Major Composers Who Wrote a Small Amount of Music

[Scion7]

^ Don't listen to that Vlach!   
We know what "major" means!

Mahler didn't write a whole lot of compositions, but what compositions they were!

[Florestan]

^ Don't listen to that Vlach!   

Said the Hun, noisily chewing the raw meat he had fetched from under his saddle.   

Mahler didn't write a whole lot of compositions, but what compositions they were!

Yes, agreed. Mahler/Bruckner/Wagner can certainly claim the prize for "a small amount of works".

[Mandryka]

Just s handful of songs (Less than 20).

He burnt most of his music, but I'm not sure how much there was.

[vandermolen]

Duruflé comes to mind, although not especially 'major'.

[Jo498]

It also depends how you count. If you count only one version of each symphony, Bruckner wrote a moderate amount of music (I still probably wouldn't call it small, including the choral music etc., it's probably around 15 hours of music). But this doubles or more, if one counts all the alternative versions...
FWIW, I don't think 10 hours of music or more (like Mahler) is a small amount, even it's "only" 10-12 large scale works and a few dozen lieder. I'd probably draw the line around about 4 hours or so.

[DaveF]

You probably have to write a certain number of pieces to be considered "major" in the first place.  You sometimes read statements like "If Sibelius had written nothing but the Seventh Symphony, he would still be considered a great composer" - as though it were possible to produce only one work in a lifetime that just turned out to be a towering masterpiece.  (If such a situation really did occur, it would either be considered a curiosity, or theft.)  So for a candidate - John Browne, usually considered the greatest English composer of the second half of the 15th century, is known by only 9 surviving works, all in the Eton Choirbook (a few songs, attributed to "Browne" in another source, may or may not be by him).  But he probably wrote masses, in both senses of the word, that was thrown out after Henry VIII's reformation, so perhaps not a genuine candidate.

[Irons]

In a small pond (English music) Capriol Suite could be classed as major. Warlock only wrote eight instrumental works (including Capriol Suite) and three of those remain unpublished. He wrote many songs and one masterpiece for voice, flute, cor anglais and string quartet, The Curlew. His early death (35) by his own hand put an end to his opus but a wasted talent and a longer life would not I believe have changed that.

[staxomega]

That's really uncalled for.

My apologies Florestan, at the time it read like something that was more trolling. It just seemed incomprehensible to me for Varèse not to be seen as a major composer. He was one of the key figures in shaping electronic music from Tangerine Dream to Vangelis to Daft Punk.

I actually don't consider myself a huge Varèse fan so not me being upset about maligning a favorite composer or anything

[springrite]

In terms of time, Webern composed less than four hours of music.

[Florestan]

My apologies Florestan, at the time it read like something that was more trolling. It just seemed incomprehensible to me for Varèse not to be seen as a major composer. He was one of the key figures in shaping electronic music from Tangerine Dream to Vangelis to Daft Punk.

I actually don't consider myself a huge Varèse fan so not me being upset about maligning a favorite composer or anything

In my defense, I plead his name being squeezed between Barraque and Lekeu, two definitely not major composers.

I'm not a Varese fan either but there's no denying he was a major and influential figure of the 20th century.

[Florestan]

In terms of time, Webern composed less than four hours of music.

Yep. He gets the prize uncontested.

[Karl Henning]

My apologies Florestan, at the time it read like something that was more trolling. It just seemed incomprehensible to me for Varèse not to be seen as a major composer. He was one of the key figures in shaping electronic music from Tangerine Dream to Vangelis to Daft Punk.

I should also consider both Varèse and Webern major composers. (For only one thing, in the Music History classes I took, the music of both composers was considered worthy of study.) If they aren't, I guess I need to be informed what the major composer threshold is. I'm happy to learn.

[Karl Henning]

In my defense, I plead his name being squeezed between Barraque and Lekeu, two definitely not major composers.

I'm not a Varese fan either but there's no denying he was a major and influential figure of the 20th century.

Ah!

[vandermolen]

Walton comes to mind and I consider his Symphony No.1 to be one of the great 20th Century symphonies. He didn't write that much but all of it seems to be of high quality (I exclude 'Facade' which I can't stand).

[staxomega]

In my defense, I plead his name being squeezed between Barraque and Lekeu, two definitely not major composers.

I'm not a Varese fan either but there's no denying he was a major and influential figure of the 20th century.

Indeed, I definitely agree on Barraque and Lekeu.