Over 1500 One Hit Wonder Songs!!
Last Update 09/20/09
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Classical One Hit

Long, long, before the everyday rock, blues, country, and folks music that we see on Billboard or other charts - the classical music is the from of mainstream music that has been entertained people since the medieval time. Europe has been the center of classical movement since the deveopment of music notation in the Renaissance period. In the 20th Century, classical music's popularity has been declined due to the commerical success of modern music such as rock 'n' roll, pop, R&B, country, etc. And since it has been around for such a long time, so of course, there would be one hit wonders in classical music. Many of artists listed here are virtually unknown by common listeners, and all of them were never on any kind of charts, but their works still can be heard from time to time in our everyday life.

 

Johann Pachelbel : Canon in D : 1680
The 17th Century German composer Johann Pachelbel is, sometimes, recognized as the first known one-hit wonder in music world. He was best known as the composer of "Canon in D" - the only canon he ever wrote.It was rediscovered in 1920s and first records in 1940 by Arthur Fiedler. Since then, it became a popular music play at weddings and a favourite on classical compilation CDs. It was also used as a main theme in 1980's Academy Award winning film 'Ordinary People'.

 

Jeremiah Clarke : Trumpet Voluntary : 1699
An organist and composer Jeremiah Clarke was born in London, 1674. He was a boy choir singer at Chapel Royal, before became an organist at the Winchester College, and then a jointed organist with William Croft at the Chapel Royal. He wrote many theatre pieces, anthems, and sacred music. Today, he is best remember for a keyboard piece titled "Prince of Denmark's March", normally called "Trumpet Voluntary", a 1699's tributed to Henry Purcell. He went out of his mind and shot himself in 1707.

 

Alessandro Marcello : Adante Oboe Concerto In D : 1917
A Italian dilettante Alessandro Marcello was known to excelled in many areas, including poetry, philosophy, mathematic, and music. He studied law and was appointed to many positions, including city diplomat and the head of the Venetian Arcadian society. He wrote and play music as a leisure. One of his composition called "A Concerto in D minor for oboe, strings and basso continuo" was later transcribed by J.S. Bach as concerto for solo harpsichord in D minor (BWV 974). Since then, several edition of this concerto has been published.

 

Charles Gounod : Ave Maria : 1859
Charles Gounod was a 19th Century French composer from Paris. His name was first publicly known by the 1859's opera "Faust". But it was the religious-inspired composition "Ave Maria" that brought him an internationally fame. Many different arrangements version of "Ave Maria" were created and it has been played frequently in Christian wedding ceremony, opera singers, and choirs through out the 20th Century.

 

Léo Delibes : Waltz From Coppélia : 1870
Clément Philibert Léo Delibes was a French ballets/operas/stages composer from the 19th Century. He was appointed for chorus master at the Theatre Lyrique and Paris Operat, and became an organist at Saint-Pierre-de-Chaillot. Delibes had composed various ballets and operas. Today, he was best known for the 1870 ballet, Coppélia. Its name and music was also been featured in seveal films and animes.

 

Amilcare Ponchielli : Dance of the Hours : 1876
An Italian opera composer named Amilcare Ponchielli was born in 1834. His music talent enabled him to enter Milan Conservatory at the age 9, and composed his first symphony at the age 10. His most well-known music piece was "The Dance of the Hours" from 1876's opera "La Gioconda". It was adapted into many songs, including Allan Sherman's "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh". But it was Disney's musical film 'Fantasia' in 1940, which brought this music to audiences worldwide.

 

Charles-Marie Widor : Toccata : 1879
Charles-Marie Jean Albert Widor was a French organist and composer from the late 19th Century. He went to study organ play and composition in Brussels. He was appointed as an organist at Saint-Sulpice church in Paris from 1870 to 1934. He composed many kinds of music and plays. His best known work is an organ composition called "Toccata". It is frequently played in wedding ceremonies and used at the close of the Christmas Midnight Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City.

