A musical hoax (also musical forgery and musical mystification) is a piece of music composed by an individual who intentionally misattributes it to someone else.

Ascribed to historical figures

Henri Casadesus Henri-Gustave Casadesus (30 September 1879, Paris – 31 May 1947, Paris) was a violist, viola d'amore player, composer, and music publisher. Early life Casadesus received his early musical instruction with Albert Lavignac and studied viola with ...

** Viola Concerto in B minor by " George Frideric Handel" ** Viola Concerto in C minor by " Johann Christian Bach" ** Viola Concerto in D major by "

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and sec ...

" ** Violin Concerto in D major by "

Luigi Boccherini Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini (, also , ; 19 February 1743 – 28 May 1805) was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music retained a courtly and ''galante'' style even while he matured somewhat apart from the major Europea ...

" *

Marius Casadesus Marius Casadesus (24 October 1892 – 13 October 1981) was a French violinist and composer. He was the brother of Henri Casadesus, uncle of the famed pianist Robert Casadesus, and grand-uncle to Jean Casadesus. Marius Casadesus achieved perhaps h ...

** '' Adélaïde Concerto'' by "

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

" *

Samuel Dushkin Samuel Dushkin (December 13, 1891 – June 24, 1976) was an American violinist, composer, and pedagogue of Polish birth and Jewish origin. Dushkin was born in Suwałki, Poland. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, as well as with Leopold ...

** ''Grave for violin and orchestra'' by "

Johann Georg Benda Jan Jiří Benda, also Johann Georg Benda (baptized 16 April or 30 August 1713 – 1752), was a Bohemian violinist and composer active in Germany. Life Johann Georg Benda was born in Benátky nad Jizerou, the son of a weaver, Jan Jiří Benda and ...

" ** ''Sicilienne for strings and clavier'' by "

Maria Theresia von Paradis Maria Theresia von Paradis (May 15, 1759 – February 1, 1824) was an Austrian musician and composer who lost her sight at an early age, and for whom her close friend Mozart may have written his Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat major. She was a ...

" *

François-Joseph Fétis François-Joseph Fétis (; 25 March 1784 – 26 March 1871) was a Belgian musicologist, composer, teacher, and one of the most influential music critics of the 19th century. His enormous compilation of biographical data in the ''Biographie univer ...

** ''Lute Concerto'' by " Valentin Strobel" *

Remo Giazotto Remo Giazotto (4 September 1910, Rome – 26 August 1998, Pisa) was an Italian musicologist, music critic, and composer, mostly known through his systematic catalogue of the works of Tomaso Albinoni. He wrote biographies of Albinoni and other ...

** ''

Adagio in G minor Adagio in G minor for strings and organ, also known as Adagio in Sol minore per archi e organo su due spunti tematici e su un basso numerato di Tomaso Albinoni (Mi 26), is a neo-Baroque composition commonly attributed to the 18th-century Veneti ...

'' by "

Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni (8 June 1671 – 17 January 1751) was an Italian composer of the Baroque era. His output includes operas, concertos, sonatas for one to six instruments, sinfonias, and solo cantatas. While famous in his day as an opera comp ...

" *

Mikhail Goldstein Mikhail Emmanuilovich Goldstein (russian: Михаил Эммануилович Гольдштейн, also transcribed as Michael Emmanuilowitsch Goldstein, he, מיכאל גולדשטיין; pen name: Mykhailo Mykhailovsky; 7 September 1989), was ...

** ''Albumblatt'' (Листок из Альбома) by " Alexander Glazunov" ** ''Impromptu'' (Экспромт) by "

Mily Balakirev Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev (russian: Милий Алексеевич Балакирев,BGN/PCGN transliteration of Russian: Miliy Alekseyevich Balakirev; ALA-LC system: ''Miliĭ Alekseevich Balakirev''; ISO 9 system: ''Milij Alekseevič Balakir ...

" ** Viola Concerto in C major by "

Ivan Khandoshkin Ivan Yevstafyevich Khandoshkin (russian: Иван Евстафьевич Хандошкин, uk, Іван Остапович Хандошко) (1747 – 29 or 30 March 1804) was a Russian Empire violinist and composer of Ukrainian Cossack o ...

