5 famous pieces of music HATED by their composers 

Hope your channel grows! Very no-nonsense and dense, but still acessible for people to truly get into classical music. Good work!

Your channel is criminally underrated

Love the Rachmaninoff, in the C# minor. That progression is just compelling. I can understand why he would come to dislike it, he wrote a masterpiece as a child and then was stuck with it. Had he written late in his life, he would have embraced it.

Although it is true that Tchaikovsky had little value in the 1812 overture, it is also true that he himself conducted this piece many times in his life.

Prokofiev resented conducting his March from The Love for Three Oranges, which is likely his most familiar piece. He claimed it was musical toss-off that was played far more often than it deserved. Regardless, I always enjoy it and consider it a short masterpiece.

Sibelius actually disliked Valse triste, one of his signature pieces. Apparently he didn't consider it as a work of much substance and he regretted having sold the piece to the publisher for only a lump sum. Had Sibelius retained his royalty rights for Valse triste it alone would have made him a very rich man. So he preferred not even to talk about the piece.

This is really well done! Need to tell some of my friends about it

Apart from Sibelius's 8th: as a young man he composed the tone poem Kullervo, which was performed to great acclaim. Then he withdrew it and as I recall it was never performed in his lifetime again. Too bad for his contemporaries, because it's a great piece and I'm glad he didn't burn it! Another work one might mention: Beethoven's "Wellington's Victory", which he himself considered nothing more than a fun noise maker, but which became a bit too popular for comfort. He was also frustrated that the public liked his 7th symphony more than the 8th, didn't think much of the famous first movement from the Moonlight sonata, and would probably spin in his grave if he knew how popular Fur Elise would become (gotta admit, with that last one, if I never hear it again it will be too soon).

IIRC, Beethoven was rather put out at the popularity of his Septet, Op. 20. It doesn't belong on the list here because, these days, Beethoven really is remembered primarily for works that he himself thought better of; but in his lifetime, it seems to have been a sore point for him. Another piece that springs to mind is Bach's Toccata & Fugue BWV 565. We can only speculate what Bach would have thought of its posthumous popularity (it wasn't that well known in his lifetime), but the work (especially the fugue) is so a-typical of Bach's style that many musicologists and musicians today believe that it isn't by Bach at all... Perhaps you could do another vide on mis-attributed works: that is, pieces that are deemed emblematic of their composers, but actually weren't (or at least might not have been) composed by them at all. (the most egregious is "Albinoni's" Adagio).

Grieg as well hated his own Mountain King piece according to classicfm

Bolero -with a two-part melody of such beauty and complexity who needs form or development? 1812 Overture -my intro to classical music. I was 12 living near a city that was the site of a major battle of the War of 1812. I thought the music was written to commemorate that war, and that music was my tone-poem about the Battle of Baltimore, the bombardment of Fort McHenry, and the writing of the poem "The Star Spangled Banner." I was 12 and was barely aware of Napoleon.

I think that, if I were Samuel Barber, I'd feel about my Adagio For Strings the way Rachmaninoff felt about his C# minor Prelude.

“A little bombastic “. A little, alright.

Thank you.... I knew about all of them except the Sibelius.... its made my eyes water.

Fantaisie Impromptu by Chopin also comes to mind

i'm surprised that you didn't mention the Nutcracker sweet by Tchaikovsky. He was on record saying he hated the work

JS died in 1957

It is said that Beethoven almost came to hate the Moonlight Sonata for its popularity overlooking all his other sonatas and the allegretto of the Seventh symphony saying that the Eight was better.

Another such piece is Debussy"s "Reverie". Although given to a publisher at an early age it was not published until many years later and to Debussy's regret. He said it was "...a work of no consequence and...absolutely no good." From: _The Piano Works Of Claude Debussy_by Robert Schmitz

Tchaikovsky also didn’t like his 5th symphony, although this is a true masterpiece. Mozart didn’t like his flute quartets, today the D major Quartett is a much cherished core part of the repertoire. Chopin didn’t like his cello sonata, Schubert had misgivings about the Wanderer fantasy.

Sibelius just didn’t want to repeat himself, which is a problem of our time. A very good cd on BIS records 4 fragments from 1930-1957 which MAY be from the 8th Symphony (if it existed). Very interesting, perhaps beautiful but that’s the way it goes….

Bolero. I knew that one would come up. But it’s so wonderful. It’s perfect. So is the Prelude in C# minor. I don’t care what the composers thought. I love those pieces.

Sibelius died in 1957, not 1951.

A variation of this topic would be awesome. That being, "5 famous pieces of classical music HATED by famous concert musicians." For example, I'm no famous musician, just an organist. But I have an absolute hatred of Pachelbel's Canon. It's like nails on a chalkboard to me. You would have to hold my wife hostage to make me......play.......NO! Not even then! lol

I'm happy to know Ravel and I are in agreement.

I am amazed. All though I had heard about it previously, that Racmaninoff was only 19 when he wrote such great musical piece.

Love your channel. Bolero annoys me as well. 1812...earplugs, please. Love the others.

