Topic: a thread within which to post familiar musical classics of the broader category of classical music
boof started this discussion 2 weeks ago #133,031
In the broader sense of the term, that includes medieval, Renaissance, baroque, and romantic periods, with some of the more modern.
I keep a text file for reference and add to it from time to time when I find another piece that sounds familiar.
I'll begin with Émile Waldteufel - "The Skater's Waltz, Op. 183"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW5mks_3-oA
"Les Patineurs, Opus 183, is one of the most famous and beloved waltzes by Émile Waldteufel, a French composer renowned for his lively and elegant waltzes . Composed in 1882, this work evokes the joyful and graceful atmosphere of Parisian ice rinks at the end of the 19th century."
https://jeanmichelserres.com/2025/07/18/notes-on-the-skaters-waltz-op-183-by-emile-waldteufel-information-analysis-and-performance-tutorial/#gsc.tab=0
I keep a text file for reference and add to it from time to time when I find another piece that sounds familiar.
I'll begin with Émile Waldteufel - "The Skater's Waltz, Op. 183"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW5mks_3-oA
"Les Patineurs, Opus 183, is one of the most famous and beloved waltzes by Émile Waldteufel, a French composer renowned for his lively and elegant waltzes . Composed in 1882, this work evokes the joyful and graceful atmosphere of Parisian ice rinks at the end of the 19th century."
https://jeanmichelserres.com/2025/07/18/notes-on-the-skaters-waltz-op-183-by-emile-waldteufel-information-analysis-and-performance-tutorial/#gsc.tab=0
Anonymous B joined in and replied with this 2 weeks ago, 11 hours later[^] [v] #1,418,666
Spooky song;starts with 12 notes denoting midnight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danse_Macabre_(Saint-Sa%C3%ABns)
boof (OP) replied with this 2 weeks ago, 1 day later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #1,418,956
@previous (B)
formally put, Camille Saint-Saëns - "Danse Macabre, Op. 40"
and a tuber https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyknBTm_YyM
OK, Georges Bizet - "Les Toreadors" from "Carmen Suite No. 1"
"Under the oppressive heat of the Spanish sun, the restless Carmen takes pleasure in desire. Attracting the attention of Don José, she warns him not to fall in love with her. But José is willing to risk everything for Carmen – and will do so at whatever cost." https://www.rbo.org.uk/opera-essentials-carmen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvnbnXp38-Q
formally put, Camille Saint-Saëns - "Danse Macabre, Op. 40"
and a tuber https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyknBTm_YyM
OK, Georges Bizet - "Les Toreadors" from "Carmen Suite No. 1"
"Under the oppressive heat of the Spanish sun, the restless Carmen takes pleasure in desire. Attracting the attention of Don José, she warns him not to fall in love with her. But José is willing to risk everything for Carmen – and will do so at whatever cost." https://www.rbo.org.uk/opera-essentials-carmen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvnbnXp38-Q
Anonymous C joined in and replied with this 2 weeks ago, 1 day later, 3 days after the original post[^] [v] #1,419,173
boof (OP) replied with this 2 weeks ago, 21 hours later, 3 days after the original post[^] [v] #1,419,373
Niccolò Paganini - "Caprice 24"
"Caprice 24 is like a musical rollercoaster! It starts with a catchy, unforgettable theme and then takes you through 11 wild variations. Each variation is faster or trickier than the last, giving the violinist a real workout."
https://www.squiltmusic.com/blogs/news/paganini-s-caprice-24-the-devil-s-violinist-and-the-magic-of-music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMLoBXgPil8
"Caprice 24 is like a musical rollercoaster! It starts with a catchy, unforgettable theme and then takes you through 11 wild variations. Each variation is faster or trickier than the last, giving the violinist a real workout."
https://www.squiltmusic.com/blogs/news/paganini-s-caprice-24-the-devil-s-violinist-and-the-magic-of-music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMLoBXgPil8
boof (OP) double-posted this 2 weeks ago, 2 days later, 5 days after the original post[^] [v] #1,419,663
Well Mr. Bach has one heck of lot of familiar tunes. I've only added this one very recently.
