If you are looking for information about ROCKET SLEIGH, my original holiday overture (performed in 2023 by the Boston Pops), click here.
If you are looking for RESOURCES FOR DIVERSE PROGRAMMING, scroll down.
REPERTOIRE LISTS
This page provides downloadable repertoire lists intended to help conductors, performers, scholars, students, and listeners explore the vast array of orchestral music written from the 19th to 21st centuries. It is based on a project I pursued from 2018-2023 in which I attempted to listen to every recorded orchestral work by each of over 900 composers born between 1770 and 1960.
I decided to listen to everything apart from symphonies and concertos: tone poems, suites, variations, single-movement works, opera overtures, ballet suites, film suites, and opera instrumentals/dances. Of course, I didn’t get to everything: but I did the best I could. (FYI: I skipped the waltzes and polkas by the Strausses. There were just too many!) As I listened, I created a spreadsheet to keep track of my progress. The results are below.
NOTE: Since this was a hobby, I didn’t have a grad student double-check all the information. For dates I consulted Oxford Music Online (Grove) as well as general sources like AllMusic and Wikipedia. So: if you plan to use this resource as part of an academic project, please confirm the information on your own!
ALSO: As might be expected, the VAST majority of these works are by white men: The number is around 95% of all piece listed. So if you end up using this resource for programming, I would like to humbly encourage you to adopt a “carbon offset”: approach: for each work you program by a white European guy, do some research and pair it with a piece by a woman and/or BIPOC composer. To help, I have created a few documents by extracting the works by these composers in order to highlight them. You can find them below, along with links to other resources. You can find them - as well as other resources intended to promote diversity in programming - here.
If you find any of the resources on this page helpful, please consider donating to one of these organizations dedicated to expanding and promoting the music of women and BIPOC composers: The Boulanger Initiative, Institute for Composer Diversity, Music by Black Composers.
THEMATIC PROGRAMMING LIST
Recorded Orchestral Works Indexed by Programming Theme
A complete list of all recorded works (as of approx. 2023) by each of over 850 composers born between 1770 and 1960 (plus all works by Mozart and some by Haydn.) Includes tone poems, suites, variations, opera overtures, ballet suites, film suites, and opera instrumentals/dances. No symphonies or works with soloists.
More than 5900 entries, each labeled with at least one of the programming themes listed below. Includes entire works and also individual movements from multi-movement suites.. Every entry is indexed by ensemble type (full, chamber, strings), era, composer name, nationality, duration, ethnicity, gender, date of composition, tempo, and theme.
Themes: Animals * Bells * Bible * Birds * Children * Christmas (religious and non-religious) * Circus * Commedia dell’arte * Cross-cultural borrowing * Death * Demons/Devil * Exoticism (organized by region) * Fairy-tales * Film * Folk-music * Folk-like * Food & Drink * Ghost/Spirit * History * Homage * Humor * Hymn/Chant * Insects * Jazz * Popular Music (organized by genre) * Legend * Literature * Shakespeare * Magical creatures * Meta-musical * Myth (Greek) * Myth (non-Greek) * Nature (geology, trees/plants, garden/park, etc.) * Neo-Baroque * Neo-Classical * Occult * Patriotic (US and non-US) * Pirates * Place (real and fictitious) * Political * Quotation/Usage * Religious (organized by tradition) * Seasons (all sub-categories) * Space * Sports * Technology * Time of Day (all sub-categories)* Toys & Games * Transportation * Vikings * Visual Art * War * Water (various subcategories) * Weather * Wedding * Witches
Download the Excel spreadsheet HERE.
THE BIG LIST
A complete list of all recorded works (as of approx. 2023) by each of over 900 composers born between 1770 and 1960 (plus all works by Mozart and some by Haydn.) Includes tone poems, suites, variations, opera overtures, single-movement works, ballet suites, film suites, and opera instrumentals/dances. No symphonies or works with soloists.
More than 8400 entries and 6800 unique pieces. Includes entire works and also individual movements from multi-movement suites.. Every entry is indexed by ensemble type (full, chamber, strings), era, composer name, nationality, duration, ethnicity, gender, date of composition, tempo, and theme.. This document includes all of the above list above plus pieces/movements not labeled with a theme.
Download the Excel spreadsheet here.
MORE LISTS AND RESOURCES
Recorded Works for String Orchestra and Piano and/or Harp and/or Percussion
A great resource for conductors programming concerts without winds/brass during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over 40 works. Sortable by any combination of: ensemble type, era, composer name, nationality, ethnicity, gender, duration, date of compositions, tempo, and theme.
Click here to view and/or download the Excel document
Works for String Orchestra and Single Wind/Brass Part(s)
Helpful for conductors with limited access to wind and brass players. Many of these works may also be performed with string quintet instead of string orchestra.
Prepared by Delvyn Case in collaboration with Clinton F. Nieweg, Principal Librarian, The Philadelphia Orchestra (ret.)
Clicl here to view and/or download the Excel document.
Works for Large Chamber Ensembles (5-16+ players)
Works for 5-16 instruments (and more). String, wind, and mixed ensembles. Some works with voice. 18C to 20C. Mostly new works; some arrangements of other works.
Sortable by any combination of: ensemble type, number of instruments, era, composer, title, and any combination of instruments.
Click here to view and/or download the Google sheet.
And click here to access another very helpful resource for chamber orchestra and chamber ensemble repertoire, from the VU-Kammerorkest in the Netherlands. However, this list includes extremely few women or BIPOC composers.
RESOURCE FOR DIVERSE PROGRAMMING
Recorded Orchestral Works by Women Composers
A complete list of all recorded orchestral works by each of over 40 composers born between 1770-1920. Includes tone poems, overtures, suites, variations, opera overtures, ballet suites, and opera instrumentals/dances. No symphonies or soloists. No symphonies or soloists.
50 works. Sortable by any combination of: ensemble type, era, composer name, nationality, ethnicity, duration, date of composition, tempo, and theme. Index include both complete pieces and internal movements.)
Click here to view and/or download the Excel document
Recorded Orchestral Works by Black, Latin-American, and Asian composers
A complete list of all recorded orchestral works by composers born between 1770-1920. Includes tone poems, overtures, suites, variations, opera overtures, ballet suites, and opera instrumentals/dances. No symphonies or soloists.
More than 100 entries. Sortable by any combination of: ensemble type, era, composer name, nationality, ethnicity, gender, duration, date of compositions, tempo, and theme.
Click here to view and/or download the Excel document
Works by African, African-American, and Latin-American composers
Full orchestra, chamber orchestra, string orchestra. 19C and 20C. With publishing information.
Prepared by Delvyn Case in collaboration with Clinton F. Nieweg, Principal Librarian, The Philadelphia Orchestra (ret.)
Click here to view and/or download the Excel document
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FROM OTHER SOURCES
Works by Composers of African Descent
Scores and performances materials available from the Fleisher Collection, Philadelphia
Click here to view and/or download a pdf of the 2017 edition.
Works by Latin-American Composers
Scores and performances materials available from the Fleisher Collection, Philadelphia
Click here to view and/or download a pdf of the 2017 edition.
Recorded symphonies by Asian composers
Prepared by Michael Herman, Edited by Stephen Ellis
Click here to view and/or download the Excel document
Works by Women Composers
Scores and performances materials available from the Fleisher Collection, Philadelphia
Click here to view and/or download a pdf of the 2017 edition.
LINKS TO OTHER ORGANIZATIONS AND RESOURCES
Institute for Composer Diversity
READ ME
About these lists:
Starting in 2018 I began a comprehensive listening project designed to help me get to know more orchestral repertoire - especially works that would be most practical for my own professional, community, and student ensembles to perform. Thus, I focused on orchestral works from the 19th and 20th centuries. At the same time, I wanted to explore the ways orchestral composers have used their music to reflect ideas, images, and stories common in their cultures (see the list below.) This would help give me more repertoire to consider when programming concerts around specific themes. Since my goal was to find works that I could program on just about any concert, I decided to put off listening to symphonies and concertos until this project was over. (I had just spent a summer listening to all the Haydn and Mozart symphonies, anyway, so I earned it!)
I developed a list of over 500 composers born between 1770-1920 (give or take), then listened to every recorded orchestral piece by them. I entered each into a spreadsheet along the information that I thought would be the most helpful for programming: 1.) duration 2.) general tempo), and 3.) theme (if applicable.) I also added the type of ensemble (full orchestra, chamber orchestra, or strings), year of composition, and nationality/gender/ethnicity of the composer. When it came to the themes, I made entries not just for each piece, but also for any individual movements.
The result is a unique, comprehensive, and ever-growing resource of over 6000 entries that I hope is helpful for conductors, performers, listeners, and scholars. It is a robust document that can be sorted in such a way as to deliver incredibly specific lists of pieces. (For example: If you want to program string pieces by Polish composers inspired by fairy tales written between 1890-1920, lasting less than 10 minutes, you can find that info. Or not - I haven’t checked! But you can!)
Caveats:
1.) These lists are the result of a HOBBY, albeit a very nerdy one. They do not (yet) meet the standard of rigor of academic resources. While I do claim a degree of comprehensiveness, I have not double-checked every date, spelling, etc. etc. If you want to use them for academic research, PLEASE do your due diligence and confirm the info for yourself.
2.) The project is not done, and I’m constantly updating the documents. I know I have not listened to everything by everyone, but I’m working on it…
3.) While most entries are complete, many are not. Eventually I’ll go through and fill in the missing info.
Some words about orchestral programming:
As a conductor of a variety of types of ensembles (professional, community, and student), I have found good programming to be the prerequisite for success. Effective, attractive, and interesting programming brings audiences to concerts, keeps performers engaged, and helps me achieve my various pedagogical goals. Picking the right pieces requires a lot more than just just choosing among the 50 or so orchestral pieces that form the core of most orchestras’ seasons. Instead, it requires a much broader knowledge of repertoire: not just of lesser-known works by the “great” composers, but also great works by lesser-known composers (including non-male and BIPOC composers.)
It also requires a set of guiding principles to help choose among this large number of works. This has led me to codifying three guiding principles for programming: VARIETY. ACCESSIBILITY, and DIVERSITY.
VARIETY: Whether it is within a concert or throughout a season, programming should reflect the kaleidoscopic variety of the orchestral tradition. This means musical era, genre, length, mood, instrumentation, and style. Personally, my general preference is to program a larger number of smaller works rather than a smaller number of larger works. This type of variety is helpful for audiences as well as performers, and it maximizes the opportunities for teaching and inspiring students and listeners. That is one reason why I have included internal movements as distinct entries on these lists. This allows you to pick and choose the exact movements of a piece that you may wish to extract in order to weave together a thematically-organized program.
ACCESSIBILITY: This means pieces that will inspire, challenge, educate, and - of course - entertain listeners (and performers!) Many factors make a piece “accessible”. The most important is its quality. Another is their connection to various ideas, themes, stories, peoples, and places in listeners’ lives. This is why I have tagged the entries on this list 1 or 2 themes, when appropriate. Though many of the works on this list may initially seem somewhat “inaccessible” for disparate reasons, their “difficulty” can be mitigated by programming them as a part of a thematically-unified concert program.
DIVERSITY: This applies not just to the ethnic, gender, and national backgrounds of the composers - though that is of crucial importance. It also references musical eras, styles, and genres.