 

Emile Waldteufel : The Skaters' Waltz : 1882
A composer Emile Waldteufel was born in the a family of musician in Starsbourg, France. In 1882, he composed the best-known work of his career - a waltz titled "Les Patineurs". (aka "The Skaters' Waltz" in English) It was played in many medias, from movies such as 'The Hollywood Revue of 1929' and 'Chariots of Fire' to the music games like Gamecube's 'Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix' and Arc System Works' 'Princess on Ice'.

 

Pietro Mascagni : Cavalleria Rusticana : 1890
Pietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni was born in the city of Livorno in Tuscany, Italy, in 1863. He composed many operas and had a successful career as a composer. His highest moment was 1890's Cavalleria Rusticana. It caused an immense sensation in opera world and, some said, singlehandedly created the Verismo movement in Italian music. It was a popular play through out Europe and was one of the most played operas in Italy to date.

 

Mikhail Mikhailovich Ippolitov-Ivanov : Procession of the Sardar : 1894
The Russian composer Mikhail Mikhailovich Ippolitov-Ivanov was born in Gatchina, near St. Petersburg, in 1859. He was a student of Rimsky-Korsakov, before became a professor at the Conservatory in Moscow. He composed several types of music including operas, orchestras, and chamber musics. His best known work was 1894's orchestral suite "Caucasian Sketches", which contains a much more re-recorded song "Procession of the Sardar". Aside from that, his music is rarely heard nowadays.

 

Julius Fučík : Entrance of the Gladiators : 1897
The Czech composer Julius Ernst Wilhelm Fučík was born in Prague during the Austro-Hungarian Empire period. In 1891, he joined the Regiment as a military musician, and several years later became the Regiment's bandmaster in Sarajevo and Theresienstadt. He composed many music pieces, but most famous for a 1897's march "Einzug der Gladiatoren". (aka "Entrance of the Gladiators") It was introduced to North America in 1910 and became the stable music in circus ever since.

 

Leon Jessel : The Parade of the Tin Soldiers : 1905
Leon Jessel was a German composer from the end of 19th Century. His body of works covered many fields of music, including light orchestra pieces, piano pieces, waltzes, etc. His profession was cut short by the wake of Nazi in the late 1920s. He is now known, mainly, for a popular march "Die Parade der Zinnsoldaten" or "The Parade of the Tin Soldiers". In 1920s, the song became internationally known as it was performed under the titled "The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers" by many famous American artists, including Nikita Balieff, and Paul Whiteman.

 

Samuel Barber : Adagio for Strings : 1936
A gifted American composer Samuel Osborne Barber II was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1910. He became a the first charter student of the Curtis Institute, where he studied composition and singing. In 1936, he began composing his greatest work, String Quartet No.1, Op.11,and its 2nd movement "Adagio for Strings" later became a popular play at the funeral and commemorate ceremonies. it was voted 'the saddest classical work ever' by BBC's viewer in 2004. In 2005, it was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the United States Library of Congress.

 

Aram Khachaturian : Sabre Dance (from the Gayaneh Ballet) : 1942
An Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian was born in Tiflis - now Tbilisi, Georgia. In 1951, he became the professor at the Gnessin State Musical and Pedagogical Institute in Moscow, and the Moscow Conservatory. He was called one of the three "titans" of the Soviet music. His most famous work is the movement in the final act of his ballet Gayane, known as "The Sabre Dance". It was first published in 1942, and became a concert staple and a common theme in circuses around the world. It was also adapted in many modern popular music, and was featured in various TV shows and films.

 

Remo Giazotto : Adagio in G minor : 1958
Remo Giazotto was an Italian music critic/editor of Rivista Musical Italiana, and a co-editor of Nuova Rivista Musicale Italiana in the mid 1900s. He also was well-known as a major attributor to Tomaso Albinoni's works. The most famous piece of all was "Adagio in G minor", in which Giazotto claimed to have translated from Albinoni's lost manuscript. However, he later changed his story and claimed it as his own original composition, thus gained the copyright of the song.

Tomaso Albinoni
 
 
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Collection of your favorite one hit wonders from 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's. Hard to find one hit wonder, one hit wonderer of the period, The weirdest one hit wonder, two hit wonder, double hit wonder, onehitwondercenter