TromboneChat

Drawn from the NY Philharmonic archives, this is a tally of every composer performed from 1842, the founding of the NY Philharmonic, thru 1899 (and the number of performances).

This includes data from both the NY Phil and the New York Symphony. The two would merge in 1929.

This is the beginning of a survey to get a sense of what the churn in the repertoire was over time. At first glance there seem to be many "once and done" composers.

However, a brief sampling of these names suggests that many of them are from another genre (such as opera, chamber music, or even popular song) yet became notable enough to merit a performance at an orchestra event.

They are not quite like the unfortunate once-and-done pieces of "new music" today.

I need to find a way to filter out those non-conformers before I devote significant time to this.

Abt, Franz (4)
Alard, Jean Delphin (1)
Anthem, (2)
Arditi, Luigi (1)
Arne, Thomas (1)
Artot, Alexandre (1)
Auber, Daniel-François (2)
Bach, Johann Sebastian (55)
Balfe, Michael William (1)
Bargiel, Woldemar (10)
Baumann, F. (1)
Bazzini, Antonio (1)
Beach, Amy (1)
Beethoven, Ludwig van (292)
Bellini, Vincenzo (12)
Bemberg, Herman (2)
Benedict, Jules (1)
Bennett, William Sterndale (7)
Bergmann, Carl (1)
Bergner, Frederick (1)
Beriot, Charles-Auguste de (5)
Berlioz, Hector (69)
Bird, Arthur (1)
Bizet, Georges (6)
Boccherini, Luigi (4)
Bochsa, Robert N. C. (3)
Boieldieu, François-Adrien (1)
Boise, O. B. (1)
Bordese, Luigi (1)
Borodin, Alexander (1)
Brahms, Johannes (46)
Bristow, George Frederick (7)
Brockway, Howard (1)
Bronsart, Hans Von (2)
Bruch, Max (20)
Bruckler, Hugo (1)
Bruckner, Anton (2)
Brull, Ignaz (1)
Bull, Ole (2)
Bulow, Hans Von (3)
Burgmuller, Norbert (1)
Burmeister, Richard (1)
Calvisius, Sethus (1)
Catel, Charles Simon (1)
Chadwick, George Whitefield (1)
Chaminade, Cécile (1)
Charpentier, Gustave (1)
Cherubini, Luigi (20)
Chopin, Frédéric (48)
Clapisson, Antoine Louis (1)
Cornelius, Peter (1)
Costa, Sir Michael (1)
Cowen, Sir Frederic Hymen (3)
Curschmann, Karl Friedrich (1)
D'Albert, Eugen (1)
Dachauer, Louis (1)
Damrosch, Leopold (13)
Damrosch, Walter (3)
Dancla, Jean Charles (1)
David, Ferdinand (3)
Delibes, Léo (1)
Dessauer, Josef (1)
Dietrich, Albert Hermann (1)
Donizetti, Gaetano (18)
Draeseke, Felix (2)
Dubois, Theodore (1)
Dussek, Jan Ladislav (1)
Dvorak, Antonín (33)
Eisenhofer, Franz Xaver (1)
Eisfeld, Theodore (7)
Elgar, Sir Edward (1)
Erdmannsdorfer, Max Von (1)
Ernst, Heinrich Wilhelm (3)
Esser, Heinrich (1)
Evers, Carl (1)
Fesca, Alexander (Ernst) (3)
Field, John (1)
Fischer, Adolf (1)
Flotow, Friedrich Von (1)
Foote, Arthur (2)
Franchetti, Baron Alberto (1)
Franz, Robert (5)
Frey, M. (1)
Fuchs, H. (3)
Fuchs, Robert (4)
Furstenau, Anton Bernhard (1)
Gade, Niels (20)
Gilson, Paul (1)
Glazunov, Alexander (1)
Glinka, Mikhail (3)
Gluck, Christoph Willibald (25)
Gockel, August (1)
Godard, Benjamin (2)
Goetz, Hermann (2)
Goldbeck, Robert (3)
Goldmark, Karl (28)
Goltermann, Georg Eduard (2)
Gottschalk, Louis Moreau (1)
Gounod, Charles (7)
Gradener [Grädener], Hermann (1)
Granz, Norman (1)
Gretry [Grétry], Andre [André] Ernest Modeste (1)
Grieg, Edvard (14)
Grimm, Julius Otto (1)
Gruber, Franz Xaver (1)
Guilmant, Alexander (1)
Gumbert, Friedrich Adolf (1)
Haase, Carl F.W. (1)
Haertel, A. (1)
Hamerik, Asger (1)
Handel, George Frideric (54)
Hartmann, (1)
Haydn, Franz Joseph (38)
Haynes, Walter Battison (1)
Heinefetter, Wilhelm (1)
Heinemeyer, Ernst Wilhelm (1)
Heller, Stephen [István] (3)
Henschel, Sir George (2)
Henselt, Adolf Von (7)
Herbert, Victor (3)
Herold, Louis Joseph Ferdinand [Hérold] (3)
Herz, Henri (1)
Hiller, Ferdinand (7)
Hohnstock, Carl (1)
Hopkins, Charles Jerome (1)
Huber, Hans (1)
Hummel, Johann (15)
Humperdinck, Engelbert (5)
Huss, Henry Holden (1)
Jacobi, Frederick (1)
