Composers' unloved children

[LeMartinPecheur]

I was thinking today about works that become so successful that their composers end up hating them. The two instances that came to mind were Rachmaninov and his C sharp minor prelude, and Grainger with Country Gardens (his 1949-50 orchestration for Stokowski, far more dissonant than the usual versions we hear, demonstrates his mixed feelings about this work IMO).

IIRC Faure got fed up with the continuing popularity of some of his early songs when he hoped the public would be paying attention to his late (too elusive?) masterpieces.

Any other examples?

[VodkaDilc]

Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance No1?

[Flay]

Composers' unloved children

Gosh, LMP, you had me worried. I thought you were posting about their kids rather than their compositions

Didn't Wagner grow to hate Tannhäuser? "Meine schlechteste Oper"

[Roehre]

I was thinking today about works that become so successful that their composers end up hating them. ... Any other examples?

Beethoven and his Septet opus 20

[Serial_Apologist]

I once read that Edgard Varese destroyed everything he composed before "Ameriques"; but a programme devoted to his music last year managed to discover a single song Varese composed in 1906. I would be fascinated to know if anything else from that early period survived.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance No1?

Sounds perfectly plausible but can you evidence this VodkaDilc?

[LeMartinPecheur]

Gosh, LMP, you had me worried. I thought you were posting about their kids rather than their compositions

Cue separate thread do you think Mr Flay??

[VodkaDilc]

Sounds perfectly plausible but can you evidence this VodkaDilc?

I remember the claim from the original Ken Russell Elgar film. Ken produced a soundtrack of the song version coming from numerous loudspeakers, while Huw Wheldon said something about Elgar detesting its over-popularity and nationalistic overtones.

[Serial_Apologist]

Cue separate thread do you think Mr Flay??

Perhaps change thread title from "children" to "residue"?

[LeMartinPecheur]

Beethoven and his Septet opus 20

Roehre, I'd forgotten that one. Never been a great favourite of mine so I'm inclined to support the composer in this case.

[LeMartinPecheur]

I once read that Edgard Varese destroyed everything he composed before "Ameriques"; but a programme devoted to his music last year managed to discover a single song Varese composed in 1906. I would be fascinated to know if anything else from that early period survived.

SA: see opening post - are you really saying that all this early Varese was wildly popular???

[Flay]

Cue separate thread do you think Mr Flay??

Oh gosh, no, I am sure composers have never hated their own children.

But puerodi (I just made that word up) has inspired compositions, for example Brian's The Cenci. Maybe that could be a good thread?

[VodkaDilc]

Sounds perfectly plausible but can you evidence this VodkaDilc?

I cannot speak for the accuracy of this source:

http://eyesometric.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/ken-russells-documentary-film-about-elgar/

but it includes the following:

Moreover, there’s a strong political edge, highlighting Elgar’s feeling of disillusionment that ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ (his ‘Pomp & Circumstance March’ with added lyrics he hated) was being used to dress up the empty jingoism of a government sending young men to the Great War. The juxtaposition of the flag-waving anthem against archive footage of blinded casualties hanging on to one another makes a powerful and still-relevant point about the human price of ideological posturing.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Didn't Saint-Saëns try and suppress performances of his Carnival of the Animals, fearing it would overshadow his other works?

And Ravel is quoted as saying, 'I have written only one masterpiece, Bolero. Unfortunately, it contains no music.' Whether that means it was unloved or not is another matter...

[Serial_Apologist]

SA: see opening post - are you really saying that all this early Varese was wildy popular???

I dunno, LMP - there's only that one song to go on, and, while I'd guess it wouldn't have quite made the 1906 charts, it's pretty innocuous in its sub-Roussellian kind of way!