Your 11 favorite quirky composers

[Symphonic Addict]

Composers whose music have quirkiness. As simple as that. Music that has as a good deal of amusement through or by using jokes, sarcasms in whatever use in music that tends to express or evoke that on you, good humour, irony, satyre, wit, and so on, in many of their compositions. Malice is another good word I could link these composers with. Music that makes you smile and sometimes laugh as a result of their genius, intelligence and spark.

A meeting with all these guys would be an exhilarating experience in heaven (or hell?) 

Malcolm Arnold
Joseph Haydn
Paul Hindemith
Rued Langgaard
Bohuslav Martinu
Carl Nielsen
Francis Poulenc
Sergei Prokofiev
Max Reger
Albert Roussel
Dmitry Shostakovich

[springrite]

Ibert
Francaix
Haydn
Martinu
Stravinsky
Poulenc
Brian
Ustvoskaja
Shchedrin
Harrison
Carter

[Mirror Image]

11? Why an odd number? Anyway...in no particular order:

Ravel
Stravinsky
Nielsen
Martinů
Janáček
Schnittke
Varèse
Ligeti
Ives
Koechlin
Berlioz

[vandermolen]

Langgaard came immediately to mind.
Now, let me think...
Morton Gould ('West Point Symphony')
Malcolm Arnold
Mosolov ('Iron Foundry')
Dukas ('Sorcerer's Apprentice')
Nielsen ('Sinfonia Semplice')
Havergal Brian
Gavril Popov
Sauguet
Martinu
Ives

[Florestan]

Joseph Haydn is THE master of "good humour, irony, satire, wit".

Besides other names already mentioned, I nominate:

Rossini
Donizetti
Franz Liszt
Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Moritz Moszkowski
Cecile Chaminade
Jacques Offenbach
The Strauss Family
Oscar Straus
Franz von Suppé
Franz Lehár
Emmerich Kálmán
Leroy Anderson

[Brian]

Roughly chronological

D. Scarlatti
CPE Bach
Haydn
Nielsen
Janácek
Antheil
Poulenc
Jón Leifs
Françaix
Marc-André Hamelin
Andrew Norman

[knight66]

I don't know that I could come up with 11. But seeing the question, the first name that came to mind is Saint Saens. Moving behind some of his very best known pieces such as Samson and Delilah, his music is not entirely what one expects. He was quite original. His first piano concerto middle movement sounds well ahead of when it was written, 1868. The Carnival of the Animals, is a real oddity as is Danse Macabre and the Organ Symphony is certainly striking and not many ploughed that field.

He was the first major composer to write film music,The Assassination of the Duke of Guise out of which he produces a suite which included a harmonium. There is a piece for piano and trombone and I read there was one for horn and harp!

And that is without even touching upon his private life.

Mike

[Brian]

There is a piece for piano and trombone and I read there was one for horn and harp!

Oh shoot! I forgot Reicha but he liked unusual instrument combinations and quirks as well, including a trio for three cellos, an early bassoon quintet, and the notorious Quatuor Scientifique. Might be fun to discuss classical and romantic works with really unusual groups of instruments.

[Symphonic Addict]

Thanks for your responses so far!

Ibert
Francaix
Haydn
Martinu
Stravinsky
Poulenc
Brian
Ustvoskaja
Shchedrin
Harrison
Carter

Ustvoskaja, interesting. I was unaware of him/her.

[Symphonic Addict]

11? Why an odd number? Anyway...in no particular order:

Ravel
Stravinsky
Nielsen
Martinů
Janáček
Schnittke
Varèse
Ligeti
Ives
Koechlin
Berlioz

I kind of expected this list from you, John. It could be my list too if I thought a second time, or a third. Quite fascinating about Varèse, Ligeti and Koechlin. And Nielsen, Stravinsky, Janáček and Martinů, yes!!!

[Symphonic Addict]

Langgaard came immediately to mind.
Now, let me think...
Morton Gould ('West Point Symphony')
Malcolm Arnold
Mosolov ('Iron Foundry')
Dukas ('Sorcerer's Apprentice')
Nielsen ('Sinfonia Semplice')
Havergal Brian
Gavril Popov
Sauguet
Martinu
Ives

Langgaard, absolutely, also Arnold. Oh, wow. What a composer. Morton Gould never having passed by me. Also Sauguet. Intriguing.

[Symphonic Addict]

Joseph Haydn is THE master of "good humour, irony, satire, wit".

Besides other names already mentioned, I nominate:

Rossini
Donizetti
Franz Liszt
Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Moritz Moszkowski
Cecile Chaminade
Jacques Offenbach
The Strauss Family
Oscar Straus
Franz von Suppé
Franz Lehár
Emmerich Kálmán
Leroy Anderson

Another list that seems to synthesize tastes bringing forth some potential favorites ever overall, or partially. Haydn is, indeed, one of the pioneers in the Austrian-German tradition without losing good humour.

[Symphonic Addict]

Roughly chronological

D. Scarlatti
CPE Bach
Haydn
Nielsen
Janácek
Antheil
Poulenc
Jón Leifs
Françaix
Marc-André Hamelin
Andrew Norman

Can't understand why I forgot Françaix. Silly me. He should be in my list.

[Symphonic Addict]

I don't know that I could come up with 11. But seeing the question, the first name that came to mind is Saint Saens. Moving behind some of his very best known pieces such as Samson and Delilah, his music is not entirely what one expects. He was quite original. His first piano concerto middle movement sounds well ahead of when it was written, 1868. The Carnival of the Animals, is a real oddity as is Danse Macabre and the Organ Symphony is certainly striking and not many ploughed that field.

He was the first major composer to write film music,The Assassination of the Duke of Guise out of which he produces a suite which included a harmonium. There is a piece for piano and trombone and I read there was one for horn and harp!

And that is without even touching upon his private life.

Mike

Saint-Saëns sounds splendid to me as well. I feel much wit, much freshness and inventiveness.

[springrite]

Thanks for your responses so far!

Ustvoskaja, interesting. I was unaware of him/her.

A pupil of Shostakovich who famously turned down Shostakovich's proposal for marriage/romance.

[Symphonic Addict]

A pupil of Shostakovich who famously turned down Shostakovich's proposal for marriage/romance.

Thanks for the info. I did recall I had seen Ustvoskaja somewhere, but it was Ustvolskaya, Galina Ustvolskaya.

[vandermolen]

Can't understand why I forgot Françaix. Silly me. He should be in my list.

+1 

[Brian]

In the middle of the night, finally thought of a romantic-era composer who fits the description: Berwald.

[Mirror Image]

11? Why an odd number? Anyway...in no particular order:

Ravel
Stravinsky
Nielsen
Martinů
Janáček
Schnittke
Varèse
Ligeti
Ives
Koechlin
Berlioz

As good as this list is, I'd like to make some substitutions: Schulhoff for Berlioz and Hindemith for Nielsen.

[DavidW]

As good as this list is, I'd like to make some substitutions: Schulhoff for Berlioz and Hindemith for Nielsen.

You're like there is entirely too much pre-modern era on this list!  I better cut out that one composer...