Jensen, Adolf (1)
Joachim, Joseph (2)
Jommelli, Niccolò (1)
Kalkbrenner, Friedrich [Frédéric] (1)
Kalliwoda, Johann W. (5)
Kelley, Edgar Stillman (1)
Kiel, Friedrich (1)
Kinkel, Johanna (1)
Klughardt, August (1)
Koch, Friedrich E. (1)
Korbray, Francis Alexander (1)
Kreutzer, Conradin (2)
Krug, Arnold (3)
Kummer, Friedrich August (2)
Lachner, Franz (7)
Lalo, Edouard (9)
Lamond, Frederic (1)
Lassen, Eduard (3)
Lassus, Orlande De (1)
Leoncavallo, Ruggero (2)
Leschetizky, Theodor (1)
Lindpaintner, Peter Von (12)
Lipinsky, Karl Joseph (3)
Liszt, Franz (101)
Litolff, Henry Charles (9)
Lobe, Johann Christian (1)
Loder, George, Jr. (2)
Lortzing, Albert (2)
Lotti, Antonio (1)
Lubeck, Ernst (1)
Lucas, (1)
MacDowell, Edward A. (2)
Mackenzie, Alexander C. (4)
Marschner, Heinrich August (8)
Martini, Giovanni Battista (1)
Mason, William (2)
Massenet, Jules (9)
Matzka, George (1)
Maurer, Ludwig Wilhelm (2)
Mehul [Méhul], Etienne Nicolas (3)
Mendelssohn, Felix (121)
Mercadante, Giuseppe Saverio (6)
Metzdorff, Richard (1)
Meyerbeer, Giacomo (15)
Mills, Sebastian Bach (3)
Molique, Wilhelm Bernhard (1)
Mollenhauer, Edward (1)
Mollenhauer, Friedrich (3)
Morley, Thomas (1)
Moscheles, Ignaz (4)
Moszkowski, Moritz (3)
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus (116)
Napoleon, Arthur (1)
Neukirchner, Wenzel (1)
Nevin, Ethelbert (1)
Nicholson, Charles (1)
Nicode [Nicodé], Jean Louis (4)
Nicolai, Otto (1)
Nini, Alessandro (1)
Novacek, Ottokar (Eugen) (1)
Onslow, George (1)
Otten, William F. (1)
Pacini, Giovanni (4)
Paderewski, Ignace Jan (2)
Paganini, Nicolò (3)
Paine, John Knowles (1)
Palestrina, Giovanni Da (1)
Parish-Alvars, Elias (2)
Parry, Sir Charles Hubert H. (2)
Pergolesi, Giovanni Battista (1)
Pfeffer, Walter (1)
Pinsoti, (1)
Praetorius, Michael (1)
Prume, Jehin (1)
Raff, Joachim (26)
Rameau, Jean-Philippe (2)
Reicha, Antoine(-Joseph) (2)
Reinecke, Carl (5)
Reinhold, Hugo (3)
Reissiger, Karl Gottlieb (2)
Reyer, Ernest (1)
Rheinberger, Joseph (2)
Ries, Ferdinand (4)
Rietz, Julius (3)
Ritter, Frederic Louis (4)
Rizzo, Giovanni Battista [Riccio] (1)
Rode, Jacques Pierre Joseph (1)
Romberg, Bernhard (2)
Rossi, Francesco (1)
Rossini, Gioachino (23)
Rubinstein, Anton (51)
Rucken, (1)
Rudorff, Ernst (1)
Saar, William (1)
Saint-Saens [Saint-Saëns], Camille (33)
Sainton, Prosper (1)
Sarasate, Pablo de (1)
Satter, Gustave (1)
Scharwenka, Franz Xaver (4)
Scharwenka, Philipp (1)
Schillings, Max Von (1)
Schindelmeisser, Ludwig (1)
Schmitz, Henry (1)
Schneider, Johann C. Friedrich (1)
Scholz, Bernhard E. (1)
Schreiber, Louis (4)
Schubert, Franz (81)
Schumann, Clara (1)
Schumann, Robert (123)
Schutz, Heinrich (1)
Schytte, Ludvig (1)
Servais, Adrien Francois (1)
Shaw, David T. (1)
Sieveking, Martinus (1)
Sinding, Christian (1)
Smetana, Bedrich (3)
Soderman [Söderman], August (1)
Somervell, Sir Arthur (2)
Spohr, Louis (40)
Spontini, Gaspare (3)
Stanford, Sir Charles Villiers (4)
Stigelli, Giorgio (1)
Storck, (1)
Stradella, Alessandro (1)
Strauss, Johann, II (2)
Strauss, Josef (1)
Strauss, Richard (5)
Strong, George Templeton (1)
Sullivan, Sir Arthur Seymour (1)
Svendsen, Johan (4)
Tartini, Giuseppe (1)
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich (54)
Tedesco, Ignaz Amadeus (1)
Thalberg, Sigismond (1)
Thiele, Louis (1)
Thomas, Ambroise (5)
Topliffe, Robert (1)
Tosti, Francesco Paolo (1)
Traditional, (11)
Unknown, (1)
Van Der Stucken, Frank (1)
Veit, Wenzel Heinrich (1)
Verdi, Giuseppe (12)
Verzano, (1)
Vieuxtemps, Henri (14)
Volkmann, Friedrich Robert (8)
Wagner, Richard (179)
Wagner, Siegfried (1)
Wallace, (1)
Wallace, William Vincent (5)
Weber, Carl Maria von (99)
Wehli, James M. (1)
Weingartner, Felix (1)
Widor, Charles Marie (1)
Wieniawski, Henri (1)
Wilhelmj, August Daniel Ferdinand (1)
Wood, Mary Knight (1)
Zoellner, Heinrich (1)

