History AwesomeMusic / Classical

* Russia's Alexander Glazunov has the misfortune of being more well-known for his alcoholism[[note]] He was the conductor of the premiere of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No.1 in D minor, which was such an unmitigated disaster that the composer hid on the fire escape with his hands over his ears and needed to undergo hypnotherapy before he could compose again; the future Mrs. Rachmaninoff famously thought Glazunov was drunk during the performance, but the more likely reality is that the orchestra were desperately under-rehearsed. Meanwhile, Glazunov's sometime conservatory student Music/DmitriShostakovich recalled in later life that Glazunov kept a bottle of vodka hidden in his desk drawer and would sip from it through a tube concealed in his coat during lectures.[[/note]] than for his music. While he may not have been as iconoclastic as some of his later life contemporaries, such as Prokofiev and Stravinsky, many of his compositions are still fine examples of late Romanticism.

* In 1988, a kid named Eric Whitacre entered the University of Nevada with plans to become a rock star. But somehow he ended up in the choir instead, and since then has been turning out piece after piece of dramatic, breathtaking music in the classical style. He wrote his first piece, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7nf1agjkBU Go, Lovely Rose]]", at 20, and his dream came true: amongst the choral-music community, he ''is'' a rock star, equaled only by the work of Morten Lauridsen. "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKuxKUKl5Ig The Seal Lullabye]]" (commissioned for the movie that [[WhatCouldHaveBeen became]] ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda''), "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3rRaL-Czxw Water Night]]", ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''[='=]s "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KotRRIVieQ0 Mermaid Song]]" (co-written with Music/HansZimmer)... this guy's done it all. Perhaps his most surreal piece is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgQCq4yrSDg "Godzilla Eats Las Vegas!"]], an [[AffectionateParody affectionate pastiche]] of every cliche Las Vegas music act out there. For best results, watch the slideshow behind the ensemble and/or read Whitacre's [[http://ericwhitacre.com/music-catalog/wind-symphony/godzilla-eats-las-vegas program notes]] while listening.

* The music of the Second Viennese School may be very much an acquired taste (and one many listeners openly resist acquiring), as it takes a sledgehammer to traditional tonality and concepts of melody and harmony, but Alban Berg's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqSSHwFEn_8 Violin Concerto]] still stands as one of the most beloved 20th century examples of the form, straddling traditional diatonicism and the twelve-tone technique pioneered by Berg's mentor, Arnold Schoenberg. Inscribed "To the memory of an angel",[[note]] The "angel" in question was Manon Gropius, daughter of Alma Schindler (whose first husband was Music/GustavMahler) and Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius, whose death from polio at the age of 18 sparked Berg into stopping work on his opera ''Lulu'' to compose the concerto. Sadly, Berg only outlived Manon by eight months; he did not live to see the concerto performed - or to finish ''Lulu''.[[/note]] its first movement opens with a slow sonata allegro and leads into a light-hearted scherzo with two trios. The second movement opens with a pseudo-cadenza of stunning virtuosity that calls on the soloist to perform such feats as left-handed pizzicato and two- or even three-voice counterpoint, but things calm down for the work's emotional heart: a chorale on the hymn "Es ist genug",[[note]] The first four notes of the opening phrase of "Es ist genug" are, not coincidentally, the top four notes of the "tone row" Berg uses as the basis for the concerto's melodic writing.[[/note]] with the clarinets at one point playing the harmonies used by [[Music/JohannSebastianBach Bach]] in his setting of the hymn in the {{cantata}} ''O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort'' (BWV 60). The hymn tune is passed to various sections of the orchestra, with the first violins eventually playing in unison with the soloist until they fall silent one by one to lead into a reverent coda, the music ultimately settling into the rising and falling perfect fifths with which it began.

** Buxtehude's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re69T_EQ2pw Passacaglia in D minor (BuxWV 161)]] -- perhaps better known as the OminousPipeOrgan piece from Music/{{BTS}}'s "Blood, Sweat, and Tears" -- is a melancholy yet majestic treat for any organ lover. Though it begins quietly, it steadily builds up stops until it reaches a truly awe-inspiring finish that deftly switches between duple and triple meter. This piece was said to be a major influence on Bach's own passacaglias, particularly the Passacaglia in C minor which takes heavy inspiration from it. Also see [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYotUjC7VTs this version]], arranged for solo piano.

** Buxtehude's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re69T_EQ2pw Passacaglia in D minor (BuxWV 161)]], melancholy yet majestic, is a treat for any organ lover. Though it begins quietly, it steadily builds up stops until it reaches a truly awe-inspiring finish that deftly switches between duple and triple meter. This piece was said to be a major influence on Bach's own passacaglias, particularly the Passacaglia in C minor which takes heavy inspiration from it. Also see [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYotUjC7VTs this version]], arranged for solo piano.