" * Arthur Hutchings ** "New works" by "

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...

", using the rhythms and dynamics of a

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

piano sonata with nonsensically wrong notes. *

Fritz Kreisler Friedrich "Fritz" Kreisler (February 2, 1875 – January 29, 1962) was an Austrian-born American violinist and composer. One of the most noted violin masters of his day, and regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time, he was known ...

** ''Allegretto'' by "

" ** ''Andantino'' by "

Giovanni Battista Martini Giovanni Battista or Giambattista Martini, O.F.M. Conv. (24 April 1706 – 3 August 1784), also known as Padre Martini, was an Italian Conventual Franciscan friar, who was a leading musician, composer, and music historian of the per ...

" ** ''Aubade Provençale'' by "

Louis Couperin Louis Couperin (; – 29 August 1661) was a French Baroque composer and performer. He was born in Chaumes-en-Brie and moved to Paris in 1650–1651 with the help of Jacques Champion de Chambonnières. Couperin worked as organist of the C ...

" ** ''Chanson Louis XIII and Pavane'' by "

" ** ''La Chasse (Caprice)'' by " Jean Baptiste Cartier" ** ''Grave'' by "

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (22 November 17101 July 1784), the second child and eldest son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach, was a German composer and performer. Despite his acknowledged genius as an organist, improviser and compose ...

" ** ''Menuett'' by "

Nicola Porpora Nicola (or Niccolò) Antonio Porpora (17 August 16863 March 1768) was an Italian composer and teacher of singing of the Baroque music, Baroque era, whose most famous singing students were the castrati Farinelli and Caffarelli (castrato), Caffarel ...

" ** '' Praeludium and Allegro'' by "

Gaetano Pugnani Gaetano Pugnani (27 November 1731 – 15 July 1798, full name: Giulio Gaetano Gerolamo Pugnani) was an Italian composer and violinist. Biography Gaetano Pugnani was born in 1731 in Turin, the city where he spent most of his life, son of Giova ...

" ** ''La Précieuse'' by "

" ** ''Preghiera'' by "

" ** ''Scherzo'' by "

Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (2 November 1739 – 24 October 1799) was an Austrian composer, violinist, and silvologist. He was a friend of both Haydn and Mozart. (webpage has a translation button) Life 1739–1764 Dittersdorf was born in ...

" ** ''Sicilienne and Rigaudon'' by "

François Francoeur François Francœur (8 September 1698 – 5 August 1787) was a French composer and violinist. Biography François Francœur was born in Paris, the son of Joseph Francœur, a basse de violon player and member of the '' 24 violons du roy''. Franc ...

" ** ''Study on a Choral'' by "

Johann Stamitz Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz (Czech: Jan Václav Antonín Stamic; 18 June 1717 – 27 March 1757) was a Bohemian composer and violinist. His two surviving sons, Carl and Anton Stamitz, were composers of the Mannheim school, of which Johann is ...

" ** ''Tempo di Minuetto'' by "

" ** ''Variations on a Theme by Corelli'' by "

Giuseppe Tartini Giuseppe Tartini (8 April 1692 – 26 February 1770) was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era born in the Republic of Venice. Tartini was a prolific composer, composing over a hundred of pieces for the violin with the majority of ...

" ** Violin Concerto in C major by " Antonio Vivaldi" *

Winfried Michel Winfried Michel (born 1948 in Fulda) is a German recorder player, composer, and editor of music. Michel studied with Ingetraud Drescher, Nikolaus Delius, and Frans Brüggen. He is lecturer for the recorder at the Staatliche Hochschule Münste ...

** Lost keyboard sonatas by " Joseph Haydn" * Édouard Nanny ** Double Bass Concerto in A major by "

Domenico Dragonetti Domenico Carlo Maria Dragonetti (7 April 1763 – 16 April 1846) was an Italian double bass virtuoso and composer with a 3 string double bass. He stayed for thirty years in his hometown of Venice, Italy and worked at the Opera Buffa, at the Chap ...

