History Music / WhoPaysThePiper

* PlayingATree: Discussed in the rewritten lyrics to "Ombra mai fou" from ''Serse'' by Music/GeorgeFredericHandel:

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: The segment about composers who died in their thirties. This trope is comically lampshaded through the relevant composers being listed in the form of re-written lyrics to "When I Am Laid in Earth" from Henry Purcell's opera ''Dido and Aeneas''.[[note]]Dido sings this at the end of the original opera just before committing suicide, with her final words being "Remember me, but oh, forget my fate".[[/note]]

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: The segment about composers who died in their thirties. This trope is comically lampshaded through the relevant composers being listed in the form of re-written lyrics to "Dido's Lament" from Henry Purcell's opera "Dido and Aeneas".[[note]]Dido sings this at the end of the original opera just before committing suicide, with her final words being "Remember me, but oh, forget my fate".[[/note]]

** After mentioning how Claudio Monteverdi left Mantua for Venice, it is stated that "That Duke of Mantua's the self-same fella - whom [[Music/GiuseppeVerdi Verdi]] made perform [[Theatre/{{Rigoletto}} 'Questa o quella']]."[[note]]The Duke of Mantua being the character in the opera who sings this aria.[[/note]] Much later in the poem, after it's mentioned that Music/GioachinoRossini's father was an abattoir health inspector, "Questa o quella" begins playing, with the tenor singing "Salmonella" instead of the titular opening lyrics.

-->Be silent, Duke of Mantua! [[SophisticatedAsHell shut up]], band!

* AnachronicOrder: Played for laughs, and lampshaded. The work presents itself as going through the history of music, but after briefly beginning with an outline of the evolution of Pan's flute music to the music of Olivier Messiaen:

* BlackComedy: The segment on how composers died - Anton Webern shot by a "nervous GI" while smoking after curfew, Charles Alkan [[DroppedABridgeOnHim having a bookcase fall on him]],[[note]][[ArtisticLicenseHistory This theory is disputed]].[[/note]] Ernest Chausson [[DeathByFallingOver falling off his bicycle]], Alexander Scriabin dying from "[[SecretlyDying a septic pimple]]". The treatment of Jean-Baptiste Lully's death, however, takes the cake: after describing his death from [[BodyHorror gangrene after striking his foot]] with a baton during a performance, [[LyricalDissonance a light-hearted bar of Delibes pizzicato plays]], ending with rhythmically precise "thump [[PrecisionFStrike merde!]]"
** This segment is introduced by a more stealthy example: shortly after a mention of salmonella (as a re-written lyric to Verdi's "Questa o quella"), the narrator says "We must get back to pipers and to pay, not bother when composers passed away, [[TheFoodPoisoningIncident or how]]!"

* BrickJoke: After mentioning how Claudio Monteverdi left Mantua for Venice, it is stated that "That Duke of Mantua's the self-same fella - whom [[Music/GiuseppeVerdi Verdi]] made perform [[Theatre/{{Rigoletto}} 'Questa o quella']]. Much later in the poem, after it's mentioned that Music/GioachinoRossini's father was an abattoir health inspector, "Questa o quella" begins playing, with the tenor singing "Salmonella" instead of "Questa o quella", abruptly being cut short ("Now look, all this is getting out of hand; be silent, Duke of Mantua, shut up, band!")

* TakeThat: Stilgoe's many targets include operas by Music/GeorgeFredericHandel:

** And Music/RichardWagner:

** And the pizzicato number from Leo Delibes' ''Sylvia'':

--> Has made us spring too quickly to the [[{{Pun}} Rite]]. (i.e. Rite of Spring by Music/IgorStravinsky)

--> Enough, perhaps, for [[{{Understatement}} something of this type]]. (cue a Brandenberg Concerto from Music/JohannSebastianBach)
* ApocalypseHow: ApocalypseHow/Class3b is part of the poem's BittersweetEnding.

* BlackComedy: The segment on how composers died - Anton Webern shot by a "nervous GI" while smoking after curfew, Charles Alkan [[DroppedABridgeOnHim having a bookcase fall on him]] ([[ArtisticLicenseHistory this theory is disputed]]), Ernest Chausson [[DeathByFallingOver falling off his bicycle]], Alexander Scriabin dying from "[[SecretlyDying a septic pimple]]". The treatment of Jean-Baptiste Lully's death, however, takes the cake: after describing his death from [[BodyHorror gangrene after striking his foot]] with a baton during a performance, [[LyricalDissonance a light-hearted bar of Delibes pizzicato plays]], ending with rhythmically precise "thump [[PrecisionFStrike merde!]]"