* Music/ErikSatie's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7DBoiyBoJ8 "Trois Gymnopédies"]]. Three short, but insanely beautiful pieces. Fittingly, many modern media use them, often the first, to enhance the impact of sad or emotional moments, to great effect; examples include ''VideoGame/MOTHER3'', ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'', and ''Film/MyDinnerWithAndre''.

* Gregorio Allegri's ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36Y_ztEW1NE Miserere]]''. When Pope Urban VIII heard it, he immediately declared that it could only be performed in the Art/SistineChapell, and no sheet music ever sold, on pain of excommunication, so that people would pay to hear it. They did. That's right, this song was a ''tourist attraction''.[[note]] At least, that is, until about 150 years later when a teenaged miscreant named Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart listened to it once and then transcribed it, almost perfectly, from memory (he went to hear it a second time two days later and made some minor corrections to his transcription afterward), and sold it to a passing Englishman, Charles Burney - who, being Anglican, couldn't care less about the Pope excommunicating him, since from the Catholic point of view he was already excommunicated anyway. (Does that make bootlegging concert recordings OlderThanSteam?) In any case, when Pope Clement XIV got wind of what Mozart had done, [[OhCrap he summoned him to Rome]]... and proceeded to shower him with praise for this act of sheer musical genius, inducting him into the Chivalric Order of the Golden Spur as a reward.[[/note]]

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZl9JlZz2Y8 Prélude, Adagio, et Choral varié]] on the plainchant melody of the Pentecostal hymn "Veni, creator spiritus" is a masterclass in how choral tunes of the Middle Ages can transcend the centuries by continuing to reveal new facets of themselves.[[note]] As the original Gregorian chant uses the Mixolydian mode, Duruflé's treatment of it does likewise, which can scramble the unwary listener's sense of tonality.[[/note]] The Prélude grows out of a triplet figure spun from the third line ("Imple superna gratia"), with a contrasting theme based on the second line ("Mentes tuorum visita") thrown in. As the Prélude tapers off, the organist pushes the stops in one by one for the hallowed ground of the Adagio, which incorporates more fragments of the "Veni creator" melody as the tonal centre climbs by minor thirds until it comes full circle for the final section, which opens with the first full statement of the hymn melody in truly majestic fashion. The four variations include a dialogue between the ''cantus firmus'' in the pedal and the "Imple superna gratia" melody in the manuals, a variation for manuals only, a canon at the fourth that returns to the sacred atmosphere of the Adagio, and another two-voice canon incorporating the triplets from the Prelude before the four phrases of the theme dissolve into a whirlwind of counterpoint, all building to a spectacular coda for full organ in which a melody based on the "Amen" plainchant booms forth in the pedal.
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwuo5WN_a4I Suite]] opens with a sinister Prélude, emerging from the shadows with a two-part theme that intensifies across three iterations (its tonal centre dropping by a major third each time)[[note]] This forms an intriguing juxtaposition with the entire Suite's tonal centre, which ''rises'' by a major third with each movement.[[/note]] to a powerful climax before ebbing away for an improvisatory second half, then retreating back into the darkness whence it came. The graceful yet solemn Sicilienne takes cues from Debussy and Ravel to create a compelling exercise in light and shade. But the real fireworks come in the non-stop virtuosity of the concluding Toccata, full of fluid runs and rapid block chords that, while relentless, have an air of spontaneity to them that is sure to exhilarate performer and listener alike as the music gallops toward its victorious final measures.[[note]] Not that Duruflé saw it that way; he regretted publishing the Toccata and never included it in his concert programmes.[[/note]]
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7joUtiMFOqg Prelude et Fugue sur le nom d'Alain]] was written in memory of Duruflé's friend Jehan Alain, who was killed on the battlefields of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and uses a musical mnemonic of his surname for a monumental work that also incorporates the melody of Alain's own composition "Litanies", all building to an almost transcendent major key coda.[[note]] Alain's younger sister Marie-Claire is one of the most celebrated organists of the second half of the 20th century, having made over 250 recordings - including several of the Prelude and Fugue in her brother's memory - and taught a significant fraction of the other celebrated European organists of the era.[[/note]]

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwuo5WN_a4I Suite]] opens with a sinister Prélude, emerging from the shadows with a two-part theme that builds in intensity across three iterations (its tonal centre dropping by a major third each time)[[note]] This forms an intriguing juxtaposition with the entire Suite's tonal centre, which ''rises'' by a major third with each movement.[[/note]] to a powerful climax before ebbing away for an improvisatory second half, then retreating back into the darkness whence it came. The graceful yet solemn Sicilienne takes cues from Debussy and Ravel to create a compelling exercise in light and shade. But the real fireworks come in the non-stop virtuosity of the concluding Toccata, full of fluid runs and rapid block chords that, while relentless, have an air of spontaneity to them that is sure to exhilarate performer and listener alike as the music builds to its victorious final measures.[[note]] Not that Duruflé saw it that way; he regretted publishing the Toccata and never included it in his concert programmes.[[/note]]

