Musical Mavericks Through History...?

In addition to those already mentioned I would have to add the Danish composer Rued Langgaard (1893-1952). He wrote a series of 16 symphonies which range from the long and very original to the short (6 minutes) and quite silly. His wonderful orchestral/choral piece 'Music of the Spheres' from 1918 anticipated sounds and techniques later used by composers like Ligeti. Not only was Langgaard a maverick but he was an outcast in his own country. Denmark did not know what to make of this solitary, rather rude man and favoured their national hero Carl Nielsen. This led to Langgaard bitterly resenting Nielsen and writing a tongue-in-cheek work called 'Carl Nielsen, Our Great Composer' where a phrase of music for full chorus and orchestra is simply repeated over and over again until the conductor decides it can go on no more.