* DoubleEntendre: The Chopin biography song ends with one: "…nobody can expect to become bronzed and healthy, just by lying on the Sand."<note>George Sand was Chopin's long-term girlfriend.</note>

--> No self-respecting managing director

--> Would ever dare to tell the Sinfonietta


* TakeThat: Stilgoe's many targets include opera from Music/GeorgeFredericHandel:

--> but Lully didn't write a tune that silly!

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: The segment about composers who died in their thirties. This trope is comically lampshaded through the relevant composers being listed in the form of re-written lyrics to "Dido's Lament" from Henry Purcell's opera "Dido and Aeneas".

--> Has made us spring too quickly to the [[{{Pun}} Rite]]. (i.e. Rite of Spring by Creator/IgorStravinsky)

* DoubleEntendre: The Chopin biography song ends with one: "…nobody can expect to become bronzed and healthy, just by lying on the Sand."

* MoodWhiplash: The abrupt switch from [[Creator/GustavHolst Mars from "the planets"]] to the montage of "Berlin, and blues" counts as this.

* MidWordRhyme: The Chopin song rhyms "Berlin" with "Paganin-i", and "cigars" with "trous-ers". Overlaps with PainfulRhyme.

* CreationStory: The beginning of the poem plays this for laughs, even taking its cue from TheBible:

* BrickJoke: After mentioning how Claudio Monteverdi left Mantua for Venice, it is stated that "That Duke of Mantua's the self-same fella - whom [[Creator/GiuseppeVerdi Verdi]] made perform [[Theatre/{{Rigoletto}} 'Questa o quella']]. Much later in the poem, after it's mentioned that Music/GioachinoRossini's father was an abattoir health inspector, "Questa o quella" begins playing, with the tenor singing "Salmonella" instead of "Questa o quella", abruptly being cut short ("Now look, all this is getting out of hand; be silent, Duke of Mantua, shut up, band!")

* PatterSong: The biography of Creator/FredericChopin set to the tune of Chopin's Minute Waltz.

** Creator/FredericChopin's biography song begins by saying that anyone who comes from his father's hometown of Nancy "must be rather strange". Later in the song, this is recalled in reference to Chopin's attraction to the unusual George Sand.

* ShoutOut: To his famous collaborator, Music/AndrewLloydWebber:

--> Enough, perhaps, for [[{{Understatement}} something of this type]]. (cue a Brandenberg Concerto from Creator/JohannSebastianBach)

* BitingTheHandHumour: Creator/WolfgangAmadeusMozart's Theatre/TheMarriageOfFigaro is referred to as this, ridiculing (and undermining) the very same aristocracy that paid for its production.

* FaunsAndSatyrs: [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Pan]] is the central focus in the beginning of the story, and is credited with first discovering the mechanics of pipes (which he played to "ape the chortling birds", strings (through the sound of his bowstring), percussion (his heartbeat), and harmonics.

* BlackComedy: The segment on how composers died - Anton Webern shot by a "nervous GI" while smoking after curfew, Charles Alkan [[DroppedABridgeOnHim having a bookcase fall on him]] ([[ArtisticLicenseHistory this theory is disputed]]), Ernest Chausson [[DeathByFallingOver falling off his bicycle]], Alexander Scriabin dying from "a septic pimple". The treatment of Jean-Baptiste Lully's death, however, takes the cake: after describing his death from [[BodyHorror gangrene after striking his foot]] with a baton during a performance, [[LyricalDissonance a light-hearted bar of Delibes pizzicato plays]], ending with rhythmically precise "thump [[PrecisionFStrike merde!]]"

* BlackComedy: The segment on how composers died - Anton Webern shot by a "nervous GI" while smoking after curfew, Charles Alkan having a bookcase fall on him ([[ArtisticLicenseHistory this theory is disputed]]), Ernest Chausson [[DeathByFallingOver falling off his bicycle]], Alexander Scriabin dying from "a septic pimple". The treatment of Jean-Baptiste Lully's death, however, takes the cake: after describing his death from [[BodyHorror gangrene after striking his foot]] with a baton during a performance, [[LyricalDissonance a light-hearted bar of Delibes pizzicato plays]], ending with rhythmically precise "thump [[PrecisionFStrike merde!]]"

