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Minichan

Topic: a thread within which to post familiar musical classics of the broader category of classical music

boof started this discussion 1 month 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

Anonymous B joined in and replied with this 1 month 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 1 month 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

Anonymous C joined in and replied with this 1 month ago, 1 day later, 3 days after the original post[^] [v] #1,419,173

AI MUSIC sucks
https://youtube.com/watch?v=QtZDkgzjmQI

boof (OP) replied with this 1 month 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

boof (OP) double-posted this 1 month 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

boof (OP) triple-posted this 1 month 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

boof (OP) quadruple-posted this 1 month 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

Anonymous C replied with this 1 month 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

boof (OP) replied with this 4 weeks 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

Anonymous D joined in and replied with this 4 weeks ago, 13 minutes later, 1 week after the original post[^] [v] #1,420,728

Anonymous C replied with this 4 weeks 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 3 weeks ago, 1 day later, 1 week after the original post[^] [v] #1,421,021

@previous (C)
It's like the Yackety Sax of marches

boof (OP) double-posted this 3 weeks 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

boof (OP) triple-posted this 3 weeks 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

Anonymous E joined in and replied with this 3 weeks 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 3 weeks 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

boof (OP) double-posted this 2 weeks ago, 2 days later, 3 weeks after the original post[^] [v] #1,422,499

Franz von Suppé - "Light Cavalry Overture" (gets familiar at 2:24 and 5:14 in)

Light Cavalry Overture is the overture to Franz von Suppé’s operetta Light Cavalry (German: Leichte Kavallerie), premiered in Vienna in 1866. Although the whole operetta is rarely performed or recorded, the overture is one of Suppé's most popular compositions, and has achieved a quite distinct life of its own, divorced from the opera of which it originally formed a part. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_Cavalry_Overture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF5nhMIyeqI

boof (OP) triple-posted this 2 weeks ago, 1 day later, 3 weeks after the original post[^] [v] #1,422,829

Léo Delibes - "Pizzicato" from "Sylvia"

Sylvia is one of the first modern ballets. The prelude to the first act and the pizzicati in the third are the significantly more famous sections of this already notable score. The latter, the more famous, is a well-known example of pizzicato style. This section is, according to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "traditionally played in a halting, hesitant style that appears to have been no part of Delibes's conception." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_(ballet)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8X21sB_kck

boof (OP) quadruple-posted this 2 weeks ago, 2 days later, 3 weeks after the original post[^] [v] #1,423,165

Joseph Haydn - "III. Allegro (rondo)" from "Trumpet Concerto in E flat major, Hob. VIIe/1"

Anton Weidinger developed a keyed trumpet which could play chromatically throughout its entire range. Haydn, fascinated by the invention, was inspired to write the concerto. It includes melodies in the middle and lower register, exploiting the capabilities of the new instrument. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trumpet_Concerto_(Haydn)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAZmXMQoGQM

boof (OP) quintuple-posted this 1 week ago, 3 days later, 1 month after the original post[^] [v] #1,423,875

Ludwig van Beethoven - "Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor" aka "Für Elise"

Well that's a big name there, the famously deaf Beethoven.
According to one story, Beethoven wrote the bagatelle [a short piece in light style] as a birthday present for Therese Malfatti, piano student. This origin story includes the detail that Beethoven was plastered when he signed the dedication, which rendered his handwriting even worse than usual. https://www.quora.com/Who-did-Ludwig-van-Beethoven-write-the-piece-Fur-Elise-for-Who-was-Elise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4_7LMrtUNY

boof (OP) sextuple-posted this 1 week ago, 1 day later, 1 month after the original post[^] [v] #1,424,368

Aaron Copland - "Fanfare for the Common Man"

In late August 1942, Eugene Goossens, the conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony, wrote to Copland requesting a patriotic fanfare to help with the war effort. Goossens suggested the instrumentation of brass and percussion and length of about two minutes. A large group of American composers were given similar requests, and Goossens hoped to perform Copland's fanfare in October at his first concert of the season. Since Copland did not deliver the Fanfare until November, Goossens suggested another date: March 12, 1943, as it would then be income tax time, an ideal opportunity for honoring the common man. https://www.aaroncopland.com/works/fanfare-for-the-common-man/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_UiNBnBsQY

boof (OP) septuple-posted this 1 week ago, 1 day later, 1 month after the original post[^] [v] #1,424,961

Erik Satie - "Gymnopédie No.1"

There are three piano compositions Gymnopédie -- the first is very well known. The work's unusual title comes from the French form of gymnopaedia, the ancient Greek word for an annual festival where young men danced either naked or, perhaps figuratively, simply unarmed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMnxjdGTK4w

orchestra version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHTapZtu9kU

boof (OP) octuple-posted this 5 days ago, 1 day later, 1 month after the original post[^] [v] #1,425,437

Gioachino Rossini - "Overture" from "La gazza ladra" [The Thieving Magpie] (familiar at 4:29 in)

The Thieving Magpie's overture uses snare drums to evoke the image of the opera's main subject: a devilishly clever, thieving magpie.
Rossini wrote quickly, and La gazza ladra was no exception. A 19th-century biography quotes him as saying that the conductor of the premiere performance locked him in a room at the top of La Scala the day before the premiere with orders to complete the opera's still unfinished overture. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_gazza_ladra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxoIpaD8XdE

boof (OP) nonuple-posted this 3 days ago, 2 days later, 1 month after the original post[^] [v] #1,425,954

Giuseppe Verdi - "La Donna e Mobile" [Woman is fickle] from "Rigoletto"

... is the Duke of Mantua's canzone ['song' in Italian] from the beginning of act 3 of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto (1851). The canzone is famous as a showcase for tenors.
The lyrics are based on a phrase by King Francis I of France, Souvent femme varie, bien fol qui s'y fie. [Women are fickle, and who trusts them is a fool.], that he, deceived by one of his numerous mistresses, reputedly engraved on a window pane. Victor Hugo used this phrase verbatim in his play, Le roi s'amuse, on which Rigoletto is based. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_donna_%c3%a8_mobile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jt2OUKrudo

orchestral version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ3bNOyY2E0

boof (OP) decuple-posted this 1 day ago, 2 days later, 1 month after the original post[^] [v] #1,426,237

Henry Purcell - "March" from "Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary"

The March, in C minor, was written for a quartet of flatt trumpets, which, as slide trumpets, could play notes outside of the harmonic series and thus in a minor key.
Music from the March was adapted by Wendy Carlos for the soundtrack of Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film, A Clockwork Orange. Robin Beanland would later adapt the music for the opening cut-scene of Rare Ltd.'s 2001 videogame, Conker's Bad Fur Day, as the scene homages Kubrick's film. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_Sentences_and_Music_for_the_Funeral_of_Queen_Mary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIpejz-eS20
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