an attempt to define and quantify the standard piano repertoire

[de.schreiber.de]

Using the Carnegie Hall website and its dataset of over 35,000 works performed in recitals at Carnegie Hall from 1891 to 2022, I've created several spreadsheets that shed light on what the standard repertoire is and some related topics.

Carnegie Hall — Solo Piano Performances

Most-Performed Composers
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NXeJk-DSIwxJmQHZiOy8YcPfQV9r26wCc3_cbLHJTxo/edit?usp=sharing
* Chopin dominates to a stunning degree, 26.5% of all performances, no one else coming even close, performed more than 3 times more often than Beethoven

Number of Performances of Each of 5000 Works for Solo Piano
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VpG7WgInXHrpRqsDQjFGzeplROFuDDaW5Mo99_q4qZU/edit?usp=sharing
* Of the 12 most-performed works 10 are by Chopin
* Caveat: a prelude by Scriabin counts as one as does Beethoven's Hammerklavier

Charts showing no. of performances of most-performed composers by year from 1891-2 to 2022 (Debussy from 1908)

Most-Performed
No. 1 — Chopin
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12ypI9pQN7fxOmoI7ZjD0ZN-z62mnn5qArhZy6rFPPKs/edit?usp=sharing

No. 2 — Beethoven
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1k2yhu1E_E-cXLb4caZEE28AUS2n232aXm6QchLOXZ3c/edit?usp=sharing

No. 3 — Liszt
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17lZLWhRaq92DfoIqWnlIgln51KBmTvLHo8wEUJIUFgE/edit?usp=sharing

No. 4 — Debussy
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DMj7pQqE2CkZKmZHsRPU51PW1zPk-Q48Owvrx9HA9X8/edit?usp=sharing

No. 5 — Schumann
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GCoPSj3VOL3etOkz_w1rIzhCDN0yRgk5l2u9TFgZ2XM/edit?usp=sharing

No. 6 — Bach
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kPcNPPVti-szRlKpNd5YjnMXOsrahb_XDbmS0VwfCds/edit?usp=sharing

No. 7 — Schubert
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qXULlkMTR7ovyuJAMN4P048K1OXRZ49JIRe3NnLz-Zg/edit?usp=sharing

Line graph showing how often each of Chopin, Beethoven, and Liszt have been performed at Carnegie. The overwhelming dominance of Chopin shows up clearly.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jWMOvU297eedf_Hss2JDIQVOCB8-xGsmhO7jKxO-OPM/edit?usp=sharing

I hope you find this info half as interesting as I did in preparing it.
If requested, I could prepare similar charts for other composers.

[lelle]

I had a look, it's really interesting, at least for me who loves looking at statistics and analyzing stuff If you have the time and patience, I would be interested in seeing more charts.

[robertus]

I'm not surprised! Congratulations to Chopin......

[lostinidlewonder]

Urg Liszts most played piece is his Sonata?? What a boring top selections I'd need so much coffee to stay awake.

[danesi]

I’m not even remotely surprised that Chopin’s top performed piece is his first Ballade. His third sonata however really shocked me. I had no idea that the Sonata was so famous! As an avid fan of the Second Sonata, I’ll definitely have to listen to the popular one now!

[anacrusis]

I was also suprised that the 3rd sonata was played more than the 2nd. I thought the 2nd was the really famous one. Thanks for sharing, this was really interesting.

[robertus]

Hungarian Rhapsody No 12 at 55, and No. 2 at 143!!!

I strongly suspect there's a mistake here

[thorn]

Interesting and I imagine many of these pianists played the same program at other venues meaning it doesn't only reflect Carnegie Hall.

On the flip side I imagine if the program has one Mozart Sonata and three Scriabin Preludes then that's 1 point to Mozart/3 points to Scriabin- even though in real time you're listening to 20 minutes of Mozart and 10 minutes of Scriabin. Which explains the latter outranking Mozart. I mean he does for me but the general consensus would definitely disagree!

[anacrusis]

That's a good point. Seems to me an improved ranking of the composers would weigh the duration of each piece as well.

[scriabins_left_hand]

Its hard for this to show the true popularity of some pieces as they audiences tastes change and performers popularise pieces rarely played before. E.G Horowitz scriabin op.8 No12 etude