Johann Sebastian Bach - "Badinerie" from "Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067"
wiki says that the term badinerie is also called a scherzo. "The Italian word scherzo means "joke" or "jest." More rarely, the similar-meaning word badinerie (also spelled battinerie; from French, "jesting") has been used." As a musical term: "a short composition – sometimes a movement from a larger work such as a symphony or a sonata. The precise definition has varied over the years, but scherzo often refers to a movement that replaces the minuet as the third movement in a four-movement work, such as a symphony, sonata, or string quartet. The term can also refer to a fast-moving humorous composition that may or may not be part of a larger work."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aFUuHIdV1o
Johann Sebastian Bach - "Badinerie" from "Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067"
wiki says that the term badinerie is also called a scherzo. "The Italian word scherzo means "joke" or "jest." More rarely, the similar-meaning word badinerie (also spelled battinerie; from French, "jesting") has been used." As a musical term: "a short composition – sometimes a movement from a larger work such as a symphony or a sonata. The precise definition has varied over the years, but scherzo often refers to a movement that replaces the minuet as the third movement in a four-movement work, such as a symphony, sonata, or string quartet. The term can also refer to a fast-moving humorous composition that may or may not be part of a larger work."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aFUuHIdV1o
boof (OP) triple-posted this 1 week ago, 1 day later, 1 week after the original post[^] [v] #1,420,063
Samuel Barber - "Adagio for Strings", second movement of String Quartet, Op. 11.
You almost certainly have heard this if you have watched many movies or much television, as wiki says: Adagio for Strings can also be heard on many film and television soundtracks, including The Elephant Man (1980), Platoon (1986), Lorenzo's Oil (1992), and Outlander (2019). More comedic or lighthearted uses of it have appeared in the film Amélie (2001) and on episodes of the sitcoms Seinfeld, The Simpsons, American Dad!, and South Park.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLR7s8Rq7Dw
You almost certainly have heard this if you have watched many movies or much television, as wiki says: Adagio for Strings can also be heard on many film and television soundtracks, including The Elephant Man (1980), Platoon (1986), Lorenzo's Oil (1992), and Outlander (2019). More comedic or lighthearted uses of it have appeared in the film Amélie (2001) and on episodes of the sitcoms Seinfeld, The Simpsons, American Dad!, and South Park.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLR7s8Rq7Dw
boof (OP) quadruple-posted this 1 week ago, 1 day later, 1 week after the original post[^] [v] #1,420,424
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - "II. Andante" from "Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467"
This Mozart fella made plenty of familiar tunes. Wiki says that Neil Diamond's 1972 song "Song Sung Blue" was based on a theme this movement of this concerto.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p37mStO2aeM
This Mozart fella made plenty of familiar tunes. Wiki says that Neil Diamond's 1972 song "Song Sung Blue" was based on a theme this movement of this concerto.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p37mStO2aeM
Anonymous C replied with this 1 week ago, 2 hours later, 1 week after the original post[^] [v] #1,420,452
Gustav Holst: The Planets - Uranus, the Magician // Danish National Symphony Orchestra (LIVE)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETF_uEgACuo
Hehe
Gustav Holst: The Planets - Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity // Danish National Symphony Orchestra (LIVE)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7AcPrzTvto
Lightspeed was first speculated when observing the moons of Jupiter https://youtu.be/b9F8Wn4vf5Y?t=188
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETF_uEgACuo
Hehe
Gustav Holst: The Planets - Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity // Danish National Symphony Orchestra (LIVE)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7AcPrzTvto
Lightspeed was first speculated when observing the moons of Jupiter https://youtu.be/b9F8Wn4vf5Y?t=188
boof (OP) replied with this 1 week ago, 1 day later, 1 week after the original post[^] [v] #1,420,725
Franz Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 (Orchestra version) (familiarity at 6:50 in)
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hungarian-Rhapsody-No-2
Originally composed in 1851 for solo piano, the work was soon converted into orchestral form by Liszt’s colleague, Franz Doppler, who also added a piano duet version more than two decades after the original solo work.
Born in what is now Austria of Hungarian heritage, Liszt spent most of his life abroad; although his grasp of the Hungarian language was highly limited, this did not prevent him from loving his native land. On visits to Hungary in the 1840s, he compiled a collection of folk melodies, drawn from both the Magyar and the Romany (Gypsy) traditions. These pieces served as source material for Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yON0G0HLmIU
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hungarian-Rhapsody-No-2
Originally composed in 1851 for solo piano, the work was soon converted into orchestral form by Liszt’s colleague, Franz Doppler, who also added a piano duet version more than two decades after the original solo work.