5:50 May I suggest to your viewers to actually find the movie “Le Batturie de Bolero” on RU-vid? It is worth watching. The director talks about the much hated tune and follows a person playing it agonizing about mundane problems, while doing the same repetition for the full piece. Thanks for these five hated pieces. I knew Bolero would be in it but I still love it.

Sibelius actually died in 1957, not 1951. Ravel is one of my favourite composers. I absolutely love his music. But I could never stand Bolero, even before I had learnt that Ravel himself didn’t like it. But when I did, I completely understood.

Paderewsky hated his Polka as well

BOLERO was in Captain from Castile film and made that film. He didnt appreciate his own work.

Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu in C#-minor deserved a mention.

Could have mentioned that Beethoven hated his battle symphony "Wellington's Victory".

Debussy and Chopin also had pieces published they didn't think a lot of. But sometimes the composer is not the best judge...

OK, so Saint-Saens died at age 86, not 91. I have never heard ANY suggestion that Saint-Saens thought the Carnival of the Animals was a bad piece or that he hated it. So far as I have read (which is quite a bit) he was just concerned that people wouldn't take his other music seriously. In general, most of the pieces you brought up weren't "hated" by their composers. They were, in some cases, frustrated that the general public wanted to focus on these particular pieces rather than getting to know some of their other music. I will allow that Tchaikovsky probably didn't think the 1812 overture was very good, but then at some point, Tchaikovsky thought that of just about everything he composed. And nothing in what Ravel said about Bolero (at least the things you quoted him as saying) indicated that he thought it was a bad piece. He was just concerned that the public either wouldn't like it or wouldn't understand it. Sorry to be so critical, but I feel like your title is kind of clickbait-y.

Complete Rach quote is very funny & probably true more or less.

Saëns just twisting and twirling in his grave xD

The background at 0:32 makes me laugh 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Max Bruch loathed his "Scotch Rapsody" and had mixed feelings about the "Kol Nidrei".

Rumor has it that the Rachmaninoff "Prelude" was a musical rendition of someone who had been buried alive.

4:05 PURE BRILLIANCE

What a finalé!

We can add Beethoven and the op27 n2 : he never understood why it was so popular while he wrote, according to him, so much better stuff.

Richard Wagner was totally dissatisfied with his Tannhauser, and said on his death bed that he still owed it to the world.

From what I read, Schoenberg got upset when people liked his _Gurrelieder._

Rachmaninoff first published his first piano concerto before c sharp...

Saint-Saëns just wrote something so good he was afraid it'd overshadow the rest?

I’m with Ravel on Bolero

So, the idea is that you compose what you like as a masterpiece, and nobody listened...

I wonder what Stravinsky, in the midst of his neoclassical period and being pooh poohed by the High Modernists for yielding to reaction, thought about his Russian period. I mean, I love Dumbarton Oaks as much as the next Stravinsky fan, but I don't think it holds a candle to The Rite, The Firebird or even Les Noces. What did Igor think?

👨🏻🍇Just asking … do producers have control over the click bait? Most comments question the term “HATE.” A strong word and, depending a person’s culture, stronger than my Middle Midwestern US take on it. But the word generates hits. If toned down to “did not feel his best”, the click bait is lost … too many words. Love comments here. I learn a lot from this magnificent audience. Thanks.

It' s mesmerizi

Bolero is great music to screw to, pleasurable rhythmic trust and all.

At 220 you state that Rachmaninoff composed his Preluce in c-sharp minor in 1992. I'm sure you meant to say 1892.

You forgot Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata mvt 1

I understand the Tjakovksy one. That one is probably my least favourite by Tjakovsky.

Funnily enough I don't like the 1812 overture either.

I agree with all of these. Carnival of the Animals is drab, except for children. Rachmaninoff spent his life writing superior preludes that didn't mimic La Catedrale Engloutie. Any boring moment from any of Tchaikovsky's seven symphonies (and there are many) is superior to the 1812 Overture. Bolero is a bloated, overhyped experiment in testing the patience of any musically - literate audience. We're all grateful for Sibelius' Seventh, Fifth, First, etc. He would have harmed his reputation and sales by desecrating that corpus which is already perfect.

Ravel never hated his Bolero! Bla bla bla

NATOpoleon

Keep geo politics out of music. It ruins the video.

Ok until your ignorance about the about Ukraine war. Shameful.

Please stay out of things you don't understand, stick to talking about music. 1 Peter 4:17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Matthew 10:37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

I would have given this a like, but I was here for the classical music, not the pro NATO propaganda.

The Putin commentary was completely unnecessary and detracts from the video. It has zilch to do with anything

I love Russian classical music. It’s hard to keep enjoying it divorced from what the country under Putin is doing to Ukraine.

Hmm the political rant on Russia didn't age well. Support Palestine!

Putin -part was totally out of context, especially as the original piece was about defeating Napoleon, not about celebrating a dictator or anything like that. Actually it is a kind of russophobic comment, besides Tšaikovski was actually ukrainian, so... I mean, I understand youtubers' willingness to be anti-war, but if it is out of context, it just takes away from the video, which was meant to be about classical composers.

Sibelius died in 1957, not 1951.