List of compositions by Glenn Gould

Glenn Gould

This is a chronological list of compositions by Canadian pianist and broadcaster Glenn Gould. It does not include some of the very early pieces, and also omits some of the unfinished works that have been mentioned by Gould in interviews.

Completed original works

• A Merry Thought, for piano (1941; earliest surviving work)
• Our Gifts, for two vocal parts & piano (1943)
• Rondo in D major, piano (1948)
• Suite for Twelfth Night, for piano (1949; MS lost):

1. Nocturne
2. Whimsical Nonsense
3. Elizabethan Gaiety
4. Regal Atmosphere

• Sonata for Piano (two movements) (1948–50)
• 5 Short Piano Pieces (c. 1950)
• Sonata for Bassoon and Piano (1950)
• Prelude, Cantilena and Gigue, for clarinet & bassoon (1951)
• 2 Piano Pieces (c. 1951–52)
• String Quartet in F minor, Op. 1 (1953–55)
• So You Want to Write a Fugue?, for 4 solo voices & piano or string quartet (1963)
• Lieberson Madrigal, for 4 solo voices & piano (1964)

Unfinished, lost, and projected works

• [The Metamorphosis], opera based on the short story by Franz Kafka (c. 1956)
• Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (late 1950s)
• [Portrait of John Donne], song cycle for mezzo-soprano and piano, based on John Donne's Holy Sonnets (1959–1964)
• A Letter from Stalingrad, concert aria (early 1960s)
• Dr. Strauss Writes an Opera, opera based on the life of Richard Strauss (early to mid-1960s)
• Sonata in E-flat major, for wind ensemble and strings (c. 1964)

Arrangements and cadenzas

• Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 1, cadenzas to first and third movements (1954)
• Handel, Prelude from Suite for Harpsichord No. 1 in A major, arrangement of (1972)
• Wagner, three transcriptions for piano (1972–73):
  1. Siegfried Idyll
  2. Prelude to Act I of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
  3. Dawn and Siegfried's Rhine Journey from Götterdämmerung
• Ravel, La valse, arrangement of the composer's piano transcription (1975)

References

• Bazzana, Kevin. 2005. Wondrous Strange: The Life And Art Of Glenn Gould, pp. 50, 135–142, 275–284. Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780195182460.
• Bazzana, Kevin; Payzant, Geoffrey; Beckwith, John. "Glenn Gould - The Canadian Encyclopedia". The Historica Foundation. Retrieved 19 April 2012.