigger letter box, then....

Don't bother - a Brian-laden postman always rings (twice).

[Lilas Pastia]

This one's SUPER easy (for me, anyway):
(1) the symphonies of Muzio Clementi, most of which were destroyed by his housekeeper (either burned for kindling or used as butcher paper; I can't recall exactly; anyway her great granddaughter worked for Boulez ).  The Clementi tatters that escaped destruction are FANTASTIC.  Haydn on steroids.

But if I could only have *one*:  The Clementi symphonies.

There seem to be six complete symphonies that have escaped the fate you describe. They have all been recorded, the numbered ones (1-4) more than once. Are they the 'tatters' you describe?



I wasn't aware of any lost Clementi symphonies. That would be a great loss indeed.

[Ten thumbs]

Well maybe my choice is an odd one but as you all know i am a fan of Fanny Mendelssohn, so i would like her Easter Sonata to be found. We know she played it to a private audience and a search on Google confirms the occasion when Felix played the first movement in public but the wherabouts of the manuscript is currently unknown. I do have real hopes as there are rumours that it is in a private collection somewhere. Incidentally, I see a link here with Biber. He seems to be the only other composer to have used that title. 
Now over to you:

My wish has been fulfilled. Now all we need is a recording and I'm very hopeful.

http://thethread.dukeperformances.duke.edu/2012/09/interview-angela-mace-rediscovers-fanny-mendelssohn-hensel/

[Brahmsian]

I am hoping another famous cellist will walk into some cavern or old book store in Germany, and come upon another set of 6 suites for cello by Bach! 

[Opus106]

I am hoping another famous cellist will walk into some cavern or old book store in Germany, and come upon another set of 6 suites for cello by Bach! 

Hopefully interesting ones, this time.




EDIT: Oh, my. This emoticon is more demonic, rather than the impish I intended.