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwuo5WN_a4I Suite]] opens with a sinister Prelude and a graceful yet solemn Sicilienne, both as compelling as anything Duruflé composed, but the real fireworks come in the non-stop virtuosity of the concluding Toccata, full of fluid runs and rapid block chords that never let up for a second and are sure to exhilarate performer and listener alike from the first measure to the last.[[note]] Not that Duruflé saw it that way; he regretted publishing the Toccata and never included it in his concert programmes.[[/note]]

* Gregorio Allegri's ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36Y_ztEW1NE Miserere]]''. When Pope Urban VIII heard it, he immediately declared that it could only be performed in the Sistine Chapel, and no sheet music ever sold, on pain of excommunication, so that people would pay to hear it. They did. That's right, this song was a ''tourist attraction''.[[note]] At least, that is, until about 150 years later when a teenaged miscreant named Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart listened to it once and then transcribed it, almost perfectly, from memory (he went to hear it a second time two days later and made some minor corrections to his transcription afterward), and sold it to a passing Englishman, Charles Burney - who, being Anglican, couldn't care less about the Pope excommunicating him, since from the Catholic point of view he was already excommunicated anyway. (Does that make bootlegging concert recordings OlderThanSteam?) In any case, when Pope Clement XIV got wind of what Mozart had done, [[OhCrap he summoned him to Rome]]... and proceeded to shower him with praise for this act of sheer musical genius, inducting him into the Chivalric Order of the Golden Spur as a reward.[[/note]]

* Spanish composer Enrique Granados is most well-remembered for his piano suite ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmW5SBMQ_S4 Goyescas]]'', inspired by the work of his fellow countryman, painter Francisco Goya (though more by his artistic style than by specific paintings); the highlight of the suite is the fourth movement, "The Maiden and the Nightingale", full of rapid arpeggiated figures and trills to imitate birdsong around more traditionally songlike melodies, all adding up to a sublimely beautiful few minutes of music.

** But Grainger didn't need existing melodies to be awesome; he could just as easily create his own. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2lCIeCbLZE "Colonial Song"]] starts with the hallowed atmosphere of "Irish Tune from County Derry" but builds in grandeur to a remarkable coda that, in the solo piano version, makes clever use of half-pedalling in the final measures. The merry [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzIJ-Ag0bto "Handel in the Strand"]] combines a melody based on Handel's "Harmonious Blacksmith" variations with an effervescent portrait of the music halls to which London's Strand was once home. And [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trNErmvQbdg "The Immovable Do"]] is more than just a wordplay-inspired title;[[note]] "Immovable Do" refers to a solfege system in which "Do" always represents a pitch of C; this contrasts with "Movable Do", in which "Do" is the tonic of the scale, as in "Doh, a Deer". In Grainger's composition, it also refers to a drone on C that sounds continuously throughout.[[/note]] the climax three-quarters of the way through is one of his most rousing musical moments.

*** The ''skočná'' near the beginning of ''Bartered Bride'''s Act 3, better known as "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGqEFZLhYFg Dance of the Comedians]]", was originally meant to be the musical backdrop of a circus. One could argue this aspect still shines through every time the piece was repurposed to score [[WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner Wile E. Coyote's latest attempt to catch the Road Runner]].

* Domenico Scarlatti, a contemporary of Bach and Handel, wrote many, many sonatas for the harpsichord (555 if we go by the most widely used catalogue, compiled in 1953 by American harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick), but special mention goes to the whimsically named [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4x86sE8ygg "Cat's Fugue" in G minor]]. The story goes that Scarlatti had a pet kitty named Pulcinella that liked to walk across the keyboard. The six unusually spaced out notes that make up the main subject is said to be a phrase the cat unwittingly played one time, which Scarlatti decided to note down and build a fugue on.

** Easily Strauss' most famous waltz is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CTYymbbEL4 "An der schönen blauen Donau",]] better known in English as "The Blue Danube". While the main theme of Waltz No.1 is the most famous thanks to the instantly memorable interplay between a graceful rising arpeggio and its playful answer, the way the other waltz themes weave in and out of the spotlight until the theme of Waltz No.1 returns for the final word helps to make the entire piece a masterwork.[[note]] Creator/JohannesBrahms was a big fan of the work; when Strauss' stepdaughter Alice asked Brahms for his autograph, he wrote down a snippet of "The Blue Danube" with the caption "Leider nicht von Johannes Brahms" ("Unfortunately not by Johannes Brahms").[[/note]]