* TakeThat:

** And later:

--> In the beginning, there was no word, no note.

* FaunsAndSatyrs: Pan is the central focus in the beginning of the story, and is credited with first discovering the mechanics of pipes (which he played to "ape the chortling birds", strings (through the sound of his bowstring), percussion (his heartbeat), and harmonics.

'''Who Pays the Piper?''' is a 45-minute poem written in 1983 by the British songwriter and musician Richard Stilgoe (who is most famous for collaborating with Creator/AndrewLloydWebber). The poem is written throughout in iambic pentameter in rhyming couplets, and is interspersed with classical music excerpts, some of which have humorously re-written lyrics. It details parts of the history of Western music, with an emphasis on the dilemmas arising from the business aspects of maintaining the artist.

--> Enough, perhaps, for something of this type. (cue a Brandenberg Concerto from Creator/JohannSebastianBach)

--> Back to square one, and have another go.

--> Has made us spring too quickly to the rite. (i.e. Rite of Spring by Creator/IgorStravinsky)

--> Enough perhaps, for something of this type. (cue a Brandenberg Concerto from Creator/JohannSebastianBach)

* BlackComedy: The segment on how composers died - Anton Webern shot by a "nervous GI" while smoking after curfew, Charles Alkan having a bookcase fall on him ([[ArtisticLicenseHistory this theory is disputed]]), Ernest Chausson falling off his bicycle, Alexander Scriabin dying from "a septic pimple". The treatment of Jean-Baptiste Lully's death, however, takes the cake: after describing his death from gangrene after striking his foot with a baton during a performance, [[LyricalDissonance a light-hearted bar of Delibes pizzicato plays]], ending with rhythmically precise "thump [[PrecisionFStrike merde!]]"

* SophisticatedAsHell: Many times, poetic or sophisticated language is juxtaposed with slang for laughs. For example, "Be silent, Duke of Mantua; shut up, band!"), or Music/RichardWagner being called a "jerk".

--> Accompanied by Hannoverian snoring

* MidWordRhyme: The Chopin song rhyms "Berlin" with "Paganin-i", and "cigars" with "trous-ers"

* PainfulRhyme:
--> I know that's by Delibes, and not by Lully,
--> but Lully didn't write a tune that silly!
** The Chopin biography song is full of them, rhyming a stressed "Sand" with "England".
** Several cross-language examples, such as rhyming "Anhalt-Cöthen" with "uncertain", and "fella" with "Questa o quella", and "naughty" with "forte".

* ApocalypseHowClass3b: Part of the poem's BittersweetEnding.

'''Who Pays the Piper?''' is a 45-minute poem by the British songwriter and musician Richard Stilgoe (who is most famous for collaborating with Creator/AndrewLloydWebber). The poem is written throughout in iambic pentameter in rhyming couplets, and is interspersed with classical music excerpts, some of which have humorously re-written lyrics. It details parts of the history of Western music, with an emphasis on the dilemmas arising from the business aspects of maintaining the artist.

* BlackComedy: The segment on how composers died - Webern shot by a "nervous GI", Alkan having a bookcase fall on him (this theory is disputed), Chausson falling off his bicycle, Scriabin dying from "a septic pimple". Lully's death, however, takes the cake: after describing his death from gangrene after striking his foot with a baton, a light-hearted bar of Delibes pizzicato plays, ending with rhythmically precise "thump [[PrecisionFStrike merde!]]"

* BrickJoke: After mentioning how Monteverdi left Mantua for Venice, it is stated that "That Duke of Mantua's the self-same fella - whom [[Creator/GiuseppeVerdi Verdi]] made perform [[Theatre/{{Rigoletto}} 'Questa o quella']]. Much later in the poem, after it's mentioned that Music/GioachinoRossini's father was an abattoir health inspector, "Questa o quella" begins playing, with the tenor singing "Salmonella" instead of "Questa o quella", abruptly being cut short ("Now look, all this is getting out of hand; be silent, Duke of Mantua, shut up, band!")

* ShoutOut: To his famous collaborator, Andrew Lloyd Webber:

* SophisticatedAsHell: Many times, poetic or sophisticated language is juxtaposed with slang for laughs. For example, "Be silent, Duke of Mantua; shut up, band!"), or Wagner being called a "jerk".