Donald Macleod and guest Sarah Willis explore some of the greatest “one-hit wonders” in classical music - Johann Pachelbel, Engelbert Humperdinck, Paul Dukas, Gregorio Allegri, Henryk Górecki, Tomaso Albinoni, Giovanni Pergolesi, Pietro Mascagni, Carl Orff and Julius Fučík.

Classical music is littered with composers who are famous for just a single piece of music. In a special week of Composer of the Week programmes, Donald Macleod is joined by Berlin Philharmonic horn player Sarah Willis to explore ten of these composers and examine episodes from their lives, alongside their compositions – both their popular hits and some of their less familiar music. They also try to isolate why certain works have captured the popular imagination of audiences around the world.

Music Featured:

Pachelbel: Canon & Gigue for 3 violins and continuo in D major

Presented by Donald Macleod

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for One Hit Wonders https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001695t

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z