" *

Siegfried Ochs Siegfried Ochs (19 April 1858 – 6 February 1929) was a German choral conductor and composer. Life Born in Frankfurt, Ochs first studied medicine and chemistry at the Polytechnikum Darmstadt (today the Technische Universität Darmstadt) and at ...

** ''Dank sei Dir, Herr'' by " George Frideric Handel" *

Alessandro Parisotti Alessandro Parisotti (24 July 1853 – 4 April 1913) was an Italian composer and music editor. Life and career Though also a composer, Alessandro Parisotti is better known today as the original editor of a collection of songs known as ''Arie ...

** ''"Se tu m'ami"'' by " Giovanni Battista Pergolesi" *

Manuel Ponce Manuel María Ponce Cuéllar (8 December 1882 – 24 April 1948) was a Mexican composer active in the 20th century. His work as a composer, music educator and scholar of Mexican music connected the concert scene with a mostly forgotten traditi ...

** Suite in A minor by " Sylvius Leopold Weiss" ** Preamble & Gavotte by " Alessandro Scarlatti" * Vladimir Vavilov ** ''

Ave Maria The Hail Mary ( la, Ave Maria) is a traditional Christian prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the Gospel of Luke: the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary (the Annunciation) and Mary's ...

'' by Anonymous; The piece later received an unrelated misattribution to

Giulio Caccini Giulio Romolo Caccini (also Giulio Romano) (8 October 1551 – buried 10 December 1618) was an Italian composer, teacher, singer, instrumentalist and writer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was one of the founders of the genre o ...

. ** ''Elegy'' for guitar by " Mikhail Vyssotsky" ** ''Canzona'' for lute by " Francesco Canova da Milano" ** ''Mazurka'' in C minor for guitar by "

Andrei Sychra Andrei Osipovich Sychra (Sikhra, Sichra, in Russian Андрей Осипович Сихра ''Andrej Osipovič Sixra'') (born 1773 (?1776) in Vilnius; died November 21/December 3, 1850, in St Petersburg) was a Russian guitarist, composer an ...

" ** ''Nocturne'' in C minor for guitar by " Vassily Sarenko" ** ''Ricercar'' by " Niccolo Nigrino"

Ascribed to non-existent or purported historical individuals

Hans Keller Hans (Heinrich) Keller (11 March 19196 November 1985) was an Austrian-born British musician and writer, who made significant contributions to musicology and music criticism, as well as being a commentator on such disparate fields as psychoana ...

and

Susan Bradshaw Susan Bradshaw (Monmouth, 8 September 1931 – London, 30 January 2005) was a British pianist, teacher, writer, and composer. She was mainly associated with contemporary music, and especially with the work of Pierre Boulez, several of whose writi ...

** ''Mobile for Tape and Percussion'' (1961) by "

Piotr Zak Piotr (or Pjotr) Zak is the name of a fictional Polish composer whose alleged composition ''Mobile for Tape and Percussion'' was broadcast twice on the BBC Third Programme on 5 June 1961 in a performance supposedly played by "Claude Tessier" and " ...

" *

** Symphony No. 21 by "

Mykola Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky Mykola Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky (Russian: Николай Овсянико-Куликовский, 1768–1846) was the purported author of a famous musical hoax Symphony No. 21 (Ovsianiko-Kulikovsky), perpetrated by composer and violinist Mikhail G ...

" *

** Chamber music by "Giovanni Paolo Simonetti" *

Roman Turovsky-Savchuk Roman Turovsky-Savchuk (Ukrainian: Роман Туровський-Савчук) is an American artist-painter, photographer and videoinstallation artist, as well as a lutenist-composer,

** Works for baroque lute by Johann Joachim Sautscheck, Gotthold Ephraim Sautscheck, Konradin Aemilius Sautscheck, et al. ** Works for renaissance lute by Ioannes Leopolita and Jacobus Olevsiensis" * Rohan Kriwaczek ** Works for solo violin, ascribed to various fictional English "funeral violinists".

References

External links

* {{cite web, url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2015/aug/12/the-best-classical-music-hoaxes, title=Don't believe your ears: the best classical music hoaxes, first=Tom, last=Service, date=12 August 2015, publisher=, via=The Guardian Pseudepigraphy