Pieces that consist of one note (a single pitch)
sounded once (sustained or decaying but not repeated)
by a single performer:
Eric Andersen: Opus 27 [1962]
Pierre Baillot: "Coup d'Archet Lent" from L'art du violon [1834] score
Antoine Beuger: ins ungebundene (für Orgel) [1997]
Antoine Beuger: cadmiumgelb [2000]
Antoine Beuger: precise truth [2026]
Erik Carlson: One-note-once pieces: link
Erik Carlson: Hour-long one-note-once pieces: link
Michael Caterisano: Middle C for One Hour [2026]
Johnny Chang: Haiku for Erik [2026]
Philip Corner: friendly low B flat for Ruth Emerson [1963]
Philip Corner: One Note Once [1976]
Philip Corner: One Note Once, Somewhere [2007]
Philip Corner: One Note Once as Part of a Meditation [2009]
Philip Corner: One Note Once as a Pizzicato [2009]
Philip Corner: One Note Once as an Expressive Outcry [2009]
Philip Corner: One Note Once as Clowning Around [2009]
Philip Corner: One Note Once as Like a Concert Pianist [2009]
Philip Corner: One Note Once as to Sneak Up on It [2009]
Philip Corner: One Note Once for Running By [2009]
Philip Corner: One Note Once with a Toe [2009]
Philip Corner: One Note Once as an Action Placed Anywhere in a Predetermined Time-Length [2009]
Philip Corner: One Note Once for Longton'd Plukstring Instrument [2015]
Philip Corner: Belklapp-Prediction [2017]
D. Edward Davis: aperture [2016]
Nomi Epstein: event note [2026]
Eva-Maria Houben: only one 1 [2026]
Eva-Maria Houben: only one 2 [2026]
Eva-Maria Houben: only one 3 [2026]
Eva-Maria Houben: only one 4 [2026]
Evan Johnson: di sotto in sù [2017]
Joseph Kudirka: One Bow Stroke Lasting 30 Seconds [2011]
György Ligeti: Trois Bagatelles [1961]
Stephen "Lucky" Mosko: happy [2004]
Pauline Oliveros: One Sound Once [1971]
Yoko Ono: Secret Piece [1953]
Michael Pisaro: Diminishing Time [2000]
Sophie Stone: Selections from postcard-sized pieces [2020]
James Tenney: Having Never Written a Note for Percussion [1971]
Pieces that could be played as a single note once
by a single player, but the score allows for other options
(more players and/or more notes):
Ryoko Akama: tada no score #7 [2014]
Ryoko Akama: tada no score #12 [2014]
Philip Corner: One Note or Noise Once as an Unpredictable Choice [2010]
Michael Winter: a tone for one or more strings [2005]
Recorded/electronic one-note-once music:
Peter Ablinger: Quadrat [1994]
Ryoji Ikeda: each track from The Solar System [2015]
Johannes Kreidler: Black Square [2013]
Other sources of one-note-once music
that may or may not be considered composed pieces:
William Gardiner: transcription of a struck half-crown coin, from "The Music of Nature" [1832] score
F. Schuyler Mathews: transcription of the dive of a nighthawk, from "Field Book of Wild Birds and Their Music" [1904] score
Marin Mersenne: The single permutation of 1 pitch, from "Harmonie universelle" [1626] score
A hunting horn signal to call one's companions, as described in Jacques du Fouillou's "La Venerie" [1561] score
3 more hunting horn calls, as described in L.C.R. Cameron's "The Hunting Horn" [1910] score
A single tone used to get illegal free long distance calls (a blue box), as described in 73 Magazine [June 1975] description
A fragment of Ancient Greek music that contains only one note [3rd century BC] description
Catagorized by Pöhlmann & West as Fragment 52 of entry no. 6 in their book "Documents Of Ancient Greek Music"
PAP. ASHM. INV. 89B/29-32