# Can you identify this classical piece? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 8, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951 "2006-06-08T20:45:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/1 "2006-06-08T20:45:43Z")
This has been nagging at my mind for hours; I feel as if I ought to know the source of this musical excerpt, and its composer, but my brain just won’t cooperate. Unfortunately, the music in question is playing in the background of a narration (I have been told that it’s from a BBC programme called "Atlantis Reborn Again), so it’s hard to understand the words that are being sung. I think there’s a “Jesu” in there, but that doesn’t narrow things down very much! Does anyone recognize [this](http://www.essentially.net/what-is-this.mp3)? ---
**Author:** ![AveDementia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@AveDementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AveDementia)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/2 "2006-06-08T21:02:13Z")
Can I guess? Cause I don’t know, but it sounds like Mozart to me. The style of the violins/strings just seems like his style. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/3 "2006-06-08T21:02:30Z")
Vivaldi? Mozart? Albinoni? It _does_ sound very familiar. The only other thing that comes to mind is Requiem, but whose? Maybe that will shake your memeory loose? ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/4 "2006-06-08T21:24:14Z")
Sounds like Vivaldi to me too, but I don’t know what. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/5 "2006-06-08T22:23:20Z")
It sounds very Vivaldi-ish to me. ---
**Author:** ![percussion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@percussion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percussion)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/6 "2006-06-09T03:04:27Z")
Ive been wanting to know what this is for YEARS…i thought in my 4 years during a music degree i would come across it once!! but nope, never came across it!! I cant wait to hear the answer!!! ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/7 "2006-06-09T03:15:07Z")
I went to the BBC website and emailed them asking where I could find the information about the music used in that episode of Horizons. I’ll let you know if they get back to me. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/8 "2006-06-09T04:44:40Z")
It’s not Mozart… most probably Baroque. Handel perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/9 "2006-06-09T05:14:35Z")
Didn’t recognize the piece, but I too immediately thought of Vivaldi. As an added clue, assuming my ear is correct and my guitar is well-tuned, the piece is in C minor (at any rate, the chorus is singing two C’s an octave apart when they come in with “Jesu,” and that seems to be the tonic). ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/10 "2006-06-09T12:33:06Z")
I thought “Vivaldi” too, which means the piece is probably actually by Stravinsky or something totally unrelated :o Did Vivaldi write many things involving a choir? ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/11 "2006-06-09T17:36:37Z")
Just on a quick listen, I’d have guessed Handel or Hayden. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/12 "2006-06-09T18:17:05Z")
The only choral piece by Vivaldi in C minor I could find is _Slave Regina in C-_ (RV.616) and that’s not it. The search continues… ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/13 "2006-06-09T18:59:23Z")
I just got a reply to my email to the BBC. Unfortunately, it wasn’t very helpful… > [@Da Beeb](#): > > However, on this occasion the information requested is not available on our very comprehensive database and, due to limitations of time and resource, we are unable to conduct the further research necessary to provide a comprehensive response. As you can appreciate, the expenditure to do this can only come from the licence fee, resulting in resources being diverted from the primary function of the BBC, which is to provide programmes. Sorry, **pinkfreud**. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/14 "2006-06-09T21:42:44Z")
Many thanks to y’all for your efforts! This music has become an earworm which plays intermittently in my addled mind. Sometimes the only way to exorcise such a thing is to call it by its True Name. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/15 "2006-06-09T22:23:45Z")
Listening closely, it sounds to me like “Domine Jesu” as it would be in a Requiem (also matches the tone of the music). Could it be Salieri’s Requiem? (I’m not familiar with it, and can’t seem to find a sample online). ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/16 "2006-06-09T22:31:29Z")
Could it be from Mass in C minor from [Amadeus: The Complete Original Soundtrack Recording](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/samples/B000000XBV/ref=dp_tracks_all_1/104-7085499-0826337?%5Fencoding=UTF8#disc_1)? I took the name Salieri and did a search on [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com). It is either that, or possibly from Don Giovanni. It did ping a memory of watching Amadeus with me. It is someone who influenced Mozart, or that Mozart influenced. ---
**Author:** ![Elenfair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cc9497/32.png) [@Elenfair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elenfair)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/17 "2006-06-10T04:24:26Z")
I want to say it’s Pergolesi, but I’m not sure. What ever it is, it’s in C minor. ---
**Author:** ![shelbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@shelbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shelbo)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/18 "2006-06-10T05:33:00Z")
K.427 (the Great Mass), Mozart. The Kyrie section. I’m almost sure it’s a part of that. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/19 "2006-06-10T07:25:37Z")
I had a listen to a recording of that after Zabali Clawbane mentioned it, but I didn’t hear that, or anything like it. So it probably isn’t the Kyrie section, if any. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951/20 "2006-06-10T07:32:38Z")
The word “Jesu” would not appear in a _Kyrie_, the words to which are just _Kyrie eleison; Christe eleison; Kyrie eleison_ with as many rinse-and-repeats as are needed to fit the music. Very very Vivaldi-ish, definitely not the _Gloria_ as I sang that only last year and would recognise it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-classical-piece/359951.md?page=2)