It's interesting how many of the single digit composers on that list are now considered mainstream.

Bet if you compared a similar list for the 20th Century how many of your double digit composers would be single digit.

BGuttman wrote: Sat May 31, 2025 10:47 pm It's interesting how many of the single digit composers on that list are now considered mainstream.

Some of those single-digiters will be people who were just getting started at the end of the time frame. Richard Strauss (5) is an example. Their digits would soon grow.

Sorted by frequency.

Of the 2434 counted items, the six three-digit composers are 932.
The next 31 two-digit composer add another 1009

I doubt Louis Spohr (40) had a big revival after 1899 so he gets the most-fallen-from-the-repertoire prize

Another stat to consider:
The top 10 composers make up more than 50% of the repertoire. I wonder how that would compare to the NYP's programming over last, say, twenty years?

JohnL wrote: Sun Jun 01, 2025 11:44 am Another stat to consider:
The top 10 composers make up more than 50% of the repertoire. I wonder how that would compare to the NYP's programming over last, say, twenty years?

Compared to the 288 names performed in 1854-1899, there were 1275 names performed from 2005-2024!

Too many for me to quickly cut and paste into a spreadsheet right now to count the total number of pieces, but I noticed these 3-digit composers

Bach 167
Beethoven 252
Brahms 180
Mozart 220
Tchaikovsky 153

I would be unsurprised if the top 10 still make up more than 50% of repertoire.

Many of the 1275 names are probably from pop concerts and chamber music programs, i need to find a way to filter those out.

robcat2075 wrote: Sun Jun 01, 2025 1:11 pmCompared to the 288 names performed in 1854-1899, there were 1275 names performed from 2005-2024!

Part of that difference is probably that the Phil and its associated ensembles perform a lot more concerts per year these days than they did in the 19th century.

I've found out it is possible to download the entire NYP database but it is in XML form and substantial expertise with data tools will be needed to make use of that.


Meanwhile, I had a friend of mine who has a paid version of ChapGPT to get it to count composers and pieces and percentages over just a 10 year stretch as a test.

It went away for half an hour before it came back with an answer!

It looked like a reasonable result, it even cautioned that Mendelssohn might be over-counted because each movement of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was counted as a separate piece.

But the time involved made me recall a story about an "AI" site that was really sending questions to a sweatshop in Vietnam.

robcat2075 wrote: Mon Jun 02, 2025 11:28 am But the time involved made me recall a story about an "AI" site that was really sending questions to a sweatshop in Vietnam.

One day later...

AI startup valued at $1,500,000,000 collapses after it's found to actually be 700 engineers pretending to be bots

That reminds me of a story. When my parents bought me an Encyclopedia Britannica set it came with a bunch of coupons for research questions that would be forwarded to experts for an answer.

One question was sent in by a noted expert and they forwarded it back for him to answer.