Born in what is now Austria of Hungarian heritage, Liszt spent most of his life abroad; although his grasp of the Hungarian language was highly limited, this did not prevent him from loving his native land. On visits to Hungary in the 1840s, he compiled a collection of folk melodies, drawn from both the Magyar and the Romany (Gypsy) traditions. These pieces served as source material for Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yON0G0HLmIU
Anonymous D joined in and replied with this 1 week ago, 13 minutes later, 1 week after the original post[^] [v] #1,420,728
Anonymous C replied with this 1 week ago, 3 hours later, 1 week after the original post[^] [v] #1,420,753
"Entrance of the Gladiators," Op. 68 is widely known as The Clown Theme Song; however, the piece was originally composed in 1897 by Czech composer Julius Fučík as a Military March for the Austro-Hungarian Army. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ayD0Jc_mb4
boof (OP) replied with this 6 days ago, 1 day later, 1 week after the original post[^] [v] #1,421,021
boof (OP) double-posted this 5 days ago, 1 day later, 2 weeks after the original post[^] [v] #1,421,179
Luigi Boccherini - "Minuetto" ("Minuet") from "The String Quintet in E Major, Op. 11, No. 5 (G 275)"
"In the beginning of the movement, the first violin plays a simple, elegant melody, while the viola and cello have eighth note pizzicato. The second violin, on the other hand, has quick sixteenth note slurs which contain many string crossings. As Elisabeth Le Guin puts it in Boccherini’s Body: An Essay in Carnal Musicology, "The second violinist has no time for galanterie; he must concentrate on keeping the constant string crossings reasonable even through the length of the bow."" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Quintet_in_E_major,_Op._11,_No._5_(Boccherini)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biwNs6P6bug
"In the beginning of the movement, the first violin plays a simple, elegant melody, while the viola and cello have eighth note pizzicato. The second violin, on the other hand, has quick sixteenth note slurs which contain many string crossings. As Elisabeth Le Guin puts it in Boccherini’s Body: An Essay in Carnal Musicology, "The second violinist has no time for galanterie; he must concentrate on keeping the constant string crossings reasonable even through the length of the bow."" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Quintet_in_E_major,_Op._11,_No._5_(Boccherini)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biwNs6P6bug
boof (OP) triple-posted this 3 days ago, 2 days later, 2 weeks after the original post[^] [v] #1,421,605
George Gershwin - "Rhapsody in Blue"
“It was on the train, with its steely rhythms, its rattle-ty bang, that is so often so stimulating to a composer ... I frequently hear music in the very heart of the noise. And there I suddenly heard – and even saw on paper – the complete construction of the rhapsody, from beginning to end."
https://www.winspearcentre.com/extra/blog/the-legendary-story-behind-gershwins-rhapsody-in-blue/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jVh5cZ_ZvM
“It was on the train, with its steely rhythms, its rattle-ty bang, that is so often so stimulating to a composer ... I frequently hear music in the very heart of the noise. And there I suddenly heard – and even saw on paper – the complete construction of the rhapsody, from beginning to end."
https://www.winspearcentre.com/extra/blog/the-legendary-story-behind-gershwins-rhapsody-in-blue/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jVh5cZ_ZvM
Anonymous E joined in and replied with this 3 days ago, 2 minutes later, 2 weeks after the original post[^] [v] #1,421,606
Pete Hegseth is the only hoe you know and you don’t even know how deep he’s gonna go.
boof (OP) replied with this 20 hours ago, 3 days later, 2 weeks after the original post[^] [v] #1,421,890
Felix Mendelssohn - "Allegretto grazioso: Frühlingslied" (A major), MWV U 161 aka "Spring Song" from "Song Without Words Book 5, Opus 62"
The works were part of the Romantic tradition of writing short lyrical pieces for the piano, although the specific concept of "Songs Without Words" was new.
Mendelssohn himself resisted attempts to interpret the songs too literally, and objected when his friend Marc-André Souchay sought to put words to them to make them literal: "What the music I love expresses to me, is not thought too indefinite to put into words, but on the contrary, too definite".
Song No. 6 "Spring Song" was also sometimes known in England as "Camberwell Green", being the place in London where Mendelssohn composed it while staying with the Benneckes, relatives of his wife.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_Without_Words
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyEAPM4ZxGE
The works were part of the Romantic tradition of writing short lyrical pieces for the piano, although the specific concept of "Songs Without Words" was new.
Mendelssohn himself resisted attempts to interpret the songs too literally, and objected when his friend Marc-André Souchay sought to put words to them to make them literal: "What the music I love expresses to me, is not thought too indefinite to put into words, but on the contrary, too definite".
Song No. 6 "Spring Song" was also sometimes known in England as "Camberwell Green", being the place in London where Mendelssohn composed it while staying with the Benneckes, relatives of his wife.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_Without_Words
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyEAPM4ZxGE