Which major composer wrote the least solo piano music?

[KevinP]

All of Barber's solo piano music fits on one CD, or in one light book.

Probably someone famous can beat that.

Must be solo-- no violin sonatas, lieder, etc, despite requiring solo piano writing.

[MusicTurner]

Bruckner. One CD of eminently forgettable kitschy trifles ...

Elgar. A 'Concert Allegro', and that's almost
It.

Verdi, 3 small works.

Puccini, 5 small works.

[JBS]

Boulez: Douze Notations, the three Piano Sonatas, Incises

[San Antone]

Wagner?

Btw, Boulez wrote Structures I and II, although they were for two pianos, and Une page d'éphéméride. But he also wrote a number of works for solo piano which were unpublished.  There is this recording of his complete solo piano music, hour and twenty minutes worth. 

[Jo498]

This is an odd question. Do you mean a small oeuvre that is still considered of major or at least some repertoire importance, as would hold for Barber or Boulez? Because this is rather different from trifles or juvenilia like the pieces mentioned by Bruckner, Elgar etc.

Dukas and Barraqué could be two more candidates in the first category.

[Maestro267]

Varese wrote no solo piano music. You can't get more less than none.

[Todd]

How much solo piano music did Mahler write?

[KevinP]

This is an odd question. Do you mean a small oeuvre that is still considered of major or at least some repertoire importance, as would hold for Barber or Boulez? Because this is rather different from trifles or juvenilia like the pieces mentioned by Bruckner, Elgar etc.

The importance of the piano music is not an issue. The importance of the composer is; it can't be Joe Schmo from Kokomo.

[Brian]

Bach, obviously 

For Mahler, Wikipedia lists a single "suite for solo piano" composed and performed in conservatory and lost soon afterwards. No other solo instrumental works of any kind.

P.S. Another thing I learned from Wikipedia is that the 1945 firebombing of Dresden destroyed an archive containing four complete unpublished early/juvenile Mahler symphonies which will never be seen or heard again.

[Todd]

I would think a fair number of the composers whose fame is based on opera didn't write much solo piano music - Verdi and Puccini were cited previously.  Rossini is obviously an exception.

Berlioz appears to have written one piece.

[Biffo]

I would think a fair number of the composers whose fame is based on opera didn't write much solo piano music - Verdi and Puccini were cited previously.  Rossini is obviously an exception.

Berlioz appears to have written one piece.

That is interesting, I didn't know he had written even one piece. Although he was a friend of Liszt, Chopin and more distantly Schumann, he called the piano 'a platitude machine'.

In his memoirs he says he couldn't play the piano but in 1851 he was given and a rosewood piano by Erard and could play it but not fluently.

[pjme]

Apparently Allan Petterson wrote (very) little for the piano.
And possibly other "Orchestral" composers. Havergal Brian?  Albert Roussel and Arthur Honegger come to mind. Alban Berg.

RVW wrote no big sonatas, fantasias or variations for solo piano.

[MusicTurner]

Spohr, a bit surprisingly for his time -  unless there are some very obscure works.

Paganini

Bellini

Rimsky-Korsakov (there are some, though)

[Brian]

The Warner Berlioz complete edition contains 16 minutes of solo organ music, but not the "Albumleaf" for piano listed on Wikipedia. (Or the Toccata for organ, although it does contain two world-premiere recordings of fugues unlisted on Wiki.) Not sure if that piece has ever been recorded or if the music still exists.

Interestingly, Berlioz never wrote any chamber music whatsoever.

[Lisztianwagner]

Wagner?

Wagner wrote few solo piano works, especially at the beginning of his career; about 16 pieces, and some of them are quite short.

[ritter]

Wagner wrote few solo piano works, especially at the beginning of his career; about 16 pieces, and some of them are quite short.

...and most of them quite forgettable! 

Good evening, Ilaria!

[Lisztianwagner]

...and most of them quite forgettable! 

Good evening, Ilaria!

Good evening, Rafael!

Agreed, but for example the Elegy WWV 93 is very enchanting; I remember Visconti used it for the opening titles of Ludwig.

[71 dB]

Elgar. A 'Concert Allegro', and that's almost
It.

There's more including the solo piano version of the Enigma Variations. Even Naxos has a dedicated disc of Elgar's solo piano music:

https://www.amazon.com/Piano-Music-ELGAR/dp/B000H4VZDK/ref=sr_1_3?crid=51KKETZUQ6MK&keywords=elgar+naxos+piano+music&qid=1660815433&sprefix=elgar+naxos+piano+music%2Caps%2C167&sr=8-3

Concert Allegro isn't even on that CD! Then there's David Owen Norris playing Elgar (Elgar Editions)

Obscure perhaps for others than us Elgarians, but Concert Allegro certainly is not all there is

[71 dB]

Interestingly, Berlioz never wrote any chamber music whatsoever.

Well, considering what a genius of ochestration he was that isn't very surprising...  0:)

[Florestan]

Berlioz and Varese are certainly the winners.

For a major composer with a huge catalogue of works, Dvorak wrote a surprisingly small amount of piano